Hey, everyone!!
Hope you’re having an awesome week! If you’re not, here’s an old idea fer ya…”If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness, they would tell you to make it a rule to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity befalls you, if you can thank and praise God for it, you will turn it into a blessing!” (A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life -1728)
There ya go!
Speaking of thankful…I was super thankful that Tina got to come with me on my trip to Espana!! We had a blast(!) together!! And I realized something this trip. Usually, when I have to go on a trip, I’m kind of a little bit freaked out, nervous, and squirrely before I go. Sometimes a little bit more than “a little bit”. Lee says it’s for the same amount of time I’ll be gone. If I’m going away for three days, I’m nutty for three days before. If it’s a week, the week before I’m a bit of a nervous wreck. I’ve never understood it and always thought it was some kind of “spiritual battle” or sumpthin. Now I know what causes it.
I don’t like leaving that girl of mine!
‘Cause this time it didn’t happen!
Lee asked me before our trip, “Are you OK with this trip to Spain?”
“Sure. Why?”
“Well I haven’t heard you cry and freak out ‘bout anything. It’s weird.”
“Huh. Hadn’t thought about it. Come to think of it, I’m not nervous at all about it. Wonder why…”
Then a bulb went on. We both knew why!
“It’s because Tina’s going!”
That’s what I’ve freaked out about all these years! It’s not a plane ride 37,000’ above the earth, weird food or sleeping with mice! It’s that…I don’t like leaving her!
Besides being cute and my best friend of all time…she has a way of trusting God, hugging the discouraged, laughing through the day, and crying at just the right moment with the heavy-hearted that makes me stronger. She just helps me trust God more.
Kinda like Jonathan. David was super discouraged and “Saul's son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God…” (1 Sam 23.17) Actually, in the Hebrew language, it says that he helped David “strengthen his hand in God”…hold on just a little tighter to Him!
That’s a friend!
Later on, when his pal wasn’t with him, David was really upset. But he’d learned to think like his buddy… “David was greatly distressed …but David found strength in the LORD his God…” (30.6) He “strengthened his own hand in God”
(By the way…we have guys that meet on Saturday mornings at 7:00 and it’s pretty much what we do. We get together to “help each other find strength in God.” …Need some? C’mon!)
Maybe if I have to go next time without her, I’ll be mature enough to find my own strength in God.
Maybe.
But it’ll still be better with her!
The only downside to having Tina on the trip was that I almost missed my favorite moment of my trips. That’s when I land in K-town and come through that revolving glass “arrivals” door there at McGhee Tyson and she’s waiting for me to get home! I’m always looking for that cute face!! But as Foghorn Leghorn would say…”I almo…I say, I almost” missed my favorite moment! But…this time, I had to wait on a bag we had to check at the airplane door so Tina said she’d go out and wait on me and pretend I was just getting home after 11 days away!
“There you are! You’re home!”
It wasn’t quite the same, but I was still happy to see that face after seven minutes!
A Note from Tom: September 16th
Hey, everyone!!!
Well, we’re back!! We had a super amazing time in Espana!! It’d take forever to tell y’all about it! I’m feeling kinda of weird because I’m really pumped about all the things that happened but we didn’t sleep tons and we’re really jet lagged! So, on the one hand, my mind is racing with all the thoughts and memories I’m trying to sort out, and on the other hand…uh…other foot…uh, I mean…other… oth…
Zzz…zzzz…zzzzz…zzzzzzzz…zzzzzzz…zzzzzzz…zzzzzzz…zzzzzz…zzzzzzz…zzzzzz…zzzzzzzzz…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…zzzzz…
Huh?! What!?
Opps. Sorry.
You know, one thing that kind of impressed me was that, spending a week waaaaayyyy in the northwest corner of Spain, in a tiny farming village of Ligonde, a town with more cows than people, we were really cut off from the rest of the world! We didn’t have TV. Needless to say, in a village where cows walk in and out of humans’ homes, they ain’t got no WIFI thar! Cell phones don’t have coverage in Ligonde, either. One guy had his iphone and it kinda worked…barely. So we were completely “out of the loop” news-wise.
We had no clue about what was happening in the world or at home. Folks were upset about things we didn’t know were even going on! We had no idea a church was being stupid and hateful in Florida. We didn’t know the Vols hung with Oregon for most of a half…and then got spanked! We didn’t know the ‘Cats are off to a less-than-awesome start. We didn’t think once about whether or not the economic recovery has fizzled out. We didn’t know the NFL season started.
Because we just didn’t know about them, things that had tons of people upset didn’t bother us a bit.
In Revelation 4, it says that before the Throne in Heaven, “there is a sea as smooth as glass”
When there are storms blowing and howling here, before Him, the waters are as calm as glass.
But we know some news you might not know about.
Did you know…
…there is a 20-something girl from Hungary named Reka, who walked for a month across northern Spain because she was trying to open her heart to the spiritual things of life? She’s home now, with the Gospel of John to read, and a message in her memory that she had never heard before.
Did you know…
…that a 70-something dude named Tito, from Argentina, walked for weeks in Spain with his best friend from high school, Marzio, who has lived in Italy since their college days? They’ve kept their friendship alive by writing years and years of letters! They both took home a book written by a guy named John about his best friend, Jesus…a Friend John hadn’t seen in years but Whom he was planning to spend forever with.
Did you know that during a week when the news in the States was filled with stories about people who say they believe in Jesus, but are full of hate and malice…about 70 people from nine countries…from South America, to Europe, to Africa, to even the North Pole…ate dinner and spent the night in an old, old farm house and went on their way knowing that people who love Jesus, love people?
Well, that’s the news from Spain!
A Note from Tom: September 2nd
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having (check. did that.) an awesome, beautiful, praise-filled (yup. check.) day! Ours is a little hectic but (yeah. check that.) we’re pumped about leaving today for Madrid and then (check.) on to Ligonde in Galicia and the Camino de Santiago! (check. Can’t forget that!)
We’ll be having a little retreat for the (check. Uh huh.) Young Life Madrid team on Friday and (check.) Saturday and then we all hop on the highway to go reach out to people from all over the (check. glad we remembered that.) world!
But today I just have a second to write this because (check.) we’re trying to get our check list all done! Stuff like…
Do the last laundry stuff (check.)
Get our passports (check.)
Buy coffee to take (check.)
Do we have enough underwear? (‘scuse me. check.)
Figure out how many books I can take (check. Maybe re-check.)
Ibuprofen? (check.)
Farm animals squared away (check.)
Go to the bank (check.)
Thank everyone for making it possible for us to go…
Oh yeah…
There are not words to thank you all for encouraging us and helping us both spend these eleven days in Spain! We’re going to swat a lot of flies, step around (sometimes in!) what the cows of Ligonde walk away from, but we’re going to serve, talk to, and share with a whooollleee lot of people from a lot of countries! And a lot of them will be a lot more open to talking about Jesus than they would have dreamed. We are sooooo thankful to be sent by you! Y’all know how at Triple C, we just trust God for all we need, and nobody knows who gives what. It’s awesome to just trust God and watch Him work! Only problem is that we never know who to thank for giving to C3! All I know is that generosity is the heart of Triple C! And the hearts at C3 are sooo generous to give to Him!! Thank you all for helping us with our trip of sharing Jesus and encouraging those who love and serve Him with Young Life there!!!
Thank you with all our heart!! Pray for us! See y’all week after next!
(check.)
Oh, yeah…toothbrush!!
(check.)
A Note from Tom: August 27th
Hola, everyone!
Opps! Sorry! I’ve been practicing my stumbling Spanish lately…meant to say, “Hey, everyone!”
I need to figure out how to say a good ol’ Rocky Top “Hey!” in a bunch of languages before Thursday! Tina and I are going to Spain to have a retreat with the awesome Young Life team in Madrid, including Jim and Barb McNamee (it’s AMAZING how many times, when someone is telling their story of how they came to Jesus, those two names pop up in the telling of it! God has used them all over!)
…and including our own Kate Sanders, who has been reaching high school and middle school kids both here and there for years now! (Almost sounds like a Dr. Seuss book! “…Both there and here, and here and there, Kate’s kids are everywhere!”).
After a couple of days of encouraging each other, we’ll be hopping in cars and heading north…to Galicia in northwest Spain to run a sorta “B ‘n B” or “hostel” (as they call ‘em) along the “Camino de Santiago” or “St. James Way”. It’s a pilgrimage more than 100,000 people do every year…walking and hiking for hundreds of miles (minimum for a certificate is about a hundred) ‘til they reach the cathedral of Santiago de Campostela, about fifty miles past where we’ll be. Tons of people do it just to get away from their Blackberries and laptops to seek some sense of peace from their normal, rush-y, push-y noise-y lives. Our job is to greet them along the way, open our house to fifteen to twenty a night, serve them a delicious dinner, and talk all day about Jesus to whoever’s up for that.
And there’ll be a lot of those!
We’ll talk to hundreds of people from all over the world who are hungry for a smile and some encouragement…as well as Barb’s delicious pasta! Last year we met folks from thirty seven countries in a week!
That’s why I’m working on my greetings.
I’m good with the “Buenos dias!” and the “Bon jour!”. I can even throw out a “Guten Morgen!” when I have to. But what if someone from Itbayaten comes down the road? How am I gonna remember, “Kapian ka pa nu Dios aschapanderak…y’all!” ?
And the Kalaallisut people in Greenland say, “Unuugujoq!”…Wow!
Kwakiutl folks in British Columbia greet each other with “Gilakas'la!”
Thankfully, they also say, “Yoyo!”
Sounds kinda Hip-hop…”Yo! Yoyo!”
One of the most amazing things about this coming week is that we would have to travel all over our world to speak to so many people from so many countries! If we had to travel to all the countries everybody that we’ll meet comes from, we’d wind up in ICU with critical jetlag! Instead, all we do is sit there by the road that passes through Ligonde…and they come walking down the road to us!
It almost feels like cheating!
Which reminds me…
Ever felt like you wish you had someone to talk with about the stuff going on in your life? Ever wish you knew where you could go to find someone who would care enough to pray about a struggle you’re having?...Or listen to a story of something cool that happened to you? …Or find someone who just wanted to spend an hour hanging out with you? Where would you have to travel to find that person?
Try this. Go up to 100 Ogden Rd on Sunday morning. Get there about 9:25. Go into where we worship. Go up to the front and just sit there. Or go into the room just to the left of the big room. At 9:25 there won’t be anyone in there. Just go in and sit down. Or go into the room next to that room…the one on the end opposite the nursery.
9:25 am.
Sit down.
Pretty soon, people will start walking in. Before long, a bunch of folks will walk into those places and sit by you. You don’t have to go looking for them. They’ll just come walking in there. It’s called a “Community Group”. People come there because they want to be together. They want to be friends in Christ. They want to hear each other’s stories…including yours. They want o pray for each other’s problems. Including yours. They want to grow together…with you. You don’t have to look for all those people. You just sit there and they come walking down the sidewalk and into the room.
It almost feels like cheating.
But it’s just the family of God.
Join in!
Bye for now!
Or as they say in Mexico…Hasta la vista!...
Or in France au revoir!...
Or in Italy…Arrivederci! Ciao!...
Or in Germany… auf Wiedersehen…
Or in Korea…ahn nyung hee ka se yo!...
Or in Poland…do widzenia!...
Or in Lithuania…iki pasimatymo!...
Or in…
A Note from Tom: August 6th
Mornin’, everyone!!
It’s 6:13 in the am…
Wow!
Sun’s coming up…The birds are chirping…Down here in Oliver Springs, I’m looking out over fields and cows with coffee in my hands…Ahhhh! My favorite morning smell!
Not cows! Coffee!
I always like coffee better at my house on my porch than at Starbuck’s or wherever.
And if I haven’t had my coffee yet, I can’t face all those questions they ask you at Starbuck’s!
Like when you order your double caffe mocha frappucino or your iced espresso misto Americano (it’s too early for all those choices!), they ask, “What name should we put on this order?”
Not only do some people have trouble remembering their name before they’re sufficiently caffeinated, but some people, especially from other countries, have complicated names that can create traffic jams in the line.
The other day on the radio, a girl in New York City named Shefali Kulkarni, was saying that when they ask her what name they should put on her order, and she answers, “Shefali”, they go, “What?! How do you say it?”
She says it.
“How do you spell it?”
“S-h-e-f-a-l-i”.
“Could you do that again?”
“Could you people hurry up?”, the folks in line begin to mumble (we’re in New York remember)…
So she came up with a simpler name just for Starbucks.
“What name on the order, Ma’am?”
“Sheila.”
No questions.
No waiting.
No complaining down the line.
Shefali calls “Sheila” her “coffee name”
She said that she noticed that a lot of people from other countries have coffee names.
When they ask, “What name for the order?”, instead of “Gulliermo”…or “Bohuslava”…or “Evdokia”…she heard names like “Sue” or “Tom” or “Jill”.
I just wondered what it was like the first time Shefali was in Starbucks with their friends…or her mom…and she got up when they called “Sheila?”
“Sheila?”
“It’s my ‘coffee name’…Don’t ask.”
Did you know Jesus has a name for you? Listen to this…“I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it…”(Rev 2.17
He has a special name for you. It’s not because your real name is hard to say or spell. He called someone “Hephzabah” in the Old Testament. That’s harder to spell than “Shefali”.
It’s just a name that says something special that He sees in you…something special that you mean to Him. Most of your life of walking with Him in this world is learning to see yourself in the special way He sees you.
Learning His name for you.
And when we’re all together in Heaven and He calls that name…and you answer Him…and your friends say, “What?! Why’d He call you that?!”
…just tell ‘em, “It’s the name He used to call me to wake up my heart in the morning…It’s kinda my coffee name”
A Note from Tom: July 30th
Hey, everyone!
Hope this is an awesome, praised-filled day! After a couple of years of doing Bible study at the Anderson County Detention Center, I’m thinking…if you had anything other than a pimento cheese sandwich for lunch…and you were somewhere where you could see that the sun was actually shining outside,…and if you were wearing clothes that had more than one color, top and bottom, and if you were wearing something that you haven’t been wearing for the last three days…those are GREAT reasons to praise the Lord!
Y’know, this morning I was leaving the house really early for something and I switched on the news really quick to find out what the weather would be for today (I watch channel 10 when I can…Todd’s my weather homeboy!) and before the news and weather, there was a commercial on telling me and everyone in the viewing audience, to go out and buy a new Lexus today, along with how we could get good financing on it. After thinking about it, I realized that if the person (you couldn’t see him…you just heard his voice) was talking at that volume in a room of people, it would probably be classified as yelling. Right after he was done, another kinda “yell-y” person was telling us to go to a certain restaurant and buy a lot of food “smothered in butter and sizzling bacon.” I thought, “Y’know, it’s only 6:07 in the morning and already a person who doesn’t know most of us in the viewing audience has told us to go $37,000 in debt and another person who doesn’t really know who might or might not have heart problems and/or cholesterol issues, has told us to just forget about all that, come to his restaurant and send our LDL cholesterol numbers through the sun-roof of our new Lexus!
Man!
It just seemed kinda pushy and bossy for so early in the a.m., if you know what I mean! So far, I’ve made it through the day without doing either one of those things…
It made me stop and think about a verse in Isaiah…It’s about Jesus, written seven hundred years before He was born in Bethlehem. Listen…
“The Sovereign LORD…wakens me morning by morning. He wakens my ear to listen like one being taught…” (Isaiah 50)
It’s so awesome to think of Jesus’ heart! A heart to please the Father with every beat and every breath! The heart of One who woke up each morning, opening His ears to the Father’s voice as soon as He opened His eyes to the new day…
In Mark’s first chapter, after a night’s sleep following an unbelievably busy day of healing the sick and freeing the oppressed, Jesus’ guys woke up and couldn’t find Him. They might have panicked for a minute, but by then they should have known that He would be up “very early in the morning to find a solitary place” (1:35) to be alone with the Father...to share His heart…and to listen…”like One being taught.”
I think the Father can and will tell you what to do, if you’ll listen. If you really want to know. He won’t yell at you like they do on TV. But if you ask Him, “Father, I want to please your heart today. All day. Show me how my heart and my words and what I do, can please You”, He’ll let you know. Psalm 16 tells us, “I will praise the Lord Who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.”
Whatever He tells you to do won’t be bad for your cholesterol.
In fact, it’ll do your heart good!
A Note from Tom: July 23rd
Hey, everyone!
“Finally home!”
That’s how I felt on Wednesday after a couple of long days. We spent Monday driving to Chicago with all our awesome Triple C team, laughin’ and yakkin’ all day. Then Tuesday was doing that “Chicago thang” at the Bridge. All day Wednesday, I drove home. From the Windy City to Rocky Top in ten hours. I had to go home early because Emi and Graham were coming in and everyone was waiting to party at Mary and Ben’s when I arrived home…
“Finally home!”
Our brother and friend Dan Kuban is finally home! Dan had to “go home early” after two years of walking with God through cancer’s struggles. There was a humongous party waiting for him when he finally arrived home!
Dan was (and is…more than ever!) a person who was (and is…more than ever!) soooo totally devoted to loving Jesus with all the fullness of his heart. Because of that, he loooved being “out there”…where hearts were hurting and tears were flowing…where people are the poorest and the need is the greatest… sharing the love of Jesus with those who need Him and know it. He loved being in those places! He loved those places because he loved people so much with the love he had for Jesus…and from Jesus.
Wow!
Dan was like…
…those guys in the Gospels who first followed Jesus. I could just see him with those dudes! Read those stories. Y’all who knew him…can’t you picture him in the middle of all that?
…jumpin’ out of the boat and doing a back flip on the beach, the day they decided to leave their nets and follow Him full-time…
…shoutin’ and high fivin’ the others when Jesus stopped a funeral and gave a woman her son back…
…walking breadbaskets of miracle loaves to the five thousand scattered on the hill, praising and laughing, and hugging hungry kids as he worked …
…risking his life in Jerusalem streets, telling any who would listen that Jesus is risen and alive! And that he knew it was true!
Dan knew it was true.
To me, he was so much like those first followers!
He was as close as you get in our times, to being one of them!
On Thursday…at the party…they told him so!
We love and miss you, brother!
A Note from Tom: July 16th
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re planning on an awesome weekend even though it might be wetter than you’d hoped…
Here’s what’s up, weather-wise, according to Todd the weather guy…
“Today: Hot and more humid with a high near 92 degrees. A chance for spotty afternoon storms returns late, with better chances tonight…Some storms that develop could be strong with gusty winds.
Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers & storms expected. (60% chance)…”
Yikes! That might mean that if you go somewhere, you might not look as “together” as you did when you left the house. You might be soggier than expected upon arrival!
Or, if you were doing something outside, you might have to change your plans altogether. A cookout isn’t as cool when the burgers and buns are wet. At least wet hot dogs don’t smell as bad as wet real dogs do!
But, we REALLY need INCHES of water to fall out of the sky!! We’re about 5 ½“ down for the year! Last week we were over 8” short, rain-wise! Remember two summers ago when we were over a foot short on rain? The flowers were all wilted. My grass was totally dried up…crunchy! That’s the worst! The best defense against weeds in your yard is really good growing grass! I don’t believe in Darwinism, but if I did, it’d be dandelions that would convince me! Those dudes out survive everything!! Grass was dead, and dandelions rockin’ it in my face! The tomatoes were dried up and wrinkly. The lakes didn’t have high enough levels to give us the power we needed! It was a dusty crisis!!
Even tho’ you might have to change your plans because of the rain…
and if you get caught in it, you might look different soaked than you do dry…
we need rain for beautiful things to grow…for nutritious things to eat…for power to run your house and your life.
I read the coolest Scripture this morning. Psalm 72 is all about the Messiah, the coming King of all the world…our Jesus! It says of Him…
“Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.
…He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.
He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth…For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.”
Jesus…like the rain…Wow!
I love the way the Bible says you can just go to Jesus and say, “You’re my King! Help me!”…”And He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.”
The answer isn’t always try to study the Bible more…or find someone to give you the advice you need. Sometimes you know all you need to know. Or as much as anyone else knows. Sometimes you just have to say, “Jesus! You’re my King! I’ll do whatever you say, but…Help!”
Like 2 Thessalonians 2…”May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”
“Lord Jesus! I know the verses I need to know…I’ve done everything I can, but I’m still discouraged! Encourage me! Give me more strength than I presently have! Give me Yours, Jesus!”
“For beautiful and nutritious things to grow…for the power to make it…rain it down on me!”
If you call on Him to directly help you, in the end you might not look the way you did at the beginning of the day…you might even have to change your plans…
But the chance of rain?...
100%!
Let it pour!
A Note from Tom: July 9th
Hey, everyone!
Or as they say in the mother country, “Top o’ th’ mornin’ t’ ya, mates!”
Just happened to be thinking about the Brits this morning because I heard yesterday that they have calculated that in order for the English to have their Queen (and pay for all the other “royals”…and pay for Buckingham Palace…and for all the horses and carriage upkeep…and pay those stiff guard dudes with the tall, fuzzy hats…and for everything else it takes to have a monarchy), it cost per person per year a total of …94 cents!
Wow!
That’s a deal, if you ask me! If you have to have a queen and all, it’s better to have one who’s a bargain! The royal family costs 38,200,000 pounds last year (comes out to about $58 mill) but the Queen threw in about 6.5 million pounds of her own to make it all come out even!
And think about what they get for less than a dollar a year!
I know some think the royal fam should have gone the way of colonization and a king having eight wives. The BBC recently asked readers what they thought of still having a queen in Buckingham Palace in the 21st century.
One dude wrote in…
“What does the royal family do, exactly? Not much from where I'm sitting. I understand they get a good hourly rate, though.”
Dave, UK
But others say that it’s cool to have someone who gives you a link to the glory days of the Empire. Plus, lots of people work for the Royals, polishing doorknockers and scooping horse stuff, which helps the economy. AND…the royal family is a big tourism thing. Surely they make more pounds off tourism than 94 cents a year!!
I vote (not that I get one)…keep it! It’s cool.
Ever wonder how much it would cost for you to have a king?
For Jesus to be your King, it doesn’t really cost anything!
He said, “Come to me all you who are weary and weighed down…” Just come. That’s all it costs.
But when you really come to Him, you find that He is moving. And you have to decide if you want to follow the King where He’s going. And He said that THAT will cost you! “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16. 24)
It will cost you a cross to your dreams, your plans, yourself. It will cost you everything.
So what if you don’t think it’s a good deal? What if you think that’s too much to pay to have a King? What if you don’t think you can afford it?
Jesus said that you can’t afford not to follow Him.
He said that if you try to keep yourself for yourself and not let Him rule you, it will cost you more than you want to pay. It will cost you your life!
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt 16.25)
If you don’t let Him have it all…you’ll pay more than you ever imagined!
It will cost you…
…the joy you could have had and didn’t.
…the struggles you could have avoided but didn’t.
…the time you shouldn’t have wasted, but did.
…the good you could’ve done, but didn’t.
…the friends you could’ve made but didn’t.
…the changes you could’ve known, but didn’t.
I guess the Brits have to decide if 94c is too much to have a Queen.
You can’t afford to not have Jesus be your King!
A Note from Tom: July 2nd
Hey, everyone!!
Hope this is one of the best weeks of your life! Actually, that’s a saying they use in Young Life when high school kids go to Young Life camp. They always promise “the best week of your life!” Usually is. But every day has awesome stuff in that God has for us…and every week is part of a beautiful plan He is working out to make you into the special “You” only you could ever be…and every day you can ask our Lord to do special stuff for you, and when He answers you, you can say, like the folks in Luke 5, “We have seen remarkable things today." So in some ways, the week you’re living is always the “best week of your life”!
Speaking of the best week of your week, it was an awesome one down at Sharp Top Cove last week! I got to go down and do some jobs to help out. I realized that the whole week I just wore shorts and t-shirts the whole time I don’t always get to work like that ‘cause sometimes…well, you know how it is…
But it was fun while it lasted! One T-shirt I have (NO idea where it came from!) says “Snowbird” on the front. Apparently, it’s the #1 ski resort in America…top elevation is 11,000ft…gets 550” of snow each year…(whoever is responsible for Wikipedia knows everything about everything!)
Anyway, I’ve never been there and don’t know anything about Snowbird, Utah. I just have the T-shirt. One thing that was super cool about Sharp Top was how many CCC T-shirts you’d see during the week! The blue one with “Triple C” on the front was a common sight…The John Deere green one was around a lot. It was amazing how many folks from C3 know and care and love what Young Life does in reaching kids for the Kingdom of God!
In fact, one thing Young Life is kinda famous for is T-shirts! There’s one for every occasion and they sell them at the Sharp Top store. After kids had fallen in love with the place, you’d see a lot of new Sharp Top T’s around.
Sometimes kids would be wearing a Sharp Top t-shirt the way I worn my Snowbird one. I really don’t know what Snowbird is all about. And even though kids in their new Sharp Top shirts had ‘em on ‘cause they were there, some didn’t know what Sharp Top was all about. They thought it was about having a blast with your friends and screaming down monstrous zip lines into lake water and laughing your head off. But they were about to find out that Sharp Top’s really about kids hearing…some for the first time…about the God Who loves them more than they could dream, and Who would rather die than live without them! They were about to find out that it was all about them beginning a whole new life with Him if they wanted! They had the T-shirt, but at first didn’t know that Sharp Top was where everything was about to change forever.
But the ones in the Triple C T-shirts knew!
A note from Tom: June 18th
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having a day FULLLL of thanks, praise, and just…you know…a day that’s a happy one! “Cause we have a million reasons to be thankful all the time! If you just count all the stuff God has forgiven us for on a day-to-day basis, it comes out to an average of about a million reasons to be thankful per month! Plus, all day today, no matter where you go, in ways that go beyond our mind, according to the letter Paul wrote to the brothers and sisters who lived in Ephesus, you’re “seated already in heaven with Jesus”! I don’t fully understand what that means because it’s too awesome to comprehend! But I AM thankful to be sitting there!
Everything looks better from up here!
For all the reasons Jesus gives us to be thankful, we oughta be dancing down the hall at school, cart-wheelin’ out the door to work, and jumping on the desk, doing the tarantella when we get there! It oughta keep us up at night like Christmas eve used to do!
And yet, it takes amazingly little to put a kink in that dance step. The other day I had this jagged-y toenail that somehow was digging into his neighbor. I could feel it when I was walking down the street. Like every step. You know how it is…
…Step…”mmm”…step….”hmmm”…step…”yikes!”…step…”uuhhhh, I need to fix that”…step…”owww! That kinda hurts!”…step…”wonder if it’s bleeding”…step…”That’s gonna drive me NUTS!!”...step…”DON’T THINK ABOUT IT!!”...step…”HOWAMISUPPOSEDTONOT THINKABOUTIT!??”...step…
Just takes a toenail to dominate your thankfulness!
Last week, I was thinking about how little it takes to deflate my praise because I was reading some stuff by Joni Eareckson Tada., whose heart knows how to praise no matter what! Maybe you know who she is. You should. She is amazing! At seventeen, she broke her neck, diving into a too shallow Chesapeake Bay. She’s been a quadriplegic in a wheelchair since ’67. At the beginning, she didn’t know how…or, if…she could make it through each day. Her desperation prayer…”Lord, if I can’t die, help me to live!!”
Wow! Has she ever!! She learned to paint with a brush between her teeth… she’s written 35 books (which rock!)…“Joni and Friends”, her international ministry to the disabled, has served thousands in hundreds of countries…and her radio program is heard on 1000 stations! She’s been on Presidential advisory boards and U. S. State Department commissions.
If a raggedy toenail messes with my thanks, what if you couldn’t use your whole body below your head? Joni decided to praise Jesus!...No matter what!
The other day, I was reading something that she wrote about the first moments she’ll spend in Heaven, suddenly enjoying a new, WORKING, glorious body. She was reflecting on the first things she’ll do… things she hasn’t been able to do from her wheelchair all these years. “Will I dance like I haven’t in forever? Will I jump up and down and then leap into my Savior’s arms? ”, she wondered. And then she mentioned a conference she attended. The speaker asked everyone at the end of his talk, to slip out of their chairs and quietly kneel on the floor in a few moments of worship. She said that as she looked over the room, the only one sitting upright in her chair she couldn’t abandon, she wept. Not for loneliness of being the only one excluded from adoration’s posture, but for the beauty of a room full of kneeling.
“The first thing I’ll do when I have a body that is made new won’t be running, or jumping, or dancing. The first thing I’ll do when I see Him is…kneel.”
Me. too.
A note from Tom: June 11th
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having an “APFF” so far! (“awesome, praise-filled Friday”)…It’s gonna be a hot one! I remember once the weather guy saying, “The atmosphere is going to be hot and unstable today”, and the guy who reports the traffic conditions said, “Hey! That sounds like my first wife!” Anywhoooo…
Speaking of hot, here’s something that may be hotter than you realized…”Georging”!
“Huh?!”
Yeah…georging!
“What on earth is georging?”
Glad you asked! (Otherwise this email would be basically over…)
“Georging” is when people (“georgers”) write “wheresgeorge.com” (as in, “Where’s George?”…as in George Washington’s face on the $1 bill)) on dollar bills, and other people who receive that bill go to wheresgeorge.com, enter the serial number of the bill at the web site and you can find out everywhere that dollar’s been in it’s circulatory “life”.
“Who cares?”
Thanks fer askin’, again! Apparently a lotta people do. 3.2 million have done it and “…as of May 31, 2010, Where's George? is tracking 172,819,383 bills totaling more than $934,977,706!” One pizza delivery guy has registered over 130,000 $1 bills by himself! The furthest one ever went in its travels is 14,000 miles from Springfield, IL (Lincoln’s home…shoulda been a $5!) to Samoa to Oregon!
George gets around!
Y’know, after reading all that, I just started thinking the other day…you all at CCC are soooo faithful to give to God and to His work here at CCC!! It is sooo beautiful to watch how He puts it on the hearts of sooo many to be sooo faithful in giving!
Here’s what Paul told the Philippians about their giving to God’s work:
“I have received…the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering… pleasing to God.”
In other words, the way you give…mmmm! Sure smells good!
But I was thinking in a “georging” kinda way…about where the money you give, goes. Where does it travel?…
Some of the “Georges” you give to the work at CCC will be on their way to Sharp Top Cove in Georgia, later next week! Young Life of Oak Ridge and Clinton is taking 50some kids to Young Life camp! Many of the kids who are going, LOVE Jesus! But many who are going, don’t know Him yet. I know many kids will come to know Christ this week! Y’all help Young Life happen in Anderson County!
Some of your “georges” go to India to support Indian evangelists who travel on bikes to villages where Jesus’ name has never been spoken! They face hostility and threats but share His love week by week!
Some of your money goes to Chicago so Glen, Jane, Mike, Gloria, and Jed can share the love of Jesus to the “least of these” (as they love to say!) and help ex-offenders, addicts, and felons come to know the “love that passes all understanding”. And some of them went to a computer store to buy a computer for Jed so he can make and produce music to reach kids who love heavy, “screamo” music, and who can’t be reached any other way!
Some of your money goes to Spain so kids who live far from their homeland and extended family can come to know the One who never changes in their uncertain and constantly changing world.
Some goes to Missouri so Bill, after years of serving Jesus all over, can reach kids where he grew up, and fulfill the words of Jesus…”"Go home and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."
Some goes to France so Bible studies and churches can begin in Alpine villages where people have never had a chance to really hear the Message in a way they can understand it.
Some goes to Africa so that kids without parents can have a safe, loving, Jesus-filled home in Tanzania, and so that five language groups can finally have some Scriptures in their own language!
Some goes to Italy so that people on the streets can have an encounter with the Message of Jesus and come to know “l’amore di Gesu’ che sorpassa ogni intendimento!”!
Someone told me that families at CCC probably support over 50 (!) kids through Compassion International around the world! Those 32 “georges” per month per child, are going all over the planet!
More incredibly amazing than that, is this! Jesus said that if you give to the poor, you have treasure in heaven! He said when you give, you store your treasure in Heaven! When you give…as you give…and because you give… so that others can eat, live, and know love in Jesus, your “georges” go to Heaven!
That’s travelin’! Try to bet that, all you “georgers” out there!
I thank God for y’all!
A note from Tom: June 3rd
Hey, everyone!!
hurhaad!
“Huh?!”
Oh…sorry. I was just using a little texting abbreviations. I said (in texting) “Hope you’re having an awesome day!”
Somehow there is this almost-a-language that has developed with everyone texting everyone else. It’s just quicker to shorten sentences by abbreviating everything! Like…
“tafn” means “That’s all for now!”
“tmb” means “text me back”
“@teotd” stands for “…at the end of the day”
“2g2bt” translates “too good to be true”.
“rotfl” is “rolling on the floor laughing” because somebody just said something that was omg (“Oh my gosh”) so hilarious that you just lol (“laugh out loud’). Otoh (“on the other hand”) it’s possible to say something ssinf (“so stupid it’s not funny”).
Obtw (“oh by the way”) I had to look these things up! I’m terrible at texting!
Lol!!
R u rotfl?
I wonder tho…
Bitd (“Back in the day”) when folks wrote out their whole thoughts from a full heart on curled up paper with pens they dipped in bottles of ink…
…did they say more? Did they say it more deeply? Did they think more about what they said and felt? Did they feel it more fully?
Are we losing something?
I was just thinking about this because I read a beautiful letter that the Prime Minister of England, William Pitt, wrote to his friend, William Wilberforce in 1784 after hearing that Wilberforce had become a very deep Christian (“an enthusiast”, they called it) and that there was the potential that the two friends might find themselves disagreeing on issues because of this. Here’s just a little of it…
“My dear Wilberforce,
…I am indeed too deeply interested in whatever concerns you not to be very sensibly affected by what has the appearance of being a new era in your life. As to any public conduct which your opinions may ever lead you to, I will not disguise to you that fewer things could go nearer my heart than to find myself differing from you essentially on any great principle.
I trust and believe that this is a circumstance which could hardly occur. But if it should, and even if I should experience as much pain in such an event, as I have found hitherto encouragement and pleasure in the reverse, believe me it is impossible that it should shake the sentiments of affection and friendship which I bear towards you…They are sentiments engraved on my heart, and will never be effaced or weakened…
Reflect, I beg of you, that no principles are the worse for being discussed, and believe me that at all events the full knowledge of the nature and extent of your opinions and intentions will be to me a lasting satisfaction.
Believe me, affectionately and unalterably yours,
W Pitt”
Basically, he was just saying, “You’ll always be my bff.”
But there’s something about saying it…writing it…telling someone what they mean to you.
The Apostle Paul wrote to some near his heart…”Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!” (Phil 4.1)
Twita! (“That’s what I’m talking about”)
I got a bunch of texts last week that I can’t remember. I got a hand-written note of encouragement (that I needed!) in the mail. I remember it! In fact I kept it!
Somebody need a note of encouragement from you?
Tafn (“that’s all for now’)
A note from Tom: May 27th
Hey, everyone!
Or as they say over in Germany, “Wo ist das Badezimmer!”
Wait a sec…that’s “Where is the bathroom?”…
…let’s see…uhhh…as they say over in Germany, “Frohe Weihnachten!”
Opps…that’s “Merry Christmas”…
Well, as I was saying over there, “Guten morgan! Sprechen Sie Englisch?”
Last week, helping out with new-staff training for MCYM (Military Community Youth Ministries, reaching kids of our military for Jesus on bases around the world) I woke up in a castle in the tiny village of Hurlach, which in next to Aichach-Friedberg, Fürstenfeldbruck, and Weilheim-Schongau (FYI… Sometimes German towns have names that are longer than the town is).
This castle belongs to a really cool mission group. They bought it as a place to prepare for, and rest from, sharing Jesus with athletes and fans during the Munich Olympics several years ago. The castle was built by the Fugger family in 1610. That’s…uhhh…let’s see…thirteen years before the pilgrims sat down to the first turkey in America. It was redone by the late (obviously!) Otto Freiherr von Schnurbein in 1898. He forgot to redo the central heat and air however! Castles are cool…until they’re cold. They lose some of their coolness at that point. That one kind of needs an “Extreme Maker-over, Castle Edition”. I can just see it…
“Gooooood morning, Von Schnurbein family!! Franz! Adalwolf! Egbert!
Gottfried!...”
The days before that, we were about two hours up the ol’ autobahn in the Garmisch region for a retreat for the whole MCYM staff. We were on a US military retreat center in the foothills of the German Alps. One thing I noticed about the Alps is…for a big as they are, you don’t see them much! I guess it’s because of the Alpine atmospheric conditions, with lowland air masses climbing the slopes, but the Alps are basically a fog-fest! The amazing, spectacular triple-peaks that the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region is famous for, were right behind us…towering over us…and we never saw them! An invisible wonder, wrapped in clouds! Until…
Sunday! The sun peeked…the clouds thinned and…BAM! Leutasch Dreitorspitze! The Alpine triplets! Amazing!! And you wouldn’t have known they were even there!
And they weren’t the only “invisible wonders”!
I meet a couple at the retreat. They are nearly sixty. A quiet, sweet, kind, gentle couple who work with high-schoolers on our base in Turkey. With all the dynamic young singles and couples, laughing, sharing, and singing through the week, you almost wouldn’t have noticed they were there. Since I was trying to get to know everyone. I sat down with these guys for dinner to hear their stories.
Then the fog lifted…BAM! Dave and Beth Kanelos are amazing!!
They’ve been in Turkey two years. Before that, they’ve done Young Life in inner city Chicago, with urban kids and gangs for twenty five years! They took kids from gangs to Young Life camps with one gang in the front of the bus, and one gang in back. They and their leaders sat in between! Dave accepted Jesus out of the ‘60’s Chicago rock music scene. When he plays YL club music, he wears that guitar out!! They are the coolest couple I’ve ever meet! And they’ve shared Jesus with America’s roughest, toughest kids for over two decades! I’m so honored to be considered their new friend!
A wonder of God. I almost didn’t notice they were there!
Maybe God is using you in a quiet way. Maybe no one knows that you are loving someone in a difficult situation. Maybe you pray quietly and God is answering you to change the unchangeable. Unseen. Unnoticed. Maybe you love, serve, and care for someone who is too old…or too young to say “Thank you, friend”. Or “Thank you, mom”.
Here’s a verse for you…
“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6.10)
He sees. He knows. And one, the fog will lift…
BAM! What a wonder!!
Wundervoll!!
A note from Tom: May 13th
I’m just sitting here in the Atlanta airport, waiting for the AirFrance 4:20 flight to Munich, Germany…just sitting here, thankful…for you all! I haven’t even left and I miss everyone! I’m just going to be gone a week and it feels like I’m going to Antarctica for three months! I am so thankful for Triple C!
And I’m so thankful for opportunities like this! I get to go encourage a hundred or so Young Life folks who are serving Jesus with their whole life. They are reaching kids who live on our US military bases across Europe and Asia. Many of these kids have parents who are far from home, in Afghanistan or Iraq. They get lonely and they are searching. It is sooooo awesome that Young Life is there for them!! These brothers and sisters I’m going to talk to, are also far from home, so they can reach and help these kids. I’m bettin’ that some of them might also be discouraged and disheartened. I hope I can help them!
I’m soooo thankful for a church that sends me to do stuff like this! I ask God sometimes for opportunities to serve Him in different ways…and I get to! (Y’all pray for me! I’ll be here ‘til Friday the 21st!) I’m sooo thankful for a church family that cares about people everywhere! Victor Nandigam, the one from India who takes the message everywhere to people who have never heard of Jesus before, said that Triple C is the smallest of all the churches that support his work, but it’s the one that gives the most! He said, “it’s my home church in the States!” Wow!!
No wonder I’ve only been gone 2 and a half hours and I miss y’all already!
A note from Tom: May 7th
Wow! What an awesome day this is going to be! Just in case you haven’t heard…
“Friday: Mostly sunny, breezy and very warm with highs in the upper 80s to near 90 degrees. Showers will be possible overnight Friday into early Saturday…”
Did you catch that? It might rain a little while you’re sleeping…then…manana…
“…Clearing skies with cooler temperatures this weekend, but very nice… “
Who could possibly complain on a day like this?!
Maybe…me!
I don’t mean to, of course! And the only thing I could ever think of to complain about on this amaazzzzing day is that it’s only five days ‘til I go to Germany. It is going to AWESOME!! I get to go to a retreat for Young Life staff folks who work with US military kids on our bases across Europe and Asia! It’s going to be super fun and encouraging!! And it’s kinda up in the Austrian Alps where the “hills are alive with the sound of music!”
“So whatcha complainin’ about?”
Nothing…’cept…flying scares me a little still… and Tina’s not going and I don’t like being far from her…and I don’t sleep well unless I can look over and see her… and I thought I was leaving on Thursday but we found out I leave on Wednesday and I don’t have as many days to get “psyched”…and…well…when you write it out, I really don’t have anything to complain about.
And I found out this week that compared to some, I REALLLLY don’t!
I spent a lot of time with my friend from India, Victor Nandigam, one of our Triple C missionaries. Wow! What a dude! He’s my hero! God uses him in such an unbelievable way! He has baptized 6000 converts to Jesus himself! The Indian missionaries he oversees have started 350 churches! Wow!
But his life is soooo difficult! I’m getting ready to spend nine days away. He spends fifteen to twenty days away from home every month! Traveling on hot, crowded, steamy trains for eighteen hours at a time! He sleeps in bamboo huts when he’s not at home. These awesome believers are persecuted relentlessly for their faith in Jesus.
But they are filled with faith and joy! And love for our Savior! They are unstoppable! I want to be like them!!
Paul says in 2 Corinthian 10 that it isn’t wise to compare ourselves with others. But…
When I compare my life with what God has called other brothers and sisters in Christ to, I don’t want to ever complain about anything ever again!!
So, Austrian Alps, here I come! YODELL-EEEHHHH-HHHEEE-HHHOOOOOOO!!
A note from Tom: April 22nd
Hey everyone!
What an awesome day!! Usually I try to send y’all a thought or two to encourage you here toward the end of the week on these CCC emails…But as beautiful as the days have been, my bet is that praising Him is just easier to do than it was during those cold, dark, wet weeks of February! So maybe I don’t have to make these so long!
Speaking of which…
I noticed that when I started writing these little thoughts a coupla years ago, they were a lot shorter! Now, they’re a lot longer than they used to be! And longer than they need to be!
Maybe I could make these shorter by using smaller letters!
OrmaybeIcouldjustscrunchthewordstogether…
Or maybe I could work on getting to the point quicker!
Like bumper stickers! They say what they want to say in a few words and in about 13 inches! Here’s one I saw the other day…
“Keep the dream alive: Hit the snooze button.”
And…
“Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.”
Or…
“Karaoke bars combine two of the nation's greatest evils — people who shouldn't drink with people who shouldn't sing.”
How ‘bout…
“Gravity: It's not just a good idea. It's the law.”
Lance Armstrong has made $25,100,000 for cancer research with a one-word slogan (that’s really two words pushed together) written on yellow wristbands. You know the ones….They say, “LIVESTRONG”
There are 70 million of those little slogans on arms around the world! It’s awesome that so much has been made for cancer research!!
Just a couple of problems…
70,000,000 of those might not be awesome for the environment…
In one hospital they have to cut them off people being admitted because they look too much like their “Do not resusitate” bands they put on patients.
And I think that God’s heart might have different advice!
In Isaiah 41, Isaiah says that lots of people go around and, “each helps the other and says to his brother, ‘Be strong!’ “ Only thing is…Isaiah’s talking about people who don’t know or rely on God! He says it’s not good to try to be strong…or livestrong!...without God!
Paul says in 2 Cor 12 that it’s a whooooole lot better to be weak!!
Check this out…
“…He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me...For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
When you’re weak…when you can’t take it any more…when you just can’t make it on your own…when you can’t face it another day…when you have a problems (or problems!) and you don’t feel strong at all…that’s when you really start to rely on Him!! When you feel weak, you trust in the One Who is strongest of all! Weak is the best way to go through your week!
Here’s some awesome advice…
“LIVEWEAK”
Put that on your wristband!!
A note from Tom: April 15th
Hope you’re having an awesome, praise-filled day! How could you not?! Has there ever been a spring like this one!? Dogwoods, redbuds, tulips, azaleas, weeping cherries, tulip trees…all together!
“Praise the LORD from the earth…you mountains and all hills, fruit trees…” (Psalm 148)
Praise is bustin’ out all over! Shhh…listen….hear it?
Speaking of praise, I was praising God when I got to the end of that Knoxville marathon I ran in the other week! For a while I thought I was going to see Him face to face and not just praise Him! We ended up in Neyland Stadium on the 50 yard line, up on the jumbotron…45 feet tall and lookin’ worse than ever!
There were times before the gun went off that I wondered, “Why’d I sigh up for this?” During the race, I’d ask myself, “Why’m I doing this?” At the end, I went home with this question, “Why’d I do that!?”
Kinda like Columbus. They say he left, not knowing where he was going. He arrived not knowing where he was. He returned home, not knowing where he’d been.
After the first confusing few miles running in the dark, drowsiness, and drizzle, I heard a friendly voice…Bill Boucher! It was soooo awesome to have someone to run with! We talked, laughed, and kept each other encouraged! Only problem-Bill was just running the half marathon. At 13.1, he was checkin’ out. In fact, at about 10 miles, the finish line was calling, and he headed for the home stretch.
At 14 miles…running alone…alone…getting tired…
”Do my feet hurt? You guys OK down there?...Yikes! Is that a blister? What if I get a blister?...Oops! ‘Scuse me, dude!”
Near Broadway and Central, I had kind of bumped into someone I didn’t notice behind me. Jeff Matlock from Nashville. A real-estate agent and member of Belmont Baptist Church. Married with three growing kids…two are twins. Runs fifteen marathons a year with his wife. Used to be an assistant with Pat Summit.
How do I know all this?
We ran the whole rest of the way together! I thought I’d bumped him. We got talking and I asked him how fast we were going …He had one of those new GPS watched that looks like a small TV and tells you where you are, how fast you’re going, how far you’ve been, how hard your heart is beating…it tells you everything except why you shouldn’t quit!
I asked him how fast he was hoping to run this thing. His answer was about what I hoped to do.
“Do you mind if I just run with you? It’ll sure make it easier to have some company!” I asked.
“Sure!” he said.
“Tell me if I’m talking your head off,” I told him
“Doesn’t bother me!” he assured me.
We talked, shared, laughed the rest of the way! Couple o’ times I had to tie my shoes, but I caught up with him again. I’m not sure how that race would have come out without someone to run it with! It just made it go by faster.
It just made it….easier!
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” (Heb 12.1)
We all have a race to run. It may be a while before the finish. There may be some hills. We may have to run in the rain. We might even have dogs chasing us. We may be fast. We may be slow. We just can’t quit.
One of the things that makes this looooong run easier, is having someone running with you. Someone to share with. Someone to run beside you. Someone to keep you encouraged. Someone who may need you to encourage them sometimes. Someone who is determined to make it to the end.
Without quitting.
Someone like you.
It just makes it…easier.
Community groups…every Sunday at 9:30…
Run to one!
A note from Tom: April 1st
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having an awesome day….on this Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, when brothers and sisters in Christ around the world stop to remember the price that was paid so that they COULD be brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, our Risen Lord! Some times I think it’s tough for some people to know how to have an awesome week on this the holiest of weeks because they don’t know what they are supposed to feel. Easter Sunday is a day filled with PRAIIIISSSEEE! …because we remember our Lord is alive!! But what about the days before…?
“How am I supposed to feel on Maundy Thursday? What does it even mean?”
“Maundy” comes the Latin phrase “mandatum novum” which means “a new commandment”. It’s to remind us of the night Jesus shared that Supper in the upper room with His guys…the night He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another…”
Love for people would be good to feel on that day…and every day.
“But what about Good Friday? Why do they call it ‘good’ if you have to remember the saddest hours of all of time? How can you have a ‘good Friday’ on the saddest day?”
Actually, the phrase, “Good Friday” comes from “God’s Friday” because it was the day God bought and paid for us so we could be “God’s on Friday”…and everyday! And that’s a reason to be glad!
But at the same time, it’s easy to feel like, “Y’know, I’m hesitant to celebrate anything on that day because it was so, so, so sad for Him. It was the day that darkness was over all the earth. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel on Good Fridays…or what I will feel when this Good Friday comes.”
One Who was not in any way confused about what He would feel on that awful, awesome day, was the One Whose suffering put out the lights of the world.
Mark 10 says, “They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him…”
Luke 9 says, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem…”
The old King James puts it like this…”he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem…”
Isaiah predicted that He would be resolved, resolute, in no way tentative or hesitant to do what He came to do.
“I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be confused. Therefore have I set my face like flint…”
A flint was an arrowhead. The cross was His target and He was soaring toward it!
He had no hesitation or confusion about that day. He felt the same way about it from the day He was born in Bethlehem. Hebrews 10 says that on that first Christmas morning, in His tiny, baby heart these words from Psalm 40 were ringing:
“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me…Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll-I have come to do your will, O God!' "
No confusion. No hesitation. He came to buy you. His whole heart was it…in doing what the Father sent Him to do.
“This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life…No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will…”
At 2:00 pm on January 1, 1863 as President Lincoln was getting ready to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing three and a half million people in one bold move … a move many bitterly and unmercifully criticized him for… thousands waited “in agony…for the first flash of the electric wires”…for the news that he had done it. “Every moment of waiting chilled our hopes and strengthened our fears” that it might not happen…that the President might turn back.
They had to wait just one moment longer.
The President was so emotional…and he was so tired from shaking hands all day…that his own hand was trembling.
He stopped and put the freshly dipped pen down on the desk. “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper. If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the Proclamation, all who examine the document hereafter will say, ‘He hesitated.’”
So, he waited. Then, when his hand was calm and steady, he took up the pen, “slowly and carefully” signing his name. And “the signature proved to be unusually bold, clear, and firm, even for him.”
“A. Lincoln”
Jesus had no hesitation or confusion. He was resolute. He would do what it would take to set you free and make you His. He would sign our emancipation in His sacred blood…”bold, clear and firm”.
So, what am I supposed to feel? Maybe I’m still not sure if I should happy or sad on Friday.
But I will love Him! And I’ll praise Him.
A note from Tom: March 25th
Hey everyone!
Wow! What an awesome day! What a day to praise God’s goodness to us all! Sunshine, warmin’ up, $3,330 on their way to Compassion International Haiti from Triple C (Jesus turned water to wine and rummage to rice!), daffadils every where, tulips almost here, dogwood buds swellin’…what a day!
What a day to have joy in our heart! “Cept that…
Lots a people are super upset today!…Seems like all over our country folks everywhere REALLLLY disagree over what should or shouldn’t have been done about health-care. Much of it is complicated.
So much of this involves words…Words that I personally struggle to understand! Like…
the “public option”
“market-based exchanges”
insurance purchasing pools
the “Cadillac tax”
a “reconciliation bill”…
I may not be alone in trying to get my mind around these terms. I know there are really smart people who understand all these words. But apparently many people are convinced that at least they know what all these words mean, because there is a lot of anger, bitterness, yelling, screaming, threatening, even spitting over these words (I read about congressmen who were spit on this week). I know these issues are very serious. I know it’s important for us to try to understand these words. I know it’s our right to have our own heart-felt opinions about what they mean to each of us.
But to me it’s so sad that so many smart men and women can’t talk to each other about these problems in ways that seek to understand what is important to the other side. I don’t understand why smart people don’t try to understand each other better.
Another thing grieves me. I don’t remember a recent time when our country was so full of anger, bitterness, hurtfulness and hate.
Maybe being smart isn’t the same as being wise. Maybe smart people don’t know words that wise people know.
The Letter of James is full of words about “wisdom” …what it is…what wise people are like. No matter where people stand on these difficult questions, there are words that only wise people know. Check it out. Really. Read this slowly…how many wise people do you know?
(James 3:13-18) “(13) Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But (14) if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
(15) Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven… (16) For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
(17) But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (18) Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”
That Scripture is full of lots of words wise people need to know!
Ready for a vocab lesson? Pencils ready?
If you have…(verse 14) “bitter evil”- (Greek) “zelon pikron”…zeal or passion that leaves a hurtful bitterness, a bitter taste…
“selfish ambition” (Greek) “erithea”…(according to A.T. Robertson, Baptist scholar 1863-1934) ” a pushing forward for personal ends, partisanship…”
That kind of attitude leads to (verse 16)”…disorder…” (Greek) “akatastasia”, “a state of disorder, confusion…”
Sound familiar?
Here’s what God’s wisdom looks like…No matter where you stand on the issues, according to God, wise people stand like this. Wisdom is (and wise people are)…
“peacable” (Greek) “ereinike”…” loving peace… bringing peace…”
“considerate, gentle”…(Greek) “epieike”…kind, gentle, sweet, reasonable, meek, fair…”
“submissive”…(Greek) “eupeithe”…”easily persuadable, approachable, compliant, good at listening, not a ‘know-it-all’…”
“merciful”…(Greek) “eleou”…”full of mercy, doing good…”
James adds that wise people are “peace-makers who sow seeds of peace…”
Sure wish more people knew those words!
Wish there were more wise people around!
Wish we could all have our opinions…firm, strong opinions…but with Jesus’s peace-ableness, meekness, gentleness, sweetness, approachableness, mercifulness…
It’s tough to do. Maybe only those who know Jesus CAN do this. I know that those who love Jesus SHOULD do this.
Wisdom. Let it start with those who love the Prince of Prince, Who is “meek and lowly of heart”.
Let it start with us!
“Sowing seeds of peace”…What a beautiful spring day for that!