Weekly e-News February 12

Hey, everyone!

Hope you’re having an awesome day! Even tho’ some might be a little more…uh…sad...and/or a little more grumpyish… than normal because of the Lenten season! Lent is the time when so many give up things for the 40 days before Easter. I know it’s tougher to have to do without stuff that you like (love!) more than you realized. Like those commercials for the patch that helps you stop smoking… 

“Side effects may include increased irritability…”

Y’think?! 

A while ago, someone took a Twitter survey of 300,000 tweets that were tweeted (or is it “that were twit”?) asking folks what they were planning to give up for Lent. Many of the choices were pretty traditional…meat (in tenth place)…chocolate (number two)…sex (eighth out of the top one hundred)…ice cream (thirty third)…

Some of the things that people quit for Lent were choices saints of old couldn’t have chosen, like…Facebook (#6)…social networking (#23)…twitter (#1!).

In fact, by far the most "Things I'm giving up for Lent" tweets had to do with renouncing social media, including Twitter. So, hopefully the tweet to renounce Twitter was the last tweet before going Twitterless! Maybe it'd be a good time to go on a spiritual retweat! 

Then there was…”biting my nails”… “Nutella”… “sarcasm”… “”procastination” (better now than later!)

Some stuff seems like it would be super difficult to go without…

…"#16-bread" (How you supposed to live like that?)

…"#5-swearing" (That's gonna be pretty dang tough!)

…"#55-selfies" (Some folks might not know their phone can take pictures even if it's turned around the other way!)

One I liked was number twenty…“giving things up”! As in, “I’m giving up giving up things!”

I guess I liked that one because I’m not a huge Lenten person. I think it is an awesome exercise for those who really benefit from it! But it’s not really a season I understand well. Sometimes, when I read about it, the basic idea is that you are preparing your heart for Easter by trying to relive the days and weeks before our Lord’s death for us. By depriving yourself of something you love, you enhance the sadness and heaviness of heart that accompanied those who lived those days. Churches and crosses within and without are draped in black. Almost as if nature itself is mourning Him. As one article put it “Christians have ritually reenacted for millennia in the observance of Lent and, especially, of Holy Week. The fasting of Lent makes space for the feasting of Easter; wallowing in the horror of death makes space for glorying in the hope of the Resurrection.”

Then, when it’s finally Easter morning, we are filled with joy with the renewed realization that He is alive!! 

Only thing is…

To me, it almost feels like I’m trying to pretend. Like “Let’s pretend” when we were kids. It feels to me sometimes that at Lent I’m trying to pretend that my Lord is about to die. I’m trying to pretend that we are in the days leading to His death. Then, we’ll celebrate that He’s risen and alive on Easter Sunday. But for now, during Lent I’m pretending He isn’t risen yet.

But that’s a game I already play too much.

Sometimes I forget to remember that my Savior is alive! He lives!! If I could only realize all the time that He is Risen Lord of all, and King of kings! He rules over everything that happens! Because Jesus rose from the tomb and reigns on His throne…

because “the Lion of the tribe of Judah has overcome (Revelation 5.5)…

and because from His throne, “He works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1.11)…

and because from there, my Risen Lord is “working all things together for good for us” (Romans 8.28)…

and because He lives for us, “alive from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13.20)…

because of these things…

I never have to worry about anything again! Because He lives!! And reigns!!

I need to NEVER forget that again!

In fact, because our Lord Jesus is alive and risen for us, and because He lives inside of all of us who love and trust Him, giving us power to be different than we’ve ever been, there are lots of things we should give up for Lent! Things like…

…“negativity” (# 96)

… “complaining” (in 85th place)

…and “being mean” (coming in at 93)

There are plenty of things I should give up for Lent! Not because Jesus hasn’t yet risen from the dead.

But because He has!

Weekly e-News January 22

Hey, everyone!

Hope you're having a praise-filled, peace-filled, joy-filled week! In fact, if your week is filled with those, there isn't much room left for anything else!

It's been an eventful week around here! Well, actually, it's been uneventful.

What I mean is, something happened that I don't remember.

I mean, I remember that something didn't happen.

I mean…

Yikes! I'm confusing myself! Lemme explain…

I was in this conversation on Tuesday, and I thought of something smart-alecky to say. Actually, it was dumb-alecky. It would have been probably hurtful and stupid in other ways. Normally, that doesn't stop me for a second. I'll just say whatever and than feel cruddy for a while and wish I hadn't. Y'know how you're deciding, "Should I eat this? It will be awesome for a few minutes, but will probably make me feel gross for most of the afternoon…What the heck! Let's go for it!" 

And I do. And it does.

But our Lord said what's even worse for feeling polluted and cruddy, isn't what goes in that mouth but what comes out of it! Check this! 

"Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them…Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them…" (Matthew 15.11)

Wow. I know that feeling!

Anyhooo, for whatever reason, on this day I stopped just for a second and prayed in my heart, "Lord Jesus, should I say this? What do You say?" Immediately I knew.  

"Nope! Don't!"

And I didn't.

"Hmmm…How does that feel, buddy?” 

“Good!"

I don't even remember what we were talking about or what I was fixin' to say. But if I'd have said it, I guarantee I'd remember what it was! And why I still feel cruddy about saying it!

This morning I was reading in Luke, chapter 22 when our Lord was arrested. And, with the soldiers gathered, Peter pulled a sword out and whacked a dude's ear off! 

Yow! I hate when that happens! 

Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear!" That soldier (John tells us his name was Malchus) still had his ear…but in his hand! He would have struggled to hear about Jesus for more than one reason! 

Billy Graham's wife, Ruth once wrote a poem about him.

"I knew a Malchus once.

Severely wounded by Peter's sword;

Crazed by anger, dazed by pain,

He thrust aside with awful pride

That Gentle Hand whose touch alone

Could make him whole again."

One thing, tho’…

This morning I was reading over there in Luke 22 and I noticed something. Just before the blade flashed and his ear splashed, the guys yelled, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 

What?! They asked?!

"Wait for the answer, Pete!!"

"But one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear."

Way t' go.

If he'd waited and listened, he would have heard, "None of this!"

Instead he heard, "No more of this!" (Luke 22.51)

Instead of, "Don't do it!", he heard, "Don't do it anymore!"

The difference? A couple of seconds and an ear, bloody-side down in the dirt.

Y'know how many of the Gospels in the New Testament tell the tale of the bloody ear? All four of 'em! And if Peter had waited just a few seconds more, it would have been told in…none of them!

I guess, when it's all said and done (or, all NOT said, and NOT done!), my favorite quote of the week was the one I didn't say!

And some of my best memories of the week are the things that I don't remember because they didn't happen!

I'm gonna try to make that happen more!

Weekly e-News January 15

Hey, everyone!

Hope you're having an awesome day, filled with praise and thanks! And, by the way, thanks for stopping by and reading this CCC Friday email! We want to make it worth your while and our hope here at Triple C is that you'll be encouraged and maybe even learn a thing or two…So, with that in mind, here are some fun and useful facts to start your day! Did you know…

Today is January 15, which makes this the fifteenth day of 2016…

But there are 351 days left in the year…not 350, as you might suppose…because this is a leap year! 

Also, there are only 64 more days 'til spring! 

Here's something else you might not know…

On this date…January 15, 1967, the Packers beat the Chiefs in the very first Super Bowl! 

(Wow! That was a looooong time ago! I bet the halftime show was somebody like Bing Crosby or Mozart!)

Also, on this date in 1559, “Queen Elizabeth was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey…”

Good cow! She’s had that job a long time! 

Wait a sec…’scuse me for a minute, everyone…

(What’d you say, babe? …there’s been more than one named that?)

Correction. Queen Elizabeth the FIRST started her new job on this date in 1559. There’s been more than one named Queen Elizabeth.

Here's a fun fact I learned yesterday! The system that measures in millimeters and centimeters is the metrics system. The one that measures in inches, feet, and yards is called (do you know?)...the imperial system! 

How did I not know that 'til yesterday? 

(Come to think of it, during the fourth grade, I was pretty distracted.)

Here's another thing I learned yesterday. Your keyboard on your computer has 400 times more bacteria than your toilet!

Isn't it cool to learn stuff? Aren't you glad you're reading this!?

More fun facts for January…

Since it's resolution season, wanna know what is “Resolution Numero Uno” in America? It's "lose weight"!!   "Quit smoking", "save money", and "be an overall better person" all tied for third.  59% of Americans under 45 years old made New Years resolutions, while only 28% of those over 45 made any. 

And now from the “Practical Advice For Daily Living” department of your FridayTriple C email…

Since we’re on the subject of resolutions…

I guess as people get older, they realize quitting stuff is hard. I was looking for articles on the best ways to break bad habits and found one by the American Association of Dental Health on how to quit chewing tobacco. Apparently, it's super tough to stop. (Probably also super tough to start!)

Their advice?

"1) Make up your mind to quit."

 "2)Pick a date you're going to quit…” (and it has to be in this decade!)

"3) List your reasons"... Such as…

    "…To avoid oral health problems"

    "…I have sores or white spots in my mouth"

    "…To set a good example for my kids"

    "…To save money"

    "…Dipping tobacco is discussing"…(duh!)

    "…My girlfriend hates it"

    "…My wife hates it"…

Wow. Those last two reasons were weird! If his girlfriend AND his wife hate it, seems to me there's something he needs to quit even more than dippin’!

And here’s some more useful info! (“News You Can Use”, we call it!)…

Mark your calendar for May 28! It will be a special day at Turner Field in Atlanta where the Braves play! You know what bobbleheads are, right? Little statues of baseball players where the oversized head “bobbles” all the time? Well, on May 28, they’re giving one out with future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones on a ATV four-wheeler with first baseman, Freddie Freeman on the back! Seems that a couple of years ago, Freddie was trapped in stopped traffic for eleven hours during an awful snow and ice storm on the Atlanta freeway and with the last of his phone battery, tweeted for help. Chipper Jones, a famous tweeter himself, read the tweet and jumped on his ATV and rescued Freddie! To commemorate this heroic deed…a bobblehead! 

And finally, here’s today’s verse, just for you…

It’s Hebrews 6, verse 10…

“God is not unrighteous and He will now forget your work of faith and labor of love that you show to His name, in that you serve the saints and continue to do so…”

That means that anything you do for someone today because you love Jesus…

no matter how small it might seem to you…

no matter of you don’t even think about it again…

and don’t even remember that you ever did it…

will NEVER be forgotten!!

God will always remember it!! Because you did it out of love for Him! 

Today…January 15, 2016 could be a day never to be forgotten for all eternity!

You may not get a bobblehead for it…

But they never look like the person anyway.

Weekly e-News January 8

Hey everyone!

Now that your tree's down and your left-­overs are just "overs", I really hope you had a “First-Week­-of-the­-New-­Year” filled with praise and thanks! In fact, you should just really resolve as your New Year’s Resolution Numero Uno to have a 2016 daily filled with praise and thanks so,…

Whoa. 

Wait. 

Maybe that's not such a good idea.

I mean, praise and thankfulness are like the most important components of your heart's health, but apparently resolutions aren't the steps to getting there!

Seems that when folks resolve that "first of all, from now on, I'm going to never..." 

or…

”Secondly, from now on, I'm always going to...", it actually ups the chances that you "will" the first (instead of "won't" it), and "won't" the second (instead of "will" it)!

When determined hearts resolve, and make resolutions that "from now on", they're going to stop doing something bad they've always done, or start doing something they should do but rarely have, success rates are less than impressive! 

For a week or so, we do swell!  76% keep their resolutions that long. But six months down the Resolution Trail, 54 to 60 % have stumbled to the curb! 

60% of all gym memberships are unused.

After six months, 85% of those who resolve to be “ex-­smokers", ain't.

Even when you add accountability, the percentages stay constant. In fact, getting someone to help you can actually make things worse! Sometimes, we just don't know how to say the right thing at the right time...One determined weight­ watcher asked her husband if he could encourage her in her journey back down to her former weight."I'm just trying to get in shape!" she said.

Trying to be helpful he encouragingly noted, ”Round's a shape!"

Not helpful!

Waaaaay back in the 1700's a kid started to make a list of his "resolutions" he wanted to follow all his life.

He started his list when he was 19 and reviewed them every week until he died like 28 years later. By the end he had seventy resolutions! And he pretty much kept them all!

Because they weren't really "resolutions". They were really "reminders".

The "70 Resolutions" of Jonathan Edwards weren't things he was trying to start (or stop) doing, but basics he didn't want to forget! F'r instance...

"Resolved, Never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life."

In other words, remember that you don't want to die with regrets! Here's another like that one...

"Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump."

You don't want to forget that! Or this...

"I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age."

How 'bout this? Number six may be my fav...

"Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live."

In other words, ”Go for it! With all your heart!" That's amazingly easy to forget!

"Don't forget this stuff, Johnny!", he'd tell himself weekly

Most of the time, we have problems, not because we don't "resolve" well, but because we don't remember well. I have a few things I try to remember almost daily. If I get into trouble, I've usually forgotten one or two.

They're like the sayings painted over the exits on football locker rooms that all the players smack  as they head on to the field. Notre Dame's says. "Play like a champion today!"

Here are mine...

 1) ”My life is His"...Everything I have is His. He bought it with His blood. If I lose something, I'm not sad! It wasn't mine to start with!

2) ”My home is Heaven"...Not here! Good cow! If we expect to "have it all" here, we'll be disappointed all the time! I'm just passing thru this world!! On my way home!

3)”My time is today"...This is the only day I have to think about! Most of my depression, worry, and anxiety come from thinking about a day that's past or hasn't come!

4) ”My job is to serve people"...If someone doesn't treat you right, who cares? I'm just a servant (The New Testament really says "slave"!) What does a servant expect?!

5) ”My goal is to please God!" That's all I care about! I live for the smile of One! If I didn't please everybody in the whole world today, that's OK! I wasn't really trying to! If I pleased Him, it's been a great day!

6) ”My fight is for joy"...I want joy in Jesus more than anything! An invisible enemy doesn't want me to have it. So, I'm ready to fight for it! 

Every day!!

7) ”My strength is weakness"...If I know I can't do stuff or face things on my own...Hello!!! I wasn't made to! I'm poor, weak, and needy! As he says in 2 Cor 12, "When I'm weak, I'm strong!" In Him!! My weaknesses...I love 'em!

I don't have seventy. Just seven.

I'm probably not going to resolve to start doing things I don't do this coming year. I'm just going to renew my resolve to remember things I already know!

Weekly e-News December 18

Hey, everyone!
 
Hope all this week, you’re having a holly jolly Christmas and in case you didn’t hear, Oh! By Golly, have a holy jolly Christmas… this year! 
 
“Holly jolly”?!
 
Wow! Where’d that come from? Is that a Christmas song?! 
 
Oh, yeah…I think that’s from the Rudolph we used to watch every year. I tried to show it to Desi and Quincy a week ago. After about four minutes, Q walked out of the room saying, “Booooooring!”
 
But the song apparently has a home in my brain somewhere, ‘cause I just quoted it without thinking about it! There’s lots of Christmas musical residue way back in our mental storage  that you might not be purposely thinking about but can just happen to tumble out at this time of year…
 
Did you know that you  might hum or whistle about Bob, the Christmas horse without even knowing it? Think about it…
 
“Dashing thru the snow in a one-horse open sleigh…O’er the hills we go, laughing all the way! Bells on Bob’s tail ring, making spirits bright…
 
So…who’s Bob? There may possibly, serendipitously be a guy named Bob riding in the sleigh but this one has a tail. With bells on it. Does Bob? The sleigh is the one-horse variety. Unless there is a Christmas squirrel in it with y’all, my vote is that the jingly tail belongs to Bob, the horse. 
 
Actually, “Jingle Bells” doesn’t mention Christmas anywhere.
 
“Chestnuts roasting on an open-fire…”
 
Mmmmm! One of our favorite Christmas thoughts! Ever had one? Ever smelled one? In Italy, almost every chimney has a chain hanging down with a hook for the steel chestnut basket, so they can roast ‘em over it. Folks forage around in the woods, gather the “castagne” and invite everyone over for a “castagnata” (chestnut roast). My humble opinion is that the smell is pretty stinky and eating one is worse. Tastes like mushy, burnt wood. Not a fan, personally.
 
I like the song, tho’! 
 
“Altho’ it’s been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas toooo yooooouuuu!”
 
I love Christmas songs! As I type this, I’m listening to an album of Christmas songs in Swedish! Don’t understand a word, but it’s all about Christmas and my heart overflows! I just love Christmas and its songs! Almost all of them…
 
So, why don’t I like the one about the drummer boy? 
 
I’m ashamed to admit this. I feel terrible about it. The idea is so sweet! A poor boy offering his gift…the only one he can afford to give…to the Baby Jesus. So beautiful! But for me, the song is annoying…
 
What is wrong with me!?
 
Maybe it’s that there are too many “Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum”s. It just keeps saying it. After the first one, my heart just knows I’m going to hear this a million times before the song’s done, and a kabillion times before the season’s done. 
 
Maybe it’s because the thought of a kid banging his drum after Mary’s finally gotten the Baby to “sleep in Heavenly peace” …Ask a mom! It’s the worst idea ever! I can just hear Joseph saying, “Dude! Shut it! Out! And take that drum with you!” I’da suggested, “Kid! Write a poem to the Baby! Pick some flowers! They’re cheap! And quiet!”
 
But giving a gift…a gift I can afford to Jesus at Christmas is a beautiful thought! We may not have gold. I might not know where to buy myrrh or even know what frankincense is! But there are gifts we can give Him! 
 
And you have! 
 
At Triple C, this Christmas, (beside all those Operation Christmas Child boxes!) you’ve given 170 inmates the most amazing Christmas dinner and evening many of them have ever had in their life! You’ve given almost $1400 so that women helping women in Chicago have a new start could do it well! And you’ve given so that dozens…even hundreds!… of widows and kids in Victor’s world in India could have the only new clothes they will have this year! 
 
In Matthew’s Gospel (the one with the Wiseman in it) Jesus says that whatever you do to “the least of these My brothers, you do for Me!”
 
All of the giving you did to help those who need help is in Jesus’ heart, a gift given to Him at Christmas! What could be a better Christmas than that?!
 
And in all the rush of the season, it’s not too late! There are still a bunch of tags left on Victor’s tree! There is still time to take a tag…or a few…and give an orphan his school clothes or a widow’s dress for the New Year! And it will be a beautiful gift to Jesus!
 
“Then He smiles at you!…
Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum…
Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum…
Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum…”
 
(Just forget the drum.)
 

Weekly e-News December 11

Hey, everyone!

Hope you’re having an awesome, carol-singing, hall-decking, joy-to-the-world week of Christmasy-ness!! And with folks stressed and frazzled all around, it’s an awesome opportunity to show the love of Jesus and do something really Grinchy for someone, somewhere near you!

Well, is almost time for us to…

What?

Oh, sorry.  

“Doing something Grinchy” means doing something kind and helpful, for peace on earth, goodwill toward men. 

“But I thought the Grinch was the meanest, coldest, most hateful, most spiteful creature ever!”

Yeah. But only at the beginning. Not in the end! 

In the end he wasn’t that way! He was different! He’d changed! His heart grew three sizes in one day! He brought Christmas back to Whoville, after risking his life on the top of Mt Crumpit! "And he, the Grinch, carved the roastbeast!"

I wish folks would remember him for what he became, not what he had been! 

That song still says, “You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch!” 

It should say, “You WERE a mean one”! 

Even worse, it goes on to say stuff like,…

“You’re a nasty wasty skunk

Your heart is full of unwashed socks,

Your soul is full of gunk

Mr. Grinch…"

"You’re a rotter Mr. Grinch

You’re the king of sinful sots

Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots

Mr. Grinch…"

"The 3 words that best describe you, are as follows, and I quote

Stink, Stank, Stunk”

Maybe he WAS those things (“the king of sinful sots”…wow!), but not by the last page!

If you met him today, he’d be the sweetest creature you could ever know! To do something “Grinchy” is to do something loving with a heart full of Christmas! Because that’s who the Grinch is now! 

(Except that he doesn’t actually exist.)

It’s not about what you WERE! It’s about what God is making you now! The past is gone! It’s past! (That’s why they call it that!) You’re not who you were! You’re new! Our God doesn’t see the mess of before! He looks at us and sees…

saints! (Eph 1.1) …

Sons and daughters! (Rom. 8.14) …

Holy ones! Whole ones! His choice! Beloved! (Col 3.12) …

Beauties! (Song of Songs 1.15)

The new you…a Christmas miracle! It really DOES happen! 

And not just in stories! 

And all because of a story! 

The Christmas story! That story is different from the "How Grinch Stole Christmas" story. The Christmas story is a true story! It’s a “story” in the way they talk about a “news story” in the newspaper or on the “6:00 news”…the story of something that really happened! 

In one of his letters, the apostle Paul talks about "speaking with the tongue of…angels" Apparently, angels have an amazing language all their own! Let's just call it "cherubimese"…or "seraphimian" But when one burst thru the clouds on the first Christmas, with a message he wanted the folks to hear, he spoke in one of the languages humans speak and know! In the Greek language, he said (or sang!)…

“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy!"

The words “I bring good tidings” translate one word from that language. It's "euangelizomai"…

"Euangelion" means "good news"…and “I euangelizomai you!”  means, “I tell you good news! NEWS!! News about something that has really happened!”

It’s true! 

A savior has come! He really has! 

We’re not who we were! 

And a heart really CAN grow three sizes in one day!!

Makes you just wanna sing with all those Whos down in Whoville, the tall and the small…

“Fah who for-aze

Dah who dor-aze

Welcome Christmas

Christmas Day!

Welcome, welcome

Fah who rah-moose

Welcome,welcome

Dah who dah-moose

 

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose

Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose

Christmas Day will always be

Just so long as we have He!

 

Welcome Christmas

Dah who dah-moose

Welcome Christmas

While we stand

Heart to heart

And hand in hand

 

Fah who for-aze

Dan who dor-aze

Welcome welcome 

Christmas, Christmas Day!

Well, that’s the Good News! 

Weekly e-News December 4

Hey, everyone!
 
Hope you’re having an awesome day!
Because you sure had an awesome night!
What a Christmas dinner you gifted to 170 men desperately in need of Christmas cheer!
 
“Christmas in the Morgan County Prison!”…
Not exactly “Christmas in Rockefeller Plaza”…It was better!
350 lbs of delicious Dicky Jenkins smoked turkey!
Steamy mashed potatoes, stuffing, beans!
All prepared and served with so much Triple C love!
 
And we needed sweets, brownies, cookies for all 170 of them…and Tina counted each one to makes sure there’d be enough…
 
I think 1500(!!!) was enough!!
 
You all are so amazing! When we need help to give love and care to those without these, you have never failed!
 
How I thank God for our Triple C family!!
 
(Btw, they ate them all!)
 
And then they sang our carols…
 
and laughed as Thomas and Lee hammed up a hilarious skit…
 
and more than one hummed a warm “Amen” and let a tear trickle down as Christy and Cheryl sang of the “brave little Boy who gave up His pride and came here to die like a man”…
 
And they heard about a hope of a new start and a new heart because of Bethlehem’s Babe.
 
And they went back to their cells, full and filled and knowing folks who love Jesus care about them.
 
I’ve wondered if maybe someone secretly (and rightfully) wondered, “But these guys are criminals! America’s worst! Some of them took others’ things. Some of them took others’ lives!”
 
True.
 
Just like King David and Saul of Tarsus and John Newton did.
 
And maybe like you and I have done in our thoughts and hearts, if I understand our Lord’s own words.
 
And it’s surely true that many of them there want nothing to do with a change of heart or Jesus moving into it, making His home there. They mock Him now as those who did way back then. 
 
But many have found Him in that dark place, as He waited for them at the end of a road of brokenness and contrition. And they love Him! And others are finding Him, too!
 
And Jesus gave His blood for all of them! For those who love Him and those who never will, lost forever.
 
And He loves them all! Those who are changing and growing into His beautiful kids and those who never will.
 
And a day is coming when some of the ones I know, formerly the worst of the worst, who in the last 20 years have never walked further than the walkway to the end of the prison yard, will be glorious in His beauty, strolling down streets of paved with gold!
 
Wow! Paved with gold…Reminds me of a Scripture…
 
In the last book of the Bible, there’s a verse that says there is coming a day when everything that matters so much to folks will be lost in an hour!
 
“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
you mighty city of Babylon!
In one hour your doom has come!’
“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore, cargoes of…
 
gold
 silver
  precious stones and pearls
   fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth
    every sort of citron wood
     articles of every kind made of ivory
      costly wood
       bronze
        iron and marble
         cargoes of cinnamon and spice
          incense, myrrh and frankincense
           wine and olive oil
            fine flour and wheat
             cattle and sheep
              horses and carriages
               slaves and…
                 the souls of men…” (Revelation 18:10-13)
 
It is so sad to think that we live in a world where, when a list is made of what matters most to so many, gold is at the top and souls are at the bottom!
 
But here’s another verse from that wonderful book!…
 
“And the angel showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.…The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass…
 
And then…
 
“The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city…and they will see his face…There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light…And they will reign for ever and ever!”
 
It’s the Great Flip!
 
When we were in charge, gold was on the top and souls were on the bottom!
When Jesus is finally King of all, we will sit on thrones above and we will walk on golden streets below our feet!
 
Souls on top! 
 
Gold on bottom!

Weekly e-News November 20

hEY , EVer yonE!

hop e YoUR day i s goiin g awESomelY ! ..  .  filLeD with prai se anf thankfkkNeSs oon thiss awrsomme tHAnklsgivin g wEek !! 

tthis mAy be a lttlle toUUgH tto rEAd becaUUse i’’M praccctiCInG. … .

Ok, That’s enough of that.

(Sorry, everyone.)

I know that may have been a little tough to read but I was practicing typing with my left hand only. I don’t type well in any case (I type biblically… my left hand doesn’t know what my right is doing!) but for the next while I’ll be typing, brushing my teeth, eating (and slopping my raisin bran everywhere!) using only my left hand. The other, smarter hand is gonna be taking a sabbatical…doing that sling-thing for a few weeks…

Remember that time when it was really snowy and icy out and you thought, “Wow! What a beautiful day to go jogging in this winter wonderland!!” And then you had a subsequent thought, “No, wait. That would not be a wise choice! There might be… in fact, there WOULD be…an elevated risk of falling out there! It would be truly STUPID to go jogging in these treacherous meteorological conditions!! One slip and…BAM! You would’ve really messed yourself up! How could anyone have such poor judgement?!” ?

Apparently, not everyone is as smart as you.

Sooooo….

Somebody I know is having to have surgery next week on an apparently “huuuuuuuge” rotator cuff tear. It happened in the snow and ice storm back in February…So, it was in the winter, but he got it in the “fall”! 

(Do you remember that ice storm? Do you remember that there might have been a moment around 10:15 when you felt the earth shake a little, just for less than one second?) 

Anyhooo…looking at a month with my good hand in a sling, I feel a little like Yogi Berra when he said, “I’d give my right arm to be ambidexterous!”

And I’ve been taking an inventory of all the activities I won’t be doing for a while, while my dominant hand is on vacation…

No shifting gears in my truck.

No placing “your right hand over your heart for the playing of our National Anthem”.

No pulling my wallet out of that back pocket (it’s gonna look like yoga every time I have to get out my library card!).

Let’s see…

Oh, man! I just thought of this! How sad!

No clapping!

I LOVE clappping in church!!

It’s easy!

It’s fun!

It makes me feel like I’m really “giving up the praise”! Like I’m saying before the Lord, “Let it go! Let it go! Can’t hold it back anymore!”!

And to sing, praise, and clap your hands is biblical! God wants you to!

Psalm 47 says, “Clap your hands, all you peoples!” (you’re a people, ain’t ya?)

“Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”

Y’know, a few folks have asked me if there’s anything they could do while I’ll be “slung” and I couldn’t really think of anything. This summer, Tina and I kinda had a joke when it got close to 10:00 and the Braves would be behind again in the seventh or eighth inning…

She’s say, “Well, I better go brush my teeth…”

And I’d say, “Could you brush mine while yer in thar?”

I’ve been practicing left-handed brushing and I’m not very good at. I’m getting one of those battery toothbrushes that go in circles so she doesn’t actually have to brush hers and mine, too!

But, I did think of one thing you could do for me that I can’t for myself…

You could clap while we sing!

If you don’t clap, do!

If you do, clap louder!

“Cause I would if I could, but I can’t!

You know, when you clap and sing His praises with us…even when you don’t feel like it… it is soooo good for you! Even if you don’t feel like it, your will is telling your mind that there are a million reasons why you should! 

And your heart gets the message! 

And there may be someone beside…maybe right behind you…with a heavy or discouraged heart. Maybe they don’t feeling like singing to Him…

But they hear you sing! And they see you clap! And your singing tells their will to tell their mind that there are a million reasons to do it! 

And their heart gets the message!

From yours!

((i’’  m  goiin g to pracTt tice thhis lft-haNded stUfF a liiTtle moR e. .. .   )

Weekly e-News November 13

Hey, everyone!
 
Hope this Friday finds you filled with peace and a restful heart!
 
…Which I personally struggle to enjoy some (mostofthe) times! 
 
I love those Sonic commercials…y'know the ones where those two guys are in the car at
Sonic having a crazy conversation?
 
Like the one where the guy always driving says…
“Wow! This raspberry iced tea is awesome.”
 
And the goofier guy (always in the passenger side) says, thoughtfully…
“I wonder why t…”
 
First guy… “What!?”
 
Other guy…
“Why raspberry iced ’t’? Why not rapsberry iced ‘m’? Why not one of the other of the 48 letters?”
 
“First of all, that’s way too many letters.”
 
“I know how many letters there are in the alphabet!”
 
“May I sub-respond before you finish?”
 
“Sure.”
 
“Do you?”
 
Anyway, the one that got me a little choked up and kinda helped me was the one where the
kind of "dorky" guy and his wife were at Sonic drinking something with
coffee in it. And he said, "I'm so glad we're not at one of those
fancy coffee shops. They're so intimidating.”
 
"What do you mean, intimidating", she asks.
 
"You know…you're in the line and the guy in front of you gets a half-caff moka
grande frappacino and you feel like you have to get something half or caff and
you don't want to, you just want coffee but you feel like you can't because
everybody's there expecting you to get something either half or caff and
they're so stuck up and you're just standing there in line AND THEY'RE ALL
READING POETRY ANDTALKINGABOUTPOLITICSAND…!!!”
 
"Whoa. Whoa! WHOOOOAAA!! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!", his wife says!
 
I know that feeling. 
 
Not about coffee but about getting frazzled with
thoughts that are running away from me. And they've kidnapped my
heart's peace before they take off.
 
"Today I have to do this. But I also have to be thinking about that
problem that's coming up. But one thing that's bothering me is that if
this other thing happens, I'm not sure I have the answer and I WON'T
BE ABLE TO GET TO THE THINGS I HAVE TO DO
ANDWHATIFTHEYALLHAPPENTOGETHER?WHATWILLIDO…!!!"
 
This morning I heard the Holy Spirit say gently to me, "Whoa. Whoa!
WHOA! Get a hold of yourself, son!"
 
It wasn't in words I heard, but in words I read. 
 
From a book written 2700 ago but it felt like today's newspaper.
 
Listen to this.
 
Isaiah 30. 15…”This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel,
says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and
trust is your strength…"
 
And further on He adds, "The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the
effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever"
(32.17)
 
"Whoa! Just be quiet. Shhhhh."
 
Quiet your heart! Let anxiety's noise get still. Stop your thoughts
long enough to think….
 
God knows about it all. 
 
He cares about you. 
 
He knows what He will do. 
 
It will be just in time and just the right thing.
 
Shhhhh….
 
I have a friend who always says to me at the end of a conversation,
"God's peace, my brother". He ends letters with…
 
"Peace of God, 
Buddy"
 
So I wish that to us all today.
 
Shhhhhh…Peace of God, y’all…

Weekly e-News November 6th

Hey everyone!

Hope you’re having an awesome day! Looks like rain will be with us ‘til Saturday!  I was looking up to see if more was coming, when I saw something amazing! A “V” of geese flew overhead (well, not directly overhead, thankfully!), honking and flapping in perfect formation!

Ever wonder why geese fly in a V formation? Scientist have been studying this for years and years. All they know to this point is that somehow geese know that it’s a whole lot easier that way! When geese fly in a V, they can fly up to 71% further than one goose can, flying alone! And the heart rate of a goose flying solo is 40% higher while flying than a goose flying in formation!

How do birds know that it’s easier to fly together? How do they know you can fly further and with less effort when you “V-up”? How do the geese know this if scientists have just discovered these facts?! All you can say is…

They just do! 

It’s instinctive!

Y’know, we’re like geese in some ways! Sure we don‘t have feathers or lay eggs (some honk when they travel more than they should..) but as we sail through this world toward our heavenly home, it’s easier when we “flock” together! 

When we fly in a “V”, if you will.

When we get together… 

to encourage each other… 

to tell each other, “You matter to me!”…

to pray for each other…

to travel our journey together…

it just makes it easier and you can go further! 

How do we know? 

We just do! It’s just instinctive!

Paul writes to us in Romans 12 10, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” See the word, “devoted”? In the Greek language Paul wrote this in originally, this word is “philostorgos”. It’s really two words put together. “Philia” means “love between friends” and “storgos” is the love that you instinctively feel in a family for your parents or your kids. Some believe “storgos” is related to the word “stork”. Storks fly in formations, too! 

“Philostorgos” means something like “having that love close friends feel for each other…instinctively!” If you love Jesus, it is just instinctive to want to be around other people who feel about Him the same way you do! It’s just natural to want to have that “philia”…that “love between friends” with others who love Him!

That’s why it’s a joy to see folks out, drinking coffee and sharing their day, joys, or cares, or just gathering up to watch ball games together…

That’s why we try to eat together at church at times (like this Sunday! See below…)

That’s why we have what we call “community groups” on Sunday mornings at 9:30. It’s a time to just be together with and encourage those who love Jesus like you do. It’s a time when we share how our week and our life is going. It’s a time to share around God’s Word…to share what it means to each one. It’s especially a time when, just by showing up, you’re saying to all of us, “You matter to me! There’s no place I’d rather be this morning than with my church family…’cause I care about you! You’re important to me” 

When you’re not there, we have to flap harder.

I guess Paul’s saying, “That’s something that you ought to just instinctively feel if you have Jesus in you. Not only does the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures tell you this, but “flying in a flock” ought to just be instinctive! 

We need each other! 

Others need you! 

If you tend to not really make time for friends (the real kind, not the FB ones)…

if someone needs your encouraging call…

even if you’ve not really made up your mind to be in a community group…

Follow your instincts! 

Join the formation! 

HONK! HONK!

Weekly e-News October 30

Hey, everyone!

Ain’t it excitin’? 

The thrills!…Chills!…Kids out late!…Some people dressed up in colorful outfits! (I saw a guy dressed like a moose!)…Unhealthy food!…

Late October and your thoughts turn to…

No! Not that dopey holiday! 

I’m talking about the World Series!

There’s a guy who wears moose antlers when the Royals are at home in Kansas City because his favorite player is third baseman, Mike Moustakas! When he comes to the plate, it sounds like the fans are booing but they’re calling his name! “Mooooooooo!”

Tuesday’s game made tons of history!!

For one thing, Michael Conforto,a rookie with the Mets, with his RBI became the first person ever to knock in a run in the Little League World Series, College World Series, and the Major League World Series!

The Mets inimitable Bartolo Colon (42 years, 157 days) on Tuesday, became the oldest pitcher to lose a World Series game!

The first game of the Series was the longest opening game in history! FOURTEEN innings!

And when the Royals came to the plate for the bottom of the first inning, the first pitch was sent to the center field wall and gave the batter, Alcides Escobar enough time to run as fast as he could around all the bases and home! An amazing opening “inside the park” home run! Hasn’t happened in the opening at-bat since Patsy Dougherty did it in 1903!

We’ll see what happens tonite!

Speaking of history and home runs…

Maybe one of the longest ever wasn’t hit in the World Series. Sadly, there was a time (before Jackie Robinson) when some of the greatest players of all time didn’t get to play in it because African American weren’t allowed to participate in the Major Leagues. They had formed leagues of their own…

There was a player in the African American league named Josh Gibson who, during the ‘30’s and 40’s, hit almost 800 homers in 17 years! His lifetime average was over .350! Many called him “the black Babe Ruth”, although in the African American league, they called Babe Ruth, “the white Josh Gibson”! Once he hit a homer in Yankee Stadium that reached the wall above the center field bleachers...580 feet! They said another time, that he hit a homer in Baltimore that flew out of sight and never came down. The next night, he was playing in Washington, and a ball dropped out of the sky into center field in the middle of the game. The fielder happened to see it and caught it. Gibson was called out...from the night before!

Maybe the most famous World Series homer…and one of the most controversial moments in the history of baseball, was the Babe’s “called shot” for a home run in the  fifth inning of the third game of the ‘32 World Series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

‘Course, Babe wasn’t a stranger to controversies. In 1930, as the Depression gripped the nation, he signed a contract that paid him more than any player ever. And more than President Hoover made! Someone asked him, “Aren’t you uneasy about making more than the President?” “Nope.” the Bambino replied. “I had a better year than him.”

Anyway, with the Yanks up two games in the Series, and the game tied 4-4 in the fifth, Ruth was at the plate with the count two balls, two strikes…

That’s when he yelled something at the pitcher and made a pointing gesture. 

Some say he pointed at the Chicago dugout. Some say it was toward pitcher’s mound. Most say it was toward the center field wall...as in, “There’s where this next pitch is going!” And it did! 480 feet over the flagpole! Across the nation, folks heard Tom Manning yell, "The ball is going…going…goooooing…high into the center field stands...and it is a HOME RUN!"

An unknown film of the 1932 at-bat surfaced in the ‘80’s, but still it’s hard to tell if Babe was just pointing or predicting the impending home run. One reporter said that if all the people who said they were there and saw Babe call the shot, were put in one stadium, it’d have to hold 500,000 fans! Charlie Root, the one who threw the pitch, denied for the rest of his life that Babe pointed to center field. “If he’d pointed to center field like that, I woulda beaned him with that pitch in the ear!”

It would have been (or maybe it WAS) pretty outrageous for someone to be so confident in his abilities that he could predict what would happen to the next ball across the plate! But I read something yesterday that was a million times...even a kabillion times!...more certain! Check it...

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus...He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 1.4, 8)

Wow! Paul’s saying, “I KNOW you’re gonna make it to the end! I know God will hit a homer with you!”

Y’gotta remember that these believers were having problems! Couldn’t get along...some drinking too much...yucky sex messes going on...It wasn’t looking too promising!

But the apostle knew his Lord and King! He is able to change us! He is able to bring us back! He is able to make us grow! He is able to keep us strong and His! He is able and He is going to bring all those who love Jesus...home!

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy...” (Jude 24)

“...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus...” (Phil 1.6)

“...You who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time...” (1 Peter 1. 5)

Before you ever were ever pitched His way, He knew He had a homer with you! 

He called that shot!

No Question!

“ ...going, going, going, higher, higher...and it is a home run!"

Weekly e-News October 23

Hey, everyone!
 
Hope you’re having the awesomest, thankfulliest, praisiest day ever! (“…thankfulliest”?)
 
I always hope this for all in our Triple C family and for all my friends around the wide world! 
 
However…
 
I always write this weekly CCC email bloggy-thing every Friday and I never hear from anyone who might read it. I don’t really know if anyone ever does reads it! I mean, I read it, of course. And Tina always does. Well, actually, she listens to it ‘cause I always read it to her when I’m done to makes sure it’s not totally ridiculous. Beyond that, I have no idea. Maybe it’s just the two of us.
 
I always try in everything I do to keep my own personal opinions out of stuff. Whether trying to encourage folks or share from God’s Word, it seems to me that nothing could matter less than my opinion about things! Saying my opinion is just not appropriate or indicated!
 
But I thought…
 
Maybe that’s a good way to see if anyone reads this thing!
 
Let my opinions FLYYYYY! And see if anyone cares! See if anyone’s out there!
 
So, here goes! Here come some of my opinions!!
 
In my opinion, even tho’ scholars and cultured folks a lot smarter than me think that the artwork of Picasso is awesome and amazing, I don’t like it. In my opinion, it isn’t very good.
 
In my opinion, if the Atlanta Braves hadn’t sold Jason Heyward, Brian McCain, Justin Upton, Martin Prado, Evan Gattis, and Craig Kimbrel, we’d be in the World Series next week.
 
In my opinion, the commercialization of country music is pushing it into becoming just another kind of pop music. In my opinion, George, Tammy, and Loretta were better.
 
In my opinion, there are some things in the Catholic faith that I wish evangelicals had, also. 
 
In my opinion, when your server asks you how everything tastes, it’s kind of a personal question and it’s a little awkward.
 
In my opinion, having a dog (a really chill one!) is a cooler thing than I used to think it was.
 
In my opinion, the Rocky Mountains are amazing, but I like the Smokies better.
 
In my opinion, any pizza you eat in Italy is better than any you can find here, including the ones at “Big You-know-who’s”.
 
In my opinion, the fight (which was still in the Tennessee news this week) to defend the right to display, fly or wear the Confederate flag is unbelievably unkind. 
 
The reason this contention exists today is because in June of this year in Charleston…
 
…a city where, even though through its ports as many as 10,000,000 abducted and chained Africans entered America and into a life of enslavement, that flag still flew even this year at the South Carolina capital building…
 
…in that city, nine of our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus died while worshiping our Lord in their church. 
 
For the person who did it, as well as for most African Americans, so many of whom are our brothers and sisters in the family of Jesus, this flag is a symbol of racism and hate. I guess I could understand how some might have some kind of sentimental feelings of nostalgic attachment or “heritage”…
 
But for a person who believes in Jesus Christ…
 
for a person bought by the blood of the King of love…
 
for a person adopted by the God Who is Love, into a vast and multitudinous multiracial family of brothers and sisters of all ethnicities, nations, colors and tongues, who are closer to us than our own biological family (if they know not our Savior), and with whom we will spend forever worshiping and praising before the Throne of Reconciling Love…
 
for a person indwelt by the Holy Spirit of Love, Who is constantly infusing His love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5), always reassuring us of His love and relentlessly compelling us to love everyone…
 
For THAT person…
 
knowing that, whatever else it may or may not have meant to someone or their ancestors back in history somewhere, any meaningless symbol that, in the present, might even faintly suggest a message of animosity or hate to ANYONE I am called to love, care about, care for, or possibly reach for Jesus, the King of Love, would be a thing that in the Name of Jesus, I would flee like the plague itself (1 Cor. 9:19)…
 
and knowing that, in all questions, the supreme arbitrating factor is love (“Which choice is the most loving?”), since love is the fulfillment of all of the commandments of God, the perfect expression of holiness (Romans 13:9-10)…
 
and knowing that my remaining, outstanding debt that I owe to everyone is the debt to love them (Romans 13:8)…
 
…at this point, anyone who is a child of our God of love, who even contemplates wearing, caring for, caring about, or flying that symbol from a home, truck or government building is beyond my ability to imagine.
 
That’s my opinion.
 
(Maybe I’ll found out this week if anyone reads this.)

Weekly e-News October 16

Hey, everyone!
 
Hope you’re having an awesome, praise-filled, thank-filled, got-yer-tank-filled kinda day! And you better be ready, because today very well could be THE most important day of your life! The day that will be like no other! The one that puts you on the map in someone’s heart! The most significant and meaningful day of all the days in the bunch of days God gives you! 
 
Today may be the day you do or say that one thing that changes everything for someone! A word…A gesture…a kindness…And someone may never be the same because of it! Because of you!
 
And you may not even know it happened!
 
You may not even know that of all the days up to today, for someone, this just happened to be your best day ever!
 
‘Cause it’s happened before…
 
Folks have had their finest day that hosted their finest moments that changed someone forever…and they never knew it.
 
Remember how on Sunday, I was telling y’all about John Newton, the pastor in the little village of Olney, outside of London who started writing hymns with a friend to encourage this discouraged brother? For eleven years John poured himself into this mission of trying to lift his friend out of endless and relentless discouragement, darkness, and hopelessness? They’d hang-out everyday, walk together, laugh together, sing and pray together, and seeing how this friend was the finest poet in ol’ England, they’d write hymns together! They’d take some heavenly thoughts from the Holy Scriptures and think about them and work on them and ponder them until these thoughts were rhythm-able and singable! 
 
And hopefully, “somebody we know” would be happily humming his way home at the end of the day!
 
The hymn we know as “Amazing Grace” is one of these.
 
“Olney Hymn #41”.
 
Or, as it was originally titled, “Faith’s Review and Expectation”
 
Written for Sunday January 1, 1773.
 
For the church at Onley. And for the heart of William Cowper.
 
But it didn’t work.  
 
He got so discouraged that day, he went home, wrote the hymn, “God Works In Mysterious Ways”…
 
And tried to kill himself.
 
He never went back to church again until he died ten years later. 
 
John thought his hymn was a dud. 
 
As far as he knew, no one ever sang it again.
 
He died in 1807. But in the 1820’s, a hymn book called, “Southern Harmony”, which had “Amazing Grace” in it, became super popular in America of all places! And that particular hymn was sung a whole lot among African American slaves! The first time it was ever quoted in print (two of the verses) was in the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” about the sufferings of the oppressed in bondage on plantations across the South. 
 
Tom, who loved the Lord Jesus, was suffering a time of unthinkable mistreatment…
 
“…Tom looked up to the silent, ever-living stars,—types of the angelic hosts who ever look down on man; and the solitude of the night rung with the triumphant words of a hymn, which he had sung often in happier days, but never with such feeling as now:
 
‘The earth shall be dissolved like snow,
The sun shall cease to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.
 
‘And when this mortal life shall fail,
And flesh and sense shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace…’ “
 
 
And then the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe,  included a verse that Newton didn’t write. This is the first time in print it was ever included in “Amazing Grace”. It’s actually a verse from another hymn called “New Jerusalem” that African American slaves sang in their sorrows to turn their eyes heavenward…
 
“When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun”
 
On the day he wrote it, John Newton didn’t know that he had just written a song that would one day lift countless multitudes out of “endless and relentless discouragement, darkness, and hopelessness”!
 
He had a better day than he thought he did!
 
Encourage someone today if you can!
Lift someone up with a prayer!
Give a hand to someone who needs one!
Ask God to show you someone who needs some help or a friend…
 
And have a good day!
 
(It may be your best one ever!)

Weekly e-News October 9

Hey, everyone!

Hope you’re having the most awesome Friday ever! Filled with praise! With thankfulness! With just a joyfulness and you’re not even sure where it came from! (Btw, it came from the praise and thankfulness…)

And I’d like to add my little contribution to the over-all effort toward your joy-filled Friday heart. I’d like to tell you a hilarious story I meant to tell y’all on Sunday in my message but I forgot it!

That happens to me lots of times! Loads of times on Sunday, I’ll have so much going on in my brain while I’m sharing with you, that I’ll forget a thing or two that I meant to throw in there! 

If you’ve ever had to give a “talk”, speech or a sermon to a crowd of folks, you’ll agree that there are sometimes several things you’re thinking about all at the same time! 

In the very same brainspace…

You’re thinking about what you’re saying while you’re saying it…

You’re thinking about what comes next…

You’re thinking about what you said a few minutes before (“Was that joke stupid? Inappropriate? Have I told it before? How many times? Did I tell it just last week!?”)

You’re thinking, as you look over the crowd… “Yikes! So-and-so must have lost something up that nose of his ‘cause he seems pretty convinced he’s gonna find something up there!”

You’re thinking… “Man! It’s already seven minutes to twelve and I’ve got a tons of stuff left! Pedal to the metal, baby!”

You’re thinking… “But I better not get louder if I get faster ‘cause someone I know apparently didn’t get enough sleep last night and only has seven minutes left for the nap he’s taking!”

And you’re thinking all of that at once!

I was reading the other day about the time one of my favorite pastors gave his first message. John Newton had been the worst person ever, then found Jesus, and after several stumbles and reboots, became the sweetest pastor ever! So full of wisdom, humor, joy, and love! 

What a dude!

But when he gave his first sermon, what a dud!

He was thinking that God was calling him to leave his job and become a pastor. That’s when a friend/pastor asked him to try out preaching his first message ever in his friend’s church…

It was early June, 1758 in a small church in Leeds, England. Here’s how it went…

“…I set off tolerably well though with no small fear and trembling…Before I had spoken ten minutes I was stopped like Hannibal upon the Alps. My ideas forsook me; darkness and confusion filled their place. I stood upon a precipice and couldn’t advance a step forward. I stared at the people and they at me. Not a word more could I speak but was forced to come down and leave the people sitting there, some smiling, some weeping. My pride was sorely mortified…”

Wow! That was awkward!

But, thankfully, John Newton didn’t quit!

And he went on to become the most awesome pastor ever, wrote “Amazing Grace” and a kazillion other hymns, and helped end the horrible slave trade in England! 

And I bet that in all that God has for you to do, you’ve had a time or two that didn’t go so well. 

Maybe you lost your cool when things heated up…

Maybe they needed something better than you could think of to say…

Maybe it seemed hopeless and you gave up for a minute or two…

But you didn’t quit!

And now look at you!

Thank you.

So, about that hilarious story I was going to tell you…

Um…uh…

Rats! I forgot it again!

Weekly e-News October 2

Hey, everyone!

Hope your day is filled with all good things from dawn till it’s close and that your heart can sing, when all is done, as do the birds when first they chirp with open beak as the sun’s warm rays on them beam.

I did it!

(Almost.)

Actually, I was trying to write a thought, greeting, paragraph, whatever-you-call-it, using only one syllable words. I almost made it except for “open”. 

Dang! 

I couldn’t think of a one syllable word for that! I know in old hymns they’d write “op’n” but I think that’s cheating!

I was trying to see if I could do it because, as all of you “Lincoln geeks” out there know, when Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 (it’s that very last scene from the Spielberg Lincoln movie), of the 703 words he spoke, 505 were one syllable words!

Yet it is probably the most amazing speech ever given in the history of America! (Sorry, Lou Gehrig!) It only took about seven minutes to give but he quoted or alluded to six Scriptures! No President had ever quoted a Scripture in any inaugural address except one by John Quincy Adams! 

That speech was so short that the whole thing is carved on the north wall of the Lincoln Memorial (the wall to his left if you were sitting in his chair) but Fredrick Douglass told him after, “Mr, President, that was a sacred effort!”

Last week, Lenny Croce and I went to Lincoln Memorial Univ. to hear a lecture by Roland C White, one of the leading Lincoln scholars in America (and a super guy who loves Jesus!) on the subject, “Lincoln’s Second Inaugural”. 

It was kind of a geek-out, really. 

Lenny and I talked about the Rail-Splitter President going and coming! At the Lincoln Museum (built by Colonel and Mrs. Harland Sanders, according to the plaque outside!) we saw paintings of Abe (he actually didn’t like to be called that! He signed everything “A. Lincoln”), statues of him (all 6’5”!), costumes from the movie, and the silver knobbed cane he took to Ford’s Theater just forty one days after his best speech ever (sniff…)

Dr White discussed Lincoln’s first inaugural speech from four years before. He told us that until he surprisingly won the Republican nomination, and then the election, Lincoln’s Washington experience had only been as a one-term congressman. So after he finished writing his first speech he’d give as President, he sent it to his friends and cabinet members for suggestions. Most said that it rocked just the way it was. But his new Secretary of State, William Seward, sent back six pages of suggested changes and alterations! 

In all, Seward offered forty nine changes!

Lincoln took twenty seven of them!

Dr. White said that the reason Lincoln did this was because one of his foundational principles of leadership was this:

“Surround yourself with people wiser than you…and listen to them!”

Wow.

Y’know, I’ve never felt like leadership is a gift that I understand, let alone have in my heart. I don’t know how to organize things. (I remember once someone told me they didn’t like organized religion and I told them to come to our church because we didn’t have any of that! We only had the disorganized kind!) I don’t know how to motivate or mobilize folks. I used to try to read books about leadership but I never knew what they were talking about!

But if it’s about “surrounding yourself with those wiser than you and listening to them”, well…

The guys that I have in my life…the guys we all have…on our staff, and as our elders…are the wisest, kindest, most faithful, sincere, and big-hearted bunch that you would ever find! Everyone of them has wisdom I’ve never dreamed of, in totally unique ways, and if there is a “wealth in experience”, what they have walked thru and learned from their different journeys, make them the richest guys I know! I am better, stronger, and closer to the Lord because they are in my life! How I thank God for them!!

“Leadership is surrounding yourself with those wiser than you and listening to them!”

If that’s all there is to it, with the guys I’ve got…shucks,  maybe I shoulda run fer President!

(Just kidding, Mr Lincoln!)

Weekly e-News for September 25

Hey, everyone!
 
As I’m typing this out on my computer and looking out the kitchen window into the dark, Freddy says it’s time to “Rise n’ Shine!”  Freddy Smith is the DJ “of th’ mornin’” (as they say around here),  at WDVX and every morning hosts the show “Rise n’ Shine” from 6 to 9, playing bluegrass and classic country, always closing out with a few Gospel numbers to “kindly tune up yer heartstrings” for the day…
 
Freddy also brings us some special daily features we regular listeners always appreciate, such as “the Poplar Weather Report” (where he goes outside, climbs the poplar tree and tells us how it is out thar)
 
Around eight, we always look forward to his daily “Things that make you go, ‘Hmmm…’ “
 
This is where Freddy reads us amazing facts we didn’t know and upon hearing them, we say in our hearts, “Hmmm…”
 
Or as Freddy says, “Hmmmm…Whodda thunk it?”
 
The other day, Freddy told us some facts so amazing that I thought, “Hmmm…I don’t think that’s true!”
 
“The entire population of the world’s ants is heavier than the human population! Wow! That’s some heavy ants! In fact, I’ve got an aunt…well, never mind…Did y’know a bee is more likely to sting you on a windy day…”
 
“Hmmm….”
 
“A pigeon’s feathers weigh more than it’s bones…”
 
“Whodda thunk it?”
 
“The Netherlands wasn’t always known as the Netherlands. It used to be known as the United States”
 
“Huh?”
 
Then Freddy said, “Did you know there are 3 1/2 women for every man on earth?” Then he added, “After your third wife, which half do you get on the next one?”
 
And I thought, “What?!”
 
“Did you know that a beaver can hold it’s breath under water for 45 minutes?”
 
Wait! Freddy! Who’s telling you this?!”
 
(Sometimes I wonder if folks just send in stuff to see if their “facts” get on the air!)
 
Anyways, here are some amazing facts for y’all!
 
Did you know that we at Triple C send money every month to help missionaries all over the world share Jesus with those who know little or nothing about Him. And a couple who have been doing just that for YEEEEAAAARRRRS are Paul and Karen Davis (Y’all remember Paul and Karen from the last time they were here…) Their latest assignment from the Lord has been to work with Him to begin another church (they’ve been involved in started several!) in an Alpine town, Pontcharra, that didn’t have an evangelical  church before they arrived. Many of you remember the amazing story of how the Lord showed them a building in the center of town they could buy, renovate, and make a home for their congregation. The road was paved with troubles and miracles (as always) but, after more than a year of work, it finally opened last weekend! 
 
And from their letter this week, here are some amazing facts!
 
For the Saturday opening inauguration…
”For the first time we put out all 170 chairs. The sanctuary looked great but empty. That would soon change with over 150 people attending both the inauguration on Saturday afternoon and the special worship service on Sunday morning!…”
 
“A missionary serving in Austria with a phenomenal voice, enthralled the audience with songs of praise accompanied by our Gospel choir… “
 
“The Mayor of Pontcharra honored us with his presence…”
 
 “A journalist from the local newspaper attended the ceremony and wrote an excellent article…”
 
“Many attended who had never before entered an evangelical church. They were pleasantly surprised by the warm, open environment…”
 
Then on Sunday morning…”The sanctuary was again full as believers from Pontcharra and the mother church near Grenoble gathered for a special worship service of thanksgiving…”
 
“Several people who had attended the inauguration came, too, seeing for the first time the joy of worshipping the Lord!…”
 
Way to go, Paula and Karen! We are so thankful and encouraged by you! We are so honored to be a part of your “team”!
 
By the way, all those amazing facts about last weekend at the new church in Pontcharra, France are completely true!
 
Wow! Whodda thunk it?!
 
God knew all along.
 
Hmmmm….

Weekly e-News for September 18

Hey, everyone!

Wow! 

Are you feelin’ the chill in the air? 

Fall!! 

It’s on the way! 

With all the crispness! 

The spectacular colors!! 

Annual autumn smells!

Well, actually, fall doesn’t smell like it use to.

It used to smell like cigar smoke at Neyland during games (they can’t do that any more)…

and burning leaves on Saturday (we can’t do that any more)…

and dog doo that was somehow always in the giant piles of leaves we’d jump in (I don’t do that any more!)

But the colors will be the same as always! 

Actually, the colors are technically in those leaves all the time. I was reading that stuff in leaves called carotenes and xanthophyll give them their reds and yellows, and those are in there the whole time. But when the trees are making loads of chlorophyll, it’s greeniness covers, over powers, and swamps all other colors so that green is all you see. But when the chlorophyll “poops out” in the fall (that’s the technical word botanists use) the reds and yellows shine thru! 

As Freddy Smith says on WDVX, “Whodda thunk it?”

Tons of folks will be heading up to the Smokies in just a few weeks to see the spectacular carotenes and xanthophyll show. (Doesn’t sound so cool when you put it like that!)…

but lots of them may not go where the fall spectacle is the most spectacular…

A few weeks go, we went on a hike to Laurel Falls. It’s the most hikable and hiked of all hikes up there! It’s even paved all the way to the falls! We saw folks hiking in flip flops…with kids riding on shoulders, on backs, on heads…there was one family where the dad was pulling one of those suitcases with the pop-up handle (?!) 

They all stop at the falls.

We didn’t.

If you keep going for a half a mile or so, you wind up in an “old-growth forest”. Most of the trees in the Smokies have only been growing since the 1920’s. Loggers had cut down almost all of the trees before that…

(It’s why they made it a national park! So stuff could grow in peace!) 

But there are some hidden places the logging companies couldn’t reach. And the trees there…hemlocks, poplars, red maples, white oaks, silverbells…have never been cut down. 

And these trees are soooo ooooold! 

And waaaaay taaaaaall! 

And huuuuuuuuuge!! 

And breath-taking! 

And awe-inspiring, majestic, and beautiful!

Truly!

Once you’ve seen them, you feel like you’ve never seen a tree before!

But most people never have seen the big trees! Most don’t know they’re there! 

And, you know what? This is weird to say (like that’s never happened before in these emails!) but the trees don’t care! 

I know it’s because they’re trees and not people, but it was awesome just being around some of God’s creations that were awe-inspiring, majestic, and beautiful, growing before God alone, seen by no one…

And not caring in the least!

He knows and sees and that’s enough reason for a tree!

And you know what else?

Maybe you’re spending loads of time helping someone who is dealing with something very difficult…

And they wouldn’t make it without you…

Or you’re giving your whole heart to breaking the chains of a destructive  pattern in your own life…

Or you have a place you go to help super-needy people make some sense of Jesus and what He could do for them if they would have Him…

And no one sees…

Or know that you’re there…

But He sees!

He knows!

To Him, you're awe-inspiring, majestic, and beautiful!

He knows and sees and that’s enough reason for a tree!

And for thee.

Weekly e-News for September 11

Hey, everyone!

And…GOOOOOO, VOOOOOOOLS!!!

Wow!! Everyone is so pumped for this game!! Number 23 and number 19 on center stage, ESPN at 6:00 pm tomorrow, Saturday, September 12, 2015!!

We’re gonna checker board Neyland! How cool is that! I hope that guy who’s a Florida Marlins fan who always wears bright Marlins stuff and buys the ticket right behind home plate on every ESPN Sunday night baseball game so he can get on TV with his Marlins stuff on, doesn’t show up! It’d mess up the checker!

I am a little bit disturbed by a couple of things tho’…

Bowling Green State had 557 yards of offense last week against us! 433 thru the air! More than any team last year! And our defensive line is one of our strengths!

Gulp!

Butch says, about the OK offensive line,“They are very big. They are imposing. They are athletic. They are nasty. They do want to run the football!”

And the Okie line backer who was in the news so much (somethin’ ‘bout a gas crisis?) had three sacks in last year’s Sugar Bowl! And he had six tackles (two for losses) against us last year!

And I do have one other thing that’s bugging me some. 

Seems like we have a new slogan and I’m not sure what it means.

This year you can get T-shirts and bumper stickers that say, “My All”.

What’s wrong with, “I say it’s great to be a Tennessee Vol!”?

I know the new one comes from the sign coaches and players slap on their way out of the locker room to Shields Watkins Field (“I give my all for Tennessee”) I’m sure it means to them, “I give all my extra-curricular time and energy (when I’m not in class or confronting my homework load) to this team”

But I’m not exactly sure what it’s supposed to mean to me.

Does “my all” mean all my time? All my devotion? All my hopes? All my heart? All my…what!?

I LOVE sports! I love being a sports fan! I’m even trying to love being a Braves fan! We’re 56 and 85 and 23.5 games behind the Mets! 

I get a lot out of sports! 

But I don’t GIVE anything to sports.

Let alone “my all”.

Lately, in the mornings, I’ve been reading letters written by my homeboy, John Newton, hymn writer (“Amazing Grace”, among other hits) and pastor of St Mary Woolnoth in London. What a heart! On April 1, 1769, he wrote this to a friend, as he was getting ready for Sunday services…

“Saturday evening is returned again. How quick the time flies! Oh that we may have grace to number our days, and begin to view the things of this world in that light which they will, doubtless appear in when we are on the point of leaving them. How many things which are apt to appear important now, and to engross too much of our time, and thoughts, and strength, will then be acknowledged as vain and trivial as the imperfect recollection of a morning dream! 

May the Lord help us to judge now as we shall judge then, that all things on this side of the grave are of no real value further than they are improved in subservience to the will and glory of God…”

So, let us…

Cheer! Clap! Shout! Checkerboard the whole thing!

But save “your all’ for Him.

That’s it for sports!

Weekly e-News for August 28

Hey, everyone!

Hope you’re having an awesome week!…

LIKE WE HAVE!!!

Went camping…It was awesome! As always!!

I never knew I’d like camping. In fact, I thought I’d hate it! 

Amazingly, I love it! 

Tina and I have been camping in the Smokies every summer for the last three or four years or so. I don’t why I thought I wouldn’t ever like it. We laugh, talk, walk, hike, snuggle when it’s cold, cook together, have coffee before the sun together, we (mostly me) cry about stuff we read, stroll around and check out other folk’s “set ups” and cool camping stuff, swim in the creek (me), knit (her), play the banjo (me), praise the Lord in the morning (both of us), check our emails (neither of us), take a nap, and laugh some more…

Yesterday I finally understood why I love camping so much.

Tina was knitting by the Little River and I decided to ride my bike around and explore some. I found this old cemetery. This is a little weird but I read something on a grave stone and it explained to me why I love camping so much…

On one side it said, “Ortha Ownby” and on the other it said…

“Once in your life you find someone special.

Your lives intermingle and somehow you know.

This is the beginning of all you have longed for.

A love you can build on, a love that will grow.”

That’s why.

Weekly e-News for August 21

Hey, everyone!
 
Hope your week has been filled with joy and laughter even in the most unexpected moments! Like the one we had early Wednesday at the hospital…(!)
 
One of “our own” had a surgery scheduled and some of us (I don’t want to say their names because I don’t want them to be embarrassed) from Pottsie, John Hartman and Sue Hartman’s community group were down there waiting with them at the MMC admitting lobby to be an encouragement. So…we thought it would be good to pray for them and someone (better not say his name…) volunteered. We all bowed and, as Pottsie often does when he prays, the person said, “Lord, I love the part when…” And what he was going to continue to say was, “…the part where in the Gospels You did so-and-so, etc”) But instead of saying, “I love the part…” he inadvertently and very accidentally said a word that rhymes with “part” but began with an “f’ instead of “p’…
 
”What?!”
 
Well, there was a moment of hesitation…
 
 And then we all burst into outrageous laughter!! It was ridiculous! In fact, one of us actually seemed to have tears of laughter coming down those cheeks! Then we realized that this was exactly what we needed from the Lord! 
 
It’s really one of the many reasons I love being in a Community Group at Triple C! 
 
We all wind up knowing each other so well that God uses them to turn a moment of some anxiety into a moment that potentially could have proven to be awkward and instead becomes laughter rocking those hospital walls!
 
I guess that’s one of the reasons I love Community Groups at Triple C!
 
In fact, since this is the beginning of the school year and a new cycle and all that, I thought this might an appropriate time to promote them and encourage folks who aren’t in one to join one! 
 
I do have to be careful, however. 
Technically, this is a blog, I guess. And a few blogs recently have been in some trouble for using their blogs for promotion and advertising.  One “Moms” blog that promoted Children’s Claritin was accused of being, instead of a place of encouragement and advice, “a virtual product rep”. 
 
So, I wouldn’t ever want to use my “blog” to promote or advertise! Even if it’s for Community Groups at Triple C! Altho’ one awesome thing about being in a Community Group at TripleC is that you become such good friends…friends who share, care, and pray for each other… that if you needed some advice or counsel about something…such as, “Do you think I’m using my blog to promote Community Groups at Triple C, which meet every Sunday from 9:30 to 10:30?”, those in your Community Group, having become truly friends in Jesus, would tell you!
 
Wow! Community Groups at Triple C are awesome!
 
Speaking of promotion and advertising, I read an article about false and aggressive advertising that said that some have gotten so aggressive in their ads that they makes ridiculous claims for their products and have gotten in trouble for it! Recently a court ruling upheld a Federal Trade Commission complaint that “Pom Wonderful Pomegranate products, loaded with antioxidants” do not have the right to claim that drinking eight oz per day can help cure “heart disease and ED”! I mean that’s ridiculous! How could pomegranate juice help a person overcome an educational deficiency?
 
But while we’re on the subject of bold ad claims and this “advertisement” for Community Groups at Triple C (which it isn’t!),  I will say that, not only are they encouraging, and supportive, but they might actually keep you from getting sick! I remember a scientific study at the University of Ontario (I believe that’s right) that showed that those who weekly attend a community or group (such as Community Groups we have at Triple C) not only have a “higher happiness quotient" (because they share their problems and help others with their problems, thus taking their minds off themselves) but actually have “stronger immune systems” from regular contact with bacteria and for this reason have “fewer colds, sinus infections, flu and nasal congestion. Those with no community are literally snottier than those with friends.”
 
And this is not an outrageous claim because…hello!…science proves it!
 
You know, I think the worst case of false and aggressive advertising I read about in this article was one that joinacommunitygroup talked about an episode of the “Iron Chef America” on the joinacommunitygroup Food Network where McDonald’s inserted a “subliminal message”! This is an old tactic when they try to sneak a joinacommunitygroup message in there so quickly, as in a tenth of a second, that you don’t even notice it but it actually registers in your brain. In this case, it was the slogan “I’m loving it!” That’s the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard of in my entire c’monandjoinacommunitygroup life! 
 
I’m so thankful we don’t need to use tricks like that! We just put the invitation to join a Community Group out there and joinoneyouknowyouwantto let you decide! But truly, if you’re not in a Community Group yet, we’d love to have you!
 
Now the justdoitjoinacommunitygroup news!