Teddy

The Bigger They Are, The Smaller They Were

2012-01-22T14:05:00.001-05:00

(From today's Times and News-Star)

Nice people who read my stuff ask me often why I don’t write about my son much anymore. Simple: he can read now.

All of us share similar experiences with little ones and enjoy thinking about them -- unless we’re telling them to quit arguing in the back seat or they won’t go take a bath or we’re on the way to the drug store for more pink stuff so they’ll quit coughing.

So back in the salad days I wrote about him all the time. Wrote about cleaning his sticky fist after we played mini-putt and ate an ice cream cone in Myrtle Beach. Wrote about riding the Lost Mine Train at Six Flags 18 straight times until the park closed and he fell asleep being carried to the car. Wrote about going to a Rangers game and it being about 120 degrees hot and him saying he’d stay for the extra innings “if they let me bat.”

We pushed an elevator button in a Texas hotel for the first time and thought we were at Six Flags again. Dressed for Halloween like a Ninja Turtle, a kitty cat and Richard Nixon (not at the same time.) For Christmas, got a plastic Corvette that would go around the block if the batteries were charged, got a city of tiny cars that required a day to assemble, got a Red Ryder BB gun – and some of the Christmas lights around the garage got shot out while I was gone.

I could write about him and his friends and never worry about embarrassing any of them.

But … one day a grammar-type test by a consultant at the newspaper revealed I was writing on an eighth-grade reading level. In other words, you don’t have to be on the mailing list of a university’s admissions office to understand my stuff. The downside: when it came to “chronicling” the adventures of Casey and his friends, I lost free rein back around 2002.

And Casey turned 23 this week. What’s THAT about?

That whole gang is too big for their britches now. Certainly too big for mine. Some of these guys who used to play on my Little League teams are wearing size 46 suits now. 46 LONG. I remember watching Casey and a big-for-his-size boy I called “Mr. David” play in the throw, hit and run competition on a long-ago Saturday at Fair Grounds Field. I saw Mr. David at a Mexican restaurant not too long ago and when he walked up to hug me I thought he was the bar’s bouncer.

Taylor wrote me for advice on a college term paper. Saw Babe catching beads with his girlfriend two years ago at a Mardi Gras parade. Fish is graduating – in engineering. At Cane’s I ran into The Butler, who has a driver’s license and his own money and everything; in my brain, he’s supposed to be 9.

I can think of three guys who’ve been on mission trips to other continents; I used to pray they’d get to the ballgame on time. Lukie and Stephens owe me $5 each because I schooled them in the BowlFest game we played last month. (Yes!) At least two former Little Leaguers are married, one’s in the Navy, and these are the same guys whose biggest concern used to be the length of the line at the concession stand.

I know all you guys CAN read now. If you ever actually DO, read this: thanks, and happy birthday from someone who’ll always be your fan.

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Southern Comfort Food: 'Every Recipe Has A Story'

2012-01-15T06:36:00.001-05:00

(Reprinted from today's Times and News-Star)

Remember when the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books took off? You couldn’t swing a cat in a waiting room or an airport lounge or your own den without hitting at least one person reading those things.

And they weren’t even “scratch ’n’ sniff.”

Yet as they are, filled with inspiration and thoughty thoughts, they are still very good books. (I have “Chicken Soup for the Baseball Soul” and, if memory serves, “Chicken Soup for the Person Who Enjoys Dead Chicken’s Soul.”)

Comforting words and comforting food. I like both. Which is a prime reason I like “Southern Living” magazine.

You need “bad” stories in the newspaper. It’s part of the purpose. Information to help you. What part of town do I need to steer clear of or what are the problems so we can make improvements or who died and what’s the deal on my taxes. And on like that.

But Southern Living is almost always a seat in the shade. Good stuff, and from my part of the world.

Plus recipes!

So imagine my surprise when I get the January issue and come to page 102 and see a picture of a lady stirring with a wooden spoon at her stove and smiling. “There’s the winner of the Carolyn Flournoy Look-A-Like Contest,” I thought.

The caption explained why I’d thought that. It WAS Mrs. Carolyn. My Mrs. Carolyn. Our Mrs. Carolyn.

Cooking columnist and food editor for The Times for 30 years, Mrs. Carolyn passed away suddenly in April of 2003, leaving thousands of friends and fans – and recipes – in her cheer-spreading wake. Her raspy voice would fill the newsroom back then, like the scent of cinnamon rolls fills a whole house, and you’d feel better immediately.

“I hear Mrs. Carolyn. Mrs. Carolyn’s here!…”

In this month’s Southern Living highlighting “50 Southern Comfort Foods,” Kate Nicholson, Mrs. Carolyn’s daughter and the magazine’s former food editor, shares a few thoughts about her mom -- and, a few of her mom’s comfort food recipes. (Hello, Ratatouille!)

“Someday, I plan to pay tribute to her in a cookbook of all her best recipes and the stories behind them,” Nicholson writes. “In the meantime, here are a few sentimental (and delicious) favorites. In my mind, all of these qualify as comfort foods. They bring her back to life. And what’s more comforting than that?”

Along with anecdotes and her mom’s cooking savvy, Nicholson shares recipes for Winter Blackberry Cobbler, Ham Salad, Lucky Black-eyed Peas, Roast Chicken and Roquefort Noodles. (Mrs. Carolyn used egg noodles, not fettuccine, in the Roquefort recipe because Kate’s dad hated fighting the long, thin pasta. “I don’t give a darn what they eat in Italy,” he said. “I want something I can get to my mouth without fighting it!”

Beside me as I type are some of Mrs. Carolyn’s most requested recipes from the newspaper way back then: Flournoy Pimento Cheese. A Version of Red Lobster’s Cheese Biscuits. Carrott Souffle From Picadilly (yes!). Flournoy Corn Bread Dressing. It’s an impressive lineup from an impressive lady. And what I wrote in the paper eight years ago is still true.

“Her warmth was genuine, her intellect was without ego. Her goodness she spooned out in equal shares to everyone.

“She brought dishes to the office often. Eating her cooking was good for your stomach.

“But knowing Mrs. Carolyn, that was good for your soul.”

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Storybook Season Ends With Tale By The Tigers

2012-01-11T06:29:00.002-05:00

(Reprinted from the Jan. 8, 2012 editions of The Times and The News-Star, before Alabama's 21-0 win over LSU)
Got any plans for tomorrow night?

I hear LSU has a game.

It is with bittersweet emotion that I will tune in for the Allstate BCS National Championship scrap between the LSUs and the Alabamas, a contest that, on the Anticipation Scale, ranks right up there with Christmas morning and the last day of school.

Tuesday, it'll all be over but the arguing, this memorable college football season. Time to take a knee. Hurts me.

Sometimes, too much of a good thing is a good thing.

I am in the minority here but Bowlfest, college footballs month-long postseason proliferation of oddly named ballgames played in stadiums across the land, is one of the great inventions of modern man.

Temple versus Wyoming? I'll watch it. Toledo and Air Force? What channel?
Wisconsin and Oregon? Count me in. I'll even bring the Mountain Dew!

True, somewhere between the Meineke Car Care Bowl (the who?) and the Grand Theft Auto Bowl, I blacked out. Stone cold. The sound of a Progressive Insurance commercial woke me up, assured me that all I had to do was sit up straight and toothpick my eyes open to enjoy watching teenagers I didn't know and would forget by tomorrow play another three hours of football.

Joy!

I made one bowl in person: Western Athletic Conference outright champ Louisiana Tech and the impressive Texas Christian Horned Frogs, warts and all, in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, the War and Peace of all bowl game titles. Made a prelim event but missed the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl proper due to sickness: I watched, between coughs, on television. God bless the I-Bowl, born in 1976 and still breathing with so many Bluebonnet and Garden State and Heritage Bowls in its wake.

LSU will play Monday night's biggie and, win or lose, there will be arguments about who is No. 1. This is why I love the bowls and dont mind the lack of
playoffs: the bowls give us more to argue about -- though with playoffs, it would be the exact same thing. Just sayin

(Thoughty side note: If the Tigers DO win, the argument that they are not the champs -- for instance, that Oklahoma State would have whupped them -- will be shallow but still made. But with a defense from outer space and a record of what would be nine wins over nationally ranked teams, the Tigers can boast to sane people of being unquestionably the best team this season, maybe the best team ever. Unless you count the 92 Crimson Tide. Or maybe the 98 Vols. Or the 80 Georgia Herschel Walkers. Or the 88 Gold Domers or one of those great Miami teams. See how wonderful college football can be for the argumentative types? Sometimes, you beat everybody and still, you just can't win.)

There are some things I won't miss though. Some day I want to write about how ESPN changed the world, how players came to mistake TV cameras as spotlights for various Look-At-Me antics in what is the ultimate team game. It's easy to tell the difference between unrestrained joy and an audition. Tacky.

But I won't let that take away from the joy of tonight's title-game prelim, the GoDaddy.com Bowl. (I like Northern Illinois; they can score the ball!) For two more nights, I get to sit in front of the TV, worthless as a pile of No. 2, just to see who'll be No. 1.

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The Maestro's Music Plays On This Year

2012-01-10T18:21:00.002-05:00

(Reprinted from The Times and News-Star, Jan. 1, 2012)

The house lights are dim today, the sheet music put away. In
tribute, the orchestra pit is lonely, except for some empty chairs
and metal music stands.

The maestro has gone away.

This is the first New Year's Day in the past 95 that John Shenaut,
founding Music Director of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, has
not been alive to enjoy the music. To play or to lead or to compose.

He died early December and was entombed a few days later, a
beautiful day, windy and chilly but sky blue. I think he would have
appreciated the service, the oboe and violin, the heartfelt eulogy,
the scripture and song. I know he would have appreciated the words
of his wife of 40 years who touched his casket and said to friends,
"Thank you so much for being here; you know, he was the love of my
life."

John Shenaut inspired some to play, some to compose, some to
appreciate, many to love. He helped give birth to the Wideman Piano
competition. And again, he founded the symphony, conducted its first
performance on his 32nd birthday, Nov. 9, 1948. He made Mozart out
of thin air, a few reeds and strings and believers in the music.

Much of the richness in the cultural life of the area today can be
traced to seeds first sewn by John Shenaut 65 years ago.

He was the maestro.

But to me, he was the kindly and classy older gentleman my son grew
up next door to, the husband of the wife who loved my boy from the
time he was a toddler through the time she watched us loading up to
take his stuff off to college four years ago.

Mr. John was the man who owned the yard I mowed and the azaleas my
cat napped in. He was the man who walked around the block in his
sweater and beret, with his cane, slow and steady and smiling. Mr.
John was the musician who composed for us without his knowing it
when we'd sit on the front porch and hear the piano in his front
room, right by the window, and then his violin.

Our house was football in the front yard and the Grand Old Opry.
His was a baby grand in the den and Carnegie Hall. The Christmas
Mrs. Frances let me hang lights on their house, I felt as if I were
decorating the Met.

I wonder what it must have been like in the 1950s when north
Louisiana was country as fatback and the Hayride was rocking and Mr.
John and others were steadily fanning a fire for orchestral
concerts, opera and ballet, challenging the music inside hundreds of
gifted hands, bringing the love of music to thousands of listening
ears. It took talent but also dedication and a businessman's savvy
to make it work. No question we had the right man on point: in 33
years with the symphony, he never missed a rehearsal or performance.

He taught even when he didn't try. Once during a visit in his den, a
piece of classical music played in the background and suddenly he
said, "Wait!," and he held up his hand. He wanted to hear this one
part. "Listen. Isn't it beautiful?" And his eyes danced and the part
passed and he smiled.

Know when to be still. Don't miss the best parts, said our friend
and neighbor who conducts us still, who left us notes much sweeter,
and the world a bit more in tune.

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Merry Christmas And Happy New Year And All, Y'all

2011-12-26T16:24:00.002-05:00

Hopefully I will see you first thing in 2012.

SEEYA!

Buried Treasure And A Family 'Miracle'

2011-12-25T08:20:00.001-05:00

(This ran in today's Times and News-Star. Merry Christmas!)

There are lots of sick-to-your-stomach feelings that result from pilot error. One is when you step in something. Doggone it…

Or when you hit that sweet, sweet shin bone on something hard. (I am thinking wagon tongue or trailer hitch here.) Mercy.

But it’s a different kind of pain when you drive off with something on top of your car and, in mid-drive, realize it. This can happen when people in other cars point at your car’s roof – “Hey idiot, look above you!” – or it can come in a gut-punch moment of “Duooh!” self-awareness.

Unless it’s a dead deer or strapped-down luggage, you usually don’t carry anything up there. Certainly not your Bible.

But that’s what Mr. Bill had lost. It’s been more than a year now since he and his wife of 50 years headed to their car in Ruston for the drive to Wednesday night prayer meeting. He spotted something he wanted to put in his storeroom, put his Bible on the car roof, then forgot about it until he was halfway to church -- and running late.

Oops. “Let the lower lights be burning…”

After church – where he and Mrs. Minette could concentrate little – they searched ditches until dark. Mr. Bill looked some more the next day. No luck. Of course it rained the whole afternoon and night. The Bible was gone.

Not that any Bible is “just any Bible,” but this was not just any Bible. Not to Mr. Bill and his family. There were pictures in the margins that he’d drawn to keep his now-grown children quiet in church when they were little. All sorts of margin notes from decades of Sunday school teaching. Deacon notes. Training Union lessons.

He started using the backup Bible he had at home. If there was a silver lining in this black Biblical cloud, it’s that his “new” Bible had larger print! But it wasn’t the same. The other one would almost always seem to fall open wherever he needed it to.

A year passed. The phone rang. It was Mr. Bill’s Bible calling.

Actually, it was a gentleman in Jonesboro, 30 miles away. He’d been cleaning off his work desk and came across a book and wondered what this Bible was doing there.

Then he remembered that his boss, who lives on the same Ruston road as Mr. Bill, had brought it in about a year before on a rainy morning. He’d picked it up off the side of the road. “Look what I found,” he said, and put it on the man’s desk. And a year had gone by; no one had taken time to do anything with it, so it had been covered up with the business of that day, and then with the business of the year.

But this day, the man took the time to open it. He saw a name and address, and pictures drawn in the margins.

That afternoon, the Bible was on its way home. And all Mr. Bill could say to his family when he hung up the phone was, “Do you believe in miracles?”

It’s Christmas Day. So much of the business of the year has covered up the things that are important. But if we look – and we don’t even have to look too hard – if we look underneath all the wrapping paper and presents and food and football, surely we can find something priceless that, in our rush, maybe even in our rush to do what’s “right,” we might have dropped outside.

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Feast Day Of Fools, by James Lee Burke: Hello!!!

2011-12-22T15:13:00.003-05:00

Love me some James Lee.

Have not read one of his books in six years and my buddy got me his latest to sort of get me back on track. He's got to be America's most accurately descriptive writer. He and Pat Conroy. At least of the authors I've read. Burke is hard to beat in sensory and flat description.

This is more of a mythical, "why did they do that" kind of crime novel than a whodunit. It's a terrifying deal. And one of the great book jackets ever...

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We Saw It All On The Radio

2011-12-19T10:20:00.006-05:00

(This will run in the Ruston Daily Leader at some point. It runs here now. I was the 'color analyst' for Louisiana Tech football this year, teamed with my old friend and Tech Athletics Hall of Famer Freeway Dave Nitz, who is 7th on the current list of football games called for one school; Tech vs. TCU in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 7 CST will be Freeway's 427th or 428th call of a Tech football game...Here's a look at our season from the booth, though it is just the tip of Mr. Iceberg...And the photo is of Dave and me at Fresno State; the Hall of Famer is on the left...)

It started at 9 at night in a south Mississippi tropical storm and ended in mid-evening in a steady north Louisiana rain. In between was the football version of something mixed up enough to look like the inside of my grandmamma Ruth’s handbag.

It really was the strangest season of Louisiana Tech football I’ve seen since joining the program’s radio crew. It was also the first season of Tech football I’ve seen since joining the radio crew, but still…

Steve Davison had been the caddie for longtime Tech football play-by-play aficionado Dave Nitz, a Tech Hall of Famer we call “Freeway” because of his love of the road and its love of him. The only thing that’s been on the road more than Dave in four decades of radio work is asphalt.

Steve and his wife Sarah had twins in the spring, causing Steve to opt for “color analyst” early retirement. So I got the job in a way familiar to me: I begged. I was in the ear of LA Tech Sports Properties general manager Mason Ellenberger so much that by the time I’d broken him down, there was hardly enough of him left to scrape up with a putty knife and put in a shoe box.

(His original offer was $400 a game, which I laughed at. I countered. He laughed. Negotiations continued over a few stressful weeks, all the while with me remembering what my dad had taught me, that I could do most anything I wanted if I were willing to pay the price. We finally settled on me paying Mason $100 per game; I drive a hard bargain. $400 a game? Ha. That Mason. I swear.)

On the LA Tech Sports Network crew were returning veterans Dave and sidekick Benny Thornell, a statistician with a love for and encyclopedic knowledge of Tech athletics. (Benny knows where the bodies are buried.) The rookies were me and sideline reporter Max Causey, a quarterback for the 2001 Western Athletic Conference champion Bulldogs and a member of the Tech family since before birth, literally: his mom Linda is the daughter of Mrs. Gerry Lambright and the late Maxie Lambright, Tech Hall of Famer and former Bulldogs football coach. Max was juiced.

Other rookies included engineers Chris Brister and Ryan Kavanaugh, who split duty and were the only people besides Mason who knew how to hook up anything that would involve fans begin able to actually hear us on the radio.

I won’t give you the play-by-play here, but I can tell you that our first road trip was the season opener to Hattiesburg for the 9 p.m. game at Southern Miss. To be at the game five hours early as Dave prefers, we – me, Benny, Max, Ryan, Tech associate athletic director for media relations Malcolm Butler and Freeway -- left from Thomas Assembly in a van around 11 a.m. and made it all the way to Tallulah’s gravitational pull before stopping at Dave’s favorite restaurant. Perhaps you’ve heard of it: it’s called Wendy’s. (Dave suggests the hamburgers.)

Dave still hasn’t seen the Tech-Southern Miss game. The rain and fog on our broadcast booth window turned the thing into a shower door. Inside the booth was an actual shower; we had four trash cans catching water. (I am not joking.) I pressed my forehead against the glass to spot jersey numbers I hand-signaled to Dave, who watched as best he could on the end zone’s giant TV screen. Max battled the elements and looked like a prune in postgame.

We unfolded ourselves from the van back in Ruston, all cheery and whatnot, at 6:30 a.m.

That was the beginning. The season’s been well-documented by now, so you know that what ended up as a WAC championship and berth in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl started off more like something you step in and can’t get off your shoe. Dave and Benny took it particularly hard, and again, I’m not kidding. A 1-4 start – three heartbreakers and a game against Hawaii in which the team reacted terribly – well, it made every other game a grind. You could not afford to lose and still entertain any thought of a championship.

And what a grind it was.

But what a finish.

For the first few games, I hung something in the press box to make Dave feel at home, and each item had a story and fit the opponent. An old Southern Miss jersey, a pair of Houston Astros pants, and on like that. But it wasn’t working. So starting in Idaho, I taped just a baseball card of Dave (there IS such a thing!) and an advertisement for the new Wendy’s Hot ’n’ Juicy burgers to the press box wall. Seven games and seven wins later, I haven’t changed a thing.

It helped, of course, that Tech quit turning the ball over late. Started intercepting passes. Completed balls deep. Played like a band of brothers, whistle to whistle.

I could go on and on with examples, and maybe soon I will. But for now – I mean, since I am an “expert” color guy and all – I’ll just say that after all the limp-offs and plane trips and penalties and momentum swings and gut checks, the sole team standing atop the WAC really proved itself a champion. Anybody who knows anything about football will tell you that the team who won the WAC worked its way up a hill to get there, earned it step by step, down by down, quarter by quarter, game by game.

And when the smoke from the long regular season cleared, there was only one jersey at the top of the mountain. Its color was red and blue. Even a rookie color analyst could see that.
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Pout, cry and watch out!; Santa understands

2011-12-18T09:05:00.001-05:00

(From today's Times and News-Star; I'll try harder next time!)

It bothers me that Santa sees me when I’m sleeping and knows when I’m awake.

Does he see me in the shower? Does he know when I have gas? If he does and I do, will that make him go away?

I guess it is a small price to pay, though, this constant surveillance, as long as the presents keep rolling in. It’s a Yuletide hazard. Like fruitcake.

Christmas commercialization does not come without its downside. For every plus, there is a minus. It’s almost like real life!

Consider that in sports they tell you to “keep your eye on the ball.” They coach you not to “drop the ball.”

Yet at the same time, we’re supposed to “have a ball.”

Hmmm…

The holiday season is especially pressurized, ball-wise. Opportunities for disaster lurk in the form of festive balls nearly everywhere you turn. Lurkers. Lurking. Doing what lurkers do.

I hate lurking holiday disaster. But, in a fallen world with a lot of round things, it’s inevitable. We’ve got to be “on the ball!”

You’ve got your ball that involves dancing and dip and parties. Christmas Balls. Galas. Will I dress appropriately? Get caught in Yuletide chit-chat? (“I don’t mind ordinary conversation, but I hate chit-chat.” – Bernard P. Fife) Have an olive stuck in my teeth? Ask the host when the baby is due, even though she’s not pregnant?

It happens.

You’ve got your holiday bowl games, or ball games, and the potential for slips there are obvious. Drop the ball, lose the bowl.

There are ornamental balls to drop when you trim the tree. One of those breaks and it’s like breaking a light bulb. They haven’t invented something harder to sweep up than broken light bulbs or broken Christmas balls.

There’s the bell ball that hangs on your door and drives you crazy when the festive tingling wears off, which is quickly. There’s the jelly and crème cheese ball that lures the unsuspecting in like mosquito bulbs lure moths. Zap!

And there’s the most beloved Christmas ball of all, the cheese ball, which I eat until I get my bloat on. Who thought to put cheese into a ball and sprinkle nuts on it? How much time did THAT guy have on his hands that day? Regardless, God bless him. Yet there are hazards even in the good things, so my cheese ball holiday limit is two. (“No officer, I had just a couple of cheese balls is all. I was at a party!”)

Shopping is another holiday hazard, though it’s not so bad if you enjoy human bumper cars. I try to avoid mixing it up with a few thousand people whenever I can, so most of my Christmas shopping is online. Or, if I have to “go out there,” I try to do it in June.

Driving? During the holidays? Just because that person has a wreath tied above his bumper doesn’t mean he won’t pick you off in the parking lot.

There is the hazard of light hanging. Lights are hazardous enough, but when you go to hanging them, I mean, that’s like jumping into a hip hop contest with Ghostface Killa: you are asking to get “lit up.” Those old days were magical, but I have hung off my last house eve.

Hey, Santa knows the Christmas pathway is dicey. But most woe comes through pilot error. So take it easy. Relax. You’re supposed to have a ball, not break one.

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A Taxman's Take On Christmas: 2

2011-12-17T16:26:00.003-05:00

(My notes from Dr Chris' message at FBC)

Matthew 1:21-23

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).

WHO WAS THIS BABY?

1. God In The Flesh v. 23
Isaiah 7:14.."The virgin will be with child...they will call him Emannuel which means 'God with us'
John 1:1 -- "The Word came ... the Word was God....
John 1:14 -- "The Word became flesh ..."
John 14:8-9 "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father..."
GOD WITH US -- friendship, companionship...that's what "with" means here...and Jesus says, "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father..."
Christmas is God saying, "You NEED me, and you need me close to you..."

2. Our Savior
John 3:17 .. Jesus came "not to condemn the world but to save it"
* v. 21 "name him Jesus because he will save..."
Joshua = Yahweh saves; "Jesus" in Green for ancient Hebrew Joshua ... usually a baby was named after the baby's father...
* John 10:10 -- "that you might have life abundantly" He came to save us from ourselves.
* "He became one of us, down in the middle of us, to save the worst of us." -- Milton
* Phil2: 5-11 ... Paul writes that God lay aside he godly rights to save us
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2.

A Tax Collector's Take On Christmas: 1

2011-12-15T16:13:00.002-05:00

(From Dr Chris and my FBC notes)

DEALING WITH YOUR WORST HUMAN HURTS
Matthew 1: 18-24

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Joseph is the first person NOT to believe the Virgin Birth story ...v 19

When you are hurt, what do you do?

1. Decide To Handle It As Gently As Possible
There are dicey things we must do now and then -- actually often. It's even Biblical to ask people NOT to come to a certain church anymore, to fire people, etc....

But Joseph, though he did not believe Mary at first, was a godly young man and finally believed, and did not want to hurt Mary...v. 19 -- "Not wanting to make her a public example ..."

Gal 5:22-23 .. The fruit of the spirit
Phil 4:5 "Let your gentlenbess be evident to all. Thye Lord is near..."

2. Make A Choice To Hear God In The Issue
Most of us will NOT hear him...
* Pause, be quite ... We heard through his Word, and through the Holy Spirit (v 20-21).

3. Obey God No Matter What v 24

4. ... And God Will Take Care Of You (when we decide to do it His way)
a. Sometimes the situation will miraculously work out...
b. But God will ALWAYS take care of you ... you can be reconciled to one who doesn't want it, but god will always take care of us when we follow his voice. The old hymn "God Will Take Care of You," through every day, all along the way...

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See, It's Because Deer(s) Often Run Out In Front Of Cars And All, Y'all...

2011-12-14T15:02:00.002-05:00

Dropping The (Christmas) Ball

2011-12-11T10:22:00.002-05:00

(From today's Times and News-Star)

At unquestionably the biggest night church service of the year, with proud moms and great aunts and uncles tucked in tight to see cute children take part in the symbolic Christmas ceremony, a granddad fumbled the mistletoe ball.

Literally in front of God and everybody.

“The fan mail continues to come in,” he said in mid-week after that traumatic Sunday night. “It’s nice to be noticed again. I’m surprised it wasn’t ‘Play of the Day’ on ESPN.”

He’s accepted the electronic waves of mail and the face-to-face snickers with the guarded good cheer of a man who stepped over the edge -- and lived to be ridiculed about it.

“This is the gift that will keep on giving,” he said, “right on through 2012.”

It happened during the Hanging of the Greens, a traditional service in which every branch and bough hung has seasonal meaning. Cedar represents royalty, fir and pine represent everlasting life, holly for resurrection, mistletoe for … sin? I’m not sure. But this is what happened.

The children go all over the church putting up wreaths and boughs at predetermined times. The organist plays. The congregation or choir or soloist sings. At some point, a fashioned orb of mistletoe the size of two basketballs and with a hook attached is lifted by a human holding a hooked stick and placed on a high hook in the sanctuary.

When you’re dealing with that many hooks and a human and a stick and a somber audience, you’re dealing with liturgical dynamite.

Dressed in his holiday finest, my guy (to use his name would be indiscreet; we’ll just call him Pat) had practiced before the gig. Hung it right up. But as he sat in the congregation preparing for The Hanging, the hook appeared smaller. And higher. And the stick looked to weigh roughly the same as your average piece of pulpwood.

It was time. He secured the mistletoe ball on the stick. Heaved it skyward. Arms began trembling. He zeroed in on the hook. It bobbed and weaved. He glanced over his shoulder toward his precious wife of 50 years, who seemed to say with her eyes, “Please! While we’re young!”

He got it! The hooks hooked! But only a bit. And as he brought the stick down, well, the mistletoe ball…she fell. To Pat, it happened in slow motion. The ball seemed to fall in sections. Took a calendar day for the thing to hit the ground, which it did with a soft splat. Of course to Pat, it sounded a clothes washing machine had just been dropped out a fifth-story window.

It was all about pride at this point. Again he went in, with the stick, and hooked the ball. (What I’ve imagined is a guy trying to land a marlin, only in reverse.) He pointed the stick and the unruly mistletoe ball skyward, took aim, and after a few more agonizing eternities, she hooked. She hooked! Lord have mercy, securely, she hooked.

The children, lined in back and paying more attention in church than at any time previous in their entire lives, paused, eyes on the ball, just to make sure. And when she’d held for five seconds and then 10, and the end of the torment was assured, they actually burst into cheer. They cheered in church!

Pat sat. He did what he always does in times of distress: he looked upward. The center held. It was finished.

But not without a price. “The only other greens I’ll ever hang again,” he said, “will be turnips.”
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My Old Friend Donnie Golfgame...

2011-12-09T08:18:00.001-05:00

Readers of The Times and many alums of Louisiana Tech will recognize our friend Don Walker, who moved to Florida a few years ago and now works for Florida Today. He is a beautiful human being and loves him some golf. He also just returned from a cruise to the Bahamas. Here he is asking Santa for another cruise for Christmas. (Don is on the right.)

We love us some Don!

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Hurts me ...

2011-12-08T05:35:00.001-05:00

Harry Morgan dies at age 96.

Col. Sherman Potter. He was no Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson and my personal preference), but he was good and helped M*A*S*H hang around for another 10 wonderful years.

Loved him on "Dragnet" too.

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One Of The First 'Big" Books I Ever Read...

2011-12-07T17:39:00.002-05:00

...and it was a beautiful thing. One day I'm going to get another copy of this. Borrowed it from the Bookmobile in Dillon County, S.C. The "We Were There..." series was AWESOME -- at least it was when you were a kid in Dillon County. At that point, the only book I could have written was "We Were There In Dillon County."

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In His Presence: 8

2011-12-06T08:45:00.005-05:00

GETTING INTO HIS PRESENCE
Isaiah 6: 1-8

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

This text written around 740 BC by the prophet Isaiah...

I. We got into His presence how?

1. In His House
v. 1 "I saw the Lord..." or I 'understood' the Lord ... while in his house...
Heb 10:25 "Do not forsake assembling..." Church attendance is not a Biblical option...

2. In Prayer v. 1 "...saw God high and lifted up." Isaiah is in prayer, and has a fresh encounter with God.

II. When in His presence...

3. You Will See Him As He Is
People will say, "I have my view of God," but what is "God's view of God"? That is what's important (v. 1) -- Isaiah saw God as He is, "on the throne" as King of Kings

4. You'll See Him Holy and Perfect...
v. 2-3 "Holy Holy Holy..."

5. ...And Awesome
(v. 4) "the posts were shaken..."

III. What happens when we really meet him?

6. Brokenness and Cleansing and Forgiveness

v. 5 -- "Woe is me..." You don't strut into or out of God's presence..(Illus: Look into a magnifying mirror and see how you 'really' are

v. 6-7 .. 1John 1:9 "If we confess, God is faithful and" will purify us ...

Isaiah 5: the prophet "beats up" the others
Isaiah 6: he beats up himself

7. A Willingness To Be Completely God's
v. 8 -- "I heard the voice ask, Who do I send...Who will go?" Isaiah heard...

8. A Willingness to Serve With Abandonment
v. 8 "Send me..."

Why do churches struggle for workers? They haven't had an encounter with God, maybe?...

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Ode To Kermie And Them

2011-12-04T08:01:00.001-05:00

(from Sunday's Times and News-Star)

I nearly pulled seven leg muscles getting to the picture show and “The Muppets,” the seventh feature film but first in 12 years for this band of fits. If they were misfits they would not have already grossed an opening week haul of nearly $50 million (a solid No. 2 last week behind That Big Vampire Movie) after a dozen years on the shelf.

My son Casey is a hard-to-believe 22 now but humors me in that we’ve been quoting the movie all week, as if it were “Caddyshack” or “Arthur.” Like ice cream, The Muppets are generationally friendly.

I love me some Muppets. When they had their regular TV show 30 years ago, entertainers from John Cleese to Elton John to Don Knotts to Linda Rondstadt appeared. Rich Little. Steve Martin. Superman and Raquel Welch and Carol Burnett. They all wanted a piece of the action.

Today’s generation is not familiar with the not-in-syndication Muppets, which hurts me. (I might ask for a Season Two or Three DVD for Christmas?; it’s between that and a shoe horn.) But the current movie would make a fine introduction or, if you’ve missed these guys (and the irrepressible Miss Piggy, and who hasn’t?), a fine re-introduction. The old dudes smarting off from the balcony and Bobo The Bear alone are worth the price of admission.

It takes a poet to express how I really feel about The Muppets, and since I know no poets, I had to write the poem myself. Sorry! I hope if they get a copy, The Muppets will accept this for what it is, just a small but sincere love letter from a man fan.

Ode to Kermie and Them

Is a Muppet
Just a puppet,
Or is it something more?
Seems to me
The Muppets be
An entertaining metaphor.

Don't mutt turn into
family pets
When on your bed they sleep?
‘Just food’ becomes
A banquet
If it’s at your mom’s you eat.

Is it water
Or an ocean
When you’re standing on a shore?
Doesn’t golf
Turn into dodge ball
When you hear a guy yell, “Fore!”?

Is it sky
Or is it heaven
When you’re looking up at night?
Wasn’t Ali
Verses Frazier
More than just another fight?

In a world of
Fickle facebook friends
Where people come and go,
The Muppets --
More than puppets --
Stick around after show.
(A lot more fun
Than many of the
Humans that we know!)

They’re honest as
The day is long
They tell you how they feel;
Made of cloth
And buttons, sure -- but
Otherwise, they’re real.

Things aren’t always
As they seem
Despite what grownups say.
The Muppet that you meet
By chance
Could be your friend someday.

Daily Muppets laugh
And cry
And hope upon a star.
My prayer for me:
I hope to be
As human as they are.
-30-

Missions Is About ...

2011-12-01T17:43:00.004-05:00

(From my FBC notes; missionary to Macedonia Kyle Kirkpatrick was wonderful as our speaker...)

John 4: 1-42 (Jesus and the Woman at the Well)

1. ...Crossing Barriers
"being in the wrong place at the wrong time" ... Jesus intentionally goes to Samaria, which He could have bypassed as Jews and Samaritans didn't socialize. I need to cross barriers where i would feel uncomfortable ... Are we willing to cross barriers for the sake of the Gospel, for Jesus' truth...?

2 ... Knowing God, Not Comparing History
well water = manmade, old religion
living water = what satisfies the heart of man
v. 23 .. "worship in spirit and in truth" ... too often we associiate worship with emotion and a place

3. ...Reorienting Our Lives
v. 29 -- the woman "met a man" ... she left her waterpot, willing to abandon what she thought was her purpose for His mission.

4. ... Teamwork v. 35
It unites us ... Jesus shows disciples that the woman has done the hard work of missions, and now the Samaritans, the 'harvest,' is coming to hear...
The disciples had gone into town and done as Jesus asked, but nothing in the text says they 'witnessed' while they were in town; the woman at the well did...Now imagine the disciples there with Jesus, and here come the Samaritans who have heard the woman; they are coming to the well..... "Open your eyes and look at the fields; they are ripe for harvest..."
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Thanks Living

2011-11-29T14:14:00.001-05:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston. Message by Dr. Craig)

Psalm 100
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his[a]; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

It All Depends On The BIG TWO Being Right

1. Your Heart
v. 3 ... know that the Lord is God
"Know" by experience
Is my "spiritual center" right? Do I know God through Jesus Christ, personally?

2. A Right Frame of Mind

5 things the text asks us to hold to...

a) God created you -- v 3, "It is he who made us"

b) We Belong To Him Uniquely -- v. 3 "we are His people, the sheep of his pasture"
John 2:2 "He is the atoning sacrifice for the whole world..."

c) God is wonderfully Good -- v. 5 "The Lord is good..."

d) God is wonderfully loving

e) "his love endures forever" v. 5

3. When These Two Things Are Right ...

a) enthusiastic worship follows
vs. 1 -- "shout for joy"
v 2, 4 -- "worship with gladness; enter with praise"

b. Joyful service follows
v. 2 "Serve the Lord with gladness" ... a right heard and head affects your behavior; real worship always leads to real service.
People who are gracious are more healthy than those who aren't, studies show. They are more entertaining, more giving, more likeable, more satisfied...

Gratitude keys on the head and the heart
-30-

To Tree Or Not To Tree: The Answer's Easy!

2011-11-27T13:38:00.001-05:00

(From today's Times and News-Star)

The fall has been a dream for those of us who love all things arbor. The autumn color this year is as good as I can recall.

Last week on a spin east, the north Mississippi woods were on fire. Oranges and reds and yellows of maple, sweetgum and oak. The bronze and auburn and purple mix alone was enough to drop a jaw.

Goodness.

Now and then I drive through new subdivisions and sometimes entire towns with no or precious few trees.

That hurts me.

These treeless tundra are grateful, I suppose, whenever ice storms pass and no limbs fall on power lines. But otherwise, what’s a landscape without a tree? Might as well be a car port.

To tree, or not to tree, that is the question. And the answer is an easy one: you’ve got to tree.

There was (and still is) a giant sweetgum in the front yard of the house I used to live in, and some years it would really strut it’s stuff and other years it would be only spectacular. Some sort of off-season chemistry in the weather – the rain or drought or temperature or hours of sunlight – makes the difference in just how high Mother Nature turns the volume up in the fall. This spring and summer, the elements combined for a just-right autumn picture show.

To paraphrase a branch of the military, “Tree all that you can tree.”

I knew I was getting older when I started to A) look forward to visiting my parents, just to sit around and talk about nothing in particular, B) buy new underwear way before I needed them, and C) anticipate the leaves changing in late September. Funny how that works…

There are several people I can talk arbor with, but one of my heroes in the leaf game is my friend Kathie, whose last name I can’t tell you because that would be indiscreet. (Rowell. Kathie Rowell. Editor of The Times Living section.) Kathie brought me along with tender care when I first began to show an interest in admiring and caring for things that grew from the ground. My questions changed from “Is this edible?” to “When should I plant?”

One of the very reasons Kathie and Brian bought their house was because of the dogwoods in the yard. “It was fall,” she said, “and I was smitten.”

“The dogwoods struggled with the drought and are more brown this year than the deep red they usually turn,” she said in filing her annual color report for me; “this year the best in my yard has been the silverbell, which turns golden yellow.”

Kathie and I are front-row fans of the ginkgo. Their little fan-shaped leaves turn as yellow as I can imagine a leaf being. By themselves or in bunches (a gaggle of ginkgos?, a pride?, a herd?), the ginkgo tree is a stud among literal studs. I have seen them from Athens to Oxford, and when they turn on the juice, it’s always like I’m seeing them for the first time.

“I love the way the leaves are all on the tree one day and the next they all fall at the same time, carpeting the ground with yellow,” Kathie said.

The golden hickory. The undervalued but dependable crepe myrtle, which is always trying to do something to add to the game. The maple, a glowing red in my back yard and now nearly naked but man, what a show.

Got tree?
-30-

Authentic For God

2011-11-26T09:50:00.002-05:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston, guest Dennis Swanberg from West Monroe is the speaker)

John 11-12 (The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus)

You don't have to be 'odd for God.' Just be you, your BEST you. That's when you are most real, and authentic.
You're only as free as your captor ... In Christ you are free indeed.

This is a story of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, siblings who lived together. They were 'real.'

* They loved each other. Love your siblings

*People know who you love .. everyone knew Jesus loved Lazarus, and it's stated often in this text. Today's generation doesn't listen much -- they grew up surrounded by 'visuals.' But they do WATCH. They watch you. And know who and what you love.

* vs. 4 -- Even if we know something is happening that will glorify God, we might still have trouble with it, understanding it. So did Mary and Martha, concerning the death of their brother and Jesus' 'delay' in coming

* When God says you're dead, you're dead

* It's OK for real people to misunderstand each other (v 13-14)

* Is there anyone you would die for? v 16

* v 21 .. It is OK to be 'put out' with God -- as you love and believe Him.

* Before he goes to the cross, Jesus goes to Bethany to be with close friends. It is OK to have close friends -- you can't be 'close friends' with everybody.

* v 45 -- Many people believed because of Lazarus, even though he speaks not a word in the Bible. He was still a testimony...

-30-

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:00:00.003-05:00

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” – Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)

Christians On Fire

2011-11-23T09:37:00.002-05:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston, Dr. Craig presiding, deacon ordination service...)

Acts 6-8

When We Are On Fire In The Right Ways...

1. We Bless Our Church
v 6: 1-7
First disciples were...
Spiritual
Servants
Supporters
Solutions -- in every organization are the clueless, passionless, spinless, godless ... and then there are the Christ-likeness folk who say, "What can we do to make things bettter?"
Success v. 7 "So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

* How am I helping my church grow?

2. We Have A Widespread Positive Influence
v 8-11 -- Stephen's influence
v 7:54 -- Stephen is the first Christian martyr, killed as Jesus stands in Heaven in Stephen's honor.

3. We Bless Our World
v 8:4 -- Philip, the deacon and likely the first foreign missionary (not Philip the apostle), spreads the gospel to Samaria ... and to Ethopia (8:27-40)

-30-

In His Presence: 7

2011-11-21T07:08:00.001-05:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston, message by Dr. Craig)

WHEN GOD SHOWS UP
2 Chr 5-7

When We Really Honor God, He Will Show Up

It's 980 BC. Solomon finishes the temple his dad, David, began. In today's dollars, it would cost about $20 billion.
They honored God, and He showed up ( 5: 7, 13-14)

How Do We Honor God?

1. By Putting Him in the Right Place
* Do we put God only where He fits? ... in church, in connection groups, in Bible study? ... He wants to be the centerpiece

2. When We Do Things His Way
God doesn't loan out his power and glory; He gives it when we do things by His standards

3. When We Praise Him (5: 13-14; 6: 3-4)
Remember the story of the lepers in Luke 17 -- God enjoys praise
(Note Solomon's prayer in Chapter 6)

*** When We Honor God, What Will Happen?
* God Will Do Some Dramatic Things (Read Chapter 7, what happened after Solomon's prayer)

* Our schedules/lives will get different
5:14 " and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God. "

7:1-3 "1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
“He is good; his love endures forever.”

-30-

Over The River And Through The 'Hood, Complaining Away We Go

2011-11-20T09:41:00.001-05:00

(From today's TIMES and NEWS-STAR)

With the Pilgrims held up as our example, we learned early to “be grateful.”

As they dragged us to various in-laws’ in assorted neighborhoods for turkey and pumpkin pie and secondhand smoke, our parents reminded us that at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 (give or take), the settlers of the New World had it much tougher than we do. They had to eat outside. They didn’t have potatoes over here yet. The yeast rolls didn’t rise. William Bradford forgot to pick up a Marie Callender’s Apple Crumb Cobbler at the store, and the cable went out halfway though the Detroit Lions-Chicago Cardinals football game.

“And they didn’t even complain,” our parents said.

“Bet they got drunk then,” I said.

“No they most certainly did not!”

The Pilgrims really WERE tough; I would have complained if there’d been no potatoes. Loud and clear. They could have heard me back over in England.

But to hear our parents testify, no one 40 years ago ever complained about anything, especially on Thanksgiving. When you are spoiled like I am, that is setting the bar sort of high. But hey, I’m old school too and really not much of a complainer – as long as everything goes right. That’s just me!

This week, complaining is a given. This week is about the pre-Thanksgiving misgivings about “where we’re going for Thanksgiving.” Do you know where you’re going yet? Or what you’re bringing? Or the order in which you’re going to whomever’s house when? Are we all on the same page?

It can be dicey.

“Are we going to grandmama’s?”

“Not this year. But we’re not sure. We might.”

“When will we know?”

“I don’t know. Who are you, Dan Rather? We’ll know when we hear from everybody and decide.”

“It’s Tuesday.”

“Then good! Since Thanksgiving is on Thursday, as it usually is, that means we don’t have to know yet.”

“We’re cutting it close.”

“I’ll show you what cutting it close is, mister!”

“I was just asking…”

“Well just quit just asking, mister man. Your grandmother might meet us at Big Aunty’s. We might go there.”

“Not to Big Aunty’s! Big Aunty can’t cook, momma. Big Aunty won’t have nothing even done until supper. We’ll starve.”

“She most certainly will have and you most certainly will not starve. I’ll make you a pimento cheese to hold you over. We might just all bring different things.”

“What do you mean, ‘we all?’ Who all is coming?”

“Aunt Jean will bring the macaroni and cheese and we’ll bring the bean casserole and…”

“Momma that means Uncle Lester is coming. He’s a professional smoker. We’ll all smell like something burnt. They’ll be ashes in the macroni.”

“No there will not!”

“There was last year.”

“You’ll think last year if you don’t shut up! Now I mean it!”

“Can we just stay home and make hamburgers?”

“NO! We can be thankful and not complain about gummy rice and ashes in the food and jello with nuts in it and getting your picture taken. And if I hear one word, ONE MORE WORD....”

Precious memories. And Happy Thanksgiving; I hope you get where you’re going.

-30-

Vision Accomplished: 8

2011-11-18T06:55:00.002-05:00

(From my notes at FBC Ruston, message by Dr. Craig)

WORSHIP
2 Samuel 6: 14-16
Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

* Worship should always happen when we are in the presence of God.

1. When You Really Love and Worship God As David Does Here, You Will Be Misunderstood
* David's wife didn't like that David humbled himself and removed his crown and royal robes and put on priests' robes

2. When We Really Worship, It Leads To Being Right With God and Others
* Worship is about what happens inward; it changes who we are and how we act
* Parts of sacrificed animals were shared among the people as fellowship, loving each other
* "Noise doesn't mean anything. A hen lays an egg and cackles like she's laid an asteroid."

3. It's OK To Really Express Your Love To And For God
* David is dancing as an expression of his love for God, the presence of God "coming home" to Jerusallem.
* "Most churches start at 11 o'clock sharp and end at 12 o'clock dull"
* God's presence should excite us more than it does
* Start expressing your love for God...

-30-

In The Presence: 6

2011-11-16T09:44:00.001-05:00

(From my notes at FBC Ruston, Dr. Chris presiding...)

BLESSINGS
2 Samuel:6: 1-12(NIV)

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

1 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

8 Then David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

9 David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.

12 Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jer. 29:13

THE PRESENCE OF GOD...

1. Is Awesome v 1-2, 5
* Live in the transforming reality of always being in the presence

2. When He Is Not Appreciated Properly, There Will Be Problems v. 3-8
* Remember that these problems with the ark happen among God's people, not among unbelievers -- subtle disobedience
* Just one loose string messes up the sound of the whole fiddle

3. When He Is Appreciated Properly, Blessings Abound v. 9-11
* Obed-Edom is likely a Levite priest...Regardless of his position, he and his household were blessed in the ark's presence (v. 11)...
* He did nothing to receive the blessing, while the people celebrating and praising in verse 5 were punished in the ark's presence ... Why? Because God wasn't in it. God does not bless disobedience; He blesses a pure heart, which Obed-Edom must have had.
* We live in a culture of DO and neglect what we're to BE
* Works never substitute for who you are.

Psalm 37:4 -- "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart..."
Ps 46:10 -- 'Be still and know..."

Eugene Peterson (pastor and author) suggest two commands:
1. Come and behold the works of God
2. Be still -- become award there is more to life than our desires

* "Nothing good ever happened in a stampede..." Baron von "Somebody" said that!

John 15:4 "Remain in me..."
ABIDE is about being, not about doing

4. Let's Long For God And His Blessings v. 12
* David, with a good kind of jealousy, wanted what Obed-Edom had -- and brought the ark to Jerusalem properly, and rejoiced
* Have we gotten used to living without the power, like you get used to living without electricity after a while.
* Illus: a lady during a storm lost her power and went ten years without it. Her neighbors FINALLY noticed, and wanted to help her get it turned back on. She'd gotten used to no hot meals, no fire, no hot water. "I guess I'd gotten used to living without the power..."

-30-

Either Keep Your Sense or Follow The 'Lonestar'

2011-11-13T08:44:00.001-05:00

(Reprinted from today's Times and News-Star)

Wonder how Lewis and Clark could leave Missouri with nothing more than a compass and a toothbrush and find Oregon nearly 200 years ago, while I can’t find the new restaurant I ate at last night?

This would make a good Andy Rooney moment, God rest the popular and now departed newsman’s irritable and entertaining soul. “It’s really sort of fascinating, don’t you think,” I hear him saying, “the sense of direction some people have and others don’t? Those who have it can find Deluth by the stars. In the daytime. The ones who don’t can’t find the Esso station on the corner of their own neighborhood. I just hate those kinds of people. They’re stupid.

“And didja ever notice how I don’t trim my eyebrows? Why is that? I just hate that. Maybe I’ve lost my sense of direction and can’t find the scissors.”

I don’t like complainers in general but I did like him. We need a Designated Complainer. Every family has one. Even the American family. I’ll miss him. Wish we could find another one like him. Meanwhile…

You know how the robbers blindfold the guy when they’re taking him for a ride? They would not have to do that to me. I couldn’t fall out of a boat and find water.

Back in the day, I had a sense of direction. I grew up where there weren’t many signs. You had to “know.” You didn’t know that not knowing was even an option. My direction sense is now confined to back home only.

We moved to the big town and I got used to signs and I lost what sense of direction I had. I could probably go back and find it – if I had a sense of direction. I think it’s one of those things that you can’t find once you lose it. Like virginity. Well, maybe not quite like that. Maybe nothing like that. Maybe losing your sense of direction is more like breaking a $100 bill: once you do, it’s hard to understand where it went when it’s gone.

My good friend Chief has a device in his new truck he mistakenly calls “Lonestar,” and he hits a button and a nice lady gets him all the way from where the lives to wherever he wants to go. And tells him when he’s there. “Take the Waco Exit. Proceed in the left lane. Turn right in 500 yards…in 300 yards…in 100 yards,” and on like that.

Lewis and Clark had Sacagawea. We have GPS.

I do not know at this point if we have GPS back home in the Carolina Piedmont country. During my most recent visit four years ago, we did not have cell phone service. I know this because 10 miles from the house I called to let them know I was almost there, and I might as well have been holding a Dixie cup with a string coming out of it. GPS back home would go something like this:

“Well, you mean from HERE? OK. Well, go about a mile, mile and a half, and what you’ll come to is a red barn. Used to be red. I remember when we helped build that barn. Anyway, take a right and pass Peabug’s place and you’ll come to where the Clark boy got in that wreck on his two-wheeler motorbike thing and broke his leg. Good boy. Limps a bit. I believe it’s there that you take a left…,” and on like that.

It’s wise not to lose your sense of direction back home.
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Vision Accomplished: 7

2011-11-09T11:23:00.002-04:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston...)

Nehemiah 6-10

1. Accomplish The Things God Wants You To Do
6:15 -- "...the wall was completed in 52 days" (after having been down for more than 140 years)

2. Be A Great Disciple And Make Great Disciples
Matt 28, The Great Commissioin -- a disciple is a convert, then a leader, a pupil and a follower

How to be a great disciple
a) The Word
8:1-3 People hear words and read it... v. 13-14 "they found written in the Word..." they did not know before, so it was impossible for them to help others, as it's impossible for us to help others without knowing, studying his Word. Get into the Word and let the Word get into you.

b) Worship
8:16 -- "the bowed and worshipped..." Worship is surrender to God...it is having an encourter with God that's life-changing...

c) Confession and Repentance
9:13 -- "(Israelites) confessed..then worshipped..." We should live in a state of confession and repentance

d) A Different Life
"Real worship and real Bible study always leads to real change..."

As They Became Disciples, It Changed These Areas
i) Changed Their Families
Neh 10:30 3“We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons."

ii) Changed Their Worklife
10:31 "When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts."

iii) Affected Their Billfolds
10:35, 37, 39 ... Gave their first fruits to God..."we will not neglect God..."

Illustration: A philosopher, scientist and simple man trapped in a cove and drowning with sheer rock cliffs around them.. What appeared to be a rope dropped for them from the top of the cliff...
The philosopher said, "This might be an illusion..." He didn't grab it, and drowned.
The scientist described the rope exactly but didn't grab it. Seeya!
The simple man said, "This might be a rope or it might be a python's tail, but it's the only hope i have."
At some point, you gotta grab the rope. You've got to grab God's hand, or drown.
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Strike Up The Band!, For New Times' Sake

2011-11-06T12:00:00.002-04:00

(From today's Times in Shreveport and News-Star in Monroe.)

The tradition-rich Haynesville and Homer football teams are in the playoffs again this year, but the atmosphere will lack a familiar ring.

No marching bands.

Hear that? They’re not playing our song.

Small-town high school marching bands are going the way of the Notre Dam box, the wishbone formation, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. Anybody around here play the baritone sax?

Student apathy is to blame, perhaps? Parents who don’t see the point? The lack of a leader? Maybe it’s human nature: few of us miss a good thing until it’s gone.

Whatever the cause, the result is no band. Claiborne Academy lost its band more than a decade ago. Then Haynesville. And this year, the Homer Pelicans have played football but not the snare, tuba or clarinet.

They tried. Last year’s Homer Band had 15 members, and most of those were from the junior high. Even though the band director came out of retirement to work part-time, well, you can’t get blood out of a turnip or a high school marching band out of less than two dozen students.

So officially, the Homer Pelicans Marching Band is on break.

“It’s not totally eliminated,” said parish superintendent Dr. Janice Williams. “It’s suspended until student interest picks up. If we had student involvement, we’d have a band. It the students want a band, they can have a band.”

A petition circulated briefly in August once word got out that the band had, at least for now, disbanded. Williams has heard no more about it though, and the deafness was never more evident than during September’s reprisal of the storied Homer-Haynesville football series.

“Not a band to be seen,” she said. “They played music on the P.A., but band spirit is a lot different than just music.”

Amen.

In August I’d read with dismay a letter to the editor in “The Guardian-Journal,” my very favorite Claiborne Parish newspaper.

“When you consider that probably 40 percent of the student body participated in the band programs in the ’50s and ’60s,” wrote Bobby Johnson, Homer High Class of 1965, “there must have been something special happening.”

And there was. The band, 130 members strong, even went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans back then, the biggest outfit in the whole parade. They broke into two groups and came home with first and second places, two trophies, and double the prize money.

“We’d march from Homer High down Dutchtown Road to where it intersects with Clear Lake – that’s got to be more than three miles ’round trip,” said Dr. Charlie Roberts, president and CEO of the LSU Alumni Association today, but a Homer High grad, music teacher and band director back in the day. “Kids want to talk and play and horse around, but it’s hard to do that when you’re marching and blowing a horn. They loved the exercise though. And we were good.”

As you’d build a football team, Roberts recruited, getting to know the kids when they were in elementary school. He formed a club of dedicated band parents who fund-raised to reward the band with leather jackets.

“It takes more than money,” said Roberts, who knows about modern distractions; his three grandchildren aren’t band folk. “But I believe you could still build it back. It’ll take somebody special who’s willing to start with nothing.”

Then it could really be something…

“For those of us who experienced it, enjoyed and learned from it,” Johnson wrote in August, “we can only hope that it will come again.”
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In The Presence: 5

2011-11-03T10:17:00.002-04:00

SERIOUS BUSINESS
2 Samuel 6: 1-9

Uzzah dies after touching the ark, which represented God's presence

I. HOW DO WE DISRESPECT GOD, THE PRESENCE OF GOD?

God is a Loving Father and our Holy Master, a balance...

1. WHEN WE ACT BEFORE WE GET GOD'S DIRECTION
* David acted in moving the ark before asking God; nowhere in the text is it recorded that he prayer or asked anyone for direction or accountability
* We quench the spirit when we act before getting His guidance

2. WHEN WE DON'T DO GOD'S WORK GOD'S WAY
Exodus 25 has instructions to carry the ark; very involved instructions.
David's men were well-intentioned, doing a 'good' thing, but ... God's work must be done God's way to have God's blessing; God IS in the details.

3. WHE WE TREAT WITH CASUALNESS THE THINGS OF GOD
* They KNEW not to touch the ark
* Sin almost always begins with a carelessness and a casualness
* Is my behavior toward church, toward connections groups, etc., casual?

II. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DO THIS?

1. WE LOSE THE POWER AND PRESENCE OF GOD

2. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD COMES (v 7)
Against Uzzah, an immediate death penalty.
Other places in scripture where judgment is swift:
Lev 10 -- Aaron's sons devoured by fire
Josh 7 -- The sin of Achan
Acts 5 -- Ananias and Sapphira
1 Cor 11 -- Paul's account of those who have approached the Lord's Supper with casualness and are now 'weak and sick or have fallen asleep (died)'...

* We accept subpar as par because of our steady casualness

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Doc Bailey And An FCA Update

2011-11-02T08:58:00.007-04:00

* FCA Founders Award Banquet is Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 at the Bossier Civic Center. Go to nwlafca.org for more information about the event and about tickets. Matt Stover (pictured), Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Famer and a place kicker for 20 years in the NFL, will be the featured speaker. Stover won Super Bowl rings with both Baltimore and Indianapolis. Stover will also be the featured speaker Monday night, Nov. 7, at the Ruston FCA Banquet.

*Former fullback and dentist (not at the same time!) Doc Bailey began FCA in North Louisiana 50 years ago. Sunday night on KTBS, Rick Rowe profiled Doc; you can see it by going to ktbs.com, typing "Promise of Hope" into the search box, then clicking on the Promise of Hope for Oct. 30. Wonderful story on a wonderful gentleman.

* Thank you to all who played and donated this past Thursday at the Dr. Jack Witte Memorial Golf Day for FCA at East Ridge Country Club. Think about playing in it next year! Write me if you need more info.

SEEYA!
-30-

Vision Accomplished: 6

2011-11-01T09:45:00.003-04:00

SUCCESS WITH SKUNKS AND LIFE IN GENERAL
Neh 6

How did Nehemiah -- and how do we -- survive life's skunk attacks?

1. INTROSPECTION: Am I dong what's right?
6: 1-8 ... opponents tried to distract Nehemiah with accusations and lies; Nehemiah did not begin to doubt himself ultimately (v8) -- "No such things as you say are being done...

* We won't be challenged UNTIL we decide to become a wall builder

2. BE SPIRITUALLY STRONG (v 9-14)
Nehemiah recognizes a false prophet who lies to him ... Because he is "prayed up," he can discern skunk attacks.

3. BE BUSY ABOUT THE RIGHT THINGS (2-3)
Satan wants to get you off course -- Nehemiah kept focus... "I am dong a great work, I cannot come down..."

4. FELLOWSHIP WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Nehemiah had the right people in his life for love, support and encouragement

5. DETERMINED (v 3)
Am I willing to do what God wants?

*Most of us stop at halfway (ILLUS: Three little boys asked a man who was raking if they could rake his yard. The man said, "But boys, I'm halfway through." And one of the boys said, "We know, but halfway is when people usually stop.")

* See things to victory, with God's help

* "If it is of God and God is in it, it's always, always, always too soon to quit."

-30-

Some Octobers Stick Around -- For Good

2011-10-30T15:52:00.003-04:00

(From today's Times and News-Star)

Be of good cheer and take your cuts, even when you don’t feel like it. You never know when a tiny something you do today might make a big difference for somebody tomorrow – or nearly 30 years from now, and on many days in between.

Got email this week from a dear friend I’ve never met. He’d been sent a link that connected him to a story I’d written years ago about “It’s A Long Way To October,” a three-hour “documentary” about the 1982 Atlanta Braves that aired in ’83, then disappeared.

It didn’t disappear to me. I’d recorded it on a VHS machine the size of a deep freeze and still play it often while I work. No sound: I just look over at the TV set and am reminded…

The Braves’ entire season was covered since Atlanta’s TBS SuperStation, with cameras and mics and whatnot, had the technology. This was unheard of in ’82, hearing players and umpires talking in the dugout, at spring training, on road trips at restaurants. Watching it was like spending time with friends since back then, the Braves and Chicago’s Cubs, thanks to cable, were the only games in town.

So it’s neat that I should get this mail now, during World Series week.

“I was the executive producer of that special a long time ago and have a sports Emmy and a cable Ace thanks to the talented people who made this happen,” wrote Terry Hanson. “It was supposed to be the quintessential ‘any season in baseball,’ but the club’s success had Ted Turner opt for memorializing that season. So, it had only a one-year shelf life when my initial intention was to have it live for a lifetime. Happy to see you remember.”

Are you kidding me? The original “It’s A Long Way…” guy found something I’d written and wrote me back? Joy! Rapture! I wrote HIM back to say I’d made copies for other loyalists, guys I’ve never met who saw the same link and wanted a copy. They just wanted to remember Torre and Red Barber, Ernie and Pete and Skip, Horner and Dale Murphy and Niekro, even the Red Man and Miller Lite and “Buy a Kenny Rogers album” commercials of yesteryear. Is that Roger Staubach pushing life insurance?

“It is a joy to want to thank somebody for years and finally get the opportunity to do it,” I wrote to Mr. Hanson. “…Whenever things aren’t going your way – you’re having a bad day or whatever — I want you to know something: You made a difference for me. And for a lot of guys in college back then, even in high school in the late ’70s. We had the one game a week and then suddenly – THE BRAVES! The horrible, terrible, wonderful Braves…Then this piece of work in ’82. Before there WAS this kind of stuff. Not a single week goes by that I don’t quote something from the show or have it quoted to me by one of The Guys from back then…

“Finally, you might think you didn’t , but you DID make something that lives for a lifetime. You did. At least for a few guys like me.”

If you need to thank someone, do it. We all need encouragement. And if you feel underappreciated or feel your work has a short shelf life, hang on anyway. Keep dishing out the good stuff. Somebody out there’s your biggest fan.
-30-

Vision Accomplished: 5

2011-10-28T18:23:00.005-04:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston, Dr. Chris' effort)

DEALING WITH SKUNKS

Neh 2: 4 and 6

Human Skunks put out toxins who that have negative affects on others; we all have skunk tendencies...

Nehemiah faced skunks as he attempted to follow God's vision for him

I. Skunks M.O.

1. DON'T WANT GOOD THINGS TO HAPPEN

Neh 2:10 --

Sanbalat -- gov of Samaria
Tabiah -- gov of Ammon
These are leaders in the area around Jerusalem who were opposing Nehemiah

* Some people just don't want good things to happen

2. SKUNKS LOVE OTHER SKUNKS
2:19 --
Geshem is another governor of a nearby area

* Misery loves company

* Skunks band together

* Jesus hung around the worst of society, but his closest friends were God followers

3. SKUNKS RIDICULE AND ACCUSE OTHERS OF THE WORST

2:19 and 4: 1-3 Nehemiah moced and ridiculed

* Ridicule is the weapon people use when they have no other weapon

* Skunks also use slander (v 19 in Chapter 2) "Are you rebelling against the king..?!"

Neh 4: 7-8 "...they plotted to stir up trouble..."

* Expect ridicule if you want to move forward with God -- your motives will be challenged

* it's a dangerous to challenge someone's heart

* words DO hurt ... expect ridicule

4. SKUNKS LOVE DISCOURAGEMENT
v. 4: 10-12
Jewish people are surrounded by people / kings discouraging them as they work toward God's vision; this is serious...

II. WHY DO PEOPLE "SKUNK"?

1. THEIR PAST

Ezra 4: 1-3 describes when these same kings in this story asked Exra if they could help him rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and Exra said no, probably because the kings wished to uhndermine his efforts or take credit.

2. ARROGANCE: most negative people think theyr'e smarter than everyone else

3. SELFISHNESS: Surrounding kings controlled the area, and a strong Jerusalem would hurt them economically -- "Hell hath no fury like a skunk scorned."

4. REAL HEART ISSUES: We all have sinful natures that muse be replace with a God nature
Matthew 12:35 .. "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." ... Which nature do we feed?

1 Cor 10:8-11 "We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come."

God challenges us to go through life not as a skunk, but more like Nehemiah, loyal and courageous
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In The Presence: 4

2011-10-27T06:17:00.004-04:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston and Dr. Chris)

HEARING GOD

1 Samuel 3

1. THE LORD SPEAKS AND MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN ... IN HIS HOUSE
v. 1-4 ... God created organized religion and shows up in church...Do I go to church looking for God to show up? BE in the house of God...

2. ... TO THOSE QUIET ENOUGH TO HEAR v. 3-4
1 Kings 19 tell the story of Elijah missing God because he was looking for an earthquake
Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God..."

3. ...TO THOSE OPEN AND SENSITIVE TO HIM
v 4 --
Samuel answered, "Here I am"
Do you go to church, connection groups, wanting to hear a word from God?

4. ... AND OTHERS CAN HELP US DISCERN GOD'S VOICE
v. 5-9 .. "Samuel ran to Elijah..."
* Have people in your life who will help you

5. ...TO THOSE WHO ARE SURRENDERED TO HIM
v. 10 -- "The Lord said...Samuel Answered..."
*Am I really open to God's woice and to what he has to say, exactly?...
-30-

Vision Accomplished: 4

2011-10-26T05:49:00.005-04:00

(My notes from FBC Ruston and Dr. Chris Craig)

VITAL INGREDIENTS

Nehemiah 1-3

Three ingredients God says are essential for our "dreams" to come to pass

1. PREPARATION -- Nehemiah planned, practiced and prayed to accomplish building the wall, something others failed at for 140 years.
Neh 1:1 - Neh 2:1 -- four months pass as Nehemiah prepares

* Jesus prepared for 30 years for his ministry of three years. He reminds us in scripture to "count the cost" of discipleship. Take a risk assessment.
*Most dreams fail not because of lack of zeal but because of lack of counting the cost.
* "Pray, but keep your powder dry."

2. ATTITUDE
Neh 2:7 -- "Let us rebuild..." a WE CAN attitude
Phil 4:13 -- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...
* "If you think you can or tink you can't, you are probably right." Henry Ford
* Attitude is what gets you over the top.

3. WORK
Neh 2:18 -- "Let us RISE UP and build..."
Neh 3 illustrates that God's word honors the manual labor of rebuilding the wall
Neh 4:6 -- "the people worked with all of their heart..." toiled with their whole being

*Pray like it depends on Him, work like it depends on me
* Most people are like callouses ... they showe up after the work is done

Thoreau -- Live the life imagined, advance in the direction of your dreams

-30-

Self Is Scary

2011-10-25T05:54:00.001-04:00

(from today's ethought...)

“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” – Romans 7: 18

A week from today, some of you will be on a post-Halloween sugar high of Biblical proportions. Good luck with that! (Quick question: Do you ever put the tiny “Fun Size” candy bars in your freezer and eat them later by just letting them slowly melt in your month? Try it!)

In my youth I was, in different late Octobers, a pirate, cowboy and ghost. As a ghost I was completely covered by a bed sheet, save the holes we’d cut where my eyes were. Even in disguise, I was not very convincing. Mrs. Bobbie, my first-grade teacher, opened her door and said, “Hey little Teddy! Come on in!”

I make a poor “holey” ghost, apparently not gifted for trick-or-treat espionage.

But I do have an eye for what’s evil and what is scary. I see it whenever I look into a mirror.

One of the best blessings of my life has been a daily realization and acceptance of my potential for evil. In sin did my precious mother conceive me, right? Paul knew. The law convicted him and his covetous heart, “slew” him, convinced him his best would not be enough to save him. Suddenly, the situation became very clear: as the rest of us do, Paul needed a Savior. So … is there any hope? Is there anyone who can rescue me from me?

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God…” — Romans 7:24-25

-30-

To All The Dentists I've Loved Before!

2011-10-23T14:40:00.001-04:00

(From today's Times and News-Star -- about our annual Doc Jack Witte Golf Day to benefit the Fellowship of Christian Athletes)

Four out of five dentists surveyed say four out of five people hate their guts.

I’m that fifth guy!

The fear is probably from the unnerving whirring of those insane drills. Having your mouth open while reclined in such a vulnerable position. Being reminded you aren’t flossing enough, and in an “Eat your vegetables!” tone.

Or, it could just be fear of the sheer pain. There is that.

But I love going to the dentist. I like my dentist! And he pretends to like me, and my teeth. It’s a beautiful working relationship.

A few months ago I had a tiny cavity filled. I slobbered a “thank you” and smiled a crooked smile. They gave me a freshly baked cookie and coffee, which I drank and spilled down my numb chin. I felt like I was in a Carol Burnett skit.

Which is exactly why I like going to my dentist -- because it’s not like going to the dentist. It’s like being in a good 30-minute sitcom.

Besides, how can you hate somebody who gives you a free cookie? After all, dentists are people too. Sort of.

I even had another dentist, sort of a surgeon dentist, drill a screw into my head. An entire screw. Into my gums. Way back there. But he numbed it of course and he was funny and really nice about it and I like him too. Not enough to go get another screw drilled into my gums, but he was a very nice man.

I like dentists because they help the world smile. We need more of that. More flossing and brushing, less gingivitis and tartar. Down with decay! Up with dentists!

Oddly, my favorite dentist is a guy who never touched my teeth. But he did touch my soul. Since he died 10 years ago in May, cancer at age 44, we’ve talked about him annually here. Jack “Doc” Witte was a guy we played golf with, coached ball with, had fun with. We miss the Doc.

He was a passionate supporter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a main player in FCA’s annual Ironman golf fundraising marathon. The event is now the Dr. Jack R. Witte Memorial Golf Day, which is Thursday at East Ridge Country Club, and I ask your support in the way of a tax-deductable donation as I do every year. As other will, I'll be playing in honor of Doc, to raise money as he would be doing were he here.

You can donate online at nwlafca.org (click Donate, then One Time Gift, then type in Golf Day.) Or you can send your donation to Terry Slack, FCA, 3018 Old Minden Rd., Ste. 1121, Bossier City, LA 71112. Or just email me and we'll figure it out!

My family has made a $100 donation and I ask you to match that; not everyone can. (We've been saving up!) But your gift, whatever you feel it can or should be, will be used wisely once received.

Our friend Terry and his wife Peggy are in their 22nd year with FCA; he’s still northwest Louisiana’s point man, but he’s also FCA’s state director now. He’ll handle your gifts wisely, as Doc Witte always knew he would. You can help make an eternal difference.

“I’ve grown in faith and leadership skills that help me on the football and baseball fields,” said Byrd High star quarterback Richard Carthon, who attended an FCA Camp at Slack’s urging in 2010. “I’ve grown as a leader at home and in FCA at school.”

“Terry Slack and FCA,” said John Bachman, head football coach at Shreveport’s Calvary Academy, “are loved and wanted around here.”

I thank in advance the tireless brotherhood of dentists who’ve faithfully donated in Doc’s memory and hope you’ll follow their lead. You’ll help a lot of people smile if you do.

-30-

Doc's Memorial Golf Day

2011-10-19T13:53:00.003-04:00

More about this Sunday, but Thursday, Oct. 27 is the Dr. Jack R. Witte Memorial Golf Day.

East Ridge Country Club is allowing us to play there. Donations we receive will benefit the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Doc Witte, former Fair Park stud and Louisiana Tech football player, was a wonderful athlete, dad, husband, dentist and friend, and a loyal, passionate supporter of FCA. He died 10 years ago of cancer at age 44, and this tournament is a way to remember him and to help FCA, as he did when he was here.

My family is making a $100 donation and I'll play that day in honor of Doc, as we all will. We're asking you to match our donation, but any gift you are willing to give will be helpful in reaching the area's student athletes, coaches and their families. Again, more will be here, in The Times and in The News-Star Sunday. And more about dentists. I love my dentist!

Meanwhile, if you wish to donate now, you can online at nwlafca.org (click Donate, then One Time Gift, then type in Golf Day.)

Or you can send your donation to Terry Slack, FCA, 3018 Old Minden Rd., Ste. 1121, Bossier City, LA 71112.

-30-

In The Presence: 3rd in a Series

2011-10-18T10:40:00.001-04:00

CRAVE AND YOU WILL RECEIVE
Exodus 33-34

Do you long to see the Lord? Moses did. Exodus 33:12-23 -- Moses prays intimately to see His face
Moses is a mature follower who still asks God for more of his presence

1. IT IS HERE WHERE ONE TRULY LEARNS TO KNOW GOD
34: 5-6 "The Lord is merciful..." Do I want to know God or just want to know more ABOUT God?

2. WE BEGIN TO TRULY LEARN THE WAYS OF GOD
34:1, 27-28
Moses came to understand God's instruction when Moses was devoted to Him ... in this case, for a supernatural 40 days
Prayer is a way we bathe ourselves in the Divine Presence
We want a formula, but God is a person

3. IT IS HERE ONE IS CHANGED
34:29 "Moses was not aware his face was radiant because he had spoken weith God"
Too many of us think our face is shining and it is not
1 Cor 13:4-7 -- what love is
Gal 5:22- fruit of the spirit

4. THIS IS WHERE WE INFLUENCE OTHERS
34:31-35 "...they saw the face of moses, that he shone..."
Our job is to influence, not to demand or dictate
"To be much for God, you must be much WITH God."

Nothing matters if you don't have Jesus in the house; He won't be if He's not in our hearts and minds

Jer 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Pray that God will show up in my church and in my life.
-30-

Don't Toss The Tube 'Til It's All Gone

2011-10-16T10:24:00.001-04:00

(From Sunday's Times and News-Star)

My friend of 35-plus years eulogized his dad Monday with an eloquence impressive but surprising, considering the circumstances. I was proud of him.

Years ago his pastor father gave the address at our high school graduation, encouraging us to be wise, as young David was, with the stones we’d choose to slay the giants we’d face. Saturday morning Rev. Davis brought the mail inside, sat in his chair, then died suddenly of a heart attack, his Bible open in his study, his notes ready with Sunday’s sermon.

“He worshipped in heaven this Sunday morning,” the funeral program read.

My buddy Clint told a lot of stories about his dad in the filled-to-the-brim church – they even had to sit people in the choir loft. Most of the stories I knew already. A personal favorite is the one when the pickup screeched to a stop on Interstate 20; Clint and his younger sisters had figured out they could alter the steering of the truck by rolling from side to side on the foam mattress in the truck bed. There was hell to pay.

His dad got out, cracked the door on the camper top, pulled Clint out and tore him up on the side of the road while truckers honked their approval. Then he pitched a subdued Clint back into the bed, got back in the cab, continued the mission.

Clint’s daddy was old school.

One story about this imperfect but godly man I did not know. Glad I do now.

Bro. Davis would roll the toothpaste tube very carefully, day by day, all the way to the opening. Not surprising, especially for a man whose first job brought him $2,200 annually as a junior high coach and teacher in Webster Parish.

When the tube was completely rolled, he would unroll it and rake is thumb down the tube to get one more squirt. THEN, to get the absolute last bit of toothpaste, he’d suck the end, and brush furiously. Only then would he throw the completely spent tube away.

Here’s a guy you’d trust with the inventory.

Clint said that even through that modest hygienic illustration, he learned a lesson from his dad. The days of our lives aren’t much different than tubes of toothpaste. Each day, we get a new tube.

And each day, we roll the tube toward the top as little by little we squeeze out a piece of the day. Hopefully, what we squeeze out will make us and others a bit cleaner.

Then we head home from work and the tube seems done, all the way to the top. But that’s when your spouse and children need you, and nothing is more important than that, so you roll the tube back out and slide your thumb down its middle and get another little bit of love to share. Then it’s late and there’s that tiny bit left, that bit you can suck out. And maybe you need to, because maybe that’s when you need to say to someone, “I was really a jerk today. I love you. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

Each day, we get just enough in the tube to handle the day’s challenges and needs. Tomorrow, a new tube. Bro. Davis didn’t waste much toothpaste or time. One of the many legacies he left was his willingness to be used up in service, his willingness, as they say in sports, to leave it all on the field.
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Vision Accomplished: 3rd In a Series

2011-10-14T01:08:00.001-04:00

GETTING IT GOING

Book of Nehemiah

Three essentials in finding vision and accomplishing our purpose

1. FAVOR, sympathy from God in his leanings toward men

a. Favor with God -- many of us shoot for goals so low we don't need god's help; God wants to push us to things only He can accomplish, through us.

Neh 1:11 and 2:18: Nehemiah prays for success, for God's gracious hand, for His favor

b. Favor of Others -- Neh 1:11 and 2:1-5: "...favor in the king's sight..."

We should pray this often: "God help people in my life be sympathetic to my efforts toward them, in my spirit influence..."

c. Be a Favorable Person (as Nehemiah was)

Acts 2:47 -- "...enjoying the favor of all..."

Don't be a 'jerk for Jesus' ... those people never accomplish anything.

Lou Holtz "If you're ugly, dress better." Don't intentionally try to be off-putting.

2. SACRIFICE

Neh 2:10, 2:19 .. Nehemiah, the cupbearer for the king, is willing to leave comfort in the palace and be rediculed to accomplish God's vision .... Nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm and sacrifice.

3. FAITH

Neh 2:2 "I was very much afraid..."

Nehemiahn approaches the king, thought scared -- his request demanded faith

If faith is not challenged sometimes, we might not be really trying to accomplish much

Like a trapeze artist, we've got to be willing to let go.

* The visionary sees the wall already up before it's up...

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In The Presence: 2nd in a Series...

2011-10-12T08:55:00.002-04:00

(Notes from Dr Chris at FBC Ruston)

HOLY GROUND
Exodus 3: 1-12 (at bottom)
God speaks to Moses in the burning bush

Charles Swindoll: "After decades in the ministry, I realize I am just scratching the surface of understandinbg and experiencing the presence of God."

1. God Manifests Himself in Unexpected Places (v 1-5)

* God appears in the normalcy of Moses's everyday life -- on the backside of the desert.
* For the first time in 400 years in scripture, since the life of Jacob, God appears with a word for man
* Are you looking for God and praying for Him to show up?

2. Sometimes God Shows Up in Unexpected Ways (3-5)
Take your "box" of God and break it in two, turn God loose -- let Him show up on his terms

3. God's Presence is a Place of Reverence (6-7)
The is the first text in which the word "holy" appears in scripture.
* God is everywhere, so everywhere is holy ground; reverence is about humility, showing honor, about attitude -- we dn't strut into the presence of God.
* If our heart is haughty, God won't show up.

4. God Manifests Himself to Help Us Experience Him More (v. 4)
* God says "Moses, Moses" -- He knows my name; he speaks my languard
* v 6-7 -- "I AM -- the man who is, was and will be
*Are you looking for God to reveal himself to you? God does not show up for frivilous reasons; he shows up with purpose

5. God Manifests Himself to Give Us A Vision/Task (8-12)
* Moses called to lead Israelites
* No way to have an experience with God and be the same, so some of us choose not to ask for his presence
* God's power is available, but comes with a price -- humility, selflessness, a servant's attitude.

Exodus 3: 1-15
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
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Vision Accomplished, 2

2011-10-11T12:21:00.003-04:00

THE WHO AND THE HOW

Neh 1: 1-4
1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Live every day as if it's your last day, and some day, you'll be right.
Don't want "until" -- now is the time

WHO GETS GOD'S VISION?

1. Begins with you and God
No vision unless, like Nehemiah, you are connected/close to God
John 8:47 -- the reason you don't hear is that you don't belong to God

2. A Person of Character
Nehemiah prays for his people and himself with honesty
God won't give a vision to a skunk

3. Be Open to It
No one was open to the vision of rebuilding the wall for 140 years

HOW DO WE FIND THE VISION?

1. Thur the Bible
Neh 1: 8-9 "Remember Lord your word to Moses,..." Nehemiah prays. Scripture will always give us a foundation and boundaries

2. Thru others (v. 2) -- "I questioned as they said to me..."

3. Thru real needs and problems (v. 3) -- Nehemiah jointed the Vision Club, not the Criticism Club ...

4. From our Giftings and Passions -- Nehemiah was 'cut out' for wall building...as a top servant of the king, he was dependable, detail-oriented, ... Like, God often tailors/matches His given gifts to His vision for us...

5. Prayer v. 4
"I wept, mourned, fasted and cried..."
We don't sit before God and listen much. We need to sit and say, "God, talk to me..."

Sir Francis Drake -- "Disturb us oh Lord..Push back the horizons of our hope...may we seek you in strength, courage, hope and faith..."

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Can't Beat The Good Ol' Days

2011-10-09T15:40:00.001-04:00

(Reprinted from today's Times and News-Star)

For a memory mix of tragedy and comedy, nothing beats one about getting a whipping from your parents.

Good times.

Corporal punishment in the kitchen, den and bedroom – basically wherever your dad could catch you – went out with vinyl records and the rotary dial, it seems. Daddy saying “Boy, I’m gonna tear you up when we get home,” and then actually doing it, you don’t hear that much anymore. It was music to our rears.

Sounds of my childhood…The wailing. The kicking. The screaming. The good old-fashioned belt roundhouse. The innocent switch. The handy flyswatter.

Today’s kids don’t know what they’ve missed.

A few months ago during his North Louisiana Summer of ’11 Tour, my dad relaxed on his daughter’s couch and asked my two sisters, all nostalgic and everything, “Girls, remember the only whipping I ever gave your brother?”

We waited for the punch line. My dad whipped me like Grant whipped Richmond, except with more regularity. I know it. My sisters know it. The American people know it. But daddy’s forgotten, like an old ballplayer forgets games simply because they were so routine.

My dad could whip with the best of them. Hair brush. Garden hose. Hot Wheel track. But the belt, that was his true medium. He could flash the leather. All Conference, first team.

“For years momma whipped me with the same pair of house shoes she’d had since before I was born,” a buddy told me. “When I got to be about 8, I told her she needed a new pair, that that pair had stopped hurting five years ago. Probably shouldn’t have told her that.”

Another friend whose dad worked at his elementary school dropped a Webster’s Dictionary in a roomful of napping custodians one summer during a lunch break, just to wake everyone up. A coach passing by witnessed it all and said to my then-little friend, “I can give you five licks here or I can take you across the street to your daddy.”

“Tear me up right here,” my friend said. “Please.”

You did not want the heavy artillery brought in if you had an option. Better to be whacked with small arms fire. Back then, well-meaning teachers and neighbors didn’t mind being the first wave in when we got out of line.

“Lot of times I’d hear my name and just walk to where my dad or mom were and bend over,” one of the guys said. “I knew I’d done something. Didn’t always matter so much what.”

“I once got whipped really hard on a school trip and came home and told my dad it was too hard,” another friend said. “He told me to drop my pants. You could still see the marks. My dad just shrugged.”

It took a limb loss to get penalty yardage in your favor back in the day. But then, we were always guilty, and our sins were no secret. Grownups tattle told.

“My little brother in third grade signed our dad’s name to one of his tests he was supposed to take home,” my buddy said. “The teacher asked him, ‘You get your daddy to sign this?’ He said yes ma’am and that he knew he needed to do better and all that. Milked it. She asked him three times. After the third time, daddy walked out from behind the cloak room.”

Game over.

He figures what gave him away was signing his dad’s name in red crayon.

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In the Presence: 1st in a Series

2011-10-08T12:08:00.001-04:00

IN THE MIDDLE

Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 3:8
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

The goal is living in God's manifest presence

We are modeled/patterned after God's image. He created us with a social awareness that he gave no other part of creation.

Adam and Eve hear God in the garden (v. 3:8) In Heaven, we will be with God, must like Adam and Eve were with God in the garden.

Rev 21:3-4 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Rev. 22: 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Today, we are 'in the middle" Sin limits our interaction with God ... we are 'banished from the garden.'' (Gen 3: 8-9, 23-24)

Lessons for Today
1. Our goal here is to crave and seek to experience God and his presence

2. Understand the character of God
a. God is perfect love
1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

b. God is holy
1 Peter 1:15-16 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

God won't be around jealousy and hatred, and he won't be in immoral places

c. God is pure
Matt 5:8 -- Blessed are the pure..." This is why God didn't make himself know to Pharisees; God doesn't dwell in impurity

d. God is perfect, period
Mat 6:10 -- Your will be done on Earth AS IT IS in heaven
God's will is absolute in heaven, where there is no debate. Find out what God wants, and do that.

e. God is perfect unity
John 17: 20-23 ... "I pray that they may be one..."

This is how thigns were in the Garden and how they'll be in Heaven ... But God still shows up in the middle.
Invite the presence of God to be known in our lives, homes and church
All God the freedom to make Himself known...

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Vision Accomplished, Series from Nehemiah, Part 1

2011-10-06T10:04:00.003-04:00

(notes from FBC Ruston and Dr Chris)

SOMETHING GREAT FOR YOU TO DO
Nehemiah 1

To know Christ, love Him and others, and discover His mission and visition for you is what life's about.

God really want to do something with you..

Nehemiah was cup bearer to the king, a trusted servant and food-taster for the king. The Walls of Jerusalem have been down for 140 years, since the Babylonian takeover. Nehemiah and Israel will rebuild the wall in 52 days. The book of Nehemiah is about this event.

What can this mean to me?

1. Long-Term Visions
...for your career, marriage, in your community etc...

2. Short-Term Visions
...Nehemiah called to rebuild a wall. What have I been putting off doing?

Are there things you'd do differently if you lived your life over? So what are you waiting on...

God has a wall for you
Find that callenge, that wall/vision. All god to make a difference with your life.

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Top Ten Fair Foods: Fair Fare at the Fair

2011-10-03T15:24:00.003-04:00

We happened upon a billboard last weekend that read, “See a Monkey Ride a Dog!” The billboard picture was of a monkey in a little red fez, probably a New Era size two-and-three-eights, riding a saddled dog.

This can mean only two things.

One, somewhere, there’s a very mad dog.

Two, it’s carnival time! Which can mean only one thing.

One, let’s rate the Top 10 Carnival Foods!

Even as we speak you’ve got your Red River Revel in Shreveport, which is more art and craft than merry-go-’round and taffy pull. (“See a Monkey Paint a Dog!”) I love me some Revel.

And the State Fair of Louisiana, which is more “mainstream” and animal-oriented, opens in less than a month (Oct. 27) on the Fairgrounds in Shreveport, site of the toughest interview of my career: The Headless Woman. Hard to get quotes from the Headless Woman. Just sayin’…

The “See a Monkey Ride a Dog!” billboard was in Tupelo, Miss. where the Tupelo Fair ends, most unfortunately, today. It was only a four-day fair because, well, you know what they say about “too much of a good thing…”

Plus, four days was all the Dog Union Local No. 7 (No. 49 in dog union years) would agree to.

What most of us would agree on is that carnival food is worth a roll of the dice at some point. I’m not talking about the school or church booth where you buy food from people you know; I am a big fan of these booths. I’m talking about the carnival food from the lighted culinary kitchens that flavor the midway, the diners on wheels. It’s a gamble, but carnival food is one of the A’s in “America,” (and, some would argue, in antacid.)

10. Turkey Leg: This is a “shout out” for the old souls, you peeps who cater to carnival fare first made popular in the Middle Ages. I can’t do a turkey leg. Feels too medieval. I see someone eating a turkey leg and wonder what castle wall they just climbed or what peasant village they’ve plundered. Ever tried to get barbecue sauce out of chainmail? I would have hated to have been a turkey around King Arthur’s time, back when everybody carried a battle axe, a sword, a dagger and a flail, even just taking out the trash.

9. Candy Apple: Harder to eat than lobster. To me, the payoff’s not there.

8. Pretzel: I will eat little ones on a plane but this is strictly boredom eating in my book. Even with cheese dip. Pretzel lovers swear by them. Eat and let eat, I say.
7. Cotton Candy: Outgrew it.

6. Sno Cone: Too messy. The paper cup always gives up too quickly. A very unforgiving “fun” food.

5. Popcorn: Well now we’re getting somewhere. It’s vanilla, I know. But I love the classics.

4. Anything on a Stick: Except a turkey leg. Turkey meat, maybe. Dead chicken. I would stand in line for a pork chop on a stick. (Someone should make meat sticks and you could eat the whole thing.)

3. Lemonade: Refreshing!

2. Corn Dog: A hot dog and crispy corn bread. Two of my faves. It ain’t peanut butter and jelly or Conway and Loretta, but as a duo, it’s not bad.

1. Funnel Cake: With powdered sugar. Hot. Crispy. If a funnel cake were meat, it’d be bacon. To paraphrase Kramer from “Seinfeld,” it’s like a carnival in your mouth.

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Seventy Years Ago Today ...

2011-09-27T10:49:00.003-04:00

Teddy Ballgame wrapped up what is still the majors' most recent .400 batting average for a season. Went 6-for-8 in a doubleheader in Philadelphia's Shibe Park, Sept. 27, 1941. Finished with a .406 batting average. Just sayin...

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We Have a Man on the Scene in ... St. Louis

2011-09-26T10:24:00.004-04:00

The St. Louis Cardinals are in a fairly serious pennant race right now, trying to wrangle the wild-card spot from the Braves. All will be decided by Wednesday. Due to the seriousness of the situation, we have not one but TWO men on the scene, seen here with Cardinals outfielder and hitting whiz Lance Berkman. You will notice that Little Teddy Ramsey (or 'Brendan,' as his parents and friends like to call him), pictured with big bro Brad, has his Louisiana Tech Bulldogs shirt on beneath his Cards jersey. Not long after this photo was taken Sunday, Berkman and the Cards and Little Teddy's shirt whupped the Cubs, 3-2. Just sayin...By the way, not sure about Lance, but either of the other two guys will eat at Steak 'N' Shake with you just about any time you are willing to go...

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A certain slant of light: Legends of the Fall

2011-09-25T11:09:00.001-04:00

(Reprinted from today's Times and News-Star)

(Yosemite National Park by Marius Popovici)

Mr. Sun is going to bed a bit earlier these days.

He’s always up to something, even when he’s going down.

Welcome to the first weekend of fall, when the sun’s rays come at us from a southern angle, less directly, and shines brightest on leaves and strolls and football.

Autumn is candlelight. Summer’s a torch.

I am a big torch guy. Usually for me, the best thing about the first weekend of autumn is the promise that summer is just one full-term pregnancy away.

Yes!

But this summer was humbling. Near heatstroke. Foot blister. Sunburn.

The summertime trifecta.

Weather whizzes say this summer was among the hottest since 1981, when it was more than 100 degrees daily for nearly a month. I know because my shovel and I were helping build the Camden, Ark. bypass. There is not a lot of shade in the road construction game.

I remember thinking, “This is what it’s like to be a camel, only I’m thirsty all the time. My kingdom for a hump!”

Whatever they’re paying camels these days, it ain’t enough.

The difference between that memorable summer and this one was its number of seriously sizzling days. The high ’90s is one thing, but the streak of 105s and 107s we just sweltered through is a different ballgame.

The sun deserves a good rest after that.

So I’m ready for the new slant of light. I’m ready to appreciate autumn for being autumn, ready to appreciate the season, and not just because it’s football season.

(Not that there’s anything wrong with that: For some of us, autumn means the colors change all right, from Braves blue and red to Saints black and gold.)

I’m going to try to appreciate autumn more for all these reasons:

Leaves. In general. But also…

The colors of leaves. I miss at this time of year a sweet gum tree I used to have. I knew I was getting older when I got mad if it didn’t really turn on the red-yellow-orange juice by October…

Other people raking leaves – unless a little kid is going to play in them. Then I’ll rake. It’s worth it…

There’s something about an old sweatshirt…

The possibility that I might, just maybe, possibly, have the green thumb guts to plant petunias, some marigolds, a copper plant, or even an ornamental pepper…

The moisture of the morning on your skin, and it’s dew instead of sweat…

The spot on your shirt and it’s crab dip instead of sweat, because autumn is first about the colors but second about the food. Homemade pie. Cider. Tailgate or holiday feast, autumn is the best eating season of the year and it’s not even close…

Halloween. I love a kid dressed as a pumpkin and all you can see is their face poking out under the little hat with the green stem on it…

Hugging, which is the poor man’s snuggling, and Snuggling, which is the next stop for the couple who wish to promote from Advanced Hugging, or “Huggling.” It has been pointed out to me that this is a good and underrated thing, one of the best things under the sun…

So I wish for you some snuggles or even huggles in an old sweatshirt after eating as somebody rakes the leaves around your blooming flowers while you watch football. Or the World Series. Autumnal bliss…

(I left out high-sky golf in your favorite mock turtleneck, but hey, that’s a given.)

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Golden Nuggets from Rome: (10th/Final in a Series)

2011-09-24T10:03:00.001-04:00

WHAT'S YOUR TEMPERATURE?

Romans 12: 11-15
11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

What's your spiritual temperature?

Keep your spiritual fervor (13)
Has there ever been a (spiritual) fire in your life, a desire for the things of God?IF you are a follower, we have to get coached up and studied up, have zeal for the Word and the things of the Father... Prov 19:2 "Desire without knowledge is not good—How much more will hasty feet miss the way!"

Are we cold? Lukewarm? HOW DO WE REMAIN HOT?
1. It's a choice, not a feeling. Feelings come and go.

2. Be active in service for Christ and others (Col 2:6 "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him...")

3. Have joy in the waiting, withstanding circumstance in hope (Rom 8:28)

4. Patience through pain

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Golden Nuggets from Romans: 9th in a Series

2011-09-23T12:58:00.000-04:00

(Notes from Dr. Chris' sermon at FBC Ruston)

GETTING YOUR ENEMIES!

Rom 12: 14-21

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Enemy: in the Bible's definition, it's any people who are hostile toward you.

Reality biblically is where the world and Jesus' teaching meet

Christ's followers are asked to treat people differently than the world suggests we should treat them.

1. Speak Well of the Troublesome v 14
Don't wish evil and harm on your enemy' control your tongue; bless, speak well of them

2. Don't Be Mean Back To Them (17a)
To corrupt others against = evil
(If a doctor says you have rabies, don't make a list of all the people you want to hurry up and bite.)

3. Live in a Way to Protect Your Witness (17b)
Always keep your responses in check

4. Be a Peaceful Person (18)
Some people have mental problems and some people are just evil ... But as far as it depends on me, be peaceful
Mt 5:9 -- "Blessed are the peacemakers..."

5. Do Let God Handle It (19)
Deut 32:35 "It is mine to avenge..."
Our sense of judgment is fallable
No one knows how to get someone's attention like God does

6. Treat Them Kindly (20)
...and it could help bring them to repentance

7. Let Good Overcome In Your Life and In Your World (21)
Bitterness is a source of depression and anxiety; there is no such thing as a peaceful, retalitorial person

* Do the "right" things God instructs so He can be glorified and so you can be at peace

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A-plus because they didn’t pass on us

2011-09-18T11:44:00.001-04:00

Reprinted from today's Times and News-Star

Not many people know this because I find it tacky to brag, but I was history student of the year in seventh grade and made an “A” in Spanish as a high school freshman even though I’d never been to Spain.

Just sayin…

But for those who know me, it will come as no surprise that I mowed the yards of both my seventh-grade history teacher and ninth-grade Spanish teacher.

My grades usually lagged in winter; I trace this back to a hatred of raking. But I started strong in the North Louisiana autumns that felt like summer, then rallied in the early spring and right on through Memorial Day and the school year’s final bell.

As the grass rose, so did my scores.

In college, it was a different ballgame. They make you grow up in college, or you basically fail your own self. Shoot yourself in your lazy, refuse-to-be-educated foot. My teachers, who were now deemed “professors,” wouldn’t tell me and my lawnmower where they lived.

They play hardball at the university level.

I tell you, it’s always something.

But this teacher’s pet/yardman has proof that I was a force to be reckoned with in pre-college. If I couldn’t cut it in the classroom, I could cut it on the lawn. You play to your strengths.

Witness my freshman yearbook, signed by “Senora Mullins” in her unmistakable hand, with a squiggly thing above the “n” in senora and everything: “You MUST be OK,” she wrote; “I still like you, even though you’re my neighbor!”

Why she used the capitals and exclamation point is anybody’s guess. Did she not like her previous neighbors? Did she fail their kid? With an “A,” I asked no questions. Just said “gracias” and moved along – even though her “You MUST be OK” line, which translated into street language means “You sort of get on my nerves,” hurt me.

You must be “OK”? Tacos are OK. Mi nombre es Tedro!, or something like that. Muy bueno, babe! Come on! OK is for losers!

Of course, I learned later that, from women, you take your OK’s where you can get them and learn to like it. Just part of my education, none of which would have happened without Mrs. Mullins and her tireless sisterhood of The Classroom Teachers.

They have flooded my mind and always do with the first refreshing chill of September, these women who smelled like hand lotion and hairspray and lunchroom rolls and chalk. You’ve thought of them too, maybe not for long but always for at least a moment. Might as well try not to blink as to try and dodge the autumnal world of a long-ago yesterday. For the length of one daydream, we all go back to school this time of year.

How did they do it? Day after day. Lunch room duty. Ball game. Sponsorship of the Interact Club. Raising three children at home and 150 at school. Yet always, The Teacher suited up.

When you see one this year, give them a nod. A fist bump. Maybe five bucks! Be an encourager. They have a long way to go and deal with short attention spans, and the best ones leave it all on the field. I praise my exhausted teachers who were, for me, a cut above.

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Life in 'Utopia': See, think, feel

2011-09-11T11:20:00.001-04:00

(Reprinted from today's Times and News-Star)

“Seven Days of Utopia” has been in theaters a week and probably won’t last much longer.

There is no bad language, no nudity (unless you count the cow and horses), no special effects and only one car crash, and that’s just when a guy in a Chevy dodges the naked cow on a rural two-lane, plows through a rancher’s wooden fence and lands in a pasture. (If you’re into symbolism, the driver’s life at this point is one big cow patty.)

The movie uses golf as a backdrop for each of us getting to a place we long to go, “a place where the voice of truth resides…a place of eternal trophies.” But it is no mystical golf movie with fog and knickers like that Matt Damon/Will Smith effort of a few years past which, thank goodness, I’ve blocked. (“The Legend of Bagger Vance.” Just came to me, most unfortunately. “Golf in the Kingdom” was another double bogey.)

The movie is based on “Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia,” a book by David L. Cook, a “Peak Performance” coach to the San Antonio Spurs during their NBA world championship days, to PGA Tour champs, Olympians, and a continuing star-studded list. He played college golf at Louisiana Tech and today coaches, leads seminars and writes. The sequel to his first book has no release date, but you can hear the first chapter online at didhemaketheputt.com

The movie stars Lucas Black as the “lost” rookie touring pro and Robert Duvall, my favorite actor, as his unlikely mentor. Black played the quarterback in the movie “Friday Night Lights” and spilled from his guts one of my favorite movie lines to his “coach” in the movie, Billy Bob Thornton: “I cain’t get my mind right!”
He can’t in “Utopia” either, until Duvall golf whispers him to the promised land.

Golf is a game of “feel,” a fact to which I can attest. At the 19th hole, I’ve often felt for my wallet, then felt it much lighter than when the round began. Sigh…
But “Utopia” testifies that once the basics of either life or the golf swing are covered, the true and lasting progress and success is inside, is in seeing and in feeling and in trusting.

The movie is an efficient 100 minutes; there is a boy-girl element that’s not in the book, but hey, that’s Hollywood, and hopefully word of that will nudge girls to attend with their boyfriends. There’s also some needless male ego/rivalry.

But true to the short novel, the spotlight is on the golfer and the wise old cowboy played by Duvall, a former PGA player who found his game before he found his grave. The movie is for anyone who has ever played golf, anyone who has ever felt “something” in life might be missing, or anyone who has ever had a father.

The book’s an easy 150 pages. A few things I highlighted in my copy…

“To stay in balance, you have to have control of your emotions. You have to expect the unexpected at all times."

“People say they are going to change, but without accountability, they seldom do.”

“You have to let go of perfect to be an artist.”

"…he taught that giving of self was so crucial in life. It returns like rain to the soul, reviving the parched places.”

“…time to contemplate, time to listen to the learning, is crucial in the change process.”

See you on the tee box.
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The wind, the waves, the Redneck Riviera

2011-09-09T11:31:00.003-04:00

(art from "Southern Reader" online)

How I define “redneck” is in the same ballpark of how I define pornography: it’s tough to put into words, but I know it when I see it.

Some people are offended by the “R” word but I’m not and I don’t think the true redneck is. True rednecks in my mind sort of wear the label as a badge of honor. They are the “I’ve Been To Pigeon Forge” crowd, the people who have kitchens that smell like Pabst and linoleum and cathead biscuits, the people whose jeans are ripped because they got caught on rebar, not because it’s the style. Their scent is Pledge and motor oil and Old Spice.

The rednecks I’m talking about are of the Jeff Foxworthy variety, the ones who put their new television sets on top of their old television sets. A friend from redneck lineage told me this week that back in the day when their TV practically gave out and was down to getting picture only, Uncle Lester brought over his TV because – talk about a match made in Redneck Heaven! – it would get sound only.

Stack the two and bam! -- Redneck Entertainment Center. Just fry up the bologna sandwiches, adjust the rabbit ears, recline in the duct-taped easy chair and stay tuned for “This Week in NASCAR.” Anybody got an onion?

I am hopeful that the Griswold Family franchise will eventually put out a movie called “Redneck Vacation.” There is a fertile field to plow here. The setting would be your greater Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area, I would hope. The Redneck Riviera.

The French Riviera has resorts like Cap-d’Ail and Beaulieu-sur-Mer, with yachting and real French people. The Redneck Riviera has Shoalwater Condos and parasailing off the fishing dock and a real Cajun who’ll scream “Jellyfish!” just to try to make the guy standing next to him in waist-deep water spill his beer.

My spousal unit wondered for years why many of us call this beckoning stretch of sand the Redneck Riviera. What? All these years, had she missed seeing the wind and waves and tattoos? The unfiltereds and the red lipstick mixed with Coppertone? The vacationing truckers in cut-off blue jeans?

Oh, how blind we can be…

Sometimes, to establish themselves, the redneck gods have to play hardball. So in July, not 20 feet from her little sandy beach chair, my wife watched a senior citizen in Bermuda shorts put a beach towel around his waist, right there by your lapping Orange Beach waves. He had a pair of swim trunks in his hand. Suddenly, one hand went sort of under his towel at his waist area. The Bermuda shorts dropped to his ankles. Hello!

Then he bent and attempted to put on the trunks. The towel slipped a bit. Or maybe the towel cracked. It was supposed to stay up, I guess. It didn’t. Was this a circus act? Were we on Candid Camera?

Suddenly there was a full moon, and not the pretty kind, at 9 a.m. But the (redneck) gentleman just pulled his trunks up and set about enjoying the rest of his day at the beach with his family, who didn’t even look up from reading their Popular Mechanics while he was changing because I suppose they’d seen it all before.

Literally.

“I understand now,” my wife said.

Hate it took that, but life is filled with hard lessons. And I can’t wait to go back next summer.
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Coaching ’til The End, ‘My Man!’ Says Goodbye

2011-08-29T16:10:00.005-04:00

(Sunday's effort in The Times and the News-Star)

In this Jan. 30, 1981 file photo, Detroit Pistons coach Scotty Robertson gives directions to his players during an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. Robertson, a former Louisiana Tech coach and the first coach of the NBA's New Orleans Jazz, died Aug 18. Robertson, who had battled cancer in addition to a stroke five months ago, was 81. He coached 10 seasons at Tech but also served as head coach with the Chicago Bulls and Pistons and was an assistant with six other NBA teams. (AP Photo/Richard Shenwald, File)

SCOTTY ROBERTSON lived by the rule that you can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.

He bought a lot of tickets. He was the kind of guy who walks up to the counter and tells you he’ll take one of those and three of those and five of those, then asks if you’ve got anything else in back.

A pro baseball player for a year, Coach Scotty took his hacks, went up there swinging. A basketball coach in parts of six decades – including for C.E. Byrd High, Louisiana Tech and eight NBA teams -- he lived out the old saying that you can’t score if you don’t shoot. He shot.

Five months ago he was enjoying retirement in Ruston and his 81st year, working out each morning, drinking coffee with the guys, driving to Simsboro once a week for lunch on a Styrofoam plate at the gas station, helping local basketball teams, and talking smack.

The usual.

Then the unusual happened. A stroke from nowhere, a cancer diagnosis two days later, a fall at home, and Aug 18, the end of an earthly road filled with wide lapels, platform shoes, long Cadillacs, nylon nets, embroidered team logos, plane tickets, rubber chicken and lots and lots of tall people. It was always gametime. The preacher reminded us at Sunday’s funeral that Coach Scotty’s prime, his heyday, lasted 81 years.

Last week with the pastor praying and his family gathered around his bed, Coach Scotty opened eyes that had grown weak and, looking at one of his three daughters, barked suddenly during mid-prayer: “What in the world did you do to your HAIR?!”

You had to stay on your toes. Coach Scotty kept shooting, right ’til the end.

He’s in eight, maybe nine Halls of Fame, the most recent one the Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum of Champions in Shreveport. He got there the hard way. His dad was killed when he was 14 and J.D. Cox, his coach at Byrd, became a father figure. He learned how to tackle today’s task. He walked with confidence. He perfected scrapping. Motivated by ego, never afraid of the fight.

He took a high school job coaching football, baseball and basketball, teaching five science classes and P.E. “But it paid me well,” he said; $2,000 a year. By the time he retired, he was making almost that much a day in the NBA.

“Don’t make it about money,” he told a classroom of want-to-be coaches last winter. “It’s an opportunity to enjoy what you do and to do some good with people.”

At his funeral were a half-dozen rows filled with family, including his wife of 61 years, Betty Lou, the newlywed who drew the line and said no when he was offered a high school job featuring five returning starters – but no indoor plumbing at the only house in town for sale.

Former players filled another four rows, guys he was tough on, guys who heard him say more than once, “I’m with you, win or tie.”

My son summed up how a lot of people felt about Coach. “If the day was going bad but you looked over there and saw Coach Scotty, you just went to him or he’d come to you, and you knew the rest of the day was going to be good.”

“My man!” he’d say. And he’d make you think you were his man, THE man. But really, he was.

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Crushed...

2011-08-26T16:16:00.001-04:00

As an Orioles fan, I'm now used to disappointment and sadness and grief. But this is too much.

Mike Flanagan. Dead at 59. Sick about it and sorry for the way it all happened.

Here's an example from a blog of how funny he was (after he'd left Baltimore as a World Champion and ended his career in Toronto)...

"Here's an example of Flanagan's humor. On Aug. 16 1989, Kelly Gruber of Toronto hit a homer, a double and a triple. His next hit was a double but he stopped at first, becoming the first Blue Jay to hit for the cycle. After the game Judge Flanagan presided at a kangaroo court where Gruber was fined five bucks for "stretching a double into a single."

Don't know where everything went wrong. Hurts me. God bless him...

The 'Real' Reality Show

2011-08-24T17:00:00.001-04:00

Notes from Sunday and Dr. Chris' sermon at FBC Ruston.

Luke 16: 19-26

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

1. HELL IS REAL
* More than 700 references in the Bible to judgment/hell
* Christ talked more of hell than of heaven
* If you accept the bible as the world of God and Jesus as the son of God, and Jesus as your intellectual superior -- hell is real

2. HELL IS BEYOND HORRIBLE
a) torment (v 23-25) we should feel hell for ourselves and for everyone we love
b) a place of consciousness "Son, remember..." Hell is a place of clearly seeing what we could have been
c) hopeless forever v 26 -- no one can cross over

Matt. 25:46 "...eternal punishment" ... a duration without end. Hell isn't annihilation. It's as Dante said, "abandon all ye hope who enter here..."

Matt. 25:41 -- "depart from me into eternal fire, prepared for the devil..." Hell was never intended for us. And none of us has to go.

* Don't roll the dice on your eternal fate...

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Paul Bunyan and the ... Bible?

2011-08-23T05:32:00.001-04:00

(Today's ethoughts...)

For more than 10 years, no one had cut back the trees and weeds along the fence line in the house I moved in to. So…I’ve started. My own personal Urban Renewal project.

It’s a bear.

So many weeds and vines have grown into the trees that even most of the good limbs had to be cut. Other good limbs had to take detours through everything else, so even clean and cleared and free, they were bare and twisted. Those had to be cut off too. As did the limbs in the service wires. My mess was affecting my neighbor.

What I’m left with is 13 stumps.

It’s not much to look at today, but at least it has a CHANCE to be presentable if I keep it clipped and clean.

My own life was a lot like the fence line. You don’t clean up that much mess without some pain – cuts and bruises, nearly falling out of trees. Rip a few shirts. Smell up the place. Almost roast to death. Personally, we are not Yard of the Year or even close. But we’re no longer a place for animals to nest and snakes to sleep and thorns to grow in the dark.

Nothing good can grow in that mess. Things had to be cut back to the basics. Once you’re willing to bring out the big ax, God is faithful to restore. That’s the start. No garden grows on cruise control. Adam was put to work in the garden. So are we.

“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matt. 13:22-23 (NIV)

'The Help' is a Good Story, for Any Age

2011-08-21T13:35:00.002-04:00

(reprinted from today's Times and News-Star)

Southern and funny but more serious than sentimental, “The Help” opened No. 2 at the box office last weekend.

In kindergarten vernacular, “No. 2” actually plays a big role in the movie. But I don’t want to spoil anything, but “The Help” at No. 2 seems maybe a mild form of poetic justice, all the way around.

The movie is set in Jackson, Miss., in the Civil Rights Era of the early 1960s and adapted to screen from the 2009 novel of the same name. It serves as a cinematic reminder that any of us who grew up in the 1960s in the South didn’t leave the decade without stepping in something.

“The Help” spotlights the life of the aspiring writer Skeeter, a young white woman home in Jackson the summer after her graduation from Ole Miss, and her sudden unrehearsed calling to write a book, anonymously, about the black maids in town and what their lives are like while working for white families, often raising white children. The races are intimate, yet divided.

The stars of both book and movie are characters Aibileen Clark and the scene-stealing Minny Jackson, career maids, the “help.” I have known them both – on the surface. I have known everyone in the movie, at least on the surface.

For more than a year I’ve been told to read the book. “It’s when we grew up,” a friend said. “I mean, you’ve GOT to read it. It’s history. You were there.”

I trusted the author, Kathryn Stockett, because, though she grew up privileged, she did grow up in Jackson. So she was there. With a maid. And I was there too, although in a tiny town and with no maid. Our maid was me and my sisters and my mother.

In tobacco fields back then, we – blacks and whites, of which there were only a few -- all drank out of the same green plastic cup, with tobacco gum all over it. We were friends. And as I grew and then moved from that town, I thought I had a good understanding of what it was like to be black. This was stupid. I was there, but I didn’t know a thing and still know very little about what it was like to be black in the South in the 1960s. “The Help” reminded me of that.

So two weeks ago, I started the book. Finished on the movie’s opening Saturday and squeezed into a packed house to watch the show with an audience mixed, both in race and age, and a bit unusual for my theater experience in one respect; I haven’t seen this many white senior citizen females together since the church potluck.

When the movie was over, the audience clapped with enthusiasm, a rarity these days.

In the book’s afterword, Stockett notes this passage from Howell Raines’s “Grady’s Gift,” his Pulitzer Prize-winning essay about his family’s maid when he was a boy in Alabama:

“There is no trickier subject for the writer from the South than that of affection between a black person and a white one in the unequal world of segregation. For the dishonesty upon which a society is founded makes every emotion suspect, makes it impossible to know whether what flowed between two people was honest feeling or pity or pragmatism.”

But wisely we keep trying, and to do that, to continue to try to understand each other, stereotypes and reality, we can all use some Help.

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Steps

2011-08-20T06:26:00.001-04:00

(sermon notes from Dr. Chris, FBC Ruston)

Steps lead to a destination...
What steps lead to revival?

Jonah 3:1-5
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

1. BELIEVE ... despite a wishy-washy preacher (Jonah), the Ninevites believed the Word of God. They were
a. coverted
b. stood firm, convinced (v. 5: "...the Ninevites believed God..."
* What is God telling me I should be doing?

2. HUMILITY v 5 -- fasting..the King sat in the dust ... they all sat in sackcloth
* God detests pride, responds with love toward humility.
Humbled...
a. before God ... 1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves before God's mighty hand..."
b. before others 1 Peter 5:5 "...coothe yourself in humility ... God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

3. REPENTANCE v. 8 -- "Let all give up their evil ways and their violence."
Turn swiftly and surely and decisively, as you would from a snake or skunk

4. PRAYER v. 8 'call, cry out urgently on God."
Storm the gates of heaven; Jesus told us his house would be called "a place of prayer."

5. OBEDIENCE -- v. 10 "...they turned."
"The slightest request of my supreme ruler is a supreme command to me." Gen. Stonewall Jackson to Gen. Robert E. Lee, after Jackson had ridden all night to get to Lee, who had asked for a visit.

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Golden Nuggets From Rome (Part 8 of a series)

2011-08-19T18:16:00.003-04:00

THE REAL DEAL

Romans 12:9-16
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position Do not be conceited.

How we love others says far more about us than it does about them.

1 John 4: 7-8 ... "7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Qualities God Uses to Describe Real Love

1. Sincere, v. 9 -- let love be without hypocrisy
2. Devoted, v. 10 -- a WARMTH -- (One day Snoopy told Lucy, "I'm bugable AND I'm loveable.")
3. Honor v 10 -- outdo each other in honoring; have a desire to serve
* One of the elements of much mental illness is self-absorption
4. Hospitable v. 13 -- chase after opportunities to serve; you might be entertaining an angel unaware (Hebrews 13:1-2)
5. Understanding v. 15 -- Rejoice with others, weep with others; be involved and caring.
6. Unifying v. 16 -- love brings people together. "Live in harmony."
Prov. 10:12 -- Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.
7. Humble v 16 -- Do not be proud. A person walking with Jesus will have friends of ALL types, not just friends who are 'like' he is.

-30-

Golden Nuggets From Romans (7th in a series)

2011-08-15T08:57:00.002-04:00

(sermon notes from Dr. Craig, FBC Ruston)

A REALLY WONDERFUL ROAD

The Roman Road to Life -- the most dangerous road in the world, but forks into what can be the most beautiful road.

1. We Are All Sinners
Rom 3:23 -- "For ALL have sinned and fallen short)
There are five words for "sin" in the Greek...
a. sin of unbelief
b. of breaking God's law
c. of unrighteousness
d. desire for bad things
e. concept of missing the mark with God
* We all fall short of God's standard; nobody can be saved until they realize they are lost; we are sinners both by nature and by choice.

2. Sin Leads to Death
Rom 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death..."
death of joy, effectiveness, witness...and pyysical death, a physical and spiritual eternal separation

3. God Has Intervened
Rom 6:23b .. "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord..."

4. We Must Respond
Rom 9:10 -- "If you confess..and believe..."
Rom 10:13 -- For everyone who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved..."

James 2:19 "You believe there is one God? Good! So do the demons..."
The Christian/biblical word for 'belief" here means an intellectual understanding and a burning of the heart, a surrendering...
confess -- declaring Jesus is my Lord, declaring an agreement with God about who He is and about my responding with allegiance

Mat 7:21 "Not every who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom..."

The Bible says that you can know you are saved
John 3:16
Rom 10: 9-10
1 John 5:13

Safety, certainty, and enjoyment in Christ

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-30-

'Taint Much Fun To Be A Turkey

2011-08-14T08:53:00.003-04:00

(Reprinted from today's Times and News-Star)

Man the poor turkey just can’t catch a break. I’d almost rather be a catfish than a turkey, and the catfish gig’s no day at the park.

I was eating a Sloppy Joe, one of the world’s truly underrated and underappreciated foods, when someone brought up the most recent recalled meat fiasco – 34 million pounds of recalled turkey meat. “Tainted,” meat inspectors declare.

My mania for Sloppy Joes is such that this line of conversation did not bother me. The buns were soft, the secret sauce ingredient (Spicy Hot V8!) was kicking in, and the meat was, thank goodness, hamburger.

But between bites, I felt bad for mister turkey, and for several million of his brethren.

They have that stuff hanging from their necks. They walk funny. Talk funny. The beady eyes, the chinless stare. A turkey could be the only entry in a beauty pageant, and still come in eighth, tops.

As if the cards weren’t already stacked, my buddies in the National Wild Turkey Federation are dressing up like shrubs and hunting them even though the turkeys are – unless you count ‘ugly as a weapon – unarmed. They call the turkeys, then shoot them.

So the turkeys in the news this week are double losers. They get called, shot, cleaned, packaged, then RE-called.

Is it any wonder that a guy who’s tabbed “a turkey” is a dud. An inept loser. Dumb as a chisel.

Turkey’s a tough row to hoe.

So if all that’s not enough, 34 million pounds of bird that will never gobble again was recalled. Punched out for nothing. Spoiled by salmonella, a word I never heard growing up. If you’re a turkey, you just can’t win.

Caught up in these poultry-based current events, my friend Doctor Pickles gobbled, “Here’s a question: what number do you have to get to in the Tainted Meat Game before it’s recalled? Before it’s Big News? Eight pounds? Eight million pounds? Twenty mil? If it’s just one box at the Jitney Jungle, do you keep it quiet? How many turkeys have to go bad before somebody squeals?”

And how do you know it’s 34 million pounds? Was it really 52 million? 75 million? Who is the quality control person in charge of keeping up with millions of pounds of spread-out tainted turkey meat?

Larry at the Tainted Meat Department: “Man, 52 sounds like a lot.”
Joe: “Well, let’s make it 18.”
Larry: “18? Who in their right mind would believe 18? We can’t say 18 million pounds. What are you, crazy? Are you insane, with the 18?”
Joe: “I’m just sayin’!, for cryin’ out loud. Make it 36 then.”
Larry: “We’ll say 34.”
Joe: “Fine. 18. 36. 34. Whatever. Let’s break for lunch.”
Larry, opening his pail: “Dang. Turkey again…”

In the tainted turkey racket, nobody wins.

Never do I hear the phrase “tainted meat” that I don’t think of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” and the opening scene card game at the apartment of sportswriter Oscar Madison, who stares into his ice box and offers the guys some snacks during a break.

Oscar: “I got, uh, brown sandwiches and, uh, green sandwiches. Which one do you want?”
Murray: “What’s the green?”
Oscar: “It’s either very new cheese or very old meat.”
Murray: “I’ll take the brown.”-30-

-30-

Where There's A Will, There's A Way

2011-08-13T11:36:00.003-04:00

(notes from July 24 pm, Dr. Chris, FBC Ruston)

Exodus 3 and 4

God asks Moses to lead the people out of captivity. Moses not very excited about it! And says no. At first ....

1. God Will Lead Us To Do Some Things that Seem Impossible
Ex 3:10 God: "Lead my people"
Ex 4:10, 13 Moses: "Send someone else!"
Like Moses, the first thing WE see is the problem or problems, when God asks us to do anything.

2. Wherever He Leads, He'll Enable
* Ex 4:11 -- God, "Who created man?" God has the tools He'll give us to succeed, and the power (v 12).
* NEVER is it about you and me; it's always about God
Luke 18:27 -- "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

3. Our Part: Find His Will and Follow. How?

a. Closeness: Rom 12: 1-2 "offer yourself a living sacrifice...'' Get close to Christ

b. Faith: Ex 4:10 "Lord, I'm slow..." Moses is scared. BUT, Ex. 4: 18 "Moses WENT..."

Prov 3: 5 "Trust in the Lord...Lean not unto your own understanding..."

Heb 11:6 -- "Without faith, it is impossible to please God..He rewards those who earnestly seek Him..."It's ok to shake and be scared, but remember that The Rock never moves.

c. Victory - Moses is an example of the victory Christians win in God's steps each day

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Hey Jude (3rd in a series)

2011-08-12T11:20:00.002-04:00

(notes from church, Dr. Chris, FBC Ruston)

SIGNS
Jude 8-11

8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”[d] 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

How Does One Deal With Authority? ...

1. With the Lord? (v 8 and 11)
Lord = master or boss
What happens when you have a rebellious heart against your Master...

2. With How We Use Words (v 9-10)
slander -- to hurt, defame someone; rail against.
* Even Michael did not slander Satan
* Phil 4:8 -- "What is good...dwell on these things."
* The slanderers attempt to make themselves better by gossipping about the 'haves.'

3. These Are Dangerous Signs (v 11)
a. Cain, a murderer
b. Balaam, prophet who led people into immorality
c. Korah, rebelled against Moses
* These are harsh examples in the Bible because God takes these matters seriously.
* Create space between me and ones who show these signs of not being under god's authority, those who walk in the way of Cain.

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Hey Jude (2nd in a series)

2011-08-11T10:41:00.002-04:00

(my notes, from Dr Chris Craig at FBC Ruston)

SPOTTING JUNK
Jude 3-7

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to CONTEND FOR THE FAITH that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

* "...contend for the faith ..." agonize, struggle, strive for the faith

I. Problems in the Body of Christ Come in Several Forms .. v. 4, 'godless men crept in...' ... So how do we spot the junk?

1. DOCTRINE
Beliefs ultimately determine behavior
Theological hiccups grow into big problems; we have to be doctrinally sound

2. ATTITUDE
We all have equal access to God, not just a certain few
"knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.." 1 Cor 8:1

3. TONGUE -- gossip. Hearing gossip is seeing junk

4. BEHAVIOR -- we can't change grace into a license for immorality (v 4)

II: God Takes This Seriously, So We Should TOO v 5-7

* PAUL'S WARNING ... 1 Cor 10: 6-10 ... "6Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10nor grumble, as some of them did and(K) were destroyed by the Destroyer.

* Rev 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

* Luke 10:18 - He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Stand up and contend for truth, for Christ, for all people, for the church

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Golden Nuggets from Rome: (6th in a series)

2011-08-10T10:31:00.002-04:00

(my notes from Dr Chris at FBC Ruston)

GIFTED
Rom 12:4-8
4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

God Wants to Make You a Gifted Person
1 Cor 12: 7 -- "to each one he gave gifts ... for the common good."
"Gifts" are mentioned four times in the New Testament

What's your SHAPE
S piritual gift
H eart -- what excites you?
A bility -- What can you do well
P ersonality
E xperience

You Can and Should Use Your Gifts (it's not a gift you sit on the shelf; this is a gift you use.)
1. To bring honor to God
2. To reach people for God (v 6)
3. To help people (v. 7-8)
4. To make your church great (v. 4-5)
5. Personal Fullfillment

Many are Crabby Christians because they won't use their gifts; we are built to be in the game; don't shine or store your gifts -- use them.
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The Healing Stream

2011-08-09T10:07:00.001-04:00

(ethoughts published today...)

“Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?” Jeremiah 8:22 (NIV)

Jeremiah did not have an easy life. What prophet did? God kept sending them, and people kept killing them. It was no different with Jesus.

The lost souls of Jeremiah’s time couldn’t hear or see the one thing that would heal them. But when God sent The Word in the flesh, most people didn’t see or hear Him, either.

We are no different than the people we read of the Bible, the crowds who ignored the faithful Jeremiah. We are surrounded by false prophets, by knockoffs of the truth. We are held at bay by ourselves, even by a refusal to admit that we are sick at all.

Same as then, we feel satisfied, at least for a while, with a temporary fix to an eternal problem. Alcohol. Pornography. Fame. Even clothes or money or the best house on the block. The world offers something for everyone. But that Bible teaches that every fix is a Band-aid, an ice pack, a stitch that won’t hold or heal.

“I am the LORD, your healer.” Exodus 15:26 (NIV)

The one thing that can change hearts like ours is radical love. The Word. God shows us what that looks like in the life of Jesus, The Word become flesh.

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29 (NIV)

John and others saw, first the life lived and then the life-changing love, on Calvary. The balm of The Great Physician. The healing stream of blood.

The healing stream of love.
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Golden Nuggets From Rome: (5th in a series)

2011-08-08T10:06:00.007-04:00

(From Dr. Chris Craig, FBC Ruston; these are my notes.)

ROME AND AMERICA
Romans 1:21-25
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.

1. When We Begin to Neglect God, We Area Headed Toward a Slippery Slope
* v. 21 -- we don't have a knowledge problem -- we have an acknowledge problem
* 80 percent of Rustonites don't go to church, which is important only if you believe the Bible

2. We Fail To Honor Him -- We're not grateful; we feel entitled; we should recognize that we are too blessed to complain.

3. Our Mindset and Hearts Become Cloudy -- "they're thinking became futile" .... our hearts, our spiritual center, can be darkened ..... v. 22, they became morons, academic wise guys but actually fools.

4. We Begin to Worship Other Things (v 23-25)

5. God Lets Us Go Our Own Way (v 24) -- the diseased condition of the soul, our sinful desires ...."God gave them over," a type of judicial abandonment/tough love. He does this not to abandon us, but to cause us to TURN...

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As The Platters Sang In That Hot Summer of Long Ago, 'Sweat Gets In Your Eyes'

2011-08-07T12:06:00.001-04:00

It’s so hot, I saw a camel carrying an umbrella and a water bottle.

Yesterday I saw a lizard in a tiny cotton wife-beater, drinking an Icee. In the shade.

I saw a gator in a visor.

It’s so hot the fire extinguishers are begging the dogs to stop by.

For more than 30 days this year, the temperature here has reached more than 100.

Toasty.

And dry as moldy bread.

The other day I pulled a patrolman over and asked him to waterboard me.

It’s not been cool weather.

You know those times when people around here say, “It’s not so much the heat, it’s the humidity”? This is not one of those times. It IS the heat.

(Secretly, it’s always the heat. The heat’s what makes the humidity so, for lack of a better term, humid. And the weather so hot. But that’s another story. So we’ll move on. Besides, I’m hot.)

This is the hottest year on record since 1981, when it was more than 100 for nearly 50 days. Nearly 50 hot, blazing, scorching days. Africa hot days. Hotter than seven hells, I heard a guy say.

1981. Those were the hot ’ol days, the ones I’ve always called “The Summer of Herb.”

Mr. Herb let me work for him that summer, as I was a college student who owned the one thing money can’t buy – poverty – and he was a foreman of various work crews. Somewhere in there was a soft heart, so he threw me a bone.

And a shovel.

It was the summer Mr. Herb told me and my shovel to help grade a new Arkansas road. We know it now as the Camden Bypass. We knew it then as Hell’s Kitchen.

There is not a lot of shade in your road building ventures, as eliminating shade is sort of the point. Fortunately, we were taken off that job after a few weeks and taken to an Interstate 20 rest area near Haughton. Unfortunately, we had to build it.

West of the building still standing there today, north of the westbound lanes, for a solid hour one afternoon I feel asleep while leaning against my shovel, standing, napping like a horse. Didn’t even mean to.

That rest area is closed now, a shame since I found it so easy to rest there, especially if you were hot, and limp-dishrag tired, and it had been more than 100 degrees for three weeks straight. And Mr. Herb had had to “run to Shreveport” for a minute. Sweet dreams.

Mr. Herb was not a truck air-conditioner guy. He liked to keep me acclimated, which I’m actually thankful for. We sort of stayed on a low boil every day. Our sweat rings had sweat rings.

My dad’s generation was more conditioned to heat than I am. And I’m more conditioned than the two generations since. That the National Football League has recently done away with two-a-day practices is no surprise; the players grew up with air conditioning. Mine might be the last generation that’s spent more time outside than in.

I love the heat. Love working in it. But I found out last weekend that we all have to make concessions to a summer like this one. I did yard labor in anti-poison ivy gear and nearly got heat stroke. I know because my head hurt and I slept from 6 p.m. until 8 the next morning.

I dreamed of sprinklers, of shovels and shade.

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Golden Nuggets from Rome: (4th in a series)

2011-08-06T09:50:00.002-04:00

(from Dr. Chris Craig, FBC Ruston, these are my notes.)

ATTENTION GETTERS
Romans 1:18-20

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

1. God Never Approves of Wrong (v. 18)

Wrath = 'controlled anger' in the Bible times and a common word then; a sad, rational, proper anger
a - "against all godlessness" -- a lack of reverence toward God and the things of God
b - wickedness - toward others

2. Wrong Behavior Supresses Truth

3. We Are Without Excuse (19-20)
Nature points us to God
Ps. 19: 1-3 -- "the skies declare..."

4. What Does This Mean?
a - God judges men on the knowledge we have (Luke 12:47 -- the servant who knows vs. servant who does not)
b - John 14:6 -- "no man but thru me..."
Ps 19: 7-8 -- 'special revelation" ... we have the Bible
Col 1:15 -- "He is the image of God..."

You and I have heard clearly and are without excuse

Golden Nuggets from Rome: (3rd in a series)

2011-08-05T09:38:00.001-04:00

(from Chris Craig, pastor, FBC Ruston -- these are my notes)

STEP UP DAD!

Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[a] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Jesus can do great thing for you and for everyone else

1. God's Power is Mighty, vs. 16
* Power = inherent, within himself
* The gospel is the power of God
* We all need the power for God, "the power for salvation," to save, to forgive...

2. God Can Make You Right With Him Forever... (v 17)
* righteous = justified = to be made right

3. If We Believe (v 17)
* Faith -- a placing of my life into His hands

4. Dads And All, Live Loudly for Christ
"I am not ashamed of the gospel..."
Paul, writing to the greatest city in the world, of a Jewish carpenter from a conquered city in a counquered country, proclaims he is not ashamed.

5. It's Natural If You Really Know Him, and ...

6. It's Part of the Deal --
*Salvation is personal but not private. (Luke 12: 8-9 ... "Whoever owns me, I acknowledge..."

7. We've Got What The World Needs
A swimmer can/has power to save somone who is drowning. We have the power to share the saving grace of the gospel.
*Think of what you can do for people ... We have the cure for what people suffer from; we have what people need.
*When we live loudly, our influence can be immense
* "The greatest thing I have ever found is in Christ; I'd like you to find Him too."

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Golden Nuggets from Romans (Part 2 in a series)

2011-08-04T05:39:00.003-04:00

(From Chris Craig, FBC Ruston)

POSITIVE IMPACT
Romans 1: 8-13
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,[a] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

You can be an impact player as Paul was. HOW?

1. BE WHO WE ARE

vs. 8 -- your faith is reported all over the world.

"When you're shouting so loudly, I can't hear what you say," said Emerson. Live it.

2. BY AFFIRMATION

vs. 8 -- I THANK GOD for you.

Be an encourager. Praise and thank people, and thank God.

3. BY PRAYER

(v 9-10) Am i disciplined in my prayer life? Do we KNOW about prayer but don't pray? Who is "in trouble' in your world: are you praying for them?

It's easier to criticize than to pray.

4. BY GIVING

v. 11-13 -- Paul is mostly interested in the TEAM.

Oswald Chambers says it is "a spiritual honor and duty to spend life for the sake of others, not self." Paul says God has given him/us new life, so He has obligated us to take Jesus/The Gospel to everyone.

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One of the Greatest Toys in History

2011-08-03T13:15:00.000-04:00

My little sis is trying to hunt this game down. Just like it used to hunt her down. I chased my sisters everywhere with a bear like this, back in the day.

Below is a description of the game off the Web. One auction site is even selling this thing WITH AN EXTRA BEAR! An extra bear? To have one would be joy, to have two --- I can't find the words! Anyway ...

Bop A Bear Motorized Target Game - Marx 1960s

Large 14" long, 10" tall, 7" wide Motorized Bear takes 4 "D" batteries. He has "bump & go" action. When you shoot him with the dart, he changes direction, growls and moves on. Also when he hits something, he changes direction. Most are missing the battery cover, which is large and covers the whole motor compartment. Set originally came with a double barrel shotgun type dart gun and the 6 rubber tipped darts. Box is large display type with great graphics.

Marx also made a Rabbit Target game called Rabbit Hunt. This was a windup rabbit. one auction site selling it WITH AN EXTRA BEAR!!!

If you happen upon this bear and you don't want him, well, please let me know!

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Every Man Dies Alone

2011-08-02T17:58:00.003-04:00

Liked it much more than I thought I would.

This book was written in the mid-1940s in Germany by an author, then famous and well-read and acclaimed, who died in a sanitarium in 1947. Drunk/Drank himself to death. Long story.

Hans Fallada was such a stud that one of his books from the 1930s was made into a hit movie with big stars and everything by Universal. "Little Man, What Now?"

"Every Man Dies Alone" was recently translated and made several Notable Lists in 2009.

Setting is 1941 Berlin. A regular working man and his wife launch a covert operation against the Nazis. It's a resistance, thought small. A cast of characters surround their lives and efforts. It ends up being as much a romance story, in an odd sort of way, as a "war" story. If you've ever wondered what life was like in Berlin in WWII, here's your picture. The Gestapo. Meal tickets. Regimentation and whatnot.

He wrote this book in 24 days. It's 500 pages long. Ouch. I cannot begin to tell you how hard that is. Small wonder he drank himself into oblivion.

Now I'm reading the exact opposite: "The Help." Trying to finish before the movie comes out.

Mississippi Magic in Cabin 24

2011-07-31T04:25:00.003-04:00

(If you've never been to the Neshoba County Fair, well, there's nothing in my experience to compare it to. It's a beautiful thing...No words, not even this beautiful picture from "Southern Living," can quite capture it...)

Last Friday night I slept on what was trying to be a couch in the kitchen/den/storage room/dining room of a cozy wooden cabin on one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the state of Mississippi.

The cabin is 18 feet wide by 30 feet deep and a short two stories high with a balcony, all appropriately weathered, all lovingly updated since World War II. You could build the whole thing right now for only a few thousand. Yet one day a well-to-do doctor, standing right there in the wood shavings off the porch, offered to cut a check for nearly half a million dollars to buy it.

“Not for sale,” the family said. Twice.

This cabin rests on uncommon delta dirt.

Above me, 18 people slept that night. In nine beds. I had the downstairs to myself. Me, two ice boxes, three ice chests, two big containers of chicken spaghetti for the Saturday party, a tiny bathroom that played big, and a window unit that hummed and cooled.

All around me – in more than 900 cabins on these fairgrounds outside Philadelphia, Miss. – this same sort of deep-night country opera was on tap, naps before another day at the annual Neshoba County Fair. It’s more reunion than event, more houseparty than campout, more seasoned veteran than Flavor of the Month. The Neshoba County Fair acts like it’s been there before.

And it has been. For more than a century.

For years I’d told Stan I’d accept the standing invitation to something he’s been attending each late-July red-letter week since he was born, posting up there in Cabin 24 on Founders Square, the cherry location in this hot-fudge-sundae of a fair. The family got this spot when Stan’s dad helped get the fair up and going again in the late-1940s. Founders Square is 80 yards or so per side; 74 pastel-colored cabins outline it. The pavilion is in the middle where bands play and politicians stump and pastors preach.

We sat on the porch until past 3 a.m., two hours after the band had shut down and the casual fairgoers had been herded out and the children in their pj’s had climbed upstairs.

“In the morning, the flea market will be here,” Stan said. And sure enough, at 6 a.m. I walked outside to find the square chalked like a football field. A man selling wooden spoons needed to borrow our rake. It was like watching a circus smoothly set up. By 8, you could buy a T-shirt, jewelry, a porch swing or an oil painting.

From the porch, I could see the Ferris wheel to my right. Behind me in the giant grandstand, triathletes were running where the rodeo had been the night before, where the Mule Pull would start at 2, harness racing Sunday, the beauty pageant Monday. And all over the fairgrounds, people were walking up to another day of…whatever this is.

And at night the lights would come on and the cabins would twinkle and carnies would bark and all of your senses would have to work overtime to capture it, even a little bit.

How do you explain the taste of bubble gum to someone who’s never had it? How do you explain parenthood to someone who’s never held their own flesh and blood? You can explain a water spout; it’s harder to explain the wind.

“Just a day like all the others,” Stan said toward evening. “Paradise in deep disguise.”

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Buried Treasure

2011-07-28T10:33:00.002-04:00

As if on cue in the wake of wiffle ball columns, Hartley, one of the residents of our old house and one of the new guardians of TreeCom Park at UnFairGrounds Field, unearthed a wiffle yesterday.

Proud.

Here Hartley displays the long-lost wiffle and looks toward the horizon, searching for other buried treasure. Or for a nice place to poop.

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The Magic Word

2011-07-27T04:21:00.001-04:00

(ethoughts ... this one ran Tuesday July 26)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving.” -- Psalm 100:4 (NIV)

A freckle-faced boy I know picked up the phone and called his mom, only 20 feet away in another office.

“Hey mom! Whatcha doin’?” Smiling and sweet. Before she could even answer, he said, “I love you. OK!”

And he hung up. And I’m sure the call didn’t bother his mom, who would in a few minutes haul him and his big sister to Vacation Bible School.

I’ve just met him but I love that kid. He called his mom because it’s fun for him to talk to her. He knows she’ll be patient. And he knows she’ll get him where he needs to go. He seems genuinely overjoyed to be dependent on someone who thinks he hung the moon. His adoration and obedience and genuine joy expresses to his mom his gratitude, even though he might not yet know what gratitude means.

I read something this week in “A Call to Growth” by Billie Hanks Jr.: “God is watching with great interest to see how you will respond to the privilege of life.”

Does my Maker know how grateful I am, how overjoyed I am to be His? AM I grateful and overjoyed? Or does a sense of entitlement drown out what once was humble thanks for everything from my next breath to my salvation…

And this I read, too, from Romans 1: 21 (NIV): “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

My heart gets dark because I forget to say, “Thanks”? I think so. I trade humble gratitude for self-reliance. Gradually, my default attitude is going to be one or the other.

I’d rather be more like my freckle-face friend, always anxious to pick up the phone, happy and grateful in whose child I am.

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End of the Wiffle Chronicles

2011-07-26T16:16:00.002-04:00

(Been gone to ballgames, to the Redneck Riviera (beach), to the Neshoba County Fair. Was gone longer than I figured...Next week, Magic in the Mississippi Delta)

I was not cut out for prison.

The baggy clothes. The cold chow. Molestation. Murder. Shanks to the hamstring.
Life on the inside, I just can’t do.

So around the law, I get the jits. The Prison Jits. The 9-Bar Hilton Muscle Spasms. Around the “po po,” I’m compliant as clay.

So no one was more surprised than I was when a few summers ago, I got into a semi-argument, quiet and logical but an argument nonetheless, with a police officer about how he just might be wrong.

We were in a tense moment of front-yard wiffle ball, me and the Usual Suspects, four boys around age 13. It was late afternoon and Sahara hot when a cruiser stopped in the street, which we called “right-center field.”

In gym shorts, sweaty and barefooted, I brought the officer my driver’s license while the boys rested in shade. He told me it would be safer to play in a park or at a school so no balls would go zipping in front of cars. Though we usually kept a pretty good watch on the street, we had lost ourselves in the intensity of the game and one of our hitters had launched a wiffle on a line drive across the bow of the cruiser as he’d driven by.

I suggested the whole charm of playing was the ground rules: the sweet gum tree, Mr. Larry’s driveway, the cat watching from the monkey grass. We lived next to two officers and a state trooper, played regularly for years, and had never been in trouble with the law.

By now two other cruisers were on the scene, making it by far the most active day, police-wise, of our wiffle experience. A nice sergeant pulled out a Big Book, put it on his hood, and finally the officer who’d stopped first pointed at a page and said, “There!”

I had launched or thrown “a projectile into a thoroughfare.” What the…
Wait! My survival instincts kicked in. I pointed to the porch. The boys. Drinking Gatorade. Sweating. Looking innocent. “One of them did it,” I said. “I don’t even get to bat!”

I argued that the spirit of the law was aimed at something besides a wiffle ball. I think I begged. I think I pleaded. I know I signed the ticket, and wondered what the wiffle rules would be in the prison yard.

I could go on an on, but the bottom line is I had to go to city court, where a perplexed judge told me not to get in trouble for the next month and she’d let me go. It must have been an unusual case and caused some pre-trail murmurings; when he’d checked us in, the bailiff had whispered, “You the wiffle guy?”

I remember the look on the judge’s face as she studied the charge. She asked a couple of people in suits to look over her shoulder. She shook her head. I could barely hear her when she said, “Well, THIS is a new one…”

There would be but timid wiffle the rest of that year. Besides, the boys were older and…well, for all practical purposes, outside of the occasional Home Run Derby, that ended any regular wiffling. But we have the memories, including a shadow box of the black-sheep wiffle, the ticket, and the park’s layout, an encased reminder of, remarkably, the only wiffle ball argument we ever had.

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The Way We Were, When We Wiffled (Part I)

2011-07-17T13:46:00.002-04:00

(This is in today's Times and News-Star. Lord willing, I will be back in a few days...And will post Part II, the Finale, next Sunday...)

The way wiffle as we know it ended was with, appropriately enough, a foul ball.

The official term is “criminal mischief.”

The event of that long-ago summer marks the only time we ever got thrown out of our own game, all called “Out!” at the same time.

As most law-abiding citizens know, wiffle is played with a plastic ball and bat. It’s time-honored, a summer staple. The rules are much the same as baseball, but special ground rules are adopted according to where you play, as in whose yard or “park.” Ours was called TreeCom Park at UnFair Grounds Field. Its ground rules evolved into the following:

Ground rule double if into street/right field, to keep us from running into the street;

Home run if over double-yellow line in street/right field;

Home run to center if past second crack at end of Mr. Larry’s driveway;

Home run if over Mr. Larry’s driveway in left field;

Mr. Sweet Gum Tree limbs and all wires in play.

We threw down bases for first, second and home; third was the tree. They were fine rules and it was a fine park.

Our giant sweet gum, hard by the third base line, played a major role in thwarting smacks by right-handed hitters; once it even swallowed a ball in the summer, as the whale did Jonah, and didn’t spit it out until the cold of winter. While wiffling in fleece hoodies, we saw it again one day, naked and trapped in leafless branches. We knocked it out with a football.

From the mid-’90s until the Summer of 2002 – hard to believe it’s been nine years – we played just about every day in the summers, twice or so a week in the winters. We played in Sudan heat, in the crisp air of autumn, and in driving rains when we had to outrace water-kidnapped wiffles heading toward storm drains. We played in nothing but shorts, in sweats, in jackets. Once we pushed back snow with gloved hands to outline the base paths.

Usually I was full-time pitcher with defensive responsibilities, and four little boys alternated teams. Water breaks. Hose down. Finish the tournament. Switch teams. Play again.

No one paid us any mind.

That all changed on June 24, 2002. It was Death Valley hot, just like we liked it. The game had miraculously been tied with a tater past the crack in Ockley Drive on the other side of Mr. Larry’s driveway. Clear homer. We were in the late innings.

The situation was tense.

A “pea,” as we call it in wiffle circles, was hit into the No Man’s Land of Ockley. Line drive homer. Bottom of the next inning. Man on first. Imaginary guy on second. Guy at bat. Me on the mound, 10 or so wiffles at my feet. (To speed play, we let homers and fouls alone until I ran out of balls to throw, then quickly gathered the wayward wiffles.)

It was during this high-drama moment that the batter, his T-shirt stuck to his chest with sweat, calmly nodded to right field with his bat on his shoulder and said, “Dad, I think that man wants you.”
A police cruiser was stopped in right center, or, as you call it, “Ockley Drive.” An officer was stepping out. It was 4. It was hot. And it was over.

I’ll finish next week; it will end with me and a ticket in city court.

In extra innings.
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Different Kinds of Southern Living

2011-07-11T12:56:00.001-04:00

(This ran in The Times and The News-Star Sunday, July 3.)

Stopped by our old house in Shreveport this week, the one my son grew up in, the one we lived in until he went to college and I sold it 32 months ago.

I had left with the new owner a sentimental shadowbox and she’d put it on the porch for me to finally pick up. I’d thought the box would help her get used to the house. In the shadowbox is a wiffle ball and a ticket, the kind made out by a policeman and involving that particular wiffle, or, in this case, the “projectile.” Maybe I should tell you that story soon, how we got a ticket for playing wiffle, but for now, just know that the wiffle remains in its glass jail. You’re safe.

What I wanted to ask you today was whether you have ever moved and then gone by your old place. Strange.

I knew it was going to be different, but it was a different kind of different than I’d expected. The new owner had warned me about this. The new owner is very nice. I like her a lot. I would tell you her name but that would be indiscreet. (Heather. Her name is Heather.)

To me, she’d said, not six months after she’d moved in, “There aren’t any hats hanging on the walls now, and I don’t think we have any shirts in here with numbers on them.”

This I verified last week as I picked up the shadowbox. And snooped around.

I knew before I got out of the car that things had changed, and by changed I mean like the eastern sky changes as the sun rises. Drastically.

It’s like a Southern Living home. Really nice and cozy looking. Clean and charming. A lot of depth outside at the whicker position.

Most impressive is the front door, which is all glass except for a eight-inch dark wood border. Why didn’t I think of this? I’d just always left our all-wood door open. Once we had it closed and a four-year-old from down the street said on a walk with his mom, “Look momma, Mr. Teddy and Casey bought a door.”

They’ve redone the wood floors, put a dining table in the dining room (?!), and have furniture that doesn’t appear to have cat scratch marks on it. (That was Jingle Bell’s calling.) No run in the back, where Elfie and Spot had enjoyed much dog tomfoolery. It looks a lot deeper now, at least it does through the cracks in the fence. More whicker. Pool furniture. Seating areas. A BIG grill/bonfire thing. No trash trees. Flowers, extra landscaping, hanging baskets, and a small vegetable garden.

Even statues. Statues!

Hmmmmm…It’s evolved more, as it did even when I was there, when the swing set and fort had to go.

Even the grass I loved mowing is thicker and richer. I’d always kept it too tight because I’d loved mowing it, too much. And little feet that grew helped keep it beaten down.

I walked to the middle of the yard and knew it would be level. It was. The indention from where I’d pitched all those wiffles is now even ground. Home plate is no longer dirt. Sigh…

It’s not a big house, but it’s a good house. It holds a lot. And in my sentimental opinion, it’s still a pretty house, just like it used to be.
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White-hatted Skipper of the Home Team

2011-07-10T12:58:00.001-04:00

(This is in The Times and The News-Star today.)

No way it’s been 22 years.

My grandmother had a stroke back then, a few days before July 10, her birthday. She lived three weeks after and then died at 84, surrounded by family. I drove to Carolina three times that summer in a open-air Jeep. Helped carry her casket, with my cousins: Kevin, Steve, Randy and Sandy, me and Blake. She loved her grandsons more than her granddaughters, and it was not for anything that we had done. That’s just how she was, and I’m just saying.

She had a girl and four boys. They next-to-youngest is my father. She raised them mostly on her own, nursing at the little hospital in Mullins and nursing at home. She was a true ’round-the-clock nurse.

We still have pictures of her everywhere. My favorite is of her in her nurse’s uniform, when she was young but not so young that she was inexperienced. This is a picture of her in her nursing prime, full of confidence and energy. This is back when nurses wore little white creased caps and dresses, white hose and white shoes that look like baby shoes. I would think that today’s nurse is grateful for scrubs.

Regardless, the nurses of grandmama’s era and the Nike-wearing nurses of today are the same on the inside. Theirs are the hands that help the world get well.

Inez Skipper Allen. You don’t run into many Inez’s anymore. I miss the one I knew.

My grandmother was 4 feet, 10 inches. That’s stretching it. She was no threat to join the starting lineup of the Los Angeles Lakers, but I can testify that she “played big,” a power forward disguised in a white dress and a creased cap. If you messed with Inez, you would want to make sure your loins were girded, so to speak. Bad hombre. Long memory. Your best bet to stay on her good side was to be one of her grandsons.

What a break!

There are different kinds of grandmas, everything from sergeants to sweethearts. My Inez was a mix as most are, but she leaned a bit to the military side. You had to be tough at 4-feet-10, raising four boys with only one girl to have your back.

My dad and my uncles cried when I saw them at the hospital after her stroke and they cried when they buried her. She was once the best friend they had, and no one knew them better than my grandmama.

It’s funny what you remember. Her fried chicken. Homemade shortcake. A pound cake I never liked, waffles I always did. Her Bible on the TV set, its channels switched between “Guiding Light” and Jim Bakker, at that time the anti-guiding light. But again, once she bought in, either to a show or a personality or a grandson, you were riding the world’s rails on greased grooves.

It would be corny to say she’s tending to aches and pains in heaven. But, just for argument’s sake, maybe she gets to put a compress on somebody’s bruise now and then, Band-Aid a scratch. She did a lot of that down here, for me and some guys in my family. She wanted us to be better, even if it hurt at first.

So I remember her as a grandson should, as someone who made it better. I remember her as a safe place to be.
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Travel Squad

2011-07-09T14:58:00.002-04:00

Part of the 9-10 grade boys Sunday School class and some of the other usual suspects went to The Ballpark in Arlington Tuesday. Left on the church bus at 12:25 and got back at 3 a.m.

Rangers 4, Orioles 2. It was a beautiful trip and added to the beautiful experiences in and around this ballpark.

The travel squad is pictured above.

Highlight: You can barely see his head, in the middle, in the back. Sunshades. That head belongs to Garrett Patterson, who'll be in the 11th grade at Ruston High this fall. When O's first sacker Derek Lee homered, Garrett, with his cell phone in his right hand, reached over his body and, on reflex about 20 rows up in the lower left field seats, caught the homer barehanded with this "glove" (left) hand.

I was impressed. As were those around Garrett. They gave him a hand then requested, since the tater was hit by Baltimore, that he throw it back. He did, immediately. Chunked a one-hopper to Rangers left fielder and AL MVP Josh Hamilton.

It was "a moment." A proud one. And we haven't even worked on fly-ball catching in Sunday School.

Sweet...

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Book Shelf: Vengeance by George Jonas

2011-07-08T14:32:00.001-04:00

I'm about 25 years behind here, BUT ...

Little sis gave me this book and I read it last weekend. Spielbert's "Munich" is based on this. You can read a lot about the controversial book -- some people believe it's "made up." I liked it a lot. 7 on a 1-10 scale. It's "The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team," assembled to avenge the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics..."the first Mossad agent to come out of 'deep cover' and tell the story of a heroic endeavor that was shrouded in silence and speculation for year."

Golda Meir is my kind of gal. Once the die was cast and she got jiggy with it, business heated up and murderers started waking up dead.

This book is an account of what might be the best of two evils. Once counter-terrorism begins, then you have to suppose there is counter-counter-terrorism, and on like that. It's a fallen world for sure. And there's an immorality in not resisting terror. And so ... bombs and bullets. "The tragic fact," Jonas writes, "is that the maps of the world are drawn in blood."

There are acts of war, and there are war crimes, and there's a difference.

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New Human

2011-07-07T14:14:00.003-04:00

This is Audree Rae-Ann Johnson. I have not verified a spelling but have verified that she is a girl, the daughter of my nephew Gregg and his wife Stephanie. My big sister, the mother of six, now has 1,472 grandchildren, give or take.

Audree was born last night in Shreveport-Bossier and will be spoiled by Monday. Good for her!

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Do You Wiffle?

2011-06-23T09:18:00.003-04:00

My friend and good man GoThrow sent me this link to a Wall Street Journal story on one of the great American tradions: wiffle. Click to read the story about a game that's been around for 58 years, all because in 1953, an out-of-work farmer made his son and his boy's friends a toy...

I am so proud...

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What Up With THAT?! ...

2011-06-20T18:23:00.001-04:00

Some man had lunch with my wife Monday ...

We Have Men On The Scene...

2011-06-15T14:29:00.003-04:00

...at Ebbets.com and at the Ebbets Field Flannels facebook page.

One of my favorite stores is having a contest. Here my friend Scooters flashes the New Orleans Pelicans old-school flannel. He is holding his leadoff hitter, Hadley, who loves to be in the company of flannel wearers and appreciaters.

The Ebbets Field Flannels people are looking for pictures of folks wearing their merchandise, for a contest. Check it out. You will not look as good as these men, but you should still enter, just for the fun of it.

Smoke 'em high and tight.

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I Had The German In 6

2011-06-14T11:51:00.002-04:00

Just sayin...

Good for the Mavs. Have not been that interested or that entertained in the Finals since Celtics-Lakers (last year, and 20-plus years ago. Oh, and the Jazz-Bulls Finals.)

I thank you.

Cowboys now the third best pro team, at best, in the town. In just that one town! That has to hurt...

Again, thank you Mavs and Heat. SO fun to watch...

'Super 8" ... Neg. I'd Give It A Super 4, At Best

2011-06-13T14:41:00.005-04:00

This is the weekend's No. 1 boxoffice draw. Was anxious to see it. Set my expectorations too high, what with Speilbert's name attached and whatnot. Easy entertainment. I probably wanted "ET" or "JAWS" or "Close Encounters" so my bad.

You don't get to see the 'monster' for a long time, same as in 'Jurassic Park' and "JAWS" and all, but once you do, sort of a letdown. At least for me.

Wish I'd just seen it on HBO. And the main boy and the little girl were very good, my opinion. And it was not awful by any stretch. On a scale of 1 to 8, I'd give it a Super 4.

BUT, did see good previews. Me and mine aim to go see the Apes movie, the war movie ("Captain America"!), and I think some other movie but i can't think of it right now. Maybe Green Lantern too.

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The literary boys and girls of summer

2011-06-12T06:23:00.001-04:00

(From today's Times and Monroe News-Star)

My stepdaughter has to read "Lord of the Flies” this summer for school in the fall.

Good luck with that!

Back in the day we did not have Required Summer Reading, but I read anyway because I was strange that way and still am. If you are stalled and need to jumpstart your summer reading program, I have suggestions.

First suggestion: Don’t read “Lord of the Flies” unless you have to. Read “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman instead. Second suggestion: Follow my suggestions.

Here are the best books I’ve read since January. Each comes with a glowing recommendation:

“Water For Elephants” by Sara Gruen. I was slow to the party but glad I got there; (I am also late to the party for “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, but it’s “in my pile” and I hope to read it before the movie’s August release;

“The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson;

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. Of the four Vietnam War-related O’Brien books I’ve read, this is the one I’m most thankful for. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping…” And on like that;

“Lit” by Mary Karr, a later-in-life memoir by “The Liars’ Club” author. The title itself has three different meanings. And you get sentences like this: “How little we ever wanted, the creatures in my family, and how hard we struggled in one another’s company not to get it”;

“The Pastor” by Eugene Peterson, translator of “The Message”;

“King’s Cross” by Timothy Keller;

“Popular Crime” by Bill James, author of the “Baseball Abstracts,” is a passionately researched and presented look at the phenomenon of popular crime stories in America since the 1600s, and how these stories have made an impact on our country’s history and society without our even realizing it. James knows trends, cause and effect; for decades he’s used his fascination for baseball’s numbers to alter the way we think of the game, and he does the same here with crime. His goal is to use the phenomenon of Popular Crime to first inform and then hopefully involve the public to the point that we’ll change the criminal justice system and not “abandon the criminal justice system to the lawyers – which will result in a justice system that works well for the lawyers…”;

“The Onion Field” by Joseph Wambaugh is from 1973 but still excellent for an odor of procedural law of the time and the absolute mess that became of a police officer’s murder. (Young actors Ted Danson and James Woods star in the movie);

I could have done without reading “Cutting For Stone” by Abraham Verghese and “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, though I admire both ambitious efforts. Moving on…

Right now I’m reading “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life” by Pulitzer winner Richard Ben Cramer, who writes with beauty. I feel safe recommending it along with the others in my SRPP (Summer Reading Partial Pile):

“The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood” and “Sandy Kofax,” both by Jane Leavy; “Leaving Church” by Barbara Brown Taylor; “A Bright Shining Lie” by Neil Sheehan (about Vietnam); the new Dick Van Dyke memoir and, always, some John MacDonald (me and Travis McGee are up to “Dress Her in Indigo.”)

We Have A Man On The Scene...

2011-06-09T09:08:00.002-04:00

...in the St. Augustine, Florida area.

These are my vacationing friends Ben and Jake ... or, as I like to call them, "Steak 'n' Shake: The Next Generation." The franchise is in good hands.

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Hey Jude: Identity (First in Jude series)

2011-06-07T17:48:00.001-04:00

(My notes from Sunday night's sermon from Dr. Chris Craig, FBC Ruston)

Author of Jude is the (half) brother of Jesus

v. 1: Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

WHO ARE YOU IN CHRIST?

1. A slave for Jesus
W.A. Tozer: To live as a Christian means to 'live with an eternal preoccupation with God."

2. A called people
invited to be His own
The christian should never have esteem issues; God calls you His child.

3. Loved by God the Father
It's not about how I feel; God loves me regardless of how i FEEL

4. Kept Eternally Safe
kept = guarded, by Christ and the Father
John 10: 28-29 "...no one can snatch them out of my hand..."

Don't let anyone diminish your identity in Christ
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God's Calling (1st in Romans series)

2011-06-06T17:35:00.003-04:00

(My notes from Sunday's sermon from Dr. Chris Craig at FBC Ruston)

Romans 1: 1-6
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in powerby his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

The book of Romans was written to the (mostly Gentile) church at Rome, by Paul, most likely from Corinth, about 20-25 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

God is Calling You ...

1. To Salvation
Romans in summary: Humans have a terrible problem; God has a wonderful solution.
vs 5-6: "called" -- invited to a feast
Matthew 22:14 -- "...many are invited, few are chosen..." Few enter into the feast on the groom's terms
John 1:12 ' "To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

2. To a Mission
v. 1 -- to be a servant/slave, to lose your will in the will of another.
This is an honored position under God's will
2 Cor. 5:20 .. "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God."

Paul's life is an example of what a life in God's will can become. He was a Pharisee, a Green Beret of religious heirarchy, but became Jesus' greatest apostle.
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The 'Hurts Me' Files: James Arness

2011-06-03T15:54:00.002-04:00

Dead today at age 88. Gunsmoke. 1955-75. Ohhhh Miss Kitty....

I loved me some Matt. Dodge City. Doc.

Momma's favorite TV character ever? Festus. No one else is even close.

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We Have A Man on the Scene ...

2011-05-31T16:36:00.004-04:00

in New York City. And he just sent me this. Which is beautiful.

The sign if you can't read it reads, "Why leave a city that has six professional sports teams, and also the Mets?"

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