With the Ink of His Life

I lost a friend a few days ago.  Yesterday, I had the privilege of standing by his family, a family that has been a part of my life for a long time.  They are as dear to me as anybody on the planet.  A small but close-knit group gathered to remember his presence among us and the true gift that he was to each of us.  It was my privilege to share some thoughts about his life.

He is one of the kindest, most tender-hearted human beings I have ever known.  His physical presence was humble and unassuming.  His physical abilities were limited.  

As I thought about his 58 years, from the first day I met him, he always reminded me of a 747 jet. They fly at 30,000 feet or better.  Moving at a high rate of speed, high above all the hustle and bustle of life, they nonetheless move along smoothly and quietly.  Human existence with all of its messes and struggles carries on beneath you....out of sight.  John's simple and unadulterated joy had a way of taking you "above it all" and reacquainting you with the simple joys of life...of faith, too.  He didn't do it intentionally; that's just who he was.  It's how he was wired.  

As I reminisced and scratched out words that were an understatement of the work of art that was his life, I couldn't help but think about the world and in particular the culture we live in.  It glamorizes the sheik, the powerful, and the accomplished.  John didn't have a resume.  Didn't have much to put on one...by our standards.  He didn't go to school.  He met few if any "movers and shakers."  His social circle was small. 

Late in the night and early into the morning, my mind kept reflecting back to an episode in John chapter nine. Jesus' disciples, having drunk from the well of tradition-history on the subject of evil and suffering, misframed a question and put it before Jesus.  I can imagine Jesus sighing, looking in the direction of the blind man, and waving aside their shoddy assumptions with his crisp reply: "He was born so that the mighty works of God could be displayed through him."

In our vernacular, he says, "God is at work here if you have eyes to see it!"

I couldn't help but think of the ways in which we are programmed by our culture to look at people - size them up.  We are conditioned to look at the wrapping.  We don't look deeper.  We don't see persons.  We don't ask the big questions.  John was a teacher.  He taught what was central to Jesus and His kingdom.

As I wrote, reflected, and wept, I was led to Matthew chapter eighteen.  Irony of ironies, the disciples ask who is the greatest in the kingdom.  I imagine Jesus sighing...again.  He looks at some children playing, eyes one and says, "Come over here....sit right here. Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus didn't say, "Give it some thought...toss it around...do it on Mondays."  No.  All or nothing.  My friend was a walking demonstration of this truth every day of his life.

All of this sends a few questions through my heart:

• Do we think about what we see in people and why we see it?
• What should we be looking for in people? 
• What is God screaming at me every day that I am too drunk with all the wrong thoughts to recognize?  What if we sobered up and saw rightly for a change?  
• In what ways do I look "whole" by cultural standards but severely lacking by heaven's standards?  It's a hard question.  It's a necessary question.  
• Am I a grownup...really?  How much does vanity rule my life?  How much time do I spend thinking about...me?  
• And, what if I could bring to a day of life what John brought to a day in his life?  How would I be different? How would my relationships be transformed?  What could God do with me that He can't do because I'm too drunk on all the wrong things to see and hear as I should?

More questions come to mind, but I will stop with these. Preparing for his memorial took me on a beautiful journey into the past, bringing into the foreground of my mind the names and faces of people just like him who had imprinted on my life in quiet but profound ways. The pen God gave them was simple looking at a glance but God wrote with it in breathtaking ways.

Refreshing winds continue to blow through my heart as I ponder John's life.  In the germ of his simple world was the truth of what life and faith are really about. I pray that the ink God used in his life to testify to what really matters can bleed over into my pen, too.  My life story has been better for it.  I pray it continues.

Thank you, brother.

Father, for friends and teachers like John I give you thanks.  They help me and I pray each of us to live life in the trenches with a 30,000 foot perspective.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

No Fancy Recipes

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

- 1 Corinthians 16:13

Been discouraged about church lately?  Do you feel like it's three steps forward and two steps backward? We've all been there.

It's easy to get lost in the American business mentality of let's build it bigger and better. Healthy church - effective church - successful church....it's simply a matter of finding the right "model" or the right "recipe" and mixing it into the experience of church life.  We forget that church is not a business.  Church is ten times more complicated than any business.  The equilibrium in any church is subject to disruption from a variety of things and, settling things down is often much more complicated than a simple corporate announcement or a stern word from management.  Consequently, getting romantic about what we think church can be versus what it really is can set us up for a free fall into disillusionment, anger, anxiety and a host of other emotions.

But what are we to do?  

Each time I read the Corinthian letters four thoughts come to mind:

1. I am reading an apostle’s response to a dire situation.
     And, he was bringing his “A” game.
2. Considering their short timeline (50 -57 AD), how did they deteriorate in such a short amount of
      time?
3. Did everybody sit still for the reading of this letter?

4. Poor delivery boy! Did he have to do the Q and A after the reading? Not light work in the least. I can
     only imagine the banter that followed!

Paul spent approximately 2 years in Corinth.  I wonder how many lessons he taught?  How many conversations did he have with people, leaders and house churches?  When he taught them the gospel and nurtured them in the same, did he make it clear enough?  Several times he tags a theological reminder with "as you know" or with the question "do you not know?"  He says, "I delivered to you as of first importance..."  Paul taught them the gospel and nurtured them (1 Cor. 4:15-18).  Point?  They knew who they were in Christ and how they were supposed to live.   

Paul visited them on two other occasions and did more teaching and nurturing.  2 Corinthians 13 indicates that he is coming for a third visit which he isn't looking forward to in the least (2 Cor. 12:19-21).  

Interestingly, there is no indication in the letters that the church was evangelistic.  If they were teaching among themselves and behaving as the letters indicate, how in the world did their ministry leaders bring a credible word to the streets? 

Their assemblies were borderline chaotic.  If a guest were to happen in among them he might think they were crazy people (1 Corinthians 14).  Not a great testimony to the gospel.

They were ashamed of the gospel (1 Cor. 1-3) and the teaching of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15 - too much Plato influence!). 

Some of them possessed miraculous expressions of the Holy Spirit (i.e., healings, tongues, miracles, etc…) The fact that they had the evidence (miracles) of the presence of the Holy Spirit did not convince them to live “in the Spirit…in sanctification" (1 Cor. 3:1-3, 16-17).

The fact that a powerful leader was among them for two years had not change their hearts completely.  A significant number of them had reverted to their pagan ways (2 Cor. 12:19-13:5).  What is more, he reminds them that the signs of a true apostle were worked among them with signs, wonders and mighty works (2 Cor. 12:12).  They witnessed some amazing feats of power from Paul's hands via the Holy Spirit and yet...hmm.

Their current ministry leaders (1 Cor. 16:13-16) were largely disregarded.  They were told to be “nice” to Timothy when he arrived (1 Cor. 4:16ff).  What's that all about?

If Chloe’s people had not tattled who knows what would have become of them (1 Cor. 1:10f.).

There is no "upward trajectory" in the picture.  It isn't romantic by any standard.  And yet, interestingly, Paul does not pull a new rabbit out of his ministry hat.  He does not bring up anything new per se.   He takes their "needs" and wraps theology around them – theology they were taught again and again.  Why?  Because that was his only recourse.  He knew more miracles wouldn’t lead them deeper into spiritual maturity.  Israel proved that.  Jesus called his generation adulterous for seeking miracles every fifteen minutes.  No, he calls them to move more into the realm of the Spirit.  Why?  Because they are the "church of God at Corinth, saints by calling" (1 Cor. 1:1-2).

As you have already guessed the point in all of this isn't simply to rag on the Corinthian church.  Not hardly.  It is an appeal for us to listen between the lines. Their letters provide us with some much needed insight into how we can regain our bearings on the other side disorientation of one kind or another. 

God’s people have always needed theological reflection and the stimulation that comes through theological reflection.  We make a mess of our lives and church in general when we put distance between ourselves and the Word.  It’s an historical fact.  For that reason Paul reacquaints them with how to think about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  And he asks the question at various turns, “You are still interested in that aren’t you?” Their baptism assumes it but doesn’t guarantee it (1 Cor. 10:1-2, 12; 2 Cor. 13:5).  

We need this same discipline in today's church.  We, too, can "lose ourselves" a hundred different ways the moment we stop thinking rightly about who God is and what it means to live together in the Spirit.  We simply think about "doing church" as our primary task instead of thinking about ourselves as the "church of God" and taking our cues from the latter.  When our life together becomes disoriented and governed by our subjective whims, it is easy for us to grow numb, disinterested, angry or discouraged about church.  We shift into "let's push on a button and fix whatever" mode instead of asking the question "who is us?"

We need to read the first 9 verses of First Corinthians.  It's all right there.  Paul invites the Corinthian church out of the trenches of daily life and takes them to 30,000 feet.  "Look at yourselves," he says.  "This is who you really are.  Don't you remember?"  Here is what he says:

  To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints   

  together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their    

  Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ     

 Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the  testimony     about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as  you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the  day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son,  Jesus Christ our Lord.

The first nine verses are sewn into every syllable of 1:10 through the 16:24.  The "health pill" Paul offers them is reflection on and surrender to who they "already are" in Christ.  That was his appeal and hope for them (1 Cor. 16:13).  And, I bet it would do a world of good for us, too.  

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Sit Next to Me

“After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:27-32

I recently stumbled across a very interesting story.    

A fifth grade teacher’s weekly exercise with her class was discovered recently and shared with the entire school where she teaches.   For several years it has been her practice to ask her students who they would most like to sit by.  Each week she also asks them who they think has been the best student citizen for the week.

She keeps all of the answers confidential and assures the students that she will do everything she can to fulfill their requests.  However, she makes no promises that they will actually get to sit by the person they chose. What she is really doing is looking for students who one week are the most popular but next week no one wants to sit by.  In short, she is reading the tea leaves of the classroom to find out who is the most vulnerable and on the verge of falling through the cracks.

When the administrator asked her when she started this exercise she replied, “After Columbine.”

Jesus had an eye for the margins.

He saw what others didn’t or wouldn’t.

He moved to the edge of society:  harlots, tax collectors, sick and diseased, sinners - whoever.  He interacted with people as persons. 

Every human being was in his eyes…human.

The polling data is in.  People are engaged as a “bump-and-run” experience every day.  People look past people every day.  They are a means to our consumerism. 

We are around lots of people but we don’t really “know” one another.

I cringe every time I hear about an attempted suicide or a suicide in particular.  Who knew them….really?  Was there no one to talk to? 

As children and teens move deeper into the world of the surreal in its many forms psychiatrists across the country are sounding the same alarm:  they are concerned about the dehumanizing effect all of it is creating in the lives of our young people. 

What an anonymous teacher did is definitely a step in the right direction. 

I wonder what that would look like for churches?  What would it look like for our assemblies, small groups and “congregating” throughout the week in the streets of daily life? 

To help our ailing world we have to be able to do this among ourselves…first.  Do we need to reimagine church?  Great!  Let’s do it.  Do we need to prioritize human need and the primary aims of the gospel above our heritage and comfort zones?  Great!  Let’s do it. 

A school teacher knows that being in a room together a “great class doth not make.”  The same goes for churches.   Our society is screaming for the “re-humanization” of humankind.

And that’s what church does…I think. 

Father, give us eyes for the margins.  Soften our hearts and reacquaint us with the compassion we need to engage people as persons made in your image.  Help us to rediscover the experience of “table” as disciples of the One who spread the first table.  Give us the stamina we need to fight the onslaught of cynicism and consumerism that daily attempts to fill our hearts and seal us off from people who need to encounter the hope of the gospel.  Thank you for so loving us in this way.  May we live in the power of that legacy. 

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Four Simple Words

Back in my college days a few of us would occasionally play a game that went something like this:  someone calls out a book and chapter in the New Testament and someone else would call out a verse or verses in that chapter they knew by heart.  It was always interesting to see which verses got mentioned.

Hebrews chapter ten was always interesting and usually predictable.  I can't remember a time when that chapter was called out that someone didn't give 10:25-31 as their textual reference. Most of the time it was 10:25.

Remember how it goes? “…not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Walking across campus one day it dawned on me that Hebrews 10:25 had been made "famous" in our memories because it was a well-used text in sermons and gospel meetings. It was one of those "wake you up and get you to church" verses. It is a hard-hitting text and definitely deserves our attention especially given the malaise that is in so many lives at the moment. But as I thought about this text I was struck by how little attention had been given to 10:24. We had gone to Hebrews 10 for a particular text for so many years that we had overlooked an important piece of the writer's exhortation and, a piece that provided much of the potential remedy for the dark side of what 10:25ff speaks to.

Remember what Hebrews 10:24 says? "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works..."

10:25 is actually the continuation of a sentence that began in 10:24.  Attention to grammar alone should have pressed us backwards into 10:24 for a more complete picture of 10:25-31.  It is true that we can become so accustomed to looking at something from a certain perspective that we can’t see what's really there.

Hebrews as a "word of exhortation" (13:22) was read to the gathered church. But, the gathered church is reminded about what they – and every person! - need to do for each other beyond the confines of gathered church. As the scattered church they are to take care of one another. But, you can't take care of what you don't pay attention to! Several texts in the book of Hebrews resonate with this “take care of one another” idea.

Staying connected to gospel and community was contingent on their attention to each other as individuals beyond the gathered church experience.

In the space between gathered church and the disconnect from each other that is becoming characteristic of all too many churches, sin, deception, and spiritual numbness can grow steadily and completely. And, as odd as it sounds, our fixation on gathered church has become a red herring of sorts. We are so focused on tweaking and fine-tuning gathered church that we don't know how to (or do we want to.... really?) be there for each other as brothers and sisters. Authentic community gets lost as an assumed practice in all the hi-tech announcements, colorful handouts, heartfelt pleas, and pithy reminders to be about the Lord's business. We need more! We don't need information packaged more neatly, colorfully or articulated by our best speakers. We need healthy exhortation to become more human and personal in its implementation. We need to think and live more personally with each other.

To be in the body is to be in people's lives - not church as an idea, a place, a gathering per se. Authentic community (not the slick, high glossy, a place to belong, "come have a great experience among us" version) is intentionally constructed and maintained by individual believers with believers. I like the way someone put it the other day: great church is built on our excellence with small church. Churches don't hemorrhage people. People hemorrhage people. People let people walk away. Businesses come after you when you try to walk away. Why? They care about your business...your money....their profits....their reputation. What we do together in Jesus Christ is way more important than a quarterly profit report and a stock rating.

We need to bite into Hebrews 10:24 and chew on it for a long time. It has much to teach us! It calls us to see the person's with whom we live together in community. To know them. To pray for them. To think about how we can serve them and, when needed, encourage them into a place of strength. Doing so can help us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and to run with patience the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2). It reminds us that the responsibility tucked away in the new “us” created by our fellowship in the gospel is critical to helping “me” remain a part of the kingdom which cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:27-29).

Consider how to stir...

Four simple words worth our time. You want to stimulate your congregation? Turn those four words loose in your life.

 Randy Daugherty
Stephenville, Texas

Footprints In My Dust

The other night I was sitting in the recliner talking with my husband about the day’s events.  As I glanced over at the end table between us I noticed a layer of dust in the lamp light.  My initial thought was “yet, another task to add to tomorrow’s list”.  However, as I listened to Jeff, I noticed an impression in the dust.  It was a foot print…a rather small foot print…and the toes were pointed toward the window.  It dawned on me that it was our three-year-old, Leif’s foot print.  Suddenly the irksome dust turned into a memory recording medium. 

As I postulated how such a foot print could have been made I remembered the previous day’s excitement at daddy’s arrival home from work.  Leif was in the kitchen playing as I prepared supper.   Upon hearing our truck pull into the drive he ran into the living room and leapt up into the window to see his daddy’s approach.  Jeff opened the front door to Leif’s squeals of delight and a hearty, “Welcome home, Daddy!” 

It is an awesome blessing to have a three year old to show me life through his perspective.  At his eye level, the world looks different.  A daddy coming home is the equivalent of winning the Publisher’s Clearing House.  The arrival of winter’s first snow, gives you a reason to dance.  Time spent wrestling with your parents after dinner is better than a day at an amusement park.  A bed-time story is more exciting than a trip to the movie theatre.  A bowl of ice cream is a complete escape, a new toy a marvelous delight.  A kind word of encouragement is not only heard but it is taken to heart and recorded in the annals of his mind and displayed in the ear to ear expression of emotion on his face. 

We come from our mothers’ wombs meeting life with awe and wonder.  Somewhere along the way we become jaded and affected.  We are hurt and wounded by other’s words.  We are tempted, enticed, and lured away by our own desires.  Where do those desires come from?  We are not born with a sinful nature, yet as our exposure to this fallen world lengthens day by day, so does our aptitude for sin.  Somewhat like how the chances of skin cancer increase with every bad sunburn.  Like the Roman writer so aptly says,

“So I find it be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me  from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:23-25)

Thanks be to Jesus.  He had that three-year-old perspective of life and urged others to have it as well.  He said that, “whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  It is by him and through him that we can regain this child like perspective.  We can once again meet this life with awe and wonder and, like my three year old longs to see his daddy coming home, we too can eagerly await Jesus’ return. 

My husband reminds me often that God gave us parents to rear us and children to finish the job.  I know he is right when I am taught such a beautiful lesson as this.

Thank you, God for opportunities for contact with some of your most precious creations: children.  Thank you for the reminder to be more like them.  Help us to meet life with innocent expectancy, enjoying all that you have blessed us with, and looking forward to your redemptive return.

Dana Jaworski

Anchor Point, AK

First World Problems

Ever heard the expression “First World Problems”? These are frustrations and complaints only made by privileged people living in wealthy countries. They would include things such as “My car’s heated seats are making my back sweat!” or “I cracked the screen on my iPhone 5 and have to go back to using my lame iPhone 4.” Along the same lines, a couple of summers ago, our air conditioner went out. It was really hot INSIDE our house. The only possible upside to this situation was that when we bought our air conditioner, we shelled out a little extra for the extended protection agreement, so we knew we wouldn’t have to pay for any repairs. Problem is we could ONLY use Sears to fix it, and the earliest time they could get out there was one week from the day I called. ONE WEEK. Seven days. An eternity.

On the first night of this disaster, our thermostat climbed to 86 degrees. As I lay in bed, I began praying, as I always do at bedtime, and I found myself praying for cooler weather - for a cancellation to move my service appointment up a few days - for ANYTHING to make my life easier. And it occurred to me - how often do I pray this selfish prayer?

We Christians like to remind each other that God cares about the things that we care about. This may be true, but I think we may have warped God’s feelings of care into believing that He wants our lives to be easy and comfortable.

God never promised us an easy life. He promised His love, His presence, His guidance - NOT a carefree existence. I believe that wholeheartedly, and I remind my kids of it all the time. So here’s the kicker - Why do so many of my prayers involve me asking God to make things easier or more comfortable for me? Whether we’re upset about having no air conditioning or a cracked $700 phone or other “First World Problems,” or if it’s something that IS a crisis - something like Cancer, heartbreak or grief. How often do we find ourselves asking God to make our lives easier?

I don’t think that’s God’s job.

He is our heavenly Father - our parent. In my role as a mother, should I do my best to make sure things are as easy and comfortable for my kids as possible? Heaven for-bid! What lazy, spoiled children I would raise if that were my goal!

When Jesus models prayer, he doesn’t ask for God to make the wind ease up so his feet won’t get quite so dusty. He asks for his daily bread - He asks for enough. Even when faced with the very real crisis of an agonizing death on the cross, after asking for the cup to pass from Him, Jesus quickly adds the disclaimer, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” He doesn’t beg God for a more comfortable end - because that’s not God’s job.

The next time you find yourself seeking God’s help in the face of adversity - whether real or imagined - take a second to think about what, exactly, you are praying for.

Alison Wellborn

Abilene, Texas

Cleansing

Americans, in general, are never satisfied.  We have a tendency to seek the newest, the biggest, the fastest,… the best.  Marketers understand that this notion is ingrained in our minds, and they use it to their full advantage.  For example, consider the promises prominently stated in cleaning product commercials.  “You’re not fully clean until you’re Zestfully clean.”  “Tide’s in – Dirt’s out.”  “You’ll want our product, giving up yours.”  “Setting a shining example throughout the area.”  “The Ultimate Shine.”  Never mind that the cleaning products we already have work just fine.  (Honestly, our particular vulnerability for buying the newest cleaning products is probably more revealing about our lack of desire to put in the necessary effort.)

Spiritually, we also crave the same benefits for our life.  Fortunately, God planned and provided the best cleansing for our soul through his son, Jesus Christ.

The world recently celebrated Easter, observing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I wonder how many looked beyond the commercialized trappings of the day and caught the significance of the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood?

God provided Jesus as an atoning sacrifice, removing our sins.  Jesus Christ is God’s son and a sinless, unblemished lamb.  He is a gift from a merciful God.  Jesus is a once-in-a-lifetime, once-is-enough, perfect offering, so that we can obtain eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:11-14).  We have been “justified by his blood” (Romans 5:9).

Don’t you know, Peter states, “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).  John tells us, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin” (1 John 1:7).

There’s no need to look further.  God has the answer you seek.  Jesus Christ offers the ultimate cleansing.  In God’s eyes, through the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood, you are spotless and pure.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, please accept our thanks for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.  As you promised, we believe Jesus’ blood has the power to cleanse us, completely removing the stain of our sins.  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Carl Smith
Stephenville, Texas