A good friend of mine sent me this message as a reminder not to lose hope when life is getting tough.

Message:
“There are 3 things, as a Christian that I know. 1. God loves me more than I love my own children. (that is a whole stinkin bunch) 2. God can do anything 3. God hears my prayers. If I believe these things then it follows that EVERYTHING (good and bad) that happens to me is beneficial in some way in this life or the next. If that is not true then faith is for naught. So, either we are idiots, blindly following the teachings of a lunatic or God is cooking up something good for us. I sure hope it is the latter.”

I believe it is always the latter.

        

Today, was incredible. Sunshine and cool weather. Feels like football. That is the way this time of year was described when I was growing up. I hope everyone will not only take advantage of lowering electric bills by opening their windows, but will get outside and enjoy God’s creation. Tonight, Parker had baseball practice and what goes great with a nice fall night, but a good blonde joke (please no hate mail, it is only a joke). Two blondes were enjoying a clear night sky. One blonde was admiring the stars and said, “Stars sure are beautiful!” “I agree”, said the other blonde. “I wonder how far away they are?” “Do you think they are farther away than Florida?” To which the other blonde said, “Duh!” “Can you see Florida?” Awwww…all is right in the world. Thanks Terry Hardin for the joke.

        

Hey faithful readers. Kelly reminded me that I haven’t blogged in over 2 weeks…yikes! My bad! I have never really been a great phone talker and definitely not a letter writer. But when I have the time, I really like to write. I am not that good (yet), but when my fingers start typing…it’s kind of therapeutic. So here is my new blogging goal: Try to write something everyday. I have 50 minutes left in this day, so this mind dump counts! Tonight, I had the opportunity to coach the Excel middle school soccer team and unfortunately we lost to our region powerhouse Eastside. Afterwards, I attended the church yearly business meeting and I would like to congratulate the new members of our Administrative Elders board: Shane Boston, Jack Howell, Tim Thompson, Clay Stewart, Dwayne Parrott, and Bill Langford. I know these guys will do a great job. If that wasn’t enough (I am starting to sound like the TMI guy from Facebook) afterward I got to be a little part of our Graceland Men’s flag football double-header. We won the first game, but lost the second game. I hope my presence didn’t cause that. Great job guys and once again you made our church proud in your play and attitude. Ok, that was probably more than I have typed in a long time, but stay tuned because I need to be held accountable for my goals!

        

I just wanted to say a special “thank you” to Andrew and Jacki Quinley for being our special guest at Graceland Live. I am glad that God has blessed our church so that we are able to partner with them in their ministry in Thailand. I wanted to give you the Quinley’s website information that was shared this morning … www.ajquinley.wordpress.com. This website will give everyone access to what is happening in their lives as they prepare for Thailand. Thanks again for everyone making Graceland the best place ever!

        

Had an idea. Let’s write a story. I’ll start it off and then someone else add a comment that continues the story and so on and so on. Could be funny, serious, dramatic, long or meaningless. Could actually be fun…ok, let’s get started.

Whir-r-r-r-r-r! and then silence. I guess that is the best way to describe the sound that the car made before it coasted to a stop on the side of Hwy. 212. Hwy. 212 got its State Route identification in 1972 when this stretch was projected to be busier than Route 66, but it never panned out. It has taken the last 30 years for the trees to reach almost half of their original height before the business speculators cleared the land for the coming economic boom that was sure to come, but of course it didn’t. As I put the car in park, I realize that I don’t see any signs of…people. I must be on a stretch that doesn’t have anyone. Opening my door I am pretty surprised that the only sound is a gentle breeze. No cars passing by, no sounds of people, just wind. Doesn’t look like anyone really uses this road anymore seeing the grass is starting to grow about an inch or two between the cracks in the asphalt. Popping the trunk, I find that there is no gas can. Come to think of it, I’ve never owned a gas can. Without any idea of which way to go…I spot a small iron gate beyond my car that looks like it has definitely seen its better days and a rocky path leading through the overgrown bushes until a sharp 90 degree turn to the left ends my view. Without any other real option I grab my keys and my jacket and start walking toward the gate.

Now it’s your turn.

        

August 24, 1989, Thursday, 9 a.m. Giamatti, the commissioner of baseball, steps up to a microphone in New York City.

“One of the game’s greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts,” he tells a packed room of reporters.

With that, Giamatti announces that Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader and one of history’s greatest players, has been banned from baseball for life for gambling on baseball.

Wow…20 years ago the news that “Charlie Hustle” was kicked out of baseball was pretty staggering. Probably the greatest team in my childhood was the Cincinatti “Big Red Machine” Reds. Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion and Pete Rose. I have always been a faithful Braves fan (even in those very lean years), but no one seemed to have more passion for the game than Pete. For years after baseball’s ruling, Rose was consistently strong in his denial of any wrong doing. And you know what? After a while you kind of believe him. But today, 20 years later, is Aug. 24, 2009 and Rose has not only admitted that he bet on baseball, but he also lied to everyone about it. Really makes you doubt things. Steroids in sports, cheating, points shaving. Probably a good reflection of our society. What will the future hold for sports? Well, there is at least one good thing…football starts soon.

        

One of the men who influenced my ministry shape was a man named Mike Yaconelli. Mike was the founder and former president of Youth Specialties, an organization that resources and trains student ministers. Unfortunately, Mike passed away several years ago (I actually saw him personally at a conference a few days before his car accident), but his radical view of ministry and the church lives on. This excerpt is from his book “Messy Spirituality”:

“There is no room for pretending in the spiritual life. Unfortunately, in many religious circles, there exists an unwritten rule. Pretend. Act like God is in control when you don’t believe He is. Give the impression everything is okay in your life when it’s not. Pretend you believe when you doubt; hide your imperfections; maintain the image of a perfect marriage with healthy well-adjusted children when your family is like any other normal dysfunctional family. And whatever you do, don’t admit that you sin.

Practically, pretending is efficient, uncomplicated, and quick. Answering “Fine” to the question “How are you doing?” is much easier and quicker than saying, “Not very well, thank you; my back is bothering me, my teenage children are disappointing me, I’m unhappy with my body, my husband never speaks to me, and I’m wondering if Christianity is true.” Honesty requires a huge investment of time and energy from the person asking the question (who would then wish they’d never asked).

Pretending is the grease of modern nonrelationships. Pretending perpetuates the illusion of relationships by connecting us on the basis of who we aren’t. People who pretend have pretend relationships. But being real is a synonym for messy spirituality, because when we are real, our messiness is there for everyone to see…the truth is, we are a mess. None of us is who we appear to be. We all have secrets. We all have issues. We all struggle from time to time. No one is perfect. Not one. (I have just paraphrased Romans 3:10) The essence of messy spirituality is the refusal to pretend, to lie, or to allow others to believe we are something we are not. Unfortunately, people can handle the most difficult issues more easily than they can handle the lack of pretending.” I would love to hear your take on this excerpt.

        

I hope you will be able to join us as we venture into the realm of the DVD study! This time we will go through the book of Esther with Beth Moore. It is sure to be a fantastic series and we will meet weekly this time. I know that God has a very special purpose in His timing for us to go through this together!

        

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but  summer is coming to an end (even though it doesn’t feel like it outside!). This is the 1st full week of school for Cartersville & Bartow County, & I know that it’s tough to  get used to getting up early, brown bag lunches and carpool lanes… but, just think, there are only 170 something school days until next summer! I am excited that I am once again teaching Bible to high school students at Excel Christian Academy. After my experience last year I gained a ton of respect for all teachers. Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of experience and joy in teaching, but the paperwork and posting grades online …are you kidding me? Remember the days when you at least had a 3-5 day window to figure out the plan to share a bad grade with your parents? Not today! The internet updates parents as soon as the teacher posts grades (sorry, 21st century students). Although the paperwork is no fun, I am really looking forward to talking about Jesus with students again. Here is a little prayer for all of our teachers: “Lord, give these wonderful people the strength, stamina, wisdom and heart to not only teach the subjects, but to allow your light to shine in the classroom. P.S. Teachers deserve more than an apple…how about some real cabbage! Amen”.