Presence Again!

It seems I write a lot about "presence".  That is, being "in the moment," or simply "available," with someone.   This week while awaiting my wife's surgery I couldn't help but notice the large number of people who were waiting for their loved ones without a friend, pastor, small group leader, or someone from their church.  There were couples waiting together, mothers and daughters, adult children, and several men, like me, who were by themself.  During my two hours in a packed out surgery waiting I saw two pastor's (or church representatives) meet families and pray with them.  This was interesting to observe as one who is normally coming to the hospital to visit and pray with others.

My heart was heavy for all these people awaiting good/bad news about a loved one.  I am sure the majority did not have a church, or faith affiliation.  But what stood out was the number of people who sat alone while waiting the surgery outcome of their loved one.   This was a faith-based hospital that offered during my wife's "in-take" before surgery to have a chaplain/pastor available to pray with us the day of surgery!

If you are a Christ-follower, a member of a local church, a small group member, or leader of a ministry I cannot stress enough the importance of "presence"during these times.  Even the strongest families need someone to be there for them.  You don't even have to stay, but your presence will be a strong reminder that they are part of something bigger than themselves.  They will feel appreciated and loved. Our presence offers the assurance of faith in community.  They will remember too.  Nothing can take the place of presence, not cards, flowers, or emails.  Presence is one of the strongest examples of the communion of the saints.

One of the greatest prayer warriors we know (old family friend and a surrogate mother to both of us) called on the way to the hospital from Texas!  She was traveling for the Easter weekend, an hour behind and still managed to get up very early and call to pray with us.  She was present with us in the moment!  Her prayer meant more than she will ever know!  Actually I believe a person of her faith maturity does know, which is exactly why she did it!  Another woman from our small group recently had major surgery showed up after surgery to visit and pray with my bride!  Her sense of presence was incredible.  The next day as we left the hospital a friend with stage 4 brain cancer had left a precious voicemail saying he was thinking and praying for her.  Again, presence!

I believe God uses our presence to convey His presence!  We become vessels or instruments of His loving kindness and care every time we reach out to the hurting, wounded, suffering and sojourning.  Presence is something very special.  It is a gift from God.  So the next time you wonder if you should call and pray, or visit and pray with a friend, church member, someone in your small group, etc., don't hesitate and don't put it off.  Do it!

Of Buckets and Memories

I've wanted to see an NCAA Men's Basketball Regional round for a long time.  Last week I got the opportunity to scratch it off the list when I saw my beloved Butler Bulldogs play Bucknell in the 2nd Round at Rupp Arena.  

It took on extra meaning because I was joined by my 81-year old father.  Dad passed on his passion for roundball to my sister and me.  We are b-ball nuts.  The man has been known to drive for miles in snow to see a local high school game.  He and Mom attend all the Lady Cats home games.  At one time he was a high school coach in West Kentucky.  

Seeing Butler play in historic Rupp Arena was an extra treat for us.  We won that first game, but lost over the weekend to Marquette in a back and forth dogfight.  Getting bounced from the Big Dance isn't even troublesome for me because I've got a memory that can never be taken away!  I want to thank Dad for the love of basketball and sportsmanship.  I want to thank our heavenly Father for allowing me the chance to redeem the time once more with my earthly father.  Thanks Dad's, I love you both!

May It Be So!

Our long Lenten journey is coming toward an end, or more appropriately a new beginning.  Holy Week begins this Sunday (3/24) and culminates on Resurrection Sunday (3/31).  We will have spent 40 days in contemplation, reflection, confession, repentance, prayer and fasting.  What has God been saying to you?  What has He revealed about your faith and character?  What changes need to be made?  What needs to be strengthened?  We should be closer to God as the result of our Lenten journey.  And we should long for Holy Week. 

It is a week of extreme emotional highs and lows.  We begin with Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, and wind our way through the Last Supper, Gethsemane, His arrest, trial, execution and resurrection.  Despite the extreme emotional poles of the week we should be ready for it.  Our 40-day journey on this road of repentance, renewal and reflection should make Holy Week even more meaningful.  Suddenly the birth narrative (Christmas story) becomes alive, raw and real.  Looking at the Cross and the soon to be empty tomb we will affirm what the angel predicted to Mary at the announcement of His birth:

³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1 ESV)

As you face Holy Week and think about the life and ministry of Jesus, what comes to mind?  What is your response?  Are you overwhelmed? Grateful? Cynical? Humbled? Broken? Disinterested? Abounding joy?  Worship?  Whatever our response may be, may God help us to demonstrate the same kind of faith Mary exercised at this sudden and shocking news:

³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant^[f] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

Lord, grant us this kind of faith as the result of our journey through Lent and Holy Week! May this Holy week motivate us to have courageous faith like Mary.  

Take a Seat - Make a Friend?

Our world needs more of this!

http://youtu.be/HfHV4-N2LxQ

Every now and then you see something on a golf course that stands out.  Consider #17 at Sequoyah National in Cherokee, NC.  This long par 3 in the valley is guarded by an old red barn.  When you see it your tempted to think, "now why didn't the golf course architect tear it down?"  However, you soon realize why on earth would you ever tear it down?

It sits to the left of the tee box and its leaning nature tells you it's not going to be there much longer, but Robert Trent Jones III knew better and left it. I'm glad he did. A lot of golf course architects have a "plow it under" mentality and they clear cut the land.  But a few recognize the importance of maintaining the integrity of the land.

People do that sometimes in the church.  They convince new Christ-followers to clear cut everything in their life and fail to see the natural beauty that resided within them all along!  We try to de-program/change them to fit our concept of a believer.  But God can use them just like old red barns on golf courses.  We need to celebrate what's already there and help them grow.  Let God handle the change.  He will weed out what He deems necessary and strengthen what is already there.  God can handle remnants!  He's handled the likes of you and me for ages!

"Holy Father, this Lenten season change us as you see fit and show us what You placed inside us that's worth preserving to use for Your glory! For Christ's sake, Amen"

Even If....

My Lenten journey has prompted me to consider the tenacity and depth of Jesus', commitment to live out God's plan for the redemption of the human soul.   Think about it.  How many people do you know who are willing to embrace suffering and physical death on behalf of someone else?  Even people who have made fun of, or rejected you?  Someone you don't even know?  Jesus never flinched when it came to doing God's will.  More than once He noted that His will was to do God's will.  He even looked upon those who demanded His life with pity and great love.

But something keeps running through my mind:  God could've come up with another way to redeem humanity.  After all He is God and He can do anything He wants to do!  But He didn't!  He chose the path of personal suffering for His very own son as the only way to redeem humanity.  And Jesus knew it.  In fact he told His followers many times that He would suffer and die so God could be glorified.  Confusing to them and confusing to us.  But it's the ultimate example of obedience and trust.  Jesus trusted the Father so much because He knew that while God acts with justice, He is motivated by deep and abiding love.  

Trusting God is the point of Lent and Holy Week.  We can trust this great and awesome God because His love for us is greater than any we have ever known.   Even when things don't go our way, or we experience personal loss and suffering we continue to trust Him.  Jesus did and He suffered immensely.  But at the end ALL He had to hold on to was His Father, our Father, God almighty.  Kutless' song, Even If reminds us of God's unending faithfulness:

Sometimes all we have to hold on to
Is what we know is true of who You are
So when the heartache hits like a hurricane
That could never change who You are
And we trust in who You are

Even if the healing doesn't come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone
You are God You are good
Forever faithful One
Even i the healing
Even if the healing doesn't come

Deuteronomy 31:6 reminds us that He is not a forsaking, or abandoning God.  Even if we are crumbling and shaky He is firmly planted and cannot be moved!

30 Years!

30 years is a long time:

• 30 years is longer than our oldest child has been alive.  
• 30 years is the length of a traditional home mortgage.  
• 30 years is longer than it took Solomon to build the first temple and his palace.  
• 30 years is older than the combined ages of Twitter, Facebook and Google.  

March 5, 1983:

• North Carolina sophomore, Michael Jordan scored 32 pts. on Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium 
• CMT launched its country version of MTV on this date.  
• Unranked LSU defeated the 7th ranked Kentucky Wildcats by 14 points
• Ronald Reagan was in the 3rd year of his first term as President of the United States and during that year:
• A postage stamp was 20 cents 
• A gallon of gas was $1.24 
• The average cost of a new home was $89,800 
• Unemployment was 9.7%
• Sally Ride became the 1st woman in space on the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Challenger
• Microsoft introduces Word
• Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's PM
• The last episode of the popular TV sitcom MASH airs to a record 125 million viewers

On March 5, 1983, a very naive, young couple exchanged wedding vows in Indianapolis.  A day that saw sunshine, rain and snow.  On that day a journey began that would eventually produce two children, homes in four states, two careers, a grandchild with one on the way, and too many dogs to remember.  It has been a wild ride and though it sounds cliche' the time really has flown by.  Seems like it should be 15 years, not 30.

I am grateful God convinced her to marry me!  She makes me a better man, Christ-follower, husband, and father.  I wish I was half the husband, half the parent, and half the Christ-follower!  As I look back I see those two kids who were too young to marry and too in love not to marry.  There have been a lot of highs, the inevitable lows and much joy along the way.  For better or worse, in sickness and health: We have experienced both extremes of that promise many times over and were it not for God's grace and guidance we would've never made it.

I can't imagine life without her.  I've marveled at the way she's embraced the roles of mother, partner in ministry and best friend while maintaining her independence, something I really admire about her!  I love the fact that we don't have to agree on everything and we celebrate our differences instead of trying to make each other into something we're not.  The older I've gotten the more I've valued and embraced her gentle, but incredibly strong, quiet spirit.  I'm having a blast watching her embrace the relative new role of grandmother.  It's reminded me of what made her such a great mother.  The years have flown, but with an empty nest has come a renewed sense of why I chased her the summer of '81.

Her smile, her laugh and that matter of fact look when I'm trying to pull something over on her are precious to me.  Her tenacity and gentle strength during my cancer battle brought to mind the strength that enabled her to remain with a very young, impetuous, Type-A, workaholic driver who reacted far more than he deliberately acted in his 20's.

Gratitude comes to mind more than any other word these past 30 years.  I can't begin to describe how grateful I am to God for her, and how grateful I am to her for her love, care, attention, listening ear, wisdom, help, partnership, correction, laughter, and joy.  I love you Terese, happy 30th!

It's Just a Game!

Today my Butler Bulldogs suffered their worst loss in Coach Brad Stevens, 6-year career as head ball coach.  VCU dominated Dawg Nation with a stifling and crippling defense.  Kudos to Shaka Smart and the VCU team!  VCU won 84-52.  Yes, you read the score correctly.  My Kentucky Wildcats didn't fare much better in a much needed road game at Arkansas.  The Hogs won 73-60.  It's been a year of struggle for the reigning NCAA champions and Big Blue Nation.   While reflecting on both games I was reminded that these are just kids and it's just a game.  Yes, it's just a game!  I really mean that too.  I'm not kicking the dog, pouting on the couch, or cussing a blue streak.  Ask my wife!

I live in the South and college football is king.  People live and die by what happens on Saturdays.  It's nuts and you can't fully appreciate it until you live here.  Like basketball is to Kentucky, Kansas and Indiana, so is football to South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Texas.  I have heard more grown men than I care to remember lament a weekend loss on sports talk radio well into the next week.  It amazes me how they carry these losses like something happened in their family.  They are down, grumpy and well dare I say, flat out immature.  Fans take these losses far more personal than the players and coaches.  Teams have to start watching video and prepare for the next opponent as soon as the game is over.  The loss stings, but they have the rest of the schedule to prepare to play.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a sports fanatic.  I love my teams, drivers and players.  But they are just another form of entertainment.  They allow me to take a break from the harsh realities of this often cruel and dark world.  But even a loss is a break from the pain and heartache much of the world is battling 24/7.  So why do grown, supposedly mature adults let a game affect their evening, day, or week?  Why would you let something beyond your control, control your life?  Could it be that our priorities are way out of balance?  Could it be that we have perpetuated the very thing we hate and attribute to the media when we complain that college sports is more about business and bucks than student athletes?

Men (it's by and large us), we need to get a grip and act our age!  We need to model to our children a healthy perspective of what's really important in life and our favorite NASCAR driver blowing an engine early in the race is not a life and death matter.  Life is important.  Marriage, children, faith, being productive citizens and giving back to the world is far more important than how my team does on any given Saturday.  How we lose says more about our character than how we win!  

Thank God, He is in control and the sun will rise, air will be readily available to breathe in and the weather will remind us that we have very little control in this world.  But we can control how we respond, or act in regard to a simple game.  If you are among these, "wear it on your sleeve," "take it to bed," types I beg you for the sake of your marriage, family and those around you to get professional help.  Trust me they are not amused by such immature responses to a simple game.

Bottomline: My Butler Bulldogs got their butt kicked.  My Kentucky Wildcats lost a much needed win.  Both teams will play next week and the sun will come up tomorrow.  And I promise you, I won't lose one wink over them and I will be there cheering both of them on next game.  Ah man, Duke escaped Miami, where's my remote?