Off Ramp Adventure

Yesterday I was working on one of my malpractice cases when I realized that a medical file I needed was at a physician’s office in Crowley. I decided to go pick it up. I asked Rosemary if she felt like a trip to Crowley. She did if I would include lunch and a stop at Toys R Us to do some kid Christmas shopping. Off we went. After a nice lunch at Fezzo’s in Scott, we hit the interstate and headed west. I took the first Crowley exit and ahead, on the off ramp, I spot a pathetic figure. It was a women, older, red faced and shivering in the cold. She held a crudely made sign which read “Broke.” As the traffic stopped I was a few feet from her face. I forced myself not to look at her and gazed straight ahead. She didn’t look at me but her pathetic eyes broke my heart and Rosemary’s. As we pulled away from her, we began to discuss her situation. We went through all the usual. Is she really in trouble? Is she a professional pan handler? Is she a serial killer? Nonetheless, we decided we needed to do […]

It’s not cheap. It’s Free.

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Galatians 1 (NIV) The Good News of the Gospel is so incredible and the pride of man so intractable that the preaching of a different gospel is inevitable. It doesn’t matter how good your intentions or how substantial your body of work “for God,” the preaching of another gospel puts you under God’s curse. And pride is so strong that this “different gospel” slips in quickly. We are called to live in the grace of Christ and not of our own works. But pride says, “surely what I do counts for something.” Does the term […]

Losing Youth to the False Gospel of Moralism

I read two seemingly unrelated articles yesterday that have swirled together and I can’t get out of my head. One discussed the recent Barna group study on youth leaving the church and the other was on the false gospel of moralism. The false gospel is the belief that the gospel can be reduced to improvement in behavior. I believe we are losing youth and many others because we are conveying this false gospel. When our youth wander away, we call after them, “Just wait until you have rebellious kids. You’ll be back. You’ll see.” Except these folks aren’t coming back. Many aren’t getting married. Those who do are doing so much later and after having drifted much further from the church. Our words are ringing in their ears. They understand that for us religion was just a means to keep them in line, to improve their behavior.  We often fail to convince that Jesus offers the only life worth living. Instead we preach “You act better or you’ll make baby Jesus cry.” No wonder that our performance based “religion” produces frustration and a search for a better way. We have failed to demonstrate by our lives that Jesus is […]

Black Friday

My Thanksgiving was perfect. I realized that this morning after carefully reviewing the Black Friday ads and concluding there was no deal great enough for me to go out there and face the teeming mob. I am truly blessed.  It really was a great Thanksgiving. My immediate family were all present. We thanked God for each other. Ate too much great food. Laughed and hugged.  We kicked off our Christmas season by pulling names and deciding we would play dirty Santa this year with each of us tasked to purchase a “as seen on TV” gag gift as well.   There was an appropriate amount of emotion as Kaydence left to meet her dad and spend time with him. If the truth be known, there were tear drops in my corn bread dressing.   It was a bit disturbing to see how many spent this day for thanks waiting in line for Black Friday sales. I realize that the day after Thanksgiving has been the traditional kick off for Christmas shopping. It always seemed too early for me. I like shopping on Christmas Eve.  But the demons of commercialism have gone too far. Thanksgiving Day is under assault. Now stores are […]

Thanksgiving in Action

Thanksgiving is an action word. Thankfulness and gratitude are attitudes; but Thanksgiving requires doing something. The Pilgrims didn’t just feel gratitude to the helpful Indians. They had them over for lunch.  You, however, correctly remind me that Thanksgiving is about thanking God. Consider that God is the one creature who doesn’t need us to take action in thanksgiving. He, like no other, knows our thoughts and appreciates our thankfulness unspoken.  So why all the Thanksgiving? Because we need it. We need to express our thankfulness, because we forget the many reasons we have to be thankful. Like a child at Christmas, we need to make a list and check it twice. Yesterday I published just a partial list of reasons to be thankful. A list that was so well said that I borrowed it from the folks at Vision Forum Ministries.  With just a little effort you can come up with many more. I believe there is even a greater reason for the action of Thanksgiving. We are surrounded by people that need to know that we are thankful for them. We stupidly persist in our belief that the ones we love and appreciate know all about our love […]

Just say "thanks"

Stop and Thank God from the Bottom of Your Heart and the Depths of Your Soul O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. —Psalm 95:1-6 If you were to spend every waking moment of every day for the rest of your life noting God’s goodness, you would never begin to chronicle all the things for which you should thank the Lord. His blessings are innumerable. But on this day, take time to chronicle much. Get very specific. Thank the Lord for all things. Thank him for your provision, and the protection He has given to you all year. Thank Him for the pains and sorrows that […]

The Power of Sharing

Do you find yourself doubting your faith? Come on. Admit it. Even the most famous Christians had  moments, even long periods of doubt. It’s common, but it can be minimized.  Doubt is a weapon of the enemy. Sharing is our counter-weapon. I remember as a new Christian shuddering at the mere use of the word, sharing. My wife and her closest Christian friend used it often. They would “share.” Sounded awful. It reeked of vulnerability and deep secrets and girly stuff. Yet now, years later, it’s the reason I love Kairos and prayer and share groups. What Satan had made sound awful has become precious. Christians are called to live in community. Not just in close physical contact, but in intimate relationship. We know, intellectually, that in our weakness, Christ is strong. But if we remain isolated we fear weakness. We believe that we are alone in our weakness, so we deny it. “Sharing” is the honest admission of our weaknesses. In that sharing comes the realization, that we are all weak and that our only strength is in Him. Our common weakness in self and strength in Him bind us together.  Imagine yourself in prison, where no one […]