Serving a Community and Its People

The flooding in Nashville has greatly impacted the lives of people, their economy, and their welfare. The Grand Ole Opry was flooded out of its current location. It will take some time for repairs to be made before they can go home again. But the show has continued to go on. They performed at two former locations for the Opry, but both are not large enough venues for today's audiences. I just read a few minutes ago that Two Rivers Baptist Church has offered the Grand Ole Opry the use of their large auditorium for their shows. This is a tremendous testimony of diverse parts of a community pulling together to help each other. It also helps validate what I have been saying for some time - country music crosses a multitude of cultural lines as it speaks about the good and the bad in the lives of common people.

I wish had more stories than I could ever use of churches reaching out to make a difference in their communities. I never would want churches to lose sight of their first priority of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with people to give them the opportunity to become His disciples. But I do believe that one of the ways that a church gets the listening ear of a community is by serving and meeting real needs just like Two Rivers is doing in Nashville.

Of course, each of us can take similar steps in our own lives. We can find those individuals who need some help with a yard they can no longer mow, a tire they can't change, or the need for a listening ear to share some of their life with.

Haiti, Chile, and Nashville are all places that could use our help. A neighbor next door, a school done the street, and a small business owner at the next intersection might could use our service too. At least give it some thought as you listen to some good country music and remember a church that is providing space for the Grand Ole Opry.

Wiser or Just Older?

As a child, I never understood my grandparents talking about the years flying by. To me they seemed to take forever. Christmas and birthdays were the slowest times of all. Today, I speak the same words my grandparents uttered - "the years are flying by and birthdays come all too frequently!" It seems prudent to do some self-evaluation around a birthday. With this rapid passing of time, it appears that need to slow down for a moment and ask myself a very personal and critical question - "Am I getting any wiser with the passing of these years or am I just getting older?"

The truth is that I really don't feel comfortable answering that question in something as public as a blog. But the reality is that people around me are answering that very question about me with each passing year. They don't give me the answer in so many words but they certainly make the assessment based on the conversations we have, the decisions I make, and the observations they have regarding my behavior. With that in mind, I might as well confess my own thoughts about myself.

There is no doubt that some of what happens in my life as I grow older is just that - growing older. My hair is retreating from my head and making its way into my ears and nostrils. When I get up in the mornings, I sound like a cereal - as I move, I hear "snap, crackle, and pop." My favorite stories are really my favorite stories. I like them so much that I tell them over and over to the same people. I forget people's names - rarely do I forget my own but I think that is only a few birthdays away. I do have one of those plastic containers for sorting my morning and evening medications for a week. While I have two great doctors, visits to their offices have not become the highlight of my social schedule - yet! My other holdout on the aging process is that I refuse to eat oatmeal or prunes. Blue Bell and Mexican restaurants have much more to offer.

On the other side of this question - am I getting any wiser - I struggle a little more to be honest and accurate in my evaluation. I still do some impulsive spending, but I am watching carefully my retirement account. I am more concious about what is best for my body, but - well you already read the Blue Bell and Mexican food comments in the paragraph above.

Accomplishments are important, but I believe today that relationships are more important. My wife, our children, their spouses, our grandchildren, our parents, and our friends (old and new) hold greater importance to me than what I will accomplish today.

While I became a Christ follower at the age of 10, there is no doubt that my faith is stronger today than it has ever been. No, it is not just because I am closer to death than when I was born (the truth is that we all are) but rather because I see the real differences that Jesus makes in how we determine values, how we can love others, and how we can truly serve.

Like most of us, I have some things in my past that I wish I could go back and do over - not because they were so much fun, but because I would do them right this time - or at least I think I would. I don't know if that is a sign of wisdom or just regret.

This I do know regardless of whether you think I am just older or maybe a little wiser - I am blessed with the life that has been given to me. My wife is the best. I married way over my head. My children make me proud everyday. My grandchildren bring joy with their energy and their curiosity and sensitivity. My job holds my interest and challenges my knowledge and abilities daily. My God is great beyond my simple words to describe. I love and I am loved. Maybe, just maybe, I am both older and wiser.

A Picture of Jesus

The History Channel has presented a documentary based on the work of graphic experts attempting to recreate a picture of Jesus from the Shroud of Turin. To accomplish their task, they have used advanced 3D software to capture a more accurate image from the shroud that some claim was the shroud that Jesus' body was wrapped in following His crucifixion. While their process was unique and interesting, there is no certainty that the resulting picture looks anything like the Jesus looked during his earthly life.



Many people have commented about the picture saying that it doesn't look like Jesus. What are they comparing the History Channel's picture to? It is not like Jesus handed out wallet size photos to the disciples and his closest friends and family members. Most are comparing the new picture to one that is either in their Bible or hangs in their church or appears on a poster. We sometimes forget that those were simply paintings by artists centuries after the time of Jesus. There were no Polaroids and digital prints during the 1st Century.



I did see one lady interviewed on a television news program that I agreed with. She said: "I don't care about what Jesus looked like; I just care about what He did." Wow! That is a great statement that should reflect the outlook of all of us. As we approach Good Friday and then Easter Sunday, here are a few statements about what Jesus did:

• God chose to become like one of us by taking on flesh and living among us being born as the baby Jesus. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14
• Jesus stated that the only path to God is through faith in Jesus, the Christ. "Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" John 14:6
• Jesus lived without sinning but took on the sin of all of us that we might have a relationship with God. "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Jesus's crucifixion was the great expression of God's love for us. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ (Jesus) died for us." Romans 5:8
• Jesus' resurrection is God's validation of his promise of eternal life to those who put their faith in Him. "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

This Easter is not about how Jesus looked. It is all about what He did and what that means to me.

It Is All in Your Head

The phrase "it is all in your head" sometimes causes us to take offense. We may interpret that statement to mean that whatever ailment we have complained about is, in reality, simply part of our imagination and not real. The truth is that many of the things we experience begin in the brain and can be treated in the brain. One concert master found this to be true related to the tremors in his arm. His situation and correction were reported by Diane Sawyer on ABC Evening News (watch the video).

I watched the report and began to wonder - are there some things in my brain that need to be adjusted to improved the way I live. No, I don't play the violin, or any other musical instrument for that matter. But I do have impulses in my brain that certainly affect my life in a negative way - the impulse for another piece of fried chicken or seconds on dessert; the impulse to tell someone off to relieve my stress but to greatly add to theirs; or just the impulse to waste time on something trivial when more important matters wait. (I know that those don't sound like deep, dark sinful impulses, but you didn't really think that I was going to confess those things to everyone who can read a blog, did you?)

In 1972, Charlie Shedd wrote a book titled "The Fat Is in Your Head." His point was that we all make decisions and choices about the kinds and amounts of food we eat. If we want to be thinner or healthier, we must decide those things and then make choices that are consistent with the choice.

I would consider a surgery like our violinist friend had if my irregular impulses would be corrected. The results could be the beginning of not only a weight loss journey but maybe, just maybe, there would be a few other things improved along the way.

The reality is that surgery is not the key for myself and probably not for you either. The key for us probably doesn't even fall in the categories of stronger self control, determination, or will. The key may be a spiritual one in that we begin to allow the God who created us in His image to have control in our decision-making and actions that we take as a result of those decisions. He alone has the loving power to control my impulses and give me the desire to live life His way rather than mine.

When You Are the Boss . . .

I watch television for escapism. My favorite shows are mainly investigative dramas. But I have stumbled upon a new CBS program that may make my list of programs to record. "Undercover Boss" is a reality show in which a CEO of a major corporation goes undercover to discover the real jobs and real people within the larger framework of the business. The result is that the "boss" often discovers that some jobs are harder than he understood; some employees are doing more than what is expected; and the basic needs of the employees are usually not known by their supervisors.

This is one program that actually has some lessons worth learning that are applicable to anyone who has a responsibility in working with or supervising others. Some of the best include:

1. Take time to get to know your employees - listen to what they say.
2. Become familiar with what the business is really about.
3. Treat people decently and respectfully regardless of positions and roles.
4. Make decisions based on real information rather than rumored information.
5. Security and safety are major needs for all employees.
6. We don't always know as much as we think we do.

Note to Self: Listening is not just hearing words. Real listening is hearing words, noticing body language, sensing the heart and emotion, placing the communication in context, and offering a response that is genuine and appropriate.