If you have read my bio, you know that I retired from the USAF in 1997, nothing new about that.  Over the last 10 years, however, I have found that I am becoming more emotional, to the point that my emotions sometimes catch me by surprise.  For instance, sometimes as I ride with my wife in the car, I find that my emotions about and for her, reach up and grab me by the throat so that I am about to cry and can neither speak nor clear my throat.

As I was driving today, I came upon a series of signs on the side of the road: "Welcome Home 875th," and other similar sentiments; "30 miles to bedtime stories."  There were American and Arkansas flags on the overpasses, and there were more signs on the side of the road: "I'm proud of my 875th Dad!"

As I drove down the road, I realized that today was the homecoming for the 875th Engineering Battalion, stationed in Jonesboro, AR.  The signs were because of their homecoming.  This surprised me, and my emotions reached up and took me by the throat.  My nose clogged, my ears buzzed, and my throat closed as I choked up because of the signs.  I have always been patriotic, I have always loved our flag; but after retiring, I find that I am even more susceptible to the patriotic feelings.

I feel so proud of the people who serve.  I feel for their families as they are seperated from their loved ones.  Children who do not know their Dad (or, sometimes, Mom).  I am saddened because not all of them do come home, some pay with their lives the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy.  What must the families of these fallen heros endure on Homecoming Day?

And so I choke up with gratitude for the people who serve our nation, who serve the cause of freedom.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/23/eveningnews/main3199062.shtml?source=search_story

I just watched the CBS News video from about Mother Teresa’s self doubts about her own faith.  Click on the above link to watch the CBS video.  I can't load it into Xanga, because the widget won't run in Xanga.  I'm sorry for the advertisements that come with it. 

The letters on which the facts of the story are based were supposed to be destroyed by her confessors and her friends.  Some, most of whom I suspect are not Christians, are beginning to use this story as proof that she was hypocritical, a fraud, thief, and worse.  There are already a lot of attacks on her person on places like YouTube, particularly by those who resent her fund raising and her ministry to the poor in places like Calcutta. But then, those are the people that hate everything that Christianity is and teaches.

I have been going to breakfast with my Methodist friend from down the road for about five years now.  He always says that the relationship is mutual, i.e., he buys sometimes and I buy sometimes.  The reality is that he always buys, and the few times that I tried to buy our breakfasts, he got mad at me as though I were challenging the friendship.  It started because I visited him in the hospital five years ago when he had a bad stroke.  We had been neighborly before then, but that sealed the friendship; now we are buddies.

This has been a really good relationship for me as pastor of my church, because it throws me into relationships with people that I would never have met otherwise.  Not the backslidden Methodist that knows you must be “washed in the blood” to be saved and go to Heaven, but thinks that he is good enough, and that God will weigh his good v.s. his bad and if the good out weighs his bad, then he is in.  Not the dope-head that has been to prison so many times he has lost count, for whom the crack has eaten out all of his front teeth.  Nor the Baptist that goes to another Baptist church, but comes to ours sometimes, nor the man that mows the local cemetery, nor the local village idiot who is smart enough to know right from wrong, and will sometimes go to the Church of God, but is just as likely to hire a prostitute if there is one desperate enough to take his money.

In all of these relationships, I am looking for the chance to share the Gospel, and answer spiritual questions people may have.

Like today, for example, the dope-head had a question about the sin against the Holy Spirit.  What is it, and how would you know if you had committed this sin that is so bad that it is unforgivable?  So I told him about Jesus’ encounter with the people (Matthew 12:22-32) that said He was casting out demons by the Prince of Demons, Beelzebub.  Jesus said that they were attributing the works of God as the work of Satan, as though Satan were doing something good, and God were doing something evil.  I said that the danger of such a thing is that when the person is so far gone into sin that they no longer care what God, or people either, thinks of that sin, then their hearts are hardened and they cannot believe, because they have begun to attribute good as evil and evil as good.  Genesis 6:3 says  “Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’”  And Psalm 103:9 says “He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever,” (NASB [thank you www.Blueletterbible.com]).

The unpardonable sin appears to be to know God, see His works, and tell God “I know Who You are, and I know What You are, and I do not care.”  When a person is so deep into sin that they no longer care about God, His commands, His love for them, or the things God is doing in the world, then they have turned their backs on Him, and He on them.  Then God gives up on that person, and does as they ask and leaves them alone in their sin.

The evidence of this is that person no longer cares about the things of God.  They are no concerned that they have committed the unpardonable sin, because such a concern is evidence of the Holy Spirit convicting them of their sin, and that means that God the Holy Spirit has not given up on them, He is still convicting them of sin.

I went on to explain that murder is not the unpardonable sin, King David was both an adulterer and a murder, and God forgave him of his sins when he repented of them; he used him to write the Psalms and he was the forefather of Jesus.  Moses was also a murderer, and God used him to deliver the Israelites from Egypt and to write the first five books of the Bible.  Even the thief on the cross received forgiveness at the very end of his life when he repented of his sins.

This seemed to answer the questions that the questioner had and also those of the other people who were there listening in.

All this over breakfast because my Methodist friend takes me to breakfast every morning.

The old grey mare has been put out to pasture.

The 1990 Mazda 626 LX I bought out of Dad's estate when he passed away in 1995 has been traded in.  It was failing fast as more and more things stopped working on it.  The tires were MayPops, the A/C was full of hot air, the muffler wasn't muffling (Carol could hear me coming from a ½ mile way), the exhaust manifold leaked, and the front passenger window was on the fritz; if I had fixed only the minimum to make it road worthy, the “fixed” car would not be worth as much as it would have cost to fix those things.

Here I the saga of my car buying.  Listen to the story of The Shell Game.

I saw a ruby red 2005 Chevy Malibu MAXX on a Jonesboro, AR, car dealer’s web site.  Carol and one of her best friends went to look at it, but it had been sold before they got there, even though it was still on the web page.  That one was sold, but the dealer had another one that was not on their web site yet.  So we got the VIN number, and I run a CARFAX report on that car.  Oops, it had been in a single car wreck in MO, and there was even a MO Police Report Number in the report; the sales lady had neglected to mention that little detail to Carol when she was there looking at the car.  Thank you CARFAX!!

Liking that model of car, I found another one at a dealer in Dyersburg, TN.  CARFAX says it’s a 2005, with 44,000 miles.  It had been a rental, was bought at auction by a dealer in Union City, TN, who had it for a year, then sold to the Dyersburg dealership.  The D’burg dealer had it for 14 months, and was offering it for sale.  When I asked the salesman about the history of the car, he “didn’t know those details.”  So I asked for a printout of the maintenance their dealership had done on it for the time they had it.  The maintenance department was “too busy” on a weekend to pull up those records.  I tell the guy that his price is too high, higher than the NADA price for that year/model/mileage car.  He could not help that, the price was set.  He finally admitted that the dealership had used the car as a run-about for fetching parts and people; but I had to confront him about the mileage first: the price drops like a rock off a cliff at 50,000 miles.  Days later this salesman leaves a message on our voice mail saying that he can get an extended warranty for us ... Yes, they all sell the extended warranties.  In point of fact, extended warranties on used cars are the only ones that Consumer Reports recommends as worth the investment.

Back to the Internet!  There is a dealer in Jackson, TN, that has one, and another Jackson dealer with three of this model car.  I like the one car, and run the NADA and CARFAX on it.  It too is over the NADA price (surprise, surprise), but the mileage is pretty low (29,049) and it has lot of good features.

The dealership with three cars I like did not list their asking price, just the milage and the VIN.  CARFAX again; one of the car's mileage listed on the web page was less than the mileage listed in CARFAX.  Of course, you know it is illegal for a dealer to "roll back" the mileage on a car.  I don't want to do business with a dealer selling a car on which it appears the mileage has been "adjusted."

Well, the old grey mare only had 332,954 miles on the odometer; Dad had put about 113,000 miles on the car before I bought it.  She had three advantages: it was Dad's car, it was paid for, it got 35 miles to the gallon.  I only got $500 for it on trade in, though the salesman originally promised $1,000.

Oh yeah, that reminds me.  It’s all a shell game, isn’t it?

First, it was the promised $1K for my trade in that magically became $500 when the sales manager got hold of the offer: "REDUCIO."  Then it was the interest rate for a car loan through GMAC: because the car is GM Certified with 10,000 miles remaining on the warranty it should qualify for 2.9% interest.  Ooops, make that 4.9%, ooops: I did not know they changed the rates “recently,” that will be 5.9% interest and not 4.9%!  "ENGORGIO!"  I tell the man that I have a better offer than that “in my pocket” from my credit union: 5.25%, can he match that?  Can he bring the 5.9% down to match the 5.25%?  Nope.  Okay then; and I pull out the paper work for the pre-approved loan, and for once I win small  one.

When you go in to talk to the guy that writes it all up into the contract, you find out the sales tax for the state, county, and city; but they can’t help that.  Then there is the title fee, and the tags fees.  Then there is the “processing fee” of $399.95 for the car company to process the paperwork, call that “pure profit.”  

So I have a “new” used car.  It’s a 2006 Chevy Malibu MAXX LT, which means it is a hatchback.

So, I now also have a payment plan for a car loan!

Free-book-friday-fabricating-jesus/

It's free book Friday again.

I have not yet read this book, but I hope to after I win it!

pastorbookshelf.com

Okay, here's a link for the inner-pastors in all ya'll.

This spot has reviews of lots of books by pastors (mostly) of many denominations.  In fact, I don't think your franchise matters.

By making this link I get entered into a drawing for a free book, this time it's one by Dr. Wayne Grudem, titled Evangelical Feminism, A New Path to Liberalism.  The title reflects Dr. Grudem's engagement in the issues regarding the place of women in the home and the church.  It was over this issue that another theologian, Kevin Giles, called Dr. Grudem (and Dr. Norman Giesler) a heretic in his volume Jesus and the Father: How Evangelicals have Reinvented the Doctrine of the Trinity.  My first book review for this website was on Gile's book.  My review was so recent that the last time I checked (last night) it was still under review before posting to the PastorBookShelf.com website.

o, my daughter suggeted that I write a post without checking for the "s'", just to ee what that would look like.  So, here goe.

I really did not plan to do this, but it is something that might provide a giggle or two. 

I really hould have said that "s" is the second mot common CONSONANT, not the most common letter; the most common letter is, of course, the vowel "e."  R,  ,T, L, M, and N are the five most common cononant; A is the econd most common vowel.  The three next-most-common cononants are C, D, and M.  It is amazing what trivia we are able to learn from game hows.

There are three kills which are being lost to modern technology: 1) Cooking and baking; most thing come from the freezer to the microwave. Or else we eat out, be it fast food or dining in.  Food preperation is being lost.  Along with that is the lost family dinner time where everyone gathers around the common table to dine and hare converation and daily going on.  2) Sewing; when my Dad bought Mom a inger ewing machine, my iters all got new dresses to wear to school and church.  But soon, it wa easier and even cheaper to buy them at the store, The Golden Rule, the Penny', and so forth.  3) Writing; the advent of the typewriter began the decline, the introduction of the computer ha only exacerbated this ituation.  Handwriting in particular has lost out.  I have read letters from my parents to each other, letters from the front from my uncle to family: the curive writing is beautiful.  My own handwriting has declined into uppercase printing, almost never cursive unles I am signing a check.  Even the art of composition a a form of the art of writing i degrading with Intant Meaging, Text Meaging and email.  Sadly, or conveniently depending on one's point of view, email is even becoming accepted as a contractural document with electronic signatures that are not ignatures at all, imply a series of number imbedded in the email addres.

Well, uch i modernity.

And o much for this ecercie in not editing for "'" in my document.  Are we happy with thi?

The "s" on my laptop recently came off.  I opened the case and began typing, and the "s" tried to escape under the other letters on the keyboard, the "z" and the "x" in particular.

Really off; I tried to press it back into place, but no such luck.  I had to ask my darling wife for her help (she's the computer whiz in our house).  The "S" works now, as long as I consciously press the top of that key each time it occurs in my text.

Well, the new keyboard is on order and will arrive sometime soon (I hope). 

In the mean time, I am working with a defective key board.  I knew from Wheel of Fortune that "S" is the second most common letter in the English language, following "R."  However, I never realized how the missing letter would break up my typing.  Now, I'm no speed demon on the keyboard, but having to reread every word, every time, and finding it missing is disconcerting.  Most of us do not consciously think about the letters we are typing, our muscle memory guides our fingers to the right keys as they are needed.  I no longer create documents longhand, but do so while I key it into the computer (wo-pro, for my Nipponese friends). 

Now, however, I am constantly looking back at my typing to see if my "s's" are taking as I go along!  It completely breaks my train of thought and continuity to do this constant review.  Not only is this inconvenient, but I also have found an amazing thing, in that many of the words minus their "s's" still form other words; this means that the spell checker cannot be counted upon to catch and fix the errors for me.

Oh, please hurry up with that new key board!

About a month ago, I read in Christianity Today about the conversion of Robert "Evel" Knievel.  I was interested in the story because Evel has been known all his live as a rebel and a prominent sinner, even a God hater, more than just atheist.

Evel has lived about as bad, as sinful, a life as you an I can imagine; and he gloried in it.  Booze, women, and just all around hard living.  We lived in Las Vegas when he made his second attempt to land a jump across the fountains at Ceasar's Palace; again he didn't make it, but was in the hospital for several weeks with many surgeries.  We were still in Las Vegas when he tried his jump across the Snake River Gorge.

I was never a "fan" of Evel Knievel, but he was hard to miss when his latest exploits were splashed across the headlines of the news.  Guess what, no headlines this time!

The Christianity Today article has a link at the bottom of the page to the Crystal Cathedral, which has a link for the iTunes podcast for the video of the service (just past half way down the page, look for the link logo) where Evel Kneviel gave his testimony and received "baptism."  I encourage you to go to both web sites and see what's there, and to download the Itunes video of Evel's testimony (it's free).  I put "baptism" in quotes, because it certainly was nothing that an evangelical Baptist would recognize as baptism.  It was not immersion, or even effusion, hardly sprinkling, but rather fingers wet in a bowl, wiped down his forehead in the "Name of the father, and of Jesus His Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit."

Evel's testimony, however, is very compelling.  He tells of how several people were praying for him, in several churches, and how he woke up one night and "cast the devil out" of his life (his words, not mine).  He tells of how he surrendered to God, and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  He says that he is born again!  To his credit, Dr. Schuller flew to Florida to check him out in person before inviting him to come before his church to make a testimony of faith in Jesus.

The Christianity Today article says (the iPod video does not show this) that when Dr. Schuller finished "baptizing" Evel, that he said that he felt like there were others there who needed to be baptized as well, and that the isles of the church filled up with people coming forward. Not only was Dr. Schuller kept busy for several minutes baptizing the people, but so were several other ministers of the church!

Why do I give this emphasis?  In 1972 there were two famous conversions.  Everyone in the Christian world thought both conversions were stunts and were trying to exploit their notoriety.  One conversion "took," the other was as bad a flop as your can imagine.  One man went to prison for his part in Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal, the other man is a world famous publisher.  One man founded a series of Christian ministries, the other became famous for his exploits and lawsuits against Jerry Falwell and for his own First Amendment court fights. 

Charles "Chuck" Coleson is the first one; his was the conversion that took.  Can you name the other "convertee?"  I know you've heard of this man.  He was once fined a huge amount of money by a judge for some infraction (contempt of court?), but this man threw it back in the judge's face by proceeding to pay the fine immediately, on the spot, in one dollar bills ... bags and bags of one dollar bills, dumped on the courtroom floor a la Miracle on 49th Street.  Someone once tried to kill this man by shooting him; they only put him into a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  This second person, the conversion flop, was Larry Flint, the publisher of one of the raunchiest pornographic magazines in America.

Why do I mention Evel Kneviel in the same page as these two people? First, Evel is also very famous, and his conversion is a big deal.  Second, Evel has also made a confession of faith that is so public that the likelihood of his going back is rather small.  Third, you are not as evil as Evel, you're actually a pretty good person, as people go, right?

If God can reach down and grab Evel by the heart, an old, used up, asthmatic, notorious sinner like Evel, just imagine what God could do with someone like you.

If, that is, you will surrender your all to Him, and ask Jesus into your heart and let Him take over your life! 

Can you be a Robert or a Chuck? Or are you a Larry?

This week my Sunday morning sermon will be Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee, Mark 4:35-41 ³⁵On that day, when evening came, He said* to them, "Let us go over to the other side." ³⁶ Leaving the crowd, they took* Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And there arose* a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. ³⁸ Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke* Him and said* to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" ³⁹ And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

First off, see those asterisks? Those little stars after the past tense verbs?  Well, in the original Greek, those are active voice, present tense verbs; instead of "He said," read it "He is saying."  Instead of "they took Him," read it "they are taking Him."  It's called the historic present tense.  Modern English tells stories like this in the past tense, since it has already happened.  Koine Greek used the present tense to give life and action to the story.  Okay.

Now, how often have you read that story and simply blown by it?  “Jesus can calm the storms of our lives.”  That is, making it into a metaphor instead of actual.  That is one of the objections secular humanists have to Christianity, making it actual (literal).  As long as we limit our speech to the church house, and do not take it out on the lake, into the school (horrors!), or the work place, then it is appropriate, acceptable.  What happens when we take faith onto the lake?

Remember that Simon Peter, and some of the others, were experienced fishermen on this very lake.  They knew these storms, yet this one classified as a “fierce gale of wind.”  I studied that phrase: lai/lay mega,lh avne,mou. 

That first word is the one used in the LXX to describe the wind storm that killed all of Job’s children in one fell swoop (Job 1:19); it is the Greek word Homer used to describe a tornado in his Iliad.  What do you call a tornado on the water?

Then, the second word means violent or intense (Frieburg Lexicon).  How would you describe the experience of a water spout in a small fishing boat in a lake that is thirteen miles long and eight miles wide?

Finally the last word is simply “wind.”  It is the root word for the English word for anemometer (anemo = wind, meter = gauge).

There are two critical questions asked by the disciples. The first was in the midst of the storm: “Don’t you care that we are perishing?”  Jesus, don’t you care?  We’re dying here, and you are sleeping?  God, are you asleep while I am having this trouble, this problem? God, don’t you care?!?  The second question is just as important: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”  Having heard His teaching; having seen His healing; His feeding of thousands; the disciples still don’t get it: this is God incarnate, Jesus is Lord even over nature itself.

This begs the question, Is Jesus your Lord?

It brings Jesus’ question to the fore: “Do you still have no faith?”