In the Zone

Sometimes, we can get distracted by good things. A few years ago, I was at a Christian bookstore waiting in the check-out line to make a purchase. The lady in front of me was buying some Christian book and I overheard her conversation with the cashier.  It went something like this: “I just love this book series.  It’s helped me so much.  I probably shouldn't admit this, but I read this more than I read my Bible.  It’s got so many good scriptures in it, it’s just like reading my Bible.” Then she paid and walked off, with the cashier smiling politely and happy to make a sale. It left he shaking my head.   No book or book series, no matter how many times it quotes the Bible, is EVER a substitute for God’s word.  Neither will a good commentary or study notes from a study Bible.  Christian books are filled with really good life application and have a lot of godly wisdom, but they ARE NOT THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD.  Commenta...

I love the movie Christmas Vacation. During one of the scenes, Randy Quaid, who plays Cousin Eddie, makes a comment about a plate in his head.  They had replaced the metal plate with a plastic one to protect his skull after a war injury.  And in his words, "I don’t know if I oughta go sailin’ down no hill with nothin’ between the ground and my brains but a piece of government plastic." Cousin Eddie, as goofy as he was in the movie, realizes how important it is to protect the brain.  A head injury, no matter how light, can have major effects on cognitive thinking, mobility and vision.  A blow to the head can cripple a person, and often times can result in death. It's why soldiers, as they go into battle, wear helmets.  It protects their heads from bullets and other weapons. Baseball players wear helmets while batting.  Football and hockey players don't enter the game without a helmet on.  Helmet are important. It was the same during the New ...

A few years ago, I heard the story of a college student who put scripture on the headboard of his bed. You see, this particular young man struggled with sexual sin.  Before he was saved, he often bedded many different women.  Even after he got saved, his sexual temptation would be great, and he often found himself giving into sexual temptation, even though he now knew it was not pleasing to God. So he devised a plan.  On his own, he could not resist sex, but with the help of Jesus, he could.  So he started printing out scriptures and taping them to the headboard of his bed.  His reasoning was simple. When he would lie down in bed, particularly with a woman, he would see that scripture and it would remind him to stop.  To paraphrase his words, "It's hard to have sex when you're looking at scripture from the Bible." He understood what Paul meant when he wrote about the shield of faith.  A shield is mobile and able to protect multiple vulnerable s...

It seems like everything is out of control. Last week, an earthquake rocked Nepal.  Riots broke out in Baltimore.  At the Supreme Court, arguments were heard for and against same-sex marriage.  Every time I turned on the news, there was another controversy or scene of violence and devastation.  It's at time like this that I must remember's Paul's advice in the Ephesians 6.  He talks about putting on the full armor of God, and specifically says we must wear the shoes of the gospel of peace.  Now, shoes secure my feet, but they also protect them from injury.  Cleats, like the shoes Roman warriors wore, even provide grip into the ground.  So when Paul talks about the shoes of the Gospel of peace, he says Jesus secures us and protects us.  With him, we can dig again against the dark forces of the universe. Make no mistake, Satan and his minions are agents of chaos.  Satan loves disorder and mayhem.  Satan likes to steal, kill an...

Did you see the baby born with the heart outside of his body?  How about that Detroit cut off 30,000 water customers in order to build a giant water slide in town?  And did you hear that Walmart has a watch list for Christian employees? Well, none of the above statements are true.  In fact, I mined them from a website called truthorfiction.com that exists to help clarify rumors, specifically internet-based rumors, and let people know what is true and what is fiction.  With Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media, rumors spread even faster. Fake news stories look slicker than ever.  It can be hard to know the truth from a lie. In Ephesians 6:14, Paul gives us instructions on how to prepare for spiritual war.  The first thing he tells us to do is put on the belt of truth.  Now, the Armor of God is based upon Roman armor.  They wore belts to keep their clothes tight to their bodies so that in hand-to-hand combat, the enemy wouldn't g...

Recently, I read this article from the New York Times website. In the piece, Frank Bruni, writes that evangelical Christians are intolerant bigots that fly in the face of modern science, culture and sensibilities.  To paraphrase, he writes that evangelical Christians are holding back American and need to fall in line with more liberal denominations that allow gay weddings and have a new understanding of the Bible's teaching on homosexuality. He writes that the Bible was written by men who had flawed views of homosexuality, so therefore they injected their flawed views into scripture.  In his view, we should move past these views and embrace the cultural shift.  I couldn't disagree more. While I believe we, as Christians, should love and treat everyone equally, I do not believe performing and recognizing gay marriage is part of that equation.  I also believe that God's word is inspired by God.  Every word in the book was put in, protected and passed down...

In my office, I have a memento from my first minstry. An orange T-shirt, covered with signatures and names from all the kids in my first youth group at Crittenden Baptist Church, is pinned to the wall.  As I look over all the names, I can still see their faces and remember funny stories and anacedotes about each one.  It is a reminder to me of what I came from and of the memories of my first stop in ministry. In fact, I have various mementos from all of my ministry stops.  I have photos of the Florida Reach Team I served on as a recent college graduate.  I have pictures of my first youth camp with Immanuel Baptist Church.  I have a few knick-knacks, given as gifts, from my time at Gracey West Union Baptist Church. I even keep old newspaper clippings around to remind me of my time at the Grant County News. All of these inanimate objects serve to remind me of the past and testify to the work I did at those places.  Each brings back positive and negative...