Great Birthday Weekend....

Yesterday would have been my dad's 71st birthday.  We had my sister, my brother and his wife, my step mother and of course our gaggle of kids.  Pizza, salad, dessert and a 'toast to dad' who really blessed us in many ways....and keeps blessing us with his legacy.  It was a great time!

Today if my Father-in-law's birthday....number 85!  Tonight we'll join a couple of hundred people to celebrate his years as the skating rink king of Arkansas.  I'm not sure that I'm going to skate....the wood floor looks alot harder than it did when I was in my teens:)  But it will be a great time of celebrating the legacy he built and is still building!

Happy b-day Bill and Troy!

Drinking from a fire hydrant...

In Arkansas for family activities this weekend.  Due to unexpected illnesses, our sleeping arrangements had to change at the last minute.  The kids are at Kitty's brother's and my stepmother, Cydney asked us to stay at her house.  While settling in, Cyd told me that dad's old journals were up by the John Wayne standup/cutout in the upstairs room if I wanted to read them.

I started last night with one...then, at 3:30 this morning, I woke up and couldn't get them out of my mind, so I made coffee and starting pouring thru a couple.  I knew dad awoke each day and had a Quiet Time and journeled...that was the ministry God gave him to teach others (primarily)...but I didn't realize the weight and depth of his walk, struggles and faith, until I started reading day by day what he wrote.  He was human, frail, doubting at times, struggling in health, but always seeking God and praying for his family and friends.  The pages put you right in the middle of the life of a giant.  Not a giant in the worldly sense, but a giant as a disciple.

When I look at the bookshelf where Cyd has stored his quiet-time journals, I see over 20 volumes of 200-500 pages of handwritten journeys with God each morning.  After reading thru just a couple of them quickly, I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge sitting on a lone bookshelf in Little Rock, not seen by anyone anymore....and protected by dad's cardboard standup of John Wayne no less!

There's no way that my father knew I needed to hear his voice on this trip...he passed several years ago, way to early, from cancer.  He couldn't know that me, his lost sheep, would enter his house and wish he could hear him talk.  So as I sat in his chair by the fireplace in the kitchen from 3:30-6:00, where he awoke early to write those journals...he spoke to me through them...but it was like drinking from a fire hydrant.  Funny how when you drink from a fire hydrant, the water starts leaking out your eyes...

It makes me realize the importance of leaving a legacy for my kids.  And not only that, something they can come back to and read....and instruction manual of thoughts, struggles and the journey.  In this age of computers and digital files....I never would have found these if they were on his old laptop...but I did, and they were handwritten by him.  Still, as nice as they are to read...the words in them speak of one thing: Don't just 'know' it....'live it'!  The best journal written for your kids is the one written on their hearts as they see you live what you believe each day...

From his journal (May 1990): "Our physical acts reflect our attitude toward God Himself.  Reverence is shown by our actions."

Proud Papa...

This morning I went to see about 200 kids get recognized for their achievements at Sagewood Middle School.  My son William had been informed he would be recognized and I certainly wanted to be there!  What surprised me was that there were 28 students called out first for "High Honors" which meant 4.0 in content and academics....William Smith was called.

Needless to say, I'm a very proud papa right now!  He was beaming about this morning and rightly so...congrats William Douglas Smith!

Belief vs Experience

I'm reading The Signature of Jesus by Brennan Manning this week.  The dude is deep in his thinking and he has gone to great extremes in his life to hear God's voice.  I offer this quote for my first blog this week:

The gift of my own faith in Jesus Christ does not depend or rely upon any power outside of my experience of God's grace.  When beliefs replace actual experience; when we no longer know but come to rely on the authority of books, institutions, or leaders; when we let religion interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we lose the reality religion itself describes as ultimate.                            
                                                Brennan Manning - The Signature of Jesus

You may need to read that a couple of more times, as I did.  Brennan is poetic and uses a heavy thought process in his writing...it must be digested.  I was listening again to a message by Francis Chan, one that our Elder team is going to talk about tonight.  In Francis' message, he talks about this subject.  How he loves to be at conferences, like the Passion conference he is speaking at in the recording.  He loves being there to listen to John Piper, Beth Moore, Louie Giglio, and all the great worship and energy.  But he asks the question if we are really in love with these Words of God, or are we in love with how it's presented.  Do we get more attracted to the presenter than what is being presented.   Do we believe and try to change our life more when Donald Miller says it than when Jesus says it. Chan goes on to say that the crazy things start happening when it's just US and THE WORDS of GOD.  That's when this unexplainable power of the Holy Spirit starts driving us and showing itself in our lives.

I struggle with the notion that I unknowingly and innocently can be presenting something on a Sunday that becomes a buffer between the attender and Jesus.  That I can put something on SO great, so beautiful, so "gifted" that it keeps their attention on the wrong place....me.  I have a pit in my stomach every week as I place myself and our worship team on a 4 ft. high stage directly in front of people as they 'wait' for us to do something.  I look out at the crowd over three services and their eyes, not all but most, or on me....I want to yell, 'please don't look at me, look at Jesus!'  This begs the question then....'why don't you step out of the way so you give them nothing to look at?'  Believe me, I'm wresting with that saw, hammer and nail answer daily.  When people start coming to our churches, waiting and relying on us, the leader, to drive their experience with God...or worse, our service becomes the experience...then we have to take a step back... and tremble.

The hard question for a church leader in America is, "how do we have a congregational celebration and service that speaks to people and gives them vision, without standing between their eyes and Jesus?"

Facebook God (Part 1 of ?)...

I was reading an article on Facebook and relationships, how it's changed the way we interact.  When I started the article, I expected to see positive reports of increased relational contacts, community building and an encouragement of openness in like-minded groups.  Of course, that is the premise of the whole site.  What became the brunt of the story were the unexpected problems that FB and other social sites have started producing.

One blog author claimed to have read that Facebook is now the 2nd highest cause of divorce.  While I'm not sure of that rating, I did see an uncountable number of articles and blog posts of relationships broken over FB friends going over the line and 'cheating' on their significant other.  Interesting that 'FB cheating' now is closer to Jesus' definition of cheating...it's in the heart.

The other big issue, along with relational cheating, was the fact that people could develop a relationship and then just find themselves 'defriended', leaving them to wonder why the change?  I'm sure there are good reasons, like 'life is getting busy so I need to simplify', 'I have too many friends' (meaning 'you didn't make the cut'), I'm spending too much time on FB, etc...

But what becomes painfully evident is that FB, and other social sites, can encourage uninvested relational connections that look like relational connections.  We think that we are investing in a community of friends, but it lacks the face-time, the accountability and the skin on skin relationship building of the past.  I know I sound like I'm preaching against FB, but I'm not....still, here's my concern:

If my kids grow up learning and implanting a system of fly-by relationships, what does that mean to their relationship with God and others.  Relationships are hard, messy and need investment to make them work.  They also need accountability.  There are things I might blast on FB that I would never say to them face to face....that's fear factor is needed.  It seems to me people already have a problem with investing in God and what will this do to their paradigm of following Jesus?  Does Jesus become just another Facebook Friend that can be turned on and off whenever they want to have a dialogue?  Is going to church once a week the equivalent of FB post to heaven?

I sound so much like a legalist and I hate it....but when Romans 12:2 talks about "the patterns of this world", I get a pit in my stomach about flyby social sites.  Not so much the site itself but how it seemingly is redefining what we mean when we say "friend".  When scripture says, "He calls me friend"...I don't think he was thinking of FB.  It seems to be much more....but are we redefining what a friend is in our own minds?

I dumped my FB account over a year ago.  I haven't missed it at all.  I smiled when I read that Donald Miller had done the same thing.  But we have FB accounts in our house, including my kids.  It's like everything else, including X-Box, Wii, Computers, Phones......they can all be abused; if you don't control them, they will control you.  So I'm thinking out loud about this and not instituting a law for others to live....if FB wasn't the second biggest cause of divorce, something else would be I guess.

You know your in snow country when...

There's one way to find out if you're in REAL snow country or not.  I found out for myself this week in Breckenridge after the 30" snowfall:

Gas: $2.89 per gallon
Windshield Deicer: $3.10 per gallon

Sad but Proud....

I was forwarded a blog post written by John Sowers yesterday.  I looked in my mailbox and had 4 emails from different people wanting to make sure I saw it.  It was a post about my dad and his impact in John's life.  John grew up without a father and somewhere in college John and dad hooked up.   John tells of dad's influence in his life and the gaps he filled as a fatherless young man growing up.

Here's the post if you want to read it...Profile of a Mentor: Bill Smith

As I read John's post, I thought of the times I had taken dad for granted, chosen to be relationally separated, and what a hard road it was to  repair years of broken relationship.  In the end, I think we did.  The bible that my dad went through and wrote notes for me one year, is my prize possession in this life.   I'm glad and proud to know that there were other guys my age that were being influenced by dad.  I hope I can have the same effect if God brings men through my life.

I highly recommend John's book Fatherless Generation.  I bought it on my new E-Reader and couldn't put it down last night or this morning.  He's a great writer and tells a story that every believer needs to be aware of...fatherless children in America.  John is running an organization in Portland, OR called The Mentoring Project.  It was started by famed author/speaker Donald Miller of Blue Like Jazz fame.  Don picked John to run it and they are now friends and co-laborers in the ministry for fatherless kids.  Check it out, pray for them, support them.

Most of us have families, a lot of us have kids.  With that we think a lot about the legacy we will leave for them since they 'belong' to us.  Dad made it a point to leave a legacy in those who didn't belong to anyone but God.  He helped them see they did have a Father, his name was Healer.  One of them is John Sowers....and dad would be proud of him!  John is part of a spiritual legacy.

I am sad that dad is not still around...but so proud of him!

Boy...Am I Glad David's Here!

Got up to the cabin today to clean it and check on some things.....turns out 30" (yes, inches) of snow fell over the last couple of days here!  Needless to say, it took some digging just to get into the cabin!

Boy, was I glad David was here!  :)

Good Question!!

We had Life Group at our house Sunday night.  As we are going thru the book Radical, it spurred some great conversation!  Some of it was troubling as we starting looking at what Jesus meant by the word "disciple".  It led us to observations of what the bible said about following Jesus vs. what we've learned in church about just 'being saved'.

Dean T., in our group, had the heaviest question of the night.  It's a place I want to end up in few weeks, but he was already there......"so do I have to be a disciple to be saved?"

I was reading part of a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer .    He once said, "We are saved by faith alone, but not by faith which is alone."

It is a hard discussion to have about 'fruit' in someone's life being the litmus test of their salvation.  I'm not sure I want to have that discussion.  I'm quite sure it's not my responsibility to shine that light on someone else's life.  But even giving them the theology of that statement to examine themselves is a very hard thing to do in light of Grace.

This is going to be a hard, yet exciting journey for our Life Group.  I am looking forward to the statements of faith that are produced in our hearts!

Wrong Question.....?

Reading Donald Miller's Searching For God Knows What.  Into the first chapter and he makes a great resolution about 'formulas'.  We love to have formulas in our lives....formulas bring things 'under our control'.  Formulas help us understand and see things before they ever happen.  Formulas combat messiness, especially in relationships.

Formulas were the biggest problem in the early church.  We get books like Galations and Romans because of formulas.  The Law was simply a set of formulas given by God to His people to show how to live and worship Him.  When Jesus came, he basically summarized the formulas into one statement......"have a relationship we me & call me Lord"(Romans 10:9).  We like the 'relationship with me' part.  This is the magic prayer we are encouraged to say, then wall down the isle, then sign the membership card.  The part we don't like is the 'call me Lord'.   Lord is the word that will trip us up every time.  Lord means that He is in charge, he makes the decisions, we serve and do things based on His desire (his Will) and His Mission.  When church leaders lead someone in this passage in Romans and ask them to go thru these 'steps'(formula:), they just pass over the word 'Lord' like it has the same weight as every other word in the passage.....it doesn't.  Lord means EVERYTHING....

The paradox that I am struggling to put together is how 'fruit', as the bible calls it, and this relationship goes together.  What I've come to at this point is that we, theological thinkers, are asking the wrong question all time.  When faced with statements about what Jesus is asking us to do (drop your nets, sell your possessions, love your enemies, hate your family, give to the needy, etc...) we immediately want to ask, 'isn't this working out your salvation...salvation by works?'  These are the fruit of a disciple of Jesus.  They will automatically be evident if the Holy Spirit is leading a life.  We want to retreat to a point of the magic prayer and make sure that it really worked.  But here's the kicker....If we are true disciples of Jesus, then the argument over salvation by works is mute....because if we are truly following Christ, then the fruit will show up in you.  Jesus says that a fruitless vine will be cut off and thrown away to wither and dry up, then burned.  Why do we want to spend our energy wondering if we are saved are not thru works of fruit, when if we are as close to Jesus as we can possibly be, that will ensure production of fruit.  We are asking the wrong questions!  We actually want a formula of works!  Same problem the early church had.  Our works are calender issues though....go to church, go to bible study, give money, then my relationship with God should feel better, right?  Jesus goes on to say that if you stay connected to the vine, yea life my get tough, but I'll prune you and you will produce more fruit....IF you stay connected.  Not in our power, but in his.  So we can't just produce our own fruit to get connected....the fruit is produced BECAUSE we are connected.

The rich young ruler came asking for the wrong thing also....eternal life.  He wanted a formula....so Jesus took the issue to his heart.  His wealth had control over him.  And his wealth kept him from really following Jesus.  When something has hold of our life or heart, we want to argue that if we let go of it, that would be legalism....so we theologically don't have to.  We just want the first part of the prayer (believe with our mouth)....we just don't want to live out the second part (make Him Lord over our lives).  So we're stuck making sure we made it over the salvation line and the line won't move....we've even given it a cool theological arguement title (Eternal Security).

I'm tired of arguing eternal security passages.  I'm tired of arguing the point of salvation and if we can achieve the bare minimums to get into heaven.  Just make sure you are a disciple that is right behind Jesus and the question of security of the believer doesn't make a difference.  Being close to Jesus WILL produce fruit and then your questions are answered.....are you saved?  Yes...because I KNOW Jesus personally!

Question: Am I Saved?
Answer: Are You A Disciple?

Forgotten God

Finished Francis Chan's book Forgotten God this morning.  It is a very thought-provoking journey about the Holy Spirit and how we, in the church, have subdued the Spirit to being a bringer of "Peace" to our lives and a "convictor" of sin.  While those are true, Chan asks the question, "do we really WANT to Holy Spirit in our life?"  If we do, and we accept His power, then why don't we live any differently?  It is a good self-examination for me as I ask, "do I work out my trials and paths of life any differently than the world does?  When faced with a mountain to climb, does my life look any different than a non-believer, a muslim, a buddist, an athiest?"

The one sentence in his book that I want to have engraved on something where I can see it all the time:

I don't want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit!

This true of me personally, my ministry and of our church.  If the work of a Christian (or a Christian organization) can simply be explained by hard work, smart people, creative teachers and worship leaders.....then we have to ask ourselves if the Spirit's power is at work in us.  Do we look like any other successful organization out there with a good marketing gimic?  I truly believe that if the Holy Spirit is involved in a work (personally or corporately), then something looks different than our own thoughts and actions, something looks foolish but has much power behind it, something is unexplainable to those that don't have The Faith, the Way.  Perhaps this 'lack of something different' is a litmus test of us being in our own power?  Not sure....

Chan also makes the bold statement...." a growing, energetic gathering is not necessarily evidence of the Holy Spirit's work."   Our leadership team struggled with this thought last night as we attempted to define what "Momentum" looks like for a church fellowship.  Is it attendance, is it giving, is it more volunteers in serving?  I think we came to somewhat of an agreement that it is "Fruit".  Scripture teaches that this fruit comes from the work of the Spirit in us....so I guess we are arriving at the same points that Chan is teaching.  The question is, how do we open ourselves up to the Spirit?  How do we make sure we are not quenching His work in us?  Do we pray enough for His involvement?(John 15:7, Phil. 4:6-7)  Do we really want to create the space for the Holy Spirit to work?  Are we scared of what He might do or ask of us?

I am praying for me, and for our fellowship, that the leadership and attenders can open ourselves up to the Spirit's leading and not be so focused on the "smart/right" answers that we miss the "foolish" answer that God may be presenting...

Splinters

One of the most troubling passages, to me, is where Christ tells us that we must "pick up our cross" and follow Him.  Our mind goes directly to scenes from Passion of the Christ or Ben Hur where we see Jesus shouldering his instrument of torture and death up the road to Skull Hill.  We are "observers" of Jesus carrying the cross.  Culturally, this phrase means nothing to us.  We don't use crosses anymore for anything but jewelry and to hang on the wall....it has become a symbol of our faith.  Rarely do you find a cross made of wood....they are mostly more beautiful now.  Our family has a collection of crosses from around the world...trips we've taken to do short term missions.  They are of varying metals and jewels, glass or beads.  One of our walls is littered with beautiful crosses and we always receive comments from visitors about that wall.

If I did carry a cross daily, hourly....I think I would probably get splinters in my hands.  The signs not of suffering, but of sacrifice/serving/love/fruit.   The more my cross was dragged around, the more splinters would be evident in my hands/life.  I try to carry the cross, but honestly, I put it down when it gets heavy.  I need a break to pull the splinters out, because splinters HURT...instead of learning to live with splinters, I try to remove them.

What does it look like to have splinters in your hands, your work, your life?  This will be a question answered differently by different people.  How different the splinters look, or who has more or less is not really the point....the point is do we have any splinters or not?  If not, are we looking for ways to carry our cross?  Jesus said if we don't pick up our cross, we are "not worthy of being my disciple" (Luke 14).  Pretty black and white to me...

This year I hope to get rid of my tweazers....learn to appreciate the feeling of a splinter and look for places to carry a cross.....places to serve, make a difference, help a life practically, share the gospel thru walk and talk. 

I think a good piece of jewelry, instead of a gold cross, would be a wooden splinter.  It would probably sell really well also!  The problem is that we, people, would find a way to make it more ornate, more beautiful...

addendum......here are some stories of splinters the likes no American ever really feels:
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/01/china-aid-association-issued-2010s-top_06.html
(btw, when we adopted our daughter from China, we stayed in a hotel across the street from the Guangzhou church in the list that was locked up)

Square Dancing Today!

Well, today I get to go square dancing at Jia's school!  Jia has been working on dances all week in preparation for today.  I told her that I would do my best but didn't know how to do the dances....she said that she would help me.

I am Jia's dad....her life leader.  But today she will teach me, lead me and show me the way to do things, because she has been working on her talent in dancing and knows all the moves.  Sometimes, as "the leader" we need to be willing to follow those that we lead.  Not only can we learn something from others but it helps them become leaders.  It's a practice in our humility but also a building block in their development as leaders.  Jia took great pride in the fact that she new something that I didn't (which I'm trying not to take personally:).  It builds her confidence and shows her that she has value as a leader.

To continue Grant's blog on leadership....we sometimes think we know more than we do and that somehow our 'title' in the church gives us knowledge that we don't really have.  Being humble and slow to speak gives us the opportunity to learn what God is showing others in their lives and to develop others in their leadership....our primary purpose to begin with (building disciples/leaders in ministry).


On to the square-dance!  I hope I don't trip....

Walking Worthy of your Calling.....(from Grant)

Really liked this list of "traits" of a leader that lives worthy of their calling (Ephesians 4:1-6).  You can see the full blog at www.grantenglish.com.

1. humility – self-explanatory, not self-serving, not false humility
2. gentleness – the lack of an edge with people. There is no way to get around the stumbling block of Jesus. Just let that block be Jesus, not my personality.
3. patience – Am I as long suffering with others as I pray God to be with me?
4. accepting with love – everybody has baggage. love them anyway, in spite of their junk.
5. diligent about unity of Body – diligence not about status quo but unity and….
6. Unity is based on Christ – not on traditions, programs, my ego, etc.
7. lives with knowledge that God is in all, around all – non-compartmentalized

Number 2 is especially good for me right now....presenting the hard teachings of Jesus without inserting your own emotion can be hard, but it lets Jesus be the one to challenge.  I will be keeping this one in mind as our Life Group begins it's journey through the book RADICAL this Sunday night.

Thanks Grant!

The Fruit Tree...A Community Parable

Maybe a story would help us work out some thoughts regarding the fruit of one's faith, their standing with Jesus, legalism vs grace, etc...(a parable in the works...for all readers)

There once was a farmer who had several fruit trees on his land.  The trees that were prized the most were Orange trees.  It was easy to tell the orange trees from all the other trees because they looked so different.  All the other trees were apple trees, but of differing varieties.  Some bore red apples, some green, all of different sizes and shapes.  The orange trees really stood out from all the other trees with their orange fruit.

Soon the local farmer's association would be coming by to judge the best fruit farm in the area.  The farmer had always wanted to win this prize, and came close several times, but always failed somehow.  This year, he knew he would win...all of his trees had large ripe fruit on them, especially the orange trees.

One day the farmer noticed a tree that had no fruit on it off in the distance.  He went to see what was wrong with it and noticed it had small buds, but had never matured to bear fruit.  He knew he could not leave a tree barren for the judging...still, this tree was not in plain site.  It was far off from the main path that would be walked.  The farmer went and purchased some oranges at the local market.  He found the best oranges money could buy...those that pleased the eye.

The next day, the judges from the local farmer's association were walking the farmer's property.  They marveled at the trees and their fruit.  But one judge noticed something funny off in the distance.  As he approached this one particular orange tree, he noticed that the oranges were all hanging on the limbs by string.  One by one the judges starting taking the oranges down until the whole tree was barren.

One of the judges looked at the farmer and asked, "so what kind of tree is this?"

The farmer replied, "I don't really know, but surely it wants to be an orange tree since that is what looks the best."

"Why did you hang fruit on it", the judge asked.

"It didn't have any fruit of it's own, so I wanted to make it look like all the others." said the farmer.  " I guess since it doesn't bear it's own fruit, and won't accept fertilizer or weather, I should just cut it down."

(I invite you to offer the ending line or pharagraph in your comments...)

When Ostriches Attack...

    I did some research and found out that Ostriches don't really bury their heads in the sand to escape.  That myth probably started with a guy named Pliny the Elder...what's up with naming your kid "Pliny?"  He was a naturalist and started the thought they would stick their heads in a bush and think that a predator couldn't see them since the Ostrich couldn't see the predator.  I guess maybe they were thinking, "If I don't know what's there....it can't get me."  Even though the metaphor doesn't work because of a naturalist's myth, it seems like the church sometimes lives this way regarding the hard teaching of scripture.

   This past weekend one of my co-laborers in ministry and I presented Luke 14.  Starting with the Parable of the Banquet and preceding right to the end of chapter 14 where Jesus sets up a high bar that everyone who wants to be a disciple has to jump over, it was an exercise in pulling the ostrich's head out of the sand.  These kind of messages are never fun and this one proved disturbing to many.  The good thing is that David and I tried our best to stay away from our own opinions and simply read the statements of Jesus in scripture....the bad thing is that Jesus' statements are & were more disturbing than anything we could come up with on our own.  Many that were there responded on the journal sheets we provided with very thoughtful, convicting offerings of change and hope....these were left at the communion table during a responsive worship time.  Two families, that we know of, got up and walked out halfway through the teaching.  I won't take this personally and guess I should be happy only two left, since everytime Jesus spoke He was more or less inviting people to leave.

   This makes me wonder what most of the encounters really sounded like when Jesus taught.  I wish I had just one Youtube of Him teaching to know the audible tone he used when presenting such teachings as, "anyone who does not take up his cross is not worthy of being my disciple."  No matter how much apology is offered up front, a teaching that comes from the "red letters" will most often rattle the cage of your life.....or for this blog....pull your head out of the sand. (even though they don't really do that:)

   We, as the body of Christ, love to stick our heads in the sand, in bushes, whatever...  If we don't know it's there....we don't have to do it...we don't have to recognize the danger of our identity as disciples.  Our jobs as leaders seem to be to remind people, and ourselves, what Jesus taught, pulling the heads out.  This is not always a comfortable place to go and brings more questions about our relationship with Jesus than pats on the back of how good we're doing.  We think that if we can't see or don't see the dangers of knowing what Jesus really wants, then we don't have to answer for it and He will give us a pass on it.  The more I study passages like Luke 14 and James 2, the more I think this isn't the case.  I wrestle with passages about the eye of a needle, how rich people get into heaven & what the fruit of real faith looks like, and I just get a pit in my stomach.  Still, we cannot re-cannonize our own personal bibles that fit into our lives and schedules.  Faith and Salvation are still on God's terms.

  I guess my main desire is to be a presenter of the truth....not what I want to hear or what my friends or church wants to hear.....but what Jesus, Paul and other writers of scripture taught.  Authors like David Platt and Fancis Chan have helped me bring balance to the force though.  They pulled my head out of the sand and see the balance of grace and works.  I'm still working on my doctrinal statement regarding the working out of faith thru works but to say that I've had a shift in my theology thru studying this subject would be fair.

   My wife asked me during the service, "aren't you scared of what God will ask us to do?"  My answer was "yes."  But just because I didn't recognize the danger of following Jesus (having my head in bush), didn't mean that the danger wasn't there once I really looked at the truth.  It's always been there...maybe I just didn't want to see it.

Here We Go Again....

I started a blog several years ago....but stopped.



Here we go again, I think......