The Phil Files

Whew! What a rough, but incredible several weeks we’ve had at Southern Hills! We’ve had four funerals, several weddings, and the “normal” range of church stuff.

This past Sunday was especially challenging and powerful. Chad Higgins came in to lead worship and did a great job helping us design a service that gave us the full range of emotions in song and Scripture we needed to address our broken hearts and our steadfast faith. Chad interned at Southern Hills a number of years ago. We’re proud to have contributed a little bit to what God has done through Chad. His use of Scripture, his care in selecting and leading songs, and the Spirit’s work through him helped make this a powerful day.

The sermon focus, determined months ago, was rooted in Romans 8:18 and entitled, “Hope Beyond Heartbreaks!” Little did we know that we would need this message so much.

With a number of our key people gone, we had no backup for signing with our deaf ministry. So, to Chad’s right as he led worship and to my right as I preached on this topic, was Kathy, our key person who in the deaf ministry. Her husband unexpectedly passed away in the middle of a meeting of key bankers in town. He left behind a loving wife, two sons in their twenties with special challenges, a cadre of banking executives who deeply respected him, and two church families that deeply admired him. This was more than a shock, it was a lifequake. How Kathy could play such a key role, digesting every nuance of the service to communicate it with those who couldn’t hear without her signing, was an amazing blessing to so many of us. This was a Sunday morning I will never forget.

As part of my sermon, I shared the following image that I used trying to communicate the promises of Isaiah 26:7-8 and Revelation 7:16-17. This is the small version of the image, but if you click on it, you can see the larger background image for PowerPoint, your computer wallpaper, or just for your blessing. I hope it speaks to you as it did to me. (There are also two other related images you can find in the Heartlight PowerPoint backgrounds section using the search feature for Revelation 7!)

If you have favorite passages that speak to your heart in times of grief, I’d sure love to know what they are!

I’m in Louisville, Kentucky this week as Independent Christian Churches and some leaders from some Churches of Christ discuss and seek to mend a breach in their unity for the past 100 years. Unity is very much on my heart this week. I’d like to hear from you on this important topic.

Acts 15 tells us the story of how the early church worked through huge challenges to arrive at a strategy for unity that preserved the early church.

What other principles do you see in Acts 15 than the ones I mentioned in my article on unity?

What are some other key passages that relate to unity that we must engage in our pursuit of unity?

Is unity on any serious level achievable?

I’d love to hear from you!

Boy was I glad to get home Saturday night!

Last week had already been the worst travel week of my life as I mention in my article this week. However, as we traveled home from a quick out-of-town birthday trip for our daughter, Megan, we were caught by a severe thunderstorm. If you have ever lived in West Texas, you know what I’m talking about — 70 mph winds, 3-4 inch hour rains, with the potential for hail and tornadoes. What normally was a 40 minute trip turned into a 75 minute trip. At times, the rain was blinding even driving at 20 mph. Finally, a convoy of about 12 vehicles traveled together at 40 mph until we were almost all the way home.

What a week of travel! I’ve shared some spiritual lessons I’ve learned about getting out of the doldrums.

What are some lessons you’ve learned from your travels?

What solutions do you have for getting out of those spiritual blahs, those doldrums that we all get caught in?
I’d love to hear from you!

Oh yeah … if you have one of those awful travel stories that you think we might all enjoy, I’d love to hear that, too!

I’ve spent the last several days fighting very difficult travel issues. However, I want to thank the Lord for several groups of people who often get overlooked and sometimes, even abused.

First, I’d like to thank God for those who are in the travel business who work so hard to make traveling bearable and do so with courteous and attentive help. I am so thankful for the kind folks who helped me this week, even though many of them had received verbal abuse while trying to handle impossible problems over which they had no control.

Second, I thank God for all those who do the hard, manual labor jobs. Without them, our lives would be harder, more dangerous, and definitely more frustrating. In the debate over immigration issues in the U.S., we often forget that nearly all of us were immigrants at one time. We also forget that immigrants, both “illegal” and legal immigrants, often do the hard, sweaty, and dangerous work that many of us would never do.

My father taught me long ago that the real heart of a person is revealed by how they treat folks that society says they don’t have to treat with respect or whom social rules place beneath them. I want to value these people and let them know how much I appreciate them and their hardwork!

How do you treat those whom the world says are “beneath you”?

How can we be more of a blessing to those who have blessed us?

This blog entry goes with the Heartlight article entitled Laying Down Real Foundations and the Scripture graphic for Matthew 7:26-27.

Jesus told his followers after he had washed their feet, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:17 NRS) This theme of obedience to the Father’s will and to his own teaching occurs again and again in his teaching. Yet we have such a disconnect in today’s church with this understanding. It’s almost as if we cannot put the concepts of grace and obedience in the same world.

Why is it so hard for us to be obedient, to be real, to live authentically, to be genuine in our faith as followers of Jesus? I’d like to get your comments and see what you believe the key issues are in this matter.

Yesterday, I did a funeral for a precious family that lost their mother. Lee Anne was 48 when she lost her five year battle with cancer. Having lost my dad in my twenties, I understand a little bit of what this family is feeling today — the day after the funeral. Your world is changed. Your insides are ripped out. It feels as if the things you thought were stable and secure have crumbled. A life quake has rocked your world.

I can only imagine what it would be like to look out my window and the mountain I had seen for years was suddenly gone. Yet for folks in May of 1980, that is what happened with the eruption — better yet, the explosion — of Mt. St. Helens. The difference in the appearance of the mountain is huge when comparing the pre-eruption to post-eruption images. Over 1,300 feet of the mountain was removed by the erpution and

On a recent trip to Oregon, Donna and I journeyed up into the state of Washington to see Mt. St. Helens for ourselves. From a distance, there is a rugged beauty to the moutain. However, as you move closer, you can both smell and see the smoke venting from the mountain. Donna had ash in her hair after looking at the mountain.

Many things we think are forever — stable, secure, bedrock, and trustworthy — simply are not. Only God is totally trustworthy and dependable. In the face of a world that is ever-changing and a future we cannot secure, the words of Psalm 46 take on more meaning than ever!

Take a look at the full size Scripture graphic of Mt. St. Helens and Psalm 46.