Do you have an angel story you would be willing to share?

What Bible verse about angels means the most to you?

Sara Tucholsky had never hit a homer over the fence in her high school or college career. At 5-foot-2, that is understandable. So when she hit one out with two on base, they scored easily. But in her excitement, Sara missed first base, and as she returned to touch it, her cleat hung and she injured her knee too badly to walk. So to prevent any possible rules violation for player assistance by her own, the career home run leader for the conference and a member of the opposing team, Mallory Holtman, asked the umpires if members of the opposing team could carry Sara and let her touch all the bases and get her home run. And that’s what happened.

In an era where parents grip and complain about coaches, umpires, improper calls, and even get into verbal and physical battles over games at a much less significant level, this example of kindness and respect should humble us all.

My question for each of us to ask is this: In the heat of a battle for the conference championship, would I have helped my opponent win the game like Mallory helped Sara’s team win?

For more information see: Girls, Sports, and Sportsmanship from the Saturday, May 10, issue of the New York Times.

I have often wondered if I was going to be able to hold it together during times of stress. For me, I began to unravel about Tuesday. By Thursday, my body was sending pretty strong signals I had ignored the basics of rest and exercise and had violated the max caffeine limit. I had spent too much time being busy and not enough time being still, yielded, and in touch with Jesus.

As so often happens when I have a “come to Jesus” meeting with Jesus, He shows me my mis-deeds and mis-judgments, affirms His love for me, and sends me a clear a message. That’s when a special email from a friend reminded me of a truth I have known for years and an illustration of this truth that heard months previous: Jesus is what holds it all together. While Colossians a great letter to read to get a biblical sense of what this means, the YouTube video you find here helps illustrate it magnificently! (The video really is worth the time!)

So … move beyond the physical laminin to the spiritual one … and remind me to do it, too. Otherwise, we’re all going to come unglued!

That’s what one of the sextuplets said as his dad, John, joked with him about having his shoes on the wrong feet. But to understand, I need to tell you something.

But before my confession, I need re-assert my masculine side. So … I love sports, played quite a few, and even went to college on an athletics scholarship — well, kinda an athletics scholarship, it was golf. On a recent trip to DFW, I took my daughter with me to what she calls, “A Man Mall” — Bass Proshop and other manly destinations which she describes more delightfully in her blog. In addition, I am a bow hunter — please, before animals lovers get mad, let me remind you of two things: 1) I eat what I shoot, and 2) they call it hunting and not killing because mostly you sit and admire the scenery. So even though I’m over the hill and balding, I am still a full blooded, testosterone carrying, male. Whew, my identity was a bit confused for a minute, glad I got that out of my system.

So here’s my confession … (dramatic pause) … one of very favorite TV shows ever is called, Jon & Kate + 8. While the TV plays down their faith, it runs through every program and you can see the Scripture memory verses in the background. They have twins and sextuplets, yet manage it remarkably. While neither of the parents are perfect, I think I would have had many more moments I wouldn’t want shown on TV as a dad and husband than Jon and Kate have, and we only have two children. How they do it is remarkable — and in part thanks to a wonderful family and some cool friends that help them.

Part of my attraction is that as the preacher guy for a pretty big church and also president of Heartlight.org my life is filled with stress and chaos. So I guess I enjoy watching someone else try manage absolute chaos — something I would compare to juggling warm Jello®. Yet I have to admit that a big part of my interest in the show is just plain admiration. John and Kate know their 8 children, call them by name, know their children’s toys and clothes and comfort toys, do the same kinds of things with their children most families do, and still manage to joke with each other about it. Yes, they do have bad moments, but all in all, they are incredible. And they do it all in front of a camera.

In the end, however, I am reminded every week that each child — Jon and Kate’s, yours, mine, and everybody else’s — is a distinct creation of God. Filled with personality, needs, wants, talents, interests, purpose and unique flashes of God’s image (Psalms 139:13-16 NLT).

Our family prays for this family and these parents and these children that their lives don’t lose touch with our Abba Father, the Creator and Sustainer of us all. John and Kate, the Warehouse gang loves you guys and you have never met us. Don’t let the camera mess it all up for you and don’t lose sight of how precious each of you are to each other and your kids! So until next Monday night, God bless. And stay off those “hair panes”!

Oh yeah, and did I mention I went to a NASCAR race earlier this year? (Just didn’t want that manliness to get lost in the sentimentality!)

P.S. — Be sure and look at their videos!

How would you have reacted to the message left by the person who was angry we were providing parallel resources in Spanish?

Do you ever think about being an outsider to God’s promises unless the Father had extended grace to us?

Are you a child of Abraham by physical descent? How do you feel about Gentile Christians?

It was fun, I’m exhausted and ready to crash. Meet you Monday for a whole new week!

If you could edit some things out of your life, what you change? Come on now, at least be honest with yourself, what things would you just as soon be banished to the depths of the sea?

Better yet, what would you do to help foster a sense of love, forgiveness, and generosity in those around you?

I’d love to hear from you!

For our church, it is a special day to gather for a shared Communion service and then go out and serve the community in very intensive, manual labor, ways. WATS stands for “We Are the Sermon.” We begin the day with a shared time of worship with communion — the air is electric and people are excited, dressed in their get dirty work clothes and many pulling trailers full of yard tools. The singing is joyous and upbeat. When we finish, we break into work groups, share a quite bite of lunch, and spend the afternoon working our backsides off to bless others. It’s all part of our sense of mission:

We are God’s community front porch: inviting, including, and involving others in the life of Jesus.

Last year, well over a thousand people served their neighbors building wheel chair ramps, painting homes, cleaning up yard messes, restoring houses to code, and just lending a helping hand. We collected over 80 tons of debris and garbage. It’s one of the coolest and most exciting church days of our year.

Here are a few links to help you know more about it:

W.A.T.S. Happening | Churchgoers Will Be the Sermon

What are some things your church family does to get outside the church building and share the love of Jesus with those in your community?

Last minute update: “Will the weather derail our day?” We’ll have to wait and see!

When I drove past the children’s home and saw a news truck, reporter, and camera focused inside the grounds, I had to make myself keep driving. My instinct was to pull over and park my old Tahoe in front of the camera and block their view.

I guess I’m old enough to have seen enough wars, political maneuvers, famines, and idealistic religious movements to know that the children always suffer first, longest, and worst when things go wrong in our world. This time, all the media fuss was over a number of children arriving at a children’s home. These children had been removed by Texas Child Protective Services from the YFZ polygamist sect in Eldorado — CNN has several stories on this and I’ll link you to them because they do not talk about our situation.

I’ll leave it for someone else who knows the firsthand facts to wade through all the DNA evidence, charges of child abuse, pre-teen forced marriage, polygamy and other details about charges. Regardless of the merits or the facts in this case, the children are caught in the middle. Their world, their sense of security, their understanding of family, and their sense of safety have all been turned upside down and sideways. They’ve been taken from the homes they knew to places they had never seen and asked to mesh into families they have never known.
To me, it seemed like a huge intrusion of privacy and safety for a news station to show footage of their arrival on the evening news — even though it was grainy and taken at a great distance. In addition, this media exposure is a potential risk of safety of those who give foster care and other children in foster care with those families. While I am all about public openness in government in most situations, the care of children should trump everything else.

So this leads me to one question and one request:

• Do you think I’m being too hard-headed about this, or do you agree that we don’t sufficiently protect children caught in the middle of adult messes?
• Would you please pray for these displaced children, those with whom they share homes for awhile, their mothers from whom they are separated, and those who offer them foster care?

In a few hours from now — it’s late Friday night — I will be leaving for a board meeting for a children’s home. I will be with people whose lives are dedicated to caring for babies, adoptive parents, and moms wanting to find stable and loving homes for their babies. So children are on my heart this weekend. I hope and pray they are on your heart, as well.

Have you thanked them lately?

So often, we take knowing Jesus for granted. Most in the world don’t! In fact, I’m willing to bet that most who know about Jesus don’t really know that much about Him … much less really know Him. So if you know Jesus, how did you get introduced? Where did you first meet?

I’m betting that someone who loves you took the time … and the risk … to introduce you to the Carpenter. Most of us were introduced to Jesus by someone willing to serve the Lord and also us.

I guess that’s why I love the way the Gospel of Mark begins. Matthew and Luke give us the birth stories and genealogies about Jesus. John has the incredibly beautiful prologue that shows Jesus is God and Creator of all things. Mark, however, starts differently:

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It is written in Isaiah the prophet:“I will send my messenger ahead of you,who will prepare your way”—“a voice of one calling in the desert,‘Prepare the way for the Lord,make straight paths for him.’ “

And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Mark 1:1-5 TNIV
In typical “get to the point style,” Mark says simply, “The good news about Jesus begins here: John was a servant of Jesus and shared His story with everybody.”

Introductions to Jesus nearly always begin with a servant who wants to share his or her friend with another.  Granted, John the Baptist was a bit on the eccentric and weirdo end of things, but there is no doubt his heart and his ministry and death were all lived to prepare the way for Jesus to enter the lives of other people. So guess what? There is room for all of us off-center, a little bit weirdo, eccentric people to be useful to God … if we are willing to serve others and share Jesus.

See … that’s not so hard, is it?