We yelled it right before being tagged “it” when I was a kid. It was from free ticket that could be used once each game. But it could only be used once, after that, you were on your own to wriggle away from the person who was “it” and trying to tag you out of the game!

I talk about this, and how we so often use it with God in areas of our lives today, in my weekly Heartlight.org post — Christ in the House. We yell “King’s X” to go in those places of our lives we don’t want to yield to the Lordship of Christ, that we keep secret from others, or even in areas we don’t want to admit to ourselves that we have issues.

I finished the post with these words:

Let’s get real about the places we’ve declared “King’s X” to His Lordship and surrender them. Let’s invite Him in to be Lord of every relationship, meal, and conversation. When this happens, there will be no doubt that Christ is Lord in our house!

Where have you declared “King’s X” with Jesus?

Have you been honest with yourself about that?

What do you need to do to yield to the Lordship of Christ in your life?

Finally, how do yield those “King’s X” areas of your heart to God?

I’d love to get your responses below!

For 11/23 Christ in the House (3:18-4:1 & 4:5-6)

This is a focus on what is often called the “household rules” in Colossians. However, these “rules” are built on the call of Colossians 3:17 and the central place of Christ in our lives:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Paul is not leaving to chance that folks will understand “whatever you do” and applying it to their daily life in their own homes. For some reason, believers have always seem to have trouble taking the things that are said to us as believers in our relationships and applying them to our own home life. But go back and look at Colossians 3:12-14 and then apply them to family life:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

How does this look in the day-to-day life of a family? … office place? … PTO or school association? … kids sports team members?

Imagine what would happen if we simply took these words to heart in our relationships at home!

Paul centers our relationships with each other in Christ – whether these relationships are in our home or workplace or everyday life.

Several key things to note:

1. We have different roles to play in our lives
2. Whatever our role may be, we are to see that as a place to honor Christ and serve Him in how we live out that role
3. Our reward my not be visible until we see the Lord face to face, but it will one day be visible, because we are heirs of God

How we live in our homes and other places is our “liturgy of life” – our daily worship, ways and places we reverence the Lord.

So how does that impact how we serve and what we do to serve?

Hebrews 13:4 makes that clear in the context of “worshiping God acceptably with reverence and awe”! Paul is even more specific in Ephesians 5:21 (although Colossians 3:17 and 3:22 effectively say the same thing). This is carrying out the implications of Romans 12:1 – our behavior in our relationships can’t be modeled on the world, but must be redemptive, like Jesus, no matter it’s context. Worship must extend to all of life!

We do not need to hear this de-emphasizing the importance of our gathering together as believers in worship and encouragement. Instead, what we hear is an elevation of the importance of what we do each day as our practical worship.

Are we really willing to put into our everyday living the things we say in “churchy” places?

Do we walk our talk in the places we can’t hide who we are? Remember how The Message puts 3:17:

Let every detail in your lives-words, actions, whatever-be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

Flowing as it does out of Colossians 3:1-4, we are basically supposed to bring a little heaven down to earth in our families. Our families must be a place where the Kingdom of God is lived!

A couple of observations are worth considering as well:

• Children are included in the community of Christ are called to obey their parents because this is pleasing to the Lord
• How we live in our families is considered crucial to our influence and leadership in God’s family:
  • See 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 one on the qualities of leaders
  • The statement about Jesus (Luke 2:51)

A key emphasis here will be on 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 and our being the Body of Christ to the world and our pledge to live that way as we share in the Supper.

Presentation ideas:

Time in the Word – Have a cup of coffee, a Dr. Pepper, a bottle of water, & a bottle of grape juice on the table. Use them to go back and forth in an out of our daily routines and who we meet with and share table fellowship with. These are a reminder that communion time is our pledge to be Jesus’ Body in the world and live His life in all of our daily relationships — that our real worship, our liturgy of life, begins when we leave this place.

Worship Leaders Please Note!
I would very much like to have the Lord’s Supper at the end of the service especially at Daybreak, with maybe one or two songs afterwards. No closing thoughts then, have that earlier. I would do the communion service. We could do offerings and garden of prayer earlier in the service and have an elder or other minister do the Garden time.
At Refresh, we will have folks do the bread from the tables, but will pass the trays for the cup – drawing special attention to the “as we eat this bread we are Christ’s one body” and challenge each other to think of the places where we need to more completely let Jesus’ life be seen in those sets of relationships.

LIFE Questions:

What are the key areas of your life where you are in relationship with others?

How do you influence each of these areas for Jesus?

Which is the hardest area of your life to influence for Jesus?

How can you better practice the principle of “redemptive use of your talk” (Colossians 4:5) with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15) in your relationships?

Why is it so important that we practice these principles of Christ-likeness in our closest relationships?

Why do you think it was so important for leaders in God’s church to be good leaders in their families (1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 – qualifications for Elders and Deacons)?

Please Note: There are many one another passages in the New Testament — God’s directions on how we are treat each other (see at the end of the questions a list of one another passages). Please read through these and then answer these questions:

Why do you think it is so hard for us to apply these principles in our homes and business relationships?

Which of these is hardest for your to practice in your family relationships?

Which is hardest in your work/school relationships?

One Another Passages in the New Testament

Mark 9:50 “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

John 13:14 “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

John 15:17 “This is my command: Love each other.”

Acts 20:5-6 When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual affection. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another.

Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Romans 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another…

Romans 15:5-6 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Romans 15:14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss…

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

1 Corinthians 11:33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.

1 Corinthians 12:24-25 But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

1 Corinthians 16:20 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Galatians 5:13 But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

Galatians 5:15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Galatians 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 5:19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs…

Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another…

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now about your mutual love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:13 … Live in peace with each other.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to thank God for you,e brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.

James 4:11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another…

James 5:9 Don’t grumble against each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged …

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed…

1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

1 Peter 5:5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 3:11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God …

1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

2 John 1:5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

Now that I am older than they were when they spoke those words to each other, just knowing they were spoken brings me comfort and joy. How blessed I am to have grown up in a family where mom and dad loved each other and gave their three boys a stable place to grow and develop into men. These times were cut short by my father’s death when he was 51, but these times also still live in the flickering light of a candle, the gentle whir of the fan, the tender touch of a partner, and the final “Amen” at the end of the day.

Thank you mom and dad … and thank you Donna, for a night to slip off into gentle sleep feeling secure in your love and the sweet grace of memories and a special moment of joy.

Our family, however, is going through a major change of seasons right now. Megan is begins Physical Therapy school. Donna has headed back to teaching for the year. I am geared up for the school year and it’s opportunities at Southern Hills — at church, we describe three seasons of the year (or ministry): Fall Semester, Spring Semester, and Summer Vacation.

But yesterday marked a huge change of seasons for us. Tiny, our miniature dachshund for 12 1/2 years had his back go out this weekend. Megan and I knew before we took him to the vet yesterday what the outcome would be, we just couldn’t talk about it. Tiny has been there for the kids journeys through high school, barking at everything that moved and never slowing down. Until the last two months, he would literally drag us on a two mile walk. It was a hard hour at the vet’s: they were kind, but we still came home without him. Lexi — our little black shy dachshund — looks lost without her guardian and keeper. With a bunch of other pressure, Donna’s start to school and continuing battle with IC, deep concern for a friend who is in the hospital ICU, the AC man stepping through the ceiling in the attic, and now Tiny’s goodbye, it’s been a rugged couple of weeks.

Changes in season are like that sometimes. We often romanticize how the summer slips into Indian summer, and then autumn gently falls upon us. But that’s seldom the way it is. Summer’s green gives way to winter’s chill with withering heat, then thunder, lightning, wind, flash-floods, and cold. We marvel at the flash, we are often humbled by the thunder, and we are rightfully fearful when the showers become torrents. Yet through the pandemonium of it all, we know we will emerge out of it into a new season of shorter days, cooler weather, and the richness of Thanksgiving and the joys of Christmas. So we, those of us in the Warehouse, wait for the flash, rumble, and torrents to pass and trust that somewhere beyond this time lies a great feast and the joy of Jesus.

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly (Psalm 5:3 tniv).

In the morning, Lord!

BTW, everyone appears to be doing better after heart procedures, major back surgeries, and driving each other crazy in the hospital room. For a light-hearted look at air travel, our daughter’s blog has a bit more fun take on flying!

Alaska was beautiful, cool, and wonderful. It was a gift to Megan for her graduation from college and acceptance into physical therapy school. I’ll post some pics somewhere — flickr, google, facebook — when I get some sleep and get past Sunday!

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

What Bible verse about angels means the most to you?

30 days.

Sometimes a month can take forever — like when you are six and it’s Thanksgiving and you can’t wait till Christmas comes.

Sometimes a month seems like the blink of an eye — when you are a parent of a child home on a missions furlough or visiting a friend overseas on a month vacation or you are in the service home with your family for a month on leave.

For us, one month has seemed a bit of both. Donna and I are home tonight after a whirlwind visit to a medical center three hours away. A “routine” visit to a specialist. The interesting twist to all of this, however, is that there was awful weather — at least 3 tornadoes, high wends, hail, and flooding rains — between us and our destination and it all parted like the Red Sea for Moses. After all is said and done today … and after all that has gone on over the last month … all is well.

You see, starting a month ago, our family (either one of our parents, our children, or us) has experienced a knee replacement surgery, four separate sets of X-rays, an ultrasound, an MRI, two sets of blood work, a colonoscopy, ankle surgery, emergency trip to the hospital by ambulance, a heart cath, an arterial splint, and today’s trip to Lubbock.

So when I say it’s good to be home tonight … you understand.

When I say God has been good to us because all of this has turned out well … you understand.

In some ways, the last month has passed so quickly. In some ways, however, 30 days seems like forever ago when we started down this path.

But … we have never felt alone, singled out, or abandoned. And when Sunday, shortly after finishing my sermon and while we sang and our Shepherds prayed over the church, three of my elders encircled me and prayed thanksgiving and God’s grace on our family, I was reminded the blessing of faith and family and friends. Not a bad lesson to learn in a just a month.

This is what I mean on the health care issue. My mom had knee replacement surgery on Tuesday … but hold on, that’s just the beginning! While I was waiting with Grady (mom’s husband) at the hospital for mom to come out of recovery, Donna (my wife) was with Megan (our daughter) at the doctor having an MRI read on the ankle she broke five years ago playing softball in high school — a plate and 7 screws was required then to patch it up. Megan did not receive a great report, so she is now referred on to an orthopedist — the same one who did mom’s knee surgery. Megan has been limping around and hurting pretty badly at the end of each day working as a tech at a physical therapy center. Meanwhile, I start my “day before colonoscopy” liquid diet today to get ready for my appointment tomorrow with the dreaded “long black snake” — be warned, I get a little cranky on water and Jello diets in anticipation of drinking concentrated saline so they can look at me where the sun doesn’t shine. While I am having my “procedure” tomorrow, Donna goes for blood work. Ah, can you say “insurance deductible” four times very quickly?

Of course it’s been a crazy and nutty work week for Donna at school and church is its normal insanity for me. Hopefully we all — mom, Megan, Donna, and myself — go home at the same time, in good health,. Of course I can’t be the one driving! They promise that they will dismiss me before I’m fully returned from “lala” land. But that’s what they said last time when I woke up during the beloved “procedure” — but that is a story for another day and time.

So if you ask me how the week has been, I would say, “We’ve paid our insurance deductible and are still standing.” But then, I haven’t survived the long black snake.

Nobody told me when I was 20 that falling apart when you are over 50 is “so much fun”!? Who needs TV when you can watch pictures of … well, let’s not go there.

As I have searched for spiritual application for my “procedure,” phrases from Genesis 3 keep popping into my mind:

“I was naked and hid myself.” (Yeah, that’s what I will want to do in the morning when they take my clothes, put me in that “gown” with no back door. I will want to hide.)
To the snake God said, “Because you have done this, curse are you among all the animals … upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.” (Yeah, we all pretty much want to put a curse on the snake in moments like this.)
“I will put enmity between you and the offspring of the woman .” (Yeah, I’m going to hate this whole deal!)
“By the sweat of your brow …” (Yeah, I’m going to be doing this!)

On closer inspection, the only Scripture that seems to righteously apply right now is this:

[Jesus asked] “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” … And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles” (Matthew 7:19-20 NRS).

Which is, I guess, the Lord’s way of reminding me to not sweat the deductible, but work on the heart of the deductee — a heart that needs to be more patient, kind, gentle, appreciative, thankful, forgiving, empathetic, holy, and joyful. Amid all the whining, I’ve got a place to sleep, a family who loves me, food to eat, a church family to support me, friends to hold me accountable, resources to help provide health care for my family, and a million other blessings I don’t have time to name … and, by the Lord’s grace, I can pay my deductible.

So Lord, I ask that you take the whiny voice out of my heart and replace it with the heart of grace that Jesus had when he compassionately touched the lives of others. And LORD God, please be with all those we know who are truly wrestling with life and death health issues today, and help them to feel your presence and know that they are not alone in their struggles. Bless, especially O LORD, those who do not have access to health care or cannot afford it, and help us find ways to change that situation in our country and in our world, to Your honor and glory. Because of Jesus’ love for us, and in the name of the Great Physician, I pray. Amen.

Knowing the way our adversary works, you can imagine we have battled Internet issues all week long. I have not been able to get my email to work for several days.

My family hasn’t heard from me in at least three days. So here goes a note to my family on my blog — I find it quite ironic that while I’m on a blogging trip, the only way I can get a personal message to my family is through my blog. So here goes …

To My Precious Family — Donna, Megan, Zach & Mandy,

I’m headed home! My heart has been pointed there for several days. I miss you all terribly and I can’t wait to see you. I’ve got wonderful things to share with you — too many to be captured by a few articles and blog posts. But, more than wanting talk TO you, I want to hear FROM you. I want to hear your voices, to see your faces, and to learn how your week went last week. Most of all, I’m looking forward to being home and being with you!

This has been an amazing trip with a wonderful group of people. No one would have put us together by looking at our personalities and past experiences. We’re quite a collection! But, I believe we all feel that God did what no one else would dare to do: He did bring us together in this far away place. Compassion International and the children of Africa were His vehicles to do it.

There are funny stories to tell about each of my new friends, but I will share those some other time. You’ve read their blogs and probably seen some of their videos. You probably know more about what they’ve said than I do, because we haven’t been able to read each others’ posts.

So, before we leave on the plane to brings each of us home, our team will gather one more time. We’ll share the Lord’s Supper together. We’ll remember the Lord and His sacrifice for us. I know that I’ll miss being able to do this with you.

I know that my journey home will seem longer than the one coming here, because I can’t wait to see you. Yet I will also leave a part of my heart here in Uganda. When I get home, I will tell you more about your new little sister, the little girl we sponsor, and I think you will understand what I mean. Until then, please know that I love each you and hope that we can all do something like this together.

Love you forever,
Phil (Dad)

P.S. Donna, I want to especially tell you how precious you were to hide a card for each day in my luggage. I can’t say everything on my heart to you face-to-face. Until then, 3 squeezes!