Faith in Action--Wow!

I was so proud of our church on Faith in Action Day! We had some 300 people give their Sunday to serve the Lord by serving our community. We, in addition to several hundred other people from Cumberland Community Church and Vinings Methodist, descended on Campbell High like a horde of (friendly) locusts. We painted and cleaned, planted, threw out, and built until our tail feathers were dragging. Though we were pretty worn out, we had a grand worship celebration that night. It was a remarkable day. Here are a few shots of  the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Master Bathroom Project



Ah, no leaks, no flames!



I like to watch home repair shows. I record a few of them. I like the pioneer of the genre, This Old House. And I like Holmes on Homes. Holmes is the name of a builder who goes to homeowners’ homes who have been victimized by incompetent and/or unscrupulous contractors. He uncovers all the blunders and deficiencies and then corrects them. The fact that he is the hero of all of his stories gets a little tedious, but what he does is instructive. My favorite, though, is Ask This Old House. They usually tackle small projects in various aspects of home-ownership. They may cover landscaping, HVAC, electrical, carpentry or plumbing. Fascinating stuff.

I decided to renovate our master bathroom. Dale: (eyebrows arched, arms crossed) Are you sure you can do this? Me: I’ve seen it on TV many times. How hard can it be?

You’ve heard the axiom, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”? I’m here to tell you—it’s true! When it comes to construction I know a little bit about a lot of things. Just enough to get into trouble.

I did the demo and some new framing to fit around the cast iron shower pan. I was ready to solder the new shower valve. I was psyched. I started early on Friday morning. But I couldn’t get my propane torch to stay lit. I took it to the hardware store to see if I could get any help. The helpful guy at the store smiled, took my torch and loosened the tip. “If you don’t keep the tip loose, it won’t get any oxygen. No oxygen, no fire.” Hey, don’t be smug. You didn’t know that either.

So, I’m back home with my torch now and heating up the copper fittings on the shower valve. A propane torch gets very hot. But guess what? Temperatures hot enough to solder copper fittings are also hot enough to burn wood. My bathroom wall kept catching on fire! So I would hold the flame on the fittings with my right hand and beat out the flames on the studs with my gloved left hand. It was very exciting.

Did you know that for $15 you can get what they call a “heat shield”? You drape it behind the copper you’re heating—so you don’t burn down your house. How am I supposed to know that? I’ve never seen that on Ask This Old House.

I’m learning a lot. Don’t call me, though. You don’t have enough insurance for me to work on your house.

I’ve come to this conclusion. You can only learn so much by watching a program. At some point, if you want to become better at it, you have to do it.

That’s true about our faith, too. You can only learn so much from attending classes, services and conferences. At some point, if your faith is going to grow, you have to do. Not sing about it, read about it, or agree with someone else who’s talking about it. You have to DO IT. You have to serve, pray, give, witness—do. Will you stumble along the way? More than likely. Will you grow spiritually in the process? Without a doubt.

The one benediction we all covet for ourselves is the Lord pronouncing over us, not: “Well attended good and faithful servant,” but, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Our Daughter's Wedding



Beautiful Bride-Proud Father

What a whirlwind weekend! Dale and I celebrated our daughter's wedding. Pictured to the right is the proud father dancing with the beautiful bride. And I didn't even step on her toes! I had the privilege of performing the ceremony. It was emotionally challenging, but also exhilarating. It produced a kind of ambivalence. It's what every parent wants and works toward: independence and maturity. And yet, I couldn't help but feel I was losing something...

Ah, well. What's the alternative? Perpetual adolescence? No thank you! Besides, she picked a wonderful young man who will love her and cherish her. Congratulations to you both!

Here's where my mind is today. You know how much you love your family. Well, that's how much I love my family, too. But the fact is, families don't last. Kids grow up and get married. Spouses die. Things change. Not even your family is permanent. In fact, if all you have in this life is your family, one day you will be a very lonely person. It takes more than family to make it in this life. It takes connection to God.  And the incarnation of Christmas reminds us that God has done everything necessary for us to make a meaningful, permanent connection with him. He has given us the gift of a Savior.

Investment Advice

There are many things I could point to with a profound sense of gratitude. But right now I’m thankful for memories. As Dan Quayle famously and clumsily said, “It’s a terrible thing to lose one’s mind.” Yes, it is. And the worst thing about it would be to lose the capacity to recall.

When I was growing up, the day after Thanksgiving wasn’t much of a shopping day. It was a fishing day. My dad, my older brother, and I would go fishing in the saltwater marshes of south Louisiana, in the heart of Plaquemines Parish, the Parish that was so devastated by hurricane Katrina. It was an all-day affair. We’d leave before light and get home after dark. And we were good, too. The fish celebrated our departure! Those are some of the best memories I have from my childhood.

Since I’m a preacher I feel I can relay a preacherly word. If you want to really be rich, invest in memories, not things. As the years go by, the value of things decreases, but the value of memories increases. In this uncertain and unstable economic world, you can’t claim that about very many investments.

For Sweet Music

This post is copied from my column in the Nov/ Dec issue of The Message.

When Dale and I have dinner together we always have candles and music. The candles are still very, very old school. A candle is a candle. But the delivery of music has changed a lot. We use to do the music the old fashioned way. We played the radio. And you take what you get—including the commercials. Then we upgraded; we got a CD player. We get the music, minus the commercials, but we’re limited to what we have on hand.

We’ve upgraded again. To something called Pandora. This is internet radio. It’s a step up even from satellite radio. It has no commercials, and, it’s free. And the sound quality is flawless. It works like this. You pick an artist, a style of music, or even just one song, and Pandora uses an algorithm to parse the music you’ve selected into something called a “Station,” and it will then go and find more music for you that is like it. I can enter, “Macy Gray,” or “Bach,” or “Chris Tomlin,” and Pandora will play their music, plus others who are like them. Each song that is played comes with a little “thumbs-up,” or “thumbs down,” for you to click. In this way, you can further and further refine your new Station.

I realize the analogy can’t be pressed very hard, but there is something of sanctification going on here. You sign up for a Station. This is the principle you agree with. It is, if you will, the Truth. When you finally humble yourself and submit to the truth, you find God bringing it to you from many different places. You will find the truth in Scripture, in worship, in music. You’ll find it in the countless ways and places you have to make decisions through the course of a week. And each time you respond to God’s truth with obedience it’s like you click “thumbs up.” Each little act of obedience causes God’s truth in you to become a little more refined, a little more focused. It’s like God has a great algorithm working in your life, slowly, day by day, making you a little more like Jesus. Jesus said, “Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth” (John 17:17, Amp.).

The more you respond in obedience to God, the sweeter the music of your life will sound.

Land of the Rising Sun





I’m glad to be home! Six of us spent ten days in Japan (seven days serving). The flight over was direct—14 ½ hours and 13 time zones. But I got much of that time back when I came home. I arrived in Atlanta 35 minutes before I left Japan. Think about that.

Though Japan is the 3^rd largest economy in the world it is very small in terms of land mass. Japan is slightly smaller than the state of California. The people are small of stature. Their cars are small. Their roads are small. Their houses are small. The doors in their houses are small. I nearly suffered a concussion from banging my head on doorways. Their hotels are small. The last 3 nights we were there I stayed in a single room in a hotel in downtown Tokyo. I could stand in the middle of the room and touch both walls. And my arms are not that long.

While there is a lot about Japan that is small, I can say from firsthand experience, their faith and their hearts are not. It’s not easy being a Christ follower in Japan. And it’s not easy to reach Japanese people with the gospel. Fewer than 1% of the people are Christian. Those believers we met are passionately dedicated to Christ and his church. You would love them immediately.

Thank you for your many prayers for our team. Our team was comprised of Keith and Anna Miller (team leaders), Fred and Sara Creighton, Bob McDuff (my roomie!), and me. We shared one small, three-bedroom apartment and one bathroom. We have become very close friends. Please continue to pray for open hearts among the Japanese people and encouragement for the believers there, as well as for the encouragement of our missionaries. Many thanks go out to Pastor Yoshio and the Shinkoiwa Baptist Church. I preached to this great congregation on October 30 (with Pastor Yoshio's smooth translation). Other team members shared their personal testimonies plus we led in Sunday morning Sunday School classes. In addition to this, during the week our team met with several small groups in members' homes in order to share our testimonies and ask and answer a wide variety of questions. We also did some prayer walking and passing out Japanese language tracts. Our team is planning a time soon to report on our trip and the wonderful ways we saw God at work.

A Birthday to Remember

I take pleasure in a lot of things.

• A steaming plate of Dale's shrimp creole.
• Late Thursday and the sermon is finished.
• Leaving for a week of vacation with JUST my wife.
• Watching someone in the congregation who is really getting their life together and growing closer to God.
• A sweater that fits.
• Changing the oil in my car.

But this weekend was memorable. It was my birthday! (double nickles, my kids like to say). Of course they treat me like I'm the King of the World (or at least the Western Hemisphere)--but you don't want to hear about that! My son and his wife Cristina and my daughter and her fiance Josh came to church with us Sunday, then came home with us for dinner.

They all got home from church before I did. As I went up the stairs from the garage I paused before opening the door. They were all in the kitchen, just down the hall. And they were really yucking it up--laughing and cutting up--it seemed like they were all talking at the same time. And I just stood there and listened. And I thought, "The things I spend my time worrying about are just not very important. This--this is important. This is really sweet. Today is a good day. Today is one to remember. Today is one of those days I'll want to come back for someday."

Of course, I still have to be 55 all year, but it sure got off to a great start.

The Bible says, "Parents rejoice when their children turn out well" (Pr. 23:24, The Message).

I'm finding this to be so very true.