Jabberwocky

Natchez Ghosts

2010-10-14T14:11:00.001-05:00

Another link to our sister website
http://www.natchezghosts.com/
http://www.natchezghosts.blogspot.com/

The Devil's Punchbowl Blog

2010-10-10T19:19:00.003-05:00

Check out this new site: http://natchezghosts.blogspot.com

NAPS Natchez Area Paranormal Society

2010-10-06T17:35:00.002-05:00

Getting geared up and ramped up to do much better (and going public) at paranormal investigations.
Here is the website url, which we will be building out in time - just basic info for now:

www.natchezparanormal.com

Leadership Traits?

2010-05-09T21:42:00.006-05:00

I was driving my brother's truck the other day and noticed sitting there on his back seat, was a book on Leadership. So, while in line for some food at a (not so) fast-food restaurant, I perused it looking for anything relevant. No such luck. Just the usual. You know, leaders do this for their followers, and leaders do that for their people, etc, etc, ad nauseaum.

Know what I'd like to see from leaders? Three basic things.
1. Integrity within their own lives.
2. Some semblance of how knowledge workers function and lead accordingly.
3. Look out for the people who look out for them, in other words, fight for them, not against them.

Integrity Within Their Own Lives
I think we have too many leaders, especially in the Church, who are grossly overweight, yet refuse to eat properly or God forbid, exercise. Could we have Church leaders who don't bounce checks, or get calls from bill collectors, or owe people money that they won't pay back? Could we have church leaders who don't surf the net for porn? Too many (certainly not all) leaders in our churches begin by telliing us how to live, yet don't or won't see the logs in their own eyes. I'm just weary of it.

100 Things to Do Before I Die

2009-03-14T22:42:00.010-05:00

Chalk it up to a melancholy mood, or stage of life issues, but lately I've been in an mode of analyzing my life and thinking about my journey - the journey of my life. You know, where I've been, where I've come from, what I've done, and of course, where I'm going next.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Blade Runner. I love several lines from that movie, and one is, "All he wanted to know is what we all want to know...who am I?...where am I going?...and how long have I got?...

Exactly right.

So, I'm asking myself: what will I leave behind?

What will I want to have done when I'm laying on my deathbed?

What will I regret?

Like the haunting scene from Shindler's List, when Schindler is at the railroad tracks saying goodbye: who else could I have saved if I had not been so selfish?

Ever think about those kinds of things?

I'm sure you do.

I hope you do.

So, I'm in the process of compiling a list of 100 Things I Want To Do Before I Die. Who knows, maybe the list will grow to a 1,000...'cause when you stop and really think about it, a hundred things ain't really so many...not for a whole life lived, ya know?

As you can tell, I love movies. (That's because God speaks to me through movies A LOT. Really, he does.)

I leave this entry remembering another great line from Shawshank Redemption:

"Either get busy living, or get busy dieing."

I choose living...but I want my living to mean something.

Erasing the Line - Part 3

2008-01-05T23:19:00.001-06:00

This is the concluding Part 3, of a Three-Part post:

The problem is, we think of grace and faith as concepts, and we don't think of the very real and practical ways to exercise them. In other words, we don't think of faith as a SKILL to be developed. We just think it is mental assent, or just an idea to agree with, or we think it is merely trust. While these aspects are true, it is not a full picture of a biblical concept of what faith is.

No, faith is much more than belief or trust, it is the exercise and working out (like an athlete does) of wisdom and revelation. Wisdom which comes from the study and application of God's written word - in the Greek: Logos...and revelation which comes from a deep and intimate relationship with God's Spirit, which in the Greek is Rhema - God's spoken word. We so rarely utilize them however, that like seldom used muscles, they are atrophied and severely weak. The English bible translations that we use every day do us a severe disservice by translating both Rhema and Logos as "God's Word." There is a big difference. As I said above, one refers to God's written word, the other is God's spoken word!

One comes through the study and application of scripture, the other comes by way of being able to hear and see and understand His Spirit speaking to us.

Both are necessary, one cannot have just one. Both must be regularly used and exercised to be able to be effective as a follower of Christ. Do you realize that the "sword of the Spirit" that is spoken of in Ephesians chapter six (the armor of God passage), that the Sword of the Spirit is NOT the scriptures or written word (Logos), but is the Greek Rhema - or God's SPOKEN Word? Interesting, is it not?

In other words, in addition to knowing the scriptures, we are to be able to see and hear reality as it really is...to be able to hear God speaking to us, to be able to see what He is doing in our midst, and to be aware of what the enemy is up to as well. Proper awareness requires both Logos and Rhema. Awareness (knowing reality) is a significant New Testament theme. 2 Corinthians 2:11 says, "in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes." Ephesians 6:11: "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."

So, God is telling you and I, to open our eyes, and see things as they truly are...

...to study the scriptures (His written Word) and apply it...

...and to also pray and deepen your walk with Him so that we can hear His voice, recognize when it is Him that is speaking to us, so that He can direct our specific path, and so that we can more clearly see what He is doing and where He wants us to go (His spoken Word).

In just the few short weeks I have focused more intently on exercising these areas of my spiritual senses (about eleven weeks now) my "vision" is becoming sharper. My "hearing" is growing stronger and more clear. Just as an athlete grows stronger and improves through training and practice, this "practice" of seeing and understanding things better because the line that blurs reality is being erased, is resulting in amazing new truths and realities being made more clear in my own life. I am living out of a new reality.

I do not have room here to list the hundreds of things I have seen, heard, witnessed and understood since focusing on this. I know, I know...I sound as if I am going off the deep end, right? Well all I ask, is for you to try it. As I alluded to above, it is not just about "sight" or "vision." It is about being able to "hear" reality as well. In fact, those words - "sight" and "hearing" are simply metaphors for "understanding true reality." Is it not interesting to read so many passages in scripture that tell of Christ restoring sight to the blind, or to read the passages of John's Revelation where the message to each church ends with, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches"?

Christ is challenging me to improve my sight and hearing - to be able to know reality. It is a gift that we so often fail to receive. Our responsibility is to work to improve our skills and our devotion in order to take advantage of them. They are there if we will use them...that is what I am learning in my own life. He is calling me to dig deeply into His written word and to apply it to my life. He is also calling me to a deeper intimacy and relationship with Him, through prayer, in order that I might hear His voice directing my every choice and action. I perceive that God is calling me to personally improve both my Logos and Rhema, so that they come together to help me improve my understanding of my surroundings. It is indeed already helping me to be more aware of the schemes and works of Satan, and to know what He (God) is also doing in the midst of my "ordinary" every-day life. I think God is calling me to this, so that I will more effectively join in His efforts to bear fruit for His kingdom. I believe He is calling all of us to this, of course, not just me.

There is a line, a curtain, that we erect or place in our minds that should not be there, just as the Hebrews placed a curtain to separate the Holy of Holies from the other part of the temple. God ripped that curtain or veil down upon Christ's death and resurrection. Through the Holy Spirit, He is still trying to get us to remove the veils from over our eyes (or scales from our eyes - such as in Paul's encounter with Christ on the Damascus road) in order to see things as they really are.

Why does He want us to see more clearly? Why do you suppose he wants us to know reality...true reality? Forgive me, I know that the term "true reality" is redundant, for there should be no need to say true reality...reality on its own, is true by its very nature. But that proves my point...you understand somehow that to say them together makes sense...that we have this idea of "reality," but that there is a truer reality that we must dig deeper to get a hold of.

But why is God so determined for me, for us, to get to this true reality and live out of it? I think it is because the more detail we know and understand, because the more in-focus we become, then the better and more accurately we can pray...

...and the more accurately and detailed we pray, then the more effective our prayers are in loosening the power of the spiritual forces of heaven upon situations, circumstances and lives!

It is an amazing spiritual reality, that God gives us humans a vital and important role to play in life - in the cosmic battle of the kingdom of heaven against the kingdom of darkness...in the struggle of good versus evil. We can make a tremendous difference though our prayers! Also, as St. Teresa of Avila once said (and this is no small matter either), we are the hands and feet of Christ through which he operates most often in this world.

So, if we don't see things as they really and truly are, how then can He move and operate and accomplish His will as effectively as He could if we would cooperate with Him, and be His people and do His will? The scriptures clearly teach that God calls man to cooperate with Him, and when man does, amazing things happen.

So, erasing the line between the spiritual and material results in far more effective prayer and action, the same kind of difference that one saw between American smart bombs that were placed literally through windows of target buildings, and Saddam's Scud missiles that were simply launched and then he would turn on CNN to see if they even hit the city they were pointed toward! If you believe in prayer, and you believe that prayer is real, powerful, and can change things; and if you believe that the more detailed and specific your prayer - the more powerful and effective they are...then you must believe that if the Holy Spirit wants us to see things that we never noticed before and to see reality as it truly is, then this will result in more effective prayer and more powerful spiritual movement for God's Kingdom.

As someone once said, "Hmmm...there is much more going on here than it first seems." I don't know what God is saying to you, but He is telling me that it is time to open my blind eyes, stop the stumbling and bumbling, and see what it is He wants me to see.

Could it be, that He is calling you to do the same?

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Erasing the Line - Part 2

2008-01-05T22:57:00.001-06:00

The following is Part 2 of a Three-Part Post:

The fact is, the spiritual and material worlds (realities) are intimately connected and woven together in one world of reality that God operates within, in every single second of every day. However, we humans have somehow pulled them apart into two separate realities or "worlds." Science has convinced us to only believe what we can "know" through our five physical (material) senses - sight, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling - and to reject everything else as superstition, myth or fairy-tale.

Those who hold this scientific-materialistic view, literally laugh (and do so with genuine conviction) at even the slightest hint or suggestion that spiritual realities exist. They do so with extreme assurance, convinced in their own minds that they could not possibly be mistaken. Their conviction is real. Make no mistake, they are absolutely convinced of their view of reality. They are absolutely sure that there is no spiritual world. As a result, they can be extremely condescending and intimidating. They see themselves as superior, as the educated ones, the enlightened...the non-ignorant and non-superstitious. They quickly make anyone feel that to even mention spiritual realities is to brand oneself as a hillbilly who is simply uneducated or even dangerous. (Ask any student at LSU, USM, Ole Miss or most any University, who dares to stand up in the middle of biology class and challenge Darwinian evolution, as to what reaction they will receive, and you will begin to get the idea. It is such an atmosphere of condescension and intimidation that even the strongest Christian students just sit in obedient silence and never speak up. What happens to those less strong in their faith, or those who do not know any better to begin with? I would even venture that such scenarios are not just limited to the large and major universities, but can also be found far too often in our local elementary, middle schools, and high-schools as well). But I ask, who are truly the uneducated and unenlightened here? Who are the ones who are limiting their ability to understand by refusing to allow for, or admit even the possibility of spiritual realities?

Our schools and Universities have become factories of separating the spiritual from the physical/material. It started with taking prayer out of schools, continued by removing creationism from biology classes, and is now even trying to remove the words "one nation under God" from the pledge of allegiance. Our educational system is bent on the absolute and total removal of the spiritual world realities from the material.

American society and culture at large is doing the same thing. Mainstream media squirms uncomfortably when anyone mentions God or Jesus...even when an athlete being interviewed after some victory will say something like, "First of all I give all the credit to Jesus Christ." There are intense efforts to have the words "In God we trust" removed from our currency. The ten commandments are being removed from courthouses. Huge retailers prevent their people from saying Merry Christmas. All of this is the manifestation of the rise in secular-progressivism, and done under the misguided mantra of "the separation of church and state." But what is behind all of this? More important, who is behind it? The answer to the "who" question is not a movement nor a flesh and blood person. I submit that what is behind the material realities that we see in our lives every day is a spiritual reality that is dark and evil. There is much more going on than what first meets the eye. These are not disconnected, isolated events. They are connected...much more so than we can imagine.

I asked earlier, why do we allow this separation of the material from the spiritual in such a radical degree? (I am not advocating a theocracy, or total church-state integration.) But more importantly, why should we allow this separation to infiltrate, subvert, and affect our own faith and practice...and how we interpret and see ordinary events in our everyday lives...to the degree we are presently allowing it to do?

It is within this context that God is challenging me to erase this pseudo-vision of reality that I as a Christian (and we as Christians) have let influence us, sometimes in very subtle ways, and trade it for a vision that sees more clearly...to trade temporal vision for a clearer spiritual or eternal vision. In addition to our five material senses, He gives us spiritual senses through which He communicates to us, and by which we can pick up, receive, and understand spiritual realities, if we would but use them! I am speaking of such things, among others, as grace and faith.

(Please read Part 3, the conclusion, in the next post.)

Erasing the Line - Part 1

2008-01-05T12:21:00.000-06:00

[I write the following because several people have asked me to explain more about what they noticed me working on recently, and expressed an interest in doing something similar themselves. I hope this helps.]

As I entered this new year of 2008, I did so after having carefully and prayerfully considered the past year of 2007 - my strengths, my weaknesses, my successes and failures, etc. I have done this every year for over twenty years, a process that usually begins at Thanksgiving and concludes on New Year's eve. During this more than month-long process, I ask God to guide me carefully through honest and often painful analysis and self-discovery in every part of my life. I do this in order to allow God to do a "mid-course correction" in my life-long journey and destination toward living the full life that He promises to all of us who know and follow Him.

As I mentioned above, this month-long process culminates in a personal prayer and dedication event on New Year's night. So, the moment the New Year arrives, I am in prayer, praising and thanking God for the ending year, asking forgiveness for my failures and weaknesses, and asking Him to seal those goals and priorities He has revealed to me for the coming new year. So, by the time New Year's eve arrives, I have typed the results of all this process into distinct goals and comments, covering all aspects of my life and identity - some quite detailed and utterly private. I will share that most of these goals and priorities have to do with my relationship with God, blessings I have received that I need to recognize and thank Him for, areas I need to grow in, my identity in Christ, issues in my every-day practical life in this world, things I struggle with and weaknesses, and detailed intercessory requests for the people He has laid on my heart to pray for and care for.

I use these notes throughout the year, to evaluate how I am doing and to remind myself of what God has challenged me to be and do. I should also say that these things morph to some degree, as life changes and He reveals more to me throughout the year. Some things change slightly, some things are added or enhanced, and sometimes things are completely dropped. Life is dynamic, and is always shifting. The point is, that He reveals a theme for my year, and He has me entering the new year with a clear vision and purpose - a path - for me to set out on. I want to share with you one aspect of what He has challenged me in, for the coming year 2008. I do so because I believe He may be challenging others in this same area! It is my hope and prayer, that in my sharing the following, that you will indeed recognize this particular call in your life, and that my comments will help you clarify and address this challenge more effectively. I warn that this is a long article, so I will break it up into three separate postings. Thanks for your patience as I work through these thoughts.

This year, as part of my identity in Christ that He is growing and nurturing in me, it is clear that I am to erase the line between the spiritual and material worlds, and to see the world all around me with clearer vision...to no longer see the world as we have been taught to see it, even in the church, as two separate worlds, but as one world in two parts, closely integrated and intimately linked. I would like to explain what I mean by this in quite some detail, because I think it is very important for all of us...not just me.

I have always "seen" the spiritual in things...quite honestly, perhaps even more than most. (I don't say this to promote myself, but to simply make the point that even those of us who have always "known" that the spiritual is all around us fail to fully implement this in our every-day lives!) But, I strongly feel the Spirit of God challenging me to erase this line and tear down the high wall we've erected between the two. It is not a call to deny the physical world, nor is it a call to elevate the spiritual world out of proportion to the physical. Rather it is a call to see the spiritual in the physical, and to better understand how the two are closely linked. It is a truth I already knew (as I'm sure you did as well), but I (and perhaps you too) have failed to fully appreciate and integrate into our lives...really.

You see, we often draw an extremely bold and distinct line between the material and the spiritual. This line is false...well, I should say the degree we make them so radically separate is false. This line should NOT be there to the degree we make it.

The secular world either denies and dismisses the spiritual world out-of-hand (as in science); or, it dabbles curiously into it like sticking a toe into a pool of water to test its temperature (as in para-normal TV shows that explore the possibility of a ghost haunting some family's home). Meanwhile, even the Church has unintentionally separated the two by making Sundays the day of the spiritual, and Monday through Saturday the realm of the material - or the real. This has been called "the two-story existence," whereby Christians live their lives Monday through Saturday downstairs in the informal world of material, every-day living. This is the first floor of their existence - where things are real -such as house and car payments, shopping for groceries, going out with friends, dealing with sickness, death, heartache, and pain, washing clothes and running the kids to soccer practice. Then, on Sundays, we ascend the stairs to the second floor, to "do the spiritual thing" - wherein we listen to an expert (a preacher) tell us about spiritual things, we pray and sing to God, and then after this "service" is over with, then we go back down the stairs to "the real world" - where real life happens. We fail to connect the spiritual world in every day, seemingly mundane chores and events - such as shopping for food at the local grocery store. This is, I am learning, a serious mistake.

WE fail to see the spiritual world behind the "real world."

What is really going on when we see a husband and wife arguing and saying nasty things to one another? What is really going on when we read in the paper about a rash of burglaries in homes all over downtown? What is really going on behind the rise of radical Islamic fundamentalism?...a terrorist attack in Bali...a suicide bomber in Iraq?

What is really going on when I can't seem to make progress in some area of my spiritual walk?..my devotional life...or to find the time to pray like I really need to? What is really going on when I choose to purchase food I know is not the best for me, and I fail to walk, jog, or get the exercise I know I need to? What is really going on in our local community that blacks and whites so often disagree on how to solve our problems, or to even agree to what the problems are? What is really going on that life is so darn hard? That we seem to be...well, opposed?

While I have known for a long time that the spiritual world is true and present, I must admit that I do not tie the two so intimately together as I should. God is revealing to me that this is NOT true living, or living true, as God wants us to live. I have a notion that He is revealing the same thing to many of you.

[By the way, the distinction (or distortion) of two widely separated worlds, was introduced through the teachings and writings of the Greek philosopher Plato...and when we allow this line of distortion, we live more Platonic than Christian. We have no idea (again our sight is dim) of how much ancient classical Greek philosophy we live by today -in 2008 - as well as Augustinian (Augustine's) theology - both of which have influenced us tremendously, but is NOT scriptural. Such things as two-world living, that I speak of here, as well as determinism, which I will leave for another time. Neither are scriptural.]

I am strongly being challenged by God this new year (actually it began in mid-October of 2007 while on a trip to Ukraine) to shatter this line of demarcation between the material and the spiritual. To erase completely "the line that blurs reality" - which the Holy Spirit has named it in my mind.

The Holy Spirit is revealing to me through scripture reading and exegesis, through direct communication, through other people - especially Christian brothers and sisters (but interestingly, not always through Christians-sometimes I hear a non-believer expressing some hint of a deeper reality, and that is fascinating!), through studies, through reading and studying the beliefs of the Christian church in the early centuries of the Church (before the rise of enlightenment thinking and science), through a study into understanding the influences of secular and pagan philosophy and misguided theology and movements even from within the ranks of Christianity [such as gnosticism and determinism], through books, movies and various other conduits of His revelation, that such a separation...such a line...falsifies reality and makes me blind to what is really going on all around me. In the past, in so delineating the material world from the spiritual world, I have failed to see how a common "event" in my life, such as receiving a much needed payment for work just in the nick of time; or perhaps feeling an inner urge to do something for someone (or perhaps someone does something nice for me); or, we see on the news the assassination of Indian ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is very much connected to the spiritual world...to dynamic spiritual goings-on, to the ebb and flow of spiritual realities and struggles...on the level of individuals and families; on the level of societies, cultures, sub-cultures, communities and cities; on the level of regions, people-groups, and countries; to the wider world at-large, and even ultimately to the universal cosmic spiritual war that is going on between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of darkness, between God and Satan on all of these levels.

I know in my heart I am not alone in my dim vision and blindness. Do you sense that maybe you too have drawn this line - that a wall exists between your material world and the spiritual world? Do you see the spiritual behind the material in your own life? I mean, not just "here and there," but in practically everything do you see it? Is God revealing and challenging you in a similar way? I would suspect that perhaps He is indeed saying the same thing to you!

My Sanctuary

2007-03-24T22:37:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite movie scenes takes place in the epic "Last of the Mohican's" when the lead character is explaining why he left his friend's bodies unburied, a family known as the Camerons. He glances up to implore the lady to look up at amazing canopy of a billion stars in the nighttime sky, and he tells her a wonderful story about how the stars got there. Then, he tells her simply, "That's the Cameron's monument."

I had a similar experience while riding out to Clear Springs National Forest last Sunday. No, I openly confess (without any twinge of guilt I might add) that my butt was not parked in a Church sanctuary somewhere - that is, not in a pew in a building or other man-made structure. But that's not to say I didn't worship the God I believe in, along with millions of other Christians around the world, nor does it mean that I was not "in sanctuary"!

While driving out, the sun, though hidden behind a huge bank of billowy clouds, was shining down in over two dozen brilliant rays that penetrated small openings here and there, which stretched from West to East. I've never quite seen anything like it, and it remained in place for the entire drive out. God spoke powerfully to me in that thirty minute drive, and I worshipped Him through a magnificent display of His creation. No, I didn't hear a human sermonizing. I saw no uplifted arms nor heard no special singer. But neither did those in the pews see or hear what I did. I'm certainly not knocking worshipping indoors, but I am saying that God speaks clearly and powerfully (sometimes much more so) without any human assistance - with all due respect to any humans who might be offended by such a truth.

I thank God that He speaks to us in many, many various ways, and that we can worship Him in just as many ways. Selah.

A Better Weekend

2006-09-24T18:57:00.000-05:00

I really don't take sports that seriously anymore, but last weekend my teams lost big games. My Notre Dame Fighting Irish got blasted by Michigan, and my LSU Tigers lost a close game to Auburn. This weekend was much better, the Tigers routed Tulane, which beat MS State at Starkville last weekend. My Irish managed to come from way behind to beat Michigan State in East Lansing. To top it all off, both Alabama and Ole Miss LOST. Now that's a better weekend! [Sorry Rebel and Crimson Tide fans...just a friendly dig!]

What Freedom Really Is

2006-09-24T17:45:00.000-05:00

Recently, I heard Oprah Winfrey's "partner" commenting on what he thought freedom really was. I don't remember where I saw him commenting or even what his name is, but I'd like to repeat what he said and expound upon his idea a bit. He said that freedom is not singing, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty of thee I sing." Rather, he said, "Freedom is a way of thinking." I agree with that completely.

Freedom is a way of thinking. Freedom is a way of living. Freedom is a mindset. Freedom is getting out of our little box, and the box other people try to keep us in, and thinking of other possibilities, solutions and answers.

Freedom, according to Suze Orman, is living in such a way as to deny the life of lies we've become comfortable living in. That way is "safe" but a dead end. I agree with her also. It's not easy to live the truth. To do so means you have to face all the real reasons of why you are the way you are, or live the way you live, instead of living the lie of fooling yourself and others. Facing the truth means you have to get into why it is you overeat, why you never exercise, why you're unhappy with your marriage, why you spend your money on shoes and material things rather than save or invest...and the list goes on and on. This leads to an honest appraisal of self and a potential "house-cleaning" of our character. In other words, freedom begins with truth, casting off the life of lies, and being who we are in Christ - not who others think we should be. If we like who we are and accept who we are, strengths and weaknesses alike, then we can move forward and be successful in life.

There is no freedom on par with enjoying who we are in Christ once we've been brutally honest with ourselves and allowed Him into our deepest ego areas, and allowed Him to live in us and transform us. A vital part of that which is often overlooked and not accomplished in the salvation process is refusing to live how others want us to, and instead living how we are supposed to live in Christ. It is also not focusing on legalistic, externals, but being faithful in your heart. It is living in the truth, and casting off the life of lies. We often lie first to ourselves, and to our own hearts...at least, that has been my experience. But we also must address the influence of others when it (as it often does) interferes with our identity in Christ. His truth will set us free, but so often we have to throw off the chains of what others expect and demand we be, in order to accept that freedom and new life. Accountability to others is a vital part, but it must be the type of accountability that is concerned with upholding biblical principles as we understand them, not upholding the laws and traditions (the local culture) of men - even if it is cloaked in the wrappings of what others call "christian."

Choosing to live in freedom begins with reality...God's reality. The reason so many "good" people live in bondage is because they are unwilling to face the fear of exploring the reality of the dirt, laziness, desire for control, cruelty, pride, weakness, selfishness, crud, and impurity in their own hearts.

As Red says in the movie Shawshank Redemption, "Get busy living, or get busy dieing."

The choice is ours. We can sit around and do lots of activities and "play" church. Or, we can allow God to skewer our souls with the hot coals of the Holy Spirit's fire in order to purify and make us honest with ourselves. God seeks only those hearts that are humble and contrite.

So, where are you right now in your life? Are you masquerading? Are there areas in your life you are hiding from others...even hiding from yourself - pushing it down 'cause you can't face the truth of who you've become? Are you free?

Life Outside the Box

2006-09-24T11:48:00.000-05:00

I have to say a few things here...so indulge me while I get up on my soapbox and defend this blog.

As I prepare to begin launching another round of blog posts, I'd like to ONCE AGAIN make it clear what a blog is. Or better, maybe I should make it clear what a blog is NOT:

A blog is not a place to be blindly loyal to the core social value of small southern towns to "never, ever hurt any one's feelings." Thus, with these definitions in mind, I am guilty of being disloyal and "mean." I apologize in advance for trampling on anyones "feelings," but I do hold firmly to the notion that honesty is sorely needed.

A blog is not a place to be blindly loyal to the traditional church value that you must think like everyone else thinks, vote like everyone else votes, and act like everyone else acts. Thus, I am apostate and a disappointment.

A blog is not a place to keep the mask on and be a fake. Thus I don't conform.

A blog is not a place to continue to live a life that is a lie. Thus, I am dangerous and even subversive (as was Christ).

Allow me to educate and teach as to what a blog IS:

A blog is...

...a place where one expresses opinions and speaks the truth as they know it to be, regardless of whether it may ruffle a few feathers or not - and regardless of whose feathers are ruffled. Thus I live in freedom.

...a place to NOT BE IN THE BOX with everyone else, but to speak FREELY. I'll say more about what FREEDOM really and truly is in an upcoming post. I'll just say this for now: I put on a uniform for four years in a combat arms M.O.S. (military occupation specialty) and walked the fence of freedom for fellow American citizens, a couple of whom are now complaining how dare I say some of the things I write on in this blog. Well, it is my view that I certainly have earned the first amendment right to speak my opinion, especially while responding to other people's publicly expressed sentiments or exhortations. As an American soldier, I joined a long line of Americans who help protect and defend our constitutional and inalienable rights. I joined with others in working my butt off, sacrificing, and placing my life at risk so that all of us could remain free in our lives and not have to suffer the loss of the very freedoms (including the right to free speech) that a couple of complainers now want to deny me. I have even been accused by one, of being "disloyal" because I left a church to follow God's call on my life! Wow. In defense of myself, I would simply ask, in light of my military service to this country, as a veteran, and in light of our constitutional rights, who is being disloyal to whom?

If expressing what I feel to be biblical principals - even more important - defending biblical truth in the face of what I honestly and sincerely feel to be pseudo-Christian sentiments and exhortations even though those sentiments and exhortations may look good or "feel" right, and if in doing so may bruise an ego or two well, tough. But what debate and exchange of ideas of any merit doesn't sting a bit? It always hurts a little to be criticised or told you are a bit off in an area. There is not growth without growing pains. Do we expect there to never be pain in the marketplace of exchanging ideas and thoughts. Do we not recognize that growth means some pain. As iron sharpens iron, sparks fly! If one lives his life bending himself into a pretzel in order to never hurt anyone's feelings, then how will he ever be an effective follower of Christ?!? He becomes merely a follower of man's social mores and codes, always twisting in the winds of trying to guess at, and trying to avoid offending the sensitivities of fickle and selfish human beings. One thing is for sure, he would NOT be live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Any reading of the Gospels or the New Testament as a whole will quickly reveal that the Gospel is actually offensive to many...especially those humans with their own agendas. Even a study of the history of the Church will reveal the same truth - the Gospel hurts peoples' feelings quite often. Just ask any of the translators of scripture, such as John Wycliffe or John Huss, the later of whom was burned at the stake for his efforts to put the Bible in the language of the common people of his time. Ask Martin Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and the other reformers. Ask John Wesley, or Jonathan Edwards if they ever hurt anyone's feelings!

As a Christian, you certainly musn't go out of your way to intentionally hurt people, but this is a prime example of where today's impotent church far too often preaches a gospel that lacks in power because it preaches man's goals, values and social mores instead of God's sometimes stinging, biting truth. There is a needed balance - to speak the truth in love - to be both a prophet and a priest - to kick your butt when you need it and also to give you encouragement when you need it. Truly, this blog is not made up of post after post of only criticism, or biting harshly on some mistaken idea or ideal - actually that is rare. No, the truth is that there are plenty of encouragements and light-hearted posts to be found here. But, dare I ever criticize any of the problematic ways we do church today, then out come the whiners.

I'm amazed at the warped idea, that if in expressing my opinion I should "hurt someone's feelings," that I shouldn't express the opinion. What a naive and childish approach to adult and Christian dialogue! How can I know when or if my opinion will hurt someone's feelings, and when did this become an arbiter of truth? Also, you can't have it both ways. You can't exhort other people in public to think, act, or be a certain way, without expecting feedback on those exhortations. Hello?...that's basic freedom. Is it tyranny you want? Don't want any freedom of speech? Then move to North Korea, China or Cuba. I lived in Russia right after the fall of communism. I know the value of watching first hand a people discover the right to criticize their "leaders," or others who tell them how to live. So, If you can't stand the fire, then stay out of the kitchen...or go to the local baby department and get a big supply of noonies.

Another core reality of today is the lack of proper distance or compartmentalization between people's work & ideas - and their identity. People take things personally to a degree they shouldn't. Some take criticism of their way of doing things or their thoughts, as a personal attack upon their identity, character or interpret it as disloyalty! Actually, it is worse than this...if one merely disengages (leaves) and moves to another calling and stops attending, it is translated even as betrayal! Wow. It is an unfortunate reality in small communities in small towns that simply should not be. I think this is much too high a standard to force upon well-intentioned brothers and sisters in Christ - to have the idea that once in a faith community-then you must always stay in that particular faith community, and is far too attached to personal identities. Frankly, I think it says more about them, that they should be demanding such loyalty to this degree to begin with. Such hurt feelings also, in my opinion, quite possibly reveal low self-esteem. Where is the concept of the church of God as a universal reality? Where is the idea that Churches are called to plant other Churches, even in the same communities? Where is the conspet that being loyal to God supersedes loyalty to human beings?

In my following of God's plan for me, I left an old reality for a new one. You wouldn't believe the fierce criticism and judgment (99% of which was behind my back) that I've experienced because of this. I'm not whining about it, I read about the same things when I read the Gospels and the life of Paul in the New Testament. It's what being a disciple of Christ is about - leaving the false matrix of the world behind. I'm sorry, but to me, to keep quiet is to be and live a lie. I don't want to be you. I want to be me. I refuse to allow you to conform me to what you want me to be. At the same time, I am certainly open to have my mind, my way of doing things, and my ideas changed by dialogue with others. Convince me with scripture and your witness. I will not be convinced to conform simply on the basis of local social mores, man-made traditions, and the expectations of others that are not biblical, not matter how shrill the complaining gets.

So, here's how it works: If I observe that the church - especially the system or way we do Church - is going astray or is off-target, and I disagree with those things; or, if I disagree with a teaching or tradition, then I promise to speak my mind and give my honest opinion on the matter. I hold that not only do I have a right to express my opinion, but a responsibility as well. I certainly have no problem with honest debate on an issue, and disagreement with my own opinions...I welcome such dialogue...and I am willing to change my view or stance on an issue (those who know me best will easily attest to this.) What I will not tolerate, is disagreement merely because I disagree!

Who are these "censors" who never want opposition, disagreement, or who seek the avoidance at all cost, of anyone's feelings being hurt? Do they honestly want us to merely conform to their ways and be like them without debate or disagreement? That is not the lesson of Acts 15. It would seem to me that the arena of debate and discussion, sometimes even sharp debate, is a good thing - it leads to sharper ideas and practices, through synthesis. The practice of shutting up and doing as you're told is not a high enough standard for me. It would seem to me that we should want each other to do our best to conform to what we feel and know Christ wants us to conform to. Imago Dei. That is what the scriptures say we should do. Perhaps some expect and demand that we conform to something lower.

Another thing. A lame idea is a lame idea. If you are the bearer of a lame idea and someone calls you on it, it may hurt your feelings, but adults grow and learn in the arena of conversation and idea sharing. That's called accountability. But today's church (little c) doesn't like accountability at all. Sit down (in the pew), shut up and go with the party line (believe what our denomination believes), give us your money (tithe or you aren't a true Christian), and listen to our expert (the CEO Pastor). How far away from true Christianity are we supposed to drift???!!! I'm not the only one who sees the ever-widening gap between what we practice and what we read in the scriptures. That is why hundreds of thousands the world over are abandoning the church as we know it in an attempt to reconnect with God. I'm just amazed that more "good" people just refuse to see it.

Another thing, I don't go out of my way to "target" anyONE (a person) on some focused agenda where I stay on them forever and a day. If you think I do then you are too self-important, and need to take a deep breath and relax. There may be times when I get on someones case - usually a public government official on the federal or national level, or perhaps a set of people who hold to a particular "group-think" which is inane - such as closed-minded traditionalists. If you look closely, it is most always ideas, practices or beliefs that I attack or defend - not the person. there are exceptions, and sometimes I do make comments on the apparent flaws of character that are based upon what they are saying, doing or believing. I think Mullah Omar's character is evil. (He is a radical Islamic terrorist.) Am I judging him? Yep. Sure am. In my opinion, there's nothing unbiblical about reaching that conclusion.

To keep quiet to me is to be fake and a phony. I don't ask that you agree with me. I don't ask to keep silent in response to me. But what I will NOT stand by without comment or response to, is for those who publicly tell others how to live, but they themselves will not stand for critique of their own ways and thoughts.

I appreciate the many who read this blog and respond. Your ideas have helped me to re-form and shape some of my own thoughts, or have reinforced ideas and thoughts I already had. In many cases, you have educated me and brought to my attention things I never would have learned or thought of on my own. You make me better, as a human and especially as a Christian. I can only hope that I help some of you in the same way, by the thoughts I share, the questions I raise, and the solutions I offer. I humbly and sincerely thank you for the great dialogue. For the couple of people who complain about my right to voice painful truths, blogs such as this one exist for that very purpose...to express one's opinions and views on matters that are often controversial and difficult.

Not all of us wish to live our lives within the box.

Okay...I'll get down off my soapbox now...

Will Work For Food

2006-07-20T01:05:00.000-05:00

To all you pansies who work indoors during this, the hottest year on record in the history of the United States, here is a shot of just one example of what I've been doing this summer.

Crikie it's hot!...

I'm Still Standin'

2006-07-09T23:13:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted last, so methought I outta post something to let people know I'm still alive and kicking. Call it an extended "sabbatical"...writer's block...burnout...post dramatic traditional church disorder...or whatever...I just had to get away to the wilderness for awhile and process decades of Christianeze dis-ease. My soul needed an enema (as do many churches - little "c" ). Anyhoo...I'm back...or rather, I'm still standin'...(I never left, only not posting)...shakin my little fist in the face of a self-serving church gone absolutely mad...(WHO ARE WE SERVING!!!???) and shaking my fist at the Opposer. Only by God's grace and in His might and strength do we stand. I've also been busy launching a new business and leading the teachings in June...now that July is here I'm off the hook. Hope this finds all of you well and "living a life worthy of the calling you have received from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Peace.

The Cranberries

2006-04-08T14:02:00.000-05:00

In being a musician and drummer for a long time now, music is a primary passion of mine.

I've followed many, many bands over the years, and have enjoyed the music of many various artists in a wide array of genres.

However, almost never is a "rock n roll artist" been a recipient of my admiration or deep respect. While I love music, I certainly don't worship it. Some of the most gifted musicians are woefully deficient in their character, morals, or thinking departments.

Yet, there are rays of sunshine...

One of my favorite groups for many years has been The Cranberries...and especially their extremely talented and unusual vocalist.

Most artists and musicians tend to be social liberals. I've admired Dolores O'Riordan's powerful and gifted vocals and her band's music since their beginnings in Ireland. I also admire O'Riordan (now O'Riordan-Burton) for her stance against abortion, and she is "vocal" about it. That takes a special moxy in a world where most of her peers are quite the opposite. She catches "grief" about her views from others in the industry, but she fires right back and exposes their shallow, selfish thinking.

Way to go Dolores. Thanks for being truly special.

A Missions Trip To India

2006-04-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

Less than a month ago I was blogging about being a global person...because I was feeling the call of the East wind on my soul, beckoning me to feed that part of my heart...my passion for overseas travels and missional activity to other foreign cultures (see my blog: Global People, 3.11.06).

So, what do you suppose happens this week?

Only that I get an email from my mentor, my former overseas missions supervisor...my Paul...and I suppose I'm one of his Timothys...the man whom I named my first son after...asking me to consider going with him to India...

So I'm throwing down the fishing net and going...

...with God's will and his blessing.

October 23 to November 9. Three weeks.

Back to being a global person, on a global mission. (I've lived four years overseas, and two in Russia).

My view of being a missionary...

Is that you and I are missionaries to our local culture.

You see, there are three geographical "layers" or "concentric rings" of missionary activity:

1. Local
2. Regional
3. Global

This view of mine is based upon Acts 1:8, "And you willl receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem [locally], and in all Judea and Samaria [regionally], and to the ends of the earth [globally]" [words in the brackets are mine].
Please pray with me as I prepare for this trip, and that God will be honored through these efforts. In the meantime, please be a missionary where you are...and thank you for remembering me in your prayers.

Spark! Was a Blast!

2006-03-26T19:15:00.000-06:00

I just got back from our latest Adventure! Church at Clear Springs National Forest- the most well attended yet.

I love our "centered-set" church!

What a lovely, incredible way to be and do church!

As William Wallace cried out in Braveheart: "Freedom!!!!"

I love it!

Freedom in Christ is: Ignoring man-made boundaries.

Freedom in Christ is: Centering on Christ and being in Him.

Thanks to everyone of you who participated this weekend...I enjoyed the fun, the laughter, the prayer, the serious campfire discussions...but thanks most to my Lord and God...who pushed the spark of flame higher and brighter in my life this weekend. You are my God, and your flame burns within me.

Amen.

Shooting Rampage Leaves Carnage & Lessons

2006-03-18T11:35:00.000-06:00

I am presently the project manager on a refurbishing project my construction firm is doing at Claiborne County Hospital in Port Gibson, Mississippi.

Yesterday, March 17th, I started work at 7:00am, going to a series of material suppliers in Natchez to get supplies before traveling up to Port Gibson with Kevin, one of the guys on my crew. At around 7:40am, I was picking up material from Natchez Electric. At about the same time in Port Gibson, a man was beginning a murderous shooting rampage that would leave one dead, another wounded, three children without a father, a wife without a husband, and the gunman in jail.

We hadn't left Natchez yet when I began receiving calls saying, "You shouldn't go to Port Gibson today - there are shootings going on." As it turns out, a former County employee fired eight years ago over sexual harassment charges went on a rampage and killed the County Attorney who defended the County in his lawsuit to be reinstated, and shot a woman who supported the victim's claim that she was indeed sexually harassed by the gunman.

My own situation doing the work in the hospital is dicey - having replaced a man fired for doing such a poor job. Sad isn't it when you have to worry that because you are replacing someone fired off a job that your life could be in danger. I was told twice to reconsider going to work. I don't scare that easily. However, I did swing by my house and grab my Beretta and two fully loaded clips of ammo...

By the time we got to the hospital a helicopter was landing to medivac out the female victim. A TV cameraman scrambled across the road amidst the rising dust-up, frantically trying to get a shot of the chopper landing. TV crews were there all day, getting interviews and information. Nurses and staff at the hospital were clearly shaken. The County closed all of its offices and sent everyone home.

What makes a man go off like that? Was he really innocent of the charges that led to his firing?

Even assuming for a second he was fired incorrectly (ample evidence supports his being fired), what about his choice to handle things the way he did? The headline stories in today's paper talk about how he just "wouldn't let it go." Stewing like that for eight years - eight years - letting bitterness ruin his life, and now that of his family and certainly the family of the attorney he killed...

...what have we come to?

The shooter's friends say he was active in his local church.

What?!!

I repeat...the shooter's friends say he was active in his local church.

Why does that not surprise me anymore?

What have we come to, that "church" isn't transformative?

We have churches on every practically every street corner. I know Port Gibson is known for its churches. Well, make that its church buildings.

The main thoroughfare through Port Gibson has literally been renamed "Church Street."

Its most famous church has a steeple with a hand and finger pointing toward God.

Like that pointing finger reminds us, maybe we need to get back to looking toward God for the way we "do" and practice church? Is that a remote possibility?

Are we making a difference in the lives of those sitting in our pews?

Are we really?

The BTK killer Dennis Rader was active in his church...

I could go on and on about how church doesn't seem to make much difference.

Is there a "hello?" in all this somewhere?

I saw a sign today, posted by a Natchez church which read, "The best way to get even is to forget."

I think that is sadly typical of our thinking, and falls far short.

I think this way of thinking helps lead to what happened in Port Gibson.

Why? Because people don't and can't forget.

That is totally useless advice.

It is useless because it's impractical. It is useless because it does not involve God in the solution. This shooter in Port Gibson just could not forget. Who can forget wrongs? We are not called by God to forget our wrongs, we are called to something much more effective than that. Did his church help him? I hope his church did not offer up the same advice to him as the sign I read...to "just forget it." That message is especially sad in light of what the Bible actually tells us to do in such situations.

If you were to ask the people today in Port Gibson, where the blood is freshly washed off of the street, I think they would all agree that we need God in our process.

A better message on that church sign would read...

"The best way to get even is to forgive."

Now that would be transformative.

Global People

2006-03-11T18:44:00.000-06:00

I was talking to a buddy the other day while driving to "the city too beautiful to burn." I found myself saying that there are five sorts of people...

What kinds of people?

Well, the category of the kind of people I'm trying to describe fit into a matrix of a kind of cross between their geographical realities and their worldview and outlook. I know I'm not making any sense (the point of this blog post), so just try to figure out what I mean by reading the different sorts...

Five Sorts of People:

Sort 1 - "Community Folk" - are those who were born in a community, were raised there, and while they may have moved several times, it was always moves within the general vicinity of that community. They've never really seen much outside their own very local context.

Sort 2 - "State" People - are those who have lived in different communities around their home state, or maybe if you're located close to a border, the state next door. They have been slightly more exposed to other cultures than the aforementioned community folk. But in reality, they've just experienced more of the same sub-cultures of group #1.

Sort 3 - "Regional" People - these folks have stepped out and have lived in several locations around one of the major regions of the U.S., but never out of that region - for example moving around within the Deep South. I have a friend who fits this category well, he stepped up from Sort 2 when he moved to North Carolina. He has definitely been changed and stretched by his experiences with other people's and other culture's values, worldviews, and ways of living. Still, there are further places that would likely cause even more drastic cultural stretching.

Sort 4 - "National" People - these are people who have lived in various places around the country. They for sure have been stretched, unless with each move they've managed to carefully locate and insulate themselves within little tribes (or "ghettos") of people just like them. That is possible to do, but not very likely.

Sort 5 - "Global" People - People who have lived (long term - not short term missionary trips) all over the world and who have been really stretched by other cultures with different languages, values, religions and ways of doing things.

I'm sure one could make categories within each...and that might be helpful. But I think you get my point.

Why do I mention all of this? Who knows. Maybe it's because it helps me explain to myself why I feel so out of place and such an oddball sometimes.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying one is better than another...although I believe the opportunity to get booted rudely out of one's "box" is much more likely as you go up the list. It's an opportunity thing. One can move around and have the opportunity to expand and grow, but waste it by taking the opportunity in a bad direction. On the other hand, a Sort 1 person could catch a sniff of the opportunity to grow in mind and character out of their little box, and do so by the means available to him or her.

Boxes can be very blinding though. So, more than likely it is a good thing to be higher on the list, although again, it is certainly possible to be out-of-the-box and be a Sort 1 - if you have an open mind, read a lot, comprehend and reflect upon what you read, and you have a heart for other people.

It's weird being a Global person in a small community.

I often find myself speaking a different language. I understand "them" - I came from where they are.

But many times "they" don't understand me.

It's no "big" deal. I suppose I just have to work harder at communication.

Probably didn't understand a bit of this did you?...

hey you...standing in the cold...

2006-03-05T21:12:00.000-06:00

Do you remember when Pink Floyd's "The Wall" came out? This is a lot to say about a piece of music, but it's true: it changed my life.

Listening to this music, the words, the incredibly mournful guitar leads...caused a sea change in me...a paradigm shift.

God reveals Himself to us any way He chooses to.

It was 1980, and listening to Pink Floyd's The Wall, I realized in a way I never had before, that truth can come from totally unexpected places, even from outside the church ( imagine that! ). I would never be quite the same. I realized that God's revelation can come from any direction...

Something else that may be hard to understand or swallow...rarely have I been moved, as I have been from time to time in a deeply spiritual sense, than that of encounters with some "secular" movie, book, or music. This album was a pioneer in that regard for me.

Songs like...

Hey You
The Thin Ice
Don't Leave Me Now
Comfortably Numb
Goodbye Cruel World
Is There Anybody Out There?
Mother

...spoke to me in a deeply spiritual sense.

I'm not saying everybody can, or does, hear from God this way.

But I am saying you can't tell me God doesn't speak to me through "secular" music and movies!

Because He does.

This music helped me see deeply into the well of the soul of lost humanity...crying out for meaning, wanting out of the prison cells - out from behind the walls that we and others put ourselves behind...

A laboratory of the human condition without God.

The "fallout" from Genesis chapter three is all through this album...

...lyrics from "comfortably numb"...

Hello?...
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me...
Is there anyone home?
Come on now...
I hear you're feeling down.
I can ease your pain
And get you on your feet again.
Relax...
I'll need some information first.
Just the basic facts...
Can you show me where it hurts?
There is no pain,
you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are coming through in waves.
Your lips move,
but I can't hear what you're saying.
When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I've got that feeling once again.
I can't explain, you would not understand...
This is not how I am.
I have become...
comfortably numb...

'O Brother' on My All-Time Top-Ten List

2006-03-05T20:42:00.000-06:00

What a team! How 'bout "the one with the capacity for abstract thought (Everett), our loveable "paradigm of hope" (Delmar), and ole "Stop the car!" Pete.

One of the best things about this movie are the facial expressions! Check 'em out in the pic at left...priceless. Excellent writing by the Coen Brothers, great acting, and excellent music combine to make this movie a definite in my all time top-ten. The excessive foul language is the only negative...well, maybe Clooney's excessive/wacky politics...

I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite movies over the next few weeks, and some of my favorite music groups as well. For that matter, I may throw in some literature, writers, and artists too! I'm going to start with "O Brother Where Art Thou?" for the simple reason that so many of us keep dropping lines to each other straight out of that movie...

"well ain't this place a geographical oddity...two weeks from everywhere!"

"I have...no name..."

"Hard times flush the chumps..."

"Dooo...notttt....seeeeek....thhhe...treaaasuuurr..."

"The colored-guard is colored!"

"Well I'll only be eighty-two!"

"I knicked the census man!"

"JU-DAS IS-CAR-IOT- HOG-WAL-LOP!"

"Gopher Everett?"

and so many more...

What a great movie! What great music!

Strange how women don't care much for this movie but guys love it...

Decoding the Da Vinci Code

2006-03-04T22:09:00.000-06:00

With the coming May release of the movie, The Da Vinci Code, I'm presently preparing a few summary comments on exposing the many fabrications of Dan Brown's book.

I read it a year ago, and while it was a "fun" read in a fictional sense, never did I once entertain that any of it was real.

It isn't much of a shock though, to understand that many are confused by it, and thrown into a bit of doubt.

That's what ole Mephistopheles intended all along.

So, I'll be posting a blog or two in the coming weeks to help people know the facts.

Stay tuned...

I'm warming up my certified ACME brand Model A-100 Baloney Detector...

...and focusing it upon Dan Brown's novel (a novel is a work of fiction).

In the meantime, keep a close eye-out for albino monks...

We're On A Misseo-Dei...

2006-03-03T23:41:00.000-06:00

I knew there was a reason I liked these guys!

Leaving the Church: As Skunks or Turtles

2006-03-02T12:27:00.000-06:00

On the Website of Third Day Churches, I was reading a blog by guest blogger Andrew Jones. He brings up a subject that is very relevant in this age in which so many of us are leaving their old Church behind (what to call them: traditional? programmed? institutional?), that it is imperative to examine how we leave, and to leave with as little fanfare as humanly possible.

"People leave the church as turtles or skunks. This is what Brother Thomas Wolf told me. Turtles crawl quietly out the back door, without bringing attention to the protest of their silent withdrawal. Skunks leave at the front, where everyone can see them, where they can let everyone know how badly they will be missed, how they should have been listened to. They leave a smell behind that lasts a lifetime. A stinky reminder of the decision that divided." - Jones.

Please, if you are leaving your Church, leave as a turtle - not a stinker.

I offer the following story of my personal journey for those of you struggling with this entire issue. It calls on me to be vulnerable and expose some deep feelings, but being real and in-touch with what is inside of me is one of the best transformations/healings I have had in my life - a gift of being real that my emerging Church has given me permission and invited me into, which is a totally new but refreshing change. Sure, it opens me to more criticism, but I really would rather help others more than try to protect myself. Perhaps that's because after what I've been accused of, there's not much left to protect!

Slipping quietly out the back way and shifting into something else is the choice I personally made. I had no desire whatsoever to cause "a stink." I went searching for God in other places, in other venues, in a personal "silence and solitude" desert experience away from the Church for practically a year before launching off into a new faith community. I had to get away from things in order for God to speak to me, to teach me, to show me the way He wanted me to go. For Him to show me who I am. I had to do that. No fuss, no stink, no mess...I just disappeared into the wilderness. I really didn't understand much at the time, but I knew deep inside it was what I had to do, and that somehow, God was in the center of it. For awhile people didn't even notice I was gone. No one ever called to ask where I was - they were likely relieved I had left! That's slipping quietly away!

It is true that I had grown deeply disillusioned with Church as we always have done it, and of course I had grown deeply disatisfied with "the status quo." My leaving was definitely partly a protest - sure. But I took my protest and slipped off into the evening sunset, quietly. But that is typical of the heart of a turtle. I sensed from deep within a longing for more...to go seek "the lover of my soul" in the Dark Night. It was out of not getting the deep seeking for God and for doing His mission met, that the withdrawal in order to go, be, do, and seek wherever God was leading, became necessary. It was not an option! The journey that ended up in my leaving the American institutional church was a very long process (years) that I wasn't even aware of was happening even while it was taking place in my core. It finally reached "a tipping point" of consciousness which forced me to focus on why I was so discontent.

I remember feeling so very alone and alienated...feeling so much like a fish out of water in both worlds!...the secular world of the street...and the religious world of "church" - well make that the traditional American Protestant version of it. I remember being on break in some bar after playing drums for a forty-five minute "set," and just sitting there drinking coke or orange juice and watching people...and thinking "I feel so out of place here." Then on Sunday sitting in a church pew watching people and listening and having the same exact feeling, "I feel so out of place here." After returning home from Russia from two years of deep cross-cultural missionary experiences, I wrote about that feeling, the feeling of being caught between two worlds: the secular and the "sacred." I've included those thoughts in a blog entitled No Home For Little Square. You may want to read it sometime...you may find that you are feeling the same way. It's about how deep experiences with other cultures (even other expressions of Church and ministry) change you forever. http://slingnstone.blogspot.com/2005/08/no-home-for-little-square.html

So, all of this led to an even more focused and deeper study of relevant scripture passages, an ongoing dialogue with deep thinkers and mentors, and a "wrestling" with God. This in turn led ultimately to a clarity of identity; a cogent, biblical missiological perspective; and a deeper understanding of God's calling on my life. As a result of all the seeking, the wrestling, I, like Jacob, received a new name - a new identity. I realized - with irony - that the seeds of my journey had been first sewn while a missionary to the other side of the world to a culture of Russians and Estonians in Eastern Europe. I know now that the effects of that cross-cultural ministry while being exposed to deep spiritual, missional experiences and insights, all in a team environment, in a pressure cooker experience like that seared me with something that once I came back to America, simply would not be satisfied within the confines of my American Church experience. Being truly missional is a transformative nuclear bomb. As someone said, so here I am, out on the ragged edge of life!

Do others understand this process that occurred in me? Do they "approve?" Certainly not. How could they? More importantly, I have deepened and matured to the point where I don't need them to. No longer do I look for validation in other people. My validation comes from God. My accountability comes from other people. I've discovered the difference in those things. Most turtles do I suppose.

So, I quietly withdrew from "my" Church, and into months of missional existence (you know...lifestyle modeling, being real, being part of their lives, having conversations deep into the night, actively listening more than talking, really caring about them, not engaging in behaviors that deglorified Christ and them seeing that, etc) in "the gutter," in a secular band playing in bars. As in Russia, I studied them and I learned their "language" - what made them tick, what their heartbeat was, their concerns, worries, values, needs, and heart desires. I shared with them, and I also learned a lot from them. During this phase of my journey I became more and more convinced of where it is that real ministry takes place and is needed; was reminded of Christ's own willingness (eagerness?) to go into the gutter where sinners are; was informed by the Holy Spirit through scripture that the Church is a "sent" people, not a "here we are - come to us" people; and it became part of my core identity of who I am in Christ that I must be real and relevant to God more than to religious "Sanhedrins" - no matter the cost. I've been through a lot in the past five years, much of it a spiritual journey. It has cost me a lot, but I know more about who I am and I own who I am more than I ever have. Sure, it has cost me dearly, and I have suffered. It hurts internally to die to self and selfishness, and it hurts externally in shifting relationships as your values change and identity gains clarity. However, I have grown and I wouldn't trade the gains for anything now.

Of course, ministry in bars as a drummer in a bar band was scandalous, and couldn't be tolerated. I knew from my pattern - Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord - that His ministry was scandalous as well. So I pursued my godly calling and sacrificed my earthly position, pedigree, and religious "career." Who does such a thing? Only a fool. From the secular world's perspective, they noted it with interest. From the religious world's perspective, they were aghast. I think they were embarrassed for me.

It is a heck of a thing to realize that your personal mission is not congruent with your organization's mission. Every scripture and reference I found counseled to find an organization whose mission is in line with your own. It is clear that one's godly personal mission is most important than sacrificing it for some organization's mission. The organization won't be answering God for you when you stand before him, you will! The trick is to line them up. (Oh for knowing then what I know now!) It was a much easier decision for me to make than what you might think - though it was a sobering one. My friends in the "old" Church of course didn't understand, but that's okay, they are good Christian people who love God. It has become clear to me, and I offer this to those of you considering a change, that some denominational people construe personal and organizational missions to be one in the same...that your personal mission, once you "join them," becomes the organizational one. It's like joining the mob - once you request to belong and indeed you are accepted and "belong" you never leave. ..the organization becomes your identity. To leave is seen as a betrayal of loyalty and a rejection of accountability! But, it's my fault I didn't recognize the difference earlier in my process, but I hadn't reached the tipping point of knowing my true identity. Then again, no one in the organization was helping me through my process either. (Much is looked at as far as doctrinal congruence, but practice and missiological "how to make disciples" isn't. The main differences between emerging and traditional churches is not doctrine itself, but the amount of emphasis placed upon doctrine; faith practices both individually and in community; ministry method; and missiological mission and method.)

As for loyalty, I claim absolute, radical loyalty to God's universal Church and His calling on my life (hasn't all of this shown evidence of this!) As for accountability, I was never offered genuine accountability in the old way. As it stands now, I have never been in so much accountability in every phase of my life that I am now, because of the core value of being real - that's in every phase of my life and ministry, including finances; relationship with my children, prayer and devotional life, sexual purity including on-line pornography, my thought life, the amount of witnessing and sharing Christ that I do daily, and areas of proneness to sin. I even minister in a team, a team in which all decisions must be unanimous. That forces people toward accountability, team building, and open, honest communication. So that is a brief sketch of my present journey as a turtle. I am sure I have made mistakes and hurt people - episodes of "skunking"?? That is not my heart. My heart is genuinely and passionately doing deep penetration into the gutter - to rescue missing people. That is a key core element of my personal mission that God shaped me to be. Do you know your personal mission? Does it line-up with your organization's mission? If you don't have a clue of what your personal mission is - can't say it in a paragraph or sentence - then you are 'floating" missionally. Turtles seem to have a clear sense of personal mission, or at least are actively seeking it, and know intuitively (or by the Spirit) that it is more vital than organizational mission. More about turtles...

Turtles must be strong. Especially to leave in a culture where socio-cultural mores are off the chart on the "loyalty" scale. Institutions where I live are often seen as extensions of "family" and to leave such a social group -even a Church - is seen as a cultural taboo and is perceived as betrayal and disloyalty. This is especially true when actual family is involved! The same was true in Christ's day - the cultural mores I'm speaking of. Perhaps that is why Christ spoke several times about how our choices will sometimes mean parting (in one area of life) with family in order to follow God's call on one's life. Interesting...but the bottom line is: turtles are more loyal to God than other humans...even family. So, turtles are committed - or they'd better be

The most important thing for left-behind Churches to "get": Turtles aren't leaving THE Church. No, they are just trading one expression of it for another! Many Churches that are being left fail to understand this...apparently a failure to understand and appreciate what belonging to the universal church means-the bride of Christ. They take offense that a turtle would find his or her calling in another expression of that body. Do they actually feel that if other Christians don't look and act just like they do, they can't possibly be part of the true, universal Body of Christ? I hope not, but I do know that this is how they are acting.

I personally enjoy and read with great interest any criticism of the emerging Church movement, including criticism of Barna. Did you know that some traditional churches are banning his book!...how pathetic and paranoid is that?! I haven't seen stuff like this since I left Russia! Censor those radical Christians! Ah, we are living in Acts 29, and the religious elites are turning up the heat! In the meantime, turtles want to morph and get it right - I know that this turtle does, and the value of meekness and humility is indeed one that is being strived for with emerging people - at least those in Mississippi and Louisiana that I have met. For turtles, the desire for dialogue and conversation is real. If the criticism is warranted, we'll do our best to correct it - even if it is from skunks with no desire for offering constructive criticism! In fact, we are a Church built on a core value of morphing principles, and we are constantly asking, "How can we do it better?" "Are we off track biblically?" etc. Self-criticism and fair analysis of outside criticism happens constantly, perhaps too much so! We spent four hours doing it in our annual church conference and "business" meeting a month ago! I can say this without reservation: we have already made significant adjustments in attitudes, identity, mission, practice, discipleship, evangelism, and calling. Self-criticism within the emerging church movement happens constantly - the very blog I mentioned above by Andrew Jones is a blog devoted to criticizing ourselves (Jones is an emerging church movement leader). I have provided a link at the bottom of this post for you to read as an example. One can also go to emerging Websites like Ginkworld or the Ooze to see all kinds of self-criticism going on.

At the same time we swallow the (often vicious) criticism, we do wish that those criticizing or posting the criticisms would have the courage to do the same! I can't wait for the day when we are approached in Natchez or Vidalia by an existing "traditional" Church that says let's partner together to win people for Christ. That is the heart and dream of every turtle I know!

There are also many examples and patterns for us in the Bible for being a turtle...the disciples, Paul (Saul) and of course Christ himself. They all left behind organized Judaism to do and be what God called them to. A stink arose, but who really caused the stink?
Turtles aren't negative as a core value, but they are realistic, practical, and they seek results (they refuse to pose, pretend, and play games). They are also "okay" with exposing real differences on occasion. They don't constantly harp on these themes as their mantra - that's the realm of the skunk. However, no doubt about it - there are skunks in the crowd that has left the Church.

Another thing about turtles...they are Christocentric (Christ-centered) not "rebel-centered." Yes, they indeed have come from something they perceive and understand as significantly lacking; but they are definitely moving toward something they see as an extremely positive vision and Christ-calling for the Church. Unlike many within the existing Church system, they see the Church as a means to an end rather than the end itself.

As for the skunks among us...yes, I have met skunks, and know some. I met them in Indiana, and I've met them here. They aren't pleasant to be around. Their core is negativity and bitterness. They never "move on" beyond the initial "stinking." They perpetuate, nurture, and sustain it, even though they may not have been the initiator of it originally. Their focus, mission, and ministry is a "scorched earth" campaign.

Turtles can, at times, sound like skunks, but the difference is motivation, purpose, and amount of time dealing with the differences and contrasts. Sounding comparisons and voicing truth isn't "skunking," but it can sound like it. Turtles at times are even "righteously angry and indignant," but the difference is they are calling the Church to accountability, repentance, and to be about what they understand is God's mission that isn't getting done properly or in a timely fashion. Turtles see themselves as remodelers: that it is necessary to tear down in order to build up again into something useful, and works the way it was intended. Skunks could care less...they are bitter and only want to tear down for the sake of watching the fall.

Again, those who leave their Church have a clear choice to make: you can either be a skunk or a turtle.

Please be a turtle.

I'll mention something that Andrew Jones didn't. The "left-behind" Church has turtles and skunks as well! The Church from whence you leave has those "turtles" within it who allow you to quietly slip away, especially when your motivation to leave is because you are seeking God and He has called you to minister the gospel like He wants it done! Those who stay behind have choices as well - to be skunks or turtles.

Sometimes you leave and the skunks in the "left-behind" Church go beserk. They stink up the place with the god-awful smell. Just because there's "a stink" in the air doesn't mean the one that left - left it. There are indeed skunks within the ranks of those in the Churches being left.

If you are remaining in a Church that is being left, please be a turtle - not a stinker.

But when someone leaves and a stink arises, who usually gets blamed for the stink? Of course it's the one who is leaving, no matter how much of a turtle he or she tried to be. So, if you are considering leaving your Church, please be realistic, and brace yourself. Often, no matter what method a person chooses to leave in, they will be skewered. Do your best to be a turtle. But turtles, even if they don't know it then, eventually come to realize that being called a skunk comes with the territory of being a turtle. They know they are turtles, and more importantly - God knows.

So, skunks can be found among those that left, OR those who have been left.

That's a chin-scratcher isn't it?

But the good news is: so can turtles!

Oh for more turtles!

To read Andrew Jones' blog at Third day Churches: http://thirddaychurches.com/resources/guestArticles/gripes

The Tipping Point?

2006-03-01T17:35:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's March already! Things are happening, a "shift" is occuring right under our noses, and I think we are reaching a tipping point in our region of Mississippi and Louisiana. If you haven't already, you simply must read Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point if you want to stay culturally relevant. I read it about a year ago, along with Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class, and they combine to help one understand how a new current of culture is arising in America and abroad. I can even see the tide turning in Natchez where the old guard is beginning to lose what I call the "preservation/transformation" war.

I noted with extreme interest last Sunday when Profile 2006 came out and at the same time the headlines read, "Is it our time?" The profile is full of stories about businesses and our local culture already morphing...and many don't even realize that it is part of a culture-wide pattern. The local media even senses that optimism and change is indeed about to transform Natchez in an amazing way. I think the next two decades are going to bring huge change to this area. Of course, it still depends on some big "ifs," but if those things happen - hold on to your hat...because the postmoderns will be coming and the traditionalists/premoderns will be relegated to the sidelines.

All of this also has huge ramifications for local churches and ministry. Those of us in leadership had best be "futuring" - anticipating where culture is headed in order to make the biggest impact for the Kingdom of God.

With the coming condos, the new convention center hotel, the other hotel that is being planned close to the Isle of Capri, the Ramada Inn changes, the walking paths and development of the Natchez riverfront, and possibly another gaming boat...the "skyline" of Natchez is literally going to change dramatically. I think this "skyline" change will be a huge symbol of the cultural change that has already begun to take hold. Both signal a "new" Natchez, and a death of the Natchez as we've always known it.

Those of us who truly want to shape the future either understand this and are preparing to do all we can to take advantage of the positive aspects of this change and battle the negative ones, or we have our heads in the sand in total denial.

It's coming either way.

Skydiving and Free Fallin'

2006-02-28T15:16:00.000-06:00

I spoke with Gary the Mud Dog yesterday...my ole skydiving buddy that lives in Hattiesburg. (For those who don't know about the incredibly unique high-flying Gary, read my blog entry from August 2005: Gary the Mud Dog).

Guess what we talked about?...you guessed it: skydiving!

Gary jumps regularly as he's retired and lives much closer to the dropzone (dz). I have to drive to Moss Point in order to jump - many hours away. Actually, they switched from Moss Point to an airport closer to me, so I'll save about 30 minutes off the drive.

We're lining up a weekend trip later in March. So those of you who said you wanted to join me...Mike, Jared...get ready!

I miss the air, the speed, the sensation of flying at 125 mph, turning flips, docking with other jumpers...a minute-five seconds is a long time to fall from the sky. That's over two miles of falling...what a rush. Then you get to do all of the canopy flying...

I miss skydiving, and I miss my friend Gary. I got my A license last year, this year my goal is to qualify for my B license...I'm only a few jumps and the water course away...

Time to see Natchez in my rear view mirror!

It's time for a road trip!

Cur-sed Are the Cowards - For Theirs Is The Kingdom of Hell?

2006-02-27T18:26:00.000-06:00

Sometimes scripture reaches out and grabs you by the throat and shakes you awake. I recently ran across a scripture tucked away at the end of Revelation, that did this. I'd like to share some strong and sobering thoughts out that experience with "the Word."

In the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30, the servant who received the one talent and ended up burying it, was "rewarded" by having his one talent taken away from him and then being thrown "outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." What prompted this severe punishment? His refusal to trust the goodness of his Master, and his failure to risk.

When we who are Church leaders act only when everything is optimum, and only when we are sure we can do it - then we are being prime contemporary examples of this worthless servant. God has no use for us when we run things in the Church just like we run things in our businesses. Why? Because when we act in our own strength and confidence we are acting without faith...without God. That's called godlessness.

When we do things that we are sure are "safe" and can be done...where is the opportunity for God to act? Our Master expects us to do what is possible, and then risk in order to allow Him to do the impossible.

Leadership in the Church, from denominational heads to pastors and board members, is being questioned today, and rightly so...because our present leaders are failing to lead us into anything significant. Who possibly can refute the overwhelming evidence that we as Christians have had very little transformative effect upon our culture at large? Those who say that Christians do have an big impact and that "we're doing okay" are breathtaking in their naivete. We are a (church) culture that seems to be filled with managers of the status quo with little true leadership. We need more godly leadership and a whole lot less managers of what humans know they can do and support. That results in small people in a small story. I tell you what else it does, it results in people who are rarely, if ever, challenged in their faith and grown into something God can really use. Every time a defender of the status quo says, "We're doing fine!" I say, God expected so much more, and so much sooner. ..

Leaders are proactive change-agents. Managers are reactive change-resistors.

Leaders are proactive risk-takers. Managers are reactive risk-resistors.

The main difference? Back to the parable: it centers on risk. Those who are willing to step out into true risk...stepping beyond what they know they can do and support...takes true leadership, and is risky. What are the requisites for this kind of risk?

The first is to be completely in tune with God's will and plan, and to be about that rather than our own "safe" agendas. How often do we compromise and sell-out because we are too busy "protecting" our jobs (and all that income), our reputation (and all that hero worship), and our careers (all that safety and security within "The Matrix of The System")? It's easy to sit back and rock along, letting the years go by and convince ourselves of the lies people tell us...how good a leader we are, how "hard" we work, and how thankful people are that we lead them. We've become convinced of our own lies and Satan has successfully blinded us to the truth. Yep, we've sold out. It's a dangerous thing to be the center of a bubble of yes people. I know some leaders who deep inside know the truth, but just don't have the courage to risk their personal lives and step out in risk. I know others who are indeed risk takers and change-agents who work hard to be a voice in the wilderness. I admire deeply those men and women. But in contrast to selling-out, following God's agenda and plan is hardly ever "safe," always involves risk, and always involves being stretched, challenged and grown. That's because of all the opposition that comes against you! To know His will also involves a close walk with Him and obedience to the Holy Spirit's leading. Catching His vision for our people and then leading people to that regardless of cost takes a true leader. A true risker. Think about Noah and the risks he took. Think about any biblical leader...just look at all the risks they were taking! Where have all the Noah's gone? They've been replaced by bean-counter managers who surround themselves with yes men. With a predominant leadership in this mode, of course we're not gonna affect our culture for Christ.

The second requisite to risk is faith. Try this on for size: there is no possibility for faith if there is no risk factor. Let me state this another way. When there is no risk involved, there is no faith involved.

Faith is impossible without risk. Now do you see why we can't do things in the Church - leading God's people - by doing things the way we do our family's budget, or our businesses? When I analyze why we are failing as leaders in the church, God seems to always draw me back to this parable of the talents. We are far too timid. We are exactly like the scared, timid servant who was in preservation mode. God demands much more than that! God says, no...let me correct that, God screams like a coach, "GET OUT THERE AND RISK IT!" He knows He's got our backs. But we are too self-absorbed and arrogant - we know it all - to trust him. God help us. We simply don't trust God. We don't trust the goodness of our Master. We are far too arrogant, and think we know it all. I have seen good people in leadership fail because they thought they could run the Church like they run their personal lives or their businesses...and think they know more about things like finances and ministry than God does, and it just doesn't work. Timid leaders who only act when they "know" the outcome is secure are not leaders at all...they are worthless. Like the worthtless servant they may think they "know it all," but they are cowards.

Are you rolling your eyes because I said, "Coward?" Then look at the parable closely. What was the worthless servant then if he wasn't a coward? I'm sure he was a "nice" guy and that he had people who loved him. Obviously, he thought he was doing the right thing for his master! But he deceived himself (there's a warning for all us leaders in there - do we get it?) But for God's purposes he was a coward. I'm told sometimes that I'm too radical and "out-there" when it comes to some of my writing, yet I didn't say all this stuff - God did! Would you rather remain surrounded by those who never, ever challenge your thinking? Comfortable in your "yes-man" bubble? I apologize (tongue in cheek) for not being domesticated and for not "just going with the flow!" I suppose I'm one of those caustic, rough around the edges whistle blowers and baloney detectors. I'm much more comfortable as a warrior than a diplomat. The Church needs both. It gets worse...

And what do you suppose the scriptures say about cowards? Wow! Care to take a guess at where cowards fit in the mix at judgment day along-side murderers and sexual perverts? They head up the list for those bound for hell!

Revelation 21:8 (the judgment):
"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Isn't that passage amazing?! You didn't see that one coming did you! Time to get serious about cowards isn't it?!

I bet you anything you've never heard a "fire-and-brimstone-sermon" on going to hell 'cause you're a coward!

Why haven't cha? Maybe it's because cowards don't preach at cowards.

Not So Secret Agent Man...

2006-02-21T19:23:00.000-06:00

A new friend of mine referred to me in his blog recently as one of God's "agents" in the world.

That's the highest compliment anyone has given me in a long time...

and it is very humbling.

Wow.

How cool.

He said, "Here's to the guys at Sling n' Stone, may you continue to do what God says to do when and where God says to do it. The world is changing and you are its agents. Godspeed on your journey."

An agent.

A "not-so-secret" Agent.

An agent of change...for God's purposes.

Like Jared and Lyndon, like Philip, like Paul...who are fellow Agents of the Revolution in my region of the Deep South, it is awesome to know that I ain't alone.

Like Agent Elijah in his bubble...his box...his cave...his desert...

God lets us know there are many others who share this call.

These guys are awesome...highly intelligent...articulate...fun...passionate...relevant...and are about serving God deeply in 24-7-365 mode.

What the heck am I doing here?

It is indeed encouraging to have the question mark (the nagging self-doubt) turned into an exclamation point.

It is indeed, Jared, encouraging.

It "puts in the courage."

Thanks for the validation...the "value-dation"...

I needed it.

Besides, ever since watching Get Smart, I always wanted to be a Secret Agent.

Now, where to find Agent 99?...

You Mean There Are Other Fools Doing This?

2006-02-14T18:19:00.000-06:00

So another co-pastor and I forayed to Jackson to the Mississippi Church Planting talk with guru Ed Stetzer. Actually it was in Clinton at Mississippi College. This was a special gathering of guys and gals around the State who are planting some of these "new" churches that George Barna is talking about in his book Revolution.

Ed was good. He answered a lot of our questions and clarified some things for me, and I got a couple of jewels from him. But the real value of the day? Meeting some of these other "fools" for Jesus who are just crazy enough to attempt to plant one of these style of churches in a culture like what exists in the Bible Belt of Mississippi - an area rich with some of the hardest-core traditional, close-minded thinking in America. I call it "the preservationist zone." People 'round here have an attitude of "let's just preserve things the way they are." It was good to hear how these other men and women of God are fighting the battle to reach missing people for Christ, despite people from the "old church" screaming, protesting, and saying how misguided and errant they are.

I feel like giving these nay-sayers some cheese to go with their whine!

And by the way, the preservationist zone is in the process of morphing...and we just may be at a tipping point...

Kim and I were the only non-Baptists there, so we are talking about Baptists stepping out in faith to plant these Churches. Philip is the lead Pastor at Lifebridge in Madison, and he and I have been emailing each other for many months. I finally got to meet him. He's very dynamic and passionate about God's call on his life to do this. He's an amazing pastor/leader with some awesome ministry stories to tell about how God is providing and moving in their midst. He also shared stories of how Baptists from other churches are calling him to skewer him for what he is doing. And what is he doing? He is winning people to the kingdom of God, and rescuing lost people. Ah persecution...you know you're doing it right when the religious elites start screaming bloody murder.

Paul is planting a new emergent/missional style church in Simpson County (near Hattiesburg). He is also dynamic and gregarious...a great guy. He shared stories of what he is doing to reach people, including going into the local jail with a Bible study. He jokingly told us, "We don't call them 'Cell groups' at the jail..."

So, we aren't alone in what we are attempting to do in the Natchez-Vidalia area. There are other crazy people around the State who like us, have been called out of their comfort zones, and despite misunderstanding and persecution, are advancing God's kingdom. Lives are being transformed. We shared ideas, cross-pollinated, and swapped "war-stories." We instantly felt a strong bond - brothers and sisters in arms.

Oh, and while I'm at it, let me respond to the general criticism of "the emergent church" by many, including D.A. Carson who wrote a critical book recently entitled, "Conversing with the Emergent Church." Actually, if you go online to Amazon.com and read the reviews, you'll see where Carson never engaged in a dialogue at all with some of the people he deems as "leaders" in the emergent movement. During the writing of the book, some of these leaders he criticizes tried to contact him to indeed start a dialogue and clarify and explain where they were coming from. Carson didn't return any of their several attempts at contact. Hardly a author, or book, to take very seriously.

Here's my main point about those criticizing. They point to so-called leaders such as Brian McLaren, Dan Kimball, and Leonard Sweet, and lump every new church as believing and attempting the same things these guys are saying and doing! Well, what emergent means to someone in Seattle or Minnesota isn't going to be what emergent means in southwest Mississippi. Brian McLaren's theology is no more the exact same as mine as is Jerry Falwell's or Pat Robertson's. The mistake people make is lumping everyone in the emergent movement in the same exact category. Falwell and Robertson are evangelicals...do you believe exactly the same things they do? I didn't think so.

What emergent/missional is shaping out to mean in Mississippi is not so much a theological difference from what "traditional" churches believe, as it is a shift in emphasis away from those doctrines from what we believe is an over-dependence on those doctrines to a more ministry-to-people emphasis. That is the heart of what we mean when we say "missional" - we are Christ's missionaries to a lost world, and the way we reach them is by acts of kindness, helping ministries, and sharing our stories with them. It means listening as much as talking. You get the idea. As for method, it means that we are willing to "bait the hook" (missionary methodology) with ways that will reach today's people on the street, and abandon what worked in the 50's and 60's (the hey-day of Church in our lifetime) that so many traditional churches refuse to give up. We also place an emphasis on going to them (the command of Christ in His Great Commission) rather than saying, "Here we are - come join us." We are not so much about building the church as we are about building the kingdom. His agenda instead of ours.

Is doctrine important? Of course. But listen up and listen up closely...Reggie McNeil has said that Satan, Lucifer himself, knows more Bible than you ever will. He could sign off on all our doctrinal statements. We might say doctrinally for example, that we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Satan would scoff and say, "You believe in that...I know it to be true...I was there." The point is that despite Satan knowing all that scripture (he can quote it) and knowing all that doctrinal truth...(he was there) it has not transformed him. Get the point? It ain't just about Bible and scripture and doctrine...it's about transformed hearts and people in love with God and so they are about doing what He calls us to do...to go and rescue those who don't yet know Him.

That's what being emergent/missional means here in Natchez. Criticize it if you want to.

No, Love Doesn't End at Death

2006-02-14T13:42:00.001-06:00

Today is Valentine's Day.

So the local newspaper wrote a story. It's on the front page.

It says of an elderly couple, "Simply Sweethearts: After 55 Years, Couple Just as Much In Love."

It has a really sweet picture of them, smiling and enjoying being together.

That's really nice.

But I wonderered, what my own widowed mother thought when she read it.

I was at her house eating lunch with her. It was her newspaper I was reading.

Her life partner died nine years ago.

Nine years.

My God how quickly time rushes by.

My dad has been gone nine years already?

I wonder how long that nine years has been for her.

Not too long ago, on the anniversary of Dad's death (January 2nd), I asked her how much she missed him.

She smiled this strange smile and looked me straight in the eye and said softly, "I look at his picture every morning and say, "Carl...I love you."

No, love doesn't end at death.

It's Valentine's Day, and my mother is still in love.

Blah Blah Blah

2006-02-12T19:12:00.000-06:00

Blah, blah, blah...

Blah-Blah

BlAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Blah, blah-blah, blah, blah.

B-lah, bl-ah, Bla-h.

Blah,

blah-blah.

Blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Blah.

Bye-blah.

Mike the HYPOcrite

2006-02-12T18:56:00.000-06:00

I sometimes wonder what some of my friends must think of me...

a leader in a Church...

yet so imperfect...

so screwed up...

so blessed with imperfections...

so, UNChristlike.

All I can come up with?

Honesty.

I AM screwed up.

Yes, I am wounded.

But I am also a wounded healer.

Thank God His salvation doesn't depend on my performance.

Just His grace and my faith.

And no, it doesn't mean I can go on sinning and live like hell 'cause I'm goin' to heaven.

As for my (poor) performance all I can say is...

I'm trying to get better, I really am...

and if you think I'm bad, selfish, weak, strange, stand-offish, etc...ad infinitem now?

You sure wouldn't want to know me if I wasn't a Christian...

I would be FAR worse!

Church Burnings? Not Just Semantics

2006-02-04T17:39:00.000-06:00

It's all over the headlines and on the news...the church burnings in Alabama.

They are saying that "a rash of church burnings" there have left five churches destroyed.

Hmmm. It also says no one was injured.

So, I'm wondering how five churches got destroyed...

Oh, I get it.

They think the buildings are the churches!

Wow.

Okay, I see now. They've confused buildings with churches.

The churches are not destroyed at all. Only where the churches were meeting.

What an opportunity they now have to meet in homes and really be the church--have discussions about their lives in a relaxed and open way, without all the formality that a structure and "the ritual" brings. A chance to move from acquaintances to real relationships and accountability.

But, no doubt they are already furiously working hard and figuring out how to get back into some building and back to the ritual just as soon as they possibly can.

How sad.

Some may argue that it's just a matter of semantics.

I would argue that it is much more than semantics. We've bought into the lie...the lie that redefines what Church is. Care to guess who's behind that lie?...

Kinda reminds me of the movie Bruce Almighty and how he flies right by all the signs and opportunities God is giving him...and wrecks.

Church burnings?

Not at all.

Just some old buildings where churches met being destroyed.

The real churches are actually healthier for it.

We're Off To See the Wizard!

2006-02-04T16:30:00.000-06:00

I'm excited.

Tuesday is my birthday (no, I'm not so excited about that).

What I am excited about is that a fellow co-pastor of Sling n' Stone and I are going to Jackson (Lord willing) to meet up with our group of fellow emergent church leaders from around the state, and have a private visit with the "wizard": Ed Stetzer, author of Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age.

Our Sling n' Stone elders (called co-pastors) belong to a group of dedicated emergent church - simple church - organic church (whatever you want to call us) planters in Mississippi. We are some of the pioneers of the new emerging church in Mississippi that Barna talks about in his recent book Revolution. We gather together frequently to cross-pollinate, cry on each others' shoulders, steal ideas, and pump each other up. We vary in denomination, size and age (we are non-denominational ourselves), but we share a heart of being missional and relevant in order to be more effective carriers of the Gospel.

On Tuesday the 7th, our group is meeting exclusively with Ed so each of us can pick his brain and ask him questions specifically relevant to our particular situation. What an awesome opportunity. I'm looking forward to it, and it seems very timely as things are starting to happen for us in Natchez/Vidalia area.

I've also notified a group of emergent leaders/people starting a faith community in Alexandria whom I've been in contact with, about the "Ed Opportunity" and they are going to try to come as well.

For Ed's Church Planting website, visit www.newchurches.com

He also has written Planting Missional Churches, and Breaking the Missional Code.

Sometimes the Lions Eat YOU

2006-02-04T14:07:00.000-06:00

I suppose that everyone, when we think of Daniel in the lion's den and how God delivered him from those lions, puts themselves in Daniel's place. We are in the story "as" Daniel, living the story through the pages of the Bible, just as we often place ourselves in the lead role as we watch a movie. The hero wins, the miracle happens, and we walk away with the victory and the prize at the end of the story. There's a problem with that though. We mis-define the meaning of success if we translate success as always winning in the temporal, material, physical world.

The truth is, we don't always win the victory, or experience the last second miracle...at least in the temporal sense. In fact most times, a "predictable" or less than miraculous outcome is more likely than a miracle.

Sometimes the lions eat you.

That's okay.

You actually do win the victory, and you are successful if you have done what God wanted you to do.

Others that are observing, even enemies or those "who told you so" may say to one another, "I knew he was making a mistake." Don't you let that bother you. They are fools in God's eyes if you are doing what He wants you to do and they can't or won't see it. You may "fall on your face" and "fail" in their eyes. But you haven't in the eyes of the only One who matters. Let them remain blind. Simply continue to do what God requires you to do. Go stand in the lion's den. Leave the results up to God. That's BOTH results, the temporal (this world) result, and the result of your eternal life. God can handle both, and you are better off letting Him have control of them.

Remember how the three Hebrew men responded to the king's threat to throw them into the fiery furnace? "The God we serve is able to save us from it and he will rescue us from your hand, but even if He doesn't, we want you to know that we will not serve your gods!" We know that God did choose, that day, to rescue them. But He also could have chosen not to.

Hebrews chapter eleven is known as the "faith hall of fame chapter." It has all the ones you'd expect: Abraham and Moses, and ones you wouldn't so readily think, such as Rahab. But from verse 32 on, it talks about the nameless martyrs who didn't receive a miraculous rescue...and were sawn in half, burned, dismembered, and slaughtered like cattle.

You see, we are NOT responsible for "the results." Read that again...

We are not responsible, nor creditable (deserving of the credit) for the results.

We are simply to obey...to act according to what God wants us to do...

to sew the seed...

to water it...

to witness and let our lights shine instead of hiding it under a bushel...

to be salt and light...

and the results are to His credit and to the responsibility (and free wills) of the humans that His Spirit woos. I constantly must remind myself that if my efforts see results, to give God credit...because when I toiled away and didn't see any results...only bitter criticicism and charges of betrayal and unaccountability, and worse...God was patting me on the back saying, "You are doing just what I want you to do...ignore those false human guides and keep up the hard work...you're doing great... I'm proud of you."

That's a definition of success with which I can really relax in and enjoy.

Heard of UNcola? How 'Bout UNchurch...

2006-01-30T21:07:00.000-06:00

to you who would be spiritual...

listen carefully and hear.

much of what you were taught must be unlearned...

much of what you converted to must be uncoverted from...

unconversion...

from churchianity.

conversion...

to Christ.

unlearning...

manmade traditionS...

learning...

the Christian traditioN.

unlearning religion...

learning relationship.

refusing any longer to do devotions...

just being devoted.

no longer going to church...

just being the church.

we are exposers of the matrix...

the ones who come to you to explain the splinter in your mind...

we were chosen...

and we were sent...

to offer you the red pill...

to guide you further down the rabbit hole...

because YOU have been chosen.

we are...

UNchurch

Feeding the Monster

2006-01-29T08:25:00.000-06:00

Someone said recently that we have created a monster (the institutional church) and that we now must feed it or it will eat us alive. No doubt that he is speaking the truth. I have some thoughts on it...

The monster demands not only that we feed it, but also that we worship it and serve it instead of God. It demands we make converts to it, rather than to the kingdom of God.

Well, I am definitely one "nobody" that has chosen to rebel against the monster. But for a nobody, I sure am drawing a lot of enemy fire. Yet, I am determined to fight tooth and toenail against it, because it leads so many into error, disillusionment, and false security. Of course, I see all the good things that happen and the truth it does proclaim, but I also see the destruction and damage it causes, and how it becomes a stumbling block to so many millions of people. No human endeavor will ever be perfect, but to stand by and let so much destruction take place without fighting back is not an option. The institutional church is indeed a monster, and must be held accountable and reformed. It is possible to throw out the bath water and keep the baby you know. One only need examine Matthew 23 carefully to see that Christ fought the monster tooth and toenail himself.

So I say, "Down with the Beast!"

I've taken up my sword (my little "Sting") in battle against it, and I'm poking and prodding it. As could be expected, the monster is taking its swipes at me and is howling in rage and protest. The howls have voices of "friends," "family," and "clergy," but I recall Christ hearing the monster howl too, and the voice sounded like Peter's! These people: friends, family, and clergy, are all good people, but they have become blind followers of their own misguided teaching and practices that are more about man's rules than God's desire. Of course they don't see it that way. But as I see it, they are blind and have led each other straight into the monster's lair.

The monster has eyes but can't see.
It has a brain but doesn't think.
It has hands but they tear down instead of build up.
It has a voice that whispers over and over subliminally..."conform...just conform..."
It has feet that stomp constantly but never go anywhere.

This monster was created with human hands and is perpetuated and fed by those same human hands.

Many people who fill our churches do not "own" their faith, they simply do what they do because everyone around them does it and it's the expected thing to do in our culture. That's as lame as it gets. These people, had they been born in Basra or Tehran, would be "good Muslim folk" instead of "good Christian folk." Some of the preachers and leaders are even worse! They are the institution's "keepers," with their livlihood and salary all mixed up with it. These are the professionals who get paid to feed the monster (and themselves). They constantly compromise the gospel by taking a "no offending" stance when controversy arises, instead of leading. They sell out. They fool themselves and delude themselves that they are leaders, when they are the worst kind of followers.

Hang on to your seat for this next paragraph...

They despised former President Clinton for licking and holding up his finger to see where the political winds were blowing before he formed an opinion on a matter. Yet, these same so called "leaders" do exactly the same thing. They are timid, weak, shallow ministers of a gospel with no power and a pulpit with boring messages. They surround themselves with "yes" people and waste the gifted people that God brings to them. They won't disciple anyone, yet claim they are overworked! They have lots to SAY, but actually DO very little. I can honestly say, because I've seen it over and over again, that preachers are supreme when it comes to wasting time during a work day. They are some of the least productive people in America. That's because they are so unaccountable. They are so insecure that if you disagree with them they claim you are betraying them, or that you are not being loyal. How childish and utterly immature...like spoiled babies. Not all are this way, but so very many. I've seen it first hand. Can ya tell it makes me just a little angry?...

They camp out on the internet (wonder what they look at when they close their door and stay late hours into the night instead of going home to their wives?) Hmmm? They even get their sermons online! Many, because they proudly state they were called from age 14 or so to be "preachers," have never known what it is to have a real job. Call a work day and they are the laziest ones there. I've never seen one do the hardest job on a workday. Never. Too many are poster-boys for the contemporary version of the pharisees and teachers of the Law that Christ speaks directly to in that twenty-third chapter of Matthew. They are gatekeepers of the monster. They feed the monster and the monster in turn protects them. What a convenient arrangement, and one highly resistant to true revival and reformation...like cozy little bedfellows.

Now, I must also say that some pastors and preachers have really done a lot for me in my spiritual walk and my life. I don't want to characterize all pastors as being bad...they are certainly not. A couple of pastors really helped me through my divorce by showing lots of care. I was supported in ministry to Russia. I consider some to be close friends, even though with some of them I have differences in how to approach ministry and what leading translates into. That's okay. I criticize pastors, denominational and church leaders the most because I am one. I've been an overseas missionary to Russia and Estonia, I was ordained in two denominations, I've served as a pastor and youth leader, now I'm ordained in my third church. I am guilty or have been guilty of much of what I am ranting against. I've got to change as much as anybody. But change WE must. I criticize us because we are leaders, and we are not leading people where Christ wants us to take them. Another reason I criticize us so toughly - we dish it out, but we don't like to take it...we are some of the most unteachable, closed-minded people on the face of the earth.

Can you handle the truth?

Especially if you're a church leader or pastor and some of this has "fried" you...I hope you can handle righteous anger and indignation.

I can...I'm being nailed between the eyes, but I'm choosing to let the truth transform me into what God needs. I hope you do as well.

So, I do my best to starve the monster (through Christ who strengthens me) and the monster isn't happy...and neither are the keepers...

Barna says that there are at least twenty million more just like me, in America alone, who are also starving the monster. The monster is getting weaker by the day, and God's kingdom is advancing...

Down with the beast...
And take the keepers with you...

Long live the King...
and His holy Kingdom...

I know these words are strong. They need to be, in an age where these false people refuse to change their ways. Thank God for those of you who are taking up arms, taking a stand, and are starving the monster too. There are too many souls at stake to play games and ignore the truth. This is no time for the timid or for the hesitant, it is now the time to join in the epic struggle...

God be with you as you keep up the work of the Kingdom. Now, continue to morph, grab that sword and let's go rescue some souls...

Mike's SEC Final Standings:Tigers are the Best!

2006-01-03T01:04:00.000-06:00

This is my take on the FINAL standings of the MOST SUCCESSFUL Southeastern Conference Teams for the entire season, based upon won/loss record, post-season performances (Bowl Games) and final AP poll standings (at this point projected). I am ignoring who beat who because that is during the season and doesn't have any bearing on who the most successful teams are. A team can end up being more successful than a team it lost to at some point of the season (for example Alabama lost to Auburn, but in my opinion had a more successful season; Georgia lost to Florida AND Auburn, but had a more successful season than either team.)

Most Successful SEC Team Criteria:
1. Record - both overall record and conference record is considered (winning percentage is scrutinized); difficulty of schedule is also considered, as well as EXPECTATIONS going into the season and then how they did against those expectations (look out Tennessee).
2. Post Season Play - whether or not the team went to a Bowl, or the Conference Championship, and how they perform in it (strength of opponent is considered as well); NOTE: if Georgia wins Conference Championship they are rewarded, but not as much as any other team because they are basically playing a home game. Sorry Bulldog fans, but that's only fair. You guys used to complain when the game was played in Birmingham every year.
3. Final AP Poll Ranking - the year ending poll is also considered, to look and see where the teams finished after everything was said and done. Things may have been better or worse during the year, but it is where you are when the final whistle blows that helps determine what kind of year a team had.

1. LSU
Best record in the Conference at 11-2 (.846 winning percentage); won the SEC West over Auburn and Alabama; represented the West in the Conference Title game; went to a major bowl (Peach Bowl - which many experts said was the best matched game outside of the Rose Bowl) and faced the highest ranked opponent of any other SEC Team; was extremely impressive in routing 9th ranked Miami in post-season game 40-3 - which was worst loss ever for Miami in a post-season game; will finish no lower than 5th in the Final AP Poll and probably a solid 4th, and can finish as high as 3rd if Penn State loses. At any rate will be BY FAR the highest ranked SEC Team at season's end. Gets extra points for enduring the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and having to reschedule their games so that they had no off weeks...had to play 11 weeks in a row, and because of this burn-out, helps explain at least in part the loss to GA in Conference Championship game, along with the difficulty (and unfairness) of having to play GA "at home." Minuses: allowing Tennessee to come back and beat them (their only conference loss during the year); getting blown out by Georgia during the Conference Championship - but this is mitigated by the factors above. Great first year for new head coach Les Miles. Analysts are already saying watch out for LSU next year, they will contend for the national title. Congrats Tigers, you're the most succesful team in the SEC in 2005!

2. Alabama
Great year for Alabama despite losses at end of the year to LSU and Auburn; awesome defense helped the Tide earn the second best record in the SEC at 10-2 (.833 winning percentage); beat Texas Tech on a last second field goal in their Bowl Game; will be the second highest ranked SEC Team in the final AP Poll, even cracking the top 10...probably about 8th! (They are currently 13th, and the 5th thru 9th teams lost, and they should jump over them). Negatives were losing to LSU at home while ranked 3rd in the nation, and getting humiliated by arch-rival Auburn. However, they finished well with a major bowl game (Cotton Bowl) and won it. Georgia fans no doubt will protest Alabama being put ahead of them, and perhaps will complain LSU is ahead of them. This is NOT however, a poll about winning the SEC Championship...Georgia DID do that. They ARE the SEC champs. But, the facts are clear, they are NOT more successful at the end of the year than LSU, and in my opinion, Alabama. The Tide had a better winning percentage, the same conference record, also went to a major bowl, and yet they won their bowl game - Georgia did not despite playing a weaker team at home! I also believe that 'Bama will finish higher in the final AP Poll than Georgia. Had Georgia won the Sugar Bowl they would have finished number 1 in this poll. That loss killed their winning percentage and their chance at a high ranking in the final AP Poll. Incredible year Tide!

3. Georgia
Winners of the SEC Conference game by dismantling a flat LSU team, the Bulldogs are the official conference champions and can hang their banner proudly. They finally beat hated Tennessee and also outlasted arch-rival GA Tech; they won the SEC East; they represented the SEC in a major BCS Bowl game. However, they finish with only the THIRD best record at 10-3 (.769 winning percentage); they lost two conference games during the regular season; they lost the BCS Sugar Bowl to West Virginia where they were projected to win big; and with three losses will probably finish in the polls by slipping to around the mid-teens. Georgia fans are dissappointed by going out at the end of the year with a loss like that in the Sugar Bowl, although they did make a valient comeback attempt, but losing to Florida leaves a very sour taste in their mouths (although I mitigated that loss because Shockley was out injured). Bulldog fans do however, get to rag Tennessee fans for at least a year! Congrats Georgia fans--an excellent year - SEC Champs!

4. Florida
What a topsy-turvy year for the Gators...but it ended sweet! They ended the year with a 9-3 record (.750 winning percentage) which ties Auburn, and Auburn only lost one conference game where the Gators lost two. However, I give the Gators the nod for the number four spot because the Gators won their Bowl game over Iowa and 7th ranked Auburn lost to Wisconsin and looked bad doing it; Florida should finish very close to Georgia in the final AP Poll. Gator fans are happy they beat a Shockey-less GA this year (he was out with an injury that game). Negatives though were losing to LSU and losing to ex-Gator coach Spurrier and South Carolina. But all-in-all, a great year for first year head coach Meyer. Look out for Florida next year, they will be the team to beat in the East.

5. Auburn
Everyone is wondering what happened to Auburn against Wisconsin! Still, they had a solid year, although I'm sure for Tiger fans they are disappointed after their 2004 success. They finish with a 9-3 record (.750 winning percentage), with big wins over Alabama and Georgia. Their only conference loss came against LSU! Their other loss was their first game of the year against GA Tech. 7th ranked before their Bowl Game, they will slip to around 16th or 17th in the final AP Poll with three losses and a lackluster performance in their Bowl game. It will be very interesting to see the final AP Poll and where Georgia and Auburn end up, they could be right together in any combination! I also placed Auburn behind Florida in this poll because of expectations - I am convinced that Florida fans - right now at the end - are more satisfied with their year than Auburn fans are with theirs.

6. South Carolina
The last of the top half teams, and the last team with a winning overall record at 7-5, 3-5 in conference; did much better than expected during the year; earned a spot to a Bowl Game; however, they lost that bowl game where they were favored over Missouri. They had a 21-0 lead and going in for another score and blew it with an interception returned the length of the field for a touchdown--and went on to lose the game. Ugly! Still, all-in-all, an encouraging year for a team that hasn't done much lately. Expectations were low and they exceeded them. They did beat Tennessee and Florida, which I'm sure Gamecock fans relish. Things are looking up in South Carolina land. Spurrier is back, and this year puts them on the map as teams will no longer go into games with them automatically expecting a win.

7. Vanderbilt
The best of the worst, Vandy fans are feeling like they had a respectable year--which for them is unusual. A 5-6 record, 3-5 in conference; tied with Tennessee in both overall and conference record and lost to them in head-to-head play, you may wonder why I place them ahead of the Vols in this poll--it's because of expectations! Tennessee does not view their year as being a good one AT ALL!--they had a disastrous year, with some experts saying the Vols had a great shot at a national championship before the season began--can you believe that now? In contrast, the normally last place Commodores are feeling great about the year they had, and they should--for Vandy, a good job!

8. Arkansas
Again, I put the Razorbacks ahead of Tennessee because of how the Hogs finished, by nearly beating LSU on the road, and in mid-season going wholesale with the younger players. The Hogs finished 4-7, but gave their future starters some valuable playing time. There is genuine cause for hope in Fayetteville.

9. Tennessee
Now we are getting to the bottom feeders of the conference. The Vols finish at 5-6, with a conference record of 3-5. Head Coach Fulmer fired a couple of his coaches. Horrible year for the proud Vols. The only bright spot was coming from 21 down to beat LSU on the road, but most recognize this win as more of an LSU collapse than a Vol win. Not much rocky on ole rocky-top this year. Vol fans are glad this year is finally over, and in hiding. What expectations they had going into the beginning of the season! They are now wondering if they have a future next year...there is no confidence in Tennessee land.

10. Kentucky
The only thing that can be said about Kentucky is thank God there's basketball, Ole Miss, and MS State! They finish 3-8, and 2-6 in the conference. Kentucky football puts the blue into the bluegrass state.

11. MS State
Kept out of the bottom spot because they beat Ole Miss head up, they finish with identical records, 3-8, 1-7 in conference. State has a long, long way to go. Where the hell is Starkville, Mississippi anyway?

12. Ole Miss
Finally, to the worst and least successful team in the SEC...Ole Miss. A 3-8 overall record, and 1-7 in the conference. The only teams they managed to beat were squeakers over Memphis and Kentucky, and a twenty point victory over The Citadel. The Rebels have a long ways to go if they want to move up significantly in the conference. Not counting a random upset they pull off here and there, Ole Miss will have to begin to consistently beat teams like Arkansas and South Carolina before they can even think of breaking into the top half of the league, and competing for the top slots, and be mentioned in the same breath as programs such as Florida, LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, and Tennessee...a long ways to go.

AP POll as it stands pre-Bowl Games & Projections for Final Poll:
1. USC Not yet played Media darlings - they won't fall far if they lose
2. Texas Not yet played If they lose, it depends on how bad they lose as to how far they fall
3. Penn State Not yet played Still a top ten even if they lose, if they win - they are #2
4. Ohio State Won Impressively Probably end up 3rd, but could go as high as 2nd
5. Notre Dame Lost again I project them falling to about 12th or 13th
6. Oregon Lost/Looked bad Silenced the whining about missing a BCS game, will fall to about 14th or 15th
7. Auburn Lost/Looked bad Will fall to around 17th
8. Georgia Lost "at home" Will fall to around 16th
9. Miami Got humiliated Will fall to 20s
10. LSU Won Impressively Will finish 4th or 5th
11. West Vir. Won Big Game Will finish about 6th
12. V. Tech Won Will finish around 7th
13. Alabama Won barely Will finish around 8th
14. TCU Won barely Will finish around 9th
15. Louisville Lost Will fall to 20s
16. Florida Won Will finish around 10th
17. UCLA Won big Will go up to about 11th
18. Texas Tech Lost barely Will drop to end of the poll
19. Boston C Won Will finish about 13th
20. Michigan Lost Drops out of poll
21. Wisconsin Won impressively Will finish about 14th
22. Fl. St. Not yet played If they win, will go to around 12th, if they lose, they're gone
23. Clemson Won Will finish around 18th
24. GA Tech Lost Big Bye, bye
25. Iowa Lost Bye, bye

Projected Final AP Top Ten if USC wins, Penn State wins, & Texas makes it respectable:
1. USC
2. Penn St
3. Ohio St
4. Texas
5. LSU (LSU will go higher if Texas looks bad because they won big)
6. West Virginaia
7. Virginia tech
8. Alabama
9. TCU
10. Florida (UCLA could jump over Florida because they won big)

The Box

2005-11-15T00:45:00.000-06:00

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened." -The Apostle Paul, Ephesians 1:18

"Can a blind man lead a blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?" -Christ, Luke 6:39

"The god of this age has blinded the mind of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." -Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:4

Lately I've been reading scripture and thinking about how it clearly teaches that much of our lives are lived in delusion...not really living according to the reality that is most real. We as Christians say we believe in the spiritual world and we believe in God and we believe the Bible is true...but we don't really live like it. We actually live inside a construct of illusion that ignores most of the things we claim to believe...that we are in an intense spiritual war between the forces of evil and the kingdom of light.

So I've been thinking about that a lot lately...mainly because of what we discuss in our small group time, as we look at scripture and discuss the book "Epic" by John Eldridge. I've come up with the idea of a box floating down a river, and the current is taking us downriver and we ride inside this box and we can't see anything outside of it. The floor, walls and ceiling of our box are made up of certain things around us and in us, that limit our view, our minds...our thinking.

I haven't really developed the idea completely but I'm thinking some of the things that limit us and cause our Christian lives to be so limited, stilted, and shallow is because of walls like denominationalism, education, culture, family, nationalism, ego, personality, spirituality, humility, emotional stability...things like that. I'll be developing this idea further, but it is amazing how blind, asleep, and narrow-minded we can be. I think Christ calls us outside our box (Romans 12:1-2) but most people stubbornly refuse...even people who claim to be mature Christians. We are so comfortable inside our boxes, and then on top of that, we claim our box is the standard! I think that is very, very dangerous. In fact, I think it is very common, but very much parallel to what the Pharisees did. It is from within the tight confines of our little boxes that we form worldviews, judge events and people, and live out our Christianity. How narrow and small all of those are if we don't allow scripture, Christ, and the Holy Spirit to transform us out of those boxes.

The box is a world of delusion, in which Satan wants us to remain but God wants us to break free from. We must have the faith necessary to trade our man-made box for the wider, truer, actual world of reality. That would force us to change (be transformed) and most "Christians" absolutely refuse to do that. Most Christians are Christians because they want to escape hell, but when it comes to allowing God to truly change them and how they live their lives, they settle for "safe" church and religious times slots on Sunday, but they have very little power in their own lives and aren't happy people. But, they fool themselves and hunker down for the ride down the river. Gotta get outta those boxes...

The Plea of the Bee

2005-09-10T00:07:00.000-05:00

The Plea of the Bee
written for Ana, David, and Sasha - the three little bees in my hive

"Please help me!" requested the Bee.
"What do you need," answered the Steed.
"He’s run away from home!" replied the Gnome.
"My oh my!" gasped the Fly.

"Why’d he do that?" buzzed the Gnat
"‘Cause he sassed his mama," replied the Llama.
"Now he’s lost as a Goose!" said the Moose.
"I heard that, Moose!" frowned the Goose.

"What to do now?" asked the Cow.
"We need a plan!" said the Toucan.
"He could stay at my house!" offered the Mouse.
"Not so quick!" injected the Tick.

"Where’s his home at?" inquired the Cat.
"He don’t know!" squawked the Crow.
"It’s in a tree," remembered the Bee.
"What can we do?" cried the Shrew.

"I know where to go!" offered the Doe.
"Oh that’s baloney!" said the Pony.
"No, Doe is right!" yelled the Mite.
"I don’t care!" roared the Bear.

"Give him a break," hissed the Snake.
"He’s in luck," quacked the Duck.
"Go east to the log," barked the Dog.
"Then you fly high," advised the Magpie.

"Look for a tree with a trunk," said the Chipmunk.
"And that’s where it’s at!" squeaked the Rat.
"So off you go!" waved the Rhino.
"Well Bee, good luck!" said the Buck.

"See ya later!" roared the Gator.
"In awhile!" mocked the Crocodile.
"Don’t you wish!" laughed the Fish.
"And so that’s the end!" cackled the Hen.

[September 2005 - m.c.chapman]

Lermontov Poem

2005-09-09T00:04:00.000-05:00

one of my all-time favorite poets is Mikhail Lermontov. Below is my favorite poem by him, preceded by a verse that i find fascinating...enjoy...

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." - The Prophet Jeremiah

An angel flew through the midnight sky,
softly singing.
Moon, stars, clouds in a throng
listened to his holy song.

He sang of bliss of innocent spirits
sinless in paradise.
He sang of the great God,
his praised was unfeigned.

In his arms he bore a young soul,
destined for the world of heartache and tears.
And the sound of his song stayed forever
wordless and alive in that young soul.

Long that soul languished in the world
filled with a wonderful longing.
The earth's dull songs could not replace
the sounds of heaven for it.

Stuck on Stupid Award

2005-09-08T13:51:00.000-05:00

The latest edition of the "Stuck on Stupid Award" goes hands down to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Congratulations, you have been definitely deemed as being stuck on stupid! You also may be a shoe-in for entry into our "Stuck on Stupid" Hall of Fame.

Much will come out of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to point out the many failures, corruption, and utter disregard in the face of inevitable flooding, disaster, and loss of human life. There is much blame to be fairly placed on many aspects, including local, state, and federal government agencies and people; congress; environmentalists; and even locals who refused to leave despite the warnings and who had the means to leave. Despite being completely aware of political opportunism and how partisan our politics can get sometimes, I still have been amazed at the speed, unfairness, and viciousness to which FEMA and the federal government has been blamed in this event. Let's assign to them the level of blame and guilt they are responsible for, and let's not ignore and pass over others who share and deserve even more blame and guilt! For Christ's sake I'm getting sick of these idiot pundits who are being grossly unfair and blindly biased in this whole thing.

Does FEMA and the federal government deserve some blame for obvious failures? Absolutely. Does Bush deserve some of the blame for slowness. Yes. I think he should have been there a day sooner. Instead of flying to California for the WW2 VJ Day celebration, he should have went straight to New Orleans. That caused a one day delay. It should be noted though that this didn't necessarily mean a difference on the ground, I believe it had more to do with a perception of how much focus was being put on the storm. But he looked out of touch, and this may actually have had an effect of a lack of urgency within the ranks of the top leadership within the federal government. They deserve harsh criticism for this, which I was personally doing on Wednesday after the storm on Monday.

However, it should be noted that one thing is not being mentioned much - that is the fact that on 9/11, the incident took place within a couple of hours. Bam. It hit, and there we were, with a total disaster that was highly limited in geographical scope. Just two miles from ground zero, life was "normal" in the sense of electricity, water, food, streets being clear, etc. Not the case in this Hurricane. First of all, it was a "rolling" disaster...first the wind damage, the storm surge, then a day later the levees breaking, then not being able to get in "en masse" for hundreds of miles because of trees down and power outages. We thought the morning after it hit, that New Orleans had once again been spared, and they indeed had been spared in the sense of once again dodging the main force of the storm. Are there legitimate reasons for the delay in getting people in? Absolutely. But when legitimate reasons that contributed to the slowness are given, they are quickly dismissed as just "excuses." Wake up people. There's a difference between an excuse and a reason. There are valid reasons that contributed to the delays. Don't be so naive and simplisitc. Please...put a little thought into it...for Christ's sake.

Additionally, what is not getting through to people is that half of the State of Mississippi was out of power and had trees down everywhere. For those of you reading this who have not grown up in a hurricane prone region like me, you need to understand and understand clearly, that we know that here in the primary zone each of us individually is responsible for our own personal evacuation plan and preparation, we are told that help may not come right away, and to factor that into our own plans. We are supposed to have food, water, generators, means to cook and care for ourselves FOR DAYS in case help can't get to us quickly. If you think we sit here in storms with no plans or preparation and that we don't have any responsibility to clear out or store supplies, then you've completely missed it. Individual citizens are also partly responsible. In the case of a nursing home for example, the heads of those nursing homes have some responsibility in getting their people out--they should have a solid plan. They can't be excused completely if the governor, the mayor, or the president doesn't show up right away.

Another thing, Hurricanes kill people. Read that again. Nature kills. Even the best of plans and preparations lead to death. I live an hour and a half north of Baton Rouge. We lost power with 70 plus mph winds and had trees down all over the place. We are inundated with evacuees and people in shelters-and we had no power to help them or ourselves, much less get to New Orleans or the Coast of Mississippi, we couldn't get down our own streets. Does that help you see how much devastation was occurring this far north (three hours drive) of New Orleans? The two people dead in my own town were evacuees who died due to the stress of being moved. They followed the plan and got out. Wind, water, debris falling didn't kill them, but the Hurricane did. Welcome to the cruel harshness of life. Hurricanes...kill...people...

The Mayor of New Orleans (that's right, the one who went on a cursing tirade on radio blaming everyone but himself) has plenty to answer for in his malfeasance and utter failure to evacuate and plan adequately for the Hurricane, as well as the glaring failure of the State government and Governor Blanco. Where was the "sense of urgency" with the Governor or the Mayor. The National Hurricane Center was urgently tracking them down on the phone at their homes to plead with them to get their people out. What did these two excellent examples of leadership do? They waited and took their time. What's our response to that? Let's fire Mike Brown? Let's blame Bush? Unbelievable! Do they deserve some of the blame...yes. Do they deserve the lion's share? No.

President Bush had to telephone Mayor Nagle personally to evacuate, and even then he waited to the last minute. Seen the pictures of all the New Orleans buses underwater? Seen the pictures of all the municipal buses standing underwater? Mayor Nagle's brilliant move. No food or adequate water at the Superdome? Mayor Nagle and Governor Blanco's area of responsibility, not FEMA's. Slowness in National Guard assets being moved in? Blanco's brilliant leadership, not Michael Chertoff's. Anybody going on the radio to scream and curse about that? Where is miss nancy pants on that one? Not a peep Nancy? What? Cat got your tongue? Oh, I see, Nagle is a Democrat! Aha! So is Blanco. Okay...I get it. I get it loud and clear Nancy. I see how fair and noble you are...and you're the minority leader?...you're a leader in the Democratic party?...you make me sick and ashamed that I've ever voted for a democrat...and I have.

Things like this are slowly coming out more and more, but simplistic fools with no understanding of regulations, and established law, and layers of responsibility, just leap to the convenient: let's just blame Bush and FEMA for ALL of it, especially since we don't like Bush anyway, and we are oppossed to the war in Iraq. That's called political opportunism, and we are seeing this form of shrieking and shrill yapping minute by minute on TV. Yeah sure...of course...right...Bush hates black people so he just wants them to drown. Yep, sure.

Oh, and if you believe that race played a part, then YOU are a racist. Read that again slowly and carefully so it'll sink in a little bit. These rap idiots, Jesse Jackson, Celine Dion, and Rev Al are complete fools and idiots who are racists themselves. These folks display their breathtaking brilliance at what it means to be Stuck on Stupid. Wow. Yeah Celine, morons who tote off TVs are righteous people. Let's hold up as heroes those freaked out crack addicts who shot police officers and National Guardsmen, and who shot at medical staff trying to load up infant babies who were born prematurely in order to evacuate them. Yeah, those are real heroes Celine. Gimme a freakin break...just because you're in a flood doesn't make you righteous or have the right to shoot, rape, and loot for non-essentials...many of these low-lifes are rapists and murderers who deserve to be shot, not fawned over and cried over. Where are the "Christian" pacifists on that one? Gonna go "chat" to them about their need for better citizenry? Again, unbelievable. The mush between Celine's ears is some concentrated stuff. Stick to singing pie-in-the-sky love songs and leave reality to those of us who have a clue. You've grown up priviledged and are a rich, pampered, spoiled child. Just because you're all that and you get to have a voice on TV like we're supposed to listen to you and be unduly influenced by you doesn't mean we can't blast you when you say utterly stupid things. Oh, and if you're gonna wipe away tears, wipe, don't do that weird little dabbling thing you were doing so you don't mess up your make-up. Smear it all over if you really believe what you're saying. As for you talking with your heart and not your head...well, we're considering an "Understatement of the Decade Award" just with you in mind...you're that special Celine.

So, we have idiots-of-the-first-degree like Nancy Pelosi displaying her quality of being a hypocrite and partisan of the highest caliber, yakking and clacking away like some toy chattering teeth about FEMA and Bush and blah blah blah. Anytime she opens her mouth it's predictable what she is going to say...clackety-clackety-clack...you can be sure it going to be something negative about the President or his administration. We are all for constructive criticism of things in order to make them better, but such utterly blind criticism of political opponents while glaringly ignoring criticizing those in your own party is sickening and laughable. She has no credibility, and is our poster girl for "Stuck on Stupid." If all you ever do anytime you open your pie hole is to spew crap at the same ole target day in and day out...well for anyone who is in any way fair and reasonable, it just quickly ceases to be credible.

Hey Nancy, you ARE a loser, and you ARE stuck on stupid. You ARE the weakest link...

You've set a new all-time low. Congratulations.

Unsynchronized Synchronicity

2005-09-08T01:13:00.000-05:00

unsynchronized synchronicity

eveningtime has come to pass
darkness descended at last
he sits in shadow under a starlit sky
the ache of solitude
the crush of pain
a torn heart beckons to be loved again
how long must he wait?
is a life of solitude his fate?

thousands and thousands down through time
and still there's noone by his side
many lonely hearts have cried and cried
has the one for him already lived and died?

[chapman 1982]

Of Stars and A Rumpled Little Sock

2005-09-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

I have this friend named Stan who plays guitar. He’s a really cool guy who lives in a little house with his two boys and a dog named Roxie. I like Stan a lot. Stan knows how to play all kinds of guitars. He plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar and even plays a little toy guitar that he calls a mandolin. Stan the Guitar Man likes to look at stars. I told him one time that he should put out a CD one day titled, "Stan with the guitar, looks upon a star." He laughed but I don’t think he really thought that it was that funny.

Stan the Guitar Man knows a lot about stars. One night after playing music, we were out in his front yard looking at stars. Stan put down his beer and looked at the stars through his new binoculars. He has a really cool telescope on a tripod sitting in his living room. But it must only look cool and not work very well, because there is lots of dust on it like it has sat there a really long time. So Stan the Guitar Man handed me the binoculars and jabbed his finger at the sky. He told me that I was looking at Orion. He showed me lots of other really cool stars and stuff. He really knows a lot about stars. I asked him if he thought it was all created. But Stan the Guitar Man who lives in a little house with his two boys and a dog and a dusty telescope said no. He said it was magic that created all the stars. I asked him if he thought God created them. Again he said no, that it was magic. That made me sad inside, like a rumpled little sock laying on a dirty washroom floor that got left out of the washing machine.

Later I thought about what Stan the Guitar Man said and I realized that Stan was right after all. It WAS magic that created all those stars. Magic requires a magician, it doesn’t just happen. God was the magician.

The rumpled little sock got washed.

Masking and Eating

2005-09-07T07:40:00.000-05:00

There was this one church I used to go to that I don't go to anymore. I stopped going there because each time I went I came away afterwards even more depressed than ever. I’m not really sure exactly why I felt that way. Maybe it was because I felt judged. Maybe it was because I realized they are more about a man-made religion than about following Christ. I guess it would be fair to judge me as a judger of the judgers. But I just didn't feel home there anymore.

Maybe it was because of all the things they said behind my back about me being a Christian playing drums, and playing drums in a band, a rock band, and playing in bars where sinners hang out, where people are drinking beer, and drinking alcohol, and homosexuals are hanging out, and trashy women swagger around, and people dance, and get in fights and throw up and act like fools. I wasn't doing those things...I never got in a fight, never took a woman home with me, never got drunk, never threw up or acted stupid. Fact is, I've had some meaningful discussions about life, real life, with some of those "sinners." But my being there made the church people uncomfortable. The same kind of uncomfortable I suppose that the religious people were eat up with when Jesus partied with sinners. If I'm not mistaken those religious people were called Pharisees.

Some religious people think drums and rock music are of the devil. I don't think that way. Hopefully, that means I'm not religious. Oh well.

Maybe I stopped going to that one church because it seemed like they were only interested in doing stuff that really didn’t seem to be too terribly important. I think they like to eat a lot. They call eating a lot fellowship.

I don’t have a problem with that. I like food too. I just always found myself sitting there eating wishing there was something deeper. Like real conversation about real problems and expressing things the way they really are. I wonder if we are ever going to learn that instead of focusing so much on conversion, which we really don’t do anyway, we would start focusing on genuine, real conversation.

We talk about conversion a lot—but what we mean by that is for people to convert to the church. Jesus spoke about that kind of conversion. He said something about making people twice as much sons of hell as we are. I guess that's what he meant when he said that...when we substitute converting people to the church rather than to Christ. We play so many games and do so much posing, when it’s really just about simple but meaningful heart-to-heart conversation. When you’re hurting I think that’s the kind of fellowship you really want. But that never seemed to happen. Just lots of food and lots of eating. Lots of smiling and laughing. Lots of hurting, imperfect, screwed-up people putting on masks for each other and posing and laughing and smiling and eating. I was one of them. I realized it. I despise being fake. I wanted something different. So I left.

There was this one guy there who tried to speak one day about some really bad problems in his life. This was during Sunday School. People just lowered their eyes and stared at their bibles. There was this really uncomfortable silence and I realized he had said something that made them want to hide under a rock or something. I was embarrassed too. But, he was new to being a Christian and doing the church thing. He hadn’t yet learned the proper behavior and all.

He broke the rules.

I think the rule he broke was the one about never taking off your mask.

Notes From the Underground Chords

2005-09-07T00:20:00.000-05:00

Notes from The Underground Chords
thoughts of life, God, me, and you

Chapter 1: "Square Mike - Weirdy Pants"

I am a follower of Christ who lives in a cave and operates out of the underground. I find myself living on the edge of a dark world filled with false motives, lies, deceit and intense unhappiness. It is, at the same time, a world filled with light, laughter, sincerity, truth and genuine compassion. I agree with my good friend Buzz Lightyear, that I Have Crash Landed On A Strange Planet. I am an alien in an alien world, and that’s just describing the world of the Christian church. At least, that’s my description of the Church that I have known down here in the Bible belt of the rural South. It is truly a strange world. Of course, I didn’t always know it was strange. I only learned this by experiencing travels to other planets and worlds, then returning "home" to my little planet down here in southwest Mississippi.

That leads me to a question I think about sometimes. Have you ever thought about the odds of being you? Of all the people ever born, why you were born in the time and age you were born in? Just why it is that you were born in exactly the place you were born into—the particular family and the specific local culture and the specific time frame? I think about that sometimes and it intrigues me. We are placed into these little capsules and launched into our little worlds and we wake-up and realize one day Here I Am. We find ourselves in these strange little places just being us. It would've been so easy to be somewhere else in some other time and in some other world. It makes me wonder how different I would be if I was someone else. It makes me wonder how much I need to grow out of my smallness and small-mindedness and think about what other people must be thinking about.

I prefer to be known as a Christ-follower rather than a Christian, since the word Christian has become associated with behaviors that I have lots of problems with. But, since most people still use the word Christian, I suppose I will have to also, since that is what people will label me as anyway. It does make me uncomfortable to be called that though. I like to think that I am one of the good Christians. You know, one of the real Christians. That’s a joke though because we all think we are the true, genuine Christian. I understand that human beings have this amazing capacity for self-deception. Of course, that includes me. It also includes you. Sometimes I think that the term Good Christian is almost an oxymoron. So, I suppose that’s the first thing I’d like to tell you about myself. That I’m a Christ follower who isn’t at all comfortable with what Christianity has become or what Christians are all about. In fact, it kind of makes me sick to my stomach to think of how shallow, arrogant, judgmental, and unChristlike we’ve become in many of our churches. I like very much being a Christ-follower though.

I am also a musician. Well, let me correct that. I am a drummer. Drummers aren’t really musicians. We beat on things and make rhythms and cause otherwise normal people to suddenly want to start tapping their foot, or gyrating and twisting their bodies in really strange ways. That’s really weird when you think about it. That people want to do that just because some complete stranger like me starts beating on something. But, I get this warped kick out of beating on drums and cymbals and cowbells and wood blocks and stuff, and watching people dance...uh...well, make that move around gesticulating wildly...to the rhythms I provide. It’s a human interaction kind of thing—that what I do can affect people so much that they move to the rhythm of my creativity. That's weird. But that's me.

As you probably guessed, I don’t actually literally live in a cave either. Anyway, not the earthy, damp, clammy ones that have bat poop in them. I guess my cave allegory is similar to Plato’s—it’s a state of mind, or a state of being. My cave is what I call my apartment. I call it my cave because I am depressed sometimes and when I get depressed I hole up in my apartment like it was a cave or something. Yeah I know, that’s weird. But it’s also me. I’d rather be up front with you and just tell you the way I really live and the way I really am and the way I really feel. This way, if you decide that even though I’m a really weird person, that you kind of like me anyway, even if it too is in a weird, warped kinda way, then I know that’s cool ‘cause you aren’t liking me for some artificial or otherwise contrived sort of reason. It'll be sort of like you tolerate me in spite of that other stuff. That would be pretty okay. I suppose that might even free you up to just be you as well, and that too would be pretty cool.

I said I operate out of the underground because I am also a pastor. Or I used to be. It's a long story. Is a pastor still a pastor if he or she is not on staff somewhere pastoring? I get confused at the message that is sent that blurs the lines between the noun and the verb, between the position and the mission, between the title and the spiritual gift. To be honest, when I say I’m a pastor I’m probably referring to the licensing and the degrees and the ordination. So in other words, I suppose I’m referring to the pedigree...I've got the pedigree but no papers or little plastic card to prove it. I've got the mission but no position.

I guess you can already tell that I’m not a "normal" sort of pastor. Most pastors have it all together and they are really A-Plus kind of people. At least, they want you to think that. Actually, come to think of it, I’ve never known a pastor (or preacher as they call us down here) who truly had it all together. Most pastors are really good people. But I’ll just tell you straight up that every single one of the pastors I’ve ever known are just as messed up as anybody else if not more so, but lots of them don’t dare let anyone know that. Not even themselves. But you probably already knew that didn’t you?

I grew up normal. I think. Well on second thought maybe I didn’t. I grew up going to several very small fundamentalist churches in the south. I don’t really believe all of that stuff those folks believe anymore. I still believe some things they do, but I’ve changed a lot. I am once again living in the town I grew up in. I’ve lived in many places including four years in other countries. So all of that is why I say I’m operating from the underground. I live and breathe my faith as a Christian in the underground of the culture I find myself living in, because I don’t really fit in too well with most of the other Christians around me.

This little note? Well, just consider it just one note (expression) of a chord (a life), from a strange little person (me) who is in a strange place (here), operating out of the Underground (I'll let you figure this one out on your own)...

...echo! ...?

The Quest

2005-09-06T23:45:00.000-05:00

The Quest

Three shall come to face the North
One in darkness guides them
Twelve shall come to face the Foe,
Along the way shall find him

In darkened days and evil ways
Hope rings thin and hollow
The door is closed and no one knows
What path they are to follow

Scarlet locks that guard the way
Deep upon deep their wages
The golden key to them and thee
Lost since ancient ages

So, look up, look down, look all around
Look ‘til all is fair
Look in, look out, look all about
Look ‘til all is bare

Journey long, in wind and song
Darkness, rain, and thunder
Journey deep, in sadness weep,
‘Til Soul is rent asunder

And be they weak or be they bold
They all shall face the Sleep
At death’s cold door, or other shore
To what end they reap?

Aye, three shall come to face the North
One in darkness guides them
Twelve to come to face the Foe,
Along the way shall find Him

The Devil Came Knocking

2005-08-31T00:05:00.000-05:00

"The devil came knockin' on my window. He wanted in bad...he wanted me...but I wasn't goin' just yet..."

So were the words of one harried but determined hurricane survivor, who literally rode out the storm surge in his near beachfront home in Biloxi, Mississippi.

My State is wrecked like I have never seen it...and I went through hurricanes Betsy and Camille. Hundreds are feared dead, two million people are without power across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, New Orleans is filling with water, places I just visited a month ago...Gulfport, Slidell, Ocean Springs, Pascagoula, Biloxi, Moss Point...are wiped out.

We went sea kayaking in Ocean Springs in July. We were supposed to go back next month, as well as skydiving in Moss Point. Now our friends are emailing me saying they don't know if their parents are alive, wondering if anyone knows the whereabouts of a cousin, looking for a sister they haven't heard from...

The devil came knocking, and he has battered us severely,, yes we're on our knees...but we aren't quite ready to go yet. We've got fight left in us. We know we'll never be the same.

War does that.

Life does that.

Experiencing life, and spiritual war, the flaming arrows of the evil one, and getting the hell beat out of you can do that to you. While it rips away at our innocence and naivete, will we lose heart? They say, "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger."

I personally can't answer that one yet...

Female Associate Pastors

2005-08-30T21:33:00.000-05:00

[written earlier this year]

My friend Kim finally got her new bike off of layaway the other day. She wanted me to go with her to pick it up. She called me on my cell phone to ask me to go with her. I wasn’t in an especially favorable mood, but I like bikes so I said yeah. I really, really like new bikes. That’s the kind of thing that bothers me about myself. Did I go because she wanted a friend to share the experience with so I went in support of that for her? Or did I just go because I really like shiny new bikes and the smell of new rubber tires and so I was just pleasing myself? She picked me up at my cave in her truck. She was smiling all the way to the bike shop. Kim smiles a lot in regular situations, but she smiled an extra lot on the way to get her bicycle. It was kind of annoying. But it was also fun to see her so happy. I pointed out the fact that she was really smiling a lot. She ignored my grumpiness and smiled even more, and said that she knew that.

She said she had smiled so much that day in anticipation of getting her bike that her face was hurting. Man, she can really smile. By the time we got to the bike shop, in spite of myself, I was in a better mood. Isn’t it strange what smiles can do to people? Her bike was on layaway forever. Kim doesn’t make much money, so it took her forever to pay off her bike. Kim is a pastor. Pastors don’t make much money. Especially associate pastors who are women. Kim is an associate pastor who is a woman. I think that it is wrong the way we treat women and associate pastors. It’s not fair.

I wish some associate pastor somewhere would start a union and they could all go on strike and shut down all the churches because I think associate pastors do a lot of the work. Could you imagine associate pastors walking a picket line at churches all across the country? I think that would be cool. They could march around the church in circles like it was Jericho holding up signs that said something like "we demand respect," and "what would Paul have done without Barney?" They could even blow trumpets every seventh trip and stop and face the church and yell at the top of their lungs. Imagine how churches would be affected if the UPS trucks and the FedEx vans honored the picket line. The church secretary union could honor it too. Boy, that would really cripple ‘em.

Imagine churches with no packages or associate pastors or secretaries and having to deal with all that trumpet blowing and yelling. Maybe even God could help out by making all the walls of the church fall over. Well maybe not all of them but at least a couple. I wonder if that would wake people up to the huge pay disparity that usually exists between senior pastors and associate pastors and how the pay gap widens every year when they give percentage raises. Percentage raises?! Hello? The pay gap gets even wider. To be an associate pastor is tough. If they say anything about the unfairness they get a condescending pat on the head and are told with a smirk that you got to pay your dues. I bet being a female associate pastor is even tougher. God help you if you are an African-American female associate pastor. That is if you get hired in the first place. Kim the Poor Female Associate Pastor finally got her new shiny road bike. She is still poor, but she is still smiling.

The Real Thing

2005-08-28T21:39:00.000-05:00

Do you ever think about some of the churches you used to go to when you were a kid? I remember several of the churches my family went to while I was growing up in southwest Mississippi. One of them was in this tiny little white building with a tin roof that was built up on brick piers so that it stood up off the ground about four feet. Lot’s of older southern houses and buildings were built that way to allow circulation underneath because it is so hot in south Mississippi during the summertime. This place could’ve been straight out of a scene from a Coen Brothers movie. I don’t remember much about that place, but I do remember that it was really small, and I remember the coke machine.

I thought we had the coolest church because we had that coke machine. You could put a nickel in it and turn this crank and one of those short little glass bottle cokes would come out. Not that I ever got to get one much. We didn’t have much money, at least not to spend on cokes for little boys. When I did get one, it would be ice cold and represented a bit of heaven to me right there in what I believed was god-forsaken Mississippi. Oh I believed in God very much. I just had a hard time thinking that He had cause to think of us in such an unimportant part of the world as Mississippi. Everybody was always ridiculing Mississippi and making fun of us, talking about how ignorant and backward we were. Especially people on TV. I remember loving to watch Jerry Lewis in some of his movies. Then I heard something really nasty he said about us and I just didn’t care much for him anymore. Everybody always seems to think that everyone in Mississippi is an ignorant racist redneck. That's how we always get portrayed on TV. Anyway, I never watched anything Jerry lewis did after that. I saw him on TV much later when I was a fully grown adult. He was old and slow and wasn’t thinking or speaking clearly and was just a shell—a hollow shadow of the man he was when he was young, energetic, spunky and mouthy. My disdain for Jerry Lewis fled with the image I was seeing. All I felt was pity.

I grew up thinking that you were somebody if you could say you were from New York or California or places like that. That’s pretty funny now, but that’s what I remember thinking back then when I was going to that little white church. I also remember lots of stiff white collars and neckties. I remember lots of sweating and the women’s hats and gloves and their constant fanning, and I remember the heat. Always the heat. I remember the preachers screamed a lot and got red-faced and marched around up front with lots of wild arm motions. We had that coke machine on the porch and a screaming preacher in the sanctuary. This church was where it was at. I mean, we had it made—we were virtually surrounded by The Real Thing.

Burying the Living Dead

2005-08-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

"...and another of the disciples said to him, "Lord permit me first to go and bury my father"...but Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

burying the living dead

my love, what is that look in your eyes...
is that defeat i see, or the guilt of your lies?
have the dark ones visited with you again...
and did you let them in?

while the battle rages for all our obsessions
we look for the answers to all the wrong questions

the dead want company
but i must not stop
lest i drop
the choices we make
for our own soul's sake

i am alone, no one is near
now the dark ones whisper in my ear
somehow their voice sounds familiar
it sounds just like...me

something inside dies
as i hear their lies
but as i am torn
something else is born

and the rain comes down
as i stand there
and the rain comes down
and i am alone
and the rain comes down
as i stand there
the rain fades
and i move on alone...

The Wall of Shame

2005-08-26T00:06:00.000-05:00

[The image on the left is that of 18 year-old East German bricklayer Peter Fechter, shot by East German border guards on August 17, 1962 while attempting to cross over the Berlin Wall to freedom. He wanted to join his sister in West Berlin. He lay there bleeding...crying for help. No one came. Fifty-five minutes later, he died. I went to the spot where he died while I was serving as a soldier in West Germany from 1984-1985. This photograph has always haunted me. Seeing and experiencing the Berlin Wall while it was up, and before there was any real thought of it ever coming down was one of the most seminal moments of my life. Rarely have I experienced such a sensation of powerlessness in the face of pure evil. It moved me to reflect on this experience deeply, and I wrote this poem about it when the Wall began to come down in November of 1989. -Michael Chapman]

the wall of shame

peter fechter
i still see you
image in my mind
i can't stop it from replaying
hundreds of thousands of times
it makes me angry
to see you that way
your innocence with no dignity
who stopped you at the wall of shame?

barbed wire fences
minefields and senseless
killing you and me
they've got to change
just got to change

so i hear now
they've torn down the fences
smiling faces "glastnost"
upturned glasses "prost"
i still see you
crumpled and quiet
your mother remembers
but your brothers have forgotten

guard towers and trip wires
a.k.'s and saturation fire
killing you and me
we've got to change
just got to change

i do it every time
condemn the hate and the crime
but i ignore my baby's eyes
when i wound her with my lies
butt of the gun to my shoulder
you won't be getting any older
we look for someone to blame
but we are a wall of shame

now it comes down to me
things i've done wrong i see
the image of you coming through
when i do those things i do
brick by brick i've lain
my portion of heartache and pain
peter, my worst fear is true
i put that bullet in you

ah, barbed wire fences
minefields and senseless
killing you and me
i've got to change
i've just got to change...

C-4 Head-Smackin' Reality

2005-08-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

Fast Freddie told me the other day that I needed to work on humility, that I run over people sometimes and don’t make them feel valued.

That really sucked.

But actually I think that Fast Freddie is right. I have this amazing capacity to delude myself. I’m thinking I’m this really neat sophisticated guy who is strong, smart, honest and always good. Then here comes Fast Freddie with some C-4 reality and blows that self-deception thing to smithereens. Ever wonder what a smithereen is? I have. So has this comedian named George Carlin. I remember listening to some cassette when I was a kid where he wondered which is smaller, a bit or a smithereen. I don’t know either. I don’t even know whether to capitalize the word smithereen or not. George Carlin cusses a lot too like my friend Gary. He had this comedy routine I remember about seven dirty words you can’t say on television. It was really funny at the time in a kind of sophomoric juvenile way...hearing someone say seven words I could never say out-loud, really quickly with funny facial expressions. That was a long time ago when he came up with that routine because I’ve heard every one of those words on TV in just the last few weeks, so I guess what he said isn’t true anymore. His routine was funny though. I bet I’m not supposed to say that, being that I’m a Christian pastor and all.

It's also a safe bet that George Carlin the Cussing Comedian won’t ask me to hold him accountable for his cussing like my friend Gary asked me to do. I read somewhere a story that he got really rude at one of his shows and that people got mad and stormed out because he was insulting them. Shortly after, it said, George the Cussing Comedian checked himself into one of those rehab places to dry out. I wondered if it was for drinking, for drugs, or for cussing.

Yeah, Fast Freddie took his C-4 and blew my false image to smithereens. I really hate to admit it, but I think I do have a problem with pride. That's the part of my head he really smacked. I do run over people sometimes. I think there are times when I fail to value people like I should. When I’m forced to think about it, it makes me feel terrible. I get this thing in my head that has to be done, and I lose the people in the process. I wonder what makes me that way? I guess I’m a lot like that lady Martha that Jesus had to smack upside the head. She was doing stuff like cooking and cleaning and making sure there were napkins on the table and all instead of just relaxing and enjoying Jesus. So Jesus smacked her to get her attention. I know he didn’t actually smack her in the physical sense, but he smacked her hard enough to make it hurt. Fast Freddie smacked me upside the head.

It hurt.

But Fast Freddie was right. I needed to be smacked upside my head. In the Church, that is what we call accountability.

You got anybody smacking you upside your head?

Gary the Mud Dog

2005-08-23T17:54:00.000-05:00

I have a skydiving buddy named Gary. He calls himself Gary the Mud Dog because for some reason he has had trouble standing up his parachute landings so he plops down on his backside in the mud a lot. That makes his jumpsuit really muddy and makes people laugh. Only he’s not trying to make them laugh. Gary doesn’t touch down. He splashes down.

I like Gary immensely. He is the most passionate, animated person I have ever known. I come alive when I’m around him. He has a way of infusing some of his energy and passion for life into me. His life can only be described as a type of John Bellushi, with a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth, hurling himself out of an airplane at fourteen thousand feet and cackling this wicked cackle all the way down to the ground. Gary the Mud Dog doesn’t just live, he sucks out all the marrow of life, like Thoreau said in his poem. Gare’s barbaric YAWP is in all caps.

He told me once that he’s always had a lot of problems in his life, despite the fact that he was an award-winning builder for many, many years. He’s retired now and lives off his savings and investments and his substantial rental property income. He told me he almost died a couple of years ago and that God led him back. God told him he had more living to do. His inspirational song is Live Like You’re Dying. I don’t think Gary does that though. I think Gary lives like he is really living. He is one of the most alive people I know. He is also one of the finest Christians I know. Or maybe I should say that he is one of the finest Christ-followers I know. Gary and Jesus have this really interesting relationship that I know somehow both get a kick out of. He is a large man, a former football player and weight lifter. He chain-smokes and cusses like a sailor. But he is spiritual in a way that is difficult to describe. Gary the Mud Dog is connected to The Man. Being around Gary is like being in a forest after it has rained...it’s still rough and wild, but somehow strangely at peace with itself.

Gary is full of life, and claims Christ is the cause of every adventurous moment of it. He gets a kick out of me being a Christian skydiver like him, and a pastor to boot. He loves the fact that most people just can’t grasp why we jump out of "perfectly good airplanes." He knows why very, very well. It’s about being alive. It’s about faith. It’s about being in love with God. It’s about being in love with life. Gary the Mud Dog is in love with life and he’s in love with God. He is alive and he is living life. He calls me all the time on my cell phone and talks forever. Man can he talk. I don’t give my cell phone number to too many people. But Gary is definitely on my Can-Call-Me-List. I love the fact Gary the Mud Dog calls me and wants to talk. He’s full of life and passion and excitement and so when Gary the Mud Dog talks to me I get all filled up with that too. We talk about skydiving, and parachutes, and fun things to do the next time we go jump, and we talk about life stuff. Recently we were together and he asked me to hold him accountable with his cussing. When he asked me this he had this pained expression on his face and told me in tortured tones how he wished he could stop. How honest and open and vulnerable was that? I told him I would. It also made me think of several things I needed to stop doing.
That’s the kind of thing I love about Gary. I love Gary because he isn’t perfect. I love Gary because Gary knows he isn’t perfect and he doesn’t pretend to be and Gary the Mud Dog doesn’t mask. Gary walks around every day with back pain and memories of a painful past. He’s a recovering alcoholic. He smokes and he cusses. He’s made mistakes. He’s been wounded deeply. But he walks around with the mask stripped off and he lets you see the real Gary. Gary the Mud Dog if he isn’t anything else is one thing for sure. He is genuine. He is also one of the most giving people I have ever known. I’ll tell you this about Gary, he raised his children from diapers after his first wife left him holding the bag. They are adults now and they love him so much.

Remember when all those hurricanes hit Florida back-to-back-to-back? Gary didn’t just feel sorry for those people. He didn’t just pray for them either. Gary the Mud Dog loaded up his big ole truck and trailer with generators and water and ice and all kinds of stuff and drove down there and doled it out. It is not lost on me that most of the Christians I know, if they ever heard Gary cuss and saw him smoke, would think That Guy Needs God. Yet, those same people never lifted a finger to help those people in Florida, including me. Gary is teaching me a lot about being a true Christ follower. He’s discovered that being a Christian isn’t about perfection. It isn’t about performance. It’s about being real. It’s about being broken. It’s about living life and living life fully even out of your own brokenness, woundedness, and weakness. It is about being generous and humble and being a Wounded Healer as Henri Nouwen calls it. It’s about being honest and open and vulnerable and letting God into all your mess so he can redeem it and make good come from it. Gary knows that salvation isn’t about doing this and not doing that. Salvation is about being alive. The kind of fully alive that Christ alone opens up a can of and douses you with if you let him. The kind of alive that Gary got doused with. Gary the Mud Dog is my skydiving buddy. He is one of my best friends.

No Home for Little Square

2005-08-23T00:03:00.000-05:00

The Little Square departed the world and culture of squares and was sent out into the wider world of all sorts and manner of geometric shapes and sizes.

He spent time with circles, orbs, eliptics, rectangles, and triangles, with hexagons and pentagons, and even spent time with those strange and foreign octagons that lived far, far away. As he rubbed together with them, taught them, and spent time with them showing them fascinating new insights and truths, they in turn rubbed back by sharing things with him that taught him and made him better.

He was a happy Little Square.

But by and by, the Little Square’s work was done and he returned home to his world of squares.

What he hadn't realized was that all that rubbing had rubbed off some of his nice, crisp square corners!

He discovered to his surprise, that he was no longer a very square square!

Alas, his shape had changed forever. He was a bit of a circle here, and a bit of a triangle there, and a bit of a pentagon over here. He was even octagonal in some ways!

Well, the squares in his hometown were very dismayed. The Little Square no longer fit in. He was somewhat strange and foreign—other worldly. They no longer understood the Little Square. He tried to fit back in but they shook their heads and wandered away, sick that the Little Square was so troubled and lost.

The once Little Square had returned home and found that he no longer fit into his little square hole. He had become an Oddball...not really fitting in anywhere...not completely.

So he sat down and began to cry. He felt alone, lost, of no use or value...he had no...home.

He was an Oddball, and he would always be an Oddball.

But then, he heard the Voice.

It said, "Stop crying Little Square. I wanted you to become the shape that you are now. Because you are now my shape. I made you an Oddball because I don't want you to fit into that world. You fit perfectly into my world."

"Who are you, Voice?" said Little Square.

"I made you, Little Square." replied the Voice, "And I have shaped you to become an Oddball because I have a very special job just for you."

Little Square was happy once again, and was glad that he was different - an Oddball!

So, he got up and set out to do what the Voice had called him to do...to go and help other Oddballs find their way to the Voice.

To Ana, David and Sasha...my three lil' oddballs off the ole Oddball! I love you with all the heart this Oddball has...and that is farther than to the Moon and back!

Heartbeat on the Street 8.22.05

2005-08-22T23:38:00.000-05:00

This is the first of what I plan on being many reports of the "heartbeat" of the people on the street in the Natchez-Vidalia area. Once a week I will go out into the Street, literally, with clipboard and mini-recorder in hand. I'll be asking questions, thoughts, opinions, and feelings of local people: blacks, whites, Spanish Americans, young, old, gen X'rs, seniors, boomers, busters, builders...men, women... everyone.

The Purpose: to learn what ordinary folks-real people-are really thinking and how they are really feeling...to abandon assuming that we know what people are like...what they are thinking...what they are feeling...to no longer rely on the Democrat, Sun, or Sentinel newspapers to tell us (they often just tell us what the politicians are saying and thinking--and do we want to believe them?)...to get a true "raw" heartbeat of the people of our area.

The Method: I'll go to a different geographical location each week, including getting out to outlying communities such as Woodville and Jonesville. I'll be asking different questions, as well as some of the same ones, each week. Consider it a socio-cultural adventure into the hearts and minds of real people in real life: the "Heartbeat on the Street."

The Use: Perhaps those of us in leadership roles and pastors in local faith communities, including me, will at least learn some things along the way about who our people are and what we really believe, and how we must change our own ways and our own thinking about how to share the Gospel of Christ...at least we'll know better what the "heartbeat" really is...which is a good place to start...

Week 1 "Heartbeat On the Street" Monday/8.22.05 Local Tavern Natchez Late Evening

Interview Dynamics: Three people sitting at one table, two were drinking a beer, the other a glass of red wine. Two were men, one in his late 50's the other in his late 60's, the other person was a female I judged to be in her 40's (I didn't ask!). Two were locals, one was from Covington, LA. All three were caucasian. Generationally, two were Builders and one a Boomer. I spoke with them for over 45 minutes. They were surprised and hesitant at first, but warmed up quickly and were very open. By the end of our conversation, they were sharing deeply held feelings and beliefs, were being vulnerable, and were sharing struggles about past church experiences, or problems in their home life. I did not guide their answers in a positive or negative direction--I was very careful about how I phrased and asked the questions. I was genuinely struck by their sincerity (their desire to answer honestly), and their apparent firm belief that God exists and how each of them were actively pursuing their spiritual health and growth. All of them said they prayed often. Yet each of them expressed their abandonment of what they termed as "organized religion"--they all agreed with each other on this, and I did not illicit this response. I did probe it however, to find out why they felt the way they did.

My first question centered around this: If you could change one thing about living here, what would it be?
"I'd make Under-the-Hill like it used to be, when businesses flourished (the restaurants) and things were historical...I'd do something over here like they did in Vidalia with the Riverwalk..."

"I can't think of anything I'd change...I love it...but I'm from out of town, I've just been here five days..."

"I would change the administration-the leadership...and try to get someone in here who would bring in industry. It don't matter if they are black or white, just as long as they could bring in some business. For too long there's been too much infighting and back-biting within the government. "

What is your favorite thing about living here...what is it that you like about the area?
"I like the smallness of it...the close-knit community feeling, where everybody seems to know everybody else."

"I like the history of our area, and I like the hospitality. Oh, and I really like the serenity of the River..."

"Everybody is so friendly here...my husband and I are here celebrating our one year anniversary and we're staying at the Comfort Suites and we just love it...we leave to go home in the morning, but I'll be back in three weeks with my girlfriends...I told them ya'll have to come see this place...it is great!"

How often do you attend church?
"Once or twice a week, but I go on my own, when no one else is around...I go into St. Mary's and pray by myself...besides that, I pray every single day...besides praying for forgiveness, you know what I pray for? I'm gonna tell you something I've never told another living soul...I pray for five things every day, besides for forgiveness...I pray for truth, strength, courage, love, and wisdom."

"A lot of people have said a lot of things about me...but I don't care anymore...I know what I am inside, and that's all that matters...and God knows what's inside of me...what's in my heart..."

"I go once a week, on Sunday mornings...but I'm probably the youngest one in the Church." (this was a local man- the one in his 60's!) Surprised at this, I then asked him, "Why do you think that is, that younger people are not attending the Church you go to?" His response, "I guess younger people aren't into going to Church anymore." Desiring to get to motives rather than factual "data," I pressed him further for the reason by asking, "But why do you think that is, WHY aren't the younger people coming to your church?" His response, "Good question."

"I go to Church three or four times a year...but I often worship in my house with my children...I pray every day. She agreed with one of the others, by saying "I am a deeply spiritual person but I am not a religious person. I think that religion gets in the way of people being spiritual...[the others quickly agreed]...

Some other additional comments they made...
"Oh God yes, I'm turned off by organized religion."

"I'm judged by some relatives for drinking, and they are swingers on Friday nights with another couple...on Sundays they're shaking their finger in my face saying, "Hey, you shouldn't be out drinking." But there they are committing adultery and doing their swinging thing...I just don't think Christians should go around judging people like that, especially living like they are."

"I grew up with one set of grandparents who were Southern Baptists and the other set who was Pentecostal...yeah, that was confusing you know...conflicting messages about religion, with both sides saying they were the true believers...well maybe they didn't say it but you know what I mean...both of them acting that way and both saying they are Christian...but over here I could watch TV and over there I couldn't...over there I could use hairspray and over here I couldn't...Oh my God...it took me years and years to sort it all out but now I have MY higher power and I am at peace..."

"I'm not denominational...you know what I mean by that?...are you denominational?...I'm just a Christian...I don't believe that heaven is gonna be all these people from
one denomination...why do people act like that?"

"I shouldn't do that...you know...go to St. Mary's by myself...I should be going with others and not letting their judgmental attitudes toward me keep me from going...I guess it's a cop-out, but I go by myself because I feel at peace and I can go in there and pray and I feel the serenity and the peace..."

"I think a really important thing is that I have to love myself and forgive myself...if I can't do that, how can I ask God to love me or forgive me? My grandfather told me that...and so I've always followed it..."

"I hate the judgment and the hypocrisy...I can't stand organized religion...I'm a deeply spiritual person and I have my relationship with God, but I think organized religion is what is wrong in the world...look at the Muslims and what they are doing in the name of organized religion...look at what people are doing right here...taking front row seats in the pews and shaking their fists in our faces, and they aren't any better than the rest of us..."

"Yeah, I'd say that I'm very spiritual but not religious."

"What other people's God is, is their business...you know...I just know what my thing is...I KNOW my higher power." (This person had a son who recently experienced what they considered to be a genuine healing miracle by God.) "I give God every single bit of the credit for healing my son...I sure do!...I was at my wits end, thirteen days he was in a coma and the doctors said if he does wake up he'll just be a vegetable...and I prayed and prayed...and God healed him...now he's back in school...God gets ALL the credit..."

"Yes, I think the Bible is God's "Word"...no, I don't think it was just written by a bunch of men. The Bible...yeah...that's my whole thing...absolutely."

I did tell them, because they asked, why I was doing this. They thought it was extremely interesting. They seemed surprised that anyone from a Church would want their opinions...would care what they thought. They pressed me for answers to their own questions. It reminded me of Everett's line in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?: "Everybody's looking for answers." When I got up to leave them, the men shook my hand warmly and the lady threw her arms open wide, hugged me richly and gave me a kiss on the cheek. This is going to be an interesting and enriching journey...

We Applaud Alabama Preacher with "Theology Brew" Evangelism Idea

2005-08-21T22:58:00.000-05:00

The following story is from the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser:

The Rev. Rick Mason has a mission to reach those who have given up on church to show them what they're missing. But he knows that those are the hardest people to lure. That's why Mason, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Prattville, has decided not to try to bring the unchurched to church -- he's bringing the church to them. Or at least, he's bringing it to where they hang out.

On Tuesday, Mason is starting a new program called Theology on Tap, scheduled for the first, third, fourth and fifth Tuesdays of each month, where people can gather to talk about scripture and faith issues. And this new program will be -- where else? -- in a bar.

"I wanted a way to reach out to the unchurched, or as I like to call them, dechurched," Mason said. "It's for those with questions who don't feel comfortable enough asking in a church atmosphere." Mason said he got the idea from something he learned while teaching evangel classes in South Carolina. "Someone once told me that there's nothing in the Bible that says build a building, put my name on it and wait for the people to come," he said. "We need to be going out and meeting people in a place that they'd feel comfortable."

On Tuesday, that place will be the Pratt Pub in Prattville next to Bama Lanes. Mason said the Pratt Pub is the kind of place "Jesus would have hung out in to find people. "Mason knows a lot about those people -- he was one of them. Mason spent 20 years out of the church -- a time that he says was God's way of preparing him for this mission. "I still have some issues with organized religion and I know how hard it is to go back," he said. "I think this is easier -- neutral ground." Some of Mason's issues will be discussed in the first Theology on Tap on Tuesday, when the subject will be "The Seven Great Lies of Organized Religion." Mason says the discussion will deal with some of the things the church says and does that puts people off. Mason said this week would mainly to see who comes and what they want to talk about. "I don't want to hit anyone over the head with a Bible. I want it to be comfortable," he said. "I'm not going in with any preconceived notions of who is going to be there or what questions they're going to ask."

Light Belongs in the Darkness, right? What do you think? C'mon, somebody's bound to say, "How can they accept Jesus if they're drunk?"

Dads To Blame in Decline of Catholic Mass?

2005-08-20T10:42:00.000-05:00

[Article by David Bruce, of www.hollywoodjesus.com I think this applies to Protestants as well.]

I found this interesting bit of info about declining Gen X attendance in Roman Catholic religious services.
According to a 2000 Swiss study posted on the AD2000 website it is attributed to the lack of church attendance by the children's fathers.

“In summary, if a father does not go to church, no matter how regular the mother is in her religious practice, only one child in 50 becomes a regular church attendee. But if a father attends regularly then regardless of the practice of the mother at least one child in three will become a regular church attendee.”

Anglican Vicar Robbie Low is quoted as saying, "when a child begins to move into that period of differentiation from home and engagement with the world 'out there', he (and she) looks increasingly to the father for that role model. Where the father is indifferent, inadequate or just plain absent, that task is much harder and the consequences more profound. "The disinterest of fathers in Catholic worship services apparently contributes has the following reality: "The drop-off in young people attending Mass has now persisted for some decades resulting in a "graying" of the Mass attending population. As of 1996, Mass attendees in their twenties and thirties were substantially under-represented, making up just 20 per cent of all attendees, although they constitute 39 per cent of the Catholic population."

And that was as of 1996. That percent would be much worse now. But, instead of lamenting spilled beans, I would suggest creating Church worship services that speak to father-less Gen-Xers. I mean like --do it --get on with it. If Boomer dads are disinterested in boring traditional Roman Catholic mass how much more so will Gen-X find it? We live in a fractured world --and that is the reality. Live with it, understand it, and respond appropriately. Why is it that the “church,” even with the knowledge of what is happening, can never get past some traditional approach? It is a form of denial and major self-centered sinfulness in my mind. People should always come first –just as Jesus demonstrated, even at the cost of his life! Did Jesus ever put on a traditional religious service? No, never, he much preferred the casualness of the hillside, the local well, homes, and leper colonies. Oh, and wasn’t Jesus God incarnate? Hmm, what a statement from God! Hey “church,” it’s time to get real!

Yahweh

2005-08-17T17:51:00.000-05:00

Take these shoes
Click clacking
Down some dead-end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticize
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

Music by U2
Lyrics by Bono with The Edge
2004, How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Proof that God's truth & beauty can be found anywhere-including in rock music, not just in "church" and not just on Sundays...

Afraid of Flying...

2005-08-15T10:29:00.000-05:00

My friend Stan the Guitar Man wrote a song...

He sang it in one of our Gatherings recently...
it's about being afraid of flying.

It's a really cool song.

Then, this morning I read something that connected with that song. What I read said that Christianity isn't just about improvement, it's about transformation. I find that to be absolutely true. The new term is now called "morphing." If we are genuinely growing in faith, we are morphing into another reality, not merely "getting better."

Paul wrote in a letter to some people in Philippi, "He [God] will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them [morph them] into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere."

The Bible talks a lot about the concept of morphing.

I find hope in that little sentence that we now call Philippians 3:21. (Weird how, centuries after it was written, some monks took that letter and made it into a "book" and separated it into chapters and verses, huh? Sometimes I think we ought to take all the divisions and numbers back out and just read it like it originally was...a letter.) Hope is a good thing. Paul wrote about a lot of good things in his letters.

Hope...both for right now, and also for the next life. I'm forty-seven. Not old, but not young either. My body won't perform like it used to. Sometimes when I tell it to get up and go, it sits down and goes on strike. That's just the physical part. My character...well...sometimes it needs one of those "complete makeovers" or to go on "Over-Haulin'"-- you know the TV show that takes junk and makes something of it. So, I need that kind of two dimensional hope that Paul talks about. Don't you? Maybe you feel complete. But I for one sure need hope for today and I need it for tomorrow. I don't want to stay the same, I want to morph into something that is beyond what I can do for myself. Only God can do that...and only if we allow Him...Lord help me to allow you to morph me.

Stan the Guitar Man's song ends with him singing that he's no longer afraid of flying.

That's really cool.

I like songs like that.

I like Stan the Guitar Man's song.

That's hope...

That's morphing...

That's flying...

and this little caterpillar wants to fly.

Why Men Hate Going To Church, Part 1

2005-08-13T10:17:00.000-05:00

For years we've called men back to the church. Now it's time to call the church back to men. - David Murrow

(This is a first in a series of blogs over the coming weeks on Why Men Hate Going To Church, a new book just put out by David Murrow, and is sweeping the country...especially a hit in emergent-missional churches...and less of a hit in mainline denominations where gender gaps are widest. The material in this blog post is straight from chapter 1, pages 6-8. This book is mesmirizing and hard to put down! Beta males (soft, meek, domesticated "nice guys" and the more feminized) are already in church. Where are all the strong, tough guys? This book answers that question. He says it is because church today is set up in a climate, culture and atmosphere that appeals to women's strengths, thinking, and needs but are just the opposite of what appeals to the needs, strengths and thinking of strong, real, men (as well as men and women who are younger-20s to 30 year olds). It is putting into words some of our own experiences (and past frustrations)...and is exactly why we are doing some of the things we are doing at Sling n' Stone to reach real men...the Alpha male. There is the obvious danger that taking one portion of the book and placing it here will cause the distortion that comes from not having it in context with the rest of the book, so we recommend you read the book before you make any negative comment (that's called intellectual honesty). Murrow backs the basic thesis up with data, studies, and verified statistics.)

Although males have not completely abandoned the church, manly men...have all but disappeared. Tough, earthy, working guys rarely come to church. High achievers, alpha males, risk takers, and visionaries are in short supply. Fun-lovers and adventurers are also underrepresented in church. These rough-and-tumble men don't fit in with the quiet, introspective gentlemen who populate the church today. The truth is, most men in the pews grew up in church. Many of these lifers come not because they desire to be transformed by Christ but because they enjoy participating in the comforting rituals that have changed little since their childhood. There are also millions of men who have attended services under duress, dragged by a mother, wife, or girlfriend. Today's churchgoing man is humble, tidy, dutiful, and above all else, nice.

What a contrast to the men of the Bible! Think of Moses and Elijah, David and Daniel, Peter and Paul. They were lions, not lambs...take-charge men who risked everything in service to God. They fought valiantly and spilled blood. They spoke their minds and stepped on the toes of religious people. They were true leaders, tough guys who were feared and respected by the community. All of these men had two things in common: they had an intense commitment to God, and they weren't what you'd call saintly.

Such men seldom go to church today.

Furthermore, of the men who do attend church, most decline to invest themselves in the Christian life as their wives and mothers do. The majority of men attend services and nothing more. Jay is such a man. He's in church most Sundays, but he's not very excited about it. "I go mainly for my kids and my wife," he says. "Church is okay, but it really doesn't enthrall me like it does her."

Who is being touched by the gospel today? Women. Women's ministries, women's conferences, women's Bible studies, and women's retreats are ubiquitous in the modern church. Men's ministry, if it even exists, might consist of an occassional pancake breakfast and an annual retreat. How did a faith founded by a Man and his twelve male disciples become so popular with women, but anathema to men? The church of the first century was a magnet to males. Jesus' strong leadership, blunt honesty, and bold action mesmirized men. A five-minute sermon by Peter resulted in the conversions of three thousand men.

Today's church does not mesmirize men; it repels them. Just 35 percent of the men in the United States say they attend church weekly. In Europe male participation rates are much worse, in the neighborhood of 5 percent. This hardly sounds like a male-dominated, patriarchal institution to me.

What's worse, nobody seems to care about the absence of men. Have you ever heard a sermon on the church's gender gap? I've never heard a pastor or church leader bring it up. Heck, I've never heard anybody bring it up. It's just one of those things Christians don't talk about.

Who's to blame for the gender gap?...

...Let me be blunt: today's church has developed a culture that is driving men away. Almost every man in America has tried church, but two-thirds find it unworthy of a couple of hours a week. A wise Texan once told me, "Men don't go to church 'cuz they've been."

When men need spiritual sustenance, they go to the wilderness, the workplace, the garage, or the corner bar. They watch their heroes in the stadium or on the racetrack. They plunge into a novel or sneak off to a movie. Church is one of the last places men look for God.

More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on a given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church.

Men's disinterest in Christianity is so consistent around the world, it can't be explained by pride, father issues, sin, or distraction. Neither can we say, "Well, men are just less religious," because this is untrue. Male and female participation are roughly equal in Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. In the Islamic world men are publicly and unashamedly religious-often more so than women. Of the world's great religions, only Christianity has a consistent, nagging shortage of male practitioners. What is it about modern Christianity that is driving men away? That's the question I hope to answer with this book.

(Pick up a copy of David Murrow's book Why Men Hate Going to Church, published in Nashville, TN by Thomas Nelson, Inc; 2005; ISBN # 0-7852-6038-2)

Church Bashing?

2005-08-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

This is a friendly response to a couple of criticisms that I've "heard," that I am church bashing...please read this entire post and try to understand what I am trying to do with this blog site...thanks for reading, and thanks for your participation!

Am I church bashing? Hmmm...(finger tapping chin)...

The Need to Get Our Heads Are Out of the Sand--I'm Addressing Real Life:
Well, I've tried very hard not to do this--just bash to be bashing. What I have tried to do in all blog posts is to be real, and address real issues. This is also a blog that is man-friendly...done in the language real men can appreciate...not just for the women and kids or the domesticated men (read the next post)...real men spit, scratch, and talk plain...so readers are going to have to get used to real men now being part of the conversation, and their speech is not going to be filtered by the "let's be nice" police.

Also, the speech in here is like two brothers talking while they're fishing. It's intended to be plain speech and the most bare, non-filtered-before-public-consumption-speech...real--that's what blogging is. Anyone inside or outside can disagree or agree with what is said (that's why you have the opportunity to respond to each and every blog post). I would invite complainers to take a closer look at what is being said here...perhaps they have something that they could learn! To treat all criticism as automatically "wrong" is absurd and naive.

Furthermore, not that it is my mission, because it isn't, but sometimes "bashing" a church is necessary and right! Wasn't Luther "church-bashing" in the Reformation? Wasn't the Apostle Paul "church-bashing"? I know Christ was! If you don't believe me, read Matthew chapter twenty-three! Again, sometimes you've got to get your head out of the sand and call 'em as you see 'em. Read the major and minor Prophets in the Bible...then when you done with that read the Judges...then maybe you'll come to understand that a big part of prophecy is forth-telling...telling things the way they are in order to call people to correct their ways. That's part of being a true Christ-follower...stepping up and telling it like it is. The alternative?...being a facilitator and muting our voice, sitting on our hands and winking at mediocrity. Is that really what you want from God's people? Wow...I hope not.

Let's Lose the Ignorance--Understand The Nature of Blogging:
Blog is short for Web Log. A log is basically an ongoing recording of events-including the interpretation of those events, as well as the recording of the insights and impressions of those events by the one doing the recording-such as a captain writing in a ship's log. The very nature of blogging is to be real about the journey through life--including flames and rants, as well as raves and praise. That's the real world...so please stop being so...well...UNreal...blogs are about real life, and sometimes life is confrontational, gritty, and grimy. Blogging is sweeping the globe! It is HUGE! Why? Because people the world over are tired of political correctness, and masking, and posing, and pretending, and they want realness, even if it includes sometimes being confrontational, because that is the real world. I think being real is honesty in action. I don't want to hide my head in the sand and ignore what really happens in the world...or in church. Don't get confused so easily...the sharing of peoples' real thoughts, opinions, and experiences include negative ones that have to do with church!

This Ain't No Holla-Back Blog:
In reality, there aren't many blog posts in this blog site that even approach church bashing...so it should be clear to most objective and fair-minded readers, that this is not being used as a platform to bash anyone or anything. An additional note, give some grace for goodness sake...I'm sure that as time goes by there will be an occasional blog post posted that points out, and is even angry about, Christians failing or a church being really, really stupid. But again, these will pale in comparison to all the other blogs! The fact is, I am sure that the overwhelming majority of blog posts on this blog will be in the positive, informative, and emotive range, but occasionally there will be rants...that's real life. The fact that churches fail sometimes and Christians are knot-heads sometimes needs to be aired to a world who already views our credibility as being dubious at best. Being real and airing our dirty laundry gains us real "currency" with them and keeps us from being liars, posers, and hypocrites.

I Will Monitor & Re-Check:
I have also tried to not allow personally specific attacks to happen on this blog. However, I have raised certain issues simply because the issues exist. The issues are real. Do you want to censor reality? Dialogue is important. If we can't talk about them publicly, what are we left to? To talk about them privately? Why can't we raise issues and discuss how to solve them? To those who squirm at the real issues, I say...that's life...that's the adult world...that's blogging.

Where Is Our Constitution In All This?:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there freedom of speech in this area of the country? Ah, America...the home of the free and the brave...

Be Fair...Contrasting Ain't Bashing, Sheesh!
As for the main site, it must be understood that pointing out differences and contrasting is not "bashing"! That's called educating. It may hurt, as the truth often does, but we learned in Business 101 the first step of problem solving is recognizing and admitting that you've got a problem! You can choose to shoot the messenger, but you can also choose to work harder to get better.

To the PC Police: In Yo Face!
So, to those who are merely PC police...or people who are too timid to tackle the real issues and complain when people like me raise them in an attempt to get them corrected, I will never make you happy...and proudly so...you'll just have to deal with it...

I think all churches have some value...some more than others...no matter who or what they are...I just think that it is high time we start realizing that real things happen in the real world and I've got something to say about how we can do things better to be salt and light in the world and even in the church... as far as pointing out short-comings...how else can we all get better?...I also am not just criticizing, I'm out doing things to improve and make it better as well...

Of course I get frustrated sometimes that when people bring up issues to get better in...the establishment church says, "Shut UP" or "There's Nothing Wrong" or "You're Just Subversives" or "You're Going To Hell For Questioning Us"

So, no, I am not church bashing as an objective...it just sometimes comes across that way.

Chasing the White Rabbit...

2005-08-08T15:03:00.000-05:00

"What good is a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations"…suddenly, a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran by…being very curious, Alice jumped to her feet and ran across the field after it.
- from Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

Christian author Brian McLaren has said that "one of our crises, as we enter the postmodern world, is that Christianity has presented itself as a system of belief instead of a story." The ones who would disagree with his point, I’m afraid, are those in denial. Indeed, we often present Christianity as a system of belief, as data and doctrine to be learned, rules and tenants of faith that must be adhered to. Meanwhile, the Bible is first and foremost a story. More accurate, it is the story. Incredibly, we are invited to be a part of that story, and that is much more engaging and interesting than following the scribes, pharisees, and experts in the law into some "rules" class. Focusing on belief engages the intellect, and little else. Focusing on story engages the intellect, but also the volitional (our will) and the emotional (our feelings)--the entire soul of who we are as humans. Are we saying throw "proposition" out entirely?...of course not! What we are saying is that narrative is vitally important, and the "meta-narrative" of the Bible is an incredible gift that we are invited into. Why then are we settling for so much less?

I agree with Alice: what good is a book without pictures or conversations! I’d rather chase the white rabbit and be part of the story, than stay inside the Christian ghetto (or "monastery") and nod yes and say "Amen!" to everything the preacher says. Too many preachers when they preach remind me of people who type emails in all-caps…but that’s another blog. The white rabbit is inviting us to experience Life, with all it’s requisite ups and downs, falls down rabbit holes included. One choice is to read the book’s truth statements…domesticated, artificial, theoretical, indoors, safe, and castrated. The other is to be a part of the book’s story…real, sweaty, juicy, tough, wild, unpredictable and true.

My choice? See ya on the rabbit trail...

This Ministry Is A Blast!

2005-08-03T22:40:00.000-05:00

Hey...this is a riot!

Sure, there are times when I am dragged down by knuckleheads that should know better, but in the main, this new ministry and faith community is nothing short of awesome. I have not felt quite this way in quite a long time...it is so refreshing to be free to use one's spiritual gifting, talents, creativity, and innovative ideas. It is so nice to be told, "Wow, that's a great idea, let's do it!" Then, it actually gets done!

The grace, support, and wise accountability that I am so blessed to receive has been pretty dog-gone neat. I haven't had the easiest life the last few years, but I know that I am fulfilling my calling as a Christ-follower. I am having fun! I am being challenged in my thinking...in my ministry...in my ability to communicate...in my need to be relevant. I am being constantly humbled and told to take the mask off and leave it off...to be real--to not be a poser-a phony-a fake. Adversity is making me stronger. I have ample opportunity to express myself as I really am. I am free to live my faith around people who are celebrating my expression of it. I am being stretched in my personal walk and prayer life like I have rarely been before. I am being held accountable in areas of my life where I need serious help in, and others are asking me to help them with their areas. I am learning new skills and conquering old demons. I am growing new friendships, and helping others grow. I am studying the scriptures deeply and digging into God's word like I did when I was in seminary. I am again studying theology, philosophy, and other academic subjects to an extent that I haven't in a very long time. I am a serious student of people, and culture--all because I am being encouraged to, and because I'm given the opportunity to!

I am fortunate enough to now be rubbing shoulders with some incredibly innovative & creative people. People who are passionate about serving Christ and winning lost people. Passion-filled people are a hoot to be around! Especially when they are Christians, and real ones--not the posers or the stiff, judgmental types. These passion-filled Christ-followers are contagious! It is fun to see people responding so positively to this new vision--God's vision--and our obedience to it. The going has at times been rough, it has been a battle, it is an exercise in upstream swimming, and we've only just begun--but it is still a blast!

The response we are receiving is so positive and encouraging. The lives we are touching are very special and I know that everyone of us in leadership have learned that ministry is not a responsibility, or even a duty--it is a priviledge! We are standing up and taking shots so that we can minister the gospel in this area in fresh new ways and make a difference in people's lives that would never be touched otherwise. And ya know what?-it's worth it. But now, it is happening. Unchurched people are responding. Dechurched people are responding. Restless people who are wanting more are responding. It is really beginning to work and results are taking place daily, and I am just amazed at what God is doing. It is all HIS doing--He deserves one hundred percent of the credit. HE alone is our source, our strength. What is really wild is--we haven't really gotten started yet!

It blows me away that God can take screw-ups and outcasts--rejects and castoffs, and He can make something good come out of us! Our faith community is real world. Messy Christians. Ragamuffins. Imperfect disciples. Mistake prone dummies-we are. We don't dress right, preach right, we say cuss words sometimes, some of us like beer, a couple of us haven't kicked the tobacco habit, but we believe in God and we Love Him! We are sinners saved by grace. We wanna do better in the performance area, but because we constantly fail we are thankful that our salvation isn't based upon our performance. We are simply willing to be used, and dumb enough to buck the trends of how it's supposed to be done 'cause we're following God, not man...and wow...look what He's starting to do through us! Thank ya Lord...for showing us that you Love us...for not casting us out...and for actually using us to touch the hearts of others...wow...

A huge and heartfelt Thank You! to everyone who has been involved in this ministry and faith community in whatever way--you are much appreciated and your generosity is celebrated! Every day that goes by we hear of someone who is being blessed and grown by this new adventure called Sling n' Stone...may God's grace and peace rest upon each and every one of you. Amen

My Shawshank Redemption

2005-07-26T14:29:00.000-05:00

[I wish to make it clear that the following is not intended as a personal attack upon anyone or any institution as much as it is upon the false self within my own person. Religion and spirituality (loosely defined) is ultimately what exists deep inside the soul of a human being, even more than it is a social or cultural reality or phenomenon. The "breakout" I am describing, while it does manifest a certain number of space and time consequences in external ways within the real world, is much more of an internal growth and discovery thing than anything else. ]

My escape from the institutional religion of my youth reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption. In that movie, innocent but wrongly convicted convict Andy, played by actor Tim Robbins, is able to escape the prison and the controlling, obtuse warden, who is fiercely religious but sets aside justice and truth for his own greed and personal gain. In his escape, Andy leaves behind his friend Red, played by actor Morgan Freeman, who has been in prison for decades for a murder he committed when he was an impulsive, foolish young man.

Due to his very long prison stay, Red has become "institutionalized" as most long termers do, and has difficulty coping with life after he is finally pardoned and paroled. Andy has long been escaped to Mexico, but had left Red instructions on how to find some cash and directions to find and join him in Mexico. The note and cash is under an old rock in a secret hiding place he once told Red about, should Red ever get out of prison.

Red, contemplating suicide because he finds life on the outside too liberating for an institutionalized old convict, finally decides to opt for hope--Andy's theme all during their prison time friendship and with which Red had always thought was a dangerous thing. Red leaves his work bagging groceries and sets out to find the note and the cash under the rock in the secret hiding place. After a search, he is able to locate it and sets out to join his friend in paradise--the coastal town in Mexico where Andy waits for him.

That to me, is an analogy of my experience of escaping the institution I just left. I was institutionalized. I felt dead inside. I had given up hope. I didn't feel alive in my faith nor did I feel free to be me--to express myself the way God made me and express my ministry and beliefs the way I truly believed I should. Now, like Red, I have opted for hope and joined my Andy--Jesus--in the paradise of freedom and hope. What I am talking about here is the religion that was inside of me. Sure, it had manifestations in the real world with certain aspects of certain churches I have attended, and in which I would truly love to see genuine change and reform, but I am speaking here more about a prison within me.

Upon the note under the rock, Andy's words to Red become Christ's words to me:

Remember Red, hope is a good thing…maybe the best of things…and no good thing ever dies. I am hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend, Andy.

Red's thoughts in reaction to the note become my own in reaction to Christ's words to me. My redemption from my own Shawshank:

Get busy living, or get busy dieing…
I hope I can make it across the border…
I hope to see my friend and shake his hand…
I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams…
I hope…
I find I’m so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel…a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain…

Tales of Narnia Coming Soon

2005-07-19T01:03:00.000-05:00

One of the famous Tales of Narnia by CS Lewis is being made into a movie, and according to one neutral insider-is going to be a blockbuster. Filming for the Tales of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe finished up earlier this year.

Post-production work on the movie is now underway in London. The movie was directed by New Zealand director Andrew Adamson. Much of it was filmed in New Zealand, as well as the Czech Republic and Poland for the snow scenes because the snow in New Zealand wasn't deep enough.

Irish actor Liam Neeson is voicing the role of Aslan the Lion. Most of the other actors are relatively unknown British actors.

I for one am looking forward to seeing the movie, with the release date said to be December 9th of this year. Perhaps, just perhaps, it will get some of our kids (and adults) reading more of C.S. Lewis' works, such as The Tales of Narnia, at least as much as they read Harry Potter.

Gollum's Song

2005-07-18T13:06:00.000-05:00

Gollum's Song
(lyrics by Howard Shore)

Where once was light, now darkness falls
Where once was love, love is no more
Don't say goodbye, don't say I didn't try
These tears we cry are falling rain
For all the lies you told us, the hurt, the blame
And we will wait to be so alone
We are lost, we can never go home
So in the end I'll be what I will be,
No loyal friend was ever there for me
Now we say goodbye, we say you didn't try
These tears you cry, have come too late
Take back the lies, the hurt, the blame
And you will wait when you face the end alone
You are lost, you can never go home
You are lost, you can never go home

Billy's Last Crusade

2005-07-18T12:45:00.000-05:00

Last week, at age 86, the Rev. Billy Graham spoke at what perhaps (but maybe not!) was his last crusade. He has been a remarkable beacon of light for Christianity for decades now, and helped usher in the evangelical movement earlier last century. He represented the best of that movement, certainly not the worst side of it-which has at times been an aweful mess.

Now, suffering from prostate cancer, Parkinson's, and other ailments too numerous to mention, he is finally coming toward the end of his life-a modern day Paul-an example for us to emulate. Sure, we don't need to call our evangelistic efforts "Crusades" any more-especially in a time where we are trying to win the hearts and minds of people of the Middle East, and we certainly need more of an emphasis upon discipleship, and salvation as process rather than the "crisis" moment of conversion-but Billy Graham's efforts in behalf of God's agenda have been nothing short of divine. He is truly a light in the darkness of this ole world and will soon take his rightful place in heaven. Rarely in human history does someone come along that has as much an impact upon humankind for the kingdom of God as he. I grew up with three great role models of Christendom--all very, very different, but all very, very special: Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul II, and Billy. Two have passed on to be with God, only Billy is left. Who among our generation is rising up to replace them?

Thanks Billy Graham, and God bless you.

The Lil' Engine That Could-Finally Did

2005-07-17T14:10:00.000-05:00

I love stories where the little people who always toil and toil away and never get their day in the sun, finally catch a break and the sun comes out and basks fully upon them. Today was just such a day for one of my favorite cyclists, George Hincapie, of the American Discovery Channel Team.

Granted, among us cyclists, George is considered one of the world's top cyclists, but the general public never had a clue of this guy's class, talent, and attitude. George, a silent, well-mannered guy from the USA (New York), has been pulling Lance Armstrong up hill and dale, Alp and Pyranee for seven years now in the Tour de France.

For those of you who don't know it, cycling is very much a team sport, where the "other" cyclists on the team give themselves up for the guy on their team who has the best all-around chance of winning the entire race, especially when their team captain has a good shot at it. Their job is to surround him, protect him, and "pull" him (go in front and let him draft) as far as they can before he takes over--fresh for the finish. Part of Lance's success has been loyal teammates who have completely spent themselves for seven years now doing their utmost so he could win. No teammate of his has ever won an individual stage victory the entire time Lance has been winning these six Tours (and likely the seventh this year). Why? Because they've been working as a Team-for him. No one knows that better than Lance himself. George is the only rider to be a teammate for all six/seven years of Lance's phenomenal Tour victories. That says it all right there. Imagine being on Lance Armstrong's team for six, now seven, years!

Well, today good ole George finally got his chance, due to an odd circumstance of being so far out in front with some other riders on a breakaway, that his team manager released him from "team duty" and gave him permission to go on and go for the win. He not only out-classed the other ten riders who were in the break with him and won the stage, but he won THE most difficult stage of the tour this year! Awesome! Now, finally, he gets the world recognition on a level that he has always richly deserved. Probably the next most elated person after George himself was Lance, who was beaming after his best friend's victory.

There just may be a measure of justice in the world after all! Way-ta-go Georgie...way-ta-go.

Shoe Bomber Gets Justice

2005-07-11T12:23:00.000-05:00

Remember Richard Reid, the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it? Did you know his trial is over? Did you know he was sentenced? Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV/Radio? Didn't think so. Everyone should hear what the judge had to say. We've recorded below the ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say. His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah," defiantly stated "I think I will not apologize for my actions," and told the court "I am at war with your country.

Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below: January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid. Judge Young:

"Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you. On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutive with the other. That's 80 years. On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for the aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines. The Court imposes upon you the $800 special assessment. The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further. This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is all too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice. You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether it is the officers of government who do it or your attorney who does it, or if you think you are a soldier. You are not----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice. So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've know warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and where the TV crews were, and he said: "You're no big deal." You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing. And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know. It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf and have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bare any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. Day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure. Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice. See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will. Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

No Virginia, Drinking Isn't A Sin

2005-07-08T23:46:00.000-05:00

So, Virginia, from your letter you are wondering why people who are in many evangelical churches in your area of southwest Mississippi are so adamant that drinking is a sin. In your letter, you stated that you couldn't find anywhere in the scriptures where it is a sin, and you want my opinion on the matter. Well, Virginia, you've come to the right place. I'll be glad to expose the lie and give you the truth of the matter.

First of all, let me begin by explaining, that on many issues I agree with evangelicals in what they believe and what they are trying to do. I often find myself agreeing with them, but I am not one of them. My own church is "evangelical," but I would never say that "I am an evangelical." In the same way, I say that I often vote for republicans, but I don't call myself "a republican." I have my own agenda, and it doesn't include being a card-carrying evangelical, nor a card-carrying republican. I have voted for democrats and independents in the past, and presumably will do so in the future. I have disagreed and agreed with liberals, fundamentalists and evangelicals, and I don't think that pattern will change. I think far too broadly to be canned into one ideology or mindset. I am a God-follower, and I know that no one group has a monopoly on Him. Furthermore, I have a suspicion that I am not alone, and that more and more people are doing the very same thing.

With all that said, let me proceed to disagree strongly with evangelicals who teach, preach, and act as if drinking is a sin, which is the subject of your inquiry. I begin doing so by using these people's own standard of truth against them. They claim to be the "protectors" of biblical truth, and yet it is scripture that blows their man-made sin value away. Furthermore, by making drinking a sin, which the Bible does not do, they have become guilty of doing the very thing that they accuse their liberal enemies of doing--altering the Gospel.

I believe that if a person takes away from the scriptures he or she has changed it-altered it, warped it-whatever term you would want to use. The point is, by doing so, they have made it something less than what was intended by God for it to be. The inverse is also true though, that if one adds to the gospel, he or she has done exactly the same thing--they have warped it into something is was not meant to be. By doing so, this person (or people) have made it more than what it was intended to be.

One of the clearest examples of the later practice is the pseudo-christian tenant that mandates that drinking is a sin. It is very strong in the deep south, where you live, and where ignorance seems to have a particularly strong hold. I know, I was born and raised there, and have this fascinating love/hate relationship with the South and with Mississippi. I have been its staunchest critic, and its fiercest defender. So don't bother whining to me that I just hate the South or Mississippi. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The scriptures are very clear that drinking is not a sin, but drunkenness is. The lesson that Christ and the scriptures teach is that nothing, in and of itself, is harmful. It is what you do with it that makes the difference. A hammer can build up, or it can tear down. A hand can lend a helping hand, or deliver a blow. Too much wine can kill and bring on disease. Wine in moderation is healthy--so say doctors today and so said Paul to Timothy. Christ's first miracle was to turn water into some really good wine--the best stuff around. So in effect, Christ brought a keg to the wedding party--and it was really good stuff. I've heard preachers say with a straight face that it wasn't wine Christ made--it was really good grape juice! They actually say that from time to time. Believe it or not, some fools believe them--but then again some people believed David Koresh and Jim Jones too. Well Virginia honey, don't buy that one for a second--they lie when they tell you that, and worse, they are calling the scriptures a lie. The scriptures are very clear on what Christ did: He turned water into wine. He did exactly what the scriptures say he did--just as we believe he actually raised Lazarus from the dead-as the scriptures say he did. Do these preachers think we are stupid when they expect us to believe Christ didn't drink? Everyone in that culture did. They just get upset that what He did violates their little man-made rule. It is more about them and their traditions than the teachings and principles of Christ--and that is the bottom line. Invariably, the ones that tell you that drinking is a sin are obese. They don't understand the lesson and principle Christ taught of moderation. They over-indulge on food--which of course is necessary for our survival. Too much of anything is sin-even too much ministry if we neglect our own family.

So no Virginia, drinking is not a sin, drunkenness is. If you drink without getting drunk, you are not sinning (unless you have special issues where you don't need to be drinking one drop-such as alcoholics, pregnant women and so forth). If you drink and do get drunk, according to the Bible, you are sinning. Period. No excuses. If you go get plastered then you are guilty. If you stuff yourself with food constantly, then you are sinning as well-in exactly the same way-you are abusing your body, the so-called "temple" of the Holy Spirit. But, I guarantee you will not hear these folks preaching much about over-eating, or fitness, or diet, or weight at all!

Bottom line from the no-baloney zone: If you drink, don't drive. If you drink, drink responsibly in the same way that if you eat, then eat responsibly--don't overdo it.

The Brits & Yanks Ain't the Spaniards & the French

2005-07-07T17:01:00.000-05:00

By now everyone in the world is aware of the bombings that occurred in London this morning. Why London? Sure, they are in the midst of hosting the G8 Plus 5 Summit which is drawing world-wide attention, Prime Minister Tony Blair is close to W, and, they were just yesterday awarded host site for the summer Olympic Games in 2012. However, the consensus among experts is that the greatest reason for today's bombings would leave the Brits owing the spineless Spaniards a sardonic "thank you." Allow me to explain.

Any child psychologist will tell you that in order to teach a child right from wrong, one must reward good behavior with affirmation and positive reinforcement, and "reward" bad behavior with appropriate negative consequences. Basic child-rearing 101, right? Well, the same thing applies to terrorism. You don't reward terrorism by giving the terrorists what they want--they only demand more. Which is exactly what the stupid, dumb, lame, weak Spanish voters did in reaction to the Madrid bombings--they rewarded the terroists by voting out the government in power that was supportive of the war effort in Iraq, and voted in the Socialists who immediately withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. Unbelievable. With all the unpopularity for the war in Iraq within Britain, the terrorists now think the Brits will do the same thing, and they think eventually even we Americans will fold.

Well, the Brits and the Americans ain't the Spaniards, and we certainly aren't the French. The British, especially the Londoners, certainly know what terror is from the experiences of the blitz bombings they suffered under Nazi Germany. Word on the streets of London today was a common phrase uttered by the common London folk, "Is that the best you got?" It was a sardonic slap to the face of the cowards--a spit in the eye response that leaves us Americans smiling and saying, "Atta boy." Now certainly, that's not to downplay the terrible loss suffered by the families of those who were killed. Nor is it to minimize the pain and suffering of the wounded. However, it does display the moxy and determination of the Brits, which is very similar to our own "we'll put a boot in your ass" response to the 9-11 attacks. Are you like me, getting the feeling that the terroists have, in the long run, shot themselves in the foot by today's attacks?

We stand with the Brits, and they have stood with us. We are the two western nations that have been attacked the most, or at least targeted the most, because our two nations are the poster-nations for what they can't stand: Liberty, Democracy, Freedom, and Religious Tolerance. To show our solidarity and support, our U.S. Naval Band lined up in front of the British Embassy in Washington and played music to them all afternoon long, and the Union Jack now flies over Washington. Now that is support and solidarity, and it is only as it should be. Oh, and one more thing, when you say your prayers tonight, be sure to thank God that you are not a citizen of France or Spain.

Bench Brawl

2005-07-02T01:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, here we go...Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Conner announced her resignation today, effective once her successor is ratified by the Senate. So, the summer of the Bench Brawl begins. Actually the war rooms of both parties have been up and operating for years, in anticipation of this. Who will W nominate? Are the Dems gonna filibuster? Will the Republicans counter with the Nuclear option? Are Roe v Wade's days numbered? Will the court remain Centrist, go Left, or go Right? Stay tuned...we have a feeling Ms. Sandra may not be retiring for awhile...

Preachers: The Credibility Gap Grows Wider

2005-06-29T15:43:00.000-05:00

(Natchez, Sling n Stone) A few days ago, just a hop and a skip up north of here in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a jury found Edgar Ray Killen guilty of three counts of manslaughter for the 1964 "Freedom Summer" K.K.K. killings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Those killings and the racism surrounding them were the subject of the 1988 film "Mississippi Burning." My question is, did you notice in reading the story that Edgar Ray was a preacher? Yep. People even called him by that: "Preacher." He would have been convicted of the murders back in 1967 except for one lone holdout. The all-white jury deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of conviction, except for one woman who refused, saying she could "never vote to find a preacher guilty." So, ole "Preacher" walked out of the courthouse a free man for forty-one years, free to preach the love of Jesus to anyone who would listen.

What we got here is a preacher who was in the K.K.K. and as racist as they come...a hater of other human beings simply because of their skin color. He hated them so much he arranged for their murder and the murder of two white men who attempted to help them gain the civil rights guaranteed to them by our "secular" government. As President Bush might even say: how ironical. A preacher killing people. Can you imagine that? Well, the answer to that depends upon how naive you are (or perhaps how stupid). A guy that was preaching Jesus on Sundays and then getting with the good-ole-boys in the evening to go out and "kill a few n****rs and n****r-lovers." Hmmm..."love Jesus and kill the n*****s"...now that's a coherent message. Wonder if the irony ever registered on the people who were listening to him? Is it just me or is there a credibility gap in there somewhere? I apologize for the use of the "n" word--but you get my drift.

All of that leads me to my larger point. When I grew up I was taught that policemen, preachers, and presidents were beyond reproach--it wasn't so much taught explicitly, but it was sure taught implicitly. Now, as an adult, I've learned from cold hard reality that the truth is, sadly, these three groups can be among the LEAST trustworthy. They will talk 'till their blue in the face in an effort to tell you differently, but the actions of the "Edgar Rays" (the worst of the preachers) of this world speak much louder than their rhetoric. I recently went online to EBay and purchased a vintage toy I used to have as a child. It is one of those monkeys with the clanging cymbals that bares his teeth and bugs out his eyes when you turn him on. Every time I hear about some preacher or politician who has opened their mouth and spewed out some nonsense I turn that monkey on and then step back to note the similarities. What a great stress reliever! It's amazing how healing it can be to observe a little toy monkey clanging away...it helps me understand how to put preachers in perspective. I even know of this guy who has a machine that he calls a baloney detector. He takes this thing to church with him and plugs the earphone from the unit into his ear while he listens to the preacher preach. He says half the time the preacher is preaching this baloney detector is going off. He reminds me of those people from Berea that the Apostle Paul talks about. We definitely need more of these Bereans.

To be sure, many preachers are real quick to wring their hands and tell you that you have a problem-you don't want to be held accountable. The honest truth is, it is often they who rub their over-sized bellies and strut around with egos too far above the rest of us to face their own failures and weaknesses. Actually, I don't hold their failures and weaknesses against them at all. What I do hold against them is they want us to think they don't have any failures and weaknesses...that they don't ever screw people over or make mistakes. I personally have never, ever heard a preacher say I'm sorry. Plus, they are so darn judgmental, even while their own lives are so screwed up. It's amazing. That my friends, is what makes their credibility zero. They are all too often weak, timid men who are the fools and pharisees of our day. They are "Edgar Rays." There are exceptions to be sure, but too many of them fit the shoe. They judge, they condescend, they preach, and they preach, and they preach, yet with no weight of morality behind them because of the way they live their own lives. They know-it-all. The certificate on the wall tells them so. They walk around with their pedigrees and seem to have heads swelled to large sizes because of their seeming masterful knowledge and reason, but as C.S. Lewis said, it's an illusion, their heads seem huge only because their chests are atrophied (they have no heart). All pride, no humility. When the going gets tough, they often run and hide and implore others to do the real work and handle the conflicts. In truth, their knowledge is also often an illusion too because they exist in a bubble...many have never known real work.

There is a huge difference between knowledge, and wisdom. Knowledge is what they are taught to espouse. Knowledge, and preaching that knowledge in such overbearing ways, is the result of an over-emphasis in classical Greek oratory and rhetoric that the church bought into centuries ago under John Chrysostom (known as John the Golden Tongue). He ushered in a twisted emphasis upon preaching that we never recovered from. Pagan influences have warped the church. Now, when we try to get back to the original model, the preachers say we are warping the Gospel! Go figure. God never intended the church-or its leadership-to become what it has today. If you think He did then I've got some beachfront property in Kansas to sell you.

The current emphasis upon knowledge and preaching comes at the expense of wisdom--which is knowledge gained through experience. It is often the experience of real work in the real world that "preachers" lack. They live in a bubble that the rest of us don't, and they don't understand experientially who or what we are, or what we ordinary folks go through. All the while, they are lightning quick to judge us when we stumble and yet never, ever turn that same fierce judgment upon their own lives. They are masters of the double standard, yet they claim to be the standard bearers. Christ wasn't called preacher--he was called teacher. But I've heard a local preacher disparage teaching in favor of preaching. He doesn't even know it--but in doing so he is closer to being a follower of Socrates than Christ. How many sermons did Christ preach? Right, the sermon on the mount. One. Uno. Okay, and how many parables did he tell? Get it?

Preachers...too often so much knowledge with too little wisdom. Lots of man-made tradition, very little Gospel. Lots of judgment, with no humility. Lots of timidity and protection around them, with little risk and manly boldness. Edgar Ray the preacher sat back and judged and "preached" others into doing the killings so he wouldn't have to risk anything. He murdered with words in a way his hands could never muster up the courage to do. I'm wondering if it's an occupational trait.

I could say plenty about the people around them that facilitate their attitudes...the "yes" men and women who fall all over themselves to fawn over "the preacher," like this fool who refused to convict Edgar Ray back in 1967 because she could not bring herself to find a preacher guilty. With "friends" and followers like that we could bring back the Nazi Party. You can only fool a fool. Problem is, there are plenty of fools and they tend to flock together. A Fool and his fools. What does the Bible say about the blind leading the blind? Something about they had better buy ditch insurance. That's all I'll say on these mini-Edgars for now.

Preachers, Presidents, and Policemen and their lack of credibility...sigh. Well, the good news is, unlike the 1960s era, at least now many of us know it.

Welcome!

2005-06-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Jabberwocky - the blog of an oddball living in the Natchez, Mississippi area...at least for now.

In this blog I will share my thoughts, dreams, flaming rants, disappointments, hopes, anger, laughter, jokes, writings, poetry, and stories. Feel free to join into the dialogue: applaud, disagree, parse, get pissed, whatever. Take a look around, have fun, take a deep breath, shake it loose, and welcome to Jabberwocky!