If you missed the last edition of the humble ramblings allow me to bring you up to date. One of Job’s buddies gave us a seminar on how not to treat a friend going through a difficult season. Today we have another lesson. Our first guest is Zophar from Naamath. And, waiting backstage to confront his friends is the star of the book, Job himself.  Let’s welcome Zophar from Naamath: Job, do you think you can carry on like this and we’ll say nothing? (Pretty sure Job was thinking that ain’t likely to happen).  That we’ll let you rail and mock and not step in? You claim, “My doctrine is sound and my conduct impeccable.’  How I wish God would give you a piece of his mind, tell you what’s what! I wish he’d show you how wisdom looks from the inside,  for true wisdom is mostly “inside.’  But you can be sure of this,  you haven’t gotten half of what you deserve. (Job 11:3-6, MsgB)  Application: Can you imagine
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For the most part I have learned to roll with the responses to my blogs and books. But I have to admit that some responses bug me. Recently I wrote an article on the Five Stages of Church Woundedness. The post was in response to correspondences with a pastor friend but the gist of the article was intensely personal. I dialed up Crosswalk and read this response from a reader. I’m a bit skeptical about the premise for this article. The pastor was so hurt? What happened? Perhaps this pastor overreacted emotionally. Was the criticism warranted? All criticism isn’t just mean. . .maybe his behavior had something to do with his “being hurt”. Why does he sound as though he lacks maturity? Grace is his answer. . .what’s the alternative to preaching grace anyway? Legalists haven’t hurt this pastor too?   What happened? That would be none of your business. Maybe you would be convinced if I told you the whole story
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(No time to write today. Please enjoy a low mileage previously posted article) Dear friends Nelson and Suzie deserted us to go live in the Texas Hill Country. We tried to lure them back with Biblical admonitions.  “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.”  Deuteronomy 2:3 But they have ignored our wisdom and have settled in the rolling hills between Austin and San Antonio. One of our friend’s challenges of country living was making sure that their dog Pepper would not wander away. Pepper is about 10 pounds of pure attitude.  He needed to be safely restrained from animals that were not intimidated by blustering small packages. So Nelson installed an underground fence to keep Pepper at bay. For those who don’t know about this innovation, underground fencing is a wired perimeter with a radio antenna. When the dog approaches the wired boundary it sends out a signal that activates a battery in the dog’s collar. The battery causes a shock similar to static electricity, and the dog backs
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I get a fair amount of email. Some of it is a blessing and quite encouraging. Some not so much in either category. But the ones that break my heart are the e-mails from wounded and deeply discouraged people who have been devastated by life, the church and especially other churchgoers. I try to be encouraging. I try to offer perspective. But I wish I could do more. I wish I could help those battered and limping follower travelers find the abundant life that I wrote about recently.   An email from a pastor has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind. He was deeply discouraged and ready to give up his ministry. I suggested that he read the book TrueFaced because the practical theology drawn from Romans helped me recover from my own church wounds. I had hoped that the book would resonate with him as much as it did with me. Recently he responded.   I did read the
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Thirty-two years ago today I donned the hideous Robin’s egg blue tux and married the gorgeous Joni Banks. She plighted her troth to me on that day. I am not sure if she has fulfilled that pledge since I have no idea what that means. I suspect that she has because she takes her plights seriously. I am celebrating our anniversary like so many other events in our lives by traveling to a gig in another state. We did celebrate last night and she has learned to flow with my bizarre schedule. It hasn’t always been that way. The change has happened not so much with her but with me. I have gotten better at affirming my wife and learned how to make it a little less about me. I did the American guy thing for many years. I worked too much. I took my young bride for granted. I craved success and praise for my accomplishments. And too often I left her chasing rambunctious
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It never ceases to amaze me that people have enough time to troll the internet and respond to insignificant little bloggers like me. I get lots of positive affirmation from my loyal tens of readers. But occasionally someone will stumble on these ramblings and take offense to something I wrote. Their comments often leave me scratching my head and asking a simple question. Is that battle worth fighting? Good buddy Brad was good naturedly concerned about me after reading the latest post on saving baby sea turtles. “One week in paradise and you’ve become a tree-hugger!” Because I fear the humor impaired I will keep my response between brothers.  Another reader quoted my remarks about how volunteers were willing to rescue turtles while the church too often lets wounded sheep fend for themselves. First my comments: “Sad that really cool people like Sam will do that for baby turtles and that so many followers of Jesus can’t or won’t find the time to do
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Today I am leaving paradise to return to my normal life. Since I still need to work for a living I knew this day would come quickly. An amazing week on Captiva Island, Florida with my lovely bride and great friends was soothing for the soul. I was so soothed that I completely neglected the tens of readers for the week. I suspect the net results of that decision was summarized on Sunday by one of my favorite comic strips, Pearls Before Swine. The intellectual member of the gang, Goat, is looking dismayed. Resident cynic Rat asks him what the problem is and Goat responds that internet problems have kept him from posting his blog that day. Rat goes to window, looks outside, ponders for a moment and then announces this little bit of truth. “And yet somehow the world goes on.” I am sure the world went on just fine without pithy comments from your humble rambler. As I reflect on a week
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