Charisa Stories

Author: Dave Burchett

  • Could the Local Church Learn from Toby Keith’s Bar?

    Could the Local Church Learn from Toby Keith’s Bar?

    I write a lot about the importance of Christian community. I too often hear from wounded churchgoers that have not found a room of grace where there is freedom to be honest. At the risk of riling the ever present spiritual hall monitors I want to suggest a reason so many people leave the institutional church in frustration and pain. My thoughts were triggered by a song titled  “I Love This Bar” by Toby Keith. If you will hang with me to the end before launching the email barrage I think you will at least see my point. I understand that bars can be a dark place to anesthetize pain. But there is another dynamic of these gathering spots that we can learn from. In my oddly constructed brain I listened to this song and dreamed of what a community of seekers and followers of Jesus should look like.

    We got winners, we got losers
    Chain smokers and boozers
    And we got yuppies, we got bikers
    We got thirsty hitchhikers
    And the girls next door dress up like movie stars

    Hmm, hmm, hmm I love this bar.

    Toby Keith loves that bar because any type of person can show up and be welcomed without judgement. Philip Yancey had this provocative observation in his book “What’s So Amazing about Grace”.

    “Having spent time around “sinners” and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.”

    The early church was a mix of all types of people. The reason the faith spread against all odds is found in this description in Acts.

    And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity– all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.  (Acts 2 , NLT)

    I suspect that body of believers resembled the motley crew that Keith outlines in his lyrics. We were created to be in this community. A safe place that accepts and embraces those different from us because of our bond in Christ. That is what makes church dynamic to a person who experiences grace and acceptance for the first time. And that is why church can be devastating when the congregation becomes selective, judgemental and legalistic.

    A lot of churches have grace in their name. I am praying for thousands of communities that have grace in their DNA. A safe place where everyone and I mean everyone feels welcomed and loved. In this sacred place we would pledge not to gossip because we would realize that it is only by the grace of God that we are not the current targets. A community of grace that would make it a practice to reach out, touch, and care for one another sacrificially because we know that we all fall down in life and in our Christian journey. In this place we would have executives holding hands in prayer with laborers and not thinking twice about it. Blacks and whites and Hispanics and others would break bread together because we are all sinners in the eyes of a color-indifferent God and all deeply needed in the body of Christ.

    This community of grace would give freely out of profound gratitude to a God who somehow saw fit to give us an undeserved chance. All of us would practice the prodigal son ministry, running to welcome those returning from mistakes and bad decisions. We would take the risk to get involved in the messiness of one another’s lives.

    In this room of grace we would welcome any spiritual travelers and make it a priority that no one ever feels alone. We would make each other feel valuable but, on occasion, a little uncomfortable. Being comfortable in church is not the primary goal. A community of grace would not back off the truth but would share with arms wrapped around our fellow sojourners.

    In this sacred room we would worship with reverence because we have received the most amazing gift ever offered.

    The sad reality is that most of us are afraid to commit to this radical type of fellowship because we aren’t sure what it would require of us. We want to maintain control and Jesus is asking us to do something radical. Grace is a white knuckle roller coaster ride of trust.

    That is my dream of what church should look like. And that is why Toby Keith’s song resonates with me.

    [Chorus:]
    I love this bar
    It’s my kind of place
    Just walkin’ through the front door
    Puts a big smile on my face
    It ain’t too far, come as you are
    Hmm, hmm, hmm I love this bar

    Does walking through the front door of your church community put a big smile on your face? If not, what is wrong? Is your church come as you are or only come cleaned up and acceptable? We are made for community. The church needs to realize that it is not only a place of teaching and reproach but also a place of refuge and grace. A walk-in clinic for messy believers and messy seekers. We haven’t been honest that everyone is messy. Some just clean up better for show and tell. I agree with another quote from Yancey.

    “I rejected the church for a time because I found so little grace there. I returned because I found grace nowhere else.”

    Jesus is always ready to franchise a new room of grace. Here is the promise to hang on the door.

    Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

    That is not a message of law. That is a message of grace.

    No cover charge, come as you are
    Hmm, hmm, hmm I love this bar

    That is another thing we have communicated poorly. There is no cover charge to join the body of Christ. Admission has been paid by the Lord Jesus. Come as you are. Really.

  • The Big Stage

    The Big Stage

    An excerpt from my new book “Between the White Lines”.

    It is almost impossible to comprehend what it is like for a sixteen-year-old boy to run onto the Dallas Cowboys’ home field to play for a state championship. Kids who have played in front of a few dozen or a few hundred look at a vast sea of faces. They struggle to balance fear and exhilaration. Some teams thrive on this big stage, and others wilt. The Newton Eagles always looked to one source of strength in these moments: their coach.

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    “There is nothing like being in the battle with these young men,” W.T. says. “One of the things I love the most about coaching is the team huddle. It is a sacred place that only I get to share with my players. No one else gets to invade that sacred space between the white lines. I always ask them to take a knee, and I get down to their level. I look in their eyes, and I see what is going on in their hearts and minds. Sometimes I see fear. Sometimes I see anger. Sometimes I see confidence. Sometimes I see overconfidence. When I look in their eyes, I know what I need to say in that moment. I will miss that more than anything when I am done coaching.” On this Thursday, December 21, 2017, Coach Johnston saw a team that was ready. A team that wanted to win for their coach and their community. His job today would be to keep them from getting too emotionally charged up and to focus only on the task at hand. Johnston knew they had a good plan. But when you deal with high school boys, you never know exactly what will happen.

    The Newton community had shown up in all their purple splendor. There was no school on Thursday and Friday. Newton looked like a ghost town on Thursday afternoon, as everyone who could take time off hit Highway 190 to Arlington. Those who had to remain behind were glued to the broadcast of the game. Championship day in Newton rivaled Christmas Day in anticipation and excitement. The Newton cheerleaders were wide-eyed as they walked onto the field. The Eagle mascot ran along the sideline where Dallas Cowboy mascot Rowdy would be pumping up a hundred thousand hometown fans in just two days. It was a surreal and magical atmosphere. The tension in the stands was palpable for the Newton fans and particularly Debbie Johnston. “You always want to win, but the stakes for this game were so much higher. I knew that short of a miracle, this would be W.T.’s last chance. I was a nervous wreck.” As in every other time in their relationship, she knew her husband was calm. “His strength in these moments is my rock, and he is the rock for the team as well.”

    W.T. tried to savor the moment. This was what coaching was all about—hard work, teamwork, grinding, and mental toughness. Months of early-morning workouts in a spartan facility that would be laughed at by the big school programs. Boys becoming men in the pressure of lofty expectations. Living life in a locker room with young men and teaching them about football and life. This was what God put W.T. Johnston on this planet to do, and he was more than grateful for this moment. And if the outcome was a championship, well, that was a bonus. W.T. walked to the sideline, the place that gave him such joy. “Between the white lines is the purest and most real place you can be. There is no black or white. No rich or poor. No conservative or liberal. It is just competition.” He had taught his players that there was another dimension inside those white lines where it was only one another. “I taught them to find Christ inside those white lines. Jesus epitomizes the equal playing field. Paul wrote there is no Jew or Gentile. No free man or slave. We are all the same inside those theological white lines. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you don’t matter. You do”.

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    If you enjoy uplifting stories of courage and faith you will love the journey of Coach W.T. Johnston. This is not about football. This is about a football coach overcoming adversity and showing us how it is done. Click here to order your copy.

  • Does It Have To Be This Way?

    Does It Have To Be This Way?

    One of my favorite songs from Carly Simontouched an emotional chord recently. That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be features raw and emotional lyrics detailing the dashed dreams of too many marriages. These couples have everything they were sure would make them happy. A beautiful house, manicured lawns, and an Instagram picture perfect family. Yet the truth of their lives is starkly different. Carly Simon’s lyrics are haunting.

    Their children hate them for the things they’re not
    They hate themselves for what they are
    And yet they drink, they laugh
    Close the wound, hide the scar

    My heart hurts that I personally know a lot of people caught in that cycle. They wear a mask and smile bravely through the pain. My heart cries out that there is a better way. There is a different path that ends in a room of grace. But you have to be tired enough and sad enough to quit trying to fix yourself and especially trying to fix others.

    The net result of desperate self-effort is shown in the sad imagery of Simon’s lyrics. The belief is if we just try harder we can keep our love alive. But she has seen the reality of relationships built only on that shaky foundation and she sings this melancholy but insightful verse.

    You say we can keep our love alive
    Babe all I know is what I see
    The couples cling and claw
    And drown in love’s debris

    How sad that so many couples are relationally clawing to keep from “drowning” in love’s debris? Culture sells that love should be a non-stop euphoric feeling but when the feeling is gone we are free to go. God says that love is a decision to love because we have been loved first by Him. We are not free to leave when feelings wane because we have been redeemed at great cost.

    I see the same dynamic of false expectations in my Christian journey. I hear others talk about their spiritual “victories”. How they always receive financial blessings and how dynamic their prayer life is everyday. Satan suggests that is the way it should be for me and the enemy notes constantly that I am falling way short. I cling and claw and drown in sin’s debris that, ironically, have already been taken care of at the Cross.

    There is a better way. The way you’ve always heard it should be may not be the way it should be. What if the real truth is that relational happiness is not about the other person at all? What if it is realizing that you are a new person? What if happiness is about recognizing your need to live out of the new identity you received when you became a follower of Jesus?

    Author Tim Keller wisely notes this truth. “If you seek righteousness first, you get happiness. If you seek happiness first, you get neither.”

    And where do we find this righteousness? The truth is that righteousness found us first.

    But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) (Ephesians 2:4-5, NLT)

    It is entirely because of Christ. Nothing I have done or will do will make me righteous. I spent four decades trying to be “righteous.” When I hit a dry spell I would try harder, read more books, buck up and beat myself up because I felt so distant from God. Lots of “helpful” Christian friends would faithfully remind me that God hadn’t moved so it had to be me. So I disliked myself more and tried harder and God seemed even more distant. I had reached the end of my spiritual rope and that is where God is always patiently waiting. I cried out to Jesus something deep and insightful along these lines.

    “I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!”

    God does not get insulted by all-caps. In fact, I picture Jesus smiling at that point because I was finally ready to trust Him and not my own feeble clawing. I reached the point of brokenness that allowed me to finally let Him have full access to my heart. I reached the point where I no longer had to be right. I reached the point where I didn’t want to wear a phony mask of holiness. I reached the point where I was willing to trust God completely with everything about me. I reached the point where I was ready for grace. I was willing to believe what God says is true about me. That I am completely forgiven. I am completely loved. I am completely changed because of Christ. I am completely empowered with the Holy Spirit to mature into all of those things that are already true about me. I am righteous not because of anything I have done but entirely because of Christ.

    If you are tired enough, discouraged enough, wounded enough and ready to scream you can’t do this anymore then I have good news. You are ready for grace. Marinate in these truths today written to the church at Colossae.

    Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15)

    God is waiting for you to experience His grace. There is a better road for your journey with Jesus and your marriage. Maybe the way you’ve always heard it should be is not the best way. What have you got to lose? For me there was so much to gain.

  • Grace is NOT an Impossible Dream

    Grace is NOT an Impossible Dream

    For reasons I still don’t understand I was cast as the lead in our high school senior musical many, many years ago. I had never acted and I was not a trained singer. That stellar resume got me the lead role of Don Quixote. Go figure. The play was called Man of La Mancha and I realize almost fifty years later how daring that choice was for small town Chillicothe, Ohio. Man of La Mancha was pretty edgy for that era. You may know that the play is based on Miguel de Cervantes’s seventeenth-century novel Don Quixote. The musical unfolds as a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition. Cervantes takes on the character of “mad knight” Don Quixote and he assigns roles for the other prisoners. The musical is best known for it’s signature song “The Impossible Dream”.

    As I look back I can see a spiritual lesson in the narrative. The gentle and naive Don Quixote sees the world through eyes of grace. He sees what people can become and not what they are at the moment. One of the characters is a self-proclaimed prostitute named Aldonza. But Quixote sees her as a lady and treats her with respect. He calls her Dulcinea, a name that is more befitting of a “lady”. But Aldonza lashes out with fury and hatred toward Quixote. All of her past junk pours out. A mother who did not know which of her many lovers was Aldonza’s father. Men who had used, abused and abandoned her. And now this man calls her a lady and gives her a new name and identity. Throughout the play Aldonza reacts with anger and fear. She hates what she has become but she is afraid to change. At least her identity as a strumpet is familiar. Don Quixote patiently sees her as a soul created with value who can be redeemed.

    As the play goes on Aldonza sees that Quixote is real. His attention is not another ploy to use and discard her. And gradually she begins to believe what the old man says is true about her. That she does have value. At the end the “Quixotic” world of the Man of La Mancha is destroyed and he draws his final breath. Quixote’s faithful squire Sancho turns to the grieving woman and calls her Aldonza. She looks at Sancho and gently corrects him as she says her new name.

    Dulcinea.

    Her identity had been changed by an agent of grace. A parallel can be drawn to what happens to those who place their trust in Christ. Jesus gives us a new identity and He calls us by a new name.

    Saint.

    We also tend to fight back and remind God of what we used to be and all that is wrong about us now. But Jesus patiently reminds us of our new identity. He tells us that we have been changed. That our spiritual DNA has been rewritten. That we are a new creation in Christ. That we are Holy. When you believe what Jesus says is true about you it will change how you live your life. You don’t need to work or strive to earn more of God’s favor. It is fully given to you at the moment you enter into a faith relationship with Christ.

    Paul writes about this mystery to the Church at Corinth.

    So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT)

    So we are a new person. Righteous. That is not an “impossible dream” but a theological truth. Christ has imputed His righteousness to us. Paul continues in his letter to the Corinthians.

    And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

    If I may borrow from the Impossible Dream lyrics…

    This is my quest
    To follow that star
    No matter how hopeless
    No matter how far

    To fight for the right
    Without question or pause
    To be willing to march into Hell
    For a heavenly cause

    And I know if I’ll only be true
    To this glorious quest
    That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
    When I’m laid to my rest.

    My quest is to communicate the liberating message of grace till I’m laid to my rest. And that is a very possible dream.

    Parts of this article are excerpted from my book Stay: Lessons My Dogs Taught Me about Life, Loss, and Grace.

  • Redeemed

    Redeemed

     

    A song by Big Daddy Weave is one of my go to songs to remind me of fundamental theological truths. The song resonates with me every time I hear it.  Maybe you are better at this following Jesus thing than I am but I tend to be forgetful and slow to learn. The song  “Redeemed sums up my struggle and encourages me to know (again) that I am not alone in this battle.

    Seems like all I can see was the struggle
    Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past

    Bound up in shackles of all my failures
    Wondering how long is this gonna last

    Then You look at this prisoner and say to me “son
    stop fighting a fight that’s already been won”

    I am redeemed, You set me free
    So I’ll shake off theses heavy chains
    Wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
    I am redeemed

    • Adopted
    • Redeemed
    • Sealed

    He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

    Makes me feel a little better that folks who were mentored by Paul needed a refresher course in who they were. It makes me feel a lot better that Paul understood that the first thing on the list was to remind them of who they were and then address their wrong behavior. We tend to reverse that order. One more line from this wonderful song by Big Daddy Weave…

    I remember oh God, You’re not done with me yet.

    Praise God for that! And praise God for His amazing grace and amazing patience with this very slow learner.

  • Seeing My Father in Me

    Seeing My Father in Me

    I am just catching my breath from an intense and humbling finish to my television baseball career. I never imagined I would receive the volume of kind words and love from my television colleagues. Finishing a season of life and getting older caused me to be reflective.

    A country oldie from Paul Overstreet nailed my feelings.

    I’m seein’ my father in me
    I guess that’s how it’s meant to be
    And I find I’m more and more like him each day

    I realized that many of the kind things said about me could have been said about my father Paul during his long career in management at Mead Paper mill in Chillicothe, Ohio. I remember how kind he was to his employees and how he always made it about them and not himself. I remember resenting when he would skip evening family time to pay his respects at the funeral home to an employee who lost a loved one. I get it now. I recalled how he was kind to waitresses and everyone he came in contact with. He would feign meanness with car salesmen to get a good deal but I suspect they saw through him.

    My father taught me so much about how to treat people but he was not without his flaws. No earthly father is. But even in those flaws he taught me so much. He taught me how to say hard and important things like these.

    I was wrong.
    I’m sorry.
    Forgive me.
    I believe in you.
    I love you no matter what you do.

    Sometimes we butted heads. The lyrics of Overstreet’s song perfectly describe that journey.

    And now lookin’ back I can recall the times we disagreed
    When I could not take hold of his old fashioned ways
    And the more I tried to prove him wrong
    The more I proved him right
    Now I know why he still stood by me
    When I went through that stage

    Over the years I have seen the influence of another Father in my life. My Heavenly Father has patiently shaped me through countless false starts and backward steps. When I read the comments from so many colleagues I am grateful. But I know how far I have progressed in my journey with Jesus and how far I still have to go.

    If I have been patient it is because I now comprehend (somewhat) how patient my Father in Heaven has been to me. If I demonstrated grace it is because I was overwhelmed by a grace message that convinced me I was enough in Jesus and that nothing I could do would make me more loved or less loved by my Father. If I showed forgiveness it was because I have been forgiven over and over and over by God and without any score-boarding. Over many years I have seen the influence of the Father in my walk. I have so far to go but the same love, patience, grace, and forgiveness that brought me this far will take me home. Now I trust in a relationship that allows me to call God in the most intimate terms.

    So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15, NLT

    Abba. Papa. Daddy. Tim Keller brilliantly illustrates this access we have to our Father.

    “The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.”

    The song finishes with this line.

    And I’m happy to see my father in me.

    I am grateful for the influence of my earthly father. And I am looking forward to see what my Heavenly Father has for me in my next season. I hope you are trusting Abba Father in your season of life as well. There is no better place to be.

    Coach W.T. Johnston taught me so much about how to triumph in adversity and how to live before you die. I would be honored if you checked out his story.

  • My Favorite Globe Life Park Memory is Very Personal

    My Favorite Globe Life Park Memory is Very Personal

    This weekend I wrap up my baseball directing journey and I have to say it feels right to finish on the last day of Globe Life Park. How old do you have to be to have directed both the opening and closing game of a major league ballpark?

    Old enough to have done games in 49 different stadiums.

    Old enough to have brought over one million pitches into your living room over the course of nearly 4,000 games.

    Old enough to have worked with fifteen different play by play announcers.

    Old enough to have covered twelve different full time and interim managers beginning with Doug Rader in 1983. By the way, he still scares me.

    When you have been around that long there are bound to be some highlights. Outside of Globe Life Park that would include Nolan Ryan’s Sixth No Hitter in Oakland and his 300th win in Milwaukee. Perhaps the most famous shot of my career was the ball off the noggin of a dazed Jose Canseco for a home run.

    But this weekend is about the magnificent place my friend Mike Rhyner dubbed The Temple. So many memories will flood through my mind as I wrap it up.

    Opening Day in 1994 with Van Cliburn performing the best National Anthem I have had the privilege to broadcast.

    Clinching the first playoff appearance in 1996.

    Rafael Palmeiro’s 500th Home Run.

    Michael Young’s 2000th hit.

    One of my biggest regrets is that my schedule did not work out to cover the 3000th hit of my all-time favorite Ranger player Adrian Beltre.

    So many great moments beautifully captured by the best production crew in television.

    But my favorite memory from The Temple is intensely personal. In March of 2006 my wife Joni was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. To survive would require a difficult and wearying year of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and infusion of a drug targeted to her cancer. My wife is a warrior. She never felt sorry for herself or questioned why.  Joni just asked what she needed to do to win the battle.

    Fourteen months later Angie Swint of the Texas Rangers asked if Joni would throw out the first pitch for Breast Cancer Awareness Day. The Ranger’s clubhouse staff created a beautiful Ranger jersey for her with the number “1 N 8” to denote that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Joni’s message to any woman reading this is to get regular testing and be persistent if you believe something is wrong. With early detection the five-year survival rate is 96%. On that day my wife threw out the first pitch in front of dozens of friends and family in the Ballpark. I will never forget her statement that on that day she transformed from patient to survivor.

    Joni threw out the first pitch to our friend Jim Sundberg.

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    Jim is the one with the smaller nose.

    Over thirteen years later I am blessed to enter retirement with Joni at my side. Remembering that day at the Ballpark makes this grand baseball cathedral even more special. So many memories at this ballpark. Goodbye old friend. We had a good run.