My Hero

This is Mabel Harper. This picture was taken in 1940 for her graduation. Mabel was the youngest of three children born to Frank and Missouri Harper. The Harpers were not Christians.  

Mabel married a handsome young man and they started their life together. But Mabel and her new husband weren’t Christians. Mabel decided she needed to find a church because she was pregnant and she wanted her kids to go to church even if she never went when she was a kid.

Mabel tried a church in their town in Ohio but it was a Pentecostal church and it was a bit too crazy for her. So then she thought she’d try the little Church of Christ in town.

After the first Sunday the preacher met with her and showed her a simple illustration with a pencil that had been all chewed up and he took a napkin and covered the pencil. He told her that is exactly what Christ does to our sin. He covers our sin.

That clicked with her. The very next Sunday she went forward and was baptized. She never looked back. A few weeks later her husband was baptized as well.

This is Mabel from just a couple years ago. Mabel Irene Sheridan. My grandmother, my hero. She is a beautiful person both inside and out. And listen, Sunday after Sunday, month after month she took her kids to church. Year after year, decade after decade my grandma went to church with her family and she did the very best that she could. She is the reason I stand up to preach every week.

My grandma is one of the most beautiful women I have ever known and she is the reason I will be in heaven one day. Her health is now failing. I feel helpless but not hopeless. I have no doubts about my grandmother’s eternal destiny.

I am grateful for my grandmother’s ceaseless prayers for me and all of her grandchildren. Her deepest desire is that her children and grandchildren will be in heaven. She won’t see all of them, but she will see this one again someday.

My prayer is that her children and grandchildren will desire to see her again someday as well. They can but they have to enter through the same door that she did. It is only through faith in Christ Jesus that anyone can go to heaven. The same faith that I hold on to in a sincere manner…the faith that was first in my grandmother. (2 Timothy 1:5)

A Walk With My Dog

I went on a walk tonight with my dog. We walked in an area that I haven't been to in many years. In fact, the last time I was there was when my sons were still in Cub Scouts.

It triggered a memory for me about that place. I figured that I was on a nice evening stroll but God was reminding me of some lessons He taught me.

When my sons were very young we were in that very same area where I was walking with my dog. My youngest son had done something that upset me. Nothing of importance and certainly nothing that warranted the response he received from me. I yelled at him. I really let him have it.

It is very interesting to me how our minds can have such acute clarity for things that are generally negative. But I remembered, as I stood there with my dog, the look my boy gave me after I had yelled at him.

I know that my son doesn't even remember this incident. But I do. And I replayed it tonight in my mind as I stood there with my dog. The irony for me was that I treated my dog better on this evening than I had my own son so many years earlier.

I hate that moment. I hate that I failed my son that evening. I callously hurt him with my words for some very minor offense that I really should have overlooked. As I said, I know that he doesn't even remember this moment. But I do.

I recalled it tonight. I was reminded that I am a work in progress. I know that our greatest role as a dad is to encourage and build up our kids. When we verbally tear them down we are only revealing how small we really are.

It is a funny thing how a simple walk with your dog can turn into a very powerful moment where God is reminding you of important truths. The most important ministry I have is with my children. Their salvation is my number one priority.

Children are given to us like emotional putty. And we are expected as dads to mold and shape that gift into a confident, strong, God-fearing adult. We are not expected to drop that putty in the dirt and trample it.

If you are a father, realize the gift you have in your children. They are from the abundant grace of our Heavenly Father. Bless them and encourage them.

Careless Words

The Scriptures tell us to be careful with our words. It seems that there are those in Christendom that are not heeding that. I am sure you have heard about the North Carolina pastor who recently said in a sermon that gays and lesbians should be put in an electrified fence area so that they will eventually die out. If you have not heard about it, you can read about it here. Now there is another video that has surfaced of a toddler singing about gays not making it into heaven to thunderous applause and cheers of the church service he was a part of. If you haven't seen that you can see that here.

I have been thinking quite a bit about this and have a few thoughts on these incidents. First, standing up against sin does not give Christians the right to be careless with our words. We are warned by our Lord that one day we will give an account for every word we have spoken (Matthew 12:36). We are told in Proverbs that reckless words pierce like a sword (Proverbs 12:18). Attempting to make fun of sin or act self-righteous in our stand for true marriage is not advancing the cause. It is only hurting it.

Secondly, those who are quick to point out the verbal mis-steps of a few Christians fail to do so when their own side starts throwing flagrant verbal fouls. Of course there was Rosie O'Donnel comparing radical Islam to radical Christianity as being one and the same (in essence saying that Christians are no different than the terrorists of 9/11. Then there's the more recent incident of Dan Savage spewing hate toward Christians. I heard no one condemning these remarks from the gay community.

Reckless, careless words cannot be only one-sided. It is extremely hypocritical of the homosexual community to condemn a Christian who is out of line and not do so when one of their own is as well. Make no mistake about this either. Social media is only adding fuel to these fires. The videos of the goofy Christian guy are going to go viral a lot quicker than the hate speech videos of a gay activist.

As Christians we have a mandate and a prime responsibility to be careful with our speech (Colossians 4:6). If you didn't think so before Facebook, now it is even more pertinent. The world is watching. Many living in darkness are just waiting for another Christian to make a fool of him or herself so that they can plaster that all over the internet for the world to see just how foolish Christians are.

Our message needs to be clear. Homosexuality is sin. Marriage is between one man and one woman for life. But there is no good done when a Christian uses derogatory language or crude terminology to describe homosexuality. One can hardly imagine Jesus being impolite or rude or speaking to people in a demeaning way. There is no place for that kind of behavior. This is the approach of people like the very un-Christlike individuals at Westboro Baptist.

That is exactly what those in the homosexual movement want to portray anyone who opposes homosexuality as. Don't give the other side more ammo in this fight for truth.

TMC (Too Much Connection)

The internet has changed everything. We are now connected at a level never seen before in human history. We almost don’t get to see the face of the modern teenager anymore because there is always some kind of screen in front it…thankfully though their smartphones have front-facing cameras so we can see their face on their next status update that includes a picture. Our world truly changed.

I love technology. I love gadgets. But I see inherent dangers trending us toward instability and recurring problems if we don’t take time to count the cost. Here are a couple of concerns I have…

1.       Little things are now big deals.

Before when you broke your nail or got a flat tire you may have shared that with your closest friend or family members. But now the rules have changed. Now an incident like a flat tire is broadcast via the internet through your smartphone complete with pictures to all your Facebook and Twitter connections. And then multiple posts will follow that up from your friends giving you the standard, “LOL!” or a recounting of their own story of their flat tire episode (with potential links to pictures of their incident).

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it is just doing something to us. Something not good, I believe. We don’t need help developing our own narcissism. This constant connection to our own personal audience gives us a Hollywood actor sensation. We are always on the stage performing for our beloved fans. That is not how life was meant to be lived.

2.       We turn to others before we do God.

Back in the day when you had a bad day and were really feeling blue, you might actually spend some time in prayer about it. But who has time for something like that now? I have got to post this on Facebook and then check incessantly for updates to my post. If enough comments have been made on my post then I will be freed to feel better. Or it may be affirmed that I am really a loser and no one truly cares about my having done poorly on my college exam.

The problem with the current connection we all have is that it is our new idol in many ways. It feeds us emotionally. We allow it to help us in ways that we shouldn’t.

I am all for connection. I am very connected myself. But the endless texting, the constant Facebook status updates, the Tweets…it can become so maddening.

Some who read this are not going to have any idea about what I am talking about. They glibly live their lives free of the current connections most of us face. They actually navigate their days without letting anyone else know what they had for supper or what they watched on TV that was so darn funny.

I can’t imagine how sad they must feel because they don’t have a chorus of people comforting them because they didn’t post about their bad day. Nope. They just have the Lord. How sad for them.