Keith Davis' BLOG

NEW BLOG

2007-01-14T14:38:00.000-06:00

Well, I've made a switch. CLICK HERE to check out the new blog.

Silly Prayers??

2007-01-11T22:40:00.000-06:00

I wonder if God looks down at some of our prayers and thinks, "How silly!" As soon as a "wonder" comes into my mind about that, the next thought is NO WAY! God cares about the things of our lives. He said (1 Peter 5:7 NCV) "Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you." I guess "all" means "ALL."

Well, I'm going to ask you guys to begin praying about something that may seem a little silly to you all (I'm sure with the exception of Cecil). My son Brandon has begun preparing for baseball tryouts coming up January 29. He will be trying out for the JV team. As you may remember, we were distraught last year, along with most of our city, that he did not make the 8th grade team. I sure don't want to go through that again. So, I'm asking you to pray for us in this.

One encouragement is that he made the ninth grade basketball team. Their season is winding down, with our last game being next Tuesday. So, think about Brandon in the next few weeks and we would be so thankful!!

One Year Ago Today

2007-01-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

Time is ever fleeting and zooming by like crazy. It doesn't seem like it, but one year ago today we stood around my dad's hospital bed and watched him take his last breaths. He had struggled for weeks just to get a good breath. There was absolutely nothing we could do to help. The doctors gave no hope and it seemed like prayers were not going to be answered "yes" to him living. I think it was the most helpless feeling I have ever experienced.

My dad was a quiet unassuming person who had nothing but love for others. He was not a perfect man, but he was a great dad. He always had time for us as youngsters and that continued throughout our lives. He was the most selfless person I knew. He would give the very last he had to make us happy. That kind of heart also made him a wonderful granddad.

So today we remember an awesome person. We remember ,not without hope of seeing him again, but with the assurance of grace that this time apart is just that, and with the way time flies, it won't be long when we will be together again. For that kind of confidence, we can praise our Father in heaven.

You Can't Make Me!

2007-01-07T01:08:00.000-06:00

Growing up, I remember saying to others "You can't make me!"(not my parents especially my mom. She would have killed me). It's kind of a childish thing to say that, yet we contend with it all of the time.

Constantly we try and "make" others do what we want. What could be said or done to "make" one change their mind about a specific direction? I know this question sounds abstract, but I think it to be a good one.

I struggle with this as a pulpit preacher. How do I get the message in my heart to translate into the lives of others and cause real, lasting, change in their walk with God?

First, I think that "results" are not measured always in visible response. I mean, walking an aisle after a sermon takes guts in one sense, but not in another. It's much easier in a church building to make a decision than it is in the world when confronted with a real live situation. So many times people have said to me, "I had a situation today that one of your sermons blessed me in." That's so encouraging. Thank God that He works through us to help others.

Second, I think more and more that it's not me who decides how a person responds. I simply bring a message from God to the hearts of the people and they are the ones who have to make the choices. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit's work included convincing men of sin. So it's the Spirit who does the work not us.

Maybe there's more you can contribute to this conversation about how to help others make the right decision for their life.

Tide Coach

2007-01-03T22:00:00.000-06:00

Well, since Greg challenged me and there's nothing else to talk about in Alabama much today, I guess I could talk about the coaching position. I am also a Miami Dolphin fan son this is kind of double sweet to me.

I was really frustrated with the inept offence we had last year. It seemed like whenever we got a lead, we went into a conservative mode. Run up the middle, run to the right, run to the left, punt, then lose the game.

My real problem is the fact that I don't think that Shula was always the problem. I never have been a fan of "coach-blaming" although this year I did plenty of it. In fairness to the fans though, the buck stops with him.

The difficulty with coaching Alabama is that many of the fans are still looking for another Bear Bryant. That's just not going to happen. I guess Gene Stallings was the closest. That's why every time we get a new coach (and that seems like every year) I ask several questions. Will he be able to beat Auburn? Will he last very long? Will he be aggressive on offence? Will he help Alabama bring back the respect we once had in the SEC and in the nation?

I guess time will only tell if all these questions will be answered. For now at least we can relax with some newfound hope.

Roll Tide!!

Happy New Year!!

2007-01-01T21:57:00.000-06:00

Just wishing all of my blog family a wonderful new year and that God will bless you with renewal in His Holy Spirit. Bless you all!!

Strange Christmas

2006-12-26T23:32:00.000-06:00

This was our first Christmas without dad. It was really strange. I mean that nothing seemed the same and I guess it never will. I really miss him. Mom has had a rough time too. The other day we went to the cemetery to visited the grave site. It was probably the most difficult time we've had as a family since he died in January.

Mom has kept herself busy. She has done so well. I think that is probably because of her service to others. She, even in the midst of her grief, bakes cakes, delivers goods, and visits the nursing homes. She is continually ministering to others.

I know that life goes on and that it will get better over time. I know that my dad's memory goes on and on through us. It has just been so strange without him.

Virtual Reality

2006-12-21T23:20:00.000-06:00

I have been watching old episodes of Star Trek on TV Land lately. It is almost comical some of the "special effects." It is amazing how so much is changed since those early days of videography. The panels look so fake, lights blinking, video screens with still images. For those of us who enjoy the Sci-Fi stuff, it truly is laughable.

Yet, in the day, it was so cool. Just the thought of flying through space was the most awesome thing to me as a young boy. I would dream of the day I too would be able to "boldly go where no man has gone before."

Of course the reality it, I will never go there. No one will. It was all just a show. Captain Kirk is really just William Shatner. Mr. Spock is really Leonard Nimoy. It's all just virtual reality.

It's the same way with what Satan has done with church and the things of church or religion. We have been in a virtual reality of sorts. We have thought that for years we have had all the right answers when the reality is, we don't even know the proper questions. We claim truth and teach inconsistencies.

I know this sounds harsh, yet I believe that we must get honest with ourselves and move past "church" and onto real ministry in the lives of the people in our communities. This will require that we get into the lives of people to the point that it costs. That's scary to many of us.

Sunday I will be talking about our Lord and His entrance into this world in a messy way. He then lived amongst and worked with messy people. He finally died one of the messiest deaths ever known to man.

He is our example. We need to get out of our ivory towers, glorious cathedrals, and our virtual "religions" an begin to serve people like Jesus did. Yes, it will be messy and will cost, but the ultimate reality of a life with our Father depends upon it.

Revolutionary

2006-12-11T12:07:00.000-06:00

I am reading a book right now by George Barna called Revolution. It is an awesome book about how church will possibly look in the future. In fact the future is already here as I see it from his perspective.

As you probably know, Barna is a "stats guy." He does extensive research for folks in all walks of life. This book reveals his research over years on the trends of the religious world.

He has come to the conclusion that what God needs in this world is revolutionaries. One chapter in the book tells of the seven passions of revolutionaries. They are:

1. Intimate Worship
2. Faith-based Conversations
3. Intentional Spiritual Growth
4. Servanthood
5. Resource Investment
6. Spiritual Friendships
7. Family Faith

The most interesting thing concerning all of these is that Barna claims that much of the life of the revolutionary takes place outside the traditional setting of "church." Individuals who decide that the way of the revolutionary is the way they choose will do that--individually. That is not to say that the more people involved is not a good thing. It is good and even necessary for the greatest good to be done for Jesus. Revolts are much more exciting and life changing when done with a group.

I tell you all of this just to wet your appetite for such a book and to also tell you about Michael. I met Michael today and it could not have come at a better time. Michael is a revolutionary in my opinion. He is a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association (CMA). They go all over the nation helping minister to bikers.

He told me of how they went to an event that was run by the "Hell's Angels." The event coordinators for years did not recognize the CMA in any way publicly. For years the CMA would go to this event and hand out free coffee and/or water and simply make relationships with these people.

The even, as you could imagine, is an extremely decadent place to be. Yet they kept going and helping out any way they could. This past year Michael told me that on the area map they issue to all the bikers, they had four crosses representing where the CMA would be. How do you like that? The Hells Angels were putting crosses on their maps. That is just the coolest thing to me. This would not have been possible had they gone in and marched against, or tried to "set of Bible studies," or some other mass approach to the situation. (By the way, you understand that I'm not saying that those are bad things, but just not what would have helped in this situation.)

Because of their influence by befriending those who were not like them, they built relationships, helped people, and Jesus was both taught and glorified through this means. Praise be to God. Here are people dedicated to using their gifts and abilities and influence to be the light of Jesus to their world.

I pray to God that I can become more of a revolutionary for God. I want Him to open my eyes to areas of service that I can serve in to make a real lasting difference in the lives of people. He has already done that in so many ways, and yet I feel so inadequate.

I want to encourage you to read this little book if you haven't. God bless you my blog family and fellow-revolutionaries!

Great News and Thanks!!

2006-12-07T07:17:00.000-06:00

We had a great news answer to prayer yesterday. Danielle has been having head aches since last Thursday of and on and mostly on. It has really been a scare for her and us. The doctors thought that it was her new meds, but wanted to do a CT scan of her head just to make sure there was nothing abnormal there. They did this yesterday and the results yielded negative on anything abnormal. I kidded Danielle and told her, "See I told you there was nothing up there." That got a slight smile out of her. Anyway that was awesome news to us. The bad news is that she is still having head aches so still pray for her.

Thanks to all of your encouraging comments last blog. I wanted to tell Steve that his comment about the only person from north Alabama who will have you guys goes two ways. From a "church of Christ" standpoint you guys are about the only guys who will have me too.

The really strange thing to me right now is that in north Alabama the folks from all the churches other than churches of Christ are the one s who are showing me a Christlike attitude. They call and check on me, pray for me, lift me up spiritually, and more. It does something to you when people from your own heritage treat you like you don't exist any more. Then they turn it around on me and tell me that I'm the one who "left" the church. Doesn't that just grab you by the britches and throw you out the door. (That's southern for "what a slap in the face.")

Thanks be to God for my church family at Creekside. My shepherds are men who love the Lord and have just been patient with me on this journey. They support me and my family and have let me know through their actions that they care deeply for us. They have supported me as well as I make this break from "church of Christ-ism." The people have been so supportive as we discover more about the person of the Holy Spirit in my lesson series of late. Thanks so much Creekside.

I guess I want to end this blog today by thanking all of you again for your encouragement and may God bless each of you in your walk with Him.

A Glimmer of Encouragement

2006-12-03T22:16:00.000-06:00

I'm really in another blog funk. One a week just don't get it for me, but I just can't get back into the swing of things. Part of the reason has been the stress level of life lately. We've had a busy week getting ready for our Christmas show in our band that ended with Danielle having her first seizure in two weeks. Keep praying for her please.

One thing that happened this week that was a glimmer of encouragement came through email. One of our young men (college student) who has been missing from some of our services for the past couple of months set me an email expressing how much he had been missing Creekside and explained lots of conflicts that were legitimate and told me he would be there today and he was.

How encouraging is that that a young man cared enough to let me know that? It meant the world to me and I told him so today.

God bless you all.

Great Trip and Creekside Sunday!!

2006-11-26T22:33:00.000-06:00

We had a great visit with my brother and family. We spent from Thursday-Saturday without a tight schedule. We just took our time and enjoyed being together, even when that meant doing nothing but just sitting and talking. I would ask all of you to keep my brother and his family in your prayers. That's really all I want to say about that, but just pray for them.

Sunday was a good day at Creekside. I am continuing our study of the Holy Spirit and His work among us. I finished the sermon I started a week ago on being filled with the Spirit. It is awesome what the filling of the Spirit in our lives supplies us. He empowers us to speak into situations like we never have before. He gives us direction in life--His direction. He enables us to be comforted in situations that would cause us deep hurt before. There is so much more.

One of the men in our church family came up to me after the sermon and made an interesting point. He said he read through the book of Acts again to listen to what they where all about in order to see why the church experienced such spiritual and numerical growth. His observance led him to the following understanding.

He said that the Christians then had three things that were always present. They prayed, they had the Holy Spirit, and they fellowshiped or spent time together. That was it. He said that if we continue to fellowship, and pray that God's Spirit be poured out on us, we too would experience great things for God.

He also observed that the first Christians were not all about "church numerical growth." They really didn't know what to expect. They were simply open to the "power from on high" and acted the way they felt convicted. Simple as that! When that happens to us, there is no telling what God will do through the Spirit in us.

God bless you all my fellow-bloggers.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T11:16:00.000-06:00

I read the following today about Thanksgiving and it brought a smile to my face. I wanted to share this one with my blog family. If you've heard it, just indulge me. I also wanted to let all of you know that we are traveling for the Thanksgiving holidays and wish your prayers for safe travel. I probably will be away from my computer and maybe a source for one, therefore won't be able to blog with you guys until we return.

Hope you enjoy this little tidbit from Erma Bombeck in October 1992.

An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, "I don't know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!" The kid is right.

Children always put things into perspective for us don't they!! God bless you all and have a great Thanksgiving, remembering that it the God from whom all blessings flow!!

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

2006-11-19T23:20:00.000-06:00

I remember while at IBC we would get in the halls of the school and debate about all kinds of topics. It was kind of fun and in a way it taught me a lot about people and even made me dig into the scriptures to know how better to "win the argument." That was important to me then.

One of the hottest topics of that day is still a huge topic argued amongst us. It was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The question was, "Did he indwell us literally or only through the word of God?"

Like so many subjects, I came to the subject with preconceived notions that really skewed my beliefs.
1. If the Spirit indwelt the Christian, then it must follow that I believe in miracles (and everybody knows that miracles have ceased) was my way of handling it. Can any of you relate? 2. I came to believe the "in the word only" theory. It was safe. I could believe in the indwelling without all the miracles.
3. Later I came to believe that the Spirit indwelt the Christian, but He really didn't do anything. This too was safe. I didn't have to believe in the miracles or any outward manifestation of the Spirit. This was a comfortable place to be and really was just a watered down version of what the scriptures say.

I have recently been preaching a series on the Holy Spirit and am amazed at how prolific the Spirit is throughout the scriptures. I have discovered so much and now believe that there is much more than what I have believed concerning the Spirit that is available to us today. I do not pretend to have all the answers, but want to begin to delve deeper into the Holy Spirit of God and learn what He is to do in our lives.

One thing I do know is that the Spirit does dwell within the Christ-follower. Without Him there is no life. Listen to these passages.
(Romans 8:9-10 NCV) "But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But the person who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. {10} Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God."
(John 7:39 NCV) "Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit."
(1 John 3:24 NCV) "The people who obey God's commands live in God, and God lives in them. We know that God lives in us because of the Spirit God gave us."
(1 Corinthians 3:16 NCV) "Don't you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"

News On Danielle and Brandon

2006-11-15T23:03:00.000-06:00

We took Danielle to the doctor this week. Her doctor is great. She spent about 45 minutes in the room with us. For a doctor, she sure is "patient." (Couldn't resist) She is in the process of changing her medications. She is taking her off of one and putting her on another. She is hoping that this move will stop the seizures. It is always scary when the doctor changes meds. The last time this happened we had some rough times during the transition. Please pray that this doesn't happen.

On a much lighter note, Brandon made the ninth grade basketball team. They had their first game last night and things, for Brandon at least, did not go too well. He only got to play about 3 minutes in the game. He never saw the court the second half. It was the least he's played in a game of any kind in his whole life. Please pray too that he will get to play more. He really is doing well. I think the coach just had too many choices. He kept 13 on the team. That's a lot of subs. We only lost the game by three poionts. That's not too bad. Well, we play our second game tomorrow. I hope he gets to play more.

Busy Week

2006-11-12T23:35:00.000-06:00

Sorry to have been away so long. It was one of the most busy weeks I have spent in a long time. We had our 50's show last night and it went great. Most of you know I play with a group called Showdown. We are a variety band with a monthly show and it's a blast. We had taken off for the months of August through October. We had the biggest show of the year last night. We had over 800 people come. It was great. But the work to put that show together was overwhelming. It was worth it, though, to hear those people cheer. No doubt that is one of the best "highs" a person can experience. To know that people appreciate you so much that they would pay money and come and cheer you on is a feeling that's hard to describe.

Today was a great Sunday too. I am continuing my series on the Holy Spirit. Today we talked about the "Ministry of the Spirit." Just what did He come to do? I didn't pretend to cover all on this topic I could. I talked about the Holy Spirit and His ministry in salvation, sanctification, and service. I really appreciate the way in which Creekside church participates in my sermons. They really are an inspiration and a joy to work with in the kingdom of Jesus.

I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for stopping by.

Frustration and Faith

2006-11-06T08:12:00.000-06:00

If there has ever been a more confusing story in the Bible than the following one, I don't know it. (Matthew 15:22-28 NCV) "A Canaanite woman from that area came to Jesus and cried out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter has a demon, and she is suffering very much." {23} But Jesus did not answer the woman. So his followers came to Jesus and begged him, "Tell the woman to go away. She is following us and shouting." {24} Jesus answered, "God sent me only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel." {25} Then the woman came to Jesus again and bowed before him and said, "Lord, help me!" {26} Jesus answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs." {27} The woman said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." {28} Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! I will do what you asked." And at that moment the woman's daughter was healed."

It really sounds like the Lord was not going to heal her daughter because of her nationality. That just doesn't sound like Him, especially after the Samaritan woman story and other stories where He seemed to stretch the rules.

No matter how I feel about this passage, the lesson to learn, I think, is that the woman's faith in Jesus and her persistence in prayer are what saved her child. Amazing!

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 11 that is a similar lesson. (Luke 11:5-10 NCV) "Then Jesus said to them, "Suppose one of you went to your friend's house at midnight and said to him, 'Friend, loan me three loaves of bread. {6} A friend of mine has come into town to visit me, but I have nothing for him to eat.' {7} Your friend inside the house answers, 'Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.' {8} I tell you, if friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread, your boldness will make him get up and give you whatever you need. {9} So I tell you, ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you. {10} Yes, everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened."

I tell you all this to get to a point. Danielle woke up this morning having seizures again. It will not stop. I don't understand. Daily in our prayers we ask for them to be removed. It's almost as though He is not paying attention. It's so frustrating!

I know the power is there. I believe that God can heal her. I really do! So God with boldness I ask where are you? I ask for you to please show up and show your mighty power in the life of our daughter. She doesn't understand. We don't understand. Her faith is weak right now. She is getting to the point where she doesn't even like herself and her life. God, You heard her say this morning, "I hate my life." Please God don't lead her through this valley any longer. With the boldness of faith and the audacity to continue to believe, I claim the miracle of healing for our little girl. God help us in the name of Jesus of Nazereth and by the power of the Holy Spirit!

I ask you today to join with me in beating on the door of God's house. It's midnight for us, but we will continue to knock until He sees fit to help Danielle. So please shout out to God on her behalf today. Thank you all my Blog family.

Holy Spirit Revival

2006-11-03T09:07:00.000-06:00

How can we cry out to receive the power of God through His Holy Spirit if we continue to deny that power? No I'm not a "power" seeker in the sense that I desire it for myself. I am seeking to know God on a much more deeper level than ever before. Maybe some of you are there. I feel that I am not. I just believe more and more that the kind of relationship I am seeking is centered in something I have denied myself and others most of my preaching life--the Holy Spirit

True, I believe that we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism. But I don't know what that means. I also believe that He works today, but I have limited Him in my mind. There seems this emptiness in my life that I think He can fill if I will but allow Him in. Jesus told the disciples in John 16 that it was better for Him to leave so that the Spirit could come. We saw the beginning of that in Acts 2 on Pentecost. The Spirit came with power--"as of a rushing mighty wind." Jesus kept His promise to them. The promise, however, is to "all whom the Lord our God will call." I am called of God through His message and so are you. Therefore, the same Holy Spirit power that was given that day is still available today.

Do you not feel the tug of God on your heart sometimes that tells you, "Hey, quit playing church and realize the power from on high!?" I think we live in an age much like that of Pentecost. We have crucified the Son over and again by our worldliness in the church. We have done it through the guise of right doctrines and church piety. We have made a mockery of the name of Jesus through church arguments and denominationalism and I have a sneaky suspicion that it is because we have denied the power that God has made available through His Spirit.

I believe that God is calling us to true Holy Spirit revival! We need to do like the disciples in that age. We need to "go to Jerusalem and wait." You know I don't mean the literal city, but we are trying to run around in a frenzy of church programs and activity trying to find whatever we can to make us feel good about what we are doing when we need to be in the "upper room" praying for and waiting for God to come with power on our church.

Let us listen to Him. Listen to His call. Listen to His reality. Listen to the Master call through the Spirit and follow without question. God help us to put away our baggage and listen to You!

BOA RESULTS

2006-10-29T23:57:00.000-06:00

Well, I wish I could give you a better report, but it just was not our year at BOA. The competition in our classification was much more stiff than ever before. I have to say, however, that our kids did the best they've done this year. The show went off without a hitch. I told them after the performance that win our lose they could know for sure that they did their best show. Everyone felt the same way.

But, no matter how much you prepare them for bad news, especially since they've won their division four of the last five years, they were still heart-broken. They announce third place, second place, and then first. Our name was not mentioned in any of those. Tears were shed by us all, but I hope that the kids will grow from this. We have a ton of freshmen (over half of our band) and I hope this will really make them work harder next year. If that happens then the lose will have not been in vain. I was very proud of their attitude after seeing the band that beat us out. It really show some maturity in them. The kids said that the band that won our division deserved it after they saw them in the finals competition.

Same trip, same story, different channel. I saw something this weekend that was a great illustration for unity in the kingdom that I want to share with you, my blog family. There were many bands in this Super Regional competition. They all competed against one another. Each desiring that they win. But on Saturday night, just before the awards ceremony, the whole crowd in the Georgia Dome began something we've all seen or be a part of--the wave! It was awesome to see all these competing groups doing something together. Being marching bands who pride themselves in technique, they put on a great wave.

On Sunday morning we all met in the lobby of the hotel for a worship period before entering the park. It was just like the wave. There were people from all kinds of Christian backgrounds worshiping together. In a sense, we were coming together as one--a sort of "wave" in the name of Jesus. I wish to God in heaven that we could put our competing pasts, quirks, doctrines, and whatever else that separates us and come together in the name of Jesus the one in whom we all agree and show what Jesus prayed for--UNITY! God help us.

Atlanta BOA

2006-10-27T12:28:00.000-05:00

Hey blog family! Pray for my kids this week. Britney, Brandon, and Danielle will be marching in the Georgia Dome on Saturday in the Bands of America competition. It is the largest and also the final competition of the year for them. The competition is high and very difficult to be in the top ten. That's where they have to be in order to make it to the finals.

We will be there on Saturday and on Sunday, the band director is taking the kids to Six Flags. We are looking forward to a great weekend. Please pray for our safety and especially pray for Danielle that she not have any seizures. Loss of sleep is one of the triggers for these things and these trips always guarantee late nights and early mornings.

I will hopefully be able to check in during the weekend. God bless you all and thanks for being a great blog family!

Music Is For The Soul

2006-10-25T15:27:00.000-05:00

Music is a medium that is incredible. You know the saying, Music soothes the savage beast." I think that can be true. Music can make you drive faster or slower. It can make you laugh, cry, love, and hate. It truly is powerful.

I know that playing music can do the same thing. We are getting ready for our 50's show this coming November 11. Playing those old songs is really a lot of fun. I can be in a bad mood or just not feeling well and play music and feel better.

I think music to be a gift from God. I just had that on my mind.

Losing Friendships

2006-10-22T00:29:00.000-05:00

Losing friendships is not a good thing. It's hard enough in this world as transient and busy as life is to build good relationships. I am afraid that I am in the process of losing someone that I considered a friend. I hope that something can change and it not happen, but I fear for this particular person that they are in the process of a self-destruct.

Isn't is a helpless feeling knowing that you love someone and there's nothing you can do. I mean, you do all you can and then some. You take care to not be hurtful, and then seemingly out of the blue they are going, going, and sometimes gone.

The proverbs say, (Proverbs 18:24 NCV) "Some friends may ruin you, but a real friend will be more loyal than a brother." I wish all relationships that we love could continue, but I guess it's just not meant to be.

That's another reason to add to the great list of reasons to follow Jesus. Even though our relationships are scarred and battered, Jesus never moves. He is always with us. As He Himself once said, "I will be with you always...."

Creekside Carnival

2006-10-16T15:58:00.000-05:00

When you think of "carnival" you generally think of a traveling show where the people ride rides (or get taken for a ride), they play games that are nearly impossible to win, and spend enough money to have nearly bought a weeks worth of groceries. But not so with the annual Creekside Carnival!!

We spent Sunday afternoon finishing up preparations and having a great time with our community. We haven't counted yet, but there were probably in the neighborhood of 400 people to come through our carnival this year.

The Creekside Carnival happens each fall and doesn't cost anyone a dime to be a part of. People come from all walks of life to enjoy a day of fun, food, and festivity. We had hay rides, horseback rides, games to play, a small moonwalk, and a huge obstacle course. We served nachos and dip, drinks, and cotton candy. We provide stuffed animal, and trinkets to "win" at the games the kids play.

More than anything, the carnival is a time for us to give back to our community in a way that shows the love of Jesus with no strings attached. Several churches do this in our area from all religious groups and I think it's a good thing.

It does so many good things. It shows people who may be cynical about Christianity that not all of us have a hand out wanting something from them. It provides a safe place for children to play without fear. It helps families who cannot afford to go the fair or to amusement parks. It even helps those of us who put these kinds of event on to understand how blessed we are and as Jesus put it, "It's more blessed to give than to receive."

We grant all glory and honor to God who gives us the energy and opportunity to serve Him.

Continue To Meet Together

2006-10-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

All my life I've heard sermons on the importance of attending church. These kind of sermons are usually negative, harsh, and guilt ridden. People leave feeling like one of two things. They either feel guilty for all of the times they missed and make promises to never miss again or they leave feeling like they have done God a favor for having been there. I think both of those answers are wrong.

"Going to church" is not the point. I think that being together with my family should be high on the priority list. "Going to church" is much different from the idea of meeting with my family to honor the name and presence of God in our lives.

Using that definition of meeting together, I do not understand why people want to miss for such flimsy reasons. Headaches, back aches, out of town family visits, whatever the reason, we seem to be able to make excuses for missing an event that should be high on the "to do" list.

I liken getting together with my church family to the rechargable battery on my cordless drill. The drill works for a little while with the battery on full charge. But eventually it runs out of power and has to be connected to a power source to refuel the battery.

Family gathers are like this. It is a time to renew our relationship with one another and to strengthen our relationship with God. He loves for us to spend time with Him as a family. The book of Hebrews says it this way: (Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT) "Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. {25} And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near."

I wonder what people do on Sundays when we meet and they just choose to not be there. Do they just not understand that they need encouragement and so do we all.

Zoe Conference

2006-10-06T22:40:00.000-05:00

It has been a great couple of days at Zoe this year. The worship is out of this world. I've been many places and been a part of many worship settings. There is none, in my experience, as awesome as the Zoe conference. It is so God focused, Jesus centered and Holy Spirit filled.

This year's theme is "Closer." One would think it would be filled with lessons about how to get closer to God. Jeff Walling spoke last night and helped us understand that God is already close to us. He said, "He even rode with you in the car on the way here." So simple and yet so profound!

God has been and is pursuing us all along. From the fall of man to the present, He is after us--and I don't mean "out to get us" in the negative way. He is trying to fulfill what we all need and that's a relationship with Him.

Mike Cope spoke tonight teaching on the story of Jacob's ladder. God is pursuing Jacob and He is found in a "certain place" which Jacob named "Bethel," or the house of God. We all find God at various times in our lives which are "Bethels" to us. Maybe you can think of some of those times in your life--a time when He felt so near, you could name the place the house of God.

God bless you all and remember that God is as near as your heart if He has been made the Lord of that heart. You don't have to seek Him, He will seek you in order to love you and take you home with Him one day.

Great Weekend

2006-10-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

It was a good weekend this past week. Our high school band went to a regional championship in Murfreesboro, TN. It is the first major competition we will attend this year. My daughters Britney and Danielle and son Brandon are all a part of the band program. I think it is the best program in the whole school.

We did well. We finished third in our class along with winning the most outstanding music award. We've never done that well this early in the season. I am really proud of them.

Sunday was a great day at Creekside. We titled the day, "God's Awesome Ways." God says, "My ways are not like your ways." How true is that!!? We shared together through songs, readings, prayer, and testimony some ways that He is awesome in our lives.

Please pray for me as I prepare for a lesson series on the Holy Spirit. I think we have mised it on this one. I pray that God will annoint our church with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We truly always need His power.

I hope you have a wonderful week in the Lord!!

Perception and Reality

2006-09-25T08:18:00.000-05:00

Saturday brought us a disappointing letter in the mail. As you know, we recently bought our first home. It was a very smooth experience as those things go. We looked for just a short time because we only had 30 days to look. The loan process was nerve racking, but never a glitch. The closing went great. We were all set.

Saturday we received a letter in the mail that told us our home owners insurance had been CANCELLED!! What?!! CANCELLED??? We couldn't believe it. Being Saturday we had to think about it until this morning. What would have happened if-- something had happened?? What could happen in a weekend right? The fact that I am typing this tells you that nothing happened.

This morning I called our insurance first thing. Without going into what would be boring detail, the letter was not a reality. We were never without insurance. Had something happened we would have been taken care of, but that was not our perception.

Isn't it amazing how perception is reality? The entire weekend felt like we were missing something. Until we knew the truth, we were stuck with our perception.

I guess the lesson learned here is (or at least one lesson I learned) the next time someone comes to me with a problem--even though I know it's not as bad as they think it is--that's their reality. Dealing with one another on a "not real" problem in many ways is no different than dealing with a "real" one. Perception is reality until it is realized. The bottom line in working with each other is still love. It is the key to relationships.

Chalk One Up For The Girl

2006-09-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

As most of you know my Tabitha started to college this year. That in itself is enough to just blow my mind. But recently something else has blown my mind. I just don't know if this old dad can handle those evil creatures called boys that call on her. (I know it's a natural thing I know, but it's sure tough.) And some of you are going to say, "Hey, you were a boy once!" My answer is, "Yeah, that's what scares me!"

This last little boy (20 years old) started talking to her over the internet and I just wasn't sure about that, but he sounded like a nice enough guy. He called a couple of times and then asked her to dinner on a Wednesday night. She told him she had to go to Bible study. She invited him too. He called her back and explained that he had changed some from the picture on the internet. She asked what he meant. He said that his hair was somewhat longer and that he dressed in mostly black. Her reply was, "Are you gothic?" He said, "Not as much as some." She asked him, "Aren't most gothic people atheists?" He said that he was not like most of them and that he was not "as gothic" as most. She told he that she was not into that. YOU GO GIRL!!

I am so proud that she has those kind of principles. I certainly don't mind her sharing Jesus with him, but I'm glad that she made the decision to not "date" him. Maybe she could help him find Jesus and then date him. That's what Ellen did for me, but I recommend doing that before the wedding or the dating.

Have a great day my blogger family!!

To Die For

2006-09-16T23:02:00.000-05:00

I believe that Jesus and His death, burial and resurrection to be the most significant thing to believe in scripture. It is the central theme of the Bible. It is what Jesus came ultimately to do. All things are "plugged in" to these three facts. Nothing holds any weight except that it ties to these facts.

The real significance is found directly connected with the resurrection. Without this, we have no hope. Without this, Jesus is still a dead man and that's all. Paul's resurrection passage in 1 Corinthians spells it out or us. (1 Corinthians 15:17-22 NCV) "And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith has nothing to it; you are still guilty of your sins. {18} And those in Christ who have already died are lost. {19} If our hope in Christ is for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone else in the world. {20} But Christ has truly been raised from the dead--the first one and proof that those who sleep in death will also be raised. {21} Death has come because of what one man did, but the rising from death also comes because of one man. {22} In Adam all of us die. In the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again."

Just think of the doctrines that are most important to us and their importance is found directly important because of Jesus' death burial and resurrection: Baptism, Communion, and the essence of God "love." All of these and an other teaching all center on Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus could not be deity without it. God could not save us without it. The Trinity would not have the significance without it.

So, what can I learn from all this. Start living for that which I said I would die for. The core of the gospel and all that it is to any of us is founded upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus--live for Him!!

What Would You Die For?

2006-09-14T23:18:00.000-05:00

It is a sobering question isn't it. My good brother "Ancient Wanderer" made me think about this in his quote, "We have to decide as leaders which of the 'traditions' are worth taking a stand on and which ones will die out with old brother or sister so-n-so."

Taking a stand is one thing, but when you ask, "What would you die for?" It's clearly another thing altogether. I'm not talking about family or friends, but which teaching? He makes the statement that we have to decide and uses the word "traditions," but I want to pose the question to you my blog family and ask which teachings, doctrines, issues, beliefs, etc would you put your life on the line for?

I am tempted to give a c of C list from which we could choose, but I will resist that temptation and simply wait for your answers. I will then blog and let you know how I would answer the question.

MORE IMPORTANT NOTE: Please pray for my good friend David Daniel. David played guitar in the band I am with several years ago. We found out today that he has stage 4 cancer--4 tumors in the brain, 1 in the liver, and 1 in the lungs. The good news is that they say it is a treatable kind of cancer.

Religious Trappings

2006-09-12T23:24:00.000-05:00

How do we escape? How can we possibly get out of our default mode when it comes to religion? In the past week I have talked to four people about this very thing, one of which was a preacher in another denomination. One of his questions was, "How can we escape the religious trappings of our various denominations?"

I know for some of us it seems like an old conversation now, but after this week I know it's still new to some. There a so many who profess Christ who are tired of "religion" and are ready in their hearts to get away from it, but can't find it within themselves to escape.

Comfort zones, years of poor teaching, and any number of other things hinder them from walking away from it all in favor of simply searching for Jesus. Isn't it strange that we are willing to be content with what we are used to no matter the cost, because, in my opinion, seeking Jesus alone just cost too much for us. We like the comfort of our rules oriented religion. So we simply sit and complain without having the guts to make a move in the right direction. I even had two college students tell me that they have lied to their parents about where they went to church for fear of their parents' reaction. How sad!!

I just want to offer up prayer for us. God help us to find you in our lives. Help us to focus on that which is important and seek you first in our lives. Help us have the right attitudes as we deal with one another.

What suggestions do you have about how to escape the religion and seek first Jesus?

Great Day In The Lord!!

2006-09-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have one of those days where everything that you touch goes wrong? I mean if you want it to be up it's down or if you want it in it's out. You know those days.

Well, today was not one of those days with me. It was a very productive day for me. My work got completed. Phone calls got made that needed to be made. Even the little things that went wrong didn't seem to bother me as bad. I really enjoyed the day. I hope I sleep as good as the day went.

During this day I did something that I have not been doing like I should. I read through a book of the Bible in one sitting. I am beginning Hebrews this Sunday and asked my class to do this so I did it as well. It just makes sense to read the Bible this way. Verses stand out and themes come to life when we read the Bible through in a translations we understand.

I just am so thankful for a great day in the Lord. Praise His name.

Forgiveness and Prayer

2006-09-05T23:49:00.000-05:00

Forgiveness is the greatest gift ever given. My last blog was written after getting my feelings hurt by someone. Yesterday, he came by the house and apologized. We prayed together and forgiveness was requested and given. What a blessing! Thank you God for the perfect example of forgiveness in sending Jesus!

On another note, Danielle woke up this morning having seizures. Please continue to pray for her. She stayed out of school but got better throughout the day. We hadn't seen a seizure in weeks and were in hopes that they would go away, but not yet.

Please pray for her faith. She said today that she just wished that God would come back and take us to be with Him so that she wouldn't have to worry about it any more. I can't say that I don't agree with her. How awesome it would be to go home to be with Him. No more temptation, pain, suffering. We should look forward to it.

Dealing With Hurt Feelings

2006-08-31T22:22:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been hurt by someone you thought would never do such a thing? It is one thing to be hurt by people who are not close to you, but when it's a friend--wow it hurts badly. Handling it the right way can be difficult at best.

My first reaction is to lash out and fight back. How dare them to hurt me their "friend." Their acting more like a "fiend" than a friend.

Then comes the feelings of wanting to hurt back with the "silent treatment." This one really gets them. I'll just ignore them and let them feel bad for what they have done. Let them sweat for days about it. Trouble with that is you don't know if that hurst enough.

Maybe next comes the option of gossip and let others in on the pain. After all if I'm hurt bad enough, others need to comfort me and especially those who feel similar to how I feel about things.

No matter what the reaction it seems like we wait till the last option to do what the Lord has called us to do. It's easy to do all the wrong things, but it takes a Christ follower to realize that Jesus said to "love your enemies" and to "do good to those who persecute and spitefully use you." God has called us in a world of evil to come out and be separate based upon Jesus being our Lord. It is one of those easy to understand concepts, but difficult to do at best. God help us to do and to be our best in Jesus name!!

A Moving Experience

2006-08-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

Well, after a long time away from the blog scene, I hope I'm back. It's still hard to tell at this point. I'm sitting in the living room watching The Eagles Farewell Tour 1 and looking at a room still full of boxes and clutter. Things are starting to take on somewhat of a shape, however.

We really feel blessed to be in our own home. I really appreciate your prayers. I feel God's hand in all this. Everything with the closing went off without so much as a bad sneeze. The sellers were very nice. The real estate agents got along well and we even walked away from closing with money back. How strange is that?

As for celebration, that's coming, but I just don't know when. Steve, you can provide the drinks and maybe we could coax Greg and Randy to fly out for a praise band gig and a BBQ.

I want to just say how much I appreciate the Creekside church family for the unbelievable way in which you showed up to help. We had about 25 people, 7 or 8 trucks and about 5 trailers. We moved a household of six in just 4 hours and barely two trips. Amazing!! Thanks to all of you.

Please pray for our family that we will settle into our new home and use it to God's glory.

We've Closed!

2006-08-22T23:27:00.000-05:00

Wow!! God is awesome!! We closed on our house today. It was one of the smoothest things I have ever been a part of. The sellers were great to get along with, the realtors got along great. It just went off without a hitch.

Now comes the real work. We will begin Thursday around noon preparing the house to move in. I hope that we can finish everything by Monday and move then.

Thanks for all of your prayers!!

House Closing Tomorrow

2006-08-21T22:48:00.000-05:00

We are so excited about August 22. We are to close on our new house at 2:00pm. Please pray that all goes well. This is a new experience for us. We've never bought our own house. I pray that it is a good experience for us. I'll let you all know how it goes!!

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

2006-08-15T21:57:00.000-05:00

Hey blogger friends. I usually don't just reprint someone else's material, especially when I don't know the author , but this really was impacting. I have read it before a long time ago, but it came to me in an email at a great time for encouragement. I really want to have this kind of resolve in my own life. It's called "The Fellowship of the Unashamed."

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit living in me. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my comparisons few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get his own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." Romans 1:16

Sweet Sixteen

2006-08-11T07:47:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is a big day in the Davis household. Danielle, our middle daughter, will celebrate her sixteenth birthday! Wow! It is so hard to believe.

Danielle was always a feisty little one. You could look at her toddler pictures and just see the feisty all over her beautiful face. She was one of those little kids that for some reason did not like clothes. She would be out of her clothes (including diaper) and toddle out to the front porch wearing nothing but a smile! Our neighbors, and best friends at the time, would call and say, "Hey, Danielle is standing in the door with no clothes on again!" Thank God she has stopped that now!

Danielle has always had the attitude that she could do whatever she puts her mind to. She has played softball, been on the school volley ball team, and participated in the band. On the softball team, she pitched and played middle infield. In band she plays clarinet during concert season and keyboards in the percussion section during marching season.

Danielle is a strong person. In early January of her sixth grade year she began having seizures. They came out of nowhere and for no apparent reason. She has never let that stop her from being active and continuing right on with her life. For that she is our rock of strength.

Unlike all of her friends, Danielle won't be able to get that precious driver's license that every sixteen year old wants. She has to be seizure-free for six months before she can get her them. She is even taking that with strength and faith. Pray for her that her resolve will continue. We have full faith that God will heal her of this one day. We must continue that faith. Thank God for Danielle being a part of our lives.

The Love of My Life!!

2006-08-01T23:24:00.000-05:00

By the time most of you read this it will be Ellen's birthday (August 2). It's the big 4-0! She is handling it much better than I did.

I am the most blessed man for having met Ellen. This November, Lord willing, we will have been married for 23 years. We met in the summer of 1983. I knew from the moment I saw her that I loved her. Before that time, I was skeptical about this "love at first sight" concept, but not afterwards.

We met in a cemetery at a church decoration day. My first words to her were, "I'm dying to know your name." I know that sounds like a goofy line, but I really meant it. I wanted to know who she was. We met that first Sunday in May and three months later I proposed and three months after that on November 4, 1983, we promised to be with one another for the rest of our lives.

In our wedding ceremony, one of the few things I remember about what brother Kretzer said was, "You may think you love one another today, but that love will grow more than you can imagine." Well, he was right. My love for her is much stronger and deeper than it ever was then.

She has blessed my life with four wonderful kids. She is truly my best friend. She knows things about me that no one else knows or ever will know. We share everything and still enjoy being with each other as much as we can possibly be.

Ellen is an "overcomer." She has overcome family struggles that many people have never had or if they have had them have ended up on skid row or with deep emotional scars. She has overcome physical problems having had to deal with thyroid disease. When we met, she was extremely shy and would hardly speak to people. She has certainly overcome that.

Ellen is one of the first people my age who I met in my life who had real faith. She had convictions and was not about to compromise for any reason. She was full of faith from the day we found each other and is the real reason I am where I am today in faith to God. She's never given up on me--not one time and that says a lot about her character and patience.

Thanks for letting me write about the love of my life. I pray that God will allow me to grow old with her as we watch the stories of our children's lives unfold.

Contract Signed!!

2006-07-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

We are so excited. The family came back with a counter offer on the house that was acceptable. We are now under contract on our new house. I thought I would include a picture of it. I guess the word is excited. Here are a few more words: scared, humbled, in awe, nervous, and I guess I could sit and think of more emotions.

Three weeks ago we were cruising along renting a great house with not even a concern or thought of moving. In fact we would make statements like, "To move would just be a nightmare" or we would hear of someone having to move and think out loud, "Man, I'm glad that's not us." Doesn't God have a sense of humor.

Actually, I don't feel that He is playing with us at all. I don't think He works that was. Don't get me wrong, I do think He has a sense of humor--He created Greg and Randy! Ha! I couldn't resist that one. But seriously, God has purpose in our lives. I feel this to be more of a leading than a playing. That's how I've viewed this since it happened. When I say that, I'm not trying to be some kind of spiritual giant. I just know that God said He would not leave us. I believe Him. Even if the loan don't go through and we have to continue to look, I feel His presence with us. We must do that I think.

You guys in my church family and blog family and family family have just been great through all of this. Not only do I believe in God, but I believe in the strength of family more as we continue through this.

I am learning the power of faith. It is definitely tested in something like this. I am preaching Sunday on the story of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice to God. In the story, there are many interesting things, but the most interesting thing about it to me is the statement that Abraham said to his servants as he and Isaac continued to the mountain. He said, "You stay here while we go and worship and WE will return to you later." Did you hear that? "WE" will return. He knew beyond any doubt. He trusted God before the event. WOW!

Please continue to pray as we have more hurdles to jump before the process is done. Thanks to you all for your love and concern.

Made An Offer On House

2006-07-20T15:12:00.000-05:00

Hello my blog prayer warriors. We made an offer on a house today. I am asking you all to continue to pray that this be the one if God is willing. It is about four houses from our church building. It is great in size for our family. I will send you a picture if the contract is signed. Please pray the owners will be amenable to our offer.

When we walked in it just felt right. The layout, the size, the location were all perfect. Keep praying!!

Thanks to you all for praying for our faith. God is awesome!

Faith Battle!

2006-07-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

What in the world does this verse mean? (Matthew 18:19 NCV) ""Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."

It is in the context of settling disputes, conflicts, or disagreements. I have heard people lately say that it means if you and I agree in faith on any particular subject or desire it will happen. Can that be true?

I need some help here. Faith is believing in things we can't see or can only hope for. Hebrews 11 talks of it as though it were a "done deal." Explain that to a 15 year old when she asks, "What good is faith when you pray and God doesn't answer your prayers?" Danielle had a few short seizures tonight and again is battling this age old debate about faith.

My wish is that these things stop. Will you agree with me in faith that they will? Will you trust God with me strong enough that our faith will sink strongly into her mind? More than anything I want her to have faith in God.

Sunday I'm talking about Abraham and Isaac. What faith! How can this man offer his son? The only explanation is that he must have believed that God would take care of him even through resurrection if so be.

So many faith issues. So much to wonder about. So little I know when I think I have a handle on faith. Help me here. I need all of you to be in prayer for Danielle and for us as we try and hold her up in the face of this trial.

Thanks for letting me talk about it. God bless you all.

SIDE NOTE: Keep praying about our housing situation. We are still looking. We are somewhat pressed for time, but have a few prospects.

Big Blow

2006-07-17T08:21:00.000-05:00

It's the renter's nightmare! Yesterday after my blog about how great things went at Creekside, my landlord called and informed me that she needs to move back into her house. She and her husband have apparently been having problems and are splitting up. That is a sad event in and of itself.

For my family it is truly a sad event. We have to move. She would like for us to be out by August 30. I just don't know about that. Seems awful sudden to me. The whole thing seems like some kind of dream, but it's true. I even pinched Ellen yesterday to make sure it was real.

So, here's what I need from my blog family. Please begin to pray. Here are some specifics. We would like to stay in this school system. Our kids have been here for nearly their whole life. Britney and Brandon have been in this system their whole life. We also need a house big enough for the "Brady Bunch." We would like to rent if possible because in four or five years, we would like to move back to Florence to be closer to the majority of our church family. Either that or try and buy a "fixer-upper" and try and make money on a house.

I know this sounds like a "wish-list," but Jesus said, "ask anything in my name." God has never let us down on His promise to provide for us. I have all the confidence in Him to continue to do the same.

Just a side note, but an important one. It is interesting that I have been preaching for the past three weeks on "Living By Faith." God help me and my family to practice what I preach.

Great Day With Our Family!

2006-07-16T13:33:00.000-05:00

I had to write and let all of you know what a great day we had at Creekside. The worship time was uplifting and we all enjoyed being together in the Lord. Truly we had great FAMILY time.

We were blessed with many guests. There were friends from way back--the Mauldins. The Richards were there. They had visited with us a long time ago. Steve Puckett, our blog pal, was there too. I had never met Steve except through the internet. He's not half as bad as Cecil said he was:). Then we had Jessica and Danielle Debellow, two young ladies who came to know the Lord at Creekside a couple of years ago. They have lived away from us for some time now. Danielle is moving back, however, and I hope we get to see her more now.

Many of you reading this don't know most of these people I mentioned by name, but it does not matter. You have the Lord Jesus in common and therefore are family. Praise God for family.

The Answer To Leaving My Family

2006-07-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

1. Work it out: (Matthew 18:15-20 NCV) ""If your fellow believer sins against you, go and tell him in private what he did wrong. If he listens to you, you have helped that person to be your brother or sister again. {16} But if he refuses to listen, go to him again and take one or two other people with you. 'Every case may be proved by two or three witnesses.' {17} If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him like a person who does not believe in God or like a tax collector. {18} "I tell you the truth, the things you don't allow on earth will be the things God does not allow. And the things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows. {19} "Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. {20} This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.""

2. Love God first: (Mark 12:33 NCV) "One must love God with all his heart, all his mind, and all his strength."

3. Love others more than self: (Mark 12:33 NCV) "...And one must love his neighbor as he loves himself."

4. Understand that relationships are more important than worship: (Mark 12:33) "These commands are more important than all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God.""

These verses are words from God. All of faith that exists is a reaction to a word from God. We either believe it or not. Maybe you can think of other scriptures that show why I am so concerned for the hearts of my family who treat the family as if it were unimportant.

Jesus said (John 17:21 NCV) "Father, I pray that they can be one. As you are in me and I am in you, I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me." Before you beat me up over the fact that Christians can be one and still be in different buildings, I understand that statement, but consider in your area why those people meet in different places. I wonder how happy God is with our division.

I think it's time that Christ-followers everywhere unite. No, not necessarily in buildings, but in spirit. Will we ever be "The church at Florence" or "the church in Nashville" or fill in the blank with your city's name. That's how it existed in the New Testament. They were united in Jesus while meeting in all kinds of venues: homes, synagogues, marketplace, etc.

May God help us to be the "ONE" that Jesus prayed in some of His last utterances on this earth.

I Think I'll Leave My Family

2006-07-11T13:48:00.000-05:00

From the outset of the Bible God has deemed it so that "it is not good that man should be alone." Over and over again in scripture, we see God placing an emphasis on us being together both with Him and with fellow humans.

Marriages, friendships, church families, earthly families, work companions, recreational companionships, and I could probably think of more if I continued to try.

Even when Jesus left this world after His resurrection, he said the following to His disciples (of whom we are), (John 14:16-18 NCV) "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever-- {17} the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he lives with you and he will be in you. {18} "I will not leave you all alone like orphans; I will come back to you." INCREDIBLE!! Jesus knew that we cannot stand to be alone.

Did you know that one of the greatest struggles in our world right now is loneliness? People all around us are lonely--even in God's family. How sad that is. There could be volumes of blogs written on the causes, but that's not why I make this point.

I make this point because I'm just a little upset--NO A LOT UPSET! Now before I go any further, realize that I am not lashing out at any one person or even a set of people, but a mindset that exists in our area of this planet. I am talking about people who would give up their church family to run across town to another one that "fits my need!"

This is such a problem in our area and the problem exists across denominational lines. Brother A gets angry at sister B and decides that "God has called him" to another place to be--or brother A doesn't like preacher B's sermon illustrations so he decides to leave. Maybe the church isn't singing the kind of songs that I like or had the kind of chairs I like or maybe something more serious than that like the color carpet or the way we pass the Lord's supper trays around.

It is such a problem in our area because of many reasons. 1. There are too many choices for "church." We believe more in division that multiplication or addition. 2. The leadership never challenges the "why" of someone arriving in their churches. I believe very strongly that we need more often to make sure that people have left a family taking care of business rather than just jumping ship. 3. People have lost the real reason we are here. We are to glorify God and save souls through Jesus--NOT GET MY NEEDS MET.

The real sadness is that we are so willing to leave our family. That's what church is--FAMILY. If one of my children came home one night and said, "Dad, I just don't think my needs are being met, I'm gonna go over to Johnny's house and try living with them for a while." I would be crazy to say, "well, just don't let the door hit you in the but on the way out." We would want to stay together and try and work things out. My family is too important to me! Church family ought to be just as important.

With all the loneliness in the world, it's so sad to me that people want to leave their church families over such small things.

Maybe in the next blog I can deal with the answer to this problem. Just let me vent here and maybe you guys and gals can help with some answers.

A Must Read From Paul Harvey

2006-07-03T18:20:00.000-05:00

I don't generally do this, but I'm giving my blog space away this day to Paul Harvey. I hope he don't mind and I hope you don't mind. I was sitting in the drive thru on Saturday at noon and heard this broadcast from Paul Harvey and thought it was worth typing and sharing it with my blog family. It's a bit long, and if you'd rather hear it go to to www.paulharvey.com. It broadcasted on on July 1. Let me know what you think.

In our nation’s Declaration of Independence, have you noticed that there is a significant declaration of "dependence" also? Because one without the other won’t work. So our text for today is taken from the next to last sentences in our Nation’s Declaration of Independence. Understand that I am no preacher, the pulpit is a responsibility infinitely higher than anything to which I would aspire, but I am an historian and inevitably our professions overlap.

Our nation’s 4th of July celebrations have tended to focus on the word "freedom." And yet even as our nation’s founders offered their lives and their fortunes to win for our fledgling nation freedom from British rule, in that same document, they sought the blessing and guidance of the Almighty. They appealed "to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our institutions." Rectitude–that’s God’s standard of integrity and honesty.

Our founders proclaim themselves free to do whatever they want? No hardly. No they proclaimed themselves free to do what they ought. There’s a distinct difference. They prayed, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth." They bound themselves to God’s will. That’s when, in an instant as historical time is measured, our little 6% of this planet’s population began to accumulate more than half of this world’s good things–collecting on God’s written promise that believing on certain things and behaving ourselves all else would be added, and so it was.
It was only recent generations of Americans mouthing platitudes about freedom that obscured the very meaning of America. And now all over the bleak, black, bloody front page it’s apparent that self-government without self-discipline won’t work. And you can say that another way that capitalism without God is no better than communism. The Third Reich was a classic example of capitalism without God. The land which had produced Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, ended up producing Auschwitz and Dachau and Buchenwald. Self-government without self-discipline won’t work.

And today once free Americans have to be searched before boarding an airliner, not because there is a dictator in Washington, but because there are a handful of irresponsible ingrates running around loose. Because some who are free don’t deserve to be–none of can be. Again, not because there is tyranny in government, but because there is anarchy in the un-buttoned brains of a handful of looney-birds. And it’s down that road of thumbing our noses at rightness and wrongness–it’s down that road that whole nations go from regulation, to regimentation, then to tyranny. Self-government without self-discipline won’t work.

Much more important than our nation’s declaration of independence from foreign domination is our declaration of dependence on divine providence and sacred honor. You ignore the guidance system that was built into our republic, and we are like any unguided missile–inevitably destined to self-destruct.

Turn The Page

2006-06-28T00:41:00.000-05:00

Tonight is another page turned in our family life. This particular chapter began when my son turned 3 years old. That was his age when he began to play "Dixie" baseball. Dixie Youth Baseball is just the south eastern United States' version of Little League. We grew up playing this particular brand of baseball as kids ourselves. Brandon began with Tee Ball and tonight, at least for our area, he "aged out" by playing in his last All Star game as a Dixie Boy's Major Leaguer. We actually had a terrible tournament. We played only two games in a double elimination tournament. In two games (fourteen innings) we only scored only 1 run. You don't win when you don't hit the ball.

All of that is really a moot point to what I am feeling. Tonight will be that last time I will step on the field with my son as a part of his coaching staff. I pray that he makes the school team next year and still gets to play, but who knows in a highly political city? Whether he does or not doesn't change the fact that I will not be his coach ever again. I guess that sounds pretty silly to some, but it is really strange for me.

As I stepped onto the field it was really weird thinking about all of those boys that we have watched grow up. So many of them have matured into fine young men. We all like to think that we have had a part in their lives and added a positive influence. Only God knows what He holds for their future. Tonight as the anthem was being sung, I prayed that He would let the boys know that all of the instructions we gave them whether concerning baseball and about life was for their good. Kids have a hard time understanding that sometimes.

I will really miss standing at third and giving signs. I will miss being in on the strategy of the plays. I will miss calling pitches, teaching hitting, pitching, and catching. I will miss throwing batting practice. But, most of all I will miss being out there with my son. Time spent. Teaching about life. Having fun. Making plays. Simply being together. Oh, I know we will spend time together in more special ways. I hope that our relationship continues to grow. I pray for many more times in another chapter of life to spend with not only my son, but my girls also. Please pray for me--this is rough.

Kind of a cool thing that you might want to see is something I found last year on the Dixie Baseball home page. It is a picture of my son from the World Series two years ago. Click Here to see it. He is the cute freckled faced boy on the right.

Out Of The Mouth Of Babes

2006-06-24T00:07:00.000-05:00

How many times in my life are my children going to teach me instead of the other way around? It is strange, but true that so much wisdom comes out of the mouth of babes. Tonight it happened to me again.

OK, I am going to try and make this as concise as possible. I have to tell two stories for this to make sense. Also, please excuse yet another baseball story and an "I'm-proud-of-my-son-story."

Last week during our all-star practice my son Brandon accidentally hit one of our players in the head with the ball. It was thrown from second base to third. The young man wasn't paying attention and the ball hit him about an inch above the left ear.

Making a long ordeal short, the young man had a short seizure, a cracked skull, and was med-flighted to Birmingham for treatment. He could not speak for a couple of days and still is slow of speech. He cannot play for the rest of this year in any sport. Brandon was scared, upset, and blamed himself. The father of this young man was a great help to Brandon by telling him that it could have happened to anyone on the team and to not worry about it. The young man is going to be fine. He will be at the games and for that we are thankful. That's story number one.

Story number two is about my son being placed number nine in the batting order. This has never happened to him before. I am the third place coach and therefore am not in on many decisions. When I heard about Brandon's place in the order, I went in to "protective dad mode."

I just knew that Brandon would be devastated. I was thinking about how I was going to defend him. I wanted to come apart over this until tonight. After practice, I asked Brandon about it. I asked, "Well, how do you feel about batting ninth?" I never expected what he said. That shows how much I underestimate his maturity. He said, "I'm just glad I'm playing. Look at Quenton (the boy he hit in the head with the ball), he would love to just be able to play, but he can't."

WOW!! Did he ever put me in my place! I was brushing back tears when I told him how proud I was of his attitude. Why can't I see that he is OK most of the time when I get so bent out of shape? I pray that my thought patterns can become more in line with that childlike spirit God wants us to have. We need to take things like this more in stride as parents. Thank you God for my children who teach me so much about life!!

Special Thanks!!

2006-06-19T23:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much to you my blog family. I appreciate being able to talk each day about my dad and have people sit in on the conversation. Thanks for all of your comments and thought about him.

Sunday at Creekside went well. I opened up the floor for people to comment about how they felt about their fathers. I also asked for comments from dads about fatherhood and the honor that God has even us as dads. I wish you could have been there. Lots of special words were uttered and even a few tears shed.

I miss my dad and wish he could have been here, but I know that can't happen. I do know this--because of Jesus and His resurrection, I will see him again one day. Isn't hope a great thing? What would we do without the confidence we have in Jesus and His promises?

I leave you with a passage. It is a passage of encouragement. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NCV) "Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those Christians who have died so you will not be sad, as others who have no hope. {14} We believe that Jesus died and that he rose again. So, because of him, God will raise with Jesus those who have died. {15} What we tell you now is the Lord's own message. We who are living when the Lord comes again will not go before those who have already died. {16} The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And those who have died believing in Christ will rise first. {17} After that, we who are still alive will be gathered up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And we will be with the Lord forever. {18} So encourage each other with these words."

My Dad Part 5 "The Overcomer"

2006-06-15T21:54:00.000-05:00

As I said in a former blog, my dad was far from perfect. So tonight I want to write about my dad the "overcomer." My dad grew up in a rural part of our town in a poor family. His mother actually birthed 13 children though two of them died at birth.

Dad used to tell of Christmas time. At his house to get a cap pistol and some fruit was a huge Christmas. Of course they really didn't know they were poor because all of the kids at his school and those in the area around their house were all in the same boat. I tell you this because it is one aspect of his overcoming. He became very successful as a builder through that kind of raising.

Dad also overcame some things that I know he would not be proud of having done, yet through God's help, he overcame them. Through my teen years dad went through hard times. I think I alluded to the fact that work was hard to come by as a builder. During this time in his life, he became a heavy drinker. I remember some pretty hard nights with him and mom doing lots of screaming. I could tell you some really tough details, but I'll spare you and me of those. Suffice it to say that mom searched the scriptures to try and find a way to "scripturally" divorce him. I guess that is the one thing I owe to conservative thinking. She could not find a reason and they stayed together and weathered the storm. Dad later gave up drinking on his own and later than that gave his life back to God. He served some years as a deacon in the church.

The truth is, I can safely say that through all of that I never doubted his love for us. That's the great thing about family. Forgiveness and healing should be automatic. Because of that I can say that I am very proud of my father. He overcame so many things to be a great giver of love to everyone with whom he came in contact.

My Dad Part 4 "The Builder"

2006-06-14T22:56:00.000-05:00

Probably one of the most beautiful things about dad was his ability to build. If you could imagine it, my dad could build it. He was a builder all of his life. He started with his dad in the shop in his teen years. He taught me a lot about the trade, but my brother took it on as a trade. He works in Georgia and runs a shop building fire place mantels and book shelves.

The pictures you see in this blog are all from the hands of my father. What a gift from God! The house pictured is where he lived before he died and he built it. The cabinets you see are in that house.

Dad was a slow worker, but when he finished it was a true work of art. Sometimes people would complain to me about him taking so long. I would tell them. "Yes, he is slow, but when you get your cabinets you will know why." Nearly without fail, they would always come back to me and tell me that I was right. He was truly a master craftsman.

My Dad Part 3 "Leader of the Band"

2006-06-13T23:11:00.000-05:00

As I continue to write about dad, I have to say something about music. Tonight the band I play in (Showdown) had practice. We are getting ready for our patriotic show the first Saturday of July. It was one of dad's favorites. He especially loved Merle Haggard's "Fightin' Side of Me" and a song called "Letters From Home." We practiced both of those songs tonight and a flood of memories came to me.

I remember as a boy growing up at home listening to dad learn songs for his band. They were called, "Richard Davis and the Country Classics." They played in our local area at places that would be considered as "family friendly" venues. They even won some area competitions and produced a record in one of the local studios.

Dad was the leader of the band, played rhythm guitar, and was the lead singer. He could really sing well. Who would have ever thought that I would be playing in a band and doing some of the same stuff he did back then.

I love the song "Leader of the Band" by Dan Fogelberg. The chorus of the song says, "The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old, but his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul. My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man. I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band." I kind of feel that way about myself. I don't think I could ever be the man he was in so many ways. I can only make a poor attempt.

Don't misunderstand, my dad was not perfect by any stretch. He was a real person with real hang-ups and downfalls like the rest of us. I am just proud to have been a part of his life and am certainly proud to be a lover of music like he was.

Thanks dad for giving me the gift of music and for all the times you encouraged me to use the talents God has given me.

My Dad Part 2 "Unselfish Generosity"

2006-06-12T22:54:00.000-05:00

One of the greatest aspects of my dad was his generosity. I have known no other person in the world so generous. Even in small things my dad was extremely unselfish.

Whenever we would be eating supper and the last roll (or last anything for that matter) was left in the plate, he would never eat it and sometimes would drive you crazy trying to give it to you. When Tabitha started driving, he would give her gas money sort of under the table. I don't know if he ever knew that I knew he was doing that.

When I was a teenager, I wanted a set of drums. Dad was a cabinet maker and during my teen years money was very hard to come by for anyone who built things for a living. Dad made a deal with a man to build a set of cabinets and trade them for a set of drums. They were vintage Rogers drums and at the time were collectors items (though I didn't know that). I wished I still had them. Dad did the same thing for my first car. He was amazing!

I always wondered how my parents struggled yet had plenty for my brother and me. That had to be a gift from God. I believe that people who are unselfish always have a bucket full of blessings for others. That was my father. He was a bucket full of blessings to everyone he came in contact with. I believe that the scriptures still say, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Dad was proof of that.

My Dad Part 1

2006-06-11T23:25:00.000-05:00

This is the beginning of the week before Father's Day. This is the first year time in my life that I have to think about Father's Day without my dad in this world. It is still so hard to believe that he is gone. I dreamed about him last night. It seems that he has been heavy on my mind lately.

I don't want to spend this week in deep sadness. Although I don't believe that it would be wrong to be sad, and I know that I will be sad some this week, I want to remember some of the good times we had with him in this world.

My dad was an unassuming man. He was a quiet man who didn't say a lot, but everything he ever said meant something. When he would tell a story, we would many times wonder if he would ever get to the point, but that was just dad. There were many times mom would say, "Richard, I wish you would hurry up." Sometimes he would just give up and tell the rest of the story later.

Dad loved sports. He was a big Auburn fan, but I forgave him for that. As much as we seemed to pick at each other about that, it seems like such a small thing now. As a matter of fact, many things seem so much smaller now.

Some of my greatest memories of dad were at the baseball field. He coached us throughout our youth and was a very good strategist. He was tough, but always fair with all of the players. He was a great example to us all.

I hope to spend a couple of blogs this week in memory of my father. I sure do miss him.

For those of you whose fathers are still alive, please be sure to speak to them often and tell them how much they mean to you. My dad knew that I loved him, but I sure miss being able to tell him.

Youth Sports

2006-06-10T23:46:00.000-05:00

Once again I have seen controversy at the ball field. I'm so frustrated with it all so much that telling the whole story is becoming redundant.

In a nutshell, people don't follow the rules, get themselves in a pickle, I try and be merciful, get accused of making a farce of the game, dad wants to know girl's stats more than having fun, needle, needle, needle from opposite team's coaches, coaches won't even shake hands at the end of the game. Just your average night at the ball field any more.

If it weren't so sad, it would be laughable. I don't think I will ever coach again. I think I will let my kids play for someone else. So frustrating.

My wife and I lay awake the next morning after this "incident" just wondering out loud, "When did it stop being fun for the kids? When did it start being for the stats, the coaches, and the parents?"

I hope that someday I can make a difference in our area for the kids. Maybe this is as big a dream as my previous post.

I Have A Dream

2006-06-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

"Man your just dreaming now!" When do you usually hear that statement? It is usually made when someone says something that no one else believes will ever come true.

Dreaming is a fascinating thing that many people study and often come up with some strange ideas (Or at least strange to me) from those studies. Dreaming has been around I would guess as long as man has been here. We all dream. Not just dreams in the middle of the night that are just plain weird, but dreams for our future and plans that we want to see accomplished. We all dream of great things for our children. We dream big for ourselves.

I guess one of the most famous things ever said in the history of this nation had to do with a dream. It was delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. The following is an excerpt from the Martin Luther King Jr. Speech known to us as "I Have A Dream."

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."

We have seen in our lifetime that dream of equality come to pass. I know that we are not in a perfect world and that there are still problems, but this shows me that dreams really do come true.

It is with that preface that I want to share a dream I have had this heavy on my heart for a long time. It was sparked again by some things that happened at Pepperdine concerning a subject that Martin Luther King Jr. was enamored with---UNITY. At Pepperdine, I witnessed a Christian church preacher and a "Church of Christ" preacher speak in the same pulpit in a show of love in Jesus Christ like I have never witnessed.

Here's my dream. You guys who know my area well who read this may say, "Man you really are just dreaming," but here goes anyway. I am dreaming that one day all Christian believers can meet together in a show of unity in the Shoals area. I'm talking about a simple meeting on a regular basis, even if it is twice a year, to show that we can get along "IN THE NAME OF JESUS." For once we would be showing the world that which I think goes on more than we think. We need to do what our Lord prayed for in one of His last utterances on this earth. He said, (John 17:20-21 NCV) "I pray for these followers, but I am also praying for all those who will believe in me because of their teaching. {21} Father, I pray that they can be one. As you are in me and I am in you, I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me."

His point was that all could come together in Jesus name and that until that happened (notice the "then" in verse 21) and not until that happened would people believe that Jesus was sent from God. I know that coming together in a building was not necessarily the point. Nor was it His point that all believe the same thing doctrinally speaking. I am simply saying that until we are able to worship together and get along in the fact that Jesus is the reason for who we are, people in the world will not listen to the saving message we have about Jesus.

I have a dream. I dream that we can one day put aside our differences and eat at the same table of unity in Jesus. That our names come off our buildings and Jesus be put in their place. I dream that leaders will rise up amongst us that will take us into a world where Jesus is magnified, I am humbled before Him and the only claim that matters is the death, burial, and resurrection. I have a dream of an understanding be prominent that says, "the grace that I receive like all other Christ-followers is my only hope of salvation." I believe then and only then will people be the most open to the message of Jesus that they possibly can be. I pray that God allow me to see that happen in my lifetime and TO HIM BE THE GLORY FOR ALL GOOD DREAMS!!

Drive-Through Church

2006-06-04T21:55:00.000-05:00

Time is a commodity that many of us struggle with having enough of. It is crazy too because of all of the conveniences we have now. It should be that we have more time, but it's just not true.

We were talking about this today at Creekside and one guy suggested that we have a drive through church (of course he was kidding), but I know some people who would really like it.

The conversation started when we were talking about giving our contribution through an "ATM-like" machine. Just swipe your card, punch in an amount. As it deducted your money it would also count you present for the service. Someone said, "Yeah, we could have a two window drive through with a communion window followed by a window where you could pick up a CD with songs and a sermon on it."

As silly as this seems, it is exactly how many people treat coming together for worship. They see it as something to get through with so that they can get on with life.

Coming together is so much more. It is a time when the body of believers come together to focus their attention toward God in a show of community, love, and fellowship with one another.

Someone asked me a few weeks ago if I believed that a person had to go to church. My reply was, "Yes I have to go to church." I need to be together with my family for the glory it brings to God and the encouragement it brings to me and others. I love it at Creekside when sometimes an hour after our services people are still talking with one another. It shows a genuine care and concern.

So, what are some of your ideas for the "drive-through church?" Who knows what great ideas we might come up with?

Self-Control

2006-06-01T12:04:00.000-05:00

Last in the list of fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is a two word little phrase that plagues most people. It is the words, "self-control." So many of the fruits of the Spirit seem to be good things and somewhat easy to grasp in our lives. I mean who doesn't want love, joy, peace? Who is it that is not patient? Ok so there not all that easy. But self-control?!?!?!

How in the world could the Spirit ask of us to be self-controlled knowing our very nature is against that? That is exactly the crux of that passage. When we are lead by the Spirit, we are under His control. (Galatians 5:16 NCV) "So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want."

I don't think that God Himself expects very high marks for us on this, else Jesus died in vain and grace is pretty cheap. The fact is that when we are led by the Spirit, we are controlled by the Spirit and we are able to be more self controlled. Though Paul mentions in Romans 7 that he struggled in the flesh, he also noted that Jesus was the reason he had no condemnation. In Romans 8 he lets us see that it is the Spirit who lives in us that enables us to resist the flesh in which we find ourselves.

My prayer is that in every aspect of my life I can become more self-controlled. As soon as I typed that I realized I have a ball game tonight. Please pray for me.

Graduation Is Done!!

2006-05-27T23:08:00.000-05:00

They said it would be true, and it truly is. The time has passed by like a whirlwind and I cannot believe that my firstborn is taking her senior trip this week. Graduation for our Tabitha happened last night. As I type this, she is in Columbia, SC headed for the beach. This is the first time in her life to take a trip without any family for this length of distance and time. I feel as though a bird is flying from our nest.

As a parent, you wonder if all the years of talking, disciplining, and praying will "take." Tabitha is a good girl, but I also know the temptations of an evil society. I know that the adversary is lurking about her, but thanks be to God that, "greater is He that is in us that he that is in the world."

Thanks for your prayers for her and us as we begin a new chapter in her life with her. Thanks too for understanding me not blogging for the past little while. My life has been consumed with her graduation and the events leading up to last Friday night. For those of you in our Creekside family that read this and my family as well, I thank you for supporting her as you have. You will never know the gratitude in our hearts for you. Thanks to God in heaven for loving us in spite of our flaws and for placing us in families.

SIDENOTE: Sunday, May 28, would have been dad's 68th birthday. It will be a tough day for us, especially mom. Please keep her in your prayers.

Not So Classy

2006-05-18T22:38:00.000-05:00

In my last blog I wrote about the contestants on American Idol and how they acted very classy in their defeats and victories.

Tonight my baseball team played against a team with the exact opposite of classy in some of their parents. It is sad when you go to a baseball game in rec. league (or any league for that matter) and parents are "cussing" (that's southern for cursing) the league president, coaches on the other team are badgering our players, and coaches refusing to shake hands with kids after the game. It is sad enough to lose a game badly like we did. It's even worse when all of this unnecessary stuff has to happen.

What ever happened to baseball being fun? What happened to the concept of teaching kids proper attitudes? I was absolutely appalled tonight at the actions of adults.

When we coach youth league baseball, we are not just teaching the game, but we have many opportunities to teach about life. If you look you can even find times to teach spirituality and tonight provided the perfect opportunity. Please know that God is to receive all the glory for the following story, but it sure was a teachable moment.

We actually had two games tonight. We finished a tie game and then played a full game. We lost both games, but that's not the main story. After the first game, one of my kids (Josh), who had already been badgered by one of their coaches was going through the line to shake hands. When he got to this coach who was giving him a hard time, he removed his hand and did not shake. This coach (who happened to be the husband to the woman who cussed the director) told me that I needed to work on my kid's attitude. The audacity--him trying to tell me to work on Josh's attitude when he had been badgering this kid and his own wife had caused trouble. What hypocrite!! (Bless his heart).

As you might have guessed, he continued to harass Josh throughout the second game, which made Josh even more angry. It really affected his play. The inning before the game was over, I called all of my players together and told them that no matter the outcome, we were going to be a classy team and have the proper attitude. Josh's words were something like this, "I'm not shaking that son of a gun's hand." I doubt those were his real thoughts, but that's how he expressed it.

My words (God's words in me) to Josh were, "Wait a minute, you need to not let this man control you. You need to be the bigger person (hard for a 14 year old). " I even confessed that I would really like to slap him too, but we were a team and if one of us treated someone else badly, we were representing all of us. I asked Josh to shake the man's hand and build his character. Even if he did not want too, I asked him to do it because I know that it will be good for him.

I was so proud of Josh. As we went through the line after the second defeat he reached out to shake this coach's hand. Do you believe it? This guy took his hand away. So sad!! Josh exclaimed to me, "Did you see that!" I told him that I did, but that tonight he had shown me that he can be a bigger man than a grown up.

I hope that somehow he can understand the significance of that moment. God is awesome and I am so thankful to have been in that teachable moment.

I think that we need to pray for youth league sports that we can return it to the kids and stop the parents from messing it up.

Class Acts

2006-05-17T22:06:00.000-05:00

As I am typing this I am watching American Idol and the results show of the final three. Tonight decides who goes to the finals next week. I have really been impressed with the competition this year.

One thing I am really impressed with is the class acts that they have been. Of course we don't know how they are in private, but tonight I witnessed some class acts. They seem to love each other and have fun together. Taylor sang and danced along with Katherine and Elliot and seemed excited to include them in the number.

One of the things that is unique to this competition is the time they spend with one another. I think this to be the key. I think there is a spiritual significance. They have spent so much time that they have built what the scripture calls fellowship. They are are like a family.

I just thought that was worth blogging about.

My Woo Woo Is Growing Up!

2006-05-13T21:01:00.000-05:00

It is almost impossible to believe, but my oldest as I type this has been at her senior prom nearly an hour. Last night I scanned over one hundred pictures of her from birth to present. It was a great trip down memory lane. I sat at her last band concert and nearly every song she played in I wept. I just can't believe it. People said that it would get here before I knew it, and now I know how true that is. Life truly is a vapor that appears for a short time and then is gone.

To this day I still tuck her in every night and pray with her as I do my other three. She still hugs me in public. She is never ashamed to call me dad and hardly ever makes fun of me for my stupid jokes. She has uncertain thoughts about the future. She still wants to know what I think about things. She respects me and we have a wonderful relationship. What more could a dad ask for?

Two weeks from yesterday is her graduation day. She will begin a new chapter in her life. I look forward to what God has in store for her in her lifetime. I only hope that I live long enough to see that outcome.

The Word says, (Psalms 127:4-5 NCV) "Children who are born to a young man are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. {5} Happy is the man who has his bag full of arrows...." Thank you Father for my family!!

The Greatest Gift

2006-05-11T09:30:00.000-05:00

Mother's Day is this Sunday and as with any holiday in America, we have to start thinking of a gift for our moms (and wives who are moms). It's tough sometimes coming up with the best gift. I read a humorous story that many of you may have already heard, but here it goes anyway.

Three sons who left home, went out on their own and prospered? Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.

The first said, "I built a big house for our mother." The second said, "I sent her a Mercedes
with a driver." The third smiled and said,"I've got you both beat. You remember how mom enjoyed reading the Bible? And you know she can't see very well. I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. He's one of a kind. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse, and parrot recites it."

Soon thereafter, mom sent out her letters of thanks: "Milton," she wrote, "The house you built
is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house." "Gerald," she wrote to another, "I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home, so I rarely use the Mercedes. And the driver is so rude!" "Dearest Donald," she wrote to her third son, "You have the good sense to know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious!"

There are lots of great gifts we can give and receive. Gift giving is wonderful fun and builds relationships. It's a good thing.

I have receiveded many good gifts in my life and not just stuff either. I have been gifted with a great earthly family--wonderful wife and children. I have been gifted with a great church family at Creekside who loves me and lets me be me. I am surrounded with friends in the physical world and in the internet world through this blog.

I could go on and on, but the greatest gift I have ever received is one that our heavenly Father showed us through Jesus. It is the gift of forgiveness. Knowing my life the way God does and Him still forgive is incredible! Knowing me the way Ellen knows me and for her to still love me is a gift I cannot describe. My children know me so well, and still love me. That's forgiveness. It even stretches into my relationships with others outside my family--church, blog, friendships, and more. What more could a man want than to be forgiven. What a precious gift indeed I think it's the greatest gift of all!

Much Better Day

2006-05-07T23:37:00.000-05:00

Today is a much better day. Danielle is feeling better. Though she is scared, she seems to be past this particular episode of seizures. She doesn't want to go to school for fear of having another one, but she struggled with that the last time she had a major seizure. Please pray for her that she can have some understanding and that God will bless her with healing.

I found a song today by Casting Crowns that describes where we should be in our suffering. It's called "Praise You In This Storm."
I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen"and it's still raining
As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God
Who gives and takes away

Chorus:
I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You
As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God
Who gives and takes away

Chorus
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

Mixed Feelings--Mixed Up Faith!!

2006-05-07T00:05:00.000-05:00

Wow how things can turn on a dime. I had a great week at Pepperdine. The following at some one liners that probably only the people who were there will understand, but indulge me anyway.

I am the lone man in the granny club with three shots. I paid dearly with stomach pains shooting so many granny shots in PIG. I withstood relentless abuse for my southern draw. Yes we do turn one syllable words into two. I can't help it if people can't talk properly. I saw the whole world from the "rock." I was the true tourist of the week. Cameras in hand, I got moving and still photos of lots of stuff. There was lots more, but all that I can think of with the jet lag and the bad stuff on my mind that happened when I returned home.

This morning (May 6) Danielle woke up having one absance seizure after another. She then had her first grand mall seizure in four years. It was like turning a great week into a nightmare. Thanks be to God that she came out of it this afternoon and is at home doing well. She is angry. She is sad. She is asking questions that we all ask if we were just honest enough to admit it. She wants to know why God has not stopped these things. She is wondering why church is so important if God is not listening. Tough questions to deal with as a dad and mom. You know why? Because I have some of the same feelings. Why not take them away? What good could possibly come from this?

I had a friend tonight ask me, "Why don't you stop asking God to remove them and start asking Him to help you understand what it is that He has in store?" The initial response to that question might be, "forget you man, you don't know what we are going through!" But then again, he may be right. I just don't know.

Please pray for my daughter and us that we can get some kind of understanding here. I am so thankful that we don't have to go through everyday with the same stuff of today. I am thankful that she don't have this everyday like some other children. It still hurts deeply to see your own child get to the point where she does not know you.

Please just pray for us.

Pepperdine So Far!!

2006-05-03T15:05:00.000-05:00

Today was awesome at Pepperdine. Heard a great lesson from Rick Atchley and Bob Russell. It was a great show of unity between the a capella churches and the Christian church. I was moved at many things that was said, but one of the most important things I heard was, "I am not responsible for my ancestor's mistakes, but I am responsible for my descendants." We may not ever be able to dismiss the past, but we can work toward the future to help bring about unity in the only thing that matters--JESUS.

I am enjoying being with all the guys here. Greg, Randy, Cecil, Chuck, and John are great fun to be with. I met a young man named Keith who is inspirational to talk to. He is really allowing the Lord to lead him.

Funny stuff: We watched with video in hand at a sea gull perched directly over a table of lunch sandwiches. We waited with anticipation thinking he might "drop" down on the food. We were all disappointed as he just flew away. There went ten thousand dollars.

The skies are still overcast and I'm still waiting on the view promised. Pray that the clouds will go away. Nevertheless, it is still a beautiful place to be.

First Plane Ride, WOW!!

2006-04-29T09:08:00.000-05:00

So many people told me that flying was not all that bad. They were right. My first plane flight was spectacular. I've included pictures. I felt like such a tourist, but I just could not help myself. Got lot's of video too. I think they need to make those windows a little bigger. There's just too much to see and not enough window.

My trip to Long Beach has gotten off to a great start. Greg and Randy met me at the airport. We drove to Long Beach and ate at a burger joint. Janice came over and added grace and beauty to our time together. Greg and Randy are as hard on each other in the real world as they are in the blog world. It's amazing what you can learn in a twenty five minute ride with those guys. Just pure scholarship and no riff raff. Ha!!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my week here in CA. Pray for our safety and that the Lord will be glorified in what we do here Sunday and the week at Pepperdine.

The Unknown

2006-04-25T23:12:00.000-05:00

Within the word faith is the concept of the unknown. Faith is believing in something that can't be seen. It is understanding that the unknown is really known in our hearts.

Lately life has been stressful in a lot of ways. I don't know how to put my finger on it, but so many things around me that just a few months ago were so stable seem to not be so. It seemed to all begin when dad died back in January and really before that through his last month of life. It was a faith roller coaster. He suffered so badly while we were praying that the suffering stop with healing. I am still looking for what possibly God could have had in mind for us through that tremendous storm.

My daughter fell at the church building and really hurt her ankle. Ellen has something wrong with her foot and my son's elbow is sore after pitching only two innings yesterday. My oldest has gone to work and we miss the time we once had together. Our church family has some struggles right now as well.

Sounds a lot like complaining, but it's really not. I am proclaiming a belief that in the unknown in all of this, God is in the midst working together something awesome for our good. I can't wait to see what He has in store for us. Please pray that we can see the light in this time. I too ask for you to pray that this trip to CA is a good thing for this time in my life.

Finally A Game We All Can Play!!

2006-04-24T12:21:00.000-05:00

I thought you all would enjoy a great new parody I found. I love a good parody. Click Here for a game that we all can now play.

Keith Lancaster sent this to one of our shepherds who is also our worship leader. I will go ahead and apologize to anyone who see this and is offended. Remember though, laughter is good for the soul, even if it is at yourself.

Camping Trip!!

2006-04-18T15:09:00.000-05:00

As my last blog indicated, we've finally got mom moved. That occurred last week. This week is spring break for my kids. They had what they considered a brilliant idea. "Let's go camping!!" I thought, "What an idea. After moving mom, they want to 'move' to the woods and sleep in a tent with no air conditioning. GREAT!!" Me being the dad I am, ha ha, I said, "Sure, what a great idea!!" Whew! We got back today."

You may be expecting a story about the camping trip from hell, but you won't get that from me. As tired as I was, it was an awesome time. The weather was perfect. The kids had a blast. And we created memories that will last a lifetime.

We saw wildlife (snake!). That's a story to be reserved for a later blog. It was so funny! We had great devo times together. Ellen had all the kids come up with their own devotional thought. They did fantastic. We rode bicycles, played wiffle ball, and even played on the swings like a bunch of grade school kids. Of course there was a camp fire each evening along with smores the last night together.

I was reminded once again, that sometimes things you dread can really turn out to be a blessing. This was a true blessing for me. Thanks to my kids for an absolutely brilliant idea. Thanks to Ellen for putting it all together. And thank God for the greatest kids and wife a guy could ever dream to have in his life.

Mom is Moved!

2006-04-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

Beginning January 8th and really weeks before that, our lives have changed in a permanent sort of way. As you all know, my dad died January 8th. Since then, life has been a whirlwind. As you can tell, my blogs are few and far between.

Mom sold her house and has been working toward moving into our old home place (now my grandmother's house). My grandmother is in the nursing home and so mom is moving back. It is a big step down in size for her space, and she hasn't gotten rid of enough stuff yet. Look out Florence, AL for the biggest yard sale in your history!

Praise the Lord though, we got her moved today. She will have lots of work unpacking, so pray for her. Pray too that life can get back to some kind of normal, whatever that is.

I am looking forward to Pepperdine (other than the flight) and spending time with all of you who are going.

Continuing the Baseball Theme

2006-04-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

I found this list on the net and thought it was so funny--but true and sad all at the same time. Just wanted to share it.

The Top 10 Reasons Why The Average Christian Can’t Play Baseball
10. Doesn’t practice all week, but expects to start on game day.
9. Gets upset when every ball that’s hit doesn’t come directly to him.
8. Never swings at a pitch because, “this pitcher doesn’t throw like the last pitcher. The game’s just not the same since he left.”
7. Wants to run home before going to first base.
6. Chatters in order to keep his own teammates from hitting the ball.
5. Doesn’t come to the game unless the coach personally calls him on the phone, each week, and invites him to show up.
4. Won’t run after the ball if it’s more than three feet away. After all, surely somebody will get it sooner or later.
3. Thinks baseball cleats are for leaving neat designs on his teammates backs.
2. Gets upset because the phone line to the bull pen doesn’t have call waiting. If it did, he could gripe about how bad the pitcher is doing, and yet never miss out if someone wanted to talk about the catcher.
1. Thinks the game will last so long, that the concession stand will be closed before it’s over.

Season Begins!!

2006-04-02T23:08:00.000-05:00

Well, the baseball season begins or our league tomorrow night. We are the Tar Hills. I hope it goes well. I have about 5 of 12 players that I feel confident that can hit and field the ball. Other than that, I have no clue.

Due to the weather, we have had only 3 practices on the field and one in the bating cage. From here it looks to be a mediocre season. I hope I am surprised. Pray for my little team. We will need all the divine help we can get.

I wonder if God cares about such things as baseball. Do you think so?

Close Call

2006-03-27T22:33:00.000-06:00

In baseball there are always lots of close calls, but tonight was a close call of a different kind. I was hitting infield to my team during practice. I turned my back to reach for another baseball. I heard my catcher say in a calm voice, "Look out." No sooner had I heard that when the baseball hit me about two inches from the elbow in the forearm. It hit so hard that it buckled my knees. I immediately went to the dugout almost passing out on the way. I also became nauseous almost immediately.

My daughter was there and drove me to the ER. They x-rayed the elbow and praise God it was not broken. Two inches north and it would have crushed my elbow. That is not a good thing for a drummer to have his right arm rendered immobile! Once I got my head together, the first thing I thought of was our show this Saturday night. The second thing I thought about was my trip to be with the Long Beach church and the Pepperdine lectures. Strange what goes through your mind in traumatic situations.

What I learned through this: 1. Never turn your back on 13-14 year olds with baseballs in their hands. 2. I learned that I need to teach my catcher how to say "heads up!" and to protect the coach at all times!!

The young man that through the ball was visibly upset about it. So before I left for the hospital I asked who threw he ball. No one said anything. I then told them that whoever it was, they had a great arm. I thought a little humor would allow him to be more calm about it. I called him from the hospital and he apologized over and over again. He is a good kid.

What's The World Coming To?

2006-03-24T20:54:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I learned of a tragic event in southern Tennessee. It was in the town of Selmer. A 31 year old minister, Matthew Winkler, grandson of the late Wendell Winkler was shot and killed in his home. He did not show up for the Wednesday midweek service. The elders went to the parsonage and found him shot in the back. His wife and three young children were not at home. He was the minister for the 4th Street Church of Christ. Well loved by the people. It was sad to say the least.

The story gets worse. Today, they found his wife and children in Orange Beach, Alabama. She has admitted to shooting him. I don't know this family at all, but my heart goes out to them. What a terrible thing that has happened.

What is this world coming to? What happens to a person who knows the love of Jesus and can do something like this? Who knows anything anymore?

Please pray for this family.

Coaches' Clinic

2006-03-22T08:16:00.000-06:00

The picture added to my blog is one of my favorites. I had to carry this little girl (10 years old) off the field after an injury. This was during the the Dixie Youth Girls 9-10 World Series in 2003. We won only one game in the series which was one more than anyone ever expected us to win. It was fun to be there.

I am coaching again this season in baseball. I will be coaching my sons team (possibly for the last time because of age) in the 13-14 Dixie Boys League. I hope to make it a fun year. No pressure. No yelling at umpires. No unruly parents. (Am I dreaming or what?)

Last night we had our annual coaches' clinic. They require coaches who are in Dixie softball and baseball to attend. You can imagine a bunch of "not-it-all" coaches being taught techniques of coaching. It reminded me a lot of being in a class full of students who "had" to be there, but really didn't think it was necessary. Lots of eyes rolling when instruction was given. Snickers when the instructor tried to say something funny. Just like a group of kids.

That may be one of the problems with youth sports. Coaches that think we know everything. I hope that we can humble ourselves and help the kids understand that the game is just that--a game. I hope to use this experience to help kids understand the Spirit of Jesus more through how I handle myself. Pray that I can do that.

He's Baaack!

2006-03-20T11:18:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm back at least for today. Thanks to all of you for the encouragement and allowing some time away.

Britney made the color guard!! She is so excited. This means three in band next year. I asked the band director if I could get a "Brady Bunch" discount on band fees. Ha!! I was just kidding with him, but he said, "Sure you will." Reminds me of the fact that the answer is always "no" if you don't ask.

The cabinets look great. My brother truly has the touch of the master's hand. To watch him work is just like watching daddy. The only kicker with the cabinets came when the lady we are doing them for said (after looking at them and agreeing that they look wonderful), "Hmmm, there's something missing. I think there needs to be another small cabinet there." So my brother is now figuring the cost for an additional cabinet. I could really tell his disappointment about not being through with the job, but, like dad, he agreed it would look better and agreed to build it.

It was emotional looking at the finished product that my dad had started and we had finished. There was the last thing in this world that he built--the last cabinet he ever stained--the last pieces of wood that he touched. It is strange how those kind of things mean so much to you when in life we take them for granted. I guess that is one of the greatest lessons I have learned in this time of grief over dad--that I should never take anything and especially anyone for granted in this life. I just never know when I'm going to lose the ones I love or they are going to lose me.

Thanks again to my blog family and the encouragement you give to me.

Blogging Funk!!

2006-03-12T22:34:00.000-06:00

Lately I have been in a BLOG-Funk! I don't know what it is. Part of it has been the business of life. It hasn't been a lack of things about which to write. I just don't know.

Well I'm trying to break free from it. I am writing tonight about things that have happened to me lately.

Brandon my son has made the high school drum line battery. Greg, you will like this--he made tenors. Those quads will come in handy for practice. The only problem with them is that there are only four drums. They use five now.

My daughter Tabitha has begun a new job at Sears in the shoe department. She is getting comfortable with the position now and beginning to make commission on her sales.

Danielle is still having a few seizures a week. So please be in prayer for her. We are continuing to petition God that He would heal her.

Britney is trying out for color guard this coming Thursday. Pray that she makes it. If she does, that will mean three kids in band this fall. WOW!

Please pray for Ellen. She is going through some physical problems that are causing her a lot of anxiety.

I am taking a week off to help finish the last set of cabinets my dad was working on when he passed away. We are due to set the cabinets this Friday. I hope that all goes well with it.

God bless you all!!

Praise God For All Good Blessings!!

2006-03-08T00:37:00.000-06:00

Ann's surgery went well. The chicken was removed and she should be going home today barring any complications. She will have to be careful from now on to chew better. She will be on soft foods for some time. Ellen and I thank you all for your prayers for her mother. May God bless you all.

Prayer Request

2006-03-06T22:54:00.000-06:00

Tonight my mother-in-law, Ann Springer, was eating supper and a piece of chicken got lodged in her throat. It is lodged just below her tongue. It became lodged in a tiny pocket that had developed in her esophagus. The doctor said that this happens more often than we might think.

They tried to remove the piece with endoscopy. The problem was the instruments were too large to remove the piece safely. She will have it removed tomorrow by an Ears, Nose And Throat Surgeon because the instruments he uses are microscopic. This is supposed to happen around lunch time.

Please pray that the surgery will go well. Ann has some complications medically that extend from a car accident that happened nearly 40 years ago. This makes the surgery a little more complicated. However, the doctor is optimistic that this is the best answer to her problem.

PRAY, PETITION, & TRUST

2006-03-02T22:06:00.000-06:00

In Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) Paul said, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. {7} If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Paul says in order to gain the peace in our lives we need, we need to do three things.

1. PRAY: He tells us to pray about everything. That's right everything. There is nothing about which God does not want us to talk. He is a caring Father and wants to hear what is on your heart. I believe this part of our prayer time ought to consist of praise and adoration to Him.

2. TELL GOD WHAT YOU NEED: We might say, "I thought that was what the first point was. Isn't that what prayer is?" This part of the prayer means to petition. It is following the first and foremost thing in our prayer life--ADORATION! Remember that God is big and no prayer too small that He does not care.

3. THANK HIM FOR ALL THAT HE HAS DONE: To me this is claiming the victory. This is the faith part of the relationship. It is claiming that God has already worked out the answer, we must just wait on Him. It is not being "thankful" for pain, but it is trusting His plan, whatever that will be.

We must understand that when all these things happen, the trust factor allows us to enjoy peace. It is a peace that goes beyond all sense. It is joy indescribable.

Say A Prayer of Praise

2006-02-27T23:39:00.000-06:00

Remember these pictures?

Ralph Thompson who was in this wreck is now in rehab in Muscle Shoals. He is recovering quite well. Say a prayer of thanks to God for this!

Just Thinking

2006-02-25T21:19:00.000-06:00

We had a good evening. We went to eat then to a birthday party at the church house for one of our good sisters. It's her fiftieth.

We then took my mom home and that's when the thinking started. It sure is tough leaving her in the big house alone. I know it must be hard for her to go home at night by herself. I know she must miss dad so much.

I miss him more than you can know. I miss his gentle spirit and the way he treated others--always better than himself. I miss playing the guitar at the kitchen table singing tenor over him singing what ever Merle Haggard song we could think of. I miss him giving. He was just that kind of man. He would give his kids and grandkids whatever they (we) needed. He was the most generous man I ever knew. I miss the smell of the cabinet shop when he would come in from work. I miss him in my Sunday morning Bible class sitting with mom. I just miss him guys. I get him on my mind and want so desperately to just talk to him. But that can't happen here. I believe by faith that it will one day happen again and that is the only thing that keeps me sane.

How I wish he could hear me now tell him how much I love him and want to be with him. Maybe somehow he can. I just don't know about such things.

Thanks for listening to my "thinkings." I love you all so much!!

The Bug That Wouldn't Fly

2006-02-23T18:50:00.000-06:00

Little creatures in the world amaze me. Even the scriptures talk about the ant and how resourceful he is.

Today I saw a little insect about the size of a gnat (why the put a "g" in front of that word I'll never know). Anyway, I reached up to smash the little guy with my mighty hand! He crawled away. I tried several times and finally he decided to stop. I knew I had him this time. I reached to hit him and he did something that surprised me--he flew away. Imagine that, he could fly. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I could get him, but he flew! Do you get the picture? No not the fact that a grown man is trying to kill this little insect, but the message I saw in it.

Aren't we just like that in our spiritual walk somtimes? Satan is continually trying to smash us and we try and crawl away all the while knowing that we have the ability to fly. Isaiah said, "But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind." Isaiah 40:31

Let's purpose in our hearts to never crawl again!

Winterfest, Awesome!

2006-02-20T08:34:00.000-06:00

We are back. Wow, what a fast weekend! I had forgotten how quickly weekend retreats fly by with a youth trip. Besides a flat tire on Sunday, which is a whole other blog story I may tell sometime, it was a smooth trip.

Being my first ever experience with Winterfest, I thought I would write down my positive thoughts and my disappointing thoughts for what it's worth, and a SPECIAL MEMORY.

Positives about Winterfest from my perspective:
1. Jeff Walling is always a great communicator of the good news of Jesus. He is always dramatic and I really like that kind of thing. I think it especially communicates well to teens.

2. Our group was small, but so well behaved. I love to see kids wrestle with spiritual things and these kinds of weekends cause that to happen. Be sure and read the end of this blog for a SPECIAL MEMORY concerning our group.

3. Tait was a great band. Their drummer was awesome. He did a solo that was worth the ticket to get in.

4. Bob Stromberg was wonderful. He is a really funny guy. Best hand puppets I have ever seen.

5. Lost and Found were hilarious. I love their dry humor.

6. I loved the stage set up and the way they held nothing back to create an atmosphere that was wonderful for communicating to teens.

7. It snowed, which for a southern boy is always a treat to see.

Negatives from my perspective:
1. I know it is hard to get good a capella singing in such a huge place, but I thought the singing left something to be desired, especially for 6500 people. Watershed Worship led the group, and really did a somewhat mediocre job. I have heard them before. They have even been at Creekside and did a super job. Remember that this is from my perspective. Several others commented that the singing was great. So there you go. I guess when you've been to Zoe Conference, your expectations are set pretty high.

2. The crowds. After about five minutes of being in that group of humanity, you begin to feel like cattle. it was a "moooooving" experience.

3. The costs of eating (and everything else) in a tourist town are astronomical.

4. Then there was the flat tire. I'll save that story for later on. It will be a good illustration for how satan works on us during a spiritual time in our life.

A SPECIAL MEMORY from Winterfest: We have in our congregation a lady who works with Safe Place. Safe Place, you may or may not know, is a home of protection for women and their kids who are living in dangerous abusive situations. One of the families that she is working with has six children and four of them have been coming to Creekside. I won't use their names in this blog, so as to keep anonymity (a big part of Safe Place for obvious reasons).

These two young men have been through more things that most of us have seen in a lifetime. Again, for fear of someone reading this who do not need to know, I won't go into details. The special memory is about their attitude and actions on this trip.

They were like little children in a candy store. They took nothing for granted and loved everything we did. Every time we did a devo, the youngest wanted to sing the "Turning Song." sometimes we tend to forget the excitement we once felt in worship. We don't clap like we used to. We don't smile as much, especially during songs we have heard a hundred times. They haven't heard anything a hundred times and they were so fresh.

Hear are a couple of comments they made to me and to the teens in our group. One of them told our teens, "You guys are my new best friends!" The other comment I remember was, after I asked him if he was having a good time, he said, "This is the greatest time I have had in my life!!"

With messy people come messy behavior. They were so excited that they tended to get on some of the teens' nerves. But after those comments, those teens that said that, realized what an impact this weekend had on these two young men. Realizing this, one of my daughters said that it made her feel bad for thinking that these kids were obnoxious.

I guess this is so special to me because rarely do we get to see fresh excitement for the Lord. Rarely are we blessed with such enthusiasm for singing and worship and just being together. It was a wonderful thing to see.

Leaving For Winterfest

2006-02-16T07:42:00.000-06:00

Just to let everyone know, we are heading to Winterfest in Gatlinburg, TN this weekend. We are leaving on Friday at 7:00am and will return Sunday night. This is the first time in a long time that Ellen and I have led a youth group on an event. It will seem like old times. We are looking forward to getting out of town for a couple of days as well. It has been a rough few weeks for our family in lots of ways. Things are looking up though.

I pray that this trip be a "fire up" for our group and a spiritual uplift to us all. I have never been to Winterfest. Jeff Walling is the keynote so I know what the speaking is going to be like. The worship will be led by Watershed Worship. Those guys are awesome! The Tate Band will perform Friday night. I have never heard them before.

It sounds like a great line up that will pump us up for Jesus! Pray for us for our safety and growth in Him.

I look forward to "seeing" you all in blogland on Sunday or Monday night. God bless every one of you!

Snow In Alabama

2006-02-12T08:05:00.000-06:00

It was beautiful falling down yesterday! Snow is something that we haven't seen in any significance in many years. The weather predictors will forcast it somtimes just to get everyone excited. I think they get a kickback from the grocery people because even if the sun is shining and it 60 degrees, if they say it's coming, people run out and buy their milk and bread (two items that if stranded they would be the first thing to ruin). The kids love it too because I have seen the schools shut down on the threat of 1 inch of snow. Those folks in the north just love to make fun of us I know. I guess it does look funny to them.

It was a treat though to watch the reaction of my four teens. They were like little children, running and playing in the stuff. They would run to the room and yell, "Dad, it's doing it again!"

Seeing them so excited about it reminded me again about how excited I need to be when I encounter God in any setting. How I long to worship Him! How I love to be free to be a kid again in His presence. I think it is that childlike spirit that Jesus was talking about when He said, "Except you become as a little child...." God help me to be a kid again in your presence. Help me to put all of the world's cares away as I step into your presence and show my childlike faith to you!

A Key To Strong Relationships

2006-02-10T07:41:00.000-06:00

Openness and honesty in a relationship has to be on or near the top of the list in order for their to be true relationship. Take Jesus and Peter for example. How many times did Peter blow it with his overstatements and his brash way of speaking? Even from Jesus' side of the relationship there was an openness with Peter that seemed at times to be harsh. Jesus told him on a couple of occasions, "Get behind me satan." That's pretty harsh and straight forward, yet the truth.

It would seem in a relationship like Jesus and Peter that there would be lots of hurt feelings and anger, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Some of the most intimate times recorded in the Bible between two people are with Jesus and Peter.

It seems that tension and struggle exist in all relationships. The ability to listen to our friends and family without becoming so angry we leave the relationship I think comes from the Spirit of God. How else can I explain the fact that when my wife or one of my shepherds or a good friend tells me something that I need to hear, though they know it will hurt me at the time, I can hear it even if it does hurt and still remain in a loving relationship with them?

I appreciate those who will be honest with me even if it hurts. That is a secure relationship. Just this morning, Ellen had to help me understand that my feelings were too harsh for a particular situation that happened between two of our children before school. She left to take the kids to school and though we had an encounter, I still remain in complete and unconditional love with her. That is the Spirit of God prevailing in a situation that if we did not haev God's Spirit in us could escalate into a major ordeal.

You see I believe that God had every right to just destroy us all, but His unconditional love would not allow it. He had ever right to leave us destitute and without any hope, but "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly." How awesome is that?!! He is our example for us to follow in unconditional love.

So today, find someone with whom you need to mend fences and mend. Life is too short and relationships like I am talking about too few for us to miss out on them in this world. Also, find someone with whom you have a relationship like I am talking about and tell them how much you appreciate them.

Sweet Release!!

2006-02-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

To "release" is a freedom that is so good. It is hard to understand sometimes that the world does not revolve around us. It doesn't matter what the circumstance. It doesn't matter the reason for pent up frustration or anger. It is sweet freedom to release it to God. 1 Peter tells us that we should cast all of our care on God because He cares for us. What a blessing!

The opposite feeling comes about when we hold on to a grudge or a feeling of hatred. We become sick and depressed. We feel trapped by our own emotions and are ultimately destroyed from the inside out.

It is interesting to me that no matter how we deal with our pain, we never do it alone. If I am happy and full of freedom in Christ, I make others feel the same. Of course, the opposite is true as well. Our feelings are so powerful that they affect others.

What should I learn from this? If my feelings affect others, I need to guard them with all my being. I need to make my words and actions sweet as honey so as to not upset the world around me. I must remember that those who will get hurt are the ones closest to me.

Unusual Sunday Blog

2006-02-05T07:34:00.000-06:00

It' unusual for me to blog on Sundays because it is a busy day for us. But today I am preaching on "The Dark Path of Bitterness" and I need your prayers about it.

I think I am getting over the situation about Brandon. Thanks for your prayers about it. It is still fresh on many people's minds though and they come to me and try to console me and it just brings the feelings up again.

Brandon is OK and that makes it so much better. I am glad to have kids who teach me. Thanks to Randy for the suggestion to let Brandon's voice be heard through this sermon today. He will definitely be a good illustration of "getting over it."

God bless you all!

Devastated

2006-02-02T13:56:00.000-06:00

The only word that I can think of to describe my feelings today and the feelings of our family is DEVASTATED!

For the past three days, we have spent time at the baseball field in tryouts for the middle school baseball team. Brandon worked really hard. Made all of his catches in the field except one. Has great speed. I did not get to see the batting last night, but one of the dads called me and said that Brandon hit the ball harder that he had ever seen him hit it. All of that being said--he did not make the team.

Since he was nine years old, Brandon has made and started on every All-Star team for which he has been eligible. All but one of those years(his first) he has been the starting short stop. Until last season, he went every season he ever played without striking out more than ten times in the whole season. Most of those seasons striking out less than five times IN THE ENTIRE SEASON!! He is known mostly for his glove. It is very rare for him to make errors.

I know what your thinking. "Here is a bragging dad who is hurt." I guess you would be right except for the many phone calls I received today by parents who cannot believe it. I have always said that I do not have to brag on him. His record and God given talent speak for themselves.

Now, with all that off my chest, I have told Brandon that he has two choices. He can lay down and quit and by doing that make the coaches believe that they were right OR he can get up, dust himself off, and go back next year and show them what they missed. I hope he will chose the latter.

Brandon is a good kid. His reaction to his grandmother who went and ate lunch with him today was, "Well, I guess God just wanted me to rest my arm." He is smart, athletic, and a Christian. I hope that he will learn from this disappointment and move on. Life is not sports and I know this too shall pass, but today it hurts.

Also, on an even more serious note, Danielle, her mom and I went to Birmingham to the doctor about her seizures. She is still having the absance seizures (staring spells that last for sometimes several seconds). Her doctor said that her physical exam was good. She has good reflexes and is not hampered by her seizures in that way. We praise God for that. She is, however having problems concentrating in school. The doctor thinks that she may be having too many of them to concentrate well. We are adjusting her medication. The doctor hopes that she will do better on this. Please implore God on her behalf and ask that He take these seizures away.

Please pray for Danielle and Brandon and all of us. God bless you all and thanks again for listening to my heart!

Mathematical

2006-01-31T10:02:00.000-06:00

I don't know about the theology of all this and some of you may have seen this before, but I thought it was worth blogging

What Equals 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been in situations where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 101%? What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

AND, look how far the love of God will take you

L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that: While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Love of God that will put you over the top!

You math guys can have a heyday with this one!!

Good News For Ralph Thompson

2006-01-30T14:31:00.000-06:00

Praise the Lord for every victory! Laura Thompson, you all know her as "anonymous," called today and also emailed the following good news about Ralph. You'll remember Ralph from the photos of his car a couple of blogs ago.

"Praise be to God! Ralph is off the ventilator!!! They took him off at 7:10 this morning (he's so precise) and he's talking a mile a minute!! He still has a long way to go, but he's crossed one of the two biggest hurdles!!

Please continue to pray for him and for our entire family. Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers...they're working!!!"

Thought all of you would be interested in knowing this. I'm not sure what the next biggest hurdle is, but maybe Laura will post and let us know. Thanks for your prayers.

Favorite Time of Year!!

2006-01-27T07:57:00.000-06:00

It is fast approaching my favorite time of year when it comes to sports. Every year around February and March and spring training for baseball begins it is exciting to me!

It is especially so this year. Beginning Monday my son Brandon will start a three day try-out for the middle school baseball team. It is the first year in the history of the school that they have had a baseball team for the middle schoolers.

Of course, as all doting fathers would say, "I think my son to be the best one trying out." Shouldn't it be that way really. I love to watch him play. I have coached him all but one season of his life and have watched him mature into a fine ball player. Did I say he was the greatest?

All doting aside, please pray for him that he do well and do his best. Many of the boys in our league have been getting private lessons and attending a local baseball training facility called Diamond Dreams. It is just too expensive for us. I told him last week, "Well son, we haven't been able to go to Diamond Dreams, so it's just you and me." He said that he liked that even better. Baseball has been one way the we have had a very close relationship and that is more important to me than winning any game. There are so many young kids that do not have that with their fathers and is probably one of the contributing factors to many problems kids have these days. To God be the glory for our relationship!

Please excuse me for putting up a picture of him from last year's Dixie Youth World Series for which we were the host team. This particular photo was taken by the local newspaper of him making the relay throw to first from short stop on a double play. It was one of four double plays they turned in the series. We came in second place behind Arkansas. It was an exciting series!

Prayer Request!

2006-01-24T13:19:00.000-06:00

The pictures you see on this blog are of the automobile driven by Ralph Thompson. Ralph is the father of Mark Thompson one of our dear brothers at Creekside. Mark's wife Laura is "anonymous" who comments on this blog from time to time.

Ralph is in the surgical trauma center in Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville, AL in very serious condition after this accident. He was broadsided by a Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck. Everyone in the truck was ok after the wreck. Ralph is 73 years old and has had a lung to collapse from this. He has multiple broken ribs as well and is on a ventilator. They are hoping to get him off of that as soon as possible. He is responding to family and knows where he is, but doesn't have any remembrance of the accident.

Please pray for Ralph and his family. Especially pray that he is able to be removed from the ventilator soon.

Rainy Night In Alabama

2006-01-22T21:59:00.000-06:00

It's a rainy night in Alabama. I know that's supposed to be "A Rainy Night In Georgia," but tonight it's Alabama. It has been raining for hours and we are under flash flood warnings. It seems that we get our rain in lumps. We have been in somewhat of a drought for sometime now--not a bad one, but just no a lot of rain.

When it rains like this I think about what it might have been like sitting in the Ark for Noah and his family. Can you imagine after so many years, hearing the first rain drops? Knowing that God's promise of a flood was really happening must have been a comfort to them. It was not so for those outside that boat however.

Knowing by faith that we will one day witness the ultimate promise kept by the Father makes the story of Noah even more fulfilling to us. Just think of all the time he preached without people listening and to see his faith become sight--how awesome that must have been for them.

Having confidence in God makes the ministry we do so much more fulfilling. We look forward to seeing our faith become sight one day. We are expecting that God will come through on His promise so much that we can face even the hard time with confidence.

Slow Down!

2006-01-18T08:27:00.000-06:00

It's no wonder that people all around us are dropping with heart attacks and strokes. Just in the last month, I have heard of two men in their early forties falling dead with heart attacks. To my knowledge, neither of them had a prior medical history with any warning signs.

I think one of our problems is that we need to slow down. I just illustrated that to myself in a way that I'm sure none of you have ever done.

My computer is nearing hard drive capacity. Get this--2 hard drives--one is a 140 gig and the other 160 gig. One of you math gurus can figure that in bytes for us, but that is a lot of space. Anyway, my computer is taking longer to boot up. I'm not talking about hours longer, or even minutes longer. It's only taking seconds longer and it's driving me crazy! What an illustration of needing to slow down. It's just a computer for crying out loud!

Then there's driving. I don't know about your town, but around here people are trying to get there before they leave. It's like raceway pulling out into the road I have to drive on every day.

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Let's all try slowing down today and see if we can survive. In the words of the late Mr. Rogers, "Can you say 'patience.' I knew you could." I know we can. We might even discover a peace that we haven't had in a while.

Celebration!

2006-01-15T08:09:00.000-06:00

Everyday is a day of celebration for the Christ follower! Today is Sunday and it's a special day of celebration. It's when we come together with other fellow-believers and shout to the Lord, "How majestic is Your name in all the earth!"

People all over the planet will gather today and proclaim the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives and to me that is something to get excited about.

I pray that you have a great day of special celebration where ever you are. Just think, one day we will all gather together to praise Him forever more in His house! How awesome is His name!