The Random Thinker

I SAW THIS with my own eyes and I HEARD THIS with my own ears . . .

Bobby Knight, as a television broadcaster in a college game last night (I think it was Kansas-Washington) COMPLIMENTED the referees. Yep, COMPLIMENTED them in his broadcast.
Then, he TOLD THEM TO THEIR FACES what a great job they were doing.

In the book of Revelation, when John wrote about the Lion and the Lamb together, THIS MIGHT BE WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT.

Okay, just kidding on that one, but if you knew about Bob Knight like I know about Bob Knight, you would be in the same shock I am in right now.

Everywhere I turn, CHRISTMAS!!! Christmas music, Christmas decorations, ideas and commercials for Christmas gifts. Like it or not, Christmas is HERE!!

BUT . . . We haven’t yet seen the Macy’s THANKSGIVING Day Parade . . . Or football on Thursday afternoon . . . Or cajun fried turkey (which is the ONLY way to eat turkey now) . . . Or cousins that I probably won’t see until NEXT Thanksgiving!

I love Christmas, but let the season start in the proper timing . . . THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!!!

LIVENING UP THANKSGIVING DINNER:

1. Load your plate up high; take it to the kitchen, toss it all in the blender and take your “shake” back to the table. Announce that it’s the new Thanksgiving Weight Loss Shake.

2. When everyone says, in turn, what they are thankful for, say, “I’m thankful I didn’t get caught,” and refuse to say anything more.

3. Bring along old-recorded football games and pop them in the VCR (or DVD) when Dad’s not looking. Make sure it is set to the last two minutes of the game. When he comes into the room, turn off the VCR and turn on the regular TV.

4. Bring a date that only talks about the tragic and abusive conditions known to exist at turkey farms.

5. During mid-meal, turn to Mom and say, “See mom, I told you they wouldn’t notice that the turkey was past the expiration date. You were worried for nothing.”

today’sTHOT============================
These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says, “For fast relief.”

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I got a call last night from a friend telling me there was something sketchy on my Facebook account. A notice, saying I had posted a flair that dropped the F bomb and said I was going to get drunk. Well, anyone who knows me knows that is NOT me. The weird part is that I went all over my FB account and could not find it. Diana went on hers and looked at my stuff and we could not find any trace of it. But, he is a friend and said it was on his news wall about me.

What to do?? FB has really become a useful tool in my ministry (and I mean that). I made a quick decision to remove the Flair application and not to accept any more requests to join applications. (I get about 12 a day). FB has, in many ways, become so useful in staying connected to EBC folks. I love it, and don’t know what I would do without it.

And, I am willing to do without some of the enhancements if I must.

I am so good at what I do . . . You know, one of the old wives’ tales about being a pastor is that it is my job to make people mad. I don’t like doing it, but it does happen. Actually, it is not as much as a wives’ tale as you might think.

But I am SO GOOD at doing it that I have people from OTHER CHURCHES in OTHER DENOMINATIONS that hate me!! Yep, due to church basketball at EBC, there are people (technically church STAFF members from other churches in Florence) who curse my name! Who call me things that I cannot write on this blog! Now, to be honest, it was done in a cowardly way . . . Certainly not to me, but to one of our staff. In the words of my good buddy Wes, “Nice!”

Am I happy about it??? No, but I figure we will ALL stand before a just and righteous God one day. He will handle it. But I do think it is sad that something that should be innocent, like church basketball, can become such an idol to some people that it would drive them to say and do things that are clearly ungodly. I was talking to a child this week about accepting Christ and we were talking about how sometimes good things can cause us to sin. Case and point.

So, you never knew your church staff put up with stuff like this, huh???

We face them everyday. Some decisions are much more weighty than others, but we ALL face big decisions in life. We will face them in the near future, both as individuals and as a church.

What do we do?? Do we do what WE WANT?? That will often get us into more trouble than we can handle. The move to do what we want will often satisfy the urge of the moment, but what will it do to us in the long haul??

Do we do what we think is RIGHT?? Often a good choice, but again we are imperfect. We are finite beings who, at best, can only see the moment ahead. We think we can see into the future, we follow gut feelings, but it is a chance at best.

What do we do?? We do what I talked to a young friend about yesterday . . . As we sat with her mom in my office and talked about her accepting Christ as Savior, I reminder her that GOD WILL HELP US. When we ask Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Lord, it really DOES mean Lord. He WANTS to be a part of our big decisions. SO IT IS WITH US NOW, as individuals and as a church.

So, DON’T STOP PRAYING NOW. God has a plan!!!

The following is a note, posted on Facebook yesterday by my niece, Jill Murray. She is finising her undergrad degree at Abilene Christian U in Texas and then pursuing a career in psychology. Again, WOW!

“I turned my back“

I felt it was time for a new note, since it has been a while since I have written one.

As I was sitting in class today, I was just thinking and almost dazing off about random things in my life. School, relationships, family, organizations, etc. It was weird. I got to thinking about how each thing I am involved in, gives me something different that I can take away. Isn’t it amazing how God provides us all with all these ways to learn things? It could be through something so simple, yet we can take the biggest lesson from it. It’s a weird concept… to know that something so little can teach us the biggest lesson. Like take today for example. I was getting gas before class this morning and I slid my debit card and the reader wouldn’t work and I got so frustrated. “Because it’s inconvenient.” So I got my keys and locked my car and walked in the store and there was standing about a 17 year old girl working the register and she was bawling. Her face was so swollen from tears and she was just standing there and when I walked in, she almost tried to play it off. I felt weird at first because I didn’t know if I should ask if she’s okay or just ignore it like I thought she wanted me to. So I gave her my card, responded politely when she asked how my day was, and got ready to leave. So I turned my back and started for the door and I got this weird feeling i my stomach, kind of like I should stop. So I turned around and she had already cried more from the time when I went to leave, to the time when I turned around.

I looked at her and just said, is there anything you need? And needless to say, we sat there and had an hour long conversation about certain things and it was a blessing because no one came by the gas station during that time. All in all, she just needed someone to listen and God worked his magic.

The point of this story is what I was taught out of it. I was taught, that honesty in all, I turn my back on people… a lot. When they need someone, I tend to turn my back sometimes because I get afraid. I get scared of what could be possible or what trouble could be going on and it’s selfish. I think more than 10 of us can relate. We get scared of the negative and of the dark times. We want to think that everything is okay at times, when in reality, it may terrible. I am not speaking for anyone, but I am sure someone can relate. To the fact that sometimes we do get scared and we don’t know what to do or how to help handle it.

But the thing to understand is that it rains… it rains a lot. And the point of strife and trouble is that HE wants to hold you when times are unsure or dark. He gets to be there when we need him, instead of when we want him. It should be both ways, but often times we call upon him when we only need him, not because we want him there. He works thru ways that we may not even fathom until we join him. He sends people, things, situations, opportunities because he knows it is what we need, even though it may not be what we want. The point I am trying to get across…. Don’t ever be scared to help someone or not have confidence in helping someone. I know I should listen to my own words, which I will, but understand we are all here on earth to help each other. I appreciate what God taught me to today because it was something that needed to be pointed out, to humble my thoughts and keep me on the ground. He knows exactly what to do to clear up questions or confusion I may have about myself or a situation.

If you’re reading this, I challenge you to try to listen more to him and see that opportunities are in your life because he put them there, not because we did them ourselves. Everything we have, revolves around the fact that he provides for us. I mess up, big time… but I cannot dwell on it. I can move on and take what I’ve learned and try to make it better. I am human. Humans fail each other constantly, it’s just a way of life. But there is always room for second chances, and third, and fourth chances. Try not to hold grudges because it will eat at you, just as it has me in the past few weeks. Try out a new way: try looking at someone thru the way Jesus sees that person. Pray for it. Pray for vision like his for one day, and you might be surprised what you see.

Yep!!! I now have a daughter who is technically an adult. Krissy turned 18 today. WOW.

As if it were yesterday, I remember the phone call from Diana telling me that I was going to be a dad. I went into shock. Not that I was not happy, but that was a radical thing for me. We had been married at that point for almost three years, and now responsibility would REALLY kick in. Again, WOW.

She was born on a Wednesday evening. We were youth workers at our chuch, and half of the youth department and our families were out in the waiting room. Krissy was a C-section baby but I was allowed into the OR. I will never forget any of it.

It seems like yesterday. Since that day so much has happened in life. Ups. Downs. The past few months, as we prepare for her to go to college, have been bittersweet. Krissy has become a friend to me. Our times on the softball field pitching have been awesome. The best time a dad could spend with his daughter. She plans to go to med school after undergraduate, so there will be no softball in college. Our days on the field will come to an end in a few months.

Yeah, November 14, 1990 seems like yesterday. And now she is 18.

WOW.