One Pastor's Perspective

I got up this morning, set our pop-up tent up on the beach, and walked to the pier and back HARD. Krissy was supposed towalk with me, but when I went to wake her up she squeaked out a weak “WHAT?!” I stood there for a minute and said, “I guess that means NO (you are NOT going with me).” She then powerfully vocalized a YES and went back to sleep.

Everything is hazy down here this morning, so I didn’t get the postcard sunrise I usually get when I walk . . . But at least I am down here! Time to cook breakfast.

Yep, this is the week my folks are coming to their condo at Garden City. We get a week at the beach and a chance to recharge the batteries before the rollercoaster starts next week. It is hard to believe that Krissy starts her senior year at WF next Monday, and Drew will be in the eighth grade at Sneed. Man, I am getting old.

I am sure this year will fly right by. And then, college for Krissy and high school for Drew. When I sit back and realize that he was one month old when I moved to Florence, it blows my mind.

So, Diana and I will take this opportunity to enjoy our children one more time, because times like these really are coming to an end and I wonder if I have spent enough with them. My children are growing up rapidly before my eyes and I hope and pray I am doing the right things as their dad. And, to all of my friends who have young children, SPEND AS MUCH TIME WITH THEM AS YOU CAN. The day is coming when you will sit where I am and wonder where all the time went!!!

Yep, WMBF launches today from Conway (of course). “We” finally have a local NBC affiliate. I have already checked my digital antenna and my dish, and it is not there yet. Their website has been unclear as to exactly what time they will begin, but it is alledgedly starting today.

I hope they will actually cover Florence instead of putting us on the back shelf as the other stations have done. Only a few years ago most of the major stations in our market were based in Florence. And we had great coverage. Now, I know everything there is to know about Myrtle Beach, Conway, and the big city of Loris, but the news I get from Florence is usually old news.

If I had the money, I would start a SuperStation from the metropolis of Florence, covering our city. I would have political commentary from Jimmy Norton. There would be home repair tips from Olin Bullock. I would have technology updates from L. Dean Lisenby. I would have cooking tips from Elaine Hutchinson (on entrees) and Betty Moore-Bell (on desserts). I MIGHT even let Kristina Plunkett cover college football (if she promises NOT to spend the entire time talking about Ohio State). And I would have a live, hidden camera following Paul Frazier around 24/7.

AND IT WOULD BE A BIG SUCCESS!!!! And, on Sundays, guess which church would be broadcast??? I might also have a “fictional” soap opera based on daily life at the office . . OOOOOO, that would scare some people. And plenty of reruns of Dragnet, Gilligans Island, Batman, Magnum PI, Hogan’s Heroes, Bugs Bunny cartoons, old SNLs, Braves games, and other fun stuff.

My version of “Florence’s Most Wanted” would be there to call out people who act horribly in our basketball league, softball league, and at places like Maple Park. My SportsCenter would talk about Brett Favre, but not 24/7.

And that, my friends, is why God sees to it that I don’t have that kind of money.

I realize I haven’t blogged in a few days. I don’t really know what to write about that. Sometimes in life the muse is just not there. That is exactly where I am right now.

There is so much going on and it is easy to get bummed out. But I press on. I press on to the beach ONE MORE TIME next week. Yep, that will definitely help.

KING ARTHUR’S UNKNOWN KNIGHTS
It is a little-known fact that King Arthur had more knights than is usually believed. They included:

Of course, there was the devastatingly handsome, but disappointingly shallow knight – Sir Face.
Also…
~ Sir Pass – Arthur’s best knight of all
~ Sir Port – A great help to all the other knights
~ Sir Culation – A knight who got around a bit – popular at parties
~ Sir Prise – the knight who could always be relied on to do the unexpected
~ Sir Vey – a watchful knight
~ Sir Monise – a rather long-winded and droning knight, but a good, moral sort
~ Sir Cuitous – a knight who approached his duties in a roundabout way
~ Sir Pose – a knight who stands by wild predictions
~ Sir Cumflex – a knight with a strange accent
~ Sir Cumvent – the evasive knight
~ Sir Reen – a calm and cheerful knight
~ Sir Spicious – a paranoid knight
~ Sir Real – a vague and insubstantial knight
~ Sir Cumstances – a knight whose fault it never was
Then there were the non identical twins – Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice – the longest and shortest knights.

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Drew looked at me tonight and said “Okay, lets shave it off!” That was the plan, but I was being quiet to see if he would go to registration on Wednesday at Sneed and have his picture made with it. But, alas, it is GONE. He now has NO hair, because it had grown back a little. I put the smallest guard I had on the clippers and took the mohawk off, but you could still see it. So we had to take it down to NOTHING.

Actually, it doesn’t look too bad and looks TONS better than this time last year when it was so long.

You know, no matter where you study in the New Testament, LOVE is the theme. In all that we are and all that we do, Jesus continually says LOVE. LOVE is the key. Love our brothers and sisters. Love our neighbors. Love our enemies. And, above all, LOVE GOD will all that we are. Jesus said the law and prophets hang on love . . .

When we start judging others, when we start invoking what we think to be right just because, when we start thinking that our plans are superior to God’s, remember LOVE. This is not just empty rhetoric. THIS IS TRUE. I know.

Many years ago, someone told me just how useless he thought I was and how fruitless my ministry was . . . What could I do? EVERYTHING in me wanted to hate . . . It made NO SENSE to love. And, yet, LOVE was really all I could do.

I reached this place where I had to ask, “Do I REALLY believe God’s word? How could it make sense to love someone who hates me?”

Hate consumes and imprisons. Love brings FREEDOM. I just kept on loving and it was HARD. And, we never really resolved those words of his. But I was/am NOT consumed. I know I did the right thing. I will stand before God one day, and I know at least THIS ONE shouldn’t get me into too much trouble.

LOVE. Its not just for breakfast anymore.