Which soil are you?? Maybe the path?

11 Apr

Yesterday I preached from Matthew 13,  Jesus and the parable of the sower.  In that parable there were four types of soil described.  This week I’ve decided to explore those types.  So, here goes number one:

The Path is a hardened heart.  We don’t know why that heart is hard, but it is.  Maybe it claims to be hardened by the cruel world.  Maybe by cruel people that call themselves followers of Christ.  Maybe by the circumstances of life … by the hands its been dealt.  No matter the reason, this heart is hard.  And its in grave danger.

“Grave danger?”  “Is there any other kind??”

If a heart is hard, its an easy target for Satan.  Like the birds, he picks the seed of the gospel off easily.  He wards off attempts from people of God to befriend and comfort the hard-hearted.  He isolates the hardened one, tells them they are all alone, and traps them in their own belief.  And he is LYING.

God loves us all. There is NEVER a reason for any of us to be alone as long as God is on His throne and Ebenezer’s doors are opened!!  He will be on His throne for eternity, and if WE are doing our jobs, we will reach out until HE says enough!!!

So what are we to do??  Check the texture of our heart … Towards God AND others … And, when we are called to minister to the hard-hearted, DON’T GIVE UP SO EASILY!!!!!

Where we are

7 Apr

Had an interesting day yesterday. Therapy went well, but my physical therapist had called the doctor before I got there: the brace on my right arm is not doing it’s job well, and she wanted them to look at it.

She talked to the person who likes to shift blame … We got to know her when I was begging to get therapy started a few weeks ago. Ironically, this person told the therapist that the brace I was in was one her therapy company approved … That is ironic because I got the brace the day I was discharged from McLeod, 15 days before we knew Progressive PT was where the insurance company would insist I go …

Any who … We went to the docs office and the folks there were great! The brace guru looked it over and looked my file over. She showed us how we can make ths one work. We all agreed it would’ve pointless to replace since everyone thinks he will start weaning me out of it at me recheck on Tuesday. So it was a good experience and didn’t take long at all!

So here we are! Right arm is doing well in therapy. Left arm is still in the cast and still pretty swollen. Though we think we will know more about the timeline on lefty next week. So we covet your prayers!!!

Dissention

4 Apr

What an ugly word … And, sadly, one that must be addressed in the modern church!

But first, a little understanding of what Paul meant when he wrote about it in Galatians 5: Dissention is NOT disagreement. In the church where I grew up, there was this old guy … Let’s call him Ralph (not his real name). Every time we took a church vote on something, Ralph voted “No.”. Every time!!! I believe if we’d taken a vote on whether or not Jesus was Lord, Ralph would’ve voted NO. That was just a fact of life!

But Ralph wasn’t guilty of Dissention … He would vote his mind and that would be it. No, maybe he was guilty of poor judgment or bad hearing. But once the vote was done, it was done!

Dissention goes much deeper. It involves actively trying to persuade others to turn against leadership. And it tears the bonds of a church like nothing else. I believe it is one of Satan’s favorite weapons, and it is alive and well in the modern church. And, sad to say, at Ebenezer as well. And Paul said those who do this will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

What can YOU do to stop this cancer??? First of all, check yourself. Each of us need to do this, and check our egos at the door along with our personal agendas. There is ONE agenda at the church, and it is that of Christ. What He desires is all that should matter!

Secondly, we can stop it by being strong enough NOT to give ear to such talk. This probably means when we hear someone doing this, we need to hold them accountable in love. Urge them to go sit down and talk to the leader in question. Even offer to go with them!!

Dissention rips churches in two … Would you really stand by and watch it happen to your church family?

Smoke and mirrors

3 Apr

Apparently my minister’s robe did too good of a job hiding my cast and brace. So, here is a little update on where things are:

My right arm is still in the brace. The therapists have opened the brace up a good bit, but I am still wearing it. And still not sleeping much because of it. I am able to do everything they ask in therapy without pain, so that’s got to be a good thing … Right?

My left arm is still in the same cast. No changes. We will know more when I start therapy on it and I have no idea when that will be!

It was probably dumb to preach outside of the sling. My arm reminded me of that this afternoon.

Once again, I covet your prayers for my left elbow. It is a big variable in this recovery.

Another day in Paradise

30 Mar

Are you thankful?  I mean, TRULY thankful for all God puts into your life??

Here we are with another day before us.  Another opportunity to serve Him.  Another day to live, breathe, and enjoy His creation.  And another day to make a difference!  Some of us have problems??  Maladies??  I hear ya … All of us do on some level …

The real question for all of us is this:  What will YOU make of this day??  Because today is a fresh start.   A new day.

Thank you, God, for another day in paradise!!

Drew’s driving! Oooooooooh nooooooooooo!

29 Mar

Yes, Drew … Our resident Cajun who was one month old when we came to Ebenezer … got his license last week. And it’s surreal.

My dad seems to be enjoying this. He is ready for Drew to drive to Easley (3 hours away) and come to their house right now! Yesterday he had a really lucid moment and said “now you know how we felt.”. I thought that was priceless … And probably true.

It’s funny how this is not quite as hard as it was when Krissy got her license. She was the first and it was quite traumatic. They’re both good drivers … At least when I’m in the car. At this point, all we can do is pray and trust! They’ve got to grow up sometime!

And, I’m glad Dad is getting a kick out of this. He deserves it!

Yesterday

28 Mar

Yesterday meant more to me than most of you will ever know!!! Because NOT being at EBC on Sundays STINKS! I’m thankful the doc loosened my leash a little, and I understand why he has it so tight too!

When we got home yesterday, my left arm had swollen in the cast. The only cure for that is sitting still and resting it on a pillow. So that is what I did. But even that was sooo worth being at EBC!!

The only thing I didn’t like about yesterday was my inability to shake hands. Of course, when you realize it would be with 500 people across both services, it makes sense not to for the next couple of weeks. That will come when the time is right!

One more thing: I was so overwhelmed with it all, I forgot to say a word about how thankful we are for all the prayers, the cards, and the meals!!! And we are!! A little known fact about us is that Diana is the better cook, but I actually cook supper most of the time! With all she has on her plate, this has really helped! And we are grateful!!!

I have decided

26 Mar

Last night I started thinking too much about some things. No point in going into detail, but let’s just say it was a real downer. The icing on the cake was the thought that I will never dribble a basketball again with my left hand.

Ok, some of you think that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever written … And that is really saying something, because I’ve written some real odd things on this blog. But hear me out on this.

My old friends know exactly what this means. Because there was a time when I ate, drank, slept, LIVED basketball. And that would be a depressing thought.

So, I’ve decided not to accept that. Write it down, I WILL dribble a basketball again. It’s now one of my goals!!! No matter how bleak this left elbow situation looks, it will happen! Again, WRITE IT DOWN!

Recap

25 Mar

As this week draws to a close, several items pop up on my radar:

Therapy is going well. We started the right arm on Wednesday and there has yet to be anything they’ve asked that I couldn’t do. The only thing I’ve noticed is that I can’t straighten it out to 0 degrees yet. Right now, 30 degrees is the best I can do. But we are working on that!

I got to work a half day yesterday. I cannot drive and the doctor asked that I don’t venture away from campus yet, but it was good to get some stuff done at church. Makes me feel like I might just survive this thing.

I cannot fathom the idea that Duke was knocked out of the big dance last night. Yes, I bleed Tarhel blue, but I thought the Dukies would make it to the final game. Hmmmmph!

If you are an Ebenezerite, I sure hope to see you this Sunday!

A Brief Update

23 Mar

I am speaking into my iPad right now using dragon software trying to update my blog.

The doctor yesterday said that everything looked like it should so far. He did reorder therapy which I start today at 1 PM. Not much else to say about that. I have a recheck in three weeks. Then we might know more about my left elbow.

This has been a very impatient time for me and I know that that I am very impatient, but I believe God is at work and I pray that He will use this for something good!

I hope you’ll have a good day and didn’t mean to be so late in getting this update out!!!

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