One Pastor's Perspective

Several people have asked me that question lately. The reputation of FB is that of a networking tool for college-aged people, high schoolers, and under. I seem to remember when I first heard about it, you had to have an affiliation with a school to even join (or is that an urban legend??).

Facebook is changing the “face” of social interaction today. It gives an individual a place to express themselves, reveal something about themselves that might not come out in another venue, and most of all network. Connect.

The value I find in FB is that it allows me to stay connected to members of my church (and my friends). I have reconnected with friends from high school that I’ve not had much contact with in 25 years (YES, this is the 25th anniversary of my high school graduation). With FB, I find out about sickness, problems, everything my friends face. And I would like to think I am able to help them . . . Sometimes by messenging on FB, and sometimes by knowing when it is time to give them a call.

Will FB replace blogging?? One of my techno friends asked that question the other day . . . I don’t think so. But I am finding it to be more and more of a useful tool in pastoring a church in 2009.

By my calendar, it is February 6, 2009. We are well into the new presidency. We do have problems . . . Some are because of decisions of the past . . . Some because of what we are doing right now. We need to MOVE ON.

Whether you like him or not, George W. Bush was elected president of the US TWICE. He served both terms. Did he make some bad decisions? Yes. By the way, did YOU make any bad decisions in the last eight years? Did he make some good decisions? Yes. And life goes on.

In the wake of our historic inauguration, we find Bush being blamed for EVERYTHING WRONG in the world today. I even told my kids that the FSD1 goof-up this week on their weather policies was somehow Bush’s fault, since everything else in the world is his fault (that was SARCASM). Time to move on.

President Obama is now our leader. We Christians need to pray for him EVERY DAY. Our economy is still in the tank. We are still fighting two wars. People are losing jobs everyday. We focus onward and upward and MOVE ON.

Worry will get us nowhere. Blame . . . Blame Bush if you want. Heck, blame Richard Nixon if it makes you feel better. But it is time to MOVE ON, AMERICA!!

And, for the record, I don’t think it is George Bush’s fault about the snowday/late day fiasco this week. I blame the Tooth Fairy.

Do you worry?? Do you sit around and stress about things over which you have no control whatsoever? Has worrying EVER made a difference??

Some believe in a pseudo-karma, that if we DO NOT worry about something, it will go wrong. I’ve been caught in that trap before. In fact, that might be the only semi-logical reason we can develop for worry.

Here is the thing: Jesus told us NOT TO WORRY (Matthew 6). He told us the Father is in control and has our best interest and provision in heart. He asked us to realize that worry will not add to anything, and in fact, only TAKES AWAY from the living we were called to do.

Don’t worry . . . God WILL provide. Worry will only cause problems!!

Diana and I left for the Y at 5:30am this morning. She looked on the steps and said “It snowed!” We both looked up and realized, No, it is SNOWING!”

We went, worked out, and about 45 minutes later come back out to a blizzard. ALL of the cars in the parking lot (including ours) were COVERED with snow. Driving home, we realized it was sticking to the road (much more than it did a couple of weeks ago when school was canceled).

And, now, my children angrily get ready to go to school. And I am puzzled, too. I know the buses have already gone out, and that will be the given reason. But the roads and bridges actually ARE a little slick right now (and, YES, I have been out in it). Much more than a couple of weeks ago.

In other words, this is MUCH MORE of a snow day than a couple of weeks ago because of THE ROADS. DO THE RIGHT THING, FOLKS!!!

Why is it that every time SC makes it into the national news, it is something like this?? Michael Phelps, the all-American boy, the record-setting olympian, a hero to many, many kids in the US, caught on film smoking a bong! And WHERE?? In Columbia, SC!! At a USC House Party, nonetheless.

It seems we are always in the news for a murder, or somebody beating their kid at the White House, or something equally exciting and embarassing. It makes me want to scream to the entire world, “South Carolina IS A GREAT PLACE!! DO NOT JUDGE US FOR THE ONLY STORIES ABOUT US IN THE NEWS!!”

I have been all over the United States, both in my previous career in computers and in my current ministry. Let me assure you there is NO PLACE LIKE HOME, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else! SC is a great place to live, a great place to visit, and I am proud to call it home!

Maybe we (SC) need some better press agents . . .

A current trend on Facebook is to tag a bunch of your friends and write a 25 things about you list. Since I KNOW somebody will get mad if I don’t tag them in mine, I decided to write it on here and send out a note on facebook, virtually tagging EVERYONE who is my friend.

So, here goes:

1. My first dream was to play basketball in the NBA. That didn’t work out too well.
2. I also aspired to move to LA and become a comedy writer with one of my best friends in high school. I DID become a writer, but for God instead of His adversary.
3. My first car was a 1977 Lime-green VW bug that had no heat, no a/c, and I would take it back IN A HEARTBEAT.
4. The best day of my life was the day I realized I need Jesus Christ.
5. The #2 day was the day I married Diana.
6. #3 is a tie: Nov 14, 1990 and May 5, 1995. Figure that one out!
7. Throughout the years, I have also LOVED coaching basketball. This is the first year in many, many years that I am NOT coaching a team.
8. One of the great things about Facebook is that it has allowed me to reconnect to some of my high school friends. I left Greenville in 1992 and have lost contact with so many of my friends.
9. Many of my friends from high school cannot believe that I am a pastor.
10. I am a UNC Tarheel fan because of a former Tarheel player named Dave Colescott. He taught me the right way to shoot a basketball at Furman Basketball Camp when I was in junior high school.
11. In high school, I got pretty good at shooting freethrows. It still blows the minds of some at Ebenezer when I can walk up to the freethrow line and go 9 for 10 in street clothes.
12. I attended THREE different colleges in SC and one in Louisiana (where ironically I earned two degrees).
13. The path God chose to lead me on to become the pastor of Ebenezer is a long and interesting one, and I never thought He could use someone like me in this role. I will always be thankful that God can use someone like me to do anything!
14. Working with my dad when I was a kid, a teenager, and in college taught me how to do HVAC work, light carpentry, plumbing, electrical, automotive, and many other oddball things that I cannot even remember to list right now.
15. I was once told that I’ve led a “fruitless ministry.” Not only to I have Facebook friends from all of the churches I have served, but each of those ministries has also put countless people into the ministry. God chuckles when people say things like that . . .
16. As a pastor, the hardest things to deal with are deaths (when it is a close friend) and marriages that reach the hopeless stage before they seek any help.
17. My undergraduate training is in computer programming. God has allowed me to use that skill throughout these years to take things to a higher level!!
18. I AM still a computer geek at heart.
19. I have two sisters that I don’t see nearly enough . . . One in Memphis and one in Tampa (I wanted to crash at her house and go to the SuperBowl, but she won’t tell me where she lives!)
20. The church that I serve, Ebenezer Baptist in Florence, SC, was founded in 1778. Its first pastor was wanted by the British during the Revolutionary War, but not captured!
21. My best friends are my family and some of the folks at my church that I work closely with.
22. I am still pretty good at video games, now attempting to master the Wii (current favorite game – Mario cart)
23. I sit on a bucket many times a week and catch for Krissy, who is a fastpitch softball pitcher and is throwing in the 60s.
24. I go to the YMCA in Florence and work out 4 – 5 times a week, as I have done since 2001.
25. I have lived in our current house longer than anywhere else since Diana and I have been married!

I sit here waiting on Drew to get out of the shower at 5:40am. Today is our day in the youth prayer breakfast rotation. Don’t get it wrong . . . Drew WANTS to go with me this early.

This morning, Mike Hill and I will cook for possibly 70 youth as they gather, eat, and pray before school. I remember the days of my youth ministry at EBC . . . We only had it once a month, and probably only had 30 or so kids. God has really blessed this church, and we should be thankful.

It makes me wonder what things will look like in another 10 years?? Well, time to make the doughnuts . . .

Let me go on the record to say I don’t agree with all of these, but some of them hit the nail on the head!

THINGS YOU WOULD NEVER HEAR A SOUTHERNER SAY:
~ Duct tape won’t fix that.
~ We don’t keep firearms in this house.
~ Has anybody seen the sideburns trimmer?
~ You can’t feed that to the dog.
~ I thought Graceland was tacky.
~ No kids in the back of the pick-up – it’s not safe.
~ Wrasslin’s fake.
~ Honey, did you mail that donation to Greenpeace?
~ We’re vegetarians.
~ Do you think my hair is too big?
~ I’ll have grapefruit instead of biscuits and gravy.
~ Who’s Richard Petty?
~ Give me the small bag of pork rinds.
~ Deer heads detract from the decor.
~ Spitting is such a nasty habit.
~ Trim the fat off that steak.
~ The tires on that truck are too big.
~ Little Debbie snack cakes have too many fat grams.
~ Checkmate.
~ She’s too old to be wearing a bikini.
~ Does the salad bar have bean sprouts?
~ Hey, here’s an episode of “Hee Haw” that we haven’t seen.
~ I don’t have a favorite college team.
~ Be sure to bring my salad dressing on the side.
~ Those shorts ought to be a little longer, Darla.
~ Elvis who?

(www.mikeysfunnies.com)

There is a difficult fact of life . . . We will all face death. When another person dies, someone we love, that is the most difficult thing to understand and handle. BUT, other things die, too . . . Cell phones . . . Relationships . . . Plants . . . A fact of life is death.

When someone we love dies, we grieve and move through. It is part of the circle of life. What about a relationship? A friendship? It seems when these die, we don’t know how to handle them. We hold grudges. We hate. We obsess. It can be an unhealthy mess.

I wish I’d never had a friendship die, but I have . . . Being a middle-child and Meiers Briggs ISTJ, I want everyone to be happy and wish no one would be upset with me. That doesn’t mix well with being a pastor . . . Sometimes people just get mad at me because they are mad at God . . . Or mad at the church . . . Or, just mad at themselves. Other times, they ARE mad at me. I am not perfect, mind you, but I do work to not get into those messes.

But, sometimes it is just gonna happen. How about in your life?? Ever been mad at someone, dissolved a relationship, and years later had no idea why??? I see it happen all the time. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN, FOLKS. You will always regret it.

Yesterday, as my family and I settled in for lunch at Fatz Cafe, something pretty cool happened. To set the stage, we almost NEVER go to Fatz for lunch on Sunday. I guess in the hustle of this weekend, we never prepared for Sunday lunch, so we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to Fatz.

I was sitting at the table telling my family a story when I looked up and completely lost my train of thought . . . I saw a guy who walked EXACTLY like one of my best friends in high school. Under my breath, I told Diana “That looks like Chris!” I was unsure at that point, but the walk gave him away.

I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw Chris, but he was one of my best friends in high school. Young people will never believe this, but when life takes you away from your hometown, you lose contact. It has probably been 20 years since I’d seen or talked to him. He was sitting a few tables away, so I took a chance and yelled “Chris!” His head turned and, yes, a mini-reunion was on.

And I really enjoyed it . . . Only one or two of my good friends are on Facebook, and NONE of the guys I hung around with: Until now. I recruited Chris, and he friended me last night.