I used to have a cool job working at the television station. In reality, people thought it was a cool job when they asked me about it but to me for most of 51 weeks a year it was just a job. There was that 1 week every year when I did have a cool job, that was the week of the PROMAX convention. PROMAX is where the television promotion managers and creative artists get together for a week each year, share ideas, go to workshops, eat and play. FOX would have a off-site session for 3 days prior to the main convention and then the main events would go on for 4 days. There would be all kinds of stars there pitching their shows and networks. After going to the FOX event a few times, you begin building friendships with some of your peers. Now the really cool part was that FOX would have different stars at their event every night and they would mingle around and talk to people, have photos taken, etc. Not bragging, just sharing events, every year without fail, I had one or two of the stars sit at my table with me and my friends and talk, sometimes for hours on end. The difference was (I think) that I never treated them as stars, I treated them as people. They were people with a cooler job than I had, but they were still just people.
Friends and family will come in to visit and often when they go attend services with us someone will comment, "was that Sonny James?" I reply yes that was Sonny and Doris James. Then I get "THE Sonny James?" See, I don't see him as THE Sonny James, I see him as my brother, Sonny James. I know his legacy in music and respect that, but I tend to view it that he had a REALLY COOL job, but that is not what makes him who he is. The fact that he is a brother in Christ is what makes him special to me.
Being from East Tennessee I am a VOL fan. Most of my friends are VOL fans. Many of them participate in the sports chatrooms. Sometimes when they are talking about this great post they read or wrote on RIVALS.com I will mention that I know several of the big dogs behind that site. They will often say something like "they must be rich" or "it would be cool to be them." They may be rich, but it really doesn't matter about their economic status, what matters is how they love the Church, their families and treat others. I am glad for them because of their accomplishments but I am more proud that they are my brothers.
I have friends who are so passionate about sports that they will go on rants about how this coach must go and how that one is no good. I used to be one of those people. Then one day I was sitting in the stands in Columbia, SC watching UT vs. South Carolina and a man 3 rows in front of me suffered a heart attack. Perfect strangers began comforting his wife, a few with medical knowledge started attending to him while the rest of us began to holler for the Emergency Services people to come help. During that time, the game didn't matter. What mattered was that man battling for life, his wife and those helping them. The EMTs that showed up, they have a cool job, they get to help people.
The second reason I don't rant about coaches anymore, some of them are my brothers. How can I claim to love them and say things that in essence wishes they would lose their jobs? Steve Caldwell attends the congregation that I grew up in, John Chavis is a member at Karns. They have high profile jobs, not sure how cool they are at times.
No, the people to me who have REALLY COOL jobs are the people like Joe Dudney and Joe Smith. They get to help people who cannot help themselves or offer anything in return. People like the church staff have cool jobs, they make everything that happens in the congregation run smoother.
I have a job but it does not make me who I am. I have a Savior who makes me better than who I am and that makes all the difference.
In Him,
David
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Getting Started
I never thought that I would be a blogger, never wanted to be a blogger and didn't have much use for blogging. Obviously I am a late adapter. I enjoyed reading my friends' blogs and commenting to them, still I didn't feel I had time for writing my own blog. What would I write? Who would want to read it? I finally came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter who reads it, this is a good outlet for me to formulate some of my ideas and observations. I may write family stuff, I may write church observations....who knows where this will lead?
It all started with me sending an e-mail to our family life minister and he encouraged me to continue writing. So for the remainder of this opening post, I will copy some of my e-mails to him.
October 22, 2007-
I was listening to Walt's lesson last night and the following thoughts kept running through my mind. I thought I would share them with you.
We start with these words, "You see the trouble we are in: the city lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of the city, and we will no longer be in disgrace." Nehemiah 2:17? No, this could be a conversation between the devil and his angels.
Too often I forget the promise of Matthew 16:18 "on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" and think that Christianity is on the defensive. From the wording of that passage, we are to be on the offensive, we are to be storming the gates of hell and rescuing those held captive by the enemy. I often find myself safe and comfortable within the walls that I have built and forget that every day I am to be on the battlefield. The battle is not defending my faith but attacking the strongholds of Satan. If I am out on the field, then I don't have to worry about being on the defensive because the battle belongs to the Lord.
I get distracted by work, family, the things that I enjoy and build walls to protect them and my time. All these are good but I have to be careful that the walls I build don't become a prison holding me in and keeping me from participating in the war. If I get too busy building my own walls, I give Satan time to fortify his.
Enjoy the Journey,
David
October 23, 2007-
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
I continue to think about the walls and I thought back to the children of Israel. When they entered the promised land they were a people without walls, living in tents. They were the ones that attacked the walled cities and brought them down, not by the power of their army but the power of God. We read that the Israel did not fully obey God and they did not take all that God had promised them.
I go back to the analogy of yesterday where Peter is promised "that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it". Like Israel, we are an army that fights by the power of God. I wonder though how many times I have quit the battle and not taken all that God has promised? I look at the land and the neighboring territory and begin building my walls. I look at the people inhabiting the land and think, "they're not that bad" and forget that I am in a battle.
Look at the casualties of this war, broken marriages, people young and old losing their faith, addictions, depression, complacency. If I want to keep my family safe, to keep myself safe then I must constantly remind myself that the promise has not been fulfilled and I must keep engaged in the battle.
In Him,
David
October 25, 2007-
I love watching sunsets and seeing the beauty of the sky. I love the evenings when we put the boys to bed (the part before they go crazy and don't want to go to sleep). They snuggle and hug you and I tell both of them that I love them. With Christopher, we say his prayers together then I tuck him in and give him a final hug and tell him that I love him. Part of this routine I got from my father, he was great at telling us he loved us and showing it.
I have difficulty reading the Folks for Mike website, it hits too close to home. Many of the things that Mike is experiencing, my father went through. It has been over 15 years and still reading about Mike's experience stirs up feelings of loss in me. In his final months my father lost about 70-80% of function on the right side of his body. He had a great difficulty in speaking and could rarely find the words that he wanted to use. It was difficult for him to do simple things like telling me whether he wanted scrambled eggs or fried eggs for breakfast. Through all those struggles he was always able to put his arms around me and say as clearly as the first time I can remember hearing it "I love you son, very much."
I think that is one reason I love sunsets. While I don't understand everything that I should about the nature of God, I can look up at the sunset and hear him whisper "I love you son, very much."
In Him,
David
October 29, 2007-
Janelle spoke to her parents Sunday morning (night there) and they had more good news to share. As you may know, they are working there with some good friends who have been teaching there for 5 years and the work is really showing growth. Over the past 8 days they have had 14 baptisms including 5 on Sunday. I know we all rejoice in how God has opened doors there.
The problem with being human is I try to understand eternal matters in earthly context. How long is eternity? Where was God before time began? How can God be everywhere? This weekend I was thinking about praying to heaven and I don't know if I had an epiphany or a "duh" moment but these thoughts occurred to me.
We know that Jesus rose up to heaven, that Stephen looked up into heaven, that I pray up to heaven and that Christians half-way around the world do the same thing. If the world is round and traveling in an orbit around the sun and we all pray up to heaven no matter where we are, then that must mean that heaven is all around us. I never thought of it like that before.
If heaven is all around us then I am truly surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. If heaven is all around us then I am always around the Father. If heaven is all around us then how I act really does matter. I have "known" and
believed all the "omnis" of God but by thinking that heaven is all around me makes it easier to think of God being omni-present. Wow!
Like I said, it was eye opening for me but some might think "duh" you only coming up with that now?
In Him,
David
Nothing earth shattering or revolutionary in thought, just things that I want to write.
It all started with me sending an e-mail to our family life minister and he encouraged me to continue writing. So for the remainder of this opening post, I will copy some of my e-mails to him.
October 22, 2007-
I was listening to Walt's lesson last night and the following thoughts kept running through my mind. I thought I would share them with you.
We start with these words, "You see the trouble we are in: the city lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of the city, and we will no longer be in disgrace." Nehemiah 2:17? No, this could be a conversation between the devil and his angels.
Too often I forget the promise of Matthew 16:18 "on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" and think that Christianity is on the defensive. From the wording of that passage, we are to be on the offensive, we are to be storming the gates of hell and rescuing those held captive by the enemy. I often find myself safe and comfortable within the walls that I have built and forget that every day I am to be on the battlefield. The battle is not defending my faith but attacking the strongholds of Satan. If I am out on the field, then I don't have to worry about being on the defensive because the battle belongs to the Lord.
I get distracted by work, family, the things that I enjoy and build walls to protect them and my time. All these are good but I have to be careful that the walls I build don't become a prison holding me in and keeping me from participating in the war. If I get too busy building my own walls, I give Satan time to fortify his.
Enjoy the Journey,
David
October 23, 2007-
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
I continue to think about the walls and I thought back to the children of Israel. When they entered the promised land they were a people without walls, living in tents. They were the ones that attacked the walled cities and brought them down, not by the power of their army but the power of God. We read that the Israel did not fully obey God and they did not take all that God had promised them.
I go back to the analogy of yesterday where Peter is promised "that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it". Like Israel, we are an army that fights by the power of God. I wonder though how many times I have quit the battle and not taken all that God has promised? I look at the land and the neighboring territory and begin building my walls. I look at the people inhabiting the land and think, "they're not that bad" and forget that I am in a battle.
Look at the casualties of this war, broken marriages, people young and old losing their faith, addictions, depression, complacency. If I want to keep my family safe, to keep myself safe then I must constantly remind myself that the promise has not been fulfilled and I must keep engaged in the battle.
In Him,
David
October 25, 2007-
I love watching sunsets and seeing the beauty of the sky. I love the evenings when we put the boys to bed (the part before they go crazy and don't want to go to sleep). They snuggle and hug you and I tell both of them that I love them. With Christopher, we say his prayers together then I tuck him in and give him a final hug and tell him that I love him. Part of this routine I got from my father, he was great at telling us he loved us and showing it.
I have difficulty reading the Folks for Mike website, it hits too close to home. Many of the things that Mike is experiencing, my father went through. It has been over 15 years and still reading about Mike's experience stirs up feelings of loss in me. In his final months my father lost about 70-80% of function on the right side of his body. He had a great difficulty in speaking and could rarely find the words that he wanted to use. It was difficult for him to do simple things like telling me whether he wanted scrambled eggs or fried eggs for breakfast. Through all those struggles he was always able to put his arms around me and say as clearly as the first time I can remember hearing it "I love you son, very much."
I think that is one reason I love sunsets. While I don't understand everything that I should about the nature of God, I can look up at the sunset and hear him whisper "I love you son, very much."
In Him,
David
October 29, 2007-
Janelle spoke to her parents Sunday morning (night there) and they had more good news to share. As you may know, they are working there with some good friends who have been teaching there for 5 years and the work is really showing growth. Over the past 8 days they have had 14 baptisms including 5 on Sunday. I know we all rejoice in how God has opened doors there.
The problem with being human is I try to understand eternal matters in earthly context. How long is eternity? Where was God before time began? How can God be everywhere? This weekend I was thinking about praying to heaven and I don't know if I had an epiphany or a "duh" moment but these thoughts occurred to me.
We know that Jesus rose up to heaven, that Stephen looked up into heaven, that I pray up to heaven and that Christians half-way around the world do the same thing. If the world is round and traveling in an orbit around the sun and we all pray up to heaven no matter where we are, then that must mean that heaven is all around us. I never thought of it like that before.
If heaven is all around us then I am truly surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. If heaven is all around us then I am always around the Father. If heaven is all around us then how I act really does matter. I have "known" and
believed all the "omnis" of God but by thinking that heaven is all around me makes it easier to think of God being omni-present. Wow!
Like I said, it was eye opening for me but some might think "duh" you only coming up with that now?
In Him,
David
Nothing earth shattering or revolutionary in thought, just things that I want to write.
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