Today I was listening to the Ron and Ian Show while driving home from meeting someone. The station (620 AM) that encouraged me to check out the internet babe’s on their website actually brought something of substance just minutes later. Good substance.

One caller complained of how bad Red Sox fans are: making fun of Devil Ray’s hair do’s and making it hard for their broadcast people to do interviews (apparently even the little one’s shoot birds). He said that when the Red Sox come into town, they better watch it.

There are two things questionable about this proposition. First of all, when the Red Sox play the D-Ray’s at Tropicana Field, the stadium houses at least 3 times more Red Sox fans. This creates all kinds of ‘match-up’ problems for retaliating D-Ray’s fans. D-Ray’s fans are not like the 300 (or whatever number they had) Spartans at Thermopoli.

But surprisingly Ian Beckles responded in a very biblical manner, questioning the 2nd problem with this statement, and neglecting to point fingers at other fans. If you claim other team’s fans are so evil and bad, and you threaten to do back to them what they do to you (more or less), then you’re no different. Ian said, when they yell stuff, “Just look the other way.”

Simple truth, hard to apply, but very Christlike: “When he reviled, he did not revile in return”
-I Peter 2:23. Sometimes non Christians can really challenge us. I wouldn’t have condoned responding maliciously to Red Sox fans, but I surely would have joined in some Red Sox fan bashing before responding the way Ian did.

It’s amazing how often God protects us from stuff we don’t even realize. For instance, watching fireworks on July 4th. We gathered, as has been Henderson family tradition (although I admittedly have been gone the last 4 July 4ths) at my grandmother’s condo on St. Pete Beach. The city of St. Pete Beach usually puts on a kickin’ show. Apparently this year, they had some new folks in charge of the pyrotechnics who kicked a little too much.

We watched the dramatic conclusion of the fireworks display outside by the pool, not more than 75 feet away from where they were shooting them off. And then came a boom much louder than any other boom we’d heard or expected. Something blew up.

But the show must go on. So with people running from the boardwalk into the pool area, some more fireworks went off, and then another BOOM. That, as far as I remember was the end. The ever so explosive end.

The newspaper recorded 12 injuries, with the hotel next door loosing many windows in the explosion. I recorded one more injury, lucky # 13: my sister-in-law took a huge splinter to the thigh, with some burns as well. The splinter has been removed by my Pop’s, but the burns are a different story.

We were all very fortunate nothing hit our faces or eyes-since, unlike the 80’s song, I don’t wear my sunglasses at night (or protective goggles either). And my wife noticed on the way home that a ton of things can always go wrong, at virtually any point in time. But it is not until something goes wrong that we thank God for His protection (or blame Him). Perhaps we should thank God more often when things go ‘right.’

If you want to read about the explosion to end all explosions, the Chernobyl of St. Pete Beach check out the St Pete times coverage of the story by clicking here.

Amy and I watched the first two episodes of “Age of Love.” In case you haven’t heard of it, Mark Philopousis (probably incorrectly spelled, but a pro tennis star pictured here nevertheless) is the Bachelor and he has to choose a potential dating partner (that’s usually as far as these relationships go) from a pool of women in their 20’s and 40’s. He has to eliminate one in each age group each week. Well, we’ve stopped watching the show, because it is, frankly, kind of sad-among other things ( many other things). But after we finished watching our DVD last night, I did catch the tail end of the show (so I guess I haven’t quit yet).

One of the women, aged 42, had clearly said there was a ‘feeling’ going on within her, and she resolved to not accept his invitation to stay. Well as she approached Mark, this 42 year old really caved. He explained how great of a time they have together, and she expressed her reservations. But he still wanted her to stay, and so she stayed.

Who knows what was going on within the heart of this 42 year old? I’ve learned better than to assume I can completely figure women out (and this is a good thing-this is not a knock: it means you’re not shallow!). But as soon as another man expressed interest in her, she totally changed her mind-despite being firmly resolute in her decision to leave.

I don’t question her character or decision making, any more than any of the others who’ve subjected themselves to the experiment of whether Mark will include age as a deciding factor in love. But this example I witnessed on TV probably goes on within the hearts of so many people looking for love: they just settle. They feel valued and cherished, and are made to feel important-so they settle. And its sad to me, much sadder than “Age of Love.”

I think that if women felt a little more valued, cherished, important (all proved true by the price it cost Jesus to make us Christians), perhaps they would settle less often, and look for more in a mate. But the same is true for all aspects of life regardless of sex-if we would realize how much we cost, we might settle far less in other areas as well.

It is very clear to me that God is faithful and good to me regardless of how few fish I catch. I’ve been forgiven, blessed with a wife, church, house, food, etc…

But sometimes he provides just a little bit more to remind me of how great He is. I vacationed in the Keys all last week, and had the opportunity to fish for Tarpon twice. The first day, I almost landed one, but it was one that the guide had hooked, and then given to me (so it just didn’t feel right).

Fortunately we had another trip, but all I had to show for 3 and a half hours of fishing were some 6-7 foot nurse sharks (they are lazy sharks that don’t swim fast, look cool/scary or fight well). With only 20 minutes or so left on our trip, I hooked a monster tarpon (conservative scientific estimates put him at 135-140 lbs). After about 30 minutes or so of fighting him, we snapped these pictures, and let him go.

God didn’t have to give me a fish. But I thank Him that he did. There are tons of our brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer daily in a number of ways. And these sufferings are more serious than catching fish. But nevertheless, I still think it brought Him some bit of glory to see me smile, sweat, and thank Him for the great fish.

After a week on vacation with no cell phone use (personal preference) and no internet, I’m enjoying being back. However the week in the Florida Keys was certainly a blast, and I forsake not the Keys.

I was reading Psalm 92 (I try to read a Psalm each Sunday morning before I leaving the house for church) today. For some reason, I usually read a Psalm in the 80-‘s to 90’s. Perhaps because those were the best years for music, or perhaps because most of them have to do with praise.

Anyhow, I came across a puzzling verse, at least at first.

“The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green.“

This passage ought to bring one back to the first chapter of Psalms, as the righteous are considered to be like trees planted near a stream. Thus they flourish because the Lord makes them grow.

But what struck me as odd at first was the fact that the trees are ultimately referring to people. You would expect older folks to be those who bear fruit in life, and younger ones to be less fruitful (general trends are that those who grow up in church stop going once college starts).

However, if you really think about it, the parallel for Christians really does make sense. If you get past simple church attendance statistics, it can be very difficult for older folks to bear fruit. Our sinful nature doesn’t get better over the years-if anything I could say it gets worse (there’s quite a battle still ahead for all of us). Someone like me who struggles with an acrid tongue or jealousy, and has struggled with it for a long time, would not find it easy to bear fruit in this areas 20-30 years from now. After all, I would have been battling these for some time. But this verse gives me hope that I can still bear fruit, even in these tough areas.

So in my opinion, on further glance, and a small bit of reflection, this verse really does make a TON of sense to me. Old people, (I’m losing hair and going grey-so I can be called old, even though I’m still ‘hip and down with the times’) do have hope for change despite years of sinful habits. Amen, eh?

Someone asked me the this week, “What do you mean ‘you listened’ to some movies last week?” And a good question indeed. Most people watch movies, but when you’re driving a mini-van home from a mission trip (if it was a volvo, I might have actually felt safer watching a few more scenes), you listen to them while the people in the back seats actually watch them.

We had the privilege of watching the classic film Billy Madison on the way back from MS. One scene hit me particularly hard. Ms. Vaughn (Bridgette Wilson-Billy’s recent 3rd grade teacher) told Billy (Adam Sandler), “It doesn’t feel so good to be called a loser. Perhaps you’ll be nicer to those whom you called loser when you were in high school.” In the movie he immediately calls up Danny McGraf (Steve Buscemi) and apologizes for the things he said 10 years ago. It moved Danny so much that he erased Billy’s name from his “People to Kill” list.

The neat thing is that I was actually quite convicted while watching, or rather ‘listening’ to the scene (when you watch a movie nearly 20 times, you don’t really need to actually ‘see’ it). I had referred to someone as a ‘loser’ the other day, and God really convicted me. I will hopefully be erasing that word from my vocabulary.

Even something as stupid (though incredibly funny) as an Adam Sandler film can serve devotional and didactic purposes if we are actively engaged with the film. But it can do the very opposite if we become oysters and just take in everything.

I’m going to be perfectly blunt, I don’t like cigarettes. I don’t like the smell, the fact that people believe throwing them on the ground isn’t littering (I don’t get this one), and probably the cancer they cause.

But sometimes, I don’t like people who smoke them (just sometimes). This is bad and that is why I am confessing it now. Its not really that I don’t like them, but I do judge them and look at them differently.

Let me give you an example of how my judgment led to my shame on the mission trip. The church had a no tobacco/alcohol policy on the site due to the scores of youth participating in the restoration in Bay St. Louis. Fine with me, I could live without a beer for a week.

But the problem was that even some of the Lagniappe staff workers and interns smoked cigarettes on site. I just noticed it a few times. And so I thought to myself, “I guess they are not too picky about who they bring on staff here.”

And then one night I had a conversation with one of “The Smokers.” Wow. It was the most encouraging and challenging conversation I had the whole week. He spoke of how God had called him there, how He had graciously supported him (all the staff are on support; but this guy didn’t ask anyone for a dime-all the money came from 2 unsolicited resources!), and how it was the hardest work of his life and yet he was “having the time of his life.” Even further proof that there is a supernatural joy that comes when you lay your life down.

I was ashamed at myself for judging this man. I should have looked at the planks in my own eye. While I still think smoking is not a good habit, I hope to be less judgmental toward smokers. There seems, at least in my own heart, a stigma toward smoking. But in reality, gossip and sins of the tongue are way worse-and actually mentioned in the bible. In addition, I have plenty of stuff in which you or they could be judgmental toward me. I hope I can remember that.

I’ll admit, I’m on a ‘missions’ fix right now, with all posts being related to missions. Well, this may be it, for the time. Below I’ve posted an article I wrote for the Bradenton Herald before I left. Since the circulation doesn’t get past Bradenton, I’m posting a link here to direct you to the article should you want to read it (I’m not going to be presumptuous and presume). Of course they changed my title again, but this time the title is ‘doable,’ and doesn’t take away from the well crafted article. There is a mistake with the website listed for the church; the correct link is gohope.net

Anyhow, the trip was a blast, further proving the point that we find more joy by laying down our lives. Someone on staff at the mission church told me that, “You’ll never work so hard, be so tired, but have more fun in your life. ” In that one week, I could agree with him and the articl I wrote on an existential level. That’s always a plus.

Article in Herald

Many people have a bad picture of the church. They see TV preachers asking for money, saying “Go to the phones!” or see Pat Robertson representing the Christian voice in politics. However in the Mississippi gulf coast area, there is currently a more positive picture of the church.

The government as entirely pulled out of the reconstruction effort. Entirely. The only people coming and leading the effort to help rebuild the area are churches. The people there are so thankful that the churches haven’t forgotten.

The church in America has fallen short in many areas over the years, but they have been ‘on the ball’ this time. And Christ is being honored. In other centuries, the church has been quick to dispense mercy. They used to take in babies bound for the dung heap (Romans weren’t very nice to unwanted babies) and they were the ones who took care of folks (and died trying) during the European plagues. It was the Church, not the government.

So Katrina relief is just following a pattern laid down by brothers/sisters of previous generations. And Christ is getting glory down in Mississippi. And that’s pretty dang cool, eh?

We’re are now currently done with our our house. We left it in much better shape than we found it. All in all, we ‘demolitioned’, cleaned out a ton of debris that was still there after 2 years, insulated, cut/hung/mudded/taped, dry-walled the whole house. There are just a few places that didn’t get taped.

The Lagniappe people couldn’t believe how much was done, and done well. Thanks again for praying.

We turned in time sheets for hours worked, which will be turned into FEMA, and the debt of the town will be reduced. So we have actually not only helped the Favre family (remember, no relation to Brett-but she did go to high school with him and next year is the 20 year reunion), but also the town.

I’m off to go help Johnny paint the wooden manatee that we cut out. Each team makes some sort of wooden ‘memento’ to leave at the church. Marla suggested a manatee for Manatee County, and Steven suggested we leave “Hope Pres” in boat scars on his back. While scars may be a stretch to accomplish, the manatee looks good. We made our county proud.

Have a good one, and please pray for our drive home tomorrow. It’s long, and we’re tired. Peace.

Sorry we don’t have any quotes. It was a silent day. We worked like monks.