I just met with a fellow PCA pastor for lunch today at Applebee’s. Aside from getting off at the wrong exit, everything went quite well. I was reminded once again today why faith is not supposed to be a private thing.

We were able to share our own weaknesses, confess our own sins, and speak of our own ecclesiastical frustrations. I left feeling refreshed. A brother whom I look up to greatly is a fellow struggler. How freeing.

Without relationships like these, life can become much harder than it needs to be. If you don’t have any relationships where you talk about your faith, life, struggles, joys (below the surface, meaning more than football-which we did talk about, albeit last), I would encourage you to seek them out.

We are meant to walk through life with these kinds of relationships. Any sort of deep relationship, whether you want to call it mentoring, accountability, or close friend is absolutely priceless. And for some reason priceless means good. I never really figured that out.

They do exist in the church today, but they need to be sought out. Please don’t be afraid to seek them out. You’ll not regret it.

For those unable to get the Bradenton Herald, here is my every-other-month article. It deals with the American fallacy of a private faith. Oprah might not like it very much. Feel free to forward it to her if you have her email. Click here to read it. For the first time, they actually used my title. They got wise.

Last night I had a meeting planned which was very well unattended. I actually had to conduct an interview with a third person listening on speaker phone so that we could have a quorum. That was kind of cool in some way though. O technology.

Some responded and told me of their inability to make it. May their children rise up and call them ‘blessed.’ One, due to some cyber-black hole (that’s the only thing I can think of) didn’t even get three emails I sent, which were confirmed to be ‘sent.’ But several others just didn’t respond at all.

I’ve been thinking about something lately, and I don’t have anyone in mind personally (please believe me-I’m not mad at you; if I were I would tell you in person, not via email or blog!), so please don’t take offense. Thanks for your belief. I trust you believe me, so don’t let me down.

Here’s my scenario. Let’s just suppose Jesus began his ministry in our day and age, a day of technology with cell phones and emails. 2000 years ago Jesus might have been one of the busiest people on the planet, with people constantly vying for his time (some with good intentions and some with bad). I truly believe he would still have found a way to get some solitude in prayer, which can easily be done by waking up early-and that he did. Really kind of a no-brainer.

But what about emails and phone calls? Would Jesus have returned emails (since his inbox would have probably been full)? Would he have returned them promptly? Would he have returned phone calls? Perhaps he would have returned them by order of importance-how they coincided with his mission? He was a man on a mission. The gospel of John describes him quite often as being ‘sent’.

I do know that when he was on the way to Jerusalem to be tried and killed (ultimate plan), he still made time for people even when the disciples ignored those calling out in the streets to be healed. His mission included people, even ‘little people’ (but I’m not referring to, but neither am I precluding those short on stature). The disciples thought they were totally on board with His mission, but we see them missing the picture some times.

So I can see the disciples not returning phone calls or emails, but would the Lord Jesus take the time to call people back promptly? Certainly there are different levels of urgency in phone calls and emails, but I think Jesus would probably have been pretty good at it since he loved people so much. And we are to put interests of others before ourselves (Phil 2:4) based upon the pattern of Christ.

Just my thoughts, but of course I think they’re right! But I know I could be wrong. Nevertheless, I think putting others’ interests ahead of our own probably means we need to respond more rather than respond less to emails and phone calls. As I’m writing this I feel convicted to respond to someone who sent me a message a while ago-a message I don’t want to respond to! But alas, I shall now.

Someone this past week shared an unsatisfying sports experience with me, and it wasn’t because his team lost (the opposite was true). Surrounded by rabid fans glued to the tube to cheer their team on to victory, any sort of relational activity was to be put on hold.

Personally I don’t like to discuss weighty matters during Buc’s games such as finances or family matters, but I had to question my own sports idolatry. Do I replace sports for relationships? Or do I use them to facilitate, increase, or spawn new relationships?

Well due to the fact that the Bucs have often been playing at 4pm, and the other 1pm games I’ve been tied up with stuff, the annual phenomenon of the Bucs party has not seen the light of day.

I have to admit that while I was appalled at my friend’s sporting experience (and quickly condemned such activity), I admit that I had to examine my own heart. My wife helped expedite that process of course!

A quote from Tony Romo (the QB of the Dallas Cowboys) helps shed some light on this issue. Someone asked him if he would ever be able to recover from botching the snap in the Cowboy’s last second field goal in the playoff game verses Seattle. He responded beautifully saying, “If the worst thing that happens to me, happens on a football field, I think I’ll be OK.”

Since professional athletes can move on very quickly, I think we should as well. We probably should be ‘moving on’ even as the game progresses. And Jesus will gladly help.

On Monday I returned my kayak. This was the third time I’ve returned a kayak, but this time it wasn’t my fault. My large butt (I guess that was it) broke the plastic seat area.

So I headed to Sam’s Club to gas up my trusty Protege for the drive to Auburndale, and prepared to load up. But the card reader at the pump would not read my Sam’s card. If you’re not a Sam’s member, then know this-you must have your card read; they don’t just want your money, they want your information. Or something like that.

So I continued to slide my card into the reader back and forth numerous times. In my mind I cursed the Sam’s Club card readers, as well as the card makers. After all, I was on my 2nd card because my last one got too worn out. After probably 15 slides and 3-4 cancellations, I turned my card over to take a better look. It was my stinkin’ drivers license.

No wonder it didn’t work. The State of Florida doesn’t make dual purpose drivers licenses.
After feeling brilliant for a second and seeing that no one else had witnessed my brilliance, I found my real card and then pumped to my heart’s content.

It’s amazing how often we make simple, stupid mistakes. The other day I was getting overly frustrated with the Verizon customer service (who had really gaffed on my bill in a few different ways). Apparently they needed to contact my wife before they could give me ANY information on the account. I was quite upset and it showed in my voice inflection. But after about 5 minutes, I realized I had given her the wrong number.

Sometimes knowing that you’ve screwed up before helps increase patience with others. Sometimes knowing that you could be screwing up even now also helps. At least it would have with me.

In order to “spice up” my devotional life, I have decided to add (not replace) some devotional literature to my normal diet of God’s Word. I have rarely ever used devotional literature, but thought it might be helpful to read reflections from saints who’ve gone before me.

In the two days since I’ve started, I’ve found it quite helpful. I’m currently reading a book edited by Richard Foster called Devotional Classics. It contains entries and excerpts from a variety of different authors from St. Augustine to C.S. Lewis. I found today’s entry quite thoughtful. It is a greater cost NOT to follow Christ than TO follow Christ.

“…..(Regarding Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship) It was right to point out that one cannot be a disciple of Christ without forfeiting things normally sought in human life, and that one who pays little in the world’s coinage to bear his name has reason to wonder where he or she stands with God. But the cost of nondiscipleship is far greater-even when this life alone is considered-than the price paid to walk with Jesus. Nondiscipelship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil….The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.” – Dallas Willard, Philosophy Professor at USC

Well written. It does not need any further comment.

Yesterday afternoon, sprinter Marion Jones announced that she will plead guilty to lying to federal agents regarding her steroid use before the Olympics in 2000 (she won a bunch of medals in those games). Like so many other athletes suspected and questioned about steroid use, Jones simply lied about it.

My first thought was “why would she come out now and admit to such malfeasance (OK that’s a bit harsh of a word)?” Because it was part of a plea deal. Apparently they were going to bust her on several other more serious charges related to money laundering and the like.

So in order to escape THOSE charges, she will confess to lesser charges. Now if someone says they’ve used steroids, and you’ve seen their 100 meter times drop from 11.2 to 10.6, I believe them. However, is it only I that question the veracity of criminal plea deals?

I mean, in serious criminal cases, you have people who have been lying to cops, juries, lawyers, judges for some time, and then they are presented with a deal. Tell us that you did such and such, and how you did such and such, and we’ll get you off the hook for other greater offenses.

Does this seem a little weird? Aren’t the defendants just going to tell the courts whatever the lawyers want them to tell so that they can get off the hook? Now I’m no lawyer and I’m sure that plea deals have been very helpful over the years. But I still wonder if the truth is actually what comes out of their mouths, or if its just more lies that will save them some hassle. Maybe its just me.

For those of you who don’t attend Hope Pres, I wanted to at least give you the opportunity to hear my sermon on patience and the Lord’s Return. At times I feel guilty about preaching on patience, since I have so little of it-and it often shows both in public and private settings. And I hate my lack of it. I really do.

But when you preach through books of the bible, you preach through topics that you normally wouldn’t preach through because they are hard (election/tithing/Hell) or because you feel too guilty to preach them (patience, the tongue, mercy-all of which are present in the book of James).

So I’m glad that the Reformers have set a good example for me by preaching verse by verse through entire books (instead of bouncing around from topic de jour to topic de jour) so that whatever congregation I’m in, they’ll hear God’s Word-even the sections I don’t like to read or struggle to apply. Worst case scenario for the hearers (and the preacher as well!) of God’s Word is that they have to repent more and cling more deeply to Jesus. And that isn’t too bad, eh?

Anyhow, if you want to listen to that sermon, click here and then click on “When Soon Isn’t Soon Enough” James 5:7-11.

One thing that I appreciate about football season is that it gets guys together talking. I walked into the dungeon (the back room of the gym where they put all the free weights) yesterday and two guys were shooting the breeze and arguing over which football team was better. It was fairly friendly banter, I think. There was however great disagreement on how good the Bucs and Colts and Raiders really were.

Arguments are most fun when there is no way to actually prove your point. It just leads to more arguing and you can’t possibly lose. And you’ve already won in your mind, so why stop? I guess that’s the thinking.

Well the argument never stopped the whole time I was in there! But at least a little headway was made: it was better than trench warfare (how bad of an idea was that!). In order to slow down the arguing, a bet was proposed. If the Bucs give up fewer than 30 points, one dude owes the other 50 dollars and vice versa. So I guess the argument will end in a week. Not too bad.

I think the game of football gets more BS going than any other sport. I have no way to quantify my findings; its just been my observation over numerous years. I guess it’s because coaching seems to be involved more so in football than baseball. In baseball, you have one bad managerial mistake, but with football, every play is subject to question. Or maybe its because football is only played once a week?

But it just makes me laugh, this phenomenon of football. I mean, one dude who doesn’t know my name (and probably doesn’t care), is like best buds with me because we both pull for FSU and talked about it one day for 20 minutes. Isn’t that crazy? I think they should do more sociological experiments with football fans. I know the best place to start the experiments!

On the way to the church this morning, I was listening to sports talk (big surprise, I know-but I did read the ‘ticker’ at the bottom of the screen during Good Morning America so I did get some ‘real news’). Anyhow a baseball commentator was being interviewed about the New York Mets’ tragic and historic collapse: they were up 7 games with 17 games to go. The Sports talk show host questioned if the manager’s job was at stake.

They went to the playoffs last year, and barely missed them this year. But each year comes the question: “What have you done for me lately?.” How quickly we forget. And it happens in every major sport. Now I’m realizing more and more that things which are perfectly normal to think about regarding mundane everyday stuff often get transferred over to our view of God.

For instance, the coach’s job is to win, and they are obviously subject to being fired based upon a lack of wins; I understand that, and they understand that when they enter into this profession. But don’t we tend to have a “What have you done for me lately view of God?” If He’s provided graciously for a period of time, and then for reasons unbeknownst to me, I hit ‘a rough patch,’ I wonder what the deal is. He’s not performing how I would like Him to perform. I can’t fire Him, so I complain.

I look back and see all the wonderful things God did for the Israelites, and they immediately forgot and started complaining. Ultimately they had a “What have you done for me lately” approach with God. However, I’m just glad I wasn’t in their shoes. Looking at my track record, I don’t know that I would have distinguished myself like Joshua and Caleb with great faith.

One thing I do know is that I look at God like a football coach (by the way-I was ready to fire Gruden, and still am if the Bucs don’t make the playoffs). But instead of looking at the most recent of my “wins” and “losses,” I really ought to reflect more on the past. He’s delivered before, and that’s all I need to go on. He’s done plenty enough to deserve “His job” and my respect for it.