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.

Today was really a great day. We got a ton of stuff done, having gone through 21 sheets of dry wall. That’s a lot, it really is. The Lagniappe staff can’t keep up with us, and they act surprised everyday when I request more.

More than that, its quality. The interns overseeing the project spend very little time at our house. They just stop by, give us a popsicle, and tell us everything looks really good. One group had to redo all of their mudding and taping, but we’ve been doing it so well. That’s a praise to God who grants wisdom and skill and all kinds of knowledge. Daniel once said the same thing about his dream interpreting ability. But this is no less amazing.

The kids are getting some skills down and doing quite well. The adults aren’t half bad either.
I hope you can tell how much work is getting done through the posted pictures.

Some of the pics are from our trip to New Orleans last night. We saw the mighty Mississippi. It couldn’t have been muddier.

Keep praying. One more day of work, and then the drive home Saturday. Peace.

Quotes of the Day:

• “These lights of (New Orleans) are nice but they don’t have the WOW of Las Vegas.”- Micheal Bouwer
• “These containers smell like Tad Poles.” -Jessica Terry

Wed, June 13th, Workday 3

The day was originally supposed to be a half day of work, ending at 2 pm (although that really wouldn’t be half). However we did end a little earlier today, at 3 pm. Today was a day of screwing around (literally). We put up a ton of screws. In addition, more dry wall was added and mud after that, and tape after that. And then some more dry wall mud.

We finally got to meet the family today, and that was a blast. They couldn’t be nicer. Really, they couldn’t.

The team is looking forward to dinner in New Orleans, as we’ll be leaving the compound shortly. Please pray for grace and patience. Grace is slow to be given and patience only shows up every so often when you get really tired. And we are tired. And our reward that we’re all looking forward to when we get back from New Orleans is this: bathroom duty!

The guys will be short handed, so we ought be up for a bit tonight. So, keep praying the 3 fold prayer mentioned on the Tuesday blog. And for the part about US, please pray for grace and patience with each other. That’s one way we ‘resist the devil (James 4:7).’ Peace.

I just figured out that the computers here at Lagniappe take the storage cards in our cameras. So I thought I’d post some more pictures today.

One thing that I haven’t mentioned much of is the relational component of the ministry here. Yesterday we met the homeowner’s father. It turns out that he is a big fisherman and loved to share his secrets on trout and redfishing in the area. Unfortunately we won’t have time to try them out. But just listening to this man was truly a blessing for him.

In addition we talked with some plumbers who had to ride out of their house on a boat during Katrina. They eventually came back to their house, and just rebuilt it one room at a time. There are so many stories and so little time to share. Hopefully we’ll get the chance when we get back. The kids have done a great job, and of course the adults as well. I’m blessed with this crew; I really am. Hope these pics give you an idea of what you’re praying for.

If not, then here is the standard prayer outline we’re following. Thanks!

1.) Us-needs of the team
2.) Lagniappe church-that operations continue, and ministry increases
3.) Kingdom-God’s Kingdom=His will and reign through reconstruction efforts and humble Christ centered community, and all of life and culture here

By the way, that’s Budweiser water we’re holding. Relax, its just water!