“This Week in Paradise” (Version 1.3)

This marks my third week sick at home, and not coincidentally my third “inside look” at life in the pastor’s home, believed by many in the general public to be “Paradise”. 

 Math

Much of the goings on in “Paradise” have to do with home school, since we began teaching Michael at home last January.  Like children in public and private school, he is about to finish for the summer.

Early this week I asked Michael, for whom math is his least favorite subject: “Do you like this Saxon home school math better than the Abeka math you had at the Academy?”

Michael, after a long pause: “Uh …”

Cheryl: “I think that is like asking, ‘Do you prefer to be slapped on the left side of your face, or on your right?’ There is no good answer to it!” Continue reading

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Faith in the Face of Death (John Chrysostom sermon review)

While admittedly not sporting the kind of title we would find attached to many sermons today (“Excessive Grief at the Death of Friends”!) this message by John Chrysostom is a real gem.  The text of his message is I Thessalonians 4:13, where scripture admonishes us not to grieve “like those who have no hope.” 

A brief word on Chrysostom.  His name literally means “John of the Golden Tongue”.  He lived from 347-407 A.D.  He was baptized at age 21, and spent 6 years as a hermit in the desert.  It is said that he memorized the entire word of God.  Although he subsequently had a primary ministry of only 6 consecutive years, he is remembered as one of the greatest preachers of all time.  We may gain some lessons from his life: a lengthy time of preparation, spent in giving one’s self to intimate acquaintance with the word of God, is not wasted – we need look no further than the life of Jesus to validate that truth. 

I read this particular sermon on “Excessive Grief” from Treasury of the World’s Great Sermons (Warren Wiersbe, ed.).   It is a valuable word in several ways:  Continue reading

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It’s NOT the Economy, Stupid!

Dwight McKissic is a black Southern Baptist pastor in Arlington, Texas, and I applaud his boldness and courage in speaking out against the first black President of the United States– who now also carries the sad distinction of being the first sitting president to endorse homosexual marriage.  McKissic’s response (copied below from his blog, dwightmckissic.wordpress.com) helps make it clear that this is not just a political issue; it is not a racial issue; rather this is a moral issue, and a defining one at that.  The upcoming presidential election is NOT about “the economy, stupid” as so many are fond of saying.  Rather it is the basic morality of our nation which is at stake.  President Obama has endorsed a compromise of the most fundamental standards of biblical morality, and should be replaced in November.  Following is McKissic’s statement: Continue reading

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Bonhoeffer on Some “Different” Church Ministries

If you’ve had trouble finding your ministry in the church, what about “The Ministry of Holding Your Tongue”?!  In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together, he lists some “ministries” in the church body that you may not have considered. 

Due to my current illness, I have not been able to do much “heavy” reading the past few weeks.  But I have greatly profited from reading snippets as I have been able from Bonhoeffer’s classic little book (122 pages) on church life.  And in his chapter on ministries in the church, one finds some “ministries” that vary from the typical “preaching”, “song-leading”, etc. that one might expect.  Indeed, the titles of some the ministries themselves are cause for raised eyebrows, including the above-mentioned “Ministry of Holding Your Tongue”; also “The Ministry of Listening” and “The Ministry of Helpfulness”, and more.  Following are some highlights: Continue reading

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“Most of them” are WRONG! (Mark 9:26)

     “Most of them said, ‘He is dead.’”  Only, he wasn’t!  This came from my Bible reading today in Mark 9, when Jesus cast the demon out of the man’s son.  It says after the demon went out that “the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’”  But “most of them” were WRONG!

     This is a needed corrective today, when SO much weight is given to what the majority thinks.  Everyone looks to polls for the answers to contemporary problems: “such and such a percentage support gay marriage”, or “this many agree with this policy” – as if popular opinion were to somehow to be equated with whether something is inherently true or false.  It isn’t.  “Most of them” here in Mark 9 thought the boy was dead – and they were WRONG!  “Most of them” very often are.  When we look in scripture, it is often NOT the majority who gets it right.  More often than not, it was only the two spies, not the majority, who would act in faith.  It was the one man of insight who knew the mind of God, not the many; the one “contrary”, weeping prophet who had the truth, not the horde of positive-thinking proclaimers. 

     So this is a good reminder for us –  in our “democratic” nation, where so much is decided on the basis of a popular vote.  And in numerous Baptist (and other congregational) churches as well, where “majority rule” is often equated with the will of God.  We need to beware leaning too much on what “everybody thinks.”  Especially when it comes to the things of God – “most of them” don’t have a clue.  When it comes time to choose your path or make your decision, make sure you don’t merely rely on majority opinion; instead, seek the mind of God, and “trust in the Lord and do good.” (Psalm 37:3)  And don’t be influenced by the fact that it may not correspond with what “most of them” think.  As in this passage in Mark, “most of them” are usually wrong!

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Overheard at Graduation

Walking through the buffet line at Ryans before our daughter Libby & our daughter-in-law Ashley’s graduation, I overheard the woman behind me speaking to her son: “Son stop touching the food … hey, get your face out of that salad … “. I didn’t look, but I thought to myself, “This is why I don’t like these buffets …”  That kid was behind me in line — but how many just like him had been there before I arrived?  :/ Continue reading

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Why Do YOU Applaud?

     After Louisiana College graduation this morning, my mom, who had driven down from Oklahoma to see our daughter Libby and our daughter-in-law Ashley graduate, asked: “Who was that man who so enthusiastically led the opening hymn at graduation?”
     I said, “That was Fred Guilbert, the dean of the music department, why?”
     Mom: “I’ve just never seen the audience applaud the end of an opening hymn like that.”
     Me: “Well, Continue reading

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This Week In Paradise (2nd Edition)

Last week I gave you an intimate look at quirky life inside the pastor’s home.  It seemed to be well received (who doesn’t like the inside scoop?), so I decided to write a “second edition” of ordinary events at the preacher’s house this past week …

 Just Helping Out

Cheryl took Michael out Monday to run some errands, most importantly getting him something nice to wear to Libby’s college graduation this Saturday.  While she was out, she called and asked (I should emphasize that!) if she could buy a second rocking chair for our front porch – they were on sale at Stine.  It was either a really good time to call, or a really bad time, because in my current state I didn’t care; I said “sure”.  Later she told me that while she was loading the rocker into her car, one of our church members was driving by and kindly asked if she needed help with the chair.  Cheryl told him: “I am trying to keep Shawn’s blood pressure up by going out and spending all his money!” 😉 Continue reading

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Thursday Hospital Funnies

Every cloud has its silver lining — or its funny moments!  Thursday I had to go back to Memorial Hospital for some more tests.  First was a fasting blood test, earlier in the morning, which consisted of two parts, separated by about an hour; then an echocardiogram later, so we would be at the hospital facilities much of the day.  But there were still “those moments” …

After my first round of blood was drawn, I got an injection that they wanted to see how my body processed, so I had to wait for almost an hour before my next blood draw.  I do not feel well anyway, and then to be fasting several hours into the day, AND get a series of needle pricks – well that just added insult to injury.  I saw a little loveseat by an elevator near the lab area, and just collapsed into it.  There was not another seat nearby, so Cheryl sat in some chairs across the room from me.  Trying to cheer me up, she said to me, “What sounds good to eat when we get out of here?”  Well, I had to think about it for a while.  After a few minutes, I finally said, “You know what sounds good?”  Well, Cheryl didn’t hear me, so she didn’t look up or respond.  I looked up, and a man had just gotten off the elevator, and was looking right at me, thinking I had spoken to him.  He quickly tucked his iPad under his arm and hastily scurried out!  

 Speaking of hasty retreats: while at the hospital, Cheryl stepped into the restroom by the doctor’s office, stopped, and thought: “This is a weird kind of restroom they have here at the hospital …” — then figured out: it was the MEN’S room!  You can imagine how glad she was that is was empty!

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Why Then Am I This Way?

     My Bible reading this morning from Genesis 25 was very applicable to my own personal situation, and I wonder if it might be to yours as well.  The chapter says that after Isaac prayed for Rebekah, who had been unable to have children, she was finally with child.  But verse 22 says, “the children struggled together within her, and she said, ‘If it is so, why then am I this way?’  So she went to inquire of the Lord.”

This says something important about Rebekah.  I had never considered Rebekah to be a great woman of faith, but in this recent reading in Genesis, I have seen otherwise.  Can you imagine the faith it took for her to leave her home and go – sight unseen! – with Abraham’s servant to marry Isaac?  That was a step of faith like unto what Abraham himself took, when “he went out, not knowing where he was going” at God’s bidding.  Rebekah was a woman of like faith, and she demonstrated that further in this passage as well.  When she felt the children struggling within her during her pregnancy, she asked, “WHY then am I this way?”  In other words, she wanted to know the reason behind what was happening to her. Continue reading

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