My LASIK Experience

Posted on 2011/09/01 by Shawn Thomas

About two weeks ago I had LASIK surgery: a popular procedure used to correct one’s vision.  It was something I had contemplated for some time.  I had several relatives who had experienced the procedure, including two of my sons and my brother-in-law, as well as a number of other acquaintances.  Many of those who emerge from LASIK are effusive about its benefits, how it eliminates the need for glasses, and makes an incredible change for the better in their vision. Continue reading →

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“Anwoth Is Not Heaven; Preaching Is Not Christ”

Posted on 2011/09/01 by Shawn Thomas

Sometimes in the process of looking for one treasure, you inadvertently find another.  That happened today, as I was searching through one of my very favorite books, The Letters of Samuel Rutherford.  (Rutherford was the pastor of a church in Anwoth, Scotland, in the 1600’s, but was removed from his pulpit during a time of persecution, and sent into exile.  He continued to minister to his congregation through his letters, which were preserved in this gem of a book.)  I was looking for a specific quote for Sunday morning’s sermon, but my search was continually interrupted by the need to record yet another line from one of Rutherford’s letters that I just felt compelled to save in my illustration file.

In one of his letters, to Lady Kenmure (an aristocratic woman in his congregation who had endured many “losses and crosses”) I found that Rutherford wrote the following: “Anwoth is not heaven; preaching is not Christ …”.  That little sentence stopped me flat.  I think many of us in the ministry today need to ponder these words. Continue reading →

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A Song of Wrath and Mercy

Posted on 2011/08/25 by Shawn Thomas

Habakkuk 3:1-2       A Song of Wrath and Mercy             8-21-11

 This week one of our church members reminded me the story of Stuart Hamblen, the songwriter who had lived a life of drinking and partying, but who was saved through the ministry of Billy Graham, and subsequently wrote a song about his story of coming to the Lord, entitled: “It Is No Secret What God Can Do.”  Many of the songs we hear are songs that come from people’s personal experiences.  Many of the Psalms of David in the Bible are that way; they are expressions of what he was going through.  We find that same thing as we come to the last chapter of Habakkuk.  Habakkuk has been through a lot as he wrestled with God about what he saw going on in the world; and under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he writes a song about what he has learned.  That song is found in the 3rd and last chapter of this book. Continue reading →

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The Third Team on the Field

Posted on 2011/08/16 by Shawn Thomas

At The Response, the prayer gathering attended by 32,000-plus in Houston a few days ago, most of the event was spent in some kind of prayer.  There were no “sermons” as such, although periodically, a preacher or recognized figure would speak for 5 minutes or so before encouraging us in yet another segment of prayer.  One of those speakers was Tony Evans, a well-known pastor in the Dallas area (and known to many of our women as the father of Priscilla Shirer).  Evans shared an analogy which I believe is very insightful, and is a key for keeping a balanced Christian walk in the society in which we live. Continue reading →

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Delight Yourself in the Lord

Posted on 2011/08/15 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 37:4                   “Delight Yourself in the Lord”         8-14-11  p.m.

      Years ago, Corrie Ten Boom wrote, “Look around, you’ll be distressed.  Look within, you’ll be depressed.  Look to the Lord, you’ll be at rest.”  From all of her experiences, she ought to know.  And her words are so applicable today.  There are so many things we can look around at, and become distressed or depressed about: the stock market is crashing, the economy is not in good shape, the nation seems to be sinking in moral depravity, people we care about are straying or suffering.  But even in the worst of times, there is joy available for the Christian – IF we look for it in the right place. Continue reading →

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“The Lord is in His Holy Temple”

Posted on 2011/08/14 by Shawn Thomas

Habakkuk 2:9-20      “The Lord Is In His Holy Temple”       8-14-11 a.m.   

A couple of weeks ago, when we studied Habakkuk 2:4, we talked about how Job, when he had endured so much, asked God questions for which he never really received any answers.  In the end, he just covered his mouth and worshipped.  We have seen that Habakkuk too asks God some difficult questions: why do evil practices not seem to be punished, when God is supposed to be a holy God?, etc.  Here in Chapter 2 we find that Habakkuk gets some answers to his questions – at least more than Job did.  But in the end, both Habakkuk – and we – do not get all the answers; we are still left challenged to live a life of faith, and trust God.  Let’s read this whole chapter together, and then come back and look at “The Sin that Will Be Judged – and the God who is on His throne”.  Continue reading →

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The Back-to-School Speech

Posted on 2011/08/11 by Shawn Thomas

 It was August 2004, and like children all over the country right now, our kids were getting ready to go back to school.  Our oldest, Paul, was going to be taking his first classes at McNeese State University in Lake Charles.  Our second son, David, would be a junior at Sam Houston High here in Moss Bluff, and our daughter, Libby, was starting her freshman year there.  Michael, the baby, and 9 years younger than Libby, was beginning kindergarten at our church’s First Baptist  Academy.  Before we just sent them blindly into this important year of their education, Cheryl & I decided that we should gather the kids together, and that I should give them each a talk, to prepare them for the special challenges that each would face.  The appointed time came, and our whole family gathered in the living room.  I can remember parts of it as if it were yesterday. Continue reading →

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Some Running Advice Is Best Taken With a Grain of Salt

Posted on 2011/08/08 by Shawn Thomas

In one of my very favorite movies, “Chariots of Fire”, the great British runner Harold Abrahams is asked if he enjoys running.  He responds, “I am more of an addict.”  I fall probably somewhere in between those two categories.  Sometimes I might say that I “enjoy” running: when I am in shape, and the weather is good, and I finish a run with a burst — “like a strong man running his course”, as Psalm 19 says.  But many, many times running is nothing but an exercise of the body and of the will – especially in the smothering heat we have had in Louisiana lately. 

I have run off and on for most of my adult life, and over that time I have had many “learning” experiences.  One reads or hears of different “helps” for runners, but obviously some pieces of advice are better than others.  Some have led to downright embarrassing moments for me.  Since I am in a self-deprecating mood, I will share a couple of them. Continue reading →

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Ungodly Appetites

Posted on 2011/08/08 by Shawn Thomas

Habakkuk 2:5         “Ungodly Appetites”         8-07-11 a.m.

      In Leonia, New Jersey, back in 1995, a man was arrested for stealing a truck full of Snapple.  It turns out he had previously worked for Snapple, and had been fired from his job for stealing and drinking the beverages.  Undaunted, he dressed up as a Snapple delivery driver and made off with a whole truckload of it.  The police officer who reported on the crime made the statement: “He just has an uncontrollable appetite for Snapple beverages.” 

     Well, we may shake our heads and laugh at that, but the truth is, there are many such uncontrolled appetites running rampant in America today, leading to the demise of many individuals and families – and they are about to put our whole nation under! Continue reading →

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“Seeking God In Days of Judgment”

Posted on 2011/08/07 by Shawn Thomas

Zephaniah 2:1-3   “Seeking God in Days of Judgment”    Aug. 7th, 2011 p.m.

    A couple of days before we went to Houston for The Response last Saturday, I was reading in the Book of Zephaniah in my quiet time, and my reading began that day at Chapter 2.  I marveled at how what I read there was so applicable to our times: Zephaniah 1 concludes with a prophecy of impending judgment.  It was to be a judgment on the nation of Judah, but  I also believe that this scripture is a foreshadowing of the larger judgment to come at the end of the age, for the chapter ends by saying: “For He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth.”  Many of us believe that last day of God’s wrath may be soon approaching.  If not, then at minimum there is coming for our nation a time of that same type of wrath which Judah endured 2600 years ago — and for the very same type of sins. 

     It is in that context, then, that we find the opening words of Chapter 2.  It calls the people of God together before His anger comes.  These words just jumped off the page when I read them; they could have been written as much for us today as they were for the people of God in Zechariah’s time.  I believe that indeed they were! Continue reading →

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