Taco Bell

Taco Bell is a place where Chris and the kids go when I am not with them. I know that it sounds strange to hear that there is a food (or food like-item) that I don't like...but there you have it.

In any case, I felt compelled to share this video with all of the the misguided folks that actually like to eat at the faux restaurant that is Taco Bell.

Taco Bell's New Green Menu Takes No Ingredients From Nature

John <><

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Pinch-hit Homerun

One of the downsides of being a preacher at Hopedale Baptist Church is that there are a number of well qualified preachers to fill the pulpit when Pastor Terry takes some time off. It seems that there are fewer opportunities to get to preach at Hopedale and anybody that feels the call to preach looks forward to each chance to do what God has called us to do.

Today, one of our newer people stepped in and did a great job. Dennis Williams and his family recently moved to Ozark from Denver CO. Dennis pastored a church there and met Pastor Terry a few years ago when Hopedale sent a team Denver to do some summer mission work.

Dennis' message came from the Book of Jonah. The Book of Jonah is about God's love for a people that Jonah didn't like. God sent Jonah to them to warn them of their wrongdoing and the nation repented and God spared them the destruction that would have been theirs if they had chosen to continue in their sinful ways. Jonah was upset that God had turned from his wrath and spared the city.

Today, we often have our own judgments about who God loves and who He doesn't. We chose to believe that God doesn't love Muslims, or God doesn't love Democrats, or God doesn't love homosexuals. If God doesn't love them, then it's okay for us not to love them. The problem with that thinking is that God does love them. His desire is that they would repent and turn toward Him. We have no more right to wish God's judgment on people now than Jonah had to wish for the destruction of Nineveh.

All-in-all, I'd have to say that Dennis went deep and hit one out of the park. I'll never think of Jonah as a fish story again. I will always remember that is about looking at others through God's eyes--with love and a hope for repentance and redemption.

John <><

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Jesus Camp Revisited

Some time ago I wrote a post that included a brief reference to a movie called Jesus Camp. While the movie is a documentary that compares lively churches (lively music, shouting, etc.) to dead churches (hymns, solemn prayers, preaching to quiet congregations) and implies that God is not in dead churches...it occurs to me that there are others with views that are exactly the opposite.

Some people think that music can be evil; that drums are tools of the devil. Some people have the idea that you can't teach kids the lessons of the Bible when they are enjoying themselves in church. Apparently we have to drag kids to boring churches before they can learn that God loves them and sent His Son to die for them.

Why can't we recognize that there are many ways that people can effectively worship God and share His love. I am not so arrogant to think that God only likes the way I worship Him and every other way is an act of heresy.

I do believe that there is only One True God. I do have an exclusive view that heaven is only attainable to those that have trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior. These are basic beliefs of the Christian faith that we are taught in the Bible. I also know that many cultures worship the One True God in many different ways. We worship Him as God using different styles of music, different customs of attire, different presentations of The Word, different types of services. We worship in large churches and small homes. Some worship openly and freely and some are persecuted and have to be discreet in their gatherings.

At some point we have to realize that there are enough enemies of the Faith that we don't need to be fighting amongst ourselves. Certainly we can find a place that we can worship God without criticizing the way others worship or openly condemning their methods--especially when they are effective in sharing the Gospel and people are coming to know Jesus. Maybe it is just easier to be hateful than to share Jesus ourselves.

Even as I write this, I'm forced to look back at a post that I wrote just a few weeks ago. Was I doing the same thing that I am now being critical of? I want to say that my post was more about communicating effectively with kids than style of preaching or worship. You be the judge...do I need to post an apology or write a letter that might benefit the camp in the future?

In any case, we, as believers, owe it to our Lord and Savior to be unified in our work to spread the Good News. The armor of a believer is to be used in the spiritual battles that we encounter with the evil one--not to beat up on one another!

John <><

BTW, are you sure of your eternal destination? If you have questions, please call or write.

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Notes From All Over

As July comes to an end, I have finished with camps for the year. I was at three camps as Camp Pastor and visited one other to share the Gospel through the use of magic. I only had one VBS program this year but it was a full summer just the same. At the present, August is blank as far as the magic/ministry calendar goes. That's okay. On the eighth, Aaron, Joel (his future father-in-law) and I will be going to Kansas City for a Royals Baseball game. On the weekend of the 21st, I'll be taking Aaron back to Chicago for the fall semester at Moody Bible Institute. Hannah starts her senior year of high school about the same time so August is still a full month.

Opening Act

I usually open my magic show with a brief explanation of the origin of magic. (This seems to be important in churches and works well for me in other venues.) I tell the audience that magic has its origins in science and nature. You may recall the Bible story where Magi from the East come to visit the Christ-child. In other translations the word is translated as wisemen.

They were students of nature--scientists. Because they had knowledge of how the world around them worked, they were thought to have special powers. To be sure, there were those that dabbled with the occult and worked with the spirit world...but still today, much of magic has to do with an understanding of science, math and nature.

I then use a hexa-flexa-gon as my opener. I had worn mine out and for a while they were unavailable. My friend at Dazzling Magic found a craftsman in Europe to make them and now has them available once again. Here is a video of Marty performing with the color flexagon. My routine is very similar.

I am looking forward to the fall revivals that are on my calendar and to watching Hannah in the high school marching band.

VBS continues at Hopedale throughout this week. There are more than 300 kids in attendance! God bless all of the adults and teens that are working.

Busy, busy, busy. Always something to do.

Have a great day. Tell somebody that God loves them...I've chosen to tell you.

God loves you!

John <><

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Wake Up!

I'm blogging this morning from the Sleep Disorders lab. Yes, it is once again time for that annual test to see if I can stay awake long enough to provide safe, orderly and expeditious service to the flying public.

It's interesting to note the governments approach to the whole sleep apnea thing. As long as I dealt with my sleep apnea by ignoring it, I didn't have to jump through any hoops to keep my medical certificate and thereby keep working. Once the condition was acknowledged and I started receiving treatment, I now have to show that I can stay awake. Unfortunately, it is this backwards thought process that keeps many controllers from seeking help for a condition that often leaves them fatigued. Other sometimes risk getting treatment but not disclosing that information on their annual physical.

So now I'm wired up and have spent the first of several "test" periods staying awake. They turn off the lights, the TV and any other stimulus and make me lie in bed (actually reclined in a hospital bed) for 40 minutes...and not doze off! Who does this? Most people would fall asleep if they were put in a dark room and told to lie down for 40 minutes. The real irony of the thing is that the FAA says that we can't nap on our breaks while at work. I can watch Oprah or Dr. Phil or play darts or video games...but don't get any rest for your next session on radar! Of course, now I don't have a problem going to the quiet room and reclining in an easy chair with the lights off. I have medical documentation that I am able to do this without falling asleep.

Today I'll have time to catch up on my reading in between test periods (they don't let you nap here, either!). I have my HP Mini and will find ways to keep from being too bored and too tired. The test costs me a day of sick leave...another example of your tax dollars hard at work!

John <><

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Back to Civilization

I have returned from the cellular black hole that is Bates Creek Camp.

I had a great week at the Mineral Area Association Boy's Camp. It wasn't a perfect week...but it was a great week.

Here's how the week started: On the drive 3+ hour drive to camp my car stopped running. Yeah, it just quit. I was driving down a state highway and it just stopped running. I managed to coast to a place where I could turn off of the highway and call for help. I notified the camp director of my situation and told him that I'd get to camp as soon as I could. The tow truck arrived after an hour and we took the car to a repair shop east of Steelville MO. Tim's Auto is a one man operation with Tim as the one man owner operator of the establishment. He asks if I'm in a hurry and I said that if it can't be fixed that afternoon, that I won't need it until Thursday afternoon. He says that he'll call me.

The camp sends a guy named Joel to drive the 40 miles to Steelville to pick me up and bring me to camp. BTW, Joel was also the guy in charge of the recreational activities at camp and did a super job of keeping the boys active and burning off their boyish energy in entertaining ways.

Since there were very few places on the grounds that I could receive a cell phone signal, communicating with Tim about what the problem with my car was and when it could be ready was difficult. It was Thursday afternoon as camp was wrapping up that I received a message that the car was ready. Elijah drove me back to Steelville so that I could retrieve my vehicle and return to camp to pack it up and head home.

Kudos to Derick Mickan! It was his first year as the Boy's Camp Director and he did a fantastic job. We had around 80 boys that were third through sixth graders. Eight made decisions to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior, twelve rededicated themselves to serving Him and many of them committed to telling their friends that Jesus loves them and died for them. We even had one dad (on family night) rededicate to being a godly father and spiritual leader in the home.

Daytime speakers included representatives from the CMA (Christian Motorcycle Association) and a dirt track racecar driver. The speakers brought their bikes and racecar and talked to the boys about how they use these tools to share Jesus with the people that they encounter. The third speaker, a monster truck driver, had to cancel and the boys were stuck with some guy doing a magic show and talking about sharing Jesus through our hobbies and the things that we love to do.

Derick's band, Leaving 99 provided the music each night for the worship service. The boys really enjoyed their time at camp and I hope and pray that they will do a much better job of representing Jesus than my generation has done.

It's good to be back at home and I am catching up on e-mails, blogs and such. I was blessed to have missed the Cardinals getting swept by the Astros and was happy to see that they are still in first place. Now there are calls to be returned, e-mails to be answered and work to be done.

Later,

John <><

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Commanding Respect

Okay, some of you long time readers may remember this post about how I feel about working with kids. Perhaps I should say--how I felt about working with kids. Truthfully, today I realize that working with kids is a great part of my ministry calling. Like it or not, (and I'm beginning to like it) working with kids will probably be in my future for some time. As a matter of fact, I'm beginning to be a bit critical of others that work with kids and really aren't equipped for the job.

I was at a camp recently where I feel this was the case. I know that camps vary greatly in how they are run. They have different activities, different worship styles, different themes...different personalities--yes, each camp has its own personality.

One of the things that really disturbs me when it comes to working with kids is any kind of manipulation. I don't what to intimidate them into saying or doing something out of fear, guilt, needing to belong to the group or just to please me or anybody else. Another thing is when people talk at kids rather than to them. Or when they have no idea of how to talk to kids and no understanding of when you've reached the saturation point.

The plan for the night at this particular camp was not the best. I was there for one night to present the Gospel using my particular style of magic. I was told that I had from 7:45 to 9:45. Now that is a long time to be in front of a bunch of kids. Even with an amazing program, that would be too long. The camp director told me that she just wanted me to have all the time I needed. She just didn't want to short me--I would end the evening program. I was planning on an hour.

Here's what I didn't know: The regular camp pastor was still going to speak ahead of me. And the kids would be sitting on the concrete floor of the camp gym/utility building.

I've been to many venues with multiple speakers. One of the things that most speakers recognize is that when you go past your scheduled time, you are infringing another speaker's time. This was already going to be a long night for the kids. The camp pastor started his message at about 7. Forty-five minutes would be a long time to preach to adults sitting in comfortable pews. It's a real stretch for kids sitting on a concrete floor. This preacher went on for an hour and a half. Not only did this go way into my time, it put me in the position of having to deal with kids that had already been sitting for a long time.

The pastor started with a reminder to the kids about not talking when he is talking. He told them about having two ears and one mouth and stopped frequently to remind them about being quiet while he was talking. He even threatened to withhold the fireworks display that they were looking forward to at the end of the night. I don't think that I would be exaggerating to say that stopped for talking kids more in one night than I have in ten years of preaching at kid camps.

By the fourth night of camp, the chemistry between camp pastor and camp is pretty well established. That the pastor started with the reminder to be quiet speaks volumes about their chemistry. You just have to talk to the kids--don't preach at them and don't talk down to them.

In the end, I was a bit off timing and out of sorts. I had to allow the kids time to get up, use the bathroom, get a drink and use a little of that kid energy. Then I had to get them back into order to present my program.

Next week I'll be at the Mineral Area Association Boy's Camp. I'm really looking forward to the week. Keep me in your prayers.

John <><

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