Leaders Can Fall

     When I worked as a manager of a temporary service in Fort Worth, I had to attend many meetings in Dallas. The company I worked for was a large corporation that had offices all over the country. We had eight in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area. We were also self insured with our worker's comp. That meant that all the managers in the district had bi-yearly meetings in Dallas to review our worker's comp claims. We met in a large, old, majestic building in downtown Dallas. After attending a four hour meeting discussing all the crazy falls, injuries, and bogus claims, we concluded the meeting. We were all walking to our cars to begin our 2 hour drive home in Dallas rush hour traffic. As we were walking down the majestic exterior stairwell, you guessed it; I fell! Down the stairs I went with my purse, binders, and of course shoes flying in all directions (Dwayne: Of course I was waiting eagerly at home to hear about yet another fall!). Can you imagine? The person in charge of worker's comp for the Ft. Worth office, leaving a worker's comp meeting with all the other managers in charge of worker's comp: FALLS! It only happens to me! I wish I could end the story there, really I do; but I can't. With help of my co-workers, I gathered up my stuff, put my shoes back on, walked down the rest of the stairs, turned towards the parking lot, and fell again! Can you believe it! I wondered if they had spiked my drink at the meeting. I don't know why I fell once and I sure don't know why I would fall twice! My mind tells me that if I am over worker's compensation then I should have a bubble around me that protects me from injuries! If any of you know where that bubble is, please tell me!
     Our minds make the same assumptions with other people who serve in roles of responsibilities. Our pastor's is one example. We often think that since they are our spiritual mentor, leader, and shepherd to a flock of people, they should have it all together. Some of the greatest men I have known are pastors and I respect and admire them tremendously. However, I promise you they are not perfect and each of them has their areas of challenge just like us. Because of my respect for them, it saddens me to see a minister fall! Today, it is a public affair and a flag that the world waves as reasons why religion is worthless. I hate watching the ripple effect of a fallen spiritual leader. I also believe that Satan attacks them more because of this negative impact against God and religion. We need to pray harder than ever for those that serve as pastors. Pray for their personal walk; pray for their openness to hear God's direction; pray for their courage to follow God's direction; pray for their ability to love those that make it hard on them; pray for their discernment; pray for their stress levels and their health; pray for their families; pray for their time crunches; and pray for their personal walk with the Lord.
     If your spiritual leader's ability to lead depended on your support and your prayers, what kind of leader would they be?

Be responsible to your pastoral leaders.  Listen to their counsel.  They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery.  Why would you want to make things harder for them?  Pray for us.  We have no doubts about what we're doing or why, but it's hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God.

Hebrews 13: 17-18

(Some believe Paul authored Hebrews. Most Theologians believe its simply not known who wrote Hebrews.)

What is Holding on To You?

     When we were in Fort Worth while Dwayne went to seminary, I worked as a manager of a temporary service. I worked in a twenty story building, in the TCU area. Trying to fit in to the Texas culture, I wore a wrap denim skirt to work one day. It was actually a cold day for Texas and I was bundled up in a coat. I parked in the parking lot, got out of my car, felt the cold instantly to my bones, and took off running for the building. I might have made it three steps before I was flat on my back on the pavement of the parking lot. I was instantly ticked off! I had done nothing to end up in this familiar spot but once again it was where I was. Like always, my shoes flew off my feet: pumps are not good to fall in! Oh yea, my wrap skirt was no longer wrapped around me! It was wide open for everyone to see! My mind was telling me that the whole 20 floors of people were looking out their windows at me having a good laugh. I finally swallowed my humiliation and stood up to go get my shoes when I felt a tug from behind me. I had discovered what was to blame for my fall. When I closed my door my coat tail had gotten caught in the door! When I took off running, it was if I had been roped like a calf! Thank God nobody was there to tie up my feet and hands! Why can’t I ever get these falls on tape? Ten thousand dollars from America's Funniest Home Video would sure help my humility!
     Often in life we make a new commitment to improve our spiritual walk with the Lord. We take off running only to fall! We often do not understand what is happening. In reality, we are usually holding on to old things; or we allow old things to hold on to us! Things from our days when we were out of fellowship with the Lord. They can be actions, or thoughts, hurts, or behaviors that we should have cut out of our life a of a long time ago; but we didn’t because secretly. . . we really like them! We know they do not have a part of the life we want to live; a life honoring to God but we haven’t wanted God more than we want them!
     What do you have in your life that you need to let go of? What do you have in your life that needs to let go of its hold on you? Isn't it time to move forward with God in your life? You can't move forward with something holding you back each time you try to run! How do you want to live? Tied down? Or free to run? What do you want more; the thing you are holding onto or God?

We're being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now!

Titus 2:12

When Private Becomes Public

     Between the last two falls, which happened in the same church within two weeks, I have now revealed to everyone what a klutz I am. Many people enjoyed that revelation and used it as a great target for their teasing and bantering. One of these times, was when a friend and Dwayne picked me up and carried me from the sanctuary, across the street, and up the stairs to Sunday school. They wanted to make sure I could get there safely without falling. What great gentlemen they were! lol I’d like to see them try that today! (Not because of my extra pounds but because of their extra pounds and age!) The next story I am sharing with you is not about me falling but about something of mine falling. It brings the same level of embarrassment though! The church we were attending (same one) had two church services and two Sunday schools. We attended the first church service and the second Sunday school hour. When Sunday school was over, we walked with many of our friends back over to the main building to pick up our children from their classes. This particular Sunday, church had already concluded. This made for crazy congestion. Cars pulling out of parking spots, lines of cars on the street, and people trying to cross the street made for interesting dodging. Our group of friends were crossing the street together, which means there are cars stopped going both directions waiting on us. I do not mean to take anything away from God's greatness and power, but there are times in my life, I think I bring some comic relief to God. I am not for sure if that has not been my purpose in life! lol In my mind God has pulled up a chair in the window of Heaven and had others in Heaven do the same. I can hear Him say, "Okay, watch this . . . it’s coming!" Back to my story. I believe there was an invisible "X" right in the middle of the street that day because as soon as my foot touched that "X", the elastic in my slip broke and my slip went clear to my ankles! (Dwayne: I kept walking and never looked back once I saw what happened!) In reality, a slip is just a piece of fabric but once it is called a slip, it is a private undergarment. At this point there isn't anything private about my undergarment! As the laughter began, I SHUFFLED over to a parked car and stepped out of my slip. I stuck it in my purse until I saw my first trash can. It was on this day, that I swore I would never wear another slip and I haven't! I am sure I have given some shows in the spotlight of the sun, but so be it. At least, I don't have a slip around my ankles!

     In our lives we have things we consider private. Things we do not share with the world. Some of us have more than others, but we all have them. It can be very devastating when our private things are seen by others. These private things can be actions, thoughts, behaviors, or mistakes. Different things can reveal them: an uncontrolled tongue of a friend, unintentional words of an acquaintance, a breaking point, stressful trials and tests, or a relaxed frame of mind. Whatever the reason, in a split of a second, what we considered private is now public. It might not be that big of a deal to anyone but us, but it feels invasive.
     What do you do at that time? Get angry? Try and cover it up? Shuffle around and pretend your slip isn’t at your ankles? Or do you take a deep breath, shrug it off, and step out of it! The bigger deal you make it, the bigger deal it is to others. Learning to say, “Oh, well! I guess you just saw a little of my true colors!” will get you through the situation quickly and you will come out of it a better person.

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.

James 1:2

Sin Cost Others

     A few weeks after my fall in the choir loft, I fell again in our Sunday School class. We had a large young married class of around 30 couples. In our class, donuts were a Sunday tradition. We were in class early to make sure we had time to fellowship. I had poured myself a cup of coffee and I am sure I had a donut in my hand. I was visiting with a few people and as I was talking I started playing on the stiletto heel of my shoe. I had just put my weight on it and was rotating my ankle around on the heel. Don’t ask why! I have no idea! As we go through these stories, there will be many times I will not be able to explain why, you will just have to go with it. Anyway, it wasn’t long until I knew I was going to fall. It wasn’t like the fall in the choir loft that happened so fast my mind had no time to prepare. This time it was as if I was seeing things in slow motion. When I knew it was certain I was going down, I immediately thought of the safety of others. Aren’t I a nice person? I didn’t want to throw my hot coffee on to anyone, so I threw it on the wall. I was so relieved that I did not go all the way down to the floor. I actually fell onto the table. However, I could only enjoy my relief for a few seconds because the realization of what I was actually sitting on was shooting from my behind to my head. I knew the evidence of my fall was going to stay with my backside, but I was more horrified of how this stupid fall was going to affect others. Imagine a crazy, hurried morning of getting the kids out the door. You grabbed a banana and a pop tart for the kids to eat on the way to church but you didn’t grab anything for yourself, though you are starving, because you know there will be donuts in your Sunday school class waiting for you. However, when you finally get to the class; you notice the donuts are not normal. They are all smashed; flat as a pancake! You can’t figure out what has happened to the donuts until you see Tonya’s backside and you now have your answer. It doesn’t help your stomach growls but at least you know the donuts have been smashed because Tonya sat on them; every last one of them!

     I would love for my falls, my sin, to be private and only affect me. But it doesn’t! Our sin affects us and it affects others. We live in a sinful world and the sins of the world affect you and me! If it didn’t, you wouldn’t have to be concerned with crime, godless beliefs, sexual perversions, drunk drivers, or drug dealers, etc. Very seldom does my sin only affect me, most of the time it affects my family, my friends, my church family, and my acquaintances.
     Never think sin is no big deal. Even the so called ‘little sins’ can devastate a person in the right situation. Maybe someone who feels so worthless is contemplating suicide and you being rude to them or chewing them out for something was the last straw! We must continually remind ourselves that sin is costly! Your sin costs you the consequences of disobedience and it costs others hurt and anguish. Don’t take sin lightly! It cost Jesus His life!

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explore.

Numbers 13:31-32

(This was when the spies came back from exploring the land. Ten of the twelve were disobedient to what God had told them to do. The result of their sin affected an entire nation.)

Watch Your Step

     The next incident of falling I can remember is when I around 27 years old. We were attending a large church and I was working on our first women’s retreat. I agreed to be in a skit at the end of service to encourage attendance. The plan was for me to sneak out of the choir during invitational prayer and then come back in for the skit. So, during prayer all was going as planned until I took my second step out of the choir loft and in a split second, my foot slipped off the step, my body went crashing to the ground taking a few chairs down with me! This did not happen quietly; it was a loud bang that echoed through the sanctuary. It was such a shocking and unexpected loud noise during a quiet prayer time that every head popped up like puppets on one string, and every pair of eyes opened to find the source of the distraction. As soon as I fell, I pulled myself up and sat on the step, bowed my head, and actively started praying that God would make me invisible. As soon as I felt the heads go back to their praying positions, I gathered my books which had flown through the air about two step above me and found my shoes which leaped off my feet and bounced two steps below me. I finally made it out of the sanctuary, swallowed my pride and performed the skit as planned. Dwayne sang in the choir too and knew something had happened but could not see me since I was directly to his left (Dwayne: I never raised my head). So, when people told him that I had fallen asleep and fell out of my choir chair, he believed them! (Dwayne again: I sure did!) (What is the editor freedom here! You’re probably going to see that several times while I write about my falling adventures! lol)
     Have you ever been going along feeling pretty good about your Christian walk and out of nowhere you take a fall and wonder where that came from? Was it in front of others? I know I have been feeling pretty good after a great church service or a quiet time and then out of nowhere I jump down someone's throat! Of course when I do something stupid like this, it is usually in front of others which only creates a situation where I have to eat some public crow! The core issue is we can get lackadaisical when things are going well. We let down our guard and we think our flesh is sitting nicely in the corner. As we are not paying attention, our flesh can leap out of the corner and start ranting and raving before we can figure out what is happening.
     Have you let down your guard down against sin in your life? Have you fallen? Have you crashed in front of others? Pick yourself up, gather your senses, swallow your pride, and continue your work. Most importantly, stay on guard!

Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute,

and love without stopping.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Stay Away From Mud Puddles, Round 2

     A year ago I wrote I confessed that I am a verbal and physical klutz! Many people have wanted me to share them again so here you go. It should give us a chuckle a day for a while. So, enjoy the reruns!

       One of the first falls I can remember was in sixth grade. I was hanging out with my friends before school and a boy that we tormented came up to talk to me. I was a typical kid and was nice to this boy when nobody was looking but I had to keep up my image in front of my friends and not respond well to him. It still shames me that I did not show continual kindness to this boy. He came up to me and told me that he had prayed for me to win the spelling bee that day. I continued to tell him that I wasn’t in the spelling bee. When he didn’t stop, I threaten to hit him if he did not shut up. I was so tough! Like anybody would be scared of my punch! Well, he did not stop and I took out after him. I was wearing my favorite outfit. Purple corduroy pants and a lavender sweater. In my pursuit to be a big shot, I tripped. The big, deep, mud puddle cushioned my fall. When I stood up, I looked like I had been in a wrestling match from my front side. I still remember to this day having a mouth full of mud and having mud drip off my eyelashes. Worst of all, I had put a huge hole in the knee of my pants. Today, they would be in style but in those days it would have been a fashion faux pau. My teacher did not feel any compassion for me and made me sit in class with mud on my face: literally. He would not let me go anywhere until my mother brought me new clothes. This was the beginning of 38 years of falls. The good thing is I have never eaten mud again: it wasn’t too tasty!
      God has a law of order. That law says there are consequences to sin. Do not judge this story with adult eyes. Do not try and say that it was a little sin. In the life of a sixth grader, it was sin. That sin had a life effect on the boy we were mean to. Having humiliated him, return humiliation was the consequences I deserved. It was consequences I learned from and knew that God lovingly let it happen. If I had not learned from them, they would have grown in severity, until my Abba Father got his little girl to behave.
       What is God trying to teach you? What sin does He want you to stop doing? Are you experiencing any consequences for your sin? If we do not acknowledge and learn from our consequences, they will continue to come into our life until we do. If you keep inching your way to the mud puddle, you will end up in the middle of it!

Those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it!

Job 4:6

Happy Father's Day!

      Happy Father’s Day! I have been blessed to have many men in my life who fulfilled a father role and touched and changed my life. However, I want to tell you about the father I have lived with the longest. He isn’t my father, but he is the father of my children. He is amazing as a father in many ways. He was hard when I couldn’t be and he was soft when I was too mad to be! He used every opportunity to teach them about God. He always maintained a perfect balance of discipline and grace and taught the kids how God does both. As partners in parenting, we have laughed together, cried together, hoped together, beamed together, questioned together, stood together, and have loved together. I would not want anyone else to share this part of life with than the man God gave me. However, I am not the child. So, I wanted to know what our children would say is the most important quality as a parent they believe their dad has. Bryce without hesitation said it was the fact that he leads by example! He could see how to live by watching his father. Brittne, being my daughter, elaborated on her answer a little more. Here it is: “Okay I would say the best quality about Dad is his willingness to always serve and show love for others no matter the circumstances. Example of his demonstration of love - Growing up, I always remember him making hospital runs non-stop. He rarely even knew the person in the hospital. It was usually a family member of someone he knew. But he never hesitated to stop what he was doing and go and show love and support to the person who needed it. And it doesn’t stop at hospital visits, the list goes on and on....sporting events, counseling sessions, funerals, etc. However he could show love and support to someone, he found a way. It didn’t matter that he was tired or he was busy or the distance he had to travel. Example of service – Dad has never ceased to serve the Lord in the years I have known him. I have seen him stay up late working on sermons, work late hours constructing church buildings, deliver food boxes to the poor etc. He is one of the hardest workers I know. And to know it is all for the Lord is a very admirable quality”. His newest child; his daughter-in-law thinks it is his dedication that is one of his greatest qualities. She says he is always there to encourage her, to remind her of what’s really important, and to be a great source of knowledge and wisdom.

      Four people all seeing the same thing; a great father and a great Godly example. Yesterday, I heard a great illustration of how parenthood begins. The day your child is born their mind is a blank slate, just waiting to have their parents write on it what they want them to know, and to help them find God’s plan for their life. Dwayne you have written wonderfully in the minds of your family! Happy Father’s Day from your family who loves and respects you very much!
      Though I have always known how great Dwayne is as a father, this year I get to see his influence in a new way.  I get to observe how wonderful my son is as a father.  He is loving his wife, caring for his family, growing in the Lord, and being an amazing father to his baby girl.  I am so proud of him.  However, I know that the example Dwayne was for Bryce helped God mold Bryce into the father he needs to be for his family!
      Take today to do some pondering. Ponder what the father roles in your life has taught you; both good and bad. Then evaluate yourself as a parent. Are you doing the thing you want to do? If you’re not a parent yet, you are in training to be one; prepare well. If you are not going to be a parent; there are so many people who need a strong parent role in their life; look and pray for someone to love and encourage! Lastly, celebrate the perfect father today; your Heavenly Father! Praise Him for all He is and for all He does! Happy Father’s Day ABBA (Papa)!!

You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!"

Galatians 4:6

Silence Is Not Golden

     Often in life a marriage becomes unbalanced. You usually do not see it coming. It comes in the form of busyness. Busyness brings with it a lack of focus. New jobs, growing families, ministry, tiredness, stress, family commitments, etc. can all bring busyness and a lack of focus. Then before you realize it, you seem removed and separated in spirit from your spouse.
     It can happen in other relationships as well. It can happen with friends and family; and it can also happen with our relationship with Jesus. When our relationship is out of balance with Jesus, the rest of life will take a hit. Our relationship with Jesus is the core of everything else in life. When we are busy and out of focus, our communication with Christ suffers. We stop spending time in scripture and we stop praying. Then we will not be able to handle the hits of life and life spirals down.
     When it comes to relationships and communication, silence is not golden; it is deadly. If you feel that things are not what they should be with Jesus, if you think you aren’t hearing Him, if you feel a little distant from Him; then take an evaluation of your communication. Have you been too busy? Have you been focused on other things? Have you been silent? This is one problem that is easy to fix! All you got to do is start communicating and start spiraling up!

Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.

Jeremiah 33:3

Do You Have Enough Resources?

     What do you think of when you hear the word ‘stress’? Stress is an epidemic in the world in which we live. It is destroying people’s spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Anti-depressants are one of the most prescribe prescriptions today. Many of our health issues are related to the effects stress has on our bodies.
      I once attended a health conference on stress. The doctor who was leading the conference made a statement that continues to echo in my head. She gave the definition for stress as "a response the body does when we believe that we lack the resources needed for the situation".
     Wow, from a Christian perspective, how can we ever believe that we do not have the resources needed when we have Jesus? We have every resource we need in Jesus for all situations. We need nothing else. So, why do we as a follower of Jesus ever stress out?
     How is your stress level? Do you feel you have all the resources you need for every situation having Jesus? If so, then why do you stress? You can learn to trust what you have in Jesus or you can continue to let stress reek havoc in your life! What is it going to be?

Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus.

 1Corinthians 1:7-8

Do You Have An Open Hand?

A few months ago I shared with you how a young couple in our church had a three month old baby that went home to be with Jesus.  They have been very strong in their witness and their faith through this long valley in their lives.  They donated their son's heart and shared on Facebook today the letter they wrote to the receiving family. It was so touching, I wanted to share it with you.

      The following is the letter that we wrote to the family that received Gideon's heart. I have been meaning to do this since we received the update letter on where his heart went but I was always unable to just sit and give it the thought that it deserved. Finally, I prayed and found that strength. This is a bit redundant for those who read our posts and my notes but I felt like God was telling me to just sit and write our story--so I listened and followed through.

      LifeShare gives some instructions on how to begin and close the letter and gives tips on what to include and what not to include. The last sentence under general information states: If you are including religious comments, please consider that the religious beliefs of the transplant recipients or donors are unknown. I contemplated for a brief moment over this statement but of course decided to tell of our true journey that involved God every step of the way. This was our testimony and without Jesus we would be lost. So at this time, more than ever, I was going to proclaim His name.
     It has been very difficult to sit down and write a letter but it has been on my “to do” list for the past two months. On March 10th our Gideon went to play with Jesus and we were faced with the most tragic of events and decisions to make. We were forced to face life without him.
      My husband and I had planned for this baby. We sought Jesus and His approval for when to begin trying, to where to live, what car to buy, and who to send him to for daycare. God directed our every step. We even searched Him for the name we were to give him. Gideon, “mighty warrior of God” was given to my husband even months before we knew that we were having a boy. We entrusted our lives to God and His plan. We knew that Gideon was not ours and that we were only borrowing him for the time because all good gifts come from God alone.
      We prayed over him as soon as he was born. We asked God to continue to guide us and give us direction. We thanked him for the responsibility. We immediately dedicated him back to God. We promised to raise him for the glory of God. During his short three months, we read the Bible to him, sang Christian songs and spoke of Jesus often. Looking at him was a constant reminder of all that God had graciously given and we could not help but give thanks and speak and teach of our creator.
     We knew that he would do great things in Christ but we had no idea what that would entail. On mother’s day we were reminded of 1 Samuel 1:27-28, “May we give the Lord all He ask with an open hand.” This doesn’t mean that we didn’t pray for a miracle those three days in the hospital. This doesn’t mean that we do not still cry. It simply means that we do not hold a grudge. We do not blame. We continue to praise Jesus through the blessings and through the sorrows. Our pastor said it best, “We prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted us what we asked of Him. So now we give Him to the Lord.”
     That morning when the final test came back, we were hit with one of our biggest decisions—do we donate or not. I had never thought about it, not even once. Sure, I was a donor but not my baby. I wanted to hold him as he took his last breaths. I wanted his leaving to be with his mommy. I didn’t want his last hours to be spent hooked to machines with his mother nowhere in sight. So when we were approached with the question of us donating his organs, my knee jerk reaction was no. My husband stood firm with me, although he admitted later that he was feeling drawn to donate but did not want to make it any harder on me and force this on me. Almost immediately after saying no, I began to feel God tugging at me. I fought it for a little while and then agreed to hear the speech and consider the options. I had one request—that I be able to hold him at the funeral home one last time without any machines or tubes. They agreed and I felt more at rest about the decision.
      Through Gideon’s short three months, he touched a tremendous amount of lives. There has been salvation through Jesus by the way sweet Gideon moved people. We will never know until Heaven the numbers he has affected. When hearing that his heart went to your 3 month old baby girl and that the heart had good function, we were elated. It was one more life that our little warrior had touched through the grace of God.

Love,
The family of a Mighty Warrior of God