Ecstatic!!!

In trying to come up with a word to describe our feelings today concerning Danielle, the best one I can think of is “ecstatic.” Most of you know about the history of Danielle’s story from reading this blog, but in case you do not, here is the quick version. Due to her seizure activity Danielle was not able to complete the History portion of her graduation exams. It was the last of five tests she needed in order to graduate. She had completed all but one English class of her regular course work to graduate. Due to this, we removed her from public school and began home schooling her this past January. At that time she would not get to walk across the stage at graduation with her friends she had gone to school with all but one year of her life. No prom, no more band, no graduation.

Last Friday all of this began to change for her. My mom called us that morning so excited she could hardly read the newspaper. Here is an excerpt from that article.

“The State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to strengthen
requirements for Alabama high school diplomas, but also passed an
emergency amendment to potentially allow hundreds of lower-scoring
seniors to graduate this year.

The emergency rule amendment covers graduations over the next 35 days
and allows students who haven’t passed all five sections of the state’s
high school exit exam to graduate if they passed three, including
English and math.”

When we read this we immediately called the school to see if this applied to Danielle. (She was still asleep at this time). When the school’s counselor answered the phone, she said, “I know why you’re calling.” She sounded as excited as we were. When I asked her if this applied to Danielle, she told me that the Superintendent of Education was there and so was the board. This was such a blessing because it usually takes a few days to make things like this happen. The Superintendent not only said she could enroll, but said she would not have to pay the tuition fee. When she came back to the phone she told us that if Danielle chose to, she could re-enroll on Monday (today!). We went this morning and enrolled her and she started classes today.

God willing our Danielle will walk across the stage on May 30th with all of her classmates to receive her diploma as a graduate of Muscle Shoals High School. Awesome!!

When Ellen woke her up and told her this news on Friday, Danielle could not even talk because she was overwhelmed with tears of joy. When she gathered herself, her words were, “This is a miracle from God!!” We think that it is wonderful that our baby girl thought to praise God first.

This is a tremendous victory for a young lady who has had to face adversity throughout the past few years. She has become so strong in her walk with God and her ability to face the battles in her life. I feel that this is God’s way of blessing that courage and faith. Please say a little prayer of gratitude for us today as we rejoice with our daughter’s victory.

Mother’s Day

Mother’s day is a very special time of the year for me. I have two reasons for that.

I don’t know where I would be without my mother. She has been a solid rock in my life for nearly 44 years now. She prayed for me when I was good and bad. She endured through so many hard times with my dad and did so to the point that she saw him change his life for the good and begin serving the Lord. She taught me how to take care of myself in the home and outside the home. She got me my first full time job and encouraged me in it. I’m so blessed to still have her in my life and hope to for many years to come.

I also married a great mom. Ellen is the spiritual rock of our family. When all else fails, we can depend on her to be there. She keeps a wonderful house. I’m never ashamed to open the door when people just “drop in.” I never worry about having supper on the table. There are a million little things she does that make our lives so good and easy. We often take her for granted. It’s not on purpose–she just has done so well we have learned to expect it. But I can’t express how much I appreciate her. Our children are blessed to have someone who cares so much for them. I know they won’t be able to really appreciate her until they have children of their own.

I just wanted you to know how I felt about these two wonderful people in my life.

Refuel — Off The Chain

I wondered where this phrase “off the chain” came from. After consulting a few websites, it seems that the origin of the phrase has some roots in slavery, referring to the chains slaves would wear. When a slave was set free, he was said to be “off the chain.” Freedom is a wonderful thing and we really experienced it last night at our monthly meeting called Refuel. I think I remember writing about Refuel last time, but it was truly “off the chain!”

Last night’s theme was “Battle.” We focused on the battles that we all face. We heard a testimony from a young man who went through terrible times with drugs and alcohol. He wept as he spoke of the people who helped him struggle and the people he’d hurt along the way. He is now set free from that and is using his testimony to bless people. We watched a video of a teen going against the flow and having others follow him. The praise and worship was incredible. Jeremy, our worship leader, spoke of freedom in worship and how God is worthy to be praised openly and without fear of rebuke from anyone else. Worship is individual, even though we were in a group. It is awesome to be in an atmosphere where there is no pressure to conform to someone else’s view of worship. Some sat quietly, some knelt, some clapped, shouted, and raised holy hands to God–the pressure was off, and the worship “off the chain!”

We ended the night with the drama team from Crosspoint church performing the “Everything” skit. I hope to have the video posted to this blog or Youtube some day. I will keep you updated about it. If you haven’t seen this video yet, CLICK HERE to see it from another drama group. It’s truly the most powerful drama I have ever seen.

After the drama, we began to share our battles. I began with sharing about my struggles with anger, then one by one all over the auditorium, both young and old shared battles. Here are a few that I heard: Anger, Pride, Selfishness, Pornography, Bitterness, and Depression. One young lady even stood and shared openly that she struggled with abusing herself. God’s Holy Spirit was so prevalent in that place last night. After all of these people stood and shared, we broke out into prayer groups. We had about 8 groups scattered over the auditorium. Within our group we had a young man who shared about his struggle with alcohol–17 years old. One young mother wept as she shared that the father of her child needed to come to God and we prayed for that. My children who were in that group were so impressed with the courage and openness of it all.

After it was all over, the parents of the young girl who confessed the self-abuse came up to me and told me about how the drama skit penetrated the young girl’s heart. We prayed together again. It was awesome!!

God is really blessing this event. I am so thankful to be a part of it. To Him be the glory!!

No Less Than Bizarre!!

I really respect all of the people who comment on this blog. I appreciate your input and your concerns. This avenue has offered many relationships–sometimes with people I’ve not even had the privilege to meet yet. I really enjoy those relationships.

It is because of those relationships that I have a rather interesting question to pose to you all. I hope this doesn’t cause controversy, but conversation. So, as you comment (and I hope you will) please be considerate of opinions and speak with words that lift up.

In the kingdom of Jesus, He Himself dealt with some really messy people–spiritually speaking. He chose followers who definitely had issues. He walked and talked with people from crazy backgrounds and circumstances ranging from prostitutes to adulterers to religious fanatics. There are situations that many of us deal with in ministry that would fit into the category of “No Less Than Bizarre.”

How do we deal with so much bizarre behavior in our world? I know the Bible is filled with strange situations. Situations like God telling Hosea to marry a prostitute, churches in the New Testament with people who committed incest, and even homosexuality throughout the kingdom of their day. It teaches me that our really crazy world is not unique.

I used to think that God was more on the side of us staying out of those kinds of relationships. “Don’t hang out with the sinners or you’ll be like them” we were told as youngsters. We had a pig farmer in our church where I grew up and he would always tell us, “You can’t walk through the pigs without smelling like them.” That is a truism. Yet, Jesus hung out with the worst of the worse of His day, taught them about Himself, and even called them to take His message to the uttermost parts of the world.

I guess my question to all of you is this: How do we relate to the world better? How can I walk up to a person who is so different from me and help them know my Jesus? How can we get them to see that we really care and want them in a deep relationship with Jesus?

I think that there is going to have to be some real change in the way we present ourselves to the world. I believe that we are going to have to help them see by our actions and not just words that Jesus has made a real difference in us. Love the sinner, hate the sin, and do all we can to help them get our of their mess just like Jesus IS HELPING us out of ours.

Family Reminiscence

I spent today doing something that I just don’t get to do very often.  I helped my mom and her three siblings work on the graves of several family members. There were aunts and uncles I don’t remember meeting.  There were the graves of my grandmother and granddad, great-grandparents (who I was fortunate to actually know), and all of there children, five of whom were little babies when they died.

I know it sounds really weird to say that I “got to” work in the cemeteries, and to be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it very much.  Hanging out in cemeteries isn’t really not my idea of a great time.

Though there was some hard work, I had a great time listening to all of them talk about old times.  There were stories about childhood both good and bad.  There were memories of Christmases, birthdays, church stories, and stories of family times that I never knew about.  They talked about times that have long since been gone and times that have changed so drastically.  It really is amazing how far we’ve come in so many conveniences and technologies.  It’s also sad how that so much has changed in the way we do life.  It is a testimony to our spoiled rottenness how we have more things that should help our life be less stressful, and we have more stress.

We really don’t spend enough time to sit on the front porch (or back) and talk.  We don’t take enough time to notice the really important things about life.  So, for those reasons it was nice to take a trip back in time to days I’ll never see–days that have long since past into the hustle and bustle of life.

The Heaven’s Declare God!!

Other than the pollen count being high and my occasional sneeze, this is one of the most beautiful springs I remember. I have a tree in my front yard that has gorgeous white flowers all over it. The grass is so green. The birds are singing, and life is happening all over. Truly God is to be praised!

Zoe has a new song with a line “How can I keep from singing your praise?” What a proclamation!! When you and I see who God really is, we can’t stop praising Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and body. So, find some time today to lift your hearts, hands, and lives to the Father of glory, who is truly worthy of our worship, and praise Him from within and without.

I love the following quotes from the Psalms.

(Psalms 33:6-9 NCV) “The sky was made at the Lord’s command. By the breath from his mouth, he made all the stars. {7} He gathered the water of the sea into a heap. He made the great ocean stay in its place. {8} All the earth should worship the LORD; the whole world should fear him. {9} He spoke, and it happened. He commanded, and it appeared.”

(Psalms 148 NCV) “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the skies. Praise him high above the earth. {2} Praise him, all you angels. Praise him, all you armies of heaven. {3} Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you shining stars. {4} Praise him, highest heavens and you waters above the sky. {5} Let them praise the LORD, because they were created by his command. {6} He put them in place forever and ever; he made a law that will never change. {7} Praise the LORD from the earth, you large sea animals and all the oceans, {8} lightning and hail, snow and mist, and stormy winds that obey him, {9} mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, {10} wild animals and all cattle, crawling animals and birds, {11} kings of the earth and all nations, princes and all rulers of the earth, {12} young men and women, old people and children. {13} Praise the LORD, because he alone is great. He is more wonderful than heaven and earth. {14} God has given his people a king. He should be praised by all who belong to him; he should be praised by the Israelites, the people closest to his heart. Praise the LORD!”

(Psalms 19:1-4 NCV) “The heavens tell the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made. {2} Day after day they tell the story; night after night they tell it again. {3} They have no speech or words; they have no voice to be heard. {4} But their message goes out through all the world; their words go everywhere on earth….”

Refuel

In my opinion “Refuel” is very appropriately named. It truly is a time of encouragement and recharging our engines for Christ. For those of you who haven’t heard about it, Refuel is a worship experience aimed primarily at our teens. It happens once a month at various congregations in our area–about five to be more precise.

Last night we gathered at the Shoals church in Tuscumbia. What a night!! I told Ellen while we were in the middle of singing praises led by the praise team from Crosspoint church that I couldn’t understand why I was so blessed by God to be a part of such an experience. Jeremy and the folks from Crosspoint are such a blessing. He really uses his Holy Spirit-led gift to get us into lifting our hearts, hands, voices, and lives up to the throne room of our Father. The songs carried us through a wide range of emotions. We were “Shouting Hallelujah” one minute and learning to “Be Still” and know that He is God the next. I could not hold back the tears of joy that God has saved me and covered my sins with the blood of Jesus and through His grace and mercy!! It was awesome!!

I was honored to have been asked to speak last night. It was such a joy with this group of people. I love preaching and teaching when the audience will “go with you” on the journey that God has already taken you. They were hearty “laughers” which is always fun to be a part of. Then they would think along with me and even join in on the conversation. I love when the audience will participate in the sermon time. I just felt so blessed to have been a part of it.

I am thrilled that my children are able to be a part of such a wonderful Holy Spirit experience in worship. For them to be in an environment where they are free to express themselves to God is indescribable. I love the fact that they are around young people and old alike who are willing to be expressive to our God who deserves more than just the crumbs of worship!! God is a Father who desires our hearts and not some mechanized “service.”

Oh how I wished you could have been there! Maybe, if your reading this and are in the Shoals area, you can join us in May. We are meeting this Thursday to plan for May 4th at Magnolia church. We’d love to have ya!!

Trust

Not knowing how far to go with a person is part of the frustration we have in this old world. I mean it gets difficult to help others the way we want to because of this dilemma. How far is too far? I mean Jesus was treated so many ways by people who He helped–yet He somehow kept on helping.

Are we to allow people to “run over us?” Are we to hold a person’s “feet to the fire?” How much should we expect of a man or woman who is in real need of someone to trust them, yet continues to burn them for what ever reason? This is a really hard one for me.

I want to see people improve so much sometimes that I am willing to get burned. Then I think, “Did I allow them to continue in their ignorance by not holding them to a higher standard?” I also remember times in my life where people have put up with me in my ignorance that was repeated only to have me change for the better. Thank God for those people who did hold out long enough for me to change.

Maybe you have some answers for me on this.

Statements of Wisdom From Tulsa

On Sunday morning Jason and I got up early to travel back from the Tulsa workshop–really early for us. As we were waiting on our ride, I asked Jason, “What is the most memorable statement for you this week?” He responded, “You ask me that question this early in the morning?!!” He was right really. It’s hard to think at 5:30AM. I’ve had a couple of days now to think about it and I wanted to share with you a few off the most memorable statements to me.

“When we listen to our own prayers, we find out what is important to us.”  –Randy Harris  (Speaking of how we often pray about negative things and that becomes our main focus).

“We need both mirrors and windows.”  –Don McLaughlin (Speaking of how we need to look at ourselves before we begin to look out and judge others).

“Marital fidelity reflects God’s ideal.” –Rubel Shelly (Speaking about the horrors of divorce and the joys of doing marriage God’s way).

“If you’ve been gone from the church family for months and no one calls you or misses you, it probably means you’ve not been serving.”  –Rick Atchley (Speaking about people who leave the church and then complain.  The point is, if you are serving, you probably won’t leave and if you do, people will surely notice it).

“We’ve become so biblically illiterate that we think Joan of Ark was Noah’s wife.”  –Mark Moore (That one explains itself).

“They’re going to heaven, they’re just not going to like for the first couple of weeks.”  –Patrick Mead (Speaking about legalists who focus only on the arguments and not on people).

“Am I willing to be uncomfortable in order to take the good news to our world?”  –Jeff Walling (Speaking about how we are going to have to get uncomfortable in order to change the things we need to to reach out to this post-modern age).

“We pray with our life lined up with God.  Faith is our life.  It is not just in the strength of our prayers.”  –Mark Moore (Speaking about how squinting our eyes and clinching our fists does not make our prayers stronger–a life lined up with God’s will does).

“Don’t worry about a plan that God has that we might miss.”  –Edward Fudge (Speaking about how we must trust God’s guidance and that He will never guide us into something that we can’t find in His word).

“If there is a reality that we all need to know, we will unhook ourselves from the shadow.”  –Don McLaughlin (Speaking of how in “religion” we get too focused on the things that are only the “shadow” of a “reality” that has much deeper meaning).

“God has a plan, He will work His plan and nothing will stop His plan.  We all believe this, but we don’t live like it.  If we did, we’d be the calmest people in the world.”  –Randy Harris

I hope these statements impact your life as they have mine.

Relationships

I believe that God is all about relationships.  This week has been wonderful when it comes to relationships.  To have been with Jason, Bob, and Sid has been a blast.  We’ve been able to laugh and cry together.  I will never forget all the laughter as we tried to find a local Pizza Hut, only to finally find it and it was closed.  I will never forget my new-found friend Bob praying for Danielle with tears in his eyes–what a heart.

It was great to spend time with the Longs from Texarkana.  We really love those wonderful people.

Even the messages have been focused on prayer and a deeper relationship with God.

Finally, I really look forward to being back with my family tomorrow, God willing.  I really miss my family.  I’m so thankful to be able to say that.  I know of so many people who are glad to get away from their families.  That’s so sad to me.  I enjoy conferences like this one, but I’m looking forward to seeing Ellen, Tabitha, Danielle, Britney, and Brandon.