The Great Communion

“Today, congregations of the Stone-Campbell movement celebrate the 200th anniversary of Thomas Campbell’s “Declaration and Address.” This statement was copied from the website www.greatcommunion.org. It was something I had never heard of until about a year ago, but saw lots of planning come to fruition tonight.

I was approached by a local minister and asked if I was interested in getting together to plan this event for our area. He explained that it was an event to bring the Christian Church and Church of Christ together for an event that marks the above mentioned anniversary. I agreed to do so because it was a huge step for our movement in this area and the possibilities of future love and respect for our brothers and sisters in the Christian Church and beyond. I felt too that it was just the right thing to do.

The event went very well. I don’t know the exact number, but there were about 200 people there if my ability to do “preacher counts” is still in me.

The event was begun with an explanation of what was about to take place. After that there was prayer followed by special music sung by a combined choir of people from the five churches that participated. We then had a lovely solo sung by one of the ladies from First Christian. The Christian Church minister gave a wonderful history of what we were doing. He spoke of a unity which was based completely in Jesus and not the things which we have allowed ourselves to be separated over throughout the years. The congregation burst into applause at the end of his message. It was really powerful.

After more singing, we partook in the communion meal together. Two elders from each of the five churches were serving. That was awesome to see these elders standing in front united in Jesus. We took the bread by holding it until everyone was served. One of the presiding elders held up the bread and said, “The body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Then we ate together. We did the same with the cup. After a couple of more songs, we had some closing remarks and then I led the final prayer.

Reading about this in a blog makes it seem like just another a simple service, but it was so much more. It was significant because the history of our movement has not done this kind of thing in our area much, if ever. Or if it has, I’ve not been in the know about it. It’s also significant because I think it can mark a new beginning for our churches. Jesus said that our love for one another would be the deciding factor that determined how people would know we were Jesus’ disciples. Shouldn’t that be enough?

I felt a huge pull on my heart tonight to do more. I want to be used by God, if He allows, to make further moves toward unity. Not just within our Campbell-Stone Movement, but throughout the area amongst believers. It’s time to continue tearing down walls and start building bridges so that the world will be able to more clearly see Jesus living in us.

The word “communion” has at it’s core “community.” We are to be about the business of bringing together those in and out of Jesus for the sake of kingdom! Some of Jesus’ last words on this earth were, “I pray Father that they all be one.” Let’s work to make Jesus’ prayer a reality.

The final speaker tonight spoke of how this event in and of itself was not “unity.” He said that it was only a picture of what real unity could look like. The real unity we are looking for has to be lived out in the kingdom living of the disciples of Jesus. That means it all depends on you and me. Sounds like we’ve got work to do.

We Are Home!!

It’s taken me a day or so just to get back into the swing of things, but I wanted to get a short blog in tonight to let everyone know that we are at home with Robert.

His first night home was a bit on the restless side according to Tabitha. I didn’t know anything about that till today because I was tucked away in bed. She really got her first taste of sleepless nights with children. I guess in a way, it had to come. It’s life’s little way of helping us learn to appreciate our parents and what they did for us.

Thanks for all of your well-wishes and prayers. Love you guys so much. I will post more pics and the suchlike later I’m sure.

God bless you all.

Robert Doing Better

Well, it’s Sunday morning and I’m usually on the balcony at Macedonia running A/V, but today I’m sitting in Neo-natal ICU in Huntsville, Alabama just waiting on little Robert to get over this jaundice thing. They have him wrapped in a lighted blanket. You can see the pictures below. This helps his levels come back down and also assists him in keeping his body temperatures up. We hope to hear soon the news that this levels are down and we can go home. That can maybe happen tomorrow. They tell Tabitha to not get her hopes up, but that’s already happened.

Hey, guess what?!! While typing this, we got news from the doctor that his levels are down from 12.3 to 9.3!! They plan to leave the blue blanket on him until 6:00pm tonight and if his levels continue to do well, we will com home tomorrow morning at 8:00.

I’m putting more pictures below. I love the blue blanket pics. I think the last one would make a great album cover! We could name the band “Baby Alien.” Not sure the kind of music, but the cover would be cool.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

Robert Is In Huntsville

Well, things went well with little Robert for the first few hours, and most of you know he had to come to Huntsville Neo-Natal Intensive Care.

His breathing was the issue. They thought at first that he might have a Pneumothorax. That is a fancy word for a hole in the lung. Once he arrived at Huntsville, that diagnosis was almost immediately dismissed by the doctors.

They think now that his lungs were just not quite as developed as they needed to be. Since being here, however, he’s not been on any oxygen and has been doing well on room air. He took his first bottle since arriving here today. He is having to learn how to breathe when he eats. Right now he will suck his bottle and turn red before he will just stop and breathe. We have to remove the bottle and allow him to catch his breath and then let him eat some more. In other words he’s a lot like his papa. He’d rather eat than breathe.

I’m including some more pics showing his preparation for his trip to Huntsville. They really strap them in for that trip.

Robert Thomas is Here!

First Smile

First Pic With Mom and Dad

Bright Eyed and Ready to Go!

Weighing in at just seven pounds even, Robert Thomas Holcombe entered into this world today at 1:48PM surrounded by family and friends. Tabitha did great and so did the little one. I hope to have more pics later, but due to an email failure, these are all I have tonight.

I cannot tell you the emotions that have flooded my heart today. Being a grandfather is pretty awesome to say the least. As some of you have said, this is a brand new chapter in our lives that looks to be a joyous time.

I thought about my dad today and just wished that somehow he could be here with us. He would have an absolute fit (in the south is a good thing). I would like to think that somehow God would let him in on this. No matter what, he will get to see him one day as we are all gathered together again.

I’ll probably have some more to write about soon I’m sure. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support for Tabitha and Thomas.

Robert Thomas Is On His Way Today

I hope this is the first of two blogs today.  It looks like Robert will be coming into this world today.

About 3am this morning I was awaken to Ellen and Tabitha getting ready to go to the hospital.  Tabitha has had these “false alarms” before, so I stayed at home until the final word would come.  About 6am Ellen called and said, “Well, Papa, it looks like we are going to be staying.”  Please say a special prayer for Tabitha.  Ellen informed me that Robert is “face up,” which means more back labor and a possibility that the epidural won’t be effective.

I will keep you informed later this evening.

“I Really Miss You”

Tonight we went to the Muscle Shoals Drum Line expo. They have this event once a year. Drumlines from all over our area come together and set up in a huge circle. The audience gets in the middle of the circle to watch each group. There are some really great groups who come.

The cool thing about this event is that there is no competition. The lines just play there warm up drills, cadence, and their show music. They all cheer for each other and there is a feeling of family in the air. Without the competition everyone is together in an elite group.

I really miss my kids not being a part of the band. It’s something that was an intricate part of our lives for almost eight years. Now it’s a thing of the past and it really is tough to think about sometimes.

One of the little girls who is still in the drumline came up to me tonight and smiled and said, “I really miss you Mr. Davis.” It brought a tear to my eye. To know that someone misses me is a great feeling. She has no clue how much she encouraged me.

I take that as a lesson. When you feel like there is an encouraging word, don’t hesitate to express it. You never know when that is God prompting you to say something that will change a person’s life.

A Word From the Lord Part 2

It might help to give everyone an update on just where I am right now.  At least as much as I know about where I am.  It’s funny how little I know about that subject at this moment in time.

A quick (and I mean really quick) history of the last 9 or so weeks.  Most of you who know  me at all know that I’m, at the moment, not employed with a church.  It’s the first time since about 1984 in which that has been the case.  That in itself is a long story that I chose not to put in writing.  I choose that because so much of it can be misunderstood.  I’m still not sure I understand all of it myself.  I will say this that I’ve come to grips with the fact that some things are just totally out of our control.  It really doesn’t matter what “side” you find yourself in church struggles, many times we just can’t control things.  I do know this–God can take things that are even out of His will and make something beautiful out of it.  If I didn’t believe that, I guess I would be crazy right now.

Anyway, since leaving the paid staff position at a church, I have had to think about where I stand in this world.  I kind of always thought I’d be a part of a church in a “ministry  position” and that still may be in my future.  I don’t think that God has worked on me and my family through all of this to leave us and let us fend for ourselves.  I feel that I’m being shaped for something else in the ministry world.  I don’t have a clue as to what that looks like, but I feel it strongly.

For the time being, I’m working at Gold’s Gym in Florence.  People say, “How’d you end up there?”  I usually say, “I saw a sign.”  That is literally true.  I was driving down Cox Creek Parkway and there it was in big letters, “NOW HIRING IN SALES.”  Couldn’t resist that one. LOL.  For the past 8 weeks or so, I’ve been doing that work to help pay the bills.  It’s not as much money as I would like, but in this economy, I’m just proud to be working.  I have, by God’s graces, been very successful so far.  The general manager introduced me to a new salesman last week as, “the best salesperson Gold’s has ever had.”  That was nice to hear.  I don’t say that here to toot my own horn, but to say that God is still blessing us.  To Him be the glory.

As I said earlier, I’m still trying to find my way through this time.  Each week brings on new challenges, successes, and struggles.  I’ve done so much “ministry” since being there.  It’s almost like God has opened a door to help me learn some things about our community from a new perspective.  I will say this that we, as preachers, are really sheltered from the “real world” much more than I had already thought.

While seeking what it is He is trying to “say” to me, I experienced something that was really strange to me.  I don’t know why this would be strange to me except for the things I’ve been taught about this kind of thing.  It was a “word from the Lord.”  Now, let me say quickly, I wasn’t looking for this kind of thing and it was totally a shock to me.  It wasn’t some blast from the sky or loud verbal thing, but it was definitely clear and understandable.  The words I heard in a soft verbal tone were, “Bring Them Together.”

Here’s even more of the story.  God sent a confirmation to me about this through an individual who knew absolutely nothing about those words.  The words came to me on a Friday, I believe, and at that time, only my wife knew that I’d heard this.  My friend came to me after our Tuesday night Bible study and said, “I don’t know why I’m supposed to tell you this, but I need to tell you something.”  I asked, “What is it?”  He said, “I believe that you have been brought to this time in your life to bring unity to the Christians in the Shoals area.”

The next morning in Bible study with a couple of friends, we continued our study of  Ephesians.  Here is the verse that I centered my thoughts on the night before (after hearing the words of my friend Kevin), (Ephesians 3:6 NCV)  “This is that secret: that through the Good News those who are not Jews will share with the Jews in God’s blessing. They belong to the same body, and they share together in the promise that God made in Christ Jesus.” That whole book mentions the “mystery” of Jesus bringing together Jew and Gentile through the good news.

I don’t know about you, but all of this brings about so much emotion.  I asked my friend Joe, “What do I do with all of this?”  His advise (which I’ve taken) is to just wait and see.  His words were, “We’re so task oriented that we think that we are supposed to hurry and ‘do’ something.  Why don’t you wait on God?”

That’s where I am.  I don’t expect that God has made me to simply sell gym memberships, even though I’m ok with that if that is the case.  I just pray that there’s something more than that.

I ask you to pray about this and also to give me what’s on your heart about it.  I’m OK with your discomfort about it.  God knows that I really don’t know what to do with it myself.  I just wait.

A “Word From The Lord”

I hear quite often people say, “I heard a word from the Lord.”  I’ve often wondered what they meant by that.  Was it verbal, a prompting, a nudging?  Was it something they read or saw on TV?  Could it have been on a billboard?  Could it have been a little bit of “all of the above?”  I wonder.  Could some people be “faking” these words from the Lord?  Does God respect others when He allows it to happen to some and not to others?

It’s all very disconcerting for me.  I don’t know if my background won’t allow it or if my lack of experience with it just won’t allow me to believe it.  I do believe that God spoke verbally to people throughout scripture and history.  There’s just way too much evidence in some lives to prove that.  I also don’t believe that God’s Spirit died after the apostles did.  I believe that God has every right to be just as powerful and working today as He did long ago.

All that being said, I want to ask you.  Have you ever heard a “word from the Lord?”  If so, how so?  If not, why not?  I’ll have more to add to this later.

A SIDE NOTE:  Thanks Judy for nudging me back into this blogging thing again.  I appreciate your heart.  Can I get an amen from the blog family?

Half Way To Ninety

Well, if I live as long as I have already, I’ll be ninety years old.  It’s just really weird to think of it that way.

So far in my life, I’ve been blessed to do so many amazing things.  I’ve experienced high school days that were let’s just say, less than spiritually impressive, but exciting nonetheless.  We should have been dead many times, but for some reason our families were spared the nightmare of hearing about a car crash or drug overdose.  Those were the good old days for me.  It was a time of very little responsibility, and lots more freedom than I deserved.

Some of my favorite memories of high school surrounded music.  I played in the marching band which was so much fun.  I also played music with a bunch of guys.  We played rock and roll and were pretty good for the time.  It was our life.  We were either in school, working, playing music or on our way to play music.  It was the best of times.

I’ve experienced family.  Growing up in a great (not perfect) family was a real blessing.  Mom and dad were not that well off financially, but I never remember missing a meal.  We always had nice clothes to wear, something in the way of transportation, and a roof over our head.  Christmas and Thanksgiving were always filled with family gatherings.   Most of the time there was lots of sports, food, and fun in the mix.  Someone always brought a football or some backyard fun.  Food would be everywhere and it was all delicious.  I was very blessed with many great cooks in my life.

I’ve experienced marriage and family of my own.  I could not have done better than Ellen for a bride.  Nearly 26 years ago we tied the knot and boy did Brother Kretzer tie a good one.  Together we have born 4 wonderful kids (Well, Ellen did most of the work there).  We have been so close for so many years and all of them have been awesome.

I’ve experienced ministry.  Right now is a painful time in that aspect of my life, but I know that God is watching over me in it.  We’ve had tough times before and He carried us through.  I know He’ll do that again.  The majority of the time I’ve spent in ministry has been with young people.  I’ll have to say that the majority of the time I’ve spent in ministry has been great.  The good certainly has outweighed the bad.  I feel one thing very strongly in my heart.  I will be back one day.  I don’t know the details right now, but I feel God working on my life already.

Being in this mid-life has it’s ups and downs.  I sometimes get life on my mind and think, “What a wonderful experience!” and other times, I think, “When is this all going to be over?”  No matter what, I just think that is a part of this whole journey.  The ups and down’s of this life are many, but we can learn something in all of it.

There are some things that I really want to accomplish in this life before it’s over.  I started to list some of them, but I know that some of them will just make people wonder which planet I’m from.  I can hear all the objects or questions now.  So, I’ll just keep those accomplishments to myself.  Just know that I don’t consider it all done yet.

Thanks for reading the thoughts of this middle-aged, average, man.  In some respects, your reading this is more honoring and a blessing that I can’t describe.   Thanks, and may all your days ahead be filled with God’s blessings.