LP's LampPost

 My last few posts have been related to something I preached the morning before the post.  This one is only kind of related but if you've been missing watching our services (or, dare I think it, me preaching) you can find yesterday's celebration here.   This post is about humility which you may wonder if I know anything about. I hear it a lot in athletes who have recently broken records or who have joined some group of amazing older athletes by doing "x."  It seems that one of the rehearsed lines is that such an honor or to be mentioned with such a group of athletes is "humbling."  It always sounds a little odd.  To be fair, I have no idea what I would say in such setting.  I am in no danger of being included in any list of prestigious athletes.  I'm not sure what kind of records are kept for preaching but I'm not likely to make those lists either.  As I have given it some thought, though, honors and those lists are not humbling.  They a...

 Yesterday, we started talking about what we, as the church, do.  Namely, Jesus gave us the mission of making disciples.  Though we didn't talk about it directly, we need to remember that we are disciples if we are going to successfully make disciples.  You can check out the message here  and see the outline of stages of spiritual growth that we used to think about what marks spiritual maturity.  As I said in the message, the specific stages and characteristics do not come from a specific passage in the Bible.  Rather, they are a system developed by Jim Putman and others from the New Testament as a whole. I believe the hardest part of using this outline, or any other for that matter, is accurately evaluating our own level of spiritual maturity.  A word of warning here: we must ask questions from time to time and consider how we have grown, are growing, and need to grow but we can easily get lost in self-examination and miss many opportunities we h...

This might turn into a regular thing!  Those few of you who have followed my blogging habits over the years already know that consistency has been an issue.  Yesterday I preached on the Church being an army sent out and empowered by God.  I was pretty clear that our objective was not taking over land, culture, or government but, if you're concerned, you can check the whole thing out here.   The thought that Jesus' army cannot lose has caused me some further thought. What does winning and losing look like?  Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church.  This led to my statement of invincibility for the church as a whole.  Individual members are vulnerable to Satan's attacks but the Church is sustained by and empowered by God.  As such, our ultimate victory is already secured.  Jesus wins.  Satan is defeated.  We will live forever with God.  When we think of casualties in war, we think of soldiers wounde...

 As with most Sundays now, I got to preach yesterday.  In a series on the Church, I took up the image of the vine and the branches from John 15.  If you're looking for extra credit, or even just curious, you can check it out here .  There seems to always be more to say and today it occurred to me that I could write it down and share it.  You might forgive me for forgetting.  It would appear that my last post was a day or two before the 2016 presidential election! Back to pruning.  In the sermon, I called attention to the fact that the passage says that God prunes every branch that produces fruit (every Christian) but I didn't have much time to explain what that looks like.  Three areas of pruning jump to mind: sin, pursuits that steal our attention from God, and good and godly things that distract us from God's main purpose for us. Sin.  Our base nature is selfish.  I want what I want and I want it now.  This will always draw us awa...

Election day is looming which means that about half the ads on TV are about what how horrible political opponents are and what each candidate will do to change what the "other side" has messed up so badly.  Usually, these come in pairs that oppose each other.  While I wouldn't trade our system of government for anywhere in the world, it sure makes me want to keep my finger on the mute button for the next few days.  Of course, the follow up will start next Wednesday or the day after inauguration, at the latest:  the near-constant game of pointing out what (insert elected official here) is doing to mess up the country/state/city and what they should do differently. Before, I devolve into complete cynicism or completely contradict the point of this post, I should point out that most groups are pretty good at this game regardless of political involvement.  We are all adept at figuring out what "they" need to change to make things better.  Poor people need to ...

"Membership has it's privileges."  So says American Express and such is usually the case.  Being a member carries a sense of belonging and acceptance into the group if nothing else.  In fact, some groups get members by way of the privileges.  AmEx, AAA, country clubs, and timeshares convince us to pay a fee just to receive the privileges that membership provides.  Other groups are composed of people who join up to support a cause and the benefits are just a consequence of that, they are not the reason people join.  Still others are more like fan groups, the group come together to extol the virtues of a particular person or thing.  For these, membership is about shared love.  Membership might lead to a shared cause if the object of adoration champions a particular effort but this is a secondary item; certain group members might take it up while others do not. Not so long ago in the U.S., church membership carried a certain amount of the first kin...

Have you been following Izaic Yorks?  Yeah, me neither.  Not being a big fan of NCAA track & field I had no idea who this young man was until I heard about him on the radio.  Seems Mr. Yorks ran the fastest mile ever by an American collegian in a recent meet.  At just under 3:54, Izaic ran a mile at about the speed I bike a mile.  The real surprise, however, is that he did not run the mile at the NCAA championships which he qualified for.  Why not, you ask?  You can read about it here , but the upshot is that he had already committed to running the Distance Medley Relay with three of his teammates.  The qualifying heat for the mile is right before the DMR so Izaic had to choose which one to run.  Running the mile would effectively ruin their chances to win the DMR.  Izaic had promised his teammates he would run the relay and he evidenced no hesitation in keeping his word. Now here's the thing, his teammates, his coach, and everyo...

"Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no  importance, and, if true, of infinite importance."  So says C.S. Lewis in the essay, "Christian Apologetics" in the collection God In The Dock .  In terms of western culture this is definitely arguable (as done by a Lewis critic here ), but this is not, I think, Lewis's point.  In terms of what Christianity says about ultimate reality, it is either true or false.  This is true of every religious and philosophical system.  The consequences are pretty dramatic in any of the major world religions.  This has caused many to reject the whole lot.  Others say that they are all basically true but not exclusive.  (I think this position is really saying that they are all equally false, but that's a different post!)  For the last couple of posts, I have illustrated Christian belief with the obvious-to-everyone force of gravity.  No doubt, to folks who do not share my convictions about Jes...

Imagine a child born on the international space station.  As much as gravity is a part of every second of our existence, it is completely alien to him.  Every day he floats through the space he inhabits.  Everything he lets go of continues in whatever direction it was going until acted on by some other force.  Among other effects, his hip joints (our familiar ball and socket) have formed very slowly because of the lack of pressure from crawling and walking as an infant and toddler.  He had to intentionally exercise with resistance bands from the time he could be taught or tricked into doing so.  This child is now of an age where the beginnings of physics can be explained and, of course, one of the fundamental forces governing our universe is gravity.  How would you explain it? That part is actually pretty easy.  One equation with a constant and 3 variables is all it takes.  The idea is reasonably easy, but then how would you convince him it...

Have you ever thought of the benefits of gravity?  When I set something down, it stays there.  As a parent, I love this.  I would never be justified in saying, "It's probably where you left it" if not for gravity.  Gravity makes staying in shape much easier.  Built in resistance is something we take for granted but most of us have heard of the muscle atrophy experienced by astronauts due to living in weightlessness.  Gravity keeps water in my glass at supper and holds the atmosphere around earth like a blanket.  Oh yeah, it also keeps the blankets on me while I sleep and keeps me on the bed without restraints.  Certainly, there are some frustrations with gravity.  I'm not crazy about falling when I'm clumsy or when winter brings icy conditions.  I have some older friends who suggest gravity is not always an aid to the physique.  On the whole, however, it's pretty hard to argue that gravity is anything other than an overwhelming posi...

How do you know what you don't know?  Now that's a ridiculous sounding statement, how can you know something and not know it at the same time.  Short answer, you can't unless you are a martial arts master from some of those old movies.  "You knew without knowing, that is the secret!" That is not what I mean.  Think of a blind spot in your driving.  You can't see in your blind spot (I think that's why we call it that!), but you must be aware of where it is.  If you change lanes without looking over your shoulder, you've just followed a recipe for putting some new paint on your car.  Knowing what you don't know means knowing where my knowledge is deficient. The lack of awareness of my knowledge "blind spots" can lead to much worse than a little fender bender.  The most common occurrence of this phenomenon in my life is with other people.  I am completely aware that I don't know what makes my phone or computer lock up when I most need ...

The last few days have caused me to think harder than usual.  I have received both praise and push back related to my last post and, if I expected one and not the other, shame on me.  This weekend I spent a great deal of time helping decorate our house, watching my Tigers lose the SEC championship game, and preparing for the great privilege and responsibility of preaching to the congregation that meets at Union Hill Baptist Church.  To be honest, I began preparing the morning sermon looking for something to say about Ferguson.  Indeed, to see if God had something to say about Ferguson.  I'm sure He does but that is not where this week's message ended up.  From that message, the events in Ferguson, the video and grand jury proceedings in NYC, and the discussion of my last post, I have a few more thoughts that have risen to the top. The main point of the Sunday morning sermon was that God said at least three things in coming to earth as the Baby Jesus ("M...

I attended the NAACP rally for Michael Brown at the Missouri Capitol this afternoon.  I wanted to hear what the protestors had to say and, if I could, to understand something of where they were coming from.  I wanted to record some of my thougths mostly to help me organize them and process what I saw and heard.  I put it on this blog because I'm foolish enough to think someone else might be interested in them also. What else are blogs for?! This was an NAACP rally and, apparently, that is who organized the march from Ferguson.  There were, however, clearly some in attendance who believed in the immediate cause, justice in the Michael Brown case, but who disagreed with the platform speakers (the chairman of the board and the national president for the NAACP among others) about what needed to be done and what channels should be used.  The goals articulated by the NAACP president were to have a special prosecutor appointed to this case and to end racial profilin...

"Love the sinner, hate the sin."  This is probably one of the most popular phrases in church life, particularly when we are talking about interacting with our society and/or culture.  It sounds good from inside the church.  I suspect it sounds meaningless or, worse, like a cop out from the outside.  I was recently listening to a Focus on the Family broadcast which inspired me to rethink this concept.  You can find the broadcast here  and you can skip to the 14 minute mark if you want to hear what caught my attention. What if we (Christians) were required to demonstrate our love for the sinner before we could say anything about our hate of the sin?  I'm thinking of Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar when he could not tell a lie.  How often would I be rendered mute if I were physically prevented from speaking against a particular sin before I had actually loved someone guilty of the sin I am ready to rail against?  How would this change my behavior...

I have the great privilege of serving as associate pastor at Union Hill Baptist Church.  I get to preach there quite bit and yesterday I had more sermon than I could get preached!  This blog post is, in part, a continuation of that sermon.  You can listen to the whole thing here  (the sermon starts at 13:20) but I'll give you a quick summary.  Many of us are guilty of evaluating our marriage based on our own happiness.  We can be guilty of considering our spouse's happiness only as it affects our own happiness and we only occasionally consider how God is glorified in our marriage.  To be fair, this last criteria is only a reasonable expectation for Christians but that's who I want to talk to for a minute. God's glory and others' benefit is the primary filter that all our actions should run through to determine whether or not they are good or right.  It is easy, however, to fall into the trap of calling whatever makes me happy good.  Nearly ...

I am reading You Lost Me by David Kinnaman.  This book is a report on research into the "dropout problem" among young adults in Christian churches in America and some prescriptive thoughts for reaching these dropouts and reorienting our churches around the gospel.  It is a challenging read for a church leader and long-time follower of Jesus like myself.  One of the later chapters has especially spurred my thoughts recently.  The chapter is simply titled "Doubt." Doubt is an interesting phenomenon in the life of a follower of Jesus or even in the life of someone who is considering following Jesus.  We spend a great deal of time as preachers and teachers encouraging people to trust God and "exercise" their faith.  All of this encouragement can, and should, be used to deal with our doubts.  It is my experience, however, that we almost never address doubt directly and I spend a lot of time preaching and teaching.  By contrast, I've said and heard s...

Folks who have known me for a while have probably heard me carry on about the "r-word" at some point.  I had no idea that my personal carrying on had a national campaign.  Today is designated as the annual day of awareness for using (or not using) "retarded."  You can learn more at r-word.org (their site is very slow, maybe just today) and I encourage you to check it out.  This is personal to me as I have a 14-year-old son with Cerebral Palsy and severe Developmental Delay.  He is an individual with an intellectual disability.  Retardation is a literal description of a medical condition.  It has come to be used as an insult or joke.  I appreciate you considering eliminating it from your vocabulary.  If you really want to go above and beyond, pay attention to how you use "special" as well.

I was sent an email from a friend last week that contained the story of a football game between Gainesville State High School and Faith Christian High School in Texas.  I have seen several great stories of compassion in the sports world but I'm not sure any of them tops this one.  I encourage you to take about 5 minutes and watch the news story here . Considering that story, I have a few questions. Which side of the ball are you on?  If you feel like you are on the Gainesville State side where no one cheers for you, I would like to tell you something about Christmas.  The baby in the manger was God in the flesh.  One of the overwhelming messages of the life of Jesus is that God is for you.  He knows your name and really wants the best for you.  More than just dividing His fans in half, God Himself chose to break into our world to rescue us from our past mistakes and give us a future.  Like the boys in Gainseville State School, we have to make ...

I serve as a pastor.  I lead our youth group.  I parent 3 children.  I think a lot about how to communicate principles for decision making that are not just "when A happens, you pick B."  At least, I should think a lot about it!  I was up late last night as a result of these kinds of thoughts.  We all are exposed to different environments, saddled with different challenges, and face different choices.  What rules or guidelines will help all of us make the right choice all the time?  Even if I won't choose the right thing all the time, could I at least get some help in knowing what the right thing is? It's tempting here to say something like, "Well just do what the Bible says all the time" or, "Just ask WWJD?"  Here's the problem, I have read the Bible all the way through a couple of times and I haven't found a verse that gives me the script to correct a sensitive child's behavior in a way that let's him know the gravity of the er...

As a child, the brick house on the hill. Moniteau County, Walker Township. On the farm, outside of McGirk (where?!) Not so much the house as the land. Teenager: two girls occupy our home, too. Foster kids, is this home for them? One returns to her home. One stays through college. Still, is this home for her?  Hard to tell. College: "On my own!"  Cool! . . . Not home though. I go "home" on weekends and for summers. A thought is peeking through the clouds, Maybe I was wrong as a child. Maybe home is not the house or the land. Sure feels like home to see Mom and Dad (and Brother?) Her:  Things have changed! On top of the world, looking at spectacular, I want to show . . . her. Why her?  Hmmm. The question.  She said yes! Yep, I was wrong as a child. We make home, she and I. Home is the people not the place. The place is nice, filled with memories (laundry, too). If the people move, so do I. The place becomes a memory. Home moves wi...