Juggling skills

Several of my boys, especially Addison, like to go through our house picking up things to juggle. That's not necessarily so bad until they start picking up apples, oranges, and other food items that don't really need to get dropped on the floor. I will say, Addison is getting pretty good and seldom drops anything anymore, but I'm encouraging him to go ahead and pursue college and not join the circus just yet!

If you are a fan of juggling (or at least semi-interested in something cool and want to see an incredible juggling display) check out this guy. It's freaky good!

http://marketplace.espeakers.com/movie.php?sid=5290&aid=10558

picking up fruit,
Burt

Merge

Is there anything more frustrating than to pull in behind a driver who has no earthly clue what the "merge lane" is designed for? He'll come to a complete stop, waiting to pull out into the fast lane of traffic, totally ignoring the wide open merge lane in front of him, thus causing traffic to back up behind him.

Many of us Christians live our lives the same way - we want immediate access into the normal flow of life, and when it's not there we freeze and simply do nothing until the opportunity presents itself for full-speed ministry, and people back up behind us, themselves unable to proceed because of our inaction.

God graciously gives us "merge lanes" in life. We're not always ready for life at full speed and God gives us the time, space, and momentum to get up to speed. How does He do it? Typically in ways that involve some pain, discomfort, inconvenience, suffering, and humiliation. (No wonder we stop and want to simply jump into the flow of traffic!)

I think of folks like the Jennings and Donahoos who are at various stages in their quest to get on the mission field. Of course they'd love to be there today . . . but God has given them some time to prepare. Can He be trusted? Yes!

Truthfully, the Gospel itself is our merge lane. Only in the Gospel can we find Christ to be sufficient enough to give us the patience and power to "wait upon the Lord." Only the Gospel provides the momentum that can propel us into a fast paced life that demands sacrifice, forgiveness, and love. Only the Gospel allows us to continue in ministry even when we're not sure about the future and what it holds. Only the Gospel enables us to care about the other folks around us and their various ministries.

merging into the fast lane of life,
Burt

a "Must Buy"

When I really want to hear the Gospel preached I'll round up a Tim Keller or Steve Brown message. Guaranteed to be impacted by grace.

When I really want to hear the Gospel in a song, I'm not sure there's anyone better right now than Derek Webb. If you're not familiar with him you should be. If you don't have his latest recording, "Mockingbird," you need to get it ... I mean today!

singing the Gospel with Derek,
Burt

Our Defender

We have some new neighbors that just moved. Really nice folks, have children, and also a dog! As our kids were playing with their kids a few days ago their dog saw the activity and wanted to get involved. Well, White Fang (the dog who adopted us as his family) didn't know this other dog and took offense to his interest in the Boykin kids. So White Fang ran up, positioned himself between this other dog and our kids, and sought to protect his family - even to the point of having to fight this other dog!

Too often when we think of God as our King we only think of His rules and authority and how we must submit, somehow feeling it's oppressive. But truly, as our King, God is our defender - He positions Himself between us and our enemies, He will protect us! This is a great comfort for me and all God's children.

btw, I think White Fang and our neighbor have become acquainted and there shouldn't be any more dog fights!

feeling safe and secure,
Burt

Worship is a Funny Thing

I don't mean that worship is to be funny, or that there is anything trivial about worship, or even that worship is to be entertaining, but culturally we are funny people when it comes to worship. This was evidenced here at Community yesterday when we went long in worship - probably about 20 minutes past the magical 12:00 noon time! Our guest speaker, Bill Nikides (who I adore and thought he seriously and rightly challenged us with the Gospel) went long in his message although it was evident he did it knowing what time it was, knowing we had communion to follow, and he did it without apology. It mustn't be overlooked that his topic was "the persecuted church."

The "funny" part of this story is how about 1/4 of the congregation simply got up and started leaving at the conclusion of my prayer after communion. No closing hymn, no benediction, no anything else . . . at my "amen" several folks just started toward the doors! Stokes and Adam were playing and about to start singing the closing hymn and the look on their faces was priceless! I said to them, "just let 'em go."

Now I really don't believe people were leaving then in protest (certainly I don't want to believe that). My guess is that some people's automatic alarm just went off and when they heard an "amen" from the preacher they assumed it was time to dismiss. Surely we would not have just heard a message of genuine and intense persecution of Christians around the world and felt like our 20 minutes extra in worship was anything remotely resembling "suffering." Surely we would not have just eaten at the Lord's Table, enjoying Christ's presence and grace, and then responded in frustration and annoyance.

Again, I do believe the incident yesterday was just a conditioned response we have in our culture to what we "believe" worship should be.

Something else worth noting is that we as Americans/westerners are the ONLY culture that watches the clock so intensely in our worship. Could there be any connection with this and the fact that the church seems to be booming in other cultures and NOT ours?

waiting on the closing hymn,
Burt