Leadership Lessons From The Gipper

Every young pastor has mentors, and I had some very good ones when I was younger. But, in retrospect, I also had a few who weren’t so good. Several leading pastors in our denomination taught that the pastor is God’s vice-regent. It’s the pastor who communes with God and learns what the church must do, they counseled, and then it’s the church’s task to humbly follow the pastor’s directives.

I became a pastor at age 21 while a college student. I arrived at my first church, albeit a part-time position, with enthusiasm, believing everyone would follow my leadership. I soon discovered though they were a sweet bunch of folks and very encouraging, I wasn’t the leader of the church—Ed was. Whatever Ed suggested was “gospel” and the congregation agreed. I regret to admit that I began to see Ed as my adversary since he was the leader and I wasn’t.

My second church was out-of-state while a student in Kentucky, and, again, I wasn’t the leader—Rachel was. And in my first church after graduating from theological school I discovered Joe was the leader, not me.

It began to dawn on me I’d found a pattern!

Leadership consultant John Maxwell later helped me understand this with his Claude story. Claude was the leader in Maxwell’s first church, and Maxwell learned to consult with Claude and try to sell ideas to him. Then Claude would take the ideas to the people and, of course, they agreed and committed to the plan. Maxwell coined the term “influencer,” and he  believes every church has at least one influencer who has earned respect through wisdom and faithfulness. Sensible pastors partner with the influencers, he says, rather than fight them.

I wish I’d heard the “Claude” story earlier; I think it would’ve saved me some grief. I should’ve tried harder to be better friends with Ed and Rachel and Joe and partnered with them to advance the cause of Christ. I probably could’ve done so in most cases.

President Reagan kept a sign on his Oval Office desk. It read: “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” Reagan is right. What difference does it matter who the leader is if the work goes forward?

I didn’t get to make amends with Ed and Rachel since they passed on years ago. I did talk with Joe and apologized for being young and foolish. He was gracious.

It’s important for us to grow in relationship skills with brothers and sisters in the faith since working with others is a major part of what we do as the church.

A Theology Of Losing

A few Saturdays ago I sat in a local school gym watching my 12-year-old grandson play basketball. A lady behind us had a son on the other team, apparently. She was very obnoxious in the way she yelled out during the game. Her team won. As we left, I jokingly asked my son-in-law which of us needed to slap her.

I almost did this many years ago when my son was playing high school football. He was quarterback that day and a lady kept yelling for her team to “get him,” “knock him down” and “kill him.” It was all I could do to restrain myself and at least not offer a tongue-lashing.

Obviously, some folks take children’s sports very seriously, not remembering all players on the field are boys and girls as important as their own children.

But it’s true that many adults take sports quite seriously, too.

A pastor I know always gave an exhortation on the Sunday before Alabama’s Iron Bowl game. He told the congregation that half of them would be disappointed the next weekend, but they needed to remember it was just a game and must respect those with other loyalties. I was so impressed by this, though I graduated from one of those schools, that I’ve spoken this exhortation most years myself.

Another bothersome thing is our theology of winning. How often do we see a player having a good game, scoring a touchdown or hitting one out of the park and then thanking God for this victory? Whereas we’re to honor God in all things, does this mean that the losing team experiences God’s disfavor? Is God always on the side of winners? Doesn’t he have compassion for everyone whether we win or lose?

The late Yankees great Yogi Berra was coaching third base one day when he saw a player kneel before entering the batter’s box, and another player make the sign of the cross.

“Hey, why don’t you guys leave God alone and let him watch the game?” he shouted!

I’m convinced we need a theology of losing, for sometimes we lose. People of faith don’t always win, and people of character don’t always excel. And sometimes we learn valuable lessons by losing.

We should respect all who subject themselves to the rigors of competition. President Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is better to try great things, even at the risk of failure, then to know neither victory nor defeat.” There’s honor in striving. Athletics is supposed to teach us how to reach beyond our limits, how to work as a team and how to be gracious whatever the outcome.

God, the master teacher, has lessons for us in winning and losing.

A New Year in God's Word

It’s always interesting to note the celebrities we lost in the last year, and 2018 witnessed the passing of several. These include evangelist Billy Graham, President Bush 41, Sen. John McCain, journalist Charles Krauthammer and musicians Roy Clark and preacher’s daughter Aretha Franklin who taught us how to spell r-e-s-p-e-c-t!

These deaths remind us of those who made an impact with their lives and remind us of our own mortality.

One way we can brush up our influence is to resolve to be better in the new year. About half of American adults make resolutions, but most are broken in a few months. For believers, a better way is the covenant. People of faith made covenants to the Lord throughout biblical history. The difference is the covenant is a faith-promise that asks for God’s help in making it happen. A covenant is seen as a binding relationship of dependence on God.

A worthy covenant is to promise to spend time in scripture. Three things may be helpful.

First, begin with a readable translation, of which there are many available at bookstores. Several websites offer electronic copies of the Bible with 30 or more translations. Even our friends the Gideons who have placed Bibles in many places have online scripture now!

Second, make a plan. Unless we schedule time for them, many good intentions fall aside. Some call a scripture-reading appointment a “quiet time,” and this is a good descriptor. In our busy and often noisy world, a time of quiet to commune with God is welcomed. Most denominations offer devotional guides or suggested daily readings. One plan, “Reading The Bible Through,” asserts that reading three chapters each day will take us through the scripture in one year. Many like to keep a prayer list or prayer journal with them during Bible reading.

Third, consider technology. Several websites have apps that can be downloaded to one’s phone for reading. One site I’m familiar with has daily reading suggestions. Another site allows one to download audible copies of scripture. This way we can hear the word of God while driving or working. This method is probably closer to what the personalities of the Bible did since copies of scripture were rare in those days. This is why the Bible doesn’t exhort us to “read” the word of God but to “hear” the word of God (James 1:22).

President Nixon worshipped at the First Baptist Church in Moscow while visiting Russia in the 70s and found one full hour was devoted to the reading of scripture since most worshippers didn’t own Bibl

We can be sure God will be pleased to help us with a covenant promise to read and obey his word.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

The Roman goddess Janus had two faces; with one he looked behind and with the other he looked forward. How fitting that the first month in the year is named for him. January is a time we evaluate what we have experienced and make plans about what we want to experience.

Looking back, we see a mixture of success and failure, prosperity and want, good choices and bad. We all experience bad things because that’s how life is. People we love get hurt or grow sick. And sometimes we get hurt or grow sick. As a friend of mine says, all it takes is one microbe to change our lives forever. We most often don’t understand why bad things happen to good people.

But sometimes we face bad things in life because we choose them. Every Christian knows the struggle the Apostle Paul described in Romans 7: the evil I want to avoid, I do, and the good I seek to do, I don’t do. Believers know God is working in our lives to make us more saintly, but we also know our basic nature is disobedience to the Lord. For this reason, we rejoice that we have a God of mercy. He doesn’t give up, but instead continues to patiently work in us.

So, we begin the new year with praise for the good and repentance for the wrong. And we look forward to a new chapter called 2019.

One way we can ensure it will be a good year is to make new covenants with God. The Bible is filled with covenants. God’s people made promises to God and asked his help to make them reality. We do the same in the new year ahead.

We can promise to have daily time of Bible reading and prayer. Some call this a “quiet time,” and in our busy world we all need this. We can promise to love our church more and support her worship and study times and her ministries. Every Christian is gifted in some way to minister, and we find fulfillment in discovering and using our unique gifts in ministry to others. And we can promise to be more faithful to God in our finances, moving toward the biblical model of the tithe to honor him.

And we can promise to be loving servants toward others. We often see on the highways how some have such short fuses! The slightest impediment brings a rash of anger. As followers of Christ, we must treat others with kindness. We should ask God’s help as we try to grow in people skills. We become more Christlike when we consider the needs of others greater than our own (Philippians 2:3).

Christmas Means A Change In Circumstances

A little girl found herself in the church Christmas pageant and sang the assigned carol with gusto, though in error: “While shepherds washed their socks by night / all seated on the ground / the angel of the Lord came down / and glory shown around / and glory shown around."

Actually, the shepherds “watched their flocks by night”—an important job in ancient Israel. The sheep provided food and clothing for the people, but the shepherds were assigned the lowest social class in Hebrew society. Their work prevented the ritual washings and regular Sabbath observance required by the Old Testament law and Jewish tradition. 

It’s interesting that the Christmas angels first brought news of the messiah’s birth to these men—the least in that society. God wanted all the world to know that Christ came not just for the educated and esteemed wise men who were at the top of  “the most admired” list, but also for the poor and the powerless shepherds who didn’t make the list.

Everyone is significant in the kingdom of God.

Some scholars believe there was another divine rationale in this saga of the shepherds.

Jewish rabbis kept a written record called the Mishna. The Mishna states that the flocks for the temple sacrifices were kept near Bethlehem. These flocks were used constantly for religious observance and the ritual ensuring forgiveness of sin.

Could it be that these shepherds in Luke’s narrative were the ones who kept the flocks used for daily sacrifices in nearby Jerusalem?  If so, it’s significant that they learned of God’s perfect lamb who came to offer a sacrifice for sin not for a day, but once and for all time.

The lives of these shepherds were never the same again. The gospel writer recorded that they went everywhere telling everyone what they’d seen and heard. Men of the pasture became preachers.

And so it is with all who believe God and trust in the work of his son. Their lives are transformed.

Some years ago a South Carolina bureaucrat sent a letter to a food stamp recipient in that state. The letter read, “Dear Sir, I regret to inform you that your food stamp eligibility will cease on March 31 due to your death. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”

 The message of Christmas is that our creator God hasn’t left us to live lives of despair. He took the initiative and provided the one who brings an abundance of hope. With his help, you and I can have a significant and improved change in circumstances.

Do Not Be Afraid

I was a boy in suburban Birmingham when a man pounded on our door one night. We came to learn he was drunk and believed our house was his house. My dad was working overtime in the nearby steel mill, so I was the man of the house. My mother and sister were terrified. The man wouldn’t listen to us asking him to go away. Then he began to walk down the stairs to the basement entrance that I remember I failed to lock that night. I raced down the inside stairs and turned the lock just as he touched the outside doorknob. Then I ran out the front door to the retired police officer next door who came and held him at bay until the police arrived.

This intruder was so tipsy he probably wasn’t much of a threat, but we didn’t know it that frightful night.

I remember another boyhood fear. Pete, the neighborhood bully, somehow got me in his crosshairs. He never touched me, but he kept telling me what he was going to do to me.

My older brother, home from college one weekend, quoted FDR to me: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This may be where my love of presidential history came about!

The state highway department was in the process of buying our neighborhood to expand the interstate highway system, so we soon had to move, and I left Pete behind.

I’ve often wished I could see Pete again after all these years. I’ve watched every episode of “Walker, Texas Ranger” at least twice, and I believe I could defend myself!

Fear often makes its home in our lives. One website, phobialist.com, lists 530 phobias identified by psychology. Though some may sound a bit trivial, they nevertheless affect a percentage of the population.

It’s striking that an oft-repeated admonition of Christmas is “fear not.” An unnamed angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him “Fear not.” The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist, and the angel said, “Fear not.” Gabriel then told Mary, “Fear not.” And yet another unnamed angel came to the shepherds in Bethlehem’s fields to say, “Fear not.”

And in each of these four cases, the individuals heard the command not to be afraid, and they obediently did what God asked them to do.

 The message to modern believers is that our creator doesn’t want us to live in fear. He wants us to have faith in and obey the Christ of Christmas—the one whom Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, John, later called the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

On Getting Along With Others

My denomination invited me to write a series of three commentaries for Sunday School teachers to be used next year, and I was happy to complete the assignment a bit early and hit “send” last week. The editor said 90,000+ leaders will use this material. He said the Bible teachers range from college professors to truck drivers, and I was to write for the truckers! As I tell classroom students, the communicator’s task is to take  the complex and make it understandable, so I tried to do so.

Writing for truck drivers reminded me of an unpleasant episode many moons ago in the 90s. An editor asked me to write a lesson on stealing in a series on the Ten Commandments. As part of my assignment I gave some possible examples of stealing, including pilfering on the job, slacking in our work and cheating on taxes.

I also related a recent news account of a state official convicted of bribery. According to the story, this Department of Transportation employee alerted truckers when weigh stations were opened or closed. The implication was that drivers could overload their trucks when stations were closed. I suggested this might cause damage to the highways that are built and maintained by taxes, thus stealing from taxpayers.

Soon I got a call from a lady in Missouri. She asked if I were the writer of the lesson. I admitted so. Then she began to berate me for defaming her truck driver husband! At first I offered some defense. I told her my example was an actual news story published in our state. I also told her I wasn’t criticizing all truck drivers, of course, since the report didn’t reveal how many drivers were in this group. I told her I was truly sorry she was offended, and I was sure her husband was a man of integrity. But she wouldn’t be deterred. She was still seething when she ended the call.

This experience is as an example of someone whose mind was set in concrete and for whom an apology wasn’t effective. Very few of the interpersonal conflicts I’ve seen over the years are like this. I can remember only a handful of people as determined as she was not to be appeased. Most of the time people respond reasonably when we sincerely seek resolution.

A friend suggested to me that an apology needs only two sentences: “I’m sorry. It should not have happened.” Period. We inflame the situation when we add to this with “but you provoked me,” or “it wasn’t my fault.”

Getting along with others isn’t a goal we magically achieve one day. It’s a life-long learning process, and a Christian imperative.

Where Is God When It Hurts?

The ancient patriarch Job felt alone in his suffering. He said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! (Job 23: 2).

I’ve heard people echo Job’s lament over the years. “Where is God when I need him?” or “God doesn’t hear my prayers!” or “What did I do to deserve this?” We’re human and forsakenness is a common emotion in our humanity. “Nobody knows the sorrow I’ve seen,” the old spiritual says.

But we find an interesting take from apologist C. S. Lewis. He knew loss when his wife, Joy, died of cancer. In “A Grief Observed,” he wrote about his sorrow and his questioning of God. But he came to trust God once again and wrote some tantalizing words about pain: “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

The sufferings of life get our attention and make us see we’re not self-sufficient. We often feel so when things are going our way--when there’s health and money and all the attendant pleasures of life. But when we lose any of these things we’re reminded of our humanity and vulnerability to loss.

The apostle Paul knew pain as well. He called it a “thorn” in his body, but never explained what it was. My favorite theory is the stoning he received in Lystra where he was dragged out of the city and left for dead. Without emergency medical treatment we’re accustomed to, I can imagine he had internal organ damage and broken bones that never completely healed. Whatever his pain he cried out to God for its removal. It wasn’t removed, but he did get something from God: the promise of God’s presence and the promise of God’s grace.

This is why many faithful saints became so through suffering. Many of our hymn-writers wrote from personal pain, but also from the comfort they found in partnership with God. I’ve known many senior saints over the years who’ve wrestled with pain, but who, nonetheless, have developed an unshakeable confidence in the goodness of the Lord.

Scripture asserts that no one of us is truly forsaken despite our feelings that we are. The psalm writer said, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Some of our pain is explicable, for we make bad choices. But some is inexplicable this side of heaven. We’re promised an accounting one day. Until then, we’re exhorted to trust in the goodness of God and his ultimate plan of fulfillment in our lives.

The Grandparents' Lament

Our six-year-old grandson wanted us to take him to see the Grinch movie on Friday, and he spent the night afterwards. The rain on Friday stacked my weekend workload, so I needed to rake leaves and wax a car on Saturday before winter sets in. However, I only got the leaves in the front yard because Sims wanted me to play soccer with him. An old man shouldn’t play soccer, but it was fun. The stiffness I felt the next day was a reminder that this was a better choice of Saturday projects.

Then I began to feel what might be called “the grandparents’ lament.” Grandparents take time to sit in the floor and play with toy cars, read books or play soccer in the back yard. When we’re parents we often don’t do this as much. Why? There’s always the pressure of work—climbing the corporate ladder—and feeling we must do more than anyone else at the company.

A friend once pointed out another anomaly; more years at the company bring more vacation days, but we need the vacation days when our children are at home, not when they’re grown!

A pastor I know was wiser than me. He arranged with his church that his work would entail morning and evening. He went home in the middle of the day, picked his daughters up from school and helped them with their homework since his wife’s work schedule was more rigid. Now in his 80s, his relationship with his daughters is exemplary, unlike some pastor families I’ve known.

Another man told me about a running argument with his wife when their children were small. She wanted a showplace yard, but there were bare spots with no grass where the children played.

“I can always grow grass,” he told her, “but I can’t always grow children.”

I suppose every parent looks back with some regret wishing we’d not become exorcised over things that in retrospect look trivial or stayed at the office longer than needed. We’d be better parents if we could go back and try again. But we can’t turn back the hands of the clock. What we can do is gently teach our children to learn from our mistakes. And we can spend time with our grandchildren, let them know they’re loved and guide them to faith in God.

A young person professed faith recently. She told me she’d been reading her Bible and began to think about becoming a Christian. And she said her Bible was a gift from her grandmother.

We boomers can’t do much about our past misjudgments, but we can ask God in our senior years to make us loving encouragers to others.

Mercy Drops

A pastor friend used an interesting phrase in conversation to me. He told about a revival effort in his church and said until the last service they’d only had “mercy drops.” I asked what he meant, and he reminded me of the old hymn: “Mercy drops ‘round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.” Fortunately, the last night they got the “showers” when many people made life-changing commitments to the Lord.

I think his imagery is appropriate for much of what we do in the church. We labor long and hard to invite, minister and encourage and sometimes it seems our work is ineffective. And then without human explanation the Spirit of God works overtime and we see great things happen.

I’m convinced both “mercy drops” and “showers” are in God’s hands, and we must be faithful as the Apostle Paul said, “in season and out of season.” That is, we must continue to do God’s work whether there’s visible results or not.

The scripture includes two encouraging promises. One is that God’s word will be effective. The ancient prophet Isaiah shared a message from the Lord: “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). We may not see the effect of God’s word immediately, or for a season, but we’re promised it will touch and change lives. The Bible calls itself “inspired” or “God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). The God who used his Spirit to give us his word promises to send the same Spirit to touch hearts.

The second promise speaks to the value of God’s work. Again, Paul wrote, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Ray Boltz wrote “Thank You for Giving to the Lord” in 1988. He told of a man dreaming of heaven. There he met a man who said, “I became a Christian in your Sunday School class when I was a child. Thank you for giving to the Lord.” And then he met a man from another country. He said, “You heard a missionary and you gave money to support him. That’s the reason I’m here. Thank you for giving to the Lord.”

Maybe surprises we’ll one day discover in heaven are the mercy drops that don’t grab our attention in the way the showers do. But our task is to remain faithful to God and his work. It has eternal value.

Thank A Vet

Veterans Day is a time to honor men and women who spent time in the armed forces and who remain with us, unlike Memorial Day which is a time to remember those who aren’t. Our veterans should be honored. They want to share their stories with us, and we should listen.

War is always a troubling time for people of faith. We know God desires peace, and our savior is known as the prince of peace. But we also know that conflict is a reality in our fallen world. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine and others taught the “just war” theory, and this teaching has shaped our understanding as the church. We believe we must find a greater good above the carnage of war, such as preventing totalitarianism and slavery.

Our American founding fathers believed that God himself is the author of liberty and they unabashedly asked for his blessings as they fought for independence from Britain.

And historians tell us very convincing stories about the intervention of God. Young George Washington served under British Gen. Edward Braddock in 1755 during the French and Indian War. In a battle on July 9 in what is now the state of Pennsylvania, Washington had two horses shot from beneath him and sustained four separate bullet holes in his jacket. He, however, was unharmed, and went on to be the victorious general of the American Revolution and our first president.

Nevertheless, what should our response to war be?

First, we should work and pray for peace. Jesus said the peacemakers are children of God.

Second, we pray for our family and friends in the military. Most of our churches developed a prayer list of active duty military during the Gulf and Afghanistan Wars and prayed for these regularly.

Third, we honor our veterans in every way possible, lifting them up as genuine heroes.

A friend recommended the Ken Burns’ series, “The Vietnam War,” that aired on PBS, so I invested the time to view it. The series reminded me of a pivotal event of my generation. Several U.S. presidents wrestled with how to conduct this war, and how to conclude it. The anti-war movement was strong, and our country was divided. The series highlighted also how we failed to honor these brave soldiers when they returned home. We should’ve done better.

Memorial Day is a time of sadness. We remember men like my mother’s three brothers who served in World War II who are with us no longer. Veteran’s Day is a time of affirmation. We say “thank you” to the men and women who remain, and who devoted their lives to protect the rest of us.

What Do You Think?

College students can be irresponsible; a student was a few semesters back. He missed a test and then decided a month later that he needed to take it to maintain his financial aid. I talked with an administrator and asked what she wanted me to do.

“It’s your class,” she said. “What do you think you should do

This was not my experience at other places where the matter would require numerous meetings and memos! I was surprised that the administrator trusted me to make the right decision.

Jesus the master teacher once turned a question back to an inquisitor, causing the man to think deeply about life choices. The story is told in Luke 10.

The man, a teacher of the law, asked Jesus how he might receive eternal life.

“What is written in the law?” Jesus responded. “What do you read there?”The man responded with the two great commands to love God with all our heart, and to love our neighbor as we love our self. Jesus told him he was correct. The questioner should’ve stopped there, but he wished to test Jesus by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” In response we have one of Jesus’ greatest stories.

A lone traveler was beaten and robbed and left for dead. Two religious leaders traveled by and decided to leave him alone. Perhaps they were late to temple worship and couldn’t be bothered with a humanitarian cause. Or they may have believed the man was dead. If so, any contact with a corpse would make them ceremonially unclean for seven days. Thus, two men skilled in the law—the law that exhorted “love you neighbor as you love yourself”—decided that worship was more important than human need.

The story has two caveats. One is the hero of the story: “Good Samaritan,” an oxymoron in that day since the Jews didn’t believe there were any. And the second caveat was when Jesus asked his original questioner to think about the story and determine who was neighbor to the injured man. So once again Jesus asked the teacher of the law to think through an issue for himself.

It is liberating when employers, teachers and pastors ask us to think for ourselves and trust us to make wise decisions. The desired result is that we grow in cognitive skills and in confidence that we can make good decisions in the future.

I suppose most of the good people who listen to us pastors preach week by week know the right thing to do. They just need to hear us say more often than we do, “What do you think God wants you to do?” and, “Have you done it?”

A Case Of Mistaken Identity

My first church after seminary had a practice of asking new pastors to preach in a revival meeting. In those days we had week-long revivals once or twice a year. Nevertheless, I stopped to talk to some little girls in the hallway one day when one of them pointed to a revival poster on the bulletin board and remarked that my picture really looked good.

“Yes,” I said with a smile, “I look like Robert Redford, don’t I?”

One of the silly girls ran around telling church members that the new pastor thought he looked like Robert Redford. She told so many that I decided to address the issue from the pulpit.

“I certainly don’t think I look like Redford,” I said with mock seriousness. “I think I look more like Tom Selleck!”

Everybody had a laugh.

At least I was in better company than a pastor friend to whom a teen-ager said he reminded her of a movie star. “Which one?” he asked eagerly. “Gomer Pyle,” she replied.

At the seminary in Louisville an employee always said, “Hi, Chevy” to me, insisting I looked like Chevy Chase. I suppose when wearing glasses there is some resemblance.

I had a greater compliment recently. I met Cherry Starr in the salon where I get my hair cut. She’s also known as Mrs. Bart Starr—the Green Bay Packer legend.  Cherry was a University of Alabama cheerleader when she and Starr secretly married since he feared being married would harm his recruiting prospects. They’ve been married more than 60 years, and now she’s a faithful caregiver for him. I told her I’d purchased a car from Bart Starr Lincoln-Mercury in Birmingham while a Samford student. She instantly liked me. Then she told me I looked like Harrison Ford, and I instantly liked her! In fact, she calls me “Harrison” every time I see her in the shop.

I’ve heard the Harrison Ford comparison before and felt pretty good about it until a colleague remarked that Ford is looking “grizzled” these days.

I suppose we all have look-alike stories we share with family and friends, and of course, we always try to guess who our new babies favor as soon as they’re born.

 But it occurred to me that we who follow Christ have a greater challenge. The Apostle Paul prayed that “Christ be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). That is, Christ needs to take over our lives to such a degree that others see him in us, rather than the rogue sinners they most often encounter. We hear of “hostile” take-overs in the financial world, but Christ’s take-over of our lives should be welcomed. He makes things better than he found them.

The Mightiest Muscle

A friend expressed disapproval of a project lately and I began to question him to better understand his thoughts. But he cut me off with, “I’m not going to argue about it.” I wasn’t planning on arguing either, but because I was puzzled I wanted to hear more of his logic.

At least I wasn’t as aggressive as the irrepressible Ann Coulter. On a talk show once her nemesis said, “There’s no use to argue with me. I’m correct.” To which Ms. Coulter responded, “I’m not arguing. I’m attacking!”

King Solomon counseled centuries ago that “a soft answer turns away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1). I’ve found this good advice over the years. My natural inclination is to respond in kind when someone uses harsh words or actions, including harsh driving! But the situation can be defused when calmer spirits prevail. The apostle Peter exhorted us not to return evil for evil, thus perpetuating evil. He exhorted that we return good for evil and stop the cycle of evil in its tracks (1 Peter 3:9). The same is true for our words.

However, there is a time to speak unvarnished truth. For example, the experience of our first lady Betty Ford as she struggled with alcohol and prescription drugs popularized the intervention. This method is commonly followed today when friends or family are trapped in addictive behavior. The intervention is done with concern but without hesitancy. I’ve known parents who had to practice tough love with additive children to shock them out of bad life choices.

Pastors sometimes feel compelled to speak unvarnished truth. My generation remembers the segregated South. As a boy I saw the “white” and “colored” restrooms and water coolers. As a man I saw hard racial attitudes among believers in Christ. A racist man once observed he understood I couldn’t preach on brotherly love without someone seeing racial overtones.  I preached on brotherly love then, and still do. The 60s “Jesus movement” song said it well, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

But I also remember going to the pulpit a few times with anger instead of compassion. I’m not sure how effective it was for me to raise my voice and scold the congregation when only one or two people had angered me. I always regretted this afterwards. The apostle Paul insisted we’re to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).

Sometimes Christians must, as we say, “agree to disagree.” I might say to a brother or sister, “I don’t think your opinion is correct, but I hear you. I value you as a co-worker in Christ.”

The tongue has been called the body’s mightiest muscle. We need God’s wisdom to exercise it properly.

On Being Gracious To One Another

I heard about a presumably wealthy Texas cattle ranch owner who boasted about his holdings. When asked how he got such a big ranch, he replied that he bought up a bunch of smaller ranches and made them into one bigger ranch. He said he kept the names and made the new ranch a composite of them all. Thus he owned the "Lazy J Rolling S Mighty Texas Bar Seven Triple L Buffalo Nickel" cattle ranch.

"Well, how many head of cattle do you own?" his friend asked.

"Only seven," he replied. "I had a lot more but most of 'em didn't survive the branding!"

I often remember this story as we approach football season and see how some fans take something that's supposed to be fun and turn it into a shouting match with friends and acquaintances. One friend told me they had an "Alabama/Auburn" night at their summer revival and it turned into a disaster! Apparently people focused on the red and orange more than they focused on repentance.

One pastor customarily cautioned people on the Sunday before the Iron Bowl to be kind to one another on the Sunday following. It would seem this would be unnecessary to say, but I've followed suit and usually say this myself come November.

This fall is fraught with another peril since it's election season. Candidates on both sides have said regrettable things, and some who support them have said some regrettable things, too. I just returned from a political items collectors convention where my conservatism was a target of some barbed comments, so I had to simply smile sweetly and press on.

I suppose the world will always be full of such kind of conflict. It's sad, however, when this kind of division creeps into the church.

We lived in another county years ago. A local congregation, St. John's Church, got unwanted publicity when several public brawls broke out in the congregation and were reported in the local press. A new pastor came who chided his people somewhat sternly that if they were named for the Apostle John, the apostle of love, they must live like it.

John wrote, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death" (1 John 3: 14).

And John recorded the lord of the church himself who said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15: 12). Everyone has their football favorites and a political party they support. This is America and wehave freedom to do so. But let's remember we're Americans first. And Christians most of all.

The Me Too Movement

Kevin was minister of education in a church I served. He’d often say pastors and musicians get accolades after worship services, such as “Thanks for the wonderful sermon,” and “Thanks for the beautiful music.” But in contrast, church members would tell Kevin which toilets needed repairing.

I thought about Kevin a few weeks ago when a lady stopped me before a mid-week service to tell me there was a wad of paper in a toilet I needed to check. I promptly forgot and went on to other things, and then a second lady approached me with the same news. In my present mission station, I don’t have a minister of education to call when the toilets need repair. Before I could  check it, one of the ladies fished the paper out of the toilet herself and proudly came to tell me she’d been successful. I thanked her and laughingly asked if she’d call the pastor if this happened at home!

One doesn’t have to be an ordained preacher or a singer to serve God. All Christians are called to serve in some unique way. Martin Luther said, “A milk maid can milk cows to the glory of God.”

I think of my dad who loved his church, but never felt he could teach or sing. He turned down deacon nominations every year believing himself unworthy of the honor. But he spent many afternoons at the church replacing glass, repairing toilets and doing minor electrical repairs. His service was necessary.

I think of a lady in another church who had an unelected, yet important, job. She policed the sanctuary after the morning worship by discarding trash and chewing gum wrappers (!), straightening hymnals and saving reusable bulletins. She said, “I love to do it and I believe God is pleased.” Her service was necessary.

Countless others over the years have had glad and generous hearts to contribute to God’s work. They have given their money to support the work of the gospel, and they’ve given their time to staff the benevolent ministries of their church. I’ve frequently noted that most ministry in the church isn’t done in the spotlight. The pastor and musicians are in the spotlight. But most ministry is done in the shadows. It’s done in love because there’s a need, and the laborers aren’t looking for public acclaim.

The ancient prophet Isaiah is honored among the prophets because he wasn’t a reluctant servant of the Lord. He didn’t run from the call of God like Jonah or complain like Jeremiah. He volunteered for service. “Here am I, Lord. Send me,” he said (Isaiah 6: 8).

Every Christian ought to follow Isaiah’s example and say, “Me too, Lord.”

Remembering With Gratitude

It was a trip down memory lane when I determined to spend a little time in the loveliest village on the plains. I’d not been to Auburn in a while, so en route to Georgia I took a slight detour and visited the campus. After graduating from Samford, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in communications. Auburn offered the program I liked. This was a fortuitous decision since I made my living for 15 years teaching speech and journalism and have been an adjunct in half a dozen other schools over the years.

I discovered the sixth floor of Haley Center no longer houses Communications. It’s now the Foreign Languages department. And the tiny office I had as a graduate teaching assistant is now the copy room. It was interesting to see food trucks in the area around Haley—an innovation we didn’t have in my day.

An innovation we did have was The Streak. Ray Steven’s song was released when I was at Auburn, and we had a campus streaker who ran through the Haley quad several times wearing a ski mask and not much more. The campus newspaper, “The Plainsman,” interview Mr. Streak without revealing his identity. I was never sure what he was trying to do other than fulfill a fraternity prank.

A Samford friend from nearby Chambers County told me his home church needed a pastor, and he put me in contact with his dad who was one of he deacons. I served the Cusseta Baptist Church as pastor for the 18 months I was in grad school. I remember with fondness the wonderful people who listened to me and encouraged me during that time.

One unique facet of Southern Baptist life is that we don’t have a denominational apprentice program or a bishop to follow our progress and assign responsibilities. Young men (98 percent of Southern Baptist pastors are male) declare their call to ministry and in many cases are thrust into the work immediately. I read about a pastor lately who took the pulpit at age 17. I hope he was more profound than me when I preached my first sermons. My simple sermons were hardly stimulating!

But I remember with gratitude God’s grace and the peoples’ prayers. Faithful church members encourage their young ministers and are patient with us. They know we don’t become old and wise without first being young and dumb!

The older I get the more I realize my indebtedness to wonderful Christians who helped me along the way. And I realize more the enduring value of God’s work. The old adage is yet true: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Baptizing Our Pocketbooks

Giving has always been an important way to worship and to invest in the Lord's work. It's also a spiritual barometer that measures our love for God. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also" (Matthew 6:21). The principle is that our hearts follow our treasure.

How might we determine the priorities of one’s life? An important gauge for most of us is the checkbook. I've found that younger people don't write many checks anymore, and some don't own a checkbook. Great Britain will stop using paper checks at some point, so the USA is probably not too far behind the move to electronic banking. I saw Metro riders in D.C. swipe their wallets on the turnstile to ride the subway. Someone explained electronic readers could see the fare card inside the wallet. Maybe we'll do this at American supermarkets one day.

In whatever way we spend our money, our money is a solid indicator of our priorities.

March 6 is a memorable day when we commemorate 180 brave Texans who died at the Alamo in San Antonio in 1836. The commander-in-chief of the Republic of Texas was Gen. Sam Houston who turned the tide and defeated Santa Anna on April 21 at San Jacinto.

Houston was a hard-living man who finally came to Christ about 10 years before his death in 1863. His conversion was in large measure the result of his wife Margaret's witness.

Margaret Lea grew up in Marion, Ala. and was schooled at the Judson Female Institute, now Judson College. Her father, Temple, had been a circuit-riding Baptist preacher, and her mother, Nancy, had the distinction of being the only female delegate to the meeting in Greensboro in 1823 when the Alabama Baptist Convention was founded.

Houston met Margaret in Mobile and married her in 1840. Margaret was his third wife, and by all accounts, his favorite!

On the day he trusted Christ, Houston came forward and took the hand of the pastor. "I give you my hand and with it I give my heart to the Lord," he said. Houston was baptized in a local creek the same day. When the pastor raised him from the water he said, "Sam, all your sins are washed away." To which Houston replied, "God help the fishes!"

Another interesting fact is that Houston found he'd mistakenly left his wallet in his baptism clothes.

"Preacher," he said, "you baptized my pocketbook!"

This was prophetic, for Houston gave generously to his church for the rest of his life, and also supported a new Baptist school in Waco that was to become Baylor University.

On the day of our baptism, we all should've baptized our pocketbooks, too.

Deliver Us From Evil

The 17th anniversary of 9/11 brings back many memories. All of us who remember that day recall where we were and how we heard about the attack. And our lives will be forever different.

When tragedy occurs, we see the worst of humanity and the best of humanity. Christians around the nation rushed to the stricken city to help. One of those was police chaplain Tim Storey of Alabaster who was part of a team sent to encourage fellow police officers some six months after 9/11.

Officer Storey showed some pictures at our church from his visit. One was from a fire station where 30 officers had been lost. Their comrades posted a memorial that read, "No farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye. You were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why."

The presence of evil is one of the great mysteries in scripture where we find a three-way tension between Satan and demons, the sovereignty of God and human will. The Bible affirms that Satan is the author of evil, to be sure. The late comedian Flip Wilson made famous the phrase, "the devil made me do it," but I don't see any evidence that Satan forces us to choose evil. The truth may be that "I made me do it."

The second part of this equation is the toughest. Scripture affirms God is in control and holds all power in his hands. But why would God allow errant jetliners to crash into buildings? We don't know. The firefighter memorial is true: "only God knows why."

For some reason God allowed evil men the freedom to choose an evil course. One of my seminary teachers, the late Frank Stagg, suggested that one way to understand the wrath of God is his determination to let sin run its course. In other words, God steps aside and lets the full weight of our wrong decisions impact our lives and the lives of others.

Whatever the causes of evil, Christians have an obligation to roll up their sleeves and help others. To quote Flip Wilson again, he once identified his religion. "I'm a Jehovah's by-stander," he said! Jehovah has some by-standers, but they're living outside his will. God's people don't stand idly by. As Dr. Leo Eddleman of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary noted years ago, the nearest pocket of need is a mission field, and the nearest Christian is a missionary.

We don’t know all the reasons 9/11 occurred, but we can celebrate the heroes of 9/11: a host of fire fighters and police officers and followers of Christ who unselfishly rushed in to help others in need.

Being In The Spirit On The Lord's Day

The Apostle John was exiled to Patmos in the Aegean Sea—the fortress reserved for Rome’s worst criminals. John was only guilty of preaching the gospel of love. But he like Peter, Paul, John Bunyan and others, took time to write from prison and encourage others. It was on Patmos that John was given the vision we call the book of Revelation.

Theologians debate about his use of “the Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10). He either referred to the end of time, or the first day of the week Christians selected for worship after the resurrection. But it’s true that we must be “in the spirit” on Sunday.

Being in the spirit begins on Saturday with determination that we’ll honor our worship appointment the following day. We also should be well-rested to participate fully in worship and Bible study. It’s hard to believe the average American watches more than five hours of television daily, but surely, we do ourselves no good staying up late on Saturday night for mindless TV.

Being in the spirit continues Sunday morning. We used to sing “Rise, shine, give God the glory” at youth camp. Rising early on Sunday beats rushing in late. We can nourish our souls with Christian music or a broadcast worship service. And we can avoid family conflicts on Sunday morning by being sweet!

And we should continue being sweet when we arrive at church.

I remember a dressing down I received one Sunday when a mother participating in a baby dedication on the platform wore an LSU sweatshirt. LSU had just beaten Alabama the night before and a deacon chewed on me for “allowing” her to wear her sweatshirt. I gingerly explained that I didn’t inspect clothing on Sundays. I agreed it probably was inappropriate for her to flash her colors when our focus was on something else, but I also reminded this deacon that he wore his team clothing to church sometimes, too.

Especially in football season we need to be sweet to each other!

Being in the spirit on Sunday morning means we come prayerfully, participating in Bible study and worship. We sing hymns of praise and follow the lessons in our Bibles. We give an offering as an act of dedication and do nothing to take away from the impact of worship.

A new pastor told me about five or six ladies who stood during the invitation time one Sunday and noisily left the sanctuary. They left to warm the bread for the lunch following worship! He patiently explained to them the propriety of the invitation when pastors plead for the souls of men and women. Respecting this time is a significant part of being in the spirit.