Yikes....

I just looked at the date on the first song I posted ("A Song For Youze....") and realized that I took a very long vacation from updating my ramblings.

I am very happy today, January 1, 2012, because I think that after a year of being unattached from a church. I think I may have found...."the one". Sounds terribly dramatic as if I were talking about the ideal woman, but....I'm referring to a church body and this is more exciting than meeting the "ideal" woman (really). This is a fitting way to start out a new year, especially on day one of January.

This is a small church almost identical to the church group I left in Sarsota. The service is virtually the same, the music is familiar and most importantly they have a giving box just like the church in Sarasota; no collection bags going around....New Testament giving principles in effect here. My kind of giving.

The people were all very,very nice and genuinely eager to say hello, not stiff and (dare I say it?) somewhat forced in their welcoming. In all, I felt very comfortable there and methinks I shall return.

I'll need to get involved enough long enough to see how many and/or how severe the warts are I get to experience. I've had enough of membership in churches that turned-out to be a nightmare. Who knows, I may even get to consider joining this bunch at some point....stay tuned for further developments. Let's see how the warts fit.

Another Song (#2)

Figured I'd share some more f the songs I wrote. If you like them please let me know. If you don't care for them, then skip the part about letting me know. All I ask is for proper copyright credits should you decide to use them.

Old Brown Bible
Original Music & Lyrics © 2005 by A.E. Barri, all rights reserved

These Lyrics ©2012 A.E. Barri, all rights reserved
Slightly "bouncy" 2/4--moderate.

1. I found the old brown Bible on a dusty bookstore rack
Past a handmade sign that said “Religious books down in the back”
There inside the cover a mother’s heart called out to me,
In faded lines, on a yellowed page, back in 1873-

Chorus 1

“I would gladly suffer and die upon the cross-
For any of my children” was the prayer this mother wrote
She wrote it for her family, never knowing I would see,
But her loving cry ‘cross a century showed Jesus love to me.
(instrumental riff—one line)

2. Inside that old Brown Bible was the answer for all sin

How a loving father planned to bring His chidren home again
So He made Himself a sacrifice to set all sinners free,
And He wrote it in a message- for everyone to see-

Chorus 2

“I would gladly suffer and die upon the cross-
For any of my children”- was the prayer Our Father wrote,
He wrote it for all people cause He wanted us to see,
How he loved so much that He gave Himself- to end sin’s misery.
(instrumental riff—one line)

3. Well years have passed and somehow that old Bible it got lost

But the message that it held inside showed just how much it cost
When on Golgotha’s hill the saviour died for you and me
He broke the bonds of sin and death and won the victory

Chorus 3

For He gladly suffered and died upon that cross,
For all the fallen people, just to save them being lost,
Though I read it on a dusty page in a book from yesterday
It was true two-thousand years ago, and it’s still the truth today.
(instrumental riff—one line)

(Reprise, ritardando and out) I would gladly suffer and die upon the cross.

Song #1 for Youze......

The first song I ever posted. All I ask is for proper copyright credits should you decide to use it.
--------------------------
"The Lord is Callin' "
Original Music & Lyrics © 2006-2012 by A.E. Barri, all rights reserved

These Lyrics ©2011-2012 A.E. Barri, all rights reserved
Moderate "bluesy" shuffle

Verse 1
Out on the backside of the desert Moses saw a burning bush one day,
And the Lord was trying to send him out- but he would not obey,
Then the Lord shot down all of Moses' excuses said-
"I'm sendin' you to Egypt son there's no time to lose." -- 'Cause (to chorus)

Chorus
the Lord was callin'.....yes, the Lord was callin',
When He says He's got a job for you you got to get up right away.
Yes the Lord is callin'.....don't you hear Him callin',
When you know the Lord is callin' you you know you got to move along.

Verse 2
God said: "I got to send a message now who will speak for me?"
Isaiah jumped right up and said "HEY LORD--here am I, send me!"
"Isaiah start your preaching tell the people today, that they
got to live right- or I'll send them away."-- because (to chorus)

(Chorus)

Verse 3
Jesus saw some fisher-men up by the Sea of Galilee,
He said, "I'll teach how to fish for men if you will follow me."
James and John jumped the boat and threw down their nets,
Turned their backs on the old life with no regrets,-- 'cause (to chorus)

(Chorus, and.....)
You know you got to move along
You know you got to move along,
You gotta get up right away

1/22/1973 Redux

Not that anybody outside the Christian community remembers or really cares, but yesterday, January 22, was the 27th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Today is what is known in some Christian circles as "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday."


This is the day we should remember the tragedy unleashed as the left-leaning Supreme court legislated from the bench instead of getting Congress to make new law as they should. Hey Democrats (and other liberals), here's one for you....you could have had almost half a million new taxpayers so King Hussein the First would have even more money to waste. The less cynical view is to say that those same murdered American citizens could have been paying their share of Social Security and other taxes. If nothing else It sure would have helped with the current fiscal mess we're facing.

Dear Lord, let us always remember that You are the Creator and giver of life and all good things. Help us to be bold and resolute about upholding your desire that none should perish. We know that You will take even these evils of human will and turn them to good for the little ones who were forced to leave too soon. You hold them in Your loving hands for eternity Father.

Help us to fight the evil of abortion in all its forms and revere life as You do. Please help us find a way to overturn the travesty of January 22, 1973.

Amen

A Brief Hiatus If You Please

Of late, I have been focused on moving and all the necessary craziness that goes with it.

With that in mind......I'm intentionally going to avoid writing any posts....even less than I usually do.....like.....zero.....until further notice.

So.....ta ta for now.

Leave my founding documents alone!

The first amendment, when read literally and understood properly says, among other things, that the government shall not establish a state religion. It says nothing about all the other so-called "rights" that 'The Supremes' and other federal judges have managed to magically discern from what is a very simple document. The "Bill of Rights" is a simple document. It is meant to be taken literally. What's so bloody hard about that? What need then of "interpretation"?

The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States and the first ten amendments to the Constitution, commonly called The Bill of Rights comprise our founding documents. All three of them are NOT organic, alive, nor do they possess any other human qualities we care to attribute to them. They are very profound and well-considered words on paper. It is the job of RESPONSIBLE, GOD-FEARING men and women to prayerfully ask for guidance in trying to determine the best action to be taken when being guided by those pieces of parchment over two-hundred years old which we have deemed relevant to our modern age, or not. The men who wrote them were guided by faith in the living God and the Holy Trinity of conventional Christianity.

Even those men in that group who were not true believers, who may have been deists or agnostics....whatever, allowed for the existence of God and the Trinity. Furthermore, they were willing to subvert their own prejudices about religion in the interest of forging the best principles possible for our fledgling country. In short, those who didn't believe in the Trinity, made sure that the preparation of these documents was allowed to be be a God-driven process for the good of the nation. If they failed to codify our freedoms and "rights" in any way it was from an assumption that the people in our time would be as devout and God-driven as they were when they wrote these magnificent documents.

Those documents are as relevant today as they were 200 years ago. What is different is our post-modern society where everything is open to interpretation and there are no moral absolutes. Consequently, our poor Constitution has undergone some of the most severe and skewed interpretation in the past 30-40 years that the founding fathers never could have anticipated. In other words, they wrote the documents for people as people used to be, never dreaming that God-fearing people would end up in the minority, leaving the inmates to run the asylum. God help us in a Godless society.

We who do believe and have the guts to stand up for our faith have a responsibility not only to spread the Gospel message as much as we can through responsible evangelism, we must also speak out whenever and wherever we see lies, hypocrisy, deceit, greed, and all manner of social ills being perpetrated, especially when it comes from our governing "leaders", both in the secular arena or even worse, in the church body itself.

We elected our current crop of government leaders out of ignorance. We can no longer afford to remain ignorant. We must study, be informed, then get out there and vote for the right people, the ones we need to lead us out of the socialistic mess our self-exalted king, Mr. Hussein, is trying to lead us into.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." —2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)

Preachers, heal yourselves.

It's not how long you preach, it's how you present the gospel to people who need to hear it. Observe what Billy Graham accomplished in 15 minutes, if that, at each of his crusades......and all he did was simply preach the message that God loves you and Jesus died to redeem you.

He used no church programs, no building funds, no long-winded explanations of Bible books dragging on for months as a "teaching series". There was and is nothing special in those crusades except some good music to set the mood and the gospel of Jesus Christ presented in all its simplicity. People came forward by the hundreds after being convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit of God.

Pastors, preachers and church leaders, please take note.

A bed of thorns?

Recently, something in my pastor's sermon suddenly made a thought flash in my mind. As I toyed with it and tried to make it more clear, give it shape and color, I came to the conclusion that I had just managed to come up with one of those "Thorny Theological Problems". Now to try to unravel it.


Now, I don't profess to be a Biblical scholar, but I do believe I know far more about scripture than the average person. I knew it well enough to teach Sunday school for two years. I had a special interest in what we call the "Old Testament" which is really, mostly, the original Hebrew scriptures. You could call it my area of specialty, but I love and study the New Testament as well.


The thorny issue is this:

• Given: Jesus was wholly Human, and was and is wholly God. He was as human as any other human, but possessed, and evinced on earth, in totality, the full, pure Spirit of His Father, God.
• Given: God appears to have one limitation, He is not capable of looking at sin. If sin comes near to His being He must turn His face away. But this is not a limitation; God simply does not possess in His being the capacity for sin to be presented directly before or to Him.
• Given: Jesus allowed His physical body to be abused and tortured, and ultimately nailed to a cross to become the redeeming sacrifice for everyones' sins—past, present, and future. His death would provide the payment to satisfy God's requirements for us to be allowed to be His children again.
• Given: Jesus' great suffering in the garden of Gethsemane was not about facing the physical agony of the crucifixion, but of knowing that for the only time in eternity would He and the Father be separated in their Spirit.
• The Question: At that moment when Jesus cried "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?", the moment when Jesus literally became sin, the moment when His Father turned His face away from His spotless, unblemished Son who was now the epitome of all sin in the world for all eternity, where was the Holy Spirit?
• If the Holy Spirit is God's spirit and God cannot look at sin, then it follows that the Spirit must have left Jesus, even if only momentarily. He couldn't have "become sin" if the Spirit of God was in Him.
• Conclusion: I believe that at the critical moment when Jesus was at the brink of being made sin, God withdrew His Spirit from Jesus so that the unbelievable burden of all humanity's sins could be allowed to infest Him. In that moment God's wrath was poured out on Christ and then the Spirit was restored to Him. It was at that time when Jesus could say "tetelestai", voluntarily surrender His human life, and die.

"Tetelestai" is the Greek word that means "it is finished". What was finished? By accepting God's full measure of wrath that rightfully belonged to the human race, Jesus "conquered sin and death" forever. Do people still die? Of course, but that's physical death and comes to all people. But those who refuse to accept Christ's completed work on the cross will also choose the certainty of spiritual "death", which is eternal separation from God and the chance to live in Hell for eternity. Those who accept Christ will enter into life and the chance to spend eternity with God and Jesus, sharing with them, forever, in the complete filling of the Holy Spirit.

I chose eternal life. How about you?

“Nice to see ya!” Now what?

It has been said that the “Christian army” is the only such group that shoots its wounded. Ain’t it the truth?

All too often we see people who come to church with a true desire to be followers of Christ. They come because they’re searching, because of conviction, to be part of an extended family, to worship God, for comfort of familiar associations; they come because they love God and want to grow closer to Him and serve. They come to the local church and someone says “Hi! Nice to see you, glad you're here!”, shakes a hand and returns to business as usual leaving the would-be disciple standing on the sidelines. Now what?

In my own experience, it is the ordinary church people who take time to greet and talk to these people who have the greatest effect on newcomers. That’s not to say that greeters aren’t necessary or effective. They should be there and should be trained to assist with whatever a person might need, whether it be guidance to a Bible study (Sunday school) class, directions to the rest rooms, finding a seat, assisting people with special needs, etc. But in the typical Sunday rush at many churches, there simply are too many people and not enough time or greeters to engage individuals in any meaningful way.

What happens next? The newcomers and/or new believers often are left to flounder. Many become disillusioned at the seeming aloofness or even hostility of the congregation and don’t come back. Some may attend services for a short time but soon realize that they’re simply “putting in time” and not really finding the fulfillment of Christian fellowship, growth or service. Their sense of emptiness in the church grows and nags at them. This often results in many disillusioned people who move on to another church or even worse, eventually forsake church involvement altogether.

Then there are far too many church people who have only heard the blessed, good-time part of the story and don’t realize that salvation comes with a hefty price tag of trials and persecution. These unfortunate souls have wandered into the wrong kind of church. Jesus said: if the world hates me they’re going to hate you too. The first time the going gets rough these folks bail out because nobody told them “it won’t be easy”. We won’t deal with those folks here this time around.

The problem of exclusion or sidelining is greatly compounded by the current “Megachurch Mania” sweeping through many Christian communities. In such a statistic-obsessed environment the pastoral staff is often isolated from the congregants while they, the staff, are busy “doing church”. Pastors and other staff members are so busy with administrative, legal, facility and other chores they have little or no time remaining for the primary pastoral duty of “shepherding the flock”. Such a church often is just too big and the recidivism rates among new converts bears this out. The last reliable statistic obtainable stated that within one year, over 82% of all those brought into God’s family had dropped-out, and this was just within the largest Protestant denomination in America (You can figure out which one). If the statistics were compiled for other Christian denominations I think the data would probably be similar and just as upsetting.

What is the fundamental mission of the church? A healthy church body that is fulfilling Christ's "Great Commission" will be a church out on the street helping the Holy Spirit to win souls for the Lord, God. A church that is focused on its mission will have support structures to deal with new arrivals and new Christians. These need not be elaborate nor even formal “ministries”. A church focused on ministering to its members, newbies and the community at the practical level will have no problem sustaining or achieving good growth numbers at a reasonable rate according to God’s timetable. He’s still in charge, after all.

Here are some ideas:

1. Small Groups- The “small group” ministry is a good tool where believers may get to know other believers and build a nucleus of their church family. Small Groups give believers, both new and those more mature in their faith, opportunities to extend their family on more intimate terms than what may be possible in the church at large. While small groups are definitely a good aspect of church life, they still don’t always answer the needs of the new Christian or the people looking for a new church home in a new town. Such people still need direct interaction with other people, not necessarily a group, until they feel comfortable enough to join in a group or other church activities. This assumes that they find the church meets their needs in the first place (whatever they are) and decide to stay. The process of choosing a new church family is totally subjective and totally between them and God. The two major pitfalls of the small group are mainly:

• a. A lot of people can’t or don’t want to get involved. Some people just don’t do well in group situations. I personally prefer to make friends the old fashioned way and let relationships develop as God directs; this includes group involvement.
• b. The group can be, and very often is, a ready-made clique. Members may never get out of their security zone and get involved with others in the church.

2. Greeters- Most necessary. In the smaller churches I find that greeting comes naturally to a lot of folks. This is great—there is a very special and wonderful feeling about having ordinary folk, heck, strangers even, coming up and genuinely extending a hand of welcome. But in larger churches there exists a need for the aforementioned people who actually are given instruction in how to perform their roles. Greeters are needed and so are interim mentors who can “adopt” newcomers and act as guides. More about that at a later date.
3. Lay Pastors- This is a concept woefully under-utilized by the Christian community.That’s sad because there are people present in your church right now who are itching to start a ministry effort and whom God could use effectively if given the chance. Lay pastors can fill the growing gap between a busy pastoral staff and the congregation. Just make sure they have the authority to back up their responsibility. Their effectiveness can be severely undermined if they repeatedly have to go running back to the senior (read: ordained) staff for approvals or to resolve other issues. There are solutions.....if you care to take up the challenge of seeking them.

New Voices, New traditions.

I'm sure I missed the memo again, the one that told how all secular people are now to ignore 2 millenia of acceptable grammar.

Now it is becoming acceptable, even if not "proper", to speak the letters A.D. (Anno Domini) after  the year in question. It doesn't take a lot of savvy to know that Anno Domini means "in the year of our Lord" and should be, and always was, used as a precedent to a year designation. We were supposed to say "A.D. 70" or "A.D. 325" but now that is being tossed out along with Sunday being the first day of the week on our day-planning calendars. Of course, saying "the first (or third or twentieth) century A.D." is still and always has been the acceptable form for referring to centuries.

As usual, this trend is spreading to the church—which should know better. It's another one of those small things that illustrates how badly our society wants to eliminate anything Christian, however subtle. Monday the first day of the week? A.D. being used by pastors as a suffix? No, I don't like it and someone has got to get the church to wake up and fight these trends, not buy into them. PLEASE.....put A.D. back where it belongs, at least in church sermons if nothing else. If we the church can't get it right, who will ever take us seriously?

And the Angels rejoice......

This past Monday I had the honor of being the one that God used to bring the soul of a dear, long-time friend to salvation. There is not much else to say about that. Because of knowing me, another soul is now saved from the fires of Hell. Hard to believe that I could be that used by God...but that is just another form of pride....let's just say I was there at the right time when the Holy Spirit had his heart prepared and God used the attitude of his heart to bring him the healing he needed. Amen and hallelujah!

What makes it so interesting is that everything took place via email! I don't think this is a first ever, but it certainly ranks as a personal first! I want more of these moments in my life....moments when I know another soul has found salvation and I actually had something to do with it......wow....just wow......

Judge Not......

I don't know the statistics but from experience, I know that many folks believe capital punishment is not only necessary but is also just. What surprises me is how many professing Christians feel that way. I'm convinced capital punishment is merely legalized murder and no matter what rationalization we use, no matter what euphemisms we apply to it, at its core it is revenge, not justice.

We are incredibly complex and highly irrational creatures incapable of rendering truly impartial decisions. There can be no capital punishment where the slightest possibility exists that the innocent could mistakenly be executed. This has been proven in a rash of instances where convictions have been overturned, most often due to new and better science, DNA for one, new evidence, or witnesses who later recant their testimony, etc. Some states here in the U.S. have repealed or are seriously considering repealing their death penalty laws as a result of these alarming facts. But there's a more important reason that capital punishment is totally in error......
Jesus, Himself, completely tossed-out the death penalty.

In John 8:3-11, a woman caught in adultery was brought before Him. The mob that was going to stone her was made up of the scribes and Pharisees not concerned with justice; they were specifically trying to lure Jesus into saying something that would give them grounds to cause Him trouble. Let's examine the case:

1. The Law, handed down to Moses by God, specifically stated that a man and a woman caught in adultery were both to be put to death by stoning, outside the city walls (Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:22). This mob brought only the woman— the man was most likely one of them, or someone whom they could not or would not prosecute.

2. Jesus knew the law about adultery thoroughly—He should have—as God, He had created it—and as God He could enforce it Himself if He so chose. But since the advent of Christ in the world, this was the age of grace, not sacrifice and judgement; Jesus chose the better way, the way of grace.

3. He said to the mob "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."(NIV). If you know nothing else about Christian teachings you should know this: as human beings, we are all sinners. That's why Christ came, to pay for all our sins, for everybody, past, present and future, by His death on the cross so we could be forgiven if we confess our belief in Him. Compassion and forgiveness is what He was (and is) all about.

4. Jesus did not condemn the woman and told her so. He let her go!

5. Hence-- as God, Jesus voided His own death penalty. He told the crowd, in effect, that only if they were as sinless as God Himself were they qualified to be the woman's judges and executioners. They had to drop their stones and walk away because they were convicted in their souls about the reality of their own sins. They too knew the law and knew that they were born as sinners—they had no defense to state otherwise.

So, why no death penalty? Aside from the aforementioned travesty of executing the innocent, the most important reason is simply this: our Lord showed us clearly, simply and most definitely that we, as born sinners, can never presume to be Godly enough to pre-empt God's authority over life and death. Only His judgement of sin is perfect. Only His justice is pure and motivated only by a desire to eliminate evil. His justice is not subject to the error, questionable motives and just plain irrational thinking that even the most noble of humans bring to the process of alleged 'justice'. Jesus Himself was arrested, illegally tried in "kangaroo courts", and executed by people who had personal and political agendas. Nobody can claim credit for killing Him either; the Jews put Him on trial, the Romans handled the execution, but He had said that He would lay His life down and later, take it back—and that's exactly what He did.

In the Old Testament, whenever God executed someone or caused someone to be executed, it was because they were guilty—period. In the New Testament, under the covenant of Grace, the most important theme is love. One other major theme running throughout the collection of books is mercy. God's charge to humanity is to live in and be like Christ, that is, living in love being merciful. The closer we get to being like Him, the less our human natures will make us want to destroy each other— among other things. We are no more qualified to judge another human being's right to live or die as we are to explain the mind of God. Let us not attempt to usurp the authority that rightfully belongs to God.

Where capital punishment exists, it must be eliminated—we are not God.

Another listening Gem....

I have become a fan of a totally unique TV show called Wretched, with Todd Friel. It's social satire in a way, and features Mr. Friel standing in a "hip" room doing a monologue about current events, but presenting them from a distinctly Evangelical Christian viewpoint. He claims to be "the wretch the song refers to". He closes every show with the admonition: "....go serve your King."

He's not afraid to be direct and doesn't mince words; if something is bothersome, otherwise out of whack or just plain un-Biblical, he says so and gives references in scripture to support it. The style is, in a word, manic and the jumpy camera work can be annoying, but his content is always right on the money.

Check you local listings to see if Wretched is available in your area or on your provider's system at all. On our FIOS system here in West-central Florida it's broadcast on the FamNet station (#242). You can also get to it on the web at http://www.wretchedradio.com/ where you can listen to the rerun radio stream or catch the live feed from 3-5 PM Eastern time.

Of Monumental Import.......

I finally decided to make the split....I have now created another blog called "Tuesday Afternoon" where I can write my rants and commentary about secular (that means non-Christian to all you non-Christians) subjects.

I decided go this route after careful consultation with myself, deciding that it was time to separate  the "sacred" from the "profane". Not to worry, I don't really indulge in the kind of profanity that the rest of the world does....it's just an expression from the Bible that explains how we should be living our lives....not mixing holy with everyday.

You can get to my new, improved totally political and un-holy blog at:

Tuesday Afternoon  ........how simple is that?

Thanksgiving at any Time

Yesterday I had a first-class and first-hand example of God's love working through the body of this thing called "the church".

Last Wednesday my car broke down suddenly and irreparably due to a malfunctioning starter. Of course, this meant I wasn't going anywhere. It also wasn't going to get fixed because I have zero money. On Thursday night I got a ride to and from band practice with the worship leader, Mark. As we talked I told him about my car trouble and how I was flat broke and unable to have it fixed. He said something cryptic about seeing what he could do and we said goodnight. I really didn't think any more about it.

So, yesterday, Saturday, I got a call from our pastor, Greg, who offered to pick up the starter and come over to install it for me. This totally took me aback to say the least. So he said he'd be over about 1300 (1 o'clock, PM). Well, he showed up with the part and we proceeded to tackle the removal and installation of a Ford Taurus starter with a 3.0 litre engine with A/C.

We had quite a few laughs, got very greasy-dirty (oh! Shades of the old days!), and actually had a nice time of fellowship in my driveway. God really blessed us too because right in the middle of two days of heavy, almost non-stop rain, He was kind enough to let us have 3 hours without a drop. Talk about blessings....the rain stopped, the installation went along pretty darn smoothly (except for a few panicked moments when we were scouting out metric wrenches) and the car now works. I don't think anyone skinned a knuckle either....a doggone miracle!

I don't know about  anyone else....but to me that's cause for some serious Hallelujahs and gratitude for seeing the church doing what the church is supposed to do....love and care for each other. This was an example of just such love in action....also known as compassion. And to make it even more praiseworthy, when I asked pastor Greg (totally out of curiousity) what the new part cost, he wouldn't tell me. Said it didn't matter. You know, he's right, because somewhere down the road I'll pass this blessing along to someone else, amen.

Love is the most valuable commodity each human being possesses, but until it is expressed in acts of service, that compassion thing, it doesn't really mean a whole heck of a lot

I urge you to go read 1 Corinthians 13 if you have any questions about love. It is probably the best description of the subject ever written, for love is so ethereal it almost defies definition, and goodness knows that writers have been trying for millenia to nail it down, but I believe the Apostle Paul came darn close. Thank you Father for this beautiful little church of your people doing your will, Amen.

Yeah, sure, okay......

What's fairly amazing is that I actually opened my mouth in the church service today and talked about some things I am grateful for. This was a big step for me because I rarely open up to anyone about myself. I've gotten so over the years that, rather than stick my head out and risk someone cutting it off, I just don't bother letting anyone know anything. To put it in X Files terminology, I "trust no-one". This has served me well for many years. Trouble is, it has left me with very few true friends....but they are the kind you can count on one hand and that is a blessing.

But today I was almost gushy in my expression of being thankful for some of the items on the following list, which I have expanded since this morning:

• my "adoptive parents" Bob & Lillie, the parents of my best friend, Bob Jr., who have graciously included me in their family for Thanksgiving & Christmas.
• my new church family who accept and love me as is and never indicate that they care about interrogating me about who I am or what kind of past I come from.
• that after 28-30 years I finally got to make some long overdue and heartfelt ninth-step apologies to some folks who really needed to hear them. not only did they accept the apologies, they even forgave me for all the garbage I injected into their lives all those years ago.
• 26 years of sobriety one day at a time (sometimes one hour or minute at a time!)
• strong and, so far, lasting recovery from stage 4 cancer (a miracle in itself) and how it forced me to end a 46 year dependence on cigarettes
• a roof over my head, for now.
• air to breathe, pure or not,  for this purpose, it's still free.
• food (sometimes too much and too good!) to eat.
• Clean water, and good tasting thanks to Brita water filters.
• a car that's reliable, mostly.
• the love of God.
• the devotion of two little, manic fur balls who are my loyal friends and keep me warm at night.
• finally, a whole lot of blessings that I couldn't possibly be aware of but which I know have been poured out on me all my life.

Someone once said that if we stopped to count our blessings when we "say grace" at dinner, we probably would never get around to eating. Whoever this person was is absolutely right....God never stops blessing us, sometimes even when we don't ask for it and certainly not because we deserve it, it's just His good pleasure to do it when we earnestly try to live according to His purposes. Let's make this Thanksgiving day one of praise for the one who gives us all the reasons to be thankful.

We're back

I don't know why, but the Christian store Living Word has re-opened in Sarasota in the same location. I reported recently that it had been a victim of our current economy and folded.

Now....if the owners are at all astute, they will use the evidence gleaned by their computerized invrntory system to learn what sells and what doesn't, then they can concentrate on those core compentecies and eliminate the fluff stuff that really doesn't do too well. Heck, if they're really smart, they could cut the storefront and space in half (they currently occupy two storefronts).

Such steps might make for a better chance at survival. I do wish them well, this burg needs at least one Christian store, even if they're not the best in show.

Service? Ministry? There's a dif?

I recently had to remind myself of the difference between service and ministry and why it matters to distinguish between the two actions.

To put it simply service is what one does, sometimes with other people, for others in the church. Ministry is what one does (hopefully) for others out there in the world of lost souls.

I started thinking about this because I hear so many examples of simple service being referred to as ministry. For example: at the church I used to attend there was a need for the church to run oversize golf carts between buildings to shuttle congregants around. This was referred to as the "golf cart ministry". Ministry? I think not. This is a simple act of service, which carries with it a great commitment, but it is not ministering to the souls of those who need to hear the gospel message.

Of course, the distinction is more traditional than actual because the word minister and all its associated forms is derived from the Latin for service, which would seem to contradict the definitions in our current discussion. The best explanation that I can offer is that we associate ministry with the work of clergy and that work is almost always involved in ministering to lost souls as well as ministering to the spiritual needs of the congregation. Service, on the other hand is seen as acts of humility, things that we do for and within the church family, usually with little or no recognition or compensation, monetary or otherwise. To put it another, slightly more crass but understandable way, ministry is usually deemed to be works performed by professionals, service is rendered by amateurs.

Either way, they are both important works.

I just think that we would do well to keep these distinctions in mind and try to exercise wisdom when we label our various efforts for the church as well as the world at large.

A Free Gift....Free Because it's a Gift....got it?

I was thinking about God's grace and how everyone always describes it as a "free gift". Well, that stopped me right there and made me smile a little. I smiled because this phrase is redundant, that is, both words are saying the same thing: anything that is a gift is automatically free, and vice-versa, if it's free it's a gift!

When it comes to God's grace, it is something He gives us freely and there's not a blasted thing that we can do to earn it, it simply is a gift. It doesn't depend on our obedience, on how long or 'hard' we pray, on whether or not we do 'good deeds', go to church every single Sunday; none of that matters.

No....His grace depends on one thing and one thing alone....His good pleasure to give it to us. We can't earn our way into heaven. If we are righteous at all, it is because we accepted God's free gift (there's that redundant phrase again!) of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and immediately became His children, and immediately came under His grace for now and throughout eternity. You think about that.

E Pluribus....None

November 7 was the 11th anniversary of my emigration to Sarasota. When I moved here there were three Christian "book" stores in town (that I knew of), now we have none.

First to go was the very nice little store, Hearth and Home. They succumbed not long after the the big, glitzy, mega-Christian store, Living Word, opened. With even more Christian-oriented trinkets and tchotchkes to offer as well as a good location that the typical lazy American would find more convenient, Living Word was destined to be the clear, ultimate winner.

The other contender, Family Christian, was a friendly, small but well-stocked store in a fairly convenient location. They held out for quite a few years after the mega-store opened, probably serving more the folks of the South-county, but they too fell from grace and closed a few years ago.

This left the Living Word victorious. Did I mention that his "bookstore" had, in addition to full,-blown bust-out retail prices a coffee shop and lounge a la Starbuck's? These days it seems that a bookstore is defined more by the "ambiance" of its coffee bar than by the quantity and quality of its merchandise. But as fate would have it, about 2 months or so ago, this mega-store ceased operation too, a victim of the ongoing economic depression currently playing in this country and most of the world....except the OPEC countries.

This got me to thinking about a few things:

1) The big, glitzy store did what most most super-stores usually do, drive out the little guys, even if the little guys are basically better businesses and have been there longer offering good service in their community. Sad but true. One almost wants to snicker and say "Well, those Mega types finally got theirs!" Really bummer kharma, man.

2) Christians are just as guilty of being too lazy to get in the car and drive a few extra miles as their secular counterparts, choosing instead to take the path of least resistance and go to the most convenient place, even if it's not of the same caliber of enterprise as another store. I mean "caliber of enterprise" to refer to less tangible qualities such as: customer service, "ambiance", friendliness of personnel, etc. The mega-store certainly had, in my experience, none of those qualities.

3) We Christians also are often guilty of idolizing the big, the important and the glamorous just as our secular brethren are. Face it, how many superstars of the Christian world are not white haired men with the title of "Doctor"? Answer: virtually none except for folks in the performing arts where youth is obligatory and the young and the beautiful are highly exalted just as in the secular world. We accord the same celebrity to our "Super-Christians" as the secular world does to their CEOs, stockbrokers, music and movie stars. Of course it's wrong, but human nature is a creature of habit.

We probably never will stop exalting the large, the glamorous or the conventionally important, whether it be in our secular or Christian arenas. We should look for occasions when we could and should exalt the mundane, the unsung heroes, preferably while they're still alive, not centuries later when it suddenly is acknowledged that that their contributions were truly significant.

The "ordinary" Christians, the real workers, deserve our recognition and praise just as the fallen "mom and pop" Christian bookstores would have appreciated our continuing patronage.