HammerHead4Him Ramblings Of A Crazy Man

Digging Deep...Finding A Treasure in Zephaniah

2011-01-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

Over the last year and half the economy has been a huge challenge for my businesses. Even though I have complete confidence in my abilities, those of my staff and of the new business I am developing with my friend Brett, it has been very trying and difficult. God has always blessed me throughout my life and I have tried to stay focused on Him, recognize and do His will, and help other people while continuing to work as hard as possible. God has also given me the capacity to work long hours. Even though what I do is not physical at all, I have always been able to commit a great deal of time and effort into everything I do.

During this last year though I have found myself doubting myself, feeling sorry for myself, being angry, and slipping into a pattern of not truly trusting God. That trust piece manifests itself in a number of ways not the least of which results in me not following Him completely. It is incredible how the evil one uses such times as these to try to separate you from the love of God.

Mike Madding my pastor and close friend has challenged us to begin digging deep in our reading of the Bible and our "Quality Time" with God (...formerly known as "quiet time"). I am not much of a morning person so I have focused my quality time before I go to bed. The last two weeks it has been hard but I refuse to go to sleep no matter how late before taking the time to open my Bible and look for God to speak to me. I must admit, several times I have caught myself falling into my bad habit of going to parts of the Bible I know well and enjoy particularly in the various words of Paul. Because of my familiarity of the various books he wrote I think I subconsciously avoid those verses that challenge me, call me out, or make me feel uncomfortable. In order to overcome this I have deliberately been looking into books that I have little or no experience in, have not studied since college, or simply have not read in a long time.

Bring in the Old Testament. For me if it is OT I am all about Proverbs, Psalms, and Isaiah. They are familiar and have a great deal to say about life and our walk with Him. It is the other books that I sometimes struggle connecting with but to stretch myself I really wanted to find something new, wanting to "hear" what God has to say to me...not just what I want to hear.

So last night it was very late. I think it was around 1:30 am. Getting a workout in very late, being very stressed over work and some other things, and just not being able to sleep I found myself finally sitting down and opening the Bible.

The world was rushing at me it seemed and at every turn and I was basically trying to force myself to stay focused. Throughout my flipping around I kept praying to God about all of the stress, financial challenges, doubt, and angst crowding my brain. I was almost at the point of just reading something, closing my Bible, and trying to go to sleep when I turned to a book called Zephaniah. I didn't even remember it being in the Bible.

When I read this passage (see below) I knew God was in it. It hit me right between the eyes as I read the words "He will renew you with his love.....I will remove disaster from you....I will restore your fortunes before your eyes...”

I just sat there almost dumbfounded. Reading the passage over and over the words were ringing in my mind. What is God talking about "remove disaster"? "Restore my fortunes?" "Renew me with His love?

And then it became clear. God was saying look I have got this if you turn it over to me, everything that seems to be vexing you. Turn it over. Completely. Keep Me in your midst. I will renew you with love.

He may not return our business back to where it was or take away all the stresses of this life but because He loves us He will see us through. He will restore our fortunes in a way that is far beyond what this world has to offer.

I hope I NEVER ever forget this passage.

Zephaniah 3: 17-20

17] The LORD, your God, is in your midst,

a warrior who gives victory;

he will rejoice over you with gladness,

he will renew you in his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing

[18] as on a day of festival.

"I will remove disaster from you,

so that you will not bear reproach for it.

[19] Behold, at that time I will deal

with all your oppressors.

And I will save the lame

and gather the outcast,

and I will change their shame into praise

and renown in all the earth.

[20] At that time I will bring you home,

at the time when I gather you together;

yea, I will make you renowned and praised

among all the peoples of the earth,

when I restore your fortunes

before your eyes," says the LORD.

The Hole In Our Gospel, One Person, Eternity

2010-11-25T12:59:00.003-05:00

Recently our church completed a six week series of messages and small group study based on the book The Hole in Our Gospel by the president of World Vision Richard Stearns. In this book Mr. Stearns lays out a compelling and challenging argument that we as the universal church of Christ have failed to meet the needs of our fellow humans all around the world. The Aids Epidemic in Africa, starvation and famine all over the globe, the lack of safe drinking water for an estimated billion people, the growing sex and slave trafficking going on even right here in the U.S., and many other major tragedies are cited as causes the modern day American church needs to champion in force yet have in a number of ways not done so. Needless to say, this study pushed a large number of people in our church hard out of their comfort zones me included.

I found myself struggling to get my mind wrapped around the shear magnitude of the many problems plaguing our earth: over 25,000 children dying each day from diseases that could have been eliminated with access to clean water and sanitation, over 15 million orphans due to the ravages of AIDS, and an estimated 2.5 million slaves trafficked worldwide just to name a few.

The horrors of what this broken world has to offer just seemed to be overwhelming and Richard Stearns ability to make you question your significance and make you feel guilty about it made the first 13 chapters difficult.

I found myself feeling angry that Mr. Stearns was pouring it on with such fervor yet I couldn't stop reading. As a leader of a small group within our church I also had to prepare for the study with the additional material provided along with a DVD produced by World Vision and my feelings of failure and overwhelming guilt as a Christ follower in America made me very frustrated at times. Somewhere after I think chapter 6 or 7 I wrote in my journal: "This is by far the hardest book I have ever read and yet the hardest to put down."

Page after page I felt as though instead of having what Mr. Stearns said he hoped would happen, "... (My) heart broken by what breaks the heart of God..." I became more and angrier with what he referred to as an accident of lattitude referring to a comment made by the lead singer of the super rock group U2, Bono, an incredible humanitarian in his own right.
I did my best to stay focused on the study and the weekly messages by our pastors and continue to pray that God would replace the angst I had in my head and my heart with an understanding and peace about it all.

It was not until we got to chapter 14 and were discussing the study in our small group did I finally have a breakthrough. In that chapter Stearns begins describing the many successes and improvements that have been made in the last decade around the world. It was during our small group conversation that it hit me that what Stearns was trying to do was to spur his reader, me in this case to action. Instead of being neutral and disengaged Mr. Stearns was trying to dislodge us from that comfortable position into one of conviction to do something no matter how small it may seem at first. His sustained and voluminous description of how large the problems were in the world was meant as a trumpet sound to rally us to the causes and make a difference as a collection of Christ followers and as individuals in His kingdom. I wrote in my journal that maybe just maybe the placing of someone in need in our path is as much about what we should be doing FOR the kingdom of God as it is about what they need FROM the kingdom of God.

It came flooding down on me like a cataract that rather seeing the needs of this world as so overwhelming that I am paralyzed to inaction that the God given talents that He has blessed all of us with along with the bounty He continues to bless us with in this country such be put to use with a goal just to impact one person in need at a time, not hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, at a time. If each of us would simply allow God to use us however He will to change the life of one person and then another, then another, what could be accomplished?

What impact would it have not only in this world now but for eternity? If just one person was helped in such a way as to see Jesus in all it and accepted Him as their Lord and Savior the impact would be unfathomable.
Eternity. Have you ever sat and tried to picture what that looks like? How long it is? How big it is?

For me it’s mind boggling. I struggle in my simple human mind to even remotely get close to an idea of its enormity so one day I tried to get a grasp of it. I thought about how we often exchange time for distance. For example, I live exactly 100 miles from the city of Asheville based on the mile markers on the interstate that runs from where I live to there. If you asked me the question how far it is to Asheville I am just as likely to say "Oh, about an hour and a half" obviously referring to the time it takes to drive there in a car as I am to say 100 miles.

In looking at how long eternity is then I applied this same approach. I went to the NASA website and learned that light travels at 5879 billion miles in one year. The concept of a billion of anything baffles me a bit I must confess but learned from another website that 1 billion pennies stacked on top of each other would be 10 miles high! 5879 billion miles in one year is almost beyond imagination but one year I can almost grasp.

Now again according to the NASA website the Hubble Space Telescope orbiting earth in the last two years photographed a galaxy a 100 million years old and so far away from ours that it took the light emitted from its stars 13 billion years to get to us! That light was traveling at 5879 billion miles per year for 13 billion years to get to us! How far is that? How much time is that? Are you kidding me? My goodness it’s beyond my comprehension.

Yet, eternity is longer than that. God has been around longer than that. He is bigger than all of that space combined.
And we as His saved are promised eternal life with Him through the blood of Jesus that is longer than 13 billion years.
If we through our serving God to help just one person on this planet that is thirsty, is homeless, is starving, is orphaned, enslaved, lacks clothing, our is ravaged by disease and through our serving that one person accepts Christ then the impact we have had on that person is eternal: Longer than 13 billion years of light traveling at 5879 billion miles a year. It is beyond our comprehension but absolutely achievable.

Instead of getting completely defeated and discouraged by the enormity of the needs of this world we should be emboldened by the magnitude of the impact we can have for eternity one person at a time. Instead of doing nothing because we don’t know where to start we just need to start and God will reveal the need.

The book The Hole in Our Gospel has after it all is said and done has motivated me in such a way. For me it has inspired me to continue to press forward with the CareerLIFE Ministry even though there have been some set backs and discouragements. By continuing the effort the hopes will be that the organization can be self-funded, create opportunities to help more people, and eventually fund other outreaches. I have set a goal that in 2011 to support at least one well being drilled by Charity: Water someplace in the world. Regardless, the whole focus is helping one person at a time in need. Help just one at a time. God will bless that effort and eternity could be impacted.

So what is calling you to action? Where can you put the bounty that God has blessed you with to use in making this world a better place one person at a time both for now and Eternity?

Nothing is too big for God to achieve when we allow Him to use us in His plan.
Where are you being called? Don't let the enormity of the problem keep you from answering. Step out of neutral and start moving forward. It will have eternal ramifications.

On this Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., let us all be thankful for the gifts we have all been blessed to receive and think about how each of us can put them to use to make a difference....one person at at time.

The Hitchhikers -God's Timing Is Not Always Your Timing

2010-11-01T13:15:00.002-04:00

The Hitchhikers

God's Timing Is Not Always Your Timing.
Part 1
Making myself available to be used by God whenever He needs to use me often times, I hate to admit, conflicts with what I want to be doing, my schedule, and my own desires. Recently, however, I learned a valuable lesson about obedience to Him and the impact it can have on another person a few weeks ago.

It was an incredibly beautiful October Saturday. One of those where the sky was that perfect clear blue, the trees were beginning to show their fall colors, and the air was cool and comfortable. I had been busy all morning with some work stuff that just had to get done and some chores I had put off around the house but I had finally gotten free and was heading to Lake Norman State Park to go mountain biking for only the second time in 11 years. Mountain biking had been a huge obsession of mine all through the 90’s and my addiction to it had almost killed me once and injured me severely another. Only after experiencing the second of two neck injuries and ultimatums from my orthopedic doctor and wife did I quit. It had taken me 11 years to get to a point where I felt I could go back to the sport on a casual, less aggressive, basis and not allow it put my family’s future and my health in jeopardy. I also had a single speed mountain bike that was not set up for seriously technical riding that could help throttle me a bit. You have to understand, besides skateboards, bicycles, and particularly off road bicycles, have been the “love” of my life besides my God and my family and to ride again was euphoric.

I was also heading to the great trails of Lake Norman State Park I had never been able to allow myself to see. Back in the 90’s I had worked with other mountain bike advocates tirelessly to get approval for those trails from the state but after my injury could not bring myself to go back to see the trails once they were built because I would probably never ride them. The anticipation of finally allowing me to roll through those woods and see the hundreds of man-hours the volunteers had put in to bring those trails to fruition had my heart beating fast and my mine fixated on getting there.
God had a change of plans in mind. I had gotten a late start and was driving quickly down Shelton Avenue/Highway 115. I had noticed the “E” light was showing in the car indicating I was very low on gas but I had pushed that to the limit before and besides I had a bicycle on the top in case I miscalculated. I felt like I had just enough gas to get me to the park and then back to Troutman after riding to get gas before driving home. All I could think about was getting to the trail before running out of daylight.

Then I saw them. On the side of the road walking toward Barium Springs almost at Third Creek there they were two unassuming men who had the appearance that they either had been working or were a bit down on their luck. The smaller of the two men was holding out his thumb trying to petition for a ride while the other man looked on. Everyone was driving by them and so did I. My first thought was “I don’t pick up hitchhikers and I am in a hurry.”

As I continued on I could not get them out of my mind. I tried to shake it off and as I was approaching Barium Springs Children Home about two miles past where I had seen them that now familiar “thought voice” I call it was in my head. “Marion, go back and give those guys a ride.”

“Are you KIDDING ME?” I almost screamed in my head. “I am almost out of gas, I am running out of daylight, I am getting ready to see trails I have waited 11 years to see much less ride and I don’t have time to do a good deed.”
But as I have learned now that voice doesn’t go away unless I act on it so I turned around in the YMCA parking lot and headed back up the road in search of the men. I kept thinking to myself “Well, maybe they only need a ride as far as Troutman and I can just drop them off. Yeah, that will be good. No problem.”

When I finally caught sight of the two gentlemen they were walking back toward Statesville. Again, “Are you kidding me? I turned around and drove back just so those guys can change their mind! Uggh!”

I reached the part of the road where they were, rolled down my window while pulling over, and called out to them. “Hey, weren’t you guys going the other way?”

The one who had been thumbing replied back to me from across the busy road. “Yes, but we gave up because we were suppose to meet someone in Mooresville at 4:15 and no one was picking us up. We are walking back to the mission (referring to, I found out later, the 5th Street Ministries Homeless Shelter).”

The third “are you kidding me?” went flashing through my head. “Mooresville” I thought. I don’t have enough gas for to get there and back and still go ride.

Instead, I told them to hold up and I would turn around. It took me a minute and the two, obviously “professionals” at hitchhiking, had run down the road a bit to a good pull off spot. The whole time I am thinking to myself “What have I gotten myself into this time?” Believe me at this point doubt was sitting in the seat beside me, was big, ugly, and pointing at me mockingly.

I got turned around and pulled over at the pick-up spot and the two climbed in. Both were looking a little worse from the wear of probably being on the street for a long time but were friendly and thankful.

I asked them their names and where in Mooresville they needed to go and the man in the back seat told me they needed to go to Wal-Mart. Have you ever been to Wal-Mart in Mooresville, NC on a Saturday afternoon? You guessed it. “Are you kidding me?” bounced loudly around in my head but this time there was another voice there too. “No. This is what you were supposed to do today.”

I agreed to take them there and we started down the road. The man in the front seat, the thumb guy, was named Robert and was just sitting there quiet.

All of sudden it happened. Gary says “Hey man. Don’t I know you? …Haven’t I seen you at the Cove Church in Statesville (my church)?”

I was wracking my brain but could not remember him and before I could speak Gary again says “Yeah man. The Cove Church in Statesville. That church is awesome. I love the way the people there are so accepting and make you feel so welcome. And that Pastor Mike. Did you know he was from Arkansas and had a brother that died and didn’t believe in God? Man I love his messages. I like this new series on Community. You know the part about all of us being in a hole together looking after each other what’s that called?”

“A foxhole?” I said.

“Yeah, yeah. A foxhole. Man I loved that. We are all in this together.”

Now let me tell you I can talk. I can talk a bunch but I think I met my match in Gary. From that point until we got to Mooresville he literally paraphrased all three of Mike’s most recent messages with a little Christian Chapman thrown in. Robert in the front seat chimed in where he could and it was obvious they had been going to church together.
In that short span I also learned that Gary had finally gotten a job up in Yadkinville as a welder and was heading up there Monday. He was going to take Robert with him and try to get him hired as his helper. I also learned that Gary had been on the street for a long time as had Robert. Both of them had struggled a bit with alcohol but that they both had faith that God would someday get them out of all of this.

When we got to Wal-Mart instead of dropping them off at the top of the parking lot I drove them straight up to the front door. I got out with them and we stood there praying before they went to meet the person that was going to give them some work for the evening.

After dropping them off I drove to the state park. I was able to only ride my bike a short time at the trail but all I could think about was how thankful I was that God didn’t let me off the hook. I was able to experience my church through the eyes of someone hurting like these two men and it was an awesome feeling. It was one of the best bike rides of my life. Somehow I had just enough gas to get back to Troutman and I made it home that evening with what I thought was a great journal entry in the making.

That in and of itself should have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t.

Part 2
Fast forward to the Monday following. Pastor Lewis came to meet me for lunch at the Groucho’s Deli in Downtown Statesville that is in mine and my wife building and where my office is upstairs. We were working on CareerLIFE Ministry planning but while we were eating I had told him about the hitchhikers. When we finished we had stepped outside into another beautiful October day and were just chatting before he was to head back to Mooresville and I back upstairs when walking down the street there was Robert, the quieter of the two hitchhikers.

I stopped Robert and asked him why he didn’t go to Yadkinville like they had discussed with me. Robert said that there was really no promise of a job up there so he had stayed behind. He looked very distraught and even more drawn than Saturday. I asked him what was wrong.

He proceeded to tell me and Pastor Lewis that he was from Florida and that there was a warrant there for his arrest. He had just been at the police department in Statesville trying to turn himself in because he wanted to go back to Florida, do his time, and get his life back on track. Unfortunately, his offense, a minor one, was a “no bond” warrant and because of cost cutting measures the state of North Carolina would not extradite him back to Florida. Here he was ready to turn himself in and he could not even do that!

I looked over at Pastor Lewis and asked is there anything we can do and Pastor Lewis was all over it. He told me to get his information and he would get back with me the next day.

After Pastor Lewis left I asked Robert if he had eaten yet that day. It was almost 2 pm and he shook his head “no”. I took him into the Gary’s Sweet Shop and got them to fix him anything he wanted while I got his information from him.
Robert produced his driver’s license, social security card, and gave me the county in Florida where the warrant was issued and I went to work. I told him to meet me back here the next day and went back to my office.

My recruitment firm occasionally has to do criminal background checks and I was quickly able to determine that his story was legitimate; he did have a bond for a few minor offenses, and was facing about 3 months of jail time. I also confirmed that they would not pay to have him brought to Florida.

Once I collected all of the information together Pastor Lewis took over. Even though almost the entire staff of the Cove was in Atlanta within a day he and Patrick Webber had purchased him a bus ticket. I coordinated with Billy at 5th Street Ministries to get him transported to the bus station on Thursday morning early in downtown Charlotte. My wife Donna packed him a bag of food (including some of her “famous” homemade muffins), water, and juice for the trip, and we got him ready to go. I had picked up a Study Bible and put that in the bag too. In it I had written his name, that it was from The Cove Church, and to always set his sight on God in everything he does for the rest of his life.

The next day the great people at 5th Street Ministries put Robert on a bus back home and on Friday he turned himself in to the local authorities.

This whole situation made me realize that maybe the reason God hadn’t met Robert’s needs is because He has been waiting on me to allow Him to use me to do so. It is something I hope and pray I will never forget.

When you see someone in need maybe just maybe the reason that God hasn't met that need yet is because it is as much about what you need to be doing FOR the kingdom of God as it is about what that person needs FROM the kingdom of God.
Who has God put in your path that needs you?

Matthew 25:40 (New International Version)
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:45 (New International Version)
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Crossing the Bridge Washed Out

2010-02-22T22:52:00.007-05:00

Sunday the weather was amazing and I was so excited about finally being able to get on the road with my skateboard and do some serious miles. After church, a good lunch, and a few chores in the yard I got my gear together and set off on a 26 mile push through West and North Iredell. Training for the Surf2TheSurf long distance skateboarding trip across North Carolina planned for June to raise awareness of brain injury and money for Hinds Feet Farm’s day programs has been hampered greatly by this winter’s weather. Needless to say I was stoked to see temperatures in the high 50’s and low 60’s, sunshine, and dry roads! It was ON and I was bound and determined to test my fitness level to get a picture of where I stood. I had a chance on Saturday afternoon to go out and push for 14 miles on one of my normal training loops and had felt fairly good so the idea of stepping it up and deliberately choosing a route that had some big climbs and some long false flat sections was motivating. The term “false flat” comes from cycling and means a section of road that appears to be level or even slightly downhill but actually is up hill. The longer you are on a false flat the more it burns and knowing that I will see quite a bit of that type of terrain when I hit Leg 3 from Apex to Wilmington I knew Scotts Creek Road needed to be part of my training.

I headed away from the house in my normal path out of town and found myself locking into a fairly good rhythm. Traversing through the neighborhoods at the top of Race Street, Hedrick Drive, then out to Front Street, and a jaunt over to North Side Drive, I was feeling fine and my heart rate though high was in control. Everything felt like just another training day. The sport of long distance skateboarding for me has become a test of managing suffering. The more I can tolerate higher and higher levels of suffering the more I get out of it. I know, sick huh? I think all endurance related sports have this element as part of its key focal point and long distance skateboarding is no different.

My push was going well. The climb up Island Ford Road was hard, as usual, and my heart rate was high, but as the road leveled out heading toward West Iredell High School my recovery was again good. I was feeling the test of the climbs and passing them. By the time I made my turn north onto Old Mountain Road I had settled on a great pace and was in a zone. Old Mountain Road is one where concentration is critical because of the traffic and I felt like I was focused and rolling great. My friends Jason and Sherri had passed me somewhere and I learned later that Sherri had remarked that I looked like a man on a mission.

After several miles I came to my planned turn on to Miracle Farm Road, a fairly short rolling road that ends finally when it terminates at the bottom of a very steep hill where a small river flows through a beautiful little valley. The first downhill section is a favorite of mine because it has a good uphill after a fast section you can easily fly down. Then after another mile or so the descent to the river down that steep incline awaits. It’s a hard descent that requires a great deal of foot braking (literally putting your foot down on the pavement to slow you down) because of the bridge, stop sign, and ninety degree turn at the bottom. Still I felt in control on the board and was making my way through the section when I saw the first sign. “Road Closed 1500 Feet.” At first I was confused. How could that be? I mean I just came off of Old Mountain Road where I had been paying careful attention and I had not seen any warning of the road work. I continued forward. This time I surmised that the road must be just closed to local traffic only and I would not have any problems as I moved forward. Besides, if I was forced to turn back and re-route my push I was in a position to get caught out in the dark. By this time it was late afternoon and going forward with the route I only had about 10 miles to go to get home. Turning around would be over 16 miles back to the house and even at the pace I was traveling would have taken just a little less than 2 hours. At best I had an hour and fifteen or twenty minutes of daylight left.
In five-hundred feet was the next sign, “Road Closed 1000 Feet.” Again, I begin to rationalize that the road may be a bit rough but closed completely probably not. I continued on. Another five hundred and you guessed it “Road Closed 500 Feet.” At this point I stopped. This was the very steepest part of that descent and with the road’s potentially in bad condition just around the bend I dismounted my longboard and hung it through the straps of my backpack on my back. I begin the walk down the rest of the hill and as I turned the corner it became very apparent the reason for all the signs. The bridge that once stood at the bottom of the hill across a small river was gone. I blinked my eyes a bit as I stared at this incredibly large crane on my side of the river and what appeared to be the beginnings of a new bridge footing. Other than that, there was no sign of any way to cross. Again I began calculating the distance I would have to travel if I had to back track compared to the remaining daylight available and I knew I needed to figure out a way across. I could see the road I needed to be on. It was only a few hundred feet in front of me. I could clearly see my next turn and direction to travel to continue my training push home yet this deep ravine and small river stood in my way.

As I continued to walk toward the space that once was a bridge I began looking up and down the river to see if there was another way across. Surely there was a tree down, a foot bridge, or maybe even some rocks I could easily cross over. I did not see anything. All I could see was the huge ditch and a very deep fast moving stream of water swollen further by all the snow and rain we have had this winter. Right across the gap was my safe route home but regardless of how close getting across the river had to be accomplished before I could continue on my way.

When I reached the end of the road I walked up to the edge beside the crane. The water had been damned on the side and the river was now very narrow at the point but was moving very fast. As strong of a swimmer I am the idea of falling in that with a Camelbak backpack and a 42 inch skateboard strapped across my back was not appealing in the least so attempting to wade the creek was not part of the plan. I suspected that water was cold and hypothermia and skating wet another 10 miles or so was not a thrilling prospect either. I began to search the bank for something I could lay across but could not find anything and I just stood there a moment staring at the water obstacle in front of me, the road on the other side of the bank I needed to be on, and just for a moment seemed stuck. Going back would surely take me on a dark road home. Even though I had been alert I missed the signs on the previous road warning of the closing that could have encouraged me to alter my route. Once I was confronted with the “closed” signs it was too late. I was all in. Focusing on the raging water in front of me I just simply stood there.

Then, for some reason I looked to the right and out of the corner of my eye I saw a small one foot wide make shift footbridge that the construction workers building the bridge must have fashioned. Here I was standing looking straight ahead where the large bridge once stood and all I could think about was getting across at that very point when an alternative was simply a detour of a few feet. I began to laugh at the combination of my stupidity and the fact that for the first time in my long distance skateboarding career I was about to go hiking.

I made my way down the big rocks that the crew had put in place to stabilize the bank of the river which had been severely damaged by the very floods that must have taken the old bridge down. It was a bit slick but I was able to make it to the footbridge which was a great deal narrower than it even looked from above. The water was moving very swiftly underneath and I knew that falling in was not an option. I had my phone in my hand as I stepped slowly out on the one foot wide board. My thoughts were that I began to totter I would toss it to the bank across so that it would not get submerged and destroyed by going in the water with me. I figured I would be able to crawl out and at least call for someone to come pick me up or at least allow it to be used to help find the body. (Its funny how thoughts like that go through your mind). You see I use a program called Map My Tracks (www.mapmytracks.com) that uses the GPS of my phone to map my progress when I am out training so that if something happens my family can have someone come find me.

Crossing the shaky footbridge was a bit of a challenge but I made it fine. I knew if I fell to the left I had the risk of hitting my head on the board so I kept telling myself if you fall, fall right. It was narrow and yes it was not easy but it was still what I needed to do to get back on the path home. I climbed up the bank, stomped the dirt off of my shoes a bit, and began the push up the road on my board the whole time laughing and grinning about the crossing of the bridge washed out. In ten miles I was back at home.

As I was telling this story Monday morning to a friend of mine my friend said “You know there’s a message in that story?”

At first I did not see it but as I thought about it I agreed. Life is often times so much like that training push. It starts out with a great deal of hope and excitement. Yes, there is suffering that comes along the way like the big climbs or the “false flat” but for the most part as people we seem to move through it. We continue on with our life focused on what we want, the path we have chosen for ourselves, and oblivious to the signs that tell us that there is a detour coming up the road. Because we seem to suffer some but can handle it we begin to get this feeling of what I call false self awareness where we think we can pretty much handle anything. Don’t get me wrong. I do think God has created us to be a confident people but how often do we actually find ourselves all of a sudden standing at the end of the road staring at a bridge that has been washed away before we could cross it? Somehow along the route we have focused on a direction we have planned and when we do see a “road closed sign” we miss it, ignore it, or simply just do not believe it. We also often find ourselves looking at the direction from whence we came to this point and find that darkness waits if we try to retrace our steps. We are standing at the edge of a bridge no longer there but the prize, that road ultimately home, is just across the way. It is that road to life that is right there almost under our feet yet for some reason there is a chasm between us and it. Along the route we had even experienced times of false flat where we thought we were cruising down hill when in all actuality we were laboring to move forward. Once we arrive at the barrier impeding us we look straight ahead at it, just as I did looking across the ravine, singly focused on the space where once the bridge stood. Because of the long road to get to this point it is hard for us to look anywhere but in the direction we have been pushing when all along by simply diverting off of that path and looking for an answer we can find that small narrow footbridge off to the right. Yes, that path may seem hard but it is not as hard as the suffering that brought us to that point. That bridge might be narrow but it is not filled with near the dangers that that big open road of our own choosing was behind us. And the way home once we have crossed is solid under our feet. Turning back from this point leads ultimately to darkness but in front of us is enough light to keep us safe.

In Matthew Chapter 7 verse 14 it says “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life…”

So, what is standing in your way from crossing over the footbridge that ultimately leads you home? What signs did you see but ignored that told you that you might be heading in the wrong direction? Is it possible that maybe you are so okay with your sufferings at the moment that you do not realize that there is something better or have you reached that space where a bridge once stood and decided rather to risk it any further you would just turn around and head back into the darkness?

Several years ago I wrote a bit of free verse that compared life to climbing a mountain. In it I noted how we as humans are apt to cling to a place along the way that is familiar even if it is painful because we fear the unknown more than familiar pain. What narrow footbridge seems to be more frightful to you than returning to the familiar suffering of the route that brought you this far?

God has a plan for your life. He does give you free will to choose that plan or stick with your own direction. Because He loves you he has laid down a footbridge through His Son Jesus Christ that will put you ultimately on the path to His love and faithfulness. Yes, it may be a narrow one but the end is so worth it.

So, what’s keeping you from crossing that bridge that is washed out in your life?

Turning A Situation Around-Notes from the Road with The Follow Me Tour

2009-11-20T16:30:00.001-05:00

Last week's Follow Me Tour stop in Kingsport, Tennessee turned out amazing even though it started out very rocky and crazy. It was just Pete and I taking this one and when we pulled into the parking lot of this Christian teen club Pete made a joke saying "I hope they know we are coming." It had been booked out about 2 months ago. Sure enough we walk in and the lady that runs the place has this look on her face that said "I forgot"! She was a bit rattled because they had also over-booked the number of bands for the night and was really stressed out. At first she was really skeptical about us and started quizzing us about what our ministry was about. She asked exactly that and I answered "It's about Jesus." Her next question was "How do you feel about gays because we may have some people here in that lifestyle?" My response was that though I don't personally support that lifestyle that Jesus says we are to love everyone, share our faith with everyone, not be judgmental, and share His love and redemption.

Then she said that she would see how the night goes and that we maybe would be able to speak but she wasn't sure. I think she was taken aback when both Pete and I said that it was no problem and that we would just hang out, be around the teens and young adults, and just be a part of the evening however it worked out. She then asked me to be the MC to open with prayer and introduce the bands. As the night got started one of the band members came back to where she was at the concession stand asking if they could get some water for the group. She told them that she used to provide water but needed to sell it to them now because of budget cuts. He was great about it and went back to his merchandise table to get some cash. I quickly added up the members of all the bands in my head, pulled out a $20 and paid for the water (a dollar a bottle of something she could have purchased at Wal-Mart for $2.50 a case). I think that was the act that completely turned the situation around because after the first band she came up to me and asked if we would do the message between the third band and fourth.

When it was time for the Blue Collar Preachers to take stage I think the message went well. God put it on my heart to talk about how we face adversity in this life but how through his grace and love we have the hope of eternal life with Him. (1^st Peter Chapter 1) The crowd was a pretty rough disenfranchised group of youth from the Kingsport area (read:Emo) and I hope it hit home with them. I talked about how God is with us throughout every day's walk and just continues to pour his love on us even when we don't seem to want it. Pete focused on how God can do amazing things in our lives even when we are challenged by life itself.

A lady who was there who was the mother of one of the band members of the first band that played (it was there very first performance) came up to me later and handed me something. She said that God had put it on her heart before she left the house to give it to someone at the place and after hearing the message and learning that the Follow Me Tour had no funding, no base church, or anything, that she knew it was for us. I just stuck it in my pocket and didn't even look at it.

Pete had just rented the space where the Victor Ministry was (the place we saw Jay Bakker) for a Sunday afternoon Bible Study/Outreach/Office for his ministry and a home base for the Follow Me Tour that morning. I reached in my pocket and said "Well, here's some money to start your fund for "The Gathering" (the name he's given it). When I looked down I realized that what I had thought might be a twenty was a HUNDRED!!!! It was crazy man…this woman had shared with us how her son had never gone to church, how her ex-husband had been abusive and was in prison, and how now God was working in their lives and that playing in a Christian rock band had saved him. What a witness!!!

We could have gotten upset and angry driving 190 miles to a place to find out that we were not part of the program. We could have allowed our egos to step in and destroy what turned out to be a blessing. Somehow, as we have learned throughout the Follow Me Tour run since June of this year, by simply following Him where ever He leads us something good will always come out of that followership.

What Are You?

2009-08-17T11:47:00.003-04:00

During a long distance push yesterday afternoon as a recovery from Saturday’s 60 mile monster I passed a lady in her yard who was struggling with large bags of top soil in the back of her pick up. She was a slightly built lady who appeared to be in her late 60’s but never the less was muscling these 50 lb bags by hugging them and slowly walking to the flower bed she where she was placing them. As I road past I remembered what George (Franco-Pastor of Operations at the Cove Church) had talked about in his message that morning about “who is our neighbor” and how we as Christ followers are called to help others.

After I had gone about 50 feet down the road God placed it on my heart to turn around and go back and offer help. There were at least 7 bags I noticed still in the bed of the truck and it was looking like it was about to rain. I turned around and skated back up to where she was and asked if I could be any help. Picture in your mind how I looked: Black Adidas shorts, red New Balance running shirt, red and black CamelBak backpack, mountain bike helmet (it’s not as hot as a skateboard helmet), Tifosi sport sunglasses, already covered in sweat, and riding a really big skateboard.

The lady at first naturally was taken aback. The look she gave me has now become a very familiar one since being bolder about stopping and praying for people on some of my skating trips. It reminded me of the poll we had taken in church that morning that said that the majority of us did not stop and offer help to people that we did not know because of fear. This was that look of cautious fear but because of the heat and the fact that there were actually eight more bags to unload she welcomed every so reluctantly the help.

It took me all of two minutes to unload the bags. Being somewhat tall and having a pretty good frame I was able to reach in the bed and grab the bags one in each hand and haul them over to the flower bed across the yard. The whole time I could tell the woman was just trying to figure out what I was going to ask for in return or what was next. When I got finished I thanked her for letting me help and again she just looked at me trying to figure me out.

Then it happened. She blurted out “What are you?”

At first I could not figure out what she was asking. A long distance skateboarder? A neighbor? Another weirdo who is about to ask for money?

I had to ask her to repeat the question.

“What are you? A policeman?” She said.

I was still lost to what she was trying to determine but then it hit me. Maybe I looked like a bike cop…except on a skateboard? Hmm. I was still confused.

Finally God gave me a answer and it was directly from George’s message about how Christians are perceived in a poor light.

“I am a Christian” I said.

She just stood silent staring at me and I repeated myself. “I am Christian and that is why I stopped to help. That is what Christ Followers are supposed to be doing.”

A smile, the first one of the whole exchange, spread across this lady’s face and I could tell that it was as much a huge release of her fear as it was thankfulness.

Before I left I asked her if I could pray for her and I did. I prayed that she gets her garden done before the rain came, that she be blessed by God’s great love and grace, and that she have a great rest of the day.

After I got up the road a mile or so the question she kept asking was just ringing in my head.

“What are you?” It was not “Who are you?” or “Why are you stopping?” or “Where do you live”?

No. Her simple question was the most complex one she could have every asked anyone.

“What are you?” cuts right to the core of our being as Christ Followers. Answering that question should be a foregone conclusion if we are truly living up to what we confess to be but unfortunately that does not always show through. As I have quoted before there is a song by Warren Barfield, an awesome contemporary Christian singer/songwriter from Eastern North Carolina who now lives in Nashville, called “Mistaken”. The line from the song that has always jumped out at me is “I shouldn’t have to tell you who I am. Because who I am should be speaking for itself.”

Maybe that line needs to be “Because WHAT I am should be speaking for itself.”

Our actions, our words, our deeds, and our whole demeanor should be answering the question “What Are You?” on a daily basis. Yet, as George discussed in his message yesterday as Christians we fail as a group to convey that answer in that manner.

So how do we then put into action what is asked of us? How do we answer the question of what we are?

John 13:35 helps give us a first step. As disciples and followers of Him we must love one another:
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”

Jesus then adds even more clarity to how we should answer our identity question:

Mark 12:30-31 (New International Version)
30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]There is no commandment greater than these."
You see by following what Jesus says will ensure the inheritance of eternal life with Him it is love that defines us. Love for God and love for our neighbor should shout the answer to the question.

“What are you?” Do your actions reinforce the distrust of Christianity today or are your actions speaking for what you profess to be? Does your LOVE scream out Jesus?

I for one want nothing more than to break the stereotype of the Christian who is seen as closed minded, hypocritical, and insensitive. In my life I have been guilty of all three with a special emphasis on being a hypocrite. For me supporting a mission in Central America with money was one thing but helping my “neighbor”, the lost or downtrodden right here in our own backyard has been lacking.

There are people in our surrounding community that need us as Christ Followers to just be there for them. There are homeless, people who have lost jobs, people who are dealing with illness or depression, the elderly, the poor, and those in crime ridden neighborhoods. There are also people who seem to have everything, money, nice cars, and large homes on the lake, but have something missing in their lives.

“What are you?” Let your actions answer that question. You see people do not need to know “who” you are. They just need to know “what” you are: A Christ follower who loves them.

The World

2009-08-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

The World tells you that there is no god but that you are a god yourself.

The World tells you that you deserve everything you can get.

The World tells you that you there is nothing more than what you see right here.

The World tells you that life just happened and we are all animals fighting for our scraps.

The World gives you grief.
The World gives you pain.
The World gives you anguish.
The World gives you death.

So why don’t you turn away from the World and turn toward the Father? Don’t you want more than what the World can offer you?

Yes, the world gives you a million reasons to believe that God doesn't exist, that the Resurection didn't happen, that Jesus didn't come to earth and is not the Son. But what has the world done to convince you that you should believe in the world?

Open up your minds and open up your hearts to things this world will never offer. Hope, peace, love, and the promise of eternal life.

Try it. You may like it for eternity.

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life"

Prayer's Potential Impact on Heart Rate- Long Distance Skateboard Pushing

2009-08-04T11:20:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I did a short training push of 12 miles around Statesville that took me in the last 3 miles to the bottom of Hospital Hill (Hartness Road at Iredell Memorial Hospital). I have been training on that hill for a while and have been noting my heart rate at the bottom and then again at the top to get a comparison of the increase in load that hill has on my cardiovascular system. I have been working on trying to manage my heart rate on that hill so that I don't get so far in the red zone that it basically shuts me down for the rest of the push. I have also been paying attention to my recovery from the peak heart rate as I continue on down to Stockton Street and up the hill at 1st Baptist. (I am making these same kind of mental notes on all the big hills I push regularly to assess my fitness based on recovery time, max heart rate, average heart rate etc.).

In yesterday's route I had already climbed a bit in my neighborhood on Race Street, up Hedrick Drive, up the frontage road that comes out behind Burger King on 90, and up Museum Road from the museum past the ball fields so I had some hills in my legs before hitting the bottom of Hartness. I had also averaged 9.5 mph for the entire push and had an average heart rate of 156 bpm to that point. When I hit the bottom my heart rate was at 145 bpm and when I reached the summit it was 183 bpm. (I had gone a bit too hard up the last 1/3 of that climb). As I crested the top I saw what appeared to be a patient from the hospital sitting on the wall at the sidewalk outside of the cancer center talking to 2 other people who I guess had been walking by. He didn't look like he was doing too good and had an IV catheter in his hand. I started to continue but that voice once again said I needed to go pray with the man.

I immediately turned around and pushed over to where he was and asked him if he was alright and if I could pray for him. He said he was ok but that this was the designated smoking area (there are no signs that indicate such). He agreed to let me pray and I did a very short and simple one asking for healing for whatever he was dealing with (I assumed cancer based on the way he looked and his location at the time) . The whole exchange lasted less than 4 minutes and as I rolled away I looked down at my heart rate and it had dropped all the way to 120 bmp! Thats a 63bpm drop. I am starting to get more fit now but still need to lose about 15 more lbs mininum. I was shocked at the huge drop so quickly. (Keep in mind for the last hour my heart rate had been at an average of 156 bmp for the entire hour). The only thing I could contribute it to was the fact that taking the time to pray calmed me down so much that my heart just slowed down more quickly than it normally would.

I am sure that there are a lot of factors involved and this one episode is not a scientific study on the effect of prayer on heart rate but as I push more I am going to become more aware of it.

My point in sharing this story though is to encourage all of you to use prayer to calm the storm in your life, calm your heart rate down when you are jacked up over all the challenges you are facing, and calm your mind and heart so that you can find peace.

Pushing A Skateboard For God

2009-07-23T00:52:00.016-04:00

Back in the latter part of winter I had decided to try out a new form of skateboarding called longboard pushing or long distance pushing. As the name suggests basically this somewhat “kooky fringe” sport consists of riding a longboard (the definition of a longboard is a skateboard of 36 inches or more typically that is set up primarily for carving or skating down hills) over distance propelling the board by alternately pushing with either foot when necessary on flat ground or going uphill. Having ridden skateboards since I was 12, ridden longboards a great deal over the last several years racing, and being a former road cyclist combined to make this form of skating somewhat natural to me.

It took me a little while to get use to pushing with my right foot (back foot) because all my skating life I had pushed with my front foot (or mongo as it is called in skateboarding). Once I got the hang of it though I quickly found myself wanting to longboard push a great deal. I found out through a friend in Atlanta about a paved bicycle trail called the Silver Comet (http://www.silvercometga.com/) in Georgia and the Chief Ladiga Trail (http://epic.jsu.edu/clt/) in Alabama that was close to 100 miles long and I decided I would set a goal to attempt to skate the entire distance over two days the weekend of July 3rd and July 4th.

I trained for two months on the roads around Statesville and in northern Iredell County starting out small with pushes of only a few miles and working my way up to 35 miles plus. It was a great experience and through the process I started getting motivated about the attempt at the Alabama/Georgia trail.

When the time came I traveled to Atlanta on Thursday, July 2nd and stayed with my nephew Rich. The next day he drove me over to Anniston, Alabama early in the morning and dropped me off with my board, backpack, and gear and I started my push back toward Atlanta. I embarked on what I thought was going to be a journey focused on me accomplishing something other than a business deal, a completion of a building project, or surviving the extended economic turndown we have been facing. I had learned in doing my planning for the trip that no one had ever skateboarded the entire length of the trail so I was stoked to have the opportunity to be the first. It was going to be a small accomplishment that I could put in my memory bank and also a chance to get a break from all of the stress of this past year.

All of that changed just a few miles down the path. The weather was perfect, the trail was beautiful, and I found myself alone and talking with God thanking Him for the trip. Not very far up the route I saw an older couple out for a morning walk. It was early around 8:15 am and it seemed to me that this was their daily routine. As I approached them it hit me that this event, this achievement I was hoping to accomplish was not meant to be about me. You see over the last year God has been challenging me to step out of my comfort zone and be bold about my faith no matter what the circumstances. (See blog> “"Storming The Walls of The Comfort Zone- A Prayer Warrior Unleashed")
I have found it more and more natural to pray for perfect strangers that I meet in every day life or while out skating and as soon as I saw this couple that familiar voice in my head said “You need to pray with these people”.

When I rolled up to them from behind I got a very startled look from them both because they were obviously expecting a cyclist. By the time I finished the two day journey this look became very familiar. We exchanged the normal “good mornings” and then the man asked me how far I was “going on that thing”. I told him I had just left the trailhead and was skating to Atlanta. The look on his face also became familiar as the two days went on. It was sort of a combination of astonishment and “dude, you are a crazy person”. As he was recovering I told him that God also wanted me to pray with as many people as I could as I traveled along the way and asked him if I could pray for he and his wife.

At first he hesitated but then said ok and I began to pray. I prayed that God would bless their walk, their family, keep them safe, and keep the ever mindful of the gift that he so freely gave of his Son that brings an abundant and eternal life. That prayer became the backbone of prayers I would go on to say with over 30 people over the next two days.

I had the opportunity to pray with several national guard members who were taking their PT on the trail around Jacksonville, Alabama in anticipation of being deployed. I was able to pray with multiple cyclists along the way ranging in ages of 20 to in their 60’s.
I was blessed to have a father bring his two daughters out to meet me on the trail and ride their bikes along with me for 5 miles outside of Piedmont, AL and we both prayed for each other and each other’s families.

I also had the chance to pray with an awesome man named Alvin Davis who is in his early 60’s and rides the trail everyday around Cedartown, Ga . He road his bike along side me the first six miles of the second day and showed me a great bit of southern hospitality.

When stopping in Rockmart, Georgia at a coffee shop I prayed for the young couple who had just moved back to their hometown to open this shop. They were in hopes of being in a better place to raise their small child who was playing in a make-shift playpen in the back of the store.

The list went on and on and each experience was both fulfilling and humbling at the same time. God kept introducing me to different opportunities to show His love and grace and it was a blessing to be a part of each one. He even introduced me to other people who were Christ Followers that I have now become contacts with and we are looking forward to staying in touch and seeing what God does in each other’s lives. Over 30 people allowed me the opportunity to share with them a prayer and only two people, a couple, asked that I not (another blog in the making).

God took the opportunity to take what was meant to be a “selfish act” of accomplishing something for myself and turn it in to something to give Him glory. He took this time I had for myself and not only became an integral part of it but rolled along with me every push of the way.

How can something you are doing for yourself be transformed into being focused on Him?

Where is it, work, school, home, in the community, your hobbies, or elsewhere that including God could make a big difference in someone else’s life and your own?

He’s already given you what you need to do just that very thing. In everyday life God is opening the door for you to share his love. All you need to do is to turn the focus from yourself and make it about His glory. What starts out in your mind to be one thing will turn into something far greater than you imagined or expected.

Hebrews 13:20-21
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever." Amen”

What Does Jesus See When He Looks At Us?

2009-07-01T14:18:00.004-04:00

I have been blessed over the years to have been able to do some pretty cool things and be around some incredibly cool people. As a teenager rather than playing baseball or football like most of the boys my age all I wanted to do was skateboard and ride bicycles.

I got my first “real” skateboard when I was 12 and immediately fell in love with it. I would skate for hours everyday practicing all the tricks and style coming out of California that I saw in Skateboarder magazine. I went to my first skateboard competition when I was 13 and after that it was ON! For me skating was this huge act of self expression and the whole surf/skate culture spoke to me like nothing I had experienced up to that point.

Skateboarding introduced me to other skaters from around the Charlotte and Concord area and I got plugged into an emerging East Coast skate scene. Immediately my circle of influence became primarily older guys who liked me, I think, because I always went big ever time I got on the board…even if it meant a trip to the hospital or skin left on the pavement. I earned their respect by never backing off….Once I even tried riding a skateboard out of the back of a moving van in the McDonald’s parking lot on a Friday night……that didn’t turn out too good….But I was legend after that!

The team of skaters I was a part of was the best around and when we went to competitions or rolled into a new town to skate everyone knew us. Younger skaters wanted to be like us and I can remember one in particular that would try to emulate everything I did, how I dressed, what kind of board I road, and my style. To that kid I was the man!

As adult I moved away from skateboarding in the 80’s and got deep into the world of mountain biking. Once again I was drawn to some great guys and though I wasn’t as good a mountain biker as I had been a skater I got to be part of some great groups. Through the sport I became interested in trail building and became a national volunteer for the International Mountain Biking Association leading trail projects in multiple states. I also gained a reputation for being able to survive spectacular crashes. I am not sure it is a good thing to be known for that fact but that was who I was in the sport. Once after riding off of a 30 ft drop and crashing through the top of a pine tree in the dark…yes, we were riding at night with lights...one of the riders who was out with us for the first time who witnessed the crash asked my regular riding partner, “Dude, is he alright?”

As I was climbing up the side of the hill dragging what was left of my bike behind me I could hear his answer, “Oh man, he does that all the time.”

After being forced to leave the sport in 1999 because of a serious neck injury I needed something to fuel my need for speed. I started skateboarding again and by 2003 was being drawn back into my first love, but this time through skateboard racing and longboarding. By 2005 I was competing again and getting connected with the top skaters in that part of sport from all over the world. I poured the same amount of energy I did when I was younger into skating except with an older person’s body. I was able to get sponsorship, compete at high level, and skate with the coolest people in the sport. Through my local skate group I got involved in putting on skateboard racing events one of which was the 2007 World Championships. Again, in the sport, I was pretty cool, huh?

But now I want to tell you about someone else I knew. As I am describing him I want you to start forming a picture in your mind of this person. Create a mental image of what you think this person was like.

First, his hair was not in style. Matter of fact, it was somewhat unkempt, and almost was like a chronic bed head. I am not talking about the style now that people pay good money to look like they don’t comb their hair…this guy just didn’t comb his hair. It was a curly mess.

Let’s talk about his clothes. Man, his clothes. They were never in style. When all of the other teenagers in the area were dressed in Izod and the latest preppy fashion he dressed almost as if he was from a foreign country…….a poor foreign country.

He also was in marching band. Marching band was cool if you were a trumpet player or better yet on the drum line, but this dude played the baritone saxophone. Who knows what a baritone sax is? That is that really big saxophone that is about the size of a small person. The band member playing the bari sax was almost always put out on the end of the formation for some reason. Come on man.

Are you starting to get a picture now?

Band Geek!

This guy was also in the Drama Club. He had roles in plays like the Sound of Music and Oklahoma. He was so into drama he even did summer theater playing roles like Bert from Mary Poppins, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and the Candy Man from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory! The Candy Man? Are you kidding me?

Can’t you just see him? I can. Dude. (shaking my head)

While we are talking, we should mention that this guy was also smart. I’m talking bookworm smart. He was top 20 in his graduating class, a class that turned out four or five doctors, PhD’s, lawyers, and you name it. Between his GPA and his SAT score he got a full ride academic scholarship. He didn’t get invited to parties too much but everyone wanted him in their study group.

What a Nerd. I can even remember this was the first kid I knew with a digital watch…he got a digital watch in the 7th grade! It was an LCD watch not LED like today. You had to push a button on the side to see the time and that is all it gave…the time!! No stopwatch, no heart rate monitor, no day/date….just the time. His family was poor and it was the only Christmas present he got that year. If he were a student today he probably would be destined to work at Microsoft or be writing computer code for Doom 5.

He even road the bus to school…..when he was a Senior! What a loser!

This kid also had a really dark side. If there had been such a thing as Emo back then this guy would have been the poster child. He wrote punk rock songs that reflected the teenage angst that was raging inside of him. One of the songs was called Battery Acid.

The chorus went “Just give me some acid and I’ll fly away, life’s a mess that’s a what I say, Battery Acid…takes care of me…Battery Acid, it sets me free.” This dude was messed up.

He also wrote a song called “Death Wish” that was just as the title suggest…except it was about him and his two best friends and how they wanted to die.

“This is a story about 3 friends. They all know how they want it to end. They all know how they want to go. Two up high and one down low.”

What was with that? Wierdo.

Can you see this guy? Can you get a picture of what this guy is about? Can’t you just see him?

Yes. You can. You see, you are looking at him in this blog.

That was me when I was in high school.

You have to understand, skateboarding, in the a 70’s was a fringe sport that attracted loners and teenagers that didn’t feel they fit in with the mainstream.

That was me the drama geek that found being on stage was better than real life because when I was up there I was the character and not me. Can’t you just see me doing the part of Will in Oklahoma…..”I went to Kansas City on a Friday, by Saturday I learned a thing or two. Cause up to then I didn’t have an i-de of what the modern world was coming too. I counted 20 gas buggies going by themselves almost every time I took a walk. Then I put my ear to a bell telephone and a strange women started in to talk….”

Talk about lame!

In my skateboard world or my drama world I was cool. I was somebody. In the world that was my high school, I felt like a freak. Crazy huh?

But you know what? Jesus doesn’t care about all of that. Jesus doesn’t care if I am cool or a nerd. All Jesus cares about is my heart. He longs for me to follow Him. He sees past what I am wearing, what I do, how popular I am, or what sport I play. Jesus looks deep into my soul and wants nothing from me but everything. He wants that so much in fact that He willingly took on the form of a man and went to the cross for me. Jesus suffered and died for me, then defeated sin and death for me. He waled out of the tomb and kicked the doors of heaven wide open so a wretch like me could walk in someday.

He did that for all of you as well.

He wants all of us to be with Him no matter who we are, where we come from, or if we are cool or not.

Jesus proved this when He was on this earth. Jesus didn’t surround himself with the popular people, the cool people, and the leaders of the day. Who did he select as His closest friends?

Think about the Disciples. Man were they a mess or what? Talk about the most unlikely to succeed. They were nobodies who were definitely not part of the “in crowd” of the day.

Some were fishermen. I don’t know about you, but when I was in high school no one I knew said they wanted to be a fisherman. I am not talking about the sponsored by Bass Pro Shop driving a $100,000 boat with a 250 horsepower Evinrude motor fishing in the Bass Master Classic fisherman. I am talking hard working, on the ocean every day, pulling in heavy nets, and getting fish oil all over them so much that no matter how much they bathe they still smell like fish fishermen. I wouldn’t want to hang around anyone that smells like fish all the time. But what did Jesus see? He saw the men that would build his church.

In Matthew Chapter 4. 19 Jesus said “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

Or better yet, consider Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector. Let me put that in perspective for you. Matthew was not like a government employee who works for the Internal Revenue Service that collects taxes through the mail. No. Tax collectors during that time were independent contractors for the Roman Government.

Imagine that your next door neighbor was a tax collector like Matthew and that every week, every month, every quarter, and every year, he came over and knocked on your door to collect the taxes. Then imagine that the taxes you are paying are to a government of a country that you are not even a citizen of and neither is your neighbor. Now, to add insult to injury, picture your neighbor putting part of the money in one pocket for the government and part of it in the other for himself. Not sure about you but I would have a hard time loving my neighbor if that were the situation.

Tax collectors were despised by the Jews because they saw them as collaborating with the enemy and not being much better than a thieves. Even the Romans who used tax collectors like Matthew held them in disregard because of the unsavory way they went about their job.

But what did Jesus see in Matthew? He looked past his profession. He looked past how despised and hated he was by those Jesus would ultimately use Matthew to reach. He saw a man that would follow Him completely and would go on to write arguably the most complete record of His ministry. Jesus saw through to Matthew’s heart.

So what does Jesus see when He looks at you? What does He know about you by seeing inside of your heart and soul?

At one point in my life my hope, other than ultimately ending up in heaven myself and my family being there as well, was to make the difference in one person’s life so that they do too. How cool would it to be in heaven some day and have someone come up to me and say “Remember when you shared with me what Jesus was doing in your life when we were down on earth? Well, that got me thinking and I decided I wanted what you had so I asked Jesus into my heart. Now I am here!” That would be incredible.

My dream has changed now though. Instead of just one person I want Jesus to use me to help as many people as possible to see Him and ultimately end up in heaven. I want everyone that is reading this now to be there. I want people to not see me as cool or a nerd, a skater, a business person, or a tattooed dude with a shaved head. No, the thing I want them to see is Jesus in me. What I want them to take away is that God is real, that He is Love, and that by following Him, everlasting life is there’s to be had. Someday everyone of us can be in heaven together. Every single one of us can stand in His presence . All we have to do is to accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior and follow Him. Talk about being the cool kids? Everyone in heaven is the absolute coolest!

Jesus sees you for who you are inside your heart. He loves you no matter what and as I said before longs to spend eternity with you. He also longs for you to allow Him to work through you so that others turn to him as well. No matter where you come from, no matter what you are like, once He is inside of you and you become a Jesus Follower, what people will ultimately see will be Him.

Warren Barfield, the contemporary Christian singer/songwriter from Eastern North Carolina, has a song called “Mistaken” which spoke to me so much the first time I heard it. The lyric that stood out the most was this “I shouldn’t have to tell you who I am, because who I am should be speaking for itself.”

You see, be it nerd or be it cool, who I am as a Jesus follower should be speaking for itself.

Let’s all let who we are speak for itself and lets all someday be together in Heaven. We can do it. We can secure that right this minute. All we have to do is shed our worldly selves and accept our new person in Jesus. Let’s all be cool. What do you say?

7 Day Challenge> Be Still And Listen To God

2009-05-08T10:13:00.002-04:00

Mike’s 7 Day Challenge
Be Still and Listen To God Speak To Us Through His Word

Our pastor Mike Madding at the Cove Church (www.covechurch.org) challenged us last week during his message to take a new approach to our quiet time with God. He asked us to begin each morning for 7 days in a row to start out by not praying to God asking Him for all of the things we need or want but to just open the Bible and let Him speak to us through it. “Be still and quiet and hear God’s voice” was the challenge. Each day over the last week I have tried to do just that and below is where God directed me each day. It has been amazing and God has spoken to me so much with exactly what I needed to hear that day. I hope that it will help transform my quiet time to a more meaningful part of being His follower.

Day 1> I read Matthew Chapter 4 19-20 Jesus said “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him." They dropped their nets immediately and followed Him. They didn't question why, they just did it. God was saying to me, “Why do you always question “why” when I tell you to do something? Drop your nets and let’s go.”

Day 2>Today Was Galatians Chapter 5 "For freedom Christ has set us free; standfast therefore, and do not submit to the yoke of slavery." Stay focused on the prize and don't let the world and all of its distractions and sin divert you from it.

Day 3>Psalm 73:28 "But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works." God's reminding me I need to be telling it more! Changing my prayer habits has definitely made me feel nearer to Him despite all the issues and stress surrounding everything. It's good to be reminded to stay close to that refuge.

Day 4> 1 Samuel 17:1-50 The classic Bible story of David vs. Goliath. The thing that struck me is that all of the Israelites were just standing around waiting for someone to go face Goliath and they were afraid. David comes along a mere youth but with past successes against lions and bears and he steps up and takes it head on.
-What God is trying to say to me is "You've been successful overcoming challenges in the past and I have sustained you. Quit being afraid and just step up to the plate and take all the challenges head on knowing I am here with you."

Day 5>John 15: 7 "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." I use to read this is if I follow Him I would have everything I want or desire. Today I read it different "Abiding in Him" means asking for things only He would bless in my life.
-Truly abiding in Him means to only want for what He would want for us. Totally never read that scripture that way before.
Day 6> Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight." The key phrase tha stood out is trusting in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. As I struggle daily with all the things going on God is reminding me that it is He I need to turn everything over and not try to handle it by myslelf.

Day 7> Matthew 6:25-27"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" I have found myself worrying a great deal about work. It seems no matter what effort I make things have not been getting better from a production perspective. But God doesn't want me to worry. He just wants me to focus on Him. Amen.

Storming The Walls of the Comfort Zone > A Prayer Warrior’s Unleashed

2009-04-10T02:19:00.004-04:00

Over the past year things have been tough business wise. The down turn in the economy has had a potentially devastating impact on the long term viability of my executive recruiting firm and our small property management business. I have never been one to shy away from working long hours but during this time I have been putting in work days longer than I can ever remember. There has been a great deal of stress, significant financial pressures, and anguish over tough decisions that had to be made. Through it all though my walk with God has become closer and the strength and peace that He pours down on me each day carries me through. The timing of my attempt at full submssion to His will for my life could not have come at a better time. God knew what was about to happen and I am just glad I finally capitulated to His desire for me to go full tilt down my path for Him.

During this spiritual growth God has been urging me to be bold for Him, to tear down the walls of my comfort zone and open my heart wide so everyone can see Him inside. God has been saying "If you are my follower then you will not be ashamed. If you are My follower you will not be afraid. Step out fearless for Me."

I have to admit this was a problem. Even though there is a great deal about me that is aggressive, outgoing, fearless, and straight forward, over the years the idea of pushing the envelope of my Faith with others was a big challenge. I never wanted to be in a situation where the person I was talking to felt uncomfortable or was put off by my actions. I had no problem discussing my beliefs with other believers. In a church setting, small group, or even one on one with another known Christian I rarely hesitated to step up and speak about my love for the Son. Put me in an opportunity to do the same with someone I knew was not a follower or worse yet a complete stranger and passive I became. The amount of times I missed an opportunity to share God’s love with someone because of my fear of rejection or my concern about what they might think are more than I can count. Frozen in these thoughts the path of least resistance was the one taken and a chance to spread God’s message and show His love disappeared.

Because I have been working so many hours getting home late in the evenings most week day nights and working long hours on Saturday mornings I have had little time to go longboard skateboarding with my Downhillbillies Skateboarding Organization brothers. It seems that my schedule has not matched up with any of them and I have been resigned to skating a bit by myself when given the odd moment.

This past Saturday I was extremely stressed. It had been an incredibly difficult week. One of our most important business deals fell through, another one was sputtering on life support, and very little had happened regarding our empty rental properties. Needless to say I was not having close to a good day. I decided I needed some time just to be by myself and go skate so I broke out one of my downhill boards and decided to play a game I call “Where’s HammerHead skating now?” If you have not heard by now I am a bit of a Twitter nut and a few weeks ago I made up this stupid game where I skate different hills all over town and Twitter my location. I doubt very seriously anyone is paying attention to where I am skating but it has been fun to try and see how many different locations all over town I can hit in one session.

I headed out of the house around 4:30 and just started making my way around town, North Race Street, Hartness Road to the Hospital, over to Forest Park, Plum Street, across Broad Street to Wood, down to Front Street and back to town I went, twittering each location after every run. With each hill I felt just a little better and I found myself just talking to God the whole time. With the exception of seeing one of my friends Stephanie pushing her new baby son in a stroller over on Forest Park I spoke to no one. It was just me, my board, some speed, a text message or two, and God. But by the time I got over to Green Street all that was about to change.

After hitting Front Street behind Carolina BBQ both directions I decided to make my way over to one my favorite hills, Green Street. This hill is sick fast and is a bit sketchy because of the amount of traffic in that neighborhood but this day I did not even see one car. I walked to the top, screamed down it ,and carried enough speed up the other side to turn on to Sharpe Street. This is another good hill but there is a blind corner where a close encounter with a car is a likely occurrence so I am always a bit cautious to bomb it from the steeper section on the Police Department side. The people that live on this street are often out on their porches and this day was no exception. As I walked up the hill I passed a grandmother and a great grandmother sitting up on a high front porch of this small framed house, what appeared to be three grandchildren ranging in ages from about 6 to 9 playing in the front yard, and grandpa working on his truck in the driveway. Something made me stop for a moment and speak to the family and especially to the children. It was a fairly general conversation I guess but you could sense a bit of curiosity in the eyes of the adults that seemed to question why this 46 year old white man, tattoos showing, wearing black cargo Dickies shorts, a Lucky 13 tattoo shop tee shirt, a helmet with a Headblade logo and skull on it, and pulling an odd looking skateboard behind him had paused to speak to them. I am sure it was a sight.

After the exchange I asked the man working on his truck if he would watch the blind spot for cars and stop any that might come out that way because I was going to skate the hill from the fast side past the house. He said he would and I headed up to the top. When I got there I looked back to see him standing in the middle of the road like a course marshal arms raised in the familiar “on your mark position”. When he dropped his arms as a signal to go I pushed in and streaked by their house. I had so much speed in fact that it carried me up to Green Street and seeing that there were no cars I made the turn and bombed back down it as well. It was a fun run and I was grinning the whole time.

As I made my way back to Sharpe Street and once again by the house of the family I thanked the man for watching the cars. I bid them all a good day walking on up the hill towards the police department and on to my next location. When I was almost at the top it happened! As clear as a thought could be in my head God said “You need to go back down to that house and pray for that family.” What? I stopped in my tracks and basically was like “You have got to be kidding me.”

“No, You need to go back down to that house and pray for that family.” I just stood there laughing and looking as though I was talking to myself. I took a step forward thinking that if I got moving maybe this was just my imagination.
“You need to turn around. Go back down there and pray for that family.”

That thought and those words were as clear as if someone was standing right there saying them to me. No I didn’t hear a voice. It was not this booming sound out of the clouds like we often want to imagine God’s voice to us. No, it was just a thought so clear, defined, and crisp, that there was no other conclusion to be drawn in my mind other than it was God speaking.

I turned around and made my way back down the hill. I could see the look on their faces as I approached especially that of the great grandma. I suspect their minds raced to the conclusion, “well here it comes, he’s going to ask for money or something.” As I walked toward them I was trying to formulate in my mind what I was going to say.

All I could think was that I must appear to be crazy so when I got back to where they where I said, “I know this might sound crazy but God told me I needed to come down here and pray for y’all. Can I pray for y’all?”

Silence. Uggh. Here I was completely out of my comfort zone asking strangers who had just seen me skateboard by their house if I could pray for them. What do I do now I thought?

Then with God’s prompting I said it again. “May I pray for you? I was lead back down here to pray.”

They said yes but I could just tell that they were all just waiting for the other shoe to drop off of this lunatic.

I begin to pray and pray with all my might. I prayed for blessings for them as a family, for God to give them all they need, and to remind them daily of their future home in eternity with Him. I even gave thanks for my “guardian angel” the grandpa for watching the road for me. The words poured out and I could not stop smiling.

When I said amen they all joined in with a louder AMEN. As I began to walk away the grandmother stood up, leaned over the banister of the porch and reached out for my hand. She looked me straight in the eyes and just thanked me over and over again.

As I walked up the hill the smile on face broke into almost complete laughter. The rush of emotion that flowed through me was like nothing I had ever experienced. Here I was just out skating around town and God had shown me a way to storm the ramparts of the barriers surrounding me and share His love. A prayer warrior was unleashed!

As I made my way down Sharpe Street toward Center Street my mind was racing. I had never thrown that much caution to the wind with my faith and now that I had it felt so amazing. Just in that simple act of praying for those people a whole new world of possibilities of sharing the love of the Father and his Son came into view and I was in awe of how it looked.

When I passed the AutoZone I recognized a gentleman in the parking lot that I had met a few weeks before while walking with a couple of friends downtown. We had spoken about church and had discussed the Cove Church and small groups. He looked as if he was having a hard time with his car as a technician from the store was looking under the hood.

You guessed it. That clear thought was there in my mind but this time it was highlighted in bold and underlined. “Go pray with him. He needs prayers.”

So there I went again. The parking lot was full of shade tree mechanics picking up their various parts for their weekend projects. If you have never been to an auto parts store on a Saturday it’s a sight to behold. There are cars in every level of condition in the parking lot, some being worked on right there, and a mass of people from all walks of life. It’s cool.

I walked over to the man, reintroduced myself and asked him how he was doing. He said he was fine but I could tell he was a bit frustrated that the part was not available or was too expensive. After a brief exchange he remembered our conversation about the Cove. I said to him that God had told me I needed to come over and pray with him and asked him if I could. While we had been standing there a couple of young boys about 10 years old or so where looking at my board and I had let them ride on it on the sidewalk. The man with them was watching as I was talking to the person I had stopped to see and as I began to pray I could hear him hush the boys. When I finished praying and looked up I realized that everyone close to us had just stopped where they were and had lowered their heads with us. Again that rush of joy surged through me and I left thinking to myself that this was awesome.

I was getting a bit tired and was getting closer to home but needed to stop and “Tweet” my latest location (“Tweet” is the term used for posting your status on “Twitter”). You see I was still playing “Where’s HammerHead Skating now?” I sat down on the wall by the vacant lot on Front Street and began texting away. I had carried a water bottle with me and was milking the last few drops of it when two ladies, what appeared to be a mom and grown daughter, walked down the hill from the Spur (or what ever the name of the gas station is now) toward me. As they got to me the younger one noticed my tattoo on my forearm of the Celtic knot work and the cross and stopped to ask me about it. As I explained its meaning and the scripture that is part of it, Ephesians Chapter 6:10-17, once again I became embolden by God’s urging and I asked the ladies if I could pray for them.

This time there was no hesitation on their part so I tore into another prayer like the last two: Asking God to bless their every step, give them all they need, and remind them daily of His promise of eternal life offered through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. They thanked me and went on their way.

I started toward Mulberry Street to head home but looking across Front Street I decided to add another hill to my take for the day and after grapping a drink at the Spur I skated down Mulberry and made my way up past Mulberry School with the intention of riding back down it toward the house. As I reached the top a car pulled over beside me driven by a young lady and man in their 20’s. I am pretty scary looking and parts of that neighborhood are fairly sketchy so I was amazed a bit that they had stopped to ask for directions to a park. A park? At 7:15 over in that neighborhood? You guys are lost I thought.

As we stood there the man started asking me about my skateboard, where did I get it, and had I ever surfed. Growing up I learn to surf with my older brother at Wrightsville Beach and out at Hatteras so I said yes and we talked a bit. By this time I figured I have prayed for everyone else so I might as well go for it. Again, after asking and the people agreeing I prayed that what ever this young couple was going through that God would lead them to what was right and safe, and that He would show them His love. You see, if they were looking for a park over there it was likely they were looking to buy drugs. I don’t know their circumstances but it is a pretty good guess I suspect. When I started to walk away the girl driving the car looked at me and thanked me.

I took off down Mulberry and for those of you that know that hill it’s faster than it looks and I had almost enough speed to roll a long ways up to the other side. I was smiling and just filled with God’s Holy Spirit but was exhausted and it was getting dark. I made my way up Mulberry past the community college and thought that I must be through praying by now. Then right in front of me I came upon a young couple and their two children in a side by side stroller heading toward the Spur. I intended on just saying hello and walking on by when the man stopped me wanting to see my board. He told me that he used to skate and still had a street board at his house that he messed around on a bit. I offered to let him ride it but his wife insisted he not. I guess she’s seen him “mess around a bit” on his board.

One thing lead to another and we began talking about church. They told me they went to a church I had not heard of and asked me where I went. I told them the Cove. He began talking about how the Cove was too contemporary for him but had heard good things. He went on to say that recently there had been a bit of controversy in his church over something and how he was a bit disillusioned with the whole thing. Well, you guessed it, new Sir Prays-a-lot was compelled to offer again. Here we stood me and the family of four in front of the college, heads bowed, and praying. Once again, I could feel God’s presence there and I was elated to be praying so boldly for Him.

I finally made my way to the house and sitting on my front steps “tweeting” my last hill, the long run down Mulberry/Oakhurst over to Kelly and back to Oakhurst at the bottom, I begin to count the number of hills I had skated during that game of “Where’s HammerHead Skating Now?” The total was 15. Then it hit me to count how many people I had prayed with during my route. That total was 14. Talking about busting your comfort zone wide open.

What is your comfort zone? What can you do to break out of it? It just takes that first step like the Israelites into the river Jordan when crossing over to the Promised Land. Once the first step is made God will hold the waters back and a whole new world can and will open for you as a Christ Follower. Become a prayer warrior unleashed. Take that first step and watch God tear the walls of your comfort zone down.

Who is Calvin Borel?

2009-03-30T23:35:00.001-04:00

Writer's Note: This was orginally written in 2007 the night following that year's Kentucky Derby. I am not much of a horse racing fan but I can remember how my parents loved to watch the Derby. Thinking about the upcoming Final Four in Detroit next weekend and how magical that sports event can be I thought I would repost this blog. Calvin Borel is just one of those characters that makes watching such event mean far more than the event itself.

Every since I was very young I have been a sports fan. It was a family tradition: My father is a baseball fanatic following the St. Louis Cardinals pretty much forever and a Carolinas Tarheel Basketball nut for as long as I have been alive. My mother, God rest her soul, loved high school football, college basketball, boxing, and all the Olympics events both Winter and Summer Games. Even though I was drawn to bicycles and skateboards instead of a football, baseball, or basketball, I did develop an interest in watching those games. After I spent some time in England as an exchange student when I was seventeen, I learned about soccer and rugby, getting to play rugby while in college and a few years following.

In my lifetime, I have had the great fortune of witnessing, on T.V. of course, some spectacular moments in sports:

1973 Secretariat winning the Triple Crown by setting two track records and a world record and completely decimated the field.

1980 USA defeating USSR in the Semi-finals of the Olympics in ice hockey and then going on to win the Gold.

1982 Michael Jordan hitting the winning shot and James Worthy stealing a pass to win the NCAA national basketball championship.

1983 Jim Valvano running around the court looking for someone to hug after his Cinderella North Carolina State won the NCAA national basketball championship.

1999-2005 Lance Armstrong and the US Postal/Discovery Team’s domination of the Tour de France (Alpe D’Huez especially).

Many more….these are just the ones that I can remember off the top of my head at 1:36 am. In each event, it wasn’t necessarily the actual athletic feat that I remember the most. No, it was the shear joy that the athletes, and yes, even the horse, seemed to show when they finally accomplished their goal. It wasn’t about money. It wasn’t about fame. It was not about the accolades that were about to be bestowed. …the bragging rights, no….the ego boost, no. That joy that shown forth was simply the bi-product of achieving what each had longed for probably their whole lives: to be the very best!!!!!!!!!

Well, you’re probably asking yourself right now, “What the heck does this have to do with Calvin Borel?”…and…”Who in the world is Calvin Borel anyway?”

Until this afternoon I did not know who he was either. I had been working out in the basement and doing a few chores while listening to sports talk radio (my now not so secret guilty-pleasure on those rare weekends I am not skating, working, or doing family stuff and church). They were talking about the Kentucky Derby and I was not paying very much attention. I can remember something about how no one had been able to really pick a clear cut favorite and how this year’s race could be interesting so I decided to cut it on the TV and check it out. They couldn’t have been more right. But more about that later.

Calvin Borel:
• Started competing in his sport at age 8 and turned professional at 16.
• Been in his sport for almost 30 years.
• Was quoted as saying "All I ever wanted to be was (in his sport). A lot of kids make plans to be firemen, cowboys or astronauts, but I knew by eight that I wanted to (do what he does)."
• Is one of only 6 riders in modern racing history to win 6 races on the same day on the same card.
• Born in Louisiana and to this day has retained his authentic Cajun accent.
• In his career has recorded over 4000 victories!!! 4000!!!
• Is famous in his sport for his work ethic, often doing chores that are “beneath” his status/position.
• His nickname is “Bo-rail” because of his penchant to stay close to the rail all the way to victory.

Ok, enough right? “Who is Calvin Borel?” you scream. Well, he is the jockey who won what could be one of the most amazing races in the history of the Kentucky Derby riding Street Sense, a 9 to 1 odds horse not picked to win. What makes it so amazing is that at one point in the race Street Sense was 19 lengths behind and in next to last place with the field stretching before him. Calvin’s nick name was true, and Bo-rail road that horse along the inside and with a half mile to go put the hammer down, the sea of other horses parting like the Red Sea, and Street Sense with Calvin on his back streaked to a win!
It was an awesome display of power and speed.

But this is NOT what inspired me to write this blog. It was another spectacular Kentucky Derby but most of them are exciting. No, what made this special was Calvin himself. Once he had passed Hard Spun, Calvin could not help but take a quick look back over his shoulder, to take it all in as he drove Street Sense to a gap of 2 ½ lengths (a big gap!).
This was my first hint this was even more special to him than just a win. Once he crossed the line Bo-rail began slowing the horse down by practically hugging it, patting it, talking to it. He alternately was pointing to the sky and saying something and then back to the horse. Once the escort caught up with him and began to lead Street Sense back around the track Calvin was standing completely erect in the saddle and was yelling to and giving high fives to all of his competitors. Each, though disappointed in their misfortunate, seemed genuinely happy for him, patting him on the back, smiling at him, and cheering him as he went by. By the time a reporter got to him on horseback for the first interview his face was covered with tears. As he sobbed with joy it made his Cajun accent even harder to understand. As they moved forward he continued to point at the sky and then back to the horse. I was taken by the overwhelming joy on this man’s face. I realized that this was one of those moments in sports that transcend almost all others: Here was a man, late in his career, who had seen success after success, but in four previous attempts had not even been close to winning the coveted “Run for the Roses”.
And now, here he is the winner on a spectacular horse and in spectacular fashion.
In the interview he thanked everyone: God, his brother (the trainer), the owners, the horse, his fiancé, everyone! I was mesmerized by the whole scene and just when I thought it could not be even better Calvin showed his overwhelming love and commitment to the horse that he had just road to victory. In the middle of the great celebration, Bo-rail takes a sponge from a bowl of water brought out by the handlers and proceeds to give Street Sense his post race bath. Right there in front of the Queen of England, the entire Derby crown, his fellow competitors, and the world, Calvin’s act of devotion to his charge spoke volumes about who he is as a competitor and a man.
To me, the picture of him bathing his horse with such joy will stick in my sports memory locker right along side the vision of Lance’s raised arms at Alpe D’Huez, Jordan’s hand in the air as he released the winning shot, or Jim Craig skating around the ice with the American flag draped around his shoulders.

Calvin Borel, I salute you and thank you for today’s memory.

Mamma Chicken Little, Heaven, Hell, and the Trap Question

2009-03-26T23:46:00.005-04:00

My mother, God rest her soul, was an incredible woman in a number of ways. She worked in the textile mill that was the anchor of the mill village I grew up in for almost 50 years walking to work everyday. For 45 years of that she worked the same job in the supply room as a clerk ordering parts and supplies for thousands of pieces of machinery, looms, spinning frames, and other equipment. Peggy, as she was called by everyone except her children, was famous in the Concord area for her homemade macaroni and cheese, her fudge, her cheese straws, and the seven different kinds of cakes she made every year at Christmas. A tireless worker at Kerr Street United Methodist Church, she along with my Dad, was the key ground beef chili maker for that organization’s Friday hotdog sales. This was not your normal fund raiser mind you. Kerr Street was a hot dog making machine and literally developed a business almost exclusively manned by retirees and senior citizens that grossed over $2000 a week! That was every week except the weeks of Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Mom and Dad would cook over 125 lbs of ground beef every Thursday night for the chili that to this day is still my favorite ever.
(Kerr Street still has hotdog sales the first Saturday of the month in Concord, NC so go check it out if you are in the area. No offense to Forest Hills UMC or Epworth UMC but neither of them could hold a candle to Kerr Street, but I guess I am a bit biased).

Mom loved her children and grandchildren, her family, my Dad, and my amazing Grandma Spears, with a passion, and would go out of her way if she felt someone needed something. Even though we were poor, my mother never lacked a penchant for gift giving, even if it was from the sale rack at Belk. Matter of fact, she reveled in the fact that she got things 30%, 50%, and the holy grail of purchase prices, 75% off. So much so that she would tell the recipient.
It would go something like this, “Do you like the shirt? Guess what the price was? Now guess, what I paid for it?”
When my mom passed away a few years ago I wanted so bad to take just a little bit of her ashes and put them under the sales rack in the Belk at Concord’s Carolina Mall. It was her favorite place to be for goodness sake. Needless to say my family did not let me.

Christmas was Peggy’s favorite time of the year and her love for Santa Claus ceramic figurines was legendary. To this day, the house I grew up in has over 150 Santa’s of all shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, on display on shelves, in china cabinets, in curio cabinets, and even on dressers and window sills. It looks like a “ceramic Santa museum” for crying out loud.

My mother also loved the Lord so much and it was her faith that cemented the foundation for my walk with the Lord ,that of my brother Darrell, and the family. Today in churches we participate in “small groups” or “life groups” where we get together with others for fellowship, study the Word, and to support each other. Mom was the queen of small groups but back then it was called “Circle Meeting”. Man oh man, did I love it when Mom’s Circle met at our house. My mother was quite the show off when it came to her culinary skills fancying herself a mill hill Julia Childs and Circle meeting at the Karr house was center stage. The cheese straws, homemade chocolate fudge, a soggy pineapple cake, a German chocolate cake, lemon drop squares, and date nut roll were produced in mass along with this pineapple punch that had frozen rings of fresh pineapple floating in the punch bowl. Yum! It was as sight to not only behold but to partake in and my Dad and I waited patiently out in the yard, in the garden, or down at my oldest brother’s pond, for the moment we were allowed back in the house to clean up the left overs!! Talk about pigging out! In anticipation of that event I suspect I fasted for a couple of days.

Mom also had her challenges. All of you have heard about the glass half full, glass have empty way of describing people:
“There are two kinds of people, those who see a glass of water (that is 50% filled) half full, and those who see it half empty.”

Well Peggy was a third kind: It was not only half empty but the last drink she would ever have in her life! To twist another cliché: Mom could always find the black cloud surrounding the silver lining. I used to call her the eternal fatalist, Momma Chicken Little, whose sky was always falling no matter how uplifting everything seemed to be going at the time.

It made being around her sometimes difficult to say the least but I think it also shaped how I have tried to live my life more to the optimistic side. Don’t get me wrong, for those of you who know me in person, and especially my family , my emotions are best represented by the shape of a roller coaster’s layout except the climb up is often close to vertical, very high, and the return is a bullet train straight at the ground. For the most part however, I have been the person who no matter how bad things can get seems to take it fairly in stride. This has become more true as I have gotten older, learned to cope a bit with my issues, and have been feted with the blessed assurance of God’s grace and love. I think because I was constantly trying my best not to get drawn into my mother’s negativity, which by the way was often directed at my “failures” and shortcomings, I developed a “seek the positive” approach to most challenges in life (with the exception of losing my hair. I had great hair. I miss my hair).

It is from this perspective I have tried to approach the representation of my faith. Growing up in a conservative United Methodist family who happened to believe that one needed to make a conscious decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior I did not get exposed to the “Hail, Fire, and Brimstone” theology that seemed to be and still is in some denominations, the motivation to get saved. Don’t get me wrong, I was taught about Hell, believe it is real, and believe it to be a place I surly do not want to go. I just did not grow up in an environment where the fear of damnation was the scare tactic (a term one of my Facebook friend’s wrote today in a posting on my page) used to get me to make that decision to follow Him, the “turn so you don’t burn” approach if you will.

Having said that and being someone who has been making a conscious effort to live my faith I recently was faced with situation where someone who is not a Christ follower asked me the age old question:

“So, do you believe that since I don’t believe in Jesus I am going to Hell?”

At first I was taken aback. Thoughts ran through my head at an even more jumbled and rapid pass than my normal ADD/ADHD/OCD brain typically conjures and I was reeling a bit looking for something profound to say.

My first thought was just to say “no” of course not.

My second thought was “well, the Bible teaches blah blah blah’.

My third thought was “change the subject doofus and quick”

And my forth thought was “Man I need a moment, where’s a Snickers bar when you need one”. (I made that one up but you get the picture).

Then in a moment of clarity that is rare in the typical fog called my brain an email exchange I had recently with a very close friend came to mind. This gentleman and I have known each other for a few years now and have grown a friendship that is filled with brotherly love. No, we are not going to see “I Love You, Man” together but a “best man” this friend of many, a good one would make. After reading my blog he had sent me an email that had expressed how over the years his concept of the Christian religion as presented by the judgmental, holier than though, exclusivity that has been so prevalent in church for hundreds of years and especially in the traditional ranks during the 20th century did not line up with the loving God that leaped off the pages of the New Testament to him. He honored me by saying that though my “born again” stuff some time made him a little uncomfortable, I had never made he feel anything but loved and respected and that he found that my seeing God in helping people write a resume or in a conversation about a pair of loppers special. Of all the emails I have received from friends over the years it will remain one of the most precious.

I pondered that the “born again” me that he was seeing was my attempt to emulate Jesus and it was from that perspective that the idea that Jesus calls us not to judge but to love flooded my mind.

I grasped the dual trap that was the question being asked:

Trap 1-
To answer “No, I don’t think you are going to hell because you don’t believe in Jesus” totally puts you in the vulnerable position of having your true faith called into suspect.

“What do you mean, you don’t think so? Doesn’t (your) Bible say that?” Conclusion: This dude’s not really a strong Christian like he confesses.

Trap 2-
To answer with the “yes” you are going to Hell if you don’t believe automatically puts the person asking the question on the defensive. It also directs that person to immediately jump to the conclusion that, “Here we go again, WHO is this person to judge me? Typical Christian!”

Who in deed? Who are we as followers of the Risen Christ whose resurrection was the prize won by the blood shed freely for us on the Cross and the defeat of sin to pass judgment on others?

It was this train of thought, inspired I believe by my still infantile walk with Him, that gave me the answer that seem the most appropriate-

>It is not my place to judge if non-believers are going to hell if they don't believe in Jesus. I just KNOW I am going to heaven because I do.<

You see, that practice of trying to find the positive way to look at potentially negative situations created by my developed coping mechanism for Momma Chicken Little kicked in. That combined with the blessings that God has poured down on me, that need to follow His Son Jesus by following his commandment “to love one another”, and the hope that I never judge others, gave me the direction I needed at the moment.

I don’t know if my answer made an impact. I may never know. The point is that as Followers of Him we are called not to judge, not to condemn, but to show his grace, mercy, and love through all action and words.

Who do you know that you need to tell, “…I just KNOW I am going to heaven because I believe in Him?”

Try it. You never know what the result might be but I assure He does.

Luke 6 Vs 37
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

John 13 vs 34
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

John 13 vs 35
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Judging Others And The Well Woman

2009-03-11T23:47:00.006-04:00

Today I had to make a presentation to the Cove Church staff (www.covechurch.org) on the developing CareerLIFE Ministry. It was great to see the whole team assembled in one meeting. I was amazed at how many of them I had already interacted with while serving either on the Remix Set-Up Team, the Statesville Campus Production/Set-Up Team, during the Job Search Basic class preparation and teaching, or just through attending weekly services. The work each team member does to further the cause of Christ through the Cove's ministry is incredible but what strikes me the most about the group is how they all are living their faith through their job, their obedience, and their service. To be around this group of people is truly inspiring.

At the beginning of the meeting there was a time for a devotional (hey, of course there was..It was a church leadership meeting, duh!!) and Christy (the awesome leader of Cove Kids Statesville and a tall drink of boundless energy..Redbull doesn't have a thing on Ms. Christy)was the one to share. She talked about the challenges of not being judgmental, drawing conclusions on first blush, and how we all struggle with how we quickly sum up people in our heads when we see them. Paul in his letter to Romans spent a great deal of time talking about this very subject(Romans 2:1-16). This hit home with me on several levels. For one, I have been guilty like many people of making judgments on people by the way they looked, dressed, talked, or acted. On the other side of the coin, because of the way I look, my tattoos, the fact that I skateboard, came from a poor family, shave my head, talk with a very thick southern accent, and pretty much look like a bouncer, it has been more than once someone has drawn a conclusion about me that probably was not accurate. One would think since I have felt the hurt of being judged in that manner I would not be so quick to act in the same way but alas it is trap I have fallen in more times than I wish to admit.

Christy had found a video on Youtube of a spoken word interpretative piece about the Woman at the Well(John 4 4-42). It was a powerful representation and I am glad I got to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49BbfgJbto

This scripture is one my favorites from the New Testament and has been one I have related to a great deal over my life. Though I was brought up in a strong Christian household albeit a poor one in a mill village in North Carolina called Gibson Mill (part of Concord, NC) and for the most part kept my nose clean as they say I struggled with being somewhat of an outcast. You see where I grew up back in the late 60's and throughout the 70's and early 80's people from "mill hill" were looked down upon by the "other side" of town in the more affluent areas. People who worked in the cotton mills and thus their children were labeled "lint heads", a derogatory term that came from the fact that cotton mill workers at shift end would take their work home with them so to speak in their hair, on their clothing, and pretty much all over. Cotton textile mills had to have high humidity throughout the plant to make the looms, yarn spinning frames, and other equipment run properly. The extra humidity, along with the sweltering heat inside the plants, made it virtually impossible to keep cotton dust and lint from clinging to some part of your body. "Lint Head" was the name used to refer to anyone who worked in the mill or were supported by someone who did. The connotation was that the person was not smart enough or good enough to not have to work in such conditions. The truth is, however, the overwhelming majority of textile mill workers in the South were strong Christians, hard working people, and completed dedicated to their families. Some of the smartest people I ever met were mill folk and I cherish my heritage. To be a "lint head" was to be judged by some people.

Within the mill village people looked after one another and were very protective of each other. Unless, you were different, or had something they did not have. I was blessed at an early age to learn to read. My grandmother and mother both taught me to read before I ever began elementary school. By the time I was in the first grade in the little school in my neighborhood, a school that was probably seventy percent mill hill children, I was reading on a 4th grade level. By the time I got to the 4th grade I took almost all of my English, reading, and math classes, separate from the other students because I was further ahead. Was I smarted than them? No. I just had been blessed with the advantage of parents and a grandmother that wanted something better for me than what they had in life and education was going to be the ticket out. As I grew into middle school and high school the friends I had grown up with in the neighborhood treated me different. Because I made better grades, took more advanced classes, and hung around with the smart "rich" kids, I was no longer accepted by my peers. In a sense I was outcast amongst the outcasts: Not being completely embraced by the other side of town because I was a lint head and no longer a full member of the mill hill gang because I was in more advanced classes with mostly kids from the other side of town.

The woman at the well was the ultimate "outcast among outcast". She was from Samaria, a small area north of Judea, that the Jews had great disdain for in those times. The Samaritans though they worshipped the same God as the Jews did not feel that they needed to worship Him in the temple of Jerusalem but rather on the mountain where they lived. The Jews hated them so much that they would literally travel miles out of their way on a journey in that direction just to keep from being "contaminated" by contact with the Samaritans by traveling through their country. Can you imagine? Driving or walking miles out of your way just to avoid the risk of actually coming face to face with someone of a different background than yourself? We don't do that now do we? To the Jews, the Samaritans were outcast. It is remarkable to note that Jesus not only traveled through the area but stayed there for two days. This would have been unthinkable of a Jewish man of that time.

The woman had had five husbands and was living with another man when Jesus met her at the well. It was midday, the hottest part of the day, when no one would have been at the well. She went then to avoid being seen by the other people of her village. Those people probably judged her, looked down on her, derided her for the lifestyle she had led, and treated her with disgust. She was a Samaritan outcast to the Jews and an outcast among the Samaritans themselves.

What is so awesome about this story is how Jesus decided to use her to spread His kingdom. First he went to where she was. She did not come to him. Second, after telling her everything about herself, he revealed who he truly was to her, the Son of the living God. I love this part because in most of the other writings from the Bible Jesus let others come to the conclusion of His true identity as the Savior but with the woman at the well He went directly to the heart of the matter: Vs26-"Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he.""

The encounter with Him face to face along with His clear declaration that He is the Savior was so compelling to this outcast that she ran back to her village to tell His story. She was so convincing in fact in her witness to what Jesus had said and done for her that this person who had been ridiculed, looked down upon, and derided by her own people, was now leading them to Christ. She of all people Jesus chose to tell His story. The other Samaritans were so thirsty for the water He could give them to drink that they bid Him to stay with them for two days.

I love this story because it reminds me of how God can use any of us, no matter what our walk in life, no matter what we have done in our past, and no matter how we are viewed by others. It also reminds me to not be quick to judge others. They too, might be part of God’s plan for the Good News.

I don’t want to miss out on the Good News they bring. How about you?

In Memory of Tommy

2009-03-05T23:35:00.003-05:00

Writers Note: I wrote this blog initially as an email to a friend of mine on my Blackberry as we were traveling back from the service in Mountain Home, Tennessee today (March 4, 2009). My oldest brother Darrell was doing the driving and our Dad was asleep in the back seat. To get there we had to go through some of the prettiest parts of the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains up Highway 421 and 321. I deliberately did not edit the order or composition because I wanted it to read just like it was originally typed on the Blackberry. The only edits I made were for clarity of subject or object. Thank you Darrell for driving so I could get my thoughts together in this format.

We are on our way back from the memorial. It was in a national military cemetery near Johnson City. It was a full military service outside in a gazebo built just for that purpose. The weather was beautiful and all these mountain folk who my brother has befriended over the last 10 years came up from the area he lived in to the south.
.
One of his best friends and fellow Vietnam vet came up from Concord. He spoke and man it was so from the heart. They had gone to the wall in DC together several times and he had taken a photo of my brother with his green beret on with the Washington Monument in the background. . That photo looked liked something out of a magazine or Vietnam Veteran’s publication. It was displayed along with my brother’s medals and the framed citation telling the story of how he had been a hero. The chaplain read the story during the service and it was incredibly powerful.

When the attendants, color guard from the VFW, the chaplain, and the VA people arrived I started talking to the chaplain. Of course he had never met Tom until Tom's last trip to the VA hospital where the chaplain is assigned. He was young probably about 30. I think I caught him off guard when I asked if I could pray for him before the service. It wasn't that long ago I would not have been able to pray like that for and with a stranger.

The chaplain’s message was one of hope, of Christ love and sacrifice for us, and I am glad that he shared that with the mourners. I hope hearts were touched because without God's love and grace through His Son we are lost.

My oldest brother spoke too and the love that poured out of him for Tom left no dry eye including that of many of the color guard. I did not know this but Darrell had been drafted in the army and had to go to Vietnam. My brother Tom didn't have to go but signed up to support Darrell and they both took their physicals the same day. When Darrell got sent to Nam Tommy didn't have to go but by this time he was a green beret so he volunteered! He VOLUNTEERED! He didn't want his brother to be the only one making the sacrifice! I just stood there stunned and the tears pouring from the eyes of all the vets including my Dad's were overwhelming.

The sounds of a 21 gun salute and then the playing of taps by a lone bugle player in a military cemetery will be in my memory forever. I am not sure I have ever been more thankful for the blessings of living in this great country of ours. It made it quite clear to me that freedom is not free.

One of the most poignant moments of the service came after the gun salute. It was the act of the color guard folding the flag that covered the coffin (box that held my brothers ashes). I had seen that ceremony on TV but never witnessed it in person. The care and precision displayed by the young officer and soldier performing this duty sent chills down my spine. To watch how they valued even the importance of each fold being perfect while still being almost complete still at attention was awe inspiring. When it was completed the commander of the VFW honor guard who performed the gun salute stepped up, saluted the young officer, placed three of the shells (from the gun salute) on top of the flag and saluted again. He was probably in his late 60's and immaculately dressed in full formal uniform. As he performed his task tears poured down his face honoring the memory of a fellow soldier that he had never met! He completely personalized his role in a tribute to my brother. His salute was with a shaking hand yet it was performed with respect for the flag, for our country, and for Tom. When the officer handed the flag to Tom's oldest son, Darron, tears streamed from my eyes and everyone in witness.

His sons Darron (the oldest) spoke about the respect he had for his dad and how his dad had taught him how to work hard. Robbie (the youngest) talked about his dad's love for animals, people, respect for women,and yard sales. Ha ha. Britta his daughter wept as she said she didn't know about all this military stuff but this was her daddy and her safe haven. He was always there for her. And that he was hard headed and we all knew it and she was going to miss him so much.

When it was my turn I felt compelled to tell the story of getting him and his African Grey parrot out of Costa Rica. It was quite an ordeal but throughout it my brother just kept showing love to me and that bird. (This will be the subject of a future blog…it’s a TV movie in the making let me tell you.)

Even with all of the demons that haunted him my brother Tommy touched lives where ever he went. To see the neighbors, the fellow vets, family, and even members of the color guard, gathered in that setting to remember him will be a blessed memory for the rest of my life.

I love you Tommy. I will miss you. You are my brother and one of my biggest heroes.

How God Can Manifest His Presence Through You

2009-02-26T01:30:00.002-05:00

At one time in my life when I was younger I struggled with the concept of God being real even though my parents poured God all over me like syrup on pancakes. I knew the Bible, participated in every church activity, sang all the hymns, attended Sunday school, youth group, family night, you name it. As I started to grow into my teen years I became aware that there was something missing in my life but I did not know what it was I was seeking. I felt lost, confused, and alone, even though I was surrounded by my family, my church, and friends who were strong in their faith. I was going through the motions but the realness of God was not something I completely owned as the Truth. It was not until I grasped the magnitude of God’s gift of His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross and the resurrection and its impact on the disciples did my faith grow into a complete conviction of God’s true existence. For me it was the juxtaposition of the disciples place in the culture of the day, The Roman Empire, and their movement from nobodies to fearless spreaders of the Word. You see, it hit me that those people, those common folk chosen by Jesus to be his followers, had to actually see His death with their own eyes and then see Him alive free from the tomb and the binds of death. This miracle of all miracles convicted these men to sacrifice all and fearlessly go in service to Him even at the risk of their own deaths. The resurrection was real, Jesus was real, and therefore God was truly real!

For many people though, especially those who are hurting, or lost, or just struggling with this whole concept called God, it is difficult for them to believe. When you are hurting it is hard to grasp something that you can not physically touch, feel, hold, or see.

So what does God do then to make his presence known in these forms?

He calls on His followers. He Lives in us and uses us.

When we reach out to the lost and hurting He touches them.

When we share our love with them they feel His presence in our lives.
When we allow those who have trouble standing on their own to hold onto us for support He is holding them up as well.

And when they see our love for them as brothers or sisters in Christ they will see God.

So, if you have someone you know that is lost, who is hurting, or who is seeking this thing called God but is just not there yet what can you do?
Keep touching that person with God’s love. Keep letting them feel God’s presence in your life. Keep being strong in Christ so that they can hold onto you. And let them see God through the love you pour out onto them.

On This Rock....

2009-02-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

Jesus referred to Peter as the rock on which He would build His church. I love that visual, that solid foundation that Jesus was going to establish through Peter. Throughout the Bible the rock metaphor is used time and again to symbolize strength, a firm foundation, and an unmoving foothold for us as Christ followers on which to stand.

What ever you are going through this day remember that symbol of the rock and how God's love through the sending of his Son Jesus to die for our sins provides that solid foundation on which to stand, cling to, and feel safe in the storm.

Psalm 27:5 (New International Version)

5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

The Beginnings of a Lay Ministry

2009-02-06T12:56:00.002-05:00

Editors Note: This was written back in November but never made it to this blog.

The Beginning of a Lay Ministry
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 12:44am
Over the last two years I have been stuck in neutral. Not really moving forward in my spiritual life but not really moving back either. I have known for a long time that God has had a plan for me (like He has for all of us) but I have been trying to guide that plan, direct that plan, and look for that plan in the place I wanted to be. What I found during that effort is that was not what He had in mind. Earlier in the year my minister Mike told me that I had to get off of neutral and just plug in with service. Just plug in, get moving forward and God's direction would be revealed.
I did that, volunteering for the set up team for Remix a contemporary service on steroids. Rather than trying to choose the direction I was suppose to be going I just became submissive to God's will. Things started to become clearer and I felt like I was finally on track with the direction. Serving and working and still searching for that direction.
Challenges began to get in the way. For many of those who know me are aware that my small property management company ran into some serious financial challenges. Combine that with an extracted pitched battle with obtaining building permits, the downturn in the economy affecting my recruiting business, and health issues in my household, my direction quickly started being totally side tracked and led away. After months of depression, frustration, and severe unhappiness, I was at my wits end, only holding things together because my family and my staff needed me to do so. It was a challenge just to stay motivated enough to go to work each day and give an effort.

Finally , when I was almost completely broke down, one night at the Sunday service I became single mindedly focused on putting in a prayer request during the response time (we have a box up front in the auditorium that during the response time you can go and put prayer request in) for God to resolve my bank issue. You see, the bank that told us they would finance our two big projects withdrew from the process and put us in jeopardy of losing our properties. I had decided that when I went up I was going to ask God to help us get the loans from another bank.

When the time came I went to the front, got down at the stage, and began to write my request. I closed my eyes and said a prayer asking for God's help and then when I was finished opened my eyes and looked down at the paper. When I read the writing on the paper that was in my hand writing I had not written one word about the loan, our business, and the need for help. Instead the words on the paper said "Dear God, if it be your will, lead me into a lay ministry".

I was dumbfounded. For the last three hours all I had thought about was writing a prayer request for a loan. All I could think about was my selfish need of that project loan. But here, on the paper, in my hand, was this request. I was so rattled I hardly spoke to anyone during the tear down after the service except to tell Chad what had happened.

The next day, still rattled by this experience, an experience like no other I had ever had in my life, I went to work still wondering where this was all coming from. And then it hit me. There was an email from George the CFO of our church asking me if I would be interested in helping with advising some of the people in our church that were job hunting due to being unemployed or seriously underemployed.
With that email and that submission to God's direction, a new lay ministry was born.

Now after teaching the second of what is to become the first phase of a Career focused ministry (tonight), a class called Job Search Basics, it is very clear that the new lay ministry is to work with a variety of career related programs that can assist our church membership and community. We hope to develop a full on career/job centered program that will offer a wide array of career development initiatives, skills training, job search skills, resume writing training, building value in the workplace, and even possibly ad full on GED program for the community at large.

I am writing this in hopes that all of my friends pray for that there be guidance and direction with this ministry and my involvement. Also, as we develop the plan, I look forward to any suggestions or ideas that you may have that could add to the different types of programs and services we develop.

It is just a start, but that direction I have been looking for and have frankly been avoiding is now clear. Now, it's all about being submissive and doing God's will. He's done all the hard work. Now it's just time to follow Him.

Practice Makes Perfect

2009-02-04T00:35:00.010-05:00

Today was a long day. It started early and of course now is ending early the next morning. I did not get to bed last night until very late and I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time. Needless to say I am tired. But there has been something on my heart and mind all day that I just had to get down before collapsing and doing it all again in a few hours.

Today was the day I was to teach the Job Search Basics Class for the Cove Church. This is the beginning of what I hope becomes a full lay directed ministry for our church focused on employment call Career Life Ministry. It will evolve into a comprehensive outreach that will assist those unemployed or under employed, people trying to improve themselves in their current employment, or help educate those who want to better there opportunities in the workplace. The timing of this ministry could not have been better in light of the current economic challenges we are facing.

On my way to my office this morning I stopped by "It Don't Matter" Cafe to grab a tea. I was in a hurry but being that this is a small town being in a hurry and stopping in a place like "It Don't Matter" doesn't match up. It's like Cheers in that everyone knows your name and will want to talk to you. Those of you that know me well know I never met a conversation that I couldn't extend. And today was one of those days.

I ran into a friend of mine who was sitting with a young minister and through various diatribes and exchanges about all of the crazy stuff I have going on somehow the discussion turned to people suffering in despair. I am sure it came up because I talked about the Career Life Ministry inviting her to share it with her flock. In the conversation it hit me that in despair we cry out to God to save us but it doesn't always have the quick result we crave. . In that darkest hour we finally are broken to the point that we yell out to God imploring Him to come save us. We are looking for some instant "beam me up Scotty" experience where by which God just snatches us out of or misery and makes everything right again. More often than not, that immediate rescue does not happen. Matter of fact, often times it seems as though that God didn't hear us at all and just leaves us there alone. We feel abandoned and lost and our depair is quickly magnified. Discouragement combines with our misery and often times our thoughts turn to questions about God's existence and participation in our lives. Hitting the prayer panic button it seems is a waste of our time and our hope no longer is there.

As I left the conversation and began walking to my office I thought about this and about a situation a friend of mine is facing right now and I wondered why God does not answer us in our time and it hit me that maybe the problem lies not in God's timing but our understanding of how God works in time.

Maybe, I surmised, had we been the obedient followers of Him and had practiced turning everything over to God, that we would have a better sense for God's timing and through that understanding manage our despair differently. Maybe, if we gave everything to Him, lifted up all of our anxieties, fears, problems, stress, failures, successes, blessings, gifts, family, everything God would use that continual dialogue to reveal time and again how He works in our lives not by our clock but by His timepiece. By practicing our followership of our Father through submitting everything to Him and praising Him for the blessings in our lives we would gather experience in God's timing. This understanding would help sustain us and motivate us to stand strong in our despair, submit to Him, and wait patiently for God to reveal His plan for us.

They say Practice makes Perfect. Practice turning everything over to God. You will be amazed at how Perfect God's plan is for your life.

1 Peter 1 3-9
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3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

God Comes To Where We Are....

2009-01-15T12:31:00.002-05:00

God is that Perfect Parent that will come to where we are and pick us up when we call on him with a contrite and repentive heart. Sometimes He takes us out of the situation and sometimes He leaves us there but the whole time He is with us. His love for us is unfailing and eternal.

The New Year

2009-01-07T17:37:00.001-05:00

In the storm that is the current economic downturn we are all facing in 2009 we can all get distracted from what is truly important. God wants us to bring all of our burdens to Him.

1 Peter 5:7
"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

He loves us so much and wants us to be with Him for eternity. He sent His son Jesus to defeat sin and death for us. He has paid the ultimate price so that we do not have to pay it. No matter how hard things may get nothing will change this for us. When we accept the risen savior as the redeemer of our souls the ransom's paid.

Good Carving and A Great Pair of Loppers

2008-12-08T13:14:00.003-05:00

Writers Note: This blog was orginally written on December 6, 2006 but yesterday I ran into Mr. Boan (see story) and it reminded me of this story.....

Good Carving And A Great Pair of Loppers
Today was a spectacular day (December 6, 2006). It was absolutely outstanding. So much so in fact, that during the middle of it I felt that it was so special that I begin writing this blog in my head. By this afternoon I had already decided much of what I had wanted to attempt to capture in words but at the very moment I felt like the day could not reveal anything better a simple sharing of a conversation with a neighbor changed it all.

Here is what this Blog was supposed to be about:

After spending the majority of yesterday working on the condo in Greensboro with my wife and going down to the Milestone in Charlotte to support the boys in Sapco today was to be my day to skate. I had plans to meet Bertman down in Concord and hit a new hill and check out some other spots around town. After getting up early and making the hour drive to the town I grew up Bertman and I had an awesome morning down hilling session on this super long 4 lane wide hill that had a nice grade and was close to ½ mile in length. We also checked out some other hills around Concord and out at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was great to be riding with a new rider who I had met through the internet and had come to compete in the downhill at the Dixie Cup. Bertman has the stoke and is hooked on skating again after several years away. (Sound familiar?). After showing Bertman a street in town known locally as "Fools Hill" back in the 70's and early 80's we made plans to put on a big session there in December. In a word this hill is SICK. It has the grade of Hobby Park but is twice as long, has a small bend at the bottom, and has a huge hill as the run out. The DHB will be turning out in force for that session I am sure.

I stopped in to check on my father while I was in town before I returned back to Statesville. My dad still lives in the house where I grew up, is retired from three different jobs, but still works over 32 hours a week as a Wal-Mart greeter. He is not your typical door person though, on the contrary. My dad was Greeter of the Year at his store and is loved by all of his co-workers and the regular customers. I give him a hard time because he has added quite the personal touch to his standard duties of handing out the carts, welcoming the customers, giving smiley stickers to the children, and marking returns. When ever he sees a woman he is familiar with from church, around town, or through his volunteer activities, he not only shares a smile but also shares a HUG! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my Dad gets and gives more hugs in a shift of work that most of us get in weeks! For 80 years old Tom knows how to work it!

After the visit and a stop a local eatery (The What-A-Burger) to catch a tasty but unhealthy burger I returned in the early afternoon to Statesville. Emily was out of town. Hannah was sleeping off a slumber party from the night before that had little slumber and a great deal of party, and Donna, her normal workaholic project freak self was back in Greensboro painting the cabinets we had sanded the day before. I found myself free to do what ever I wanted and decided to grab another one of my boards and just skate about the neighborhood. I grabbed my Landyachtz Evo with Randal 180's, and 97 mm Flywheels, my helmet, and set off to just carve the neighborhood streets. I live in the historic district in town and within a block of my house are four very good hills of various lengths and grades. On my initial run it hit me that this day of skating was the first one in at least eight months where I was not practicing or racing. It was at this point the blog began to materialize in my head. I realized that rather than doing everything in my power to get to the bottom of the hill as fast I could I found myself actually going as slow as possible. Each run I took big wide sweeping carves with as much style as a 6 feet tall, 220 lb skater could exude. I found myself smiling at every turn and remembering why I was drawn to this sport in the first place. You see, skating for me back in the day was all about the simulation of surfing. Growing up poor and 200 miles from the ocean I only got to surf on those rare occasions we headed down to the coast for a family camping trip at the beach. Like many other skaters, a skateboard, a good hill, and some nice carves with style, all combined to make me feel like I was a surfer. Here I was today with that same flashback feeling and it was making me grin. To use my much overused phrase, Yes, I was STOKED!

This is what the blog was supposed to be about. Riding my board for FUN! Simple, pure, fun!.....but then, on the walk back up Kelly Street the conversation took place and well, in a paraphrase of Paul Harvey, here is the rest of the story :

Our neighborhood is a beautiful mix of homes built around the turn of the 20th century and the 20's, 30's and 40's, all surrounded by massive oaks, maples, and pin oaks, which over the last couple of weeks, have shed their last remaining leaves, requiring many a rake session by the neighbors. This day was no exception and the warm weather had several people out in their yard performing the Fall ritual. One of those people was Mr. Boan (Pronounced 'bone"….Mr. Boan upon introduction brought this to my attention, " Some people pronounce it "beau ann" but I prefer "bone"…..this rolling off his tongue as though it had always been apart of who he was).
He was about halfway up the block and was standing on the side walk using loppers (a limb cutter at the end of two handles) to cut a pile of limbs he had obviously trimmed up from around his yard to a shorter length for sidewalk pick up.
As I passed by him I said, "You know the man that invented the loppers knew what he was doing. You can get a lot of work down with a good pair of loppers."
Well, you would have thought I had asked this man about his grandchildren. His face lit up like a Christmas tree as though it were actually he that had invented this yard tool. He smiled back at me and said, "Yes, you're right but I actually made my pair better." With the pride of a father showing off his child, he held up his loppers to reveal that he had made a major alteration to the handles by replacing the stock wood ones with two metal pipes extending the lengths by over a foot. "With this added length and strength to the handles I can actually cut through bigger branches with much more force" and with this phrase he demonstrated it for me by snapping a 2 inch diameter limb as though he was a using a good pair of scissors on rice paper. He beamed as he watched my reaction to his improved loppers. It was impressive I must say.
For several minutes our discussion centered on this obvious enhancement of his limb cutter but as conversations go with me more often than not it digressed into various topics. Mr. Boan, it seems was a retired electrician who had done some work for my back fence neighbor, had a daughter who lived a couple of blocks west of me, was familiar with the previous owners of my house, and loved working in his yard (which showed…his place is the envy of his neighbors). It that somewhat brief interchange I learned also that his nephew was quite the salesman, that “Martha” my neighbor had used him for electrical work often, and that she was great but he wasn't as sure about “Martha’s” husband (which by the way is a standard joke around our small town, "you live beside the Smiths (names have been changed to protect the innocent)? Isn't “Martha” great?" followed by no mention of "Mr. Smith.")
This made my day. Here I had made a connection with someone I had never met before but hand seen working his yard countless of times. Because I was out just having fun there was no pressure to get back to the top of the hill for another run. I was able to linger there, standing on the side of the road, discussing loppers, family, neighbors and other topics of interest. Flashbacks of my grandmother and her gift of entertaining people with good conversation flooded my mind as Mr. "Bone" and I went through our interchange.<> >Those memories warmed me as I soaked up every word as though I was famished for lack of personal contact with anyone.
As all things must do, so must a good lopper conversation come to an end and I proceeded to finish my walk up the hill more than thirty minutes after I had began, which normally takes five minutes. After finishing the run and working my way back to the house I realized that the day was not about skateboarding. It was about being out and interacting with others. It started out with time spent with a new skating partner Bertman and concluded with Mr. "Bone".
It was once said, "Strong fences make good neighbors." I disagree. From now on, in my mind, what makes good neighbors is a great "lopper conversation".

A Little About North Carolina

2008-12-08T13:08:00.003-05:00

I realized that the majority of people who I connect with over the internet, through skating, or through work are NOT from North Carolina. With the exception of a few months in 1980 when I was an exchange student in Plymouth, England and the two years in the late 80's when I lived in Florida, I have lived my whole life in North Carolina. Because you may be unfamiliar with the Tarheel State, I thought I would share a few facts (well, mostly factual) about this State of Mine (pun intended):

Here the word BARBEQUE is a noun. It is not a verb like what you do with an outdoor grill but it is cooked outdoors (mostly) or in the ground like in certain parts of Eastern North Carolina. It is mostly pork. This state is the second largest producer of pork and pork products (read: spam) in the country behind Iowa. Way to go, Iowa!! ………….. It can also be chicken. North Carolina is the third largest producer of poultry products (read: chicken nuggets, spam…"parts is parts") in the US. See a pattern here?
DUPLIN COUNTY in Eastern North Carolina (a long way from where I live) has more pigs than people. Matter of fact, they have 46 pigs per person! What are they doing with all those pigs?.......... To get a visual, the next time you are on the city sidewalk with other people imagine they all, including yourself, have 46 little pigs following behind each of you……………….Then imagine now all those pigs are ready for market (read: ready to be made into bacon). That is a bunch of (fill in the blank with the modifier or modifiers of your choice) pigs!!!!!
There is a wine called DUPLIN WINE. It is made in Rose Hill, Duplin County, North Carolina. You know, the place with all the pigs? Their most popular wine is made from SCUPPERNONGS. What's a "scuppernong"? It's a greenish, or bronze, version of the MUSCADINE. Oh, a "muscadine"? Well, it's basically a native American grape. …just a little bigger, and great to throw at people (read: other kids in my neighborhood when I was a kid) when they are not fully ripe. Forgive me Mr. McKee for wasting a bunch of your muscadines on Ricky….but, hey, he deserved it!....................................THE YADKIN RIVER VALLEY, near where I live is fast becoming a large wine region in this country, with new vineyards and wineries opening every year over the last several. They call it the "Napa Valley of the East."………………..Well, I made that up but that sounded cool, huh? It's not up to that standard but to hear the North Carolina Wine Makers Association's press releases they are getting close. ….Of course, they are paid to say that stuff………………..I'm not a big vine snob but my favorite is called RAGAPPLE LASSIE. It's fairly pedestrian (read: tastes like Boones Farm) but what a killer name…..Ragapple Lassie! ….Beats the heck out of other wine names like "Goats Do Roam" (South Africa vineyard) and "Toad Hollow Cacophony Zinfindel (Sonoma, CA)…..But I like "Riunite On Ice" so what do I know?
Speaking of GOATS, North Carolina is the fourth largest producer of goats in the country.……… Ok. I made that one up too, but the pork and poultry numbers are real.
The flagship soft drink of the second largest soft drink mega company in the Universe, Pepsi Co., was invented in Eastern North Carolina in a town called New Bern (the town my wife grew up in. I don't think she likes Pepsi….not sure). PEPSI was invented by a pharmacist named Caleb Bradham in 1893 in one of the local drug stores there that is now the "Birthplace of Pepsi Museum and Gift Store." They sell everything "Pepsi"…well, that and some Mt. Dew crap. I'm not much of a Pepsi drinker so that's about all I know about the cola.

Over time I will educate you "foreigners" on North Carolina some more. We've been talking mostly about Eastern North Carolina. I live in the Western part of the state. I know a great deal more about this end. Stuff like where they hung the REAL TOM DOOLEY (sing: Hang down your head Tom Dooley, Hang down your head and cry. Hang down your head, Tom Dooley, poor boy you're bound to die). Matter of fact, I have attended meetings of various civic organizations that I am a member of in the train depot practically weekly where he was hung on May 1st, 1868 for the murder of his fiancé Laura Foster. Tom Dula (the correct spelling but still pronounced "dooley") was from the Yadkin River Valley. You know, the place they make Ragapple Lassie?

Dressing For Eternal Success- Ephesians Chapter 6: 10-17

2008-12-04T09:53:00.001-05:00

I imagine all of you have heard of the book by John T. Malloy called Dress For Success. Originally published in 1985 and updated several times over the years it still is considered the definitive book regarding appropriate styling and dress for business, interviewing, and even everyday life. Million of copies have been sold and its influence on the business world in particular has been quite spectacular to say the least. In my executive recruiting business I still refer candidates to this book as a great resource in that it covers such a wide variety of topics providing practical yet powerful advice on the appropriate attire for a large number of situations. It is a great resource and its admonitions are valuable when followed.

Having said all of that, did you know that the Bible also offers great advice on how to "dress for success"? The success referred to here is much more powerful and important than any business opportunity or need to influence others. We are talking about "ETERNAL SUCCESS". Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus which most scholars agree was written by him while imprisoned in Rome gives us that instruction:

Ephesians Chapter 6: 10-17

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

17and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”

Paul so clearly lays out what we have to do to protect ourselves and lay a foundation for success into eternity. Put on the full armor of God. Arm yourself with His word.

How did you dress today?