Helping the Hurricane victims

Our city is filled with people who have come here from South Louisiana seeking refuge. Many are sleeping in cars, trailers, and tents. About 1700 are residing in the Civic Center here and hundreds more are staying in recreation centers in surrounding towns.

It is devastating to see so much hurt in South Louisiana. Even those who escaped to Monroe still have nothing in New Orleans, Biloxi and other cities. It's all underwater or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

It is encouraging to see people lock shoulders and help in a thousand small ways. Our church is washing and drying clothes, preparing food and our youth are walking the dogs of those stranded. Countless numbers of God's people are showing love when it is needed most.

We are compelled to act.

Jesus said what we do for the "least of these" we do for him.

We are praying and trying to help. We don't know how long that will be, but we intend to help as long as it is needed.

It's the least we can do.

Watching the Hurricane

Joslyn and I have been up watching the path of Hurricane Katrina. It is moving toward New Orleans at the moment, expected to make landfall with 25 foot surges and winds of 150 to 184 miles per hour.

Thousands have moved out of the Hurricane's path. A storm center has been set up here in our city for hundreds of South Louisiana citizens fleeing the storm. The youth of "Top Gun" our church youth ministry, are on standby to help move in cots and supplies for those stranded.

We have friends and associates in South Louisiana. We stayed up to watch, out of concern for them. All we can do at this point is pray for them.

Storms, hurricanes and tornadoes seem to be more frequent. Inconsistencies in the weather, national discord and other events are all indicated in scripture as signs of the last days. As the last days of this system approach it is expected that conditions will get worse before Christ comes and makes them better.

The chilling effect of watching great storms and cosmic events is only balanced by our faith that God is still in control of things....even the wind and waves of Hurrican Katrina.

100 New Boys in seven days

Joslyn and I have just finished the recruitment week in our youth leadership program called Top Gun. We visited schools, talked to parents and planned a weekend to invite them to the program.

We've been at it constantly since Monday.

Today we concluded the weekend, which included two overnighters for the youth who will spend seven years in the program. We're both hands-on in our involvement, so it is personally draining.

I'm relieved, tired and frustrated.

I'm frustated because four out of five of the 100 new youth from Elementary through high schools have not attended any church in their lives.

Neither have their parents.

If that is the mark of this generation, one that "knows not Joseph or the God of Joseph" then it may explain many things.

It also explains why we can go so frustrated that we stop doing what we do.

Two Mothers?

I'm still trying to understand yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in California recognizing two lesbians as the mothers of a set of twins.

With donated sperm and ova donated from one of the "mothers" a set of twins was born. The couple broke up later and one of the "mothers" sued for parental rights. California says the lesbian petitioner is indeed a "mom" with all the responsibilities and rights of a mom. So the twins have two mothers.

I was reared by a whole community of mothers. Before I was seven, I lived in a dozen or more homes, with a dozen or more mothers. My father had custody and he often paid people to keep me in their homes.

When I spent the summer on the plantation with my sharecropper grandparents in Panterburn Mississippi there was a grandmother and a countryside filled with mothers.

When I came to church at Tabernacle there were dozens of mothers, all of whom who took an interest in me. The lady across the street from me became my mother too. In fact, I moved in her house for several years. There were more.

They were what Hiliary Clinton calls the mothers of the "village." They looked out for me.

I thought about something ele. The California twins had one father, a sperm donor. However, when a person accepts Christ he has one father, and a lot of brothers and sisters, and mothers too.

Even if our parents, lesbian or otherwise, give us difficult situations to live with, like having two mothers. If we know Jesus, we still have one father...

Who cares.

I Had Chit'lins Today

I enjoy the fine culinary tastes of the best of our people, but every now and then I get a hunger for some real food.

What's "real" food? Pigtails, pig ears, pig feet, tongue, trite, brains, ham, cracklins, and of course chit'lins. Combine that with mustard greens, collard greens, corn bread, rice and gravy, sweet potatoes and a tall glass of water and you're eating high on the hog.

So, I stopped in a soul food restuarant today. I ordered myself a plate of chit'lins, mustard greens, sweet potatoes, rice and gravy and cornbread. It was a feast worthy of a polite and secretive belch. I broke every health and etiquette rule in the book!

I had grease on my mouth, so I know it was good!

Jesus talked about a different kind of hunger. Hunger for righteousness and thirst for the Word of God. He promised that those who feed their spirits on his word would never hunger or thirst. I hunger for the Gospel too. I thirst for that too.

However, I still crave a big bowl of collard greens cooked with ham hocks and served with hot buttered cornbread.

I don't need a fork, I'll eat that with my fingers!

I'm so Countreeeeeee!

A $423 alignment bill

I took the Honda CRX to get that wheel replaced yesterday. What was supposed to be a simple wheel replacement and alignment cost more, but it had to be paid.

It turns out I needed two tires, an alignment, tie rod ends, and a wheel rotation. Final bill $423.00. After I got over the shock of the cost I drove off in my little 1985 red CRX feeling pretty good because everything was straigtened out.

The same rings true for us spiritually. The price of our salvation was a death on a cross. It was a high price.

But, thanks to Jesus we have the assurance that everything has been straigthened out and realigned.

Jesus paid for my salvation, unfortunately I had to pay the $423.00 for little Honda. Thanks to his grace, I shelled it out and drove away.

Wheels Out of Line

I like to drive a little red Honda CRX, 1985. It's old but it runs and it's paid for. My wife drives the new SUV Expedition.

Someone pointed out to me yesterday that the right front tire of my CRX is worn to the thread. I hadn't noticed. It's dangerously close to the blow out stage. I'll get my wheels aligned today and a new tire.

Our lives can really get messed up when our alignment is off. It wears our spirituality to the thread. Without a realignment, we're all close to the blow out stage.

As for the 20 year old CRX...as long as it starts and runs 30 miles to a gallon of gas, I'll keep driving it!

Thieves and Burglars

The police surrounded my office after the alarm went off. Our district association has been meeting this week, but I had to skip out when I received a call that my buglar alarm had been tripped by burglars.

I watched as police dogs moved through the building and police officers stood outside with hands on their holstered weapons shouting commands to the burglar if he was in the building.

After about an hour the drama was over. With the exception of the broken glass and fingerprint powder everywhere, it was done. Nothing was taken apparently. The alarmed surprised the burglars.

It was a reminder that Jesus said not to put your trust in worldly goods where burglars and thieves can get to them. We should put our treasures in heavenly things where they are safe in the trust of God.

The burglars apparently didn't get the message.

For those burglars who don't follow Jesus' teaching...we buy burglar alarms.

I Fell Down

I'm still laughing at myself. I know everyone present got a good laugh because I still chuckle everytime I think about it.

I went to a community meeting Monday night to hear presentations from our school board members. I sat up close to the front, shaking everyone's hand and doing the cordiality thing. When I sat down, my chair slipped from under me.

I tumbled backward as if I was drunk. My chair seemed to run away from me. There was nothing to hold on to. My feet spread apart and flew up into the air!

Once everyone saw that I wasn't hurt they had a good laugh. I did too.

There was the pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church and publisher of the local newspaper with his feet up in the air like a drunk man. It was too funny.

That's the way it is in life. Sometimes what you thought was there to support you is not there. You reach for something to hold on to but it's not there.

We fall down!

Thanks to Jesus, we get up!

I got up..but it was still funny.

Bubble Bath and A Wake Up Call

After a week at the Youth Encampment at Southern University, I had a chance to take a full bath, instead of just a shower yesterday. The showers at Southern were very nice but nothing takes the place of a good hot bath.

I drew a full tub of water, added fragranted bubble bath. The temperature of the water was hot enough to boil a cob of corn I suspect; but I like hot baths.

With bubbles everywhere, I sat in the tub. It was relaxing.

I wonder if there will be bubble baths in heaven? I guess not; especially since we won't get dirty or smelly or tired.

I'll miss the bubble baths when I get there, but I'm sure I'll get over it..quickly.

Before I knew it I dozed off to sleep..in the tub. I dreamed about bubble baths in heaven. I was running around on clouds, wrapped in a towell, blowing bubbles! I passed Moses and Elijah and blew bubbles at them. I shook hands with Martin Luther King, and said hello to Mary McCleod Bethune and Marian Anderson. I blew bubbles as I raced past all of them, floating like an astronaut in space from one cloud to the next.

Floating!

Blowing bubbles!

Then the phone rang!

When I woke up, the bubbles were gone. The water was luke warm and the bubbly dream was gone too.

I don't know what heaven will be like, but one thing is for certain, once the dream of eternity begins we won't wake up to find that the bubble are gone!

Getting to the real me

I'm attending the Louisiana Baptist Youth Encampment this week in Baton Rouge. It's a week long retreat for Louisiana youth to reflect on their spirituality, sponsored by the State Convention at Southern University.

Yesterday, as I ate breakfast, I watched the myriad of youth pass by with a variety of fashions. Then I noticed that the adults were similar in their fashion statements, just more conservative. It struck me how far we go to present a face to the public that may not be the real us.

A weave looks good, but it's not the natural hair of the wearer. A girdle can make me appear thinner. Contacts, fingernails, padded bras and hips, false teeth, girdles and rows of gold plated teeth, all present an image to the public that may not really be us.

It's not just youth, it's adults too. We all seem to mask who we really are behind something else. There are several layers of articificial appearances and personalities that we have dig through to get to the real us.

God cuts to the chase. He's ignores our weaves, contacts, pads, clip ons, etc. He looks straight at our heart. Man sees the outside and can be fooled by appearances. God judges the heart.

Our outward masks may give us an artificial appearance before others, but they won't change the way God sees us.

God saw us in the shower!

He knows the real deal!

Another Case of Popcorn Today

I bought a case of popcorn yesterday. It's the kind in the packages complete with the oil and popcorn salt in the same package. I buy popcorn by the case. I don't like micro-wave popcorn. Either pop it in a pot on the stove or churn it out of a popcorn machine.

So, I gave myself a present a few years ago. I bought a popcorn; just like the one in the movies. It's always filled with hot, fresh kernels. When I walk in my door the smell of popcorn meets me everyday. It's my favorite snack.

The problem is that my favorite snack often replaces my meals. Even though it's low on calories and has plenty of fiber, it's short on protein. It's quick, convenient and tasty, but not very nutritious. It's supposed to be a snack; not a meal.

There was a time when I tried to exist spiritually on snacks; everything really nourshing took too long or had a high cost. The problem with snacks, you know, a little praise here, a little worship there; a bible scripture every now and then is that they were not really nourishing. They were spritual snacks.

I learned that I need more spiritually to be fully nourished; snacks were fine but not sufficient.

Now I study regularly, pray constantly, worship, serve and give. I believe I'm on the right right level of the spiritual food pyramid.

But that popcorn machine that keeps turning out the snacks...that's a horse of different color.

Where are the volunteers?

A group of young people from across the nation come to our city every year to spend a week repairing the homes of the poor and the needy.

This year, the group called "Work Camp" is spending a week in 100 degree heat helping 18 famlies repair their homes. They are painting, repairing screens, steps and making other changes.

The youth pay over $300 a week for the "privelege" to stand in the heat and sweat for a week helping people they do not know. At night, they sing and pray and sleep on the floors at a school.

After a week they return to their homes. Hundreds of youth like these are doing the same across the nation.

This week's Sunday School lesson is about helping the needy in the name of Christ. At Bible Study last night we talked about the need for missionary service. The "Work Camp" volunteers were given as an example. They were praised.

Why is it that, allowing for a few exceptions, most volunteers such as these are whites helping Blacks?. It's rare for Blacks to volunteer to help whites in such efforts.

The people in the neighborhood watched as they worked in the sun. They thanked them. They praised them.

It just appears that we won't volunteer unless we are being paid to volunteer. We are definitely not going to pay over $300 for the privelege of working in 100 degree heat, working for free and sleeping a hard school floor.

As I reviewed Sunday's lesson from Matthew 25:31- I thought of the "Work Camp" volunteers and wondered to myself, "Where are the volunteers?"

Are we sheep or goats?

He wore flip flops to church

I read the morning paper today and saw another in a series of editorials I've been reading on the internet, in newspapers and TV news about the the young ladies who wore flip flops to the White House a while back.

The articles hit home because Sunday, one of the youth of our congregation came to worship wearing short pants and flip flops.

On one side the young man is very active in our congregation, volunteers, studies and lives a pretty straight life. He has a fascination with flip flop shoes. He has a pair to match everything: plain flip flops, designer flip flops; etc.

On the other hand I feel like I have failed him. I have taken him half way around the world and given him the best instruction I know; but somehow I can't get it over that there are standards beyond his own. The same rings true with others concerning sagging pants, gold plated teeth, and hoochie mama dresses.

The WORD says that there is a way that seems right to men. Until we can see with spiritual eyes what we do always seems right, if the only persons to be pleased are ourselves. When God is left out of the picture, anything goes.

The young ladies who wore flip flops to the White House fouled up a golden opportunity. If they failed to learn when and where to wear flip flops; then there are probably other social graces they haven't learn either.

I feel compelled to be sure that those who are around me won't get invited to the White House; or worse become President wearing flip flops.

Finished the Book

I finished reading John Grisham's "The Testament" yesterday.

I started reading it on the plane from Hawaii. There are a few fiction authors that I read every year. I started reading Grisham novels a few years ago. I also read John Jakes, and Michener. Pure entertainment.

I picked up the habit of reading fiction from my wife. I usually read non-fiction religion, politics,social science, journals and what she calls "heavy" stuff. When we met in 1973 she ordered romance novels from a book club by the box and read whole boxes in two weeks; then ordered more. I'd listened as she described the places, scenery and other details of her mental visits to the scenes of the novels.

So, I went half way. The authors I read tell a good story but pack it full of what I'm interested in: history, religion, politics, social science, etc. That way I kill two birds with one stone. So, occasionally she listens as I describe the scenes of the places I have visited in my latest read. In 31 years, we have traveled the world.

The testament is about a billionaire who leaves 11 billion dollars to an illegitimate daughter who is a missionary for Christ in the jungles of Brazil. The thrust of the novel is the quest to find her and convince her to accept the money.

When they find her they learn that she is totally committed to Christ, and is uninterested in the money at all. The unsaved lawyer who finds her is impressed by her sincerity and devotion. Ultimately, he finds peace with God himself. The daugher contracts malaria, but in a dying act, accepts the 11 billion dollars, puts it in a trust for Christian causes and places the converted lawyer over it to dispose of as the Lord leads him.

In the process I learned a lot about lawyers, wills, courtroom battles and a tremendous amount of history about the Panatal in Brazil, malaria, floods, Anacondas, and the Indian tribes of the region.

It was a good read. I enjoyed reading about Brazil. I wouldn't want to visit; not even a day.

The Bald Heads

I went to the Louisiana Baptist Convention yesterday. The President, Dr. Harry Blake, gave his address. It was dynamic and powerful.

He is a good looking 70 plus man who likes to make jokes about his bald head. He usually gets plenty of laughs when he talks about other leaders in the convention who are also bald headed.

As I looked across the stage it dawned on me that nearly all of the leaders of the convention were either gray headed or bald headed; and all men(Except for the Women's Deparment Leader).

There was a noticeable absence of young, non-traditional pastors; and since the convention does not embrace women preachers, a noted abscence of female ministers. (Those who were there were not recognized as such).

Then it dawned on me that I was a gray head, everyone on my row was a gray head or bald head and the women who made up the majority of the crowd, were not recognized at all.

The spoken message of the President was euphoric.

The unspoken message of the bald heads was troubling.

Movie Provided Sunday School Insight

During our bible study last night there was a lively discussion about forgiveness, which is the subjection of Sunday's International Sunday School Lesson.

Most participants easily said they were willing to forgive offenses; that is until the subject of the marital infidelity arose.

The issue surfaced as Tyler Perry's "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" was raised. The movie made the point that the heroine would not be really free until she forgave the husband who dogged her out and cheated on her. In the movie she helped her dog of a husband find himself, regain his spirituality and get back on his feet. Then she left him for another man.

The issue raised is whether or she actually forgave him in the spiritual sense. His infidelity gave her a scriptural way out of the marriage. Even though she had an "out" she did not have to use it. Forgiveness means to forget the past and restore an offending person to their previous status.

Did she really forgive him?

Those who freely said they were willing to forgive had a variety of views when it came to forgiving a cheating, dog of a spouse.

Forgiveness is a tough pill to swallow. The main point of the lesson is that if we have been forgiven ourselves, and we have, then we should be willing to forgive others.

It's easier said than done.

Hmmmm

Shouting over the vacum cleaner

For two days now, I've been pushing a vacum cleaner and carpet steamer!

Whatever was in the shot the doctor gave my wife Sunday, charged her up. She left Sunday evening for Alexandria to attend the Louisiana Baptist State Convention. She wanted to operate a booth during the convention this week to meet many of the Louisiana ministers who share with us all year.

I stayed behind..to do the house work while she went to the convention.

House work is more than a notion. It's been ten years since I've done this. My wife has been doing this for 31 years, while she kept up with me, and mothered our three sons. I see, it's more than a notion. I'll have to raise her pay.

I washed the dishes, but soon as I washed them, they seemed to reappear, one by one: a glass, a dish, a spoon; pretty soon the bottom of the sink vanished out of sight.

Where did all of those dirty towels come from? If you clean something once, why doesn't it just stay clean?

If the floors have been saved from dirt once, aren't they always saved?

If the towells have been been washed in the suds, why can't they stay clean?

If the floors have been anointed with shampoo, many years ago, why do they still get dirty?

When you come to my house don't you know my floors have been anointed? Someone brought the world in on the bottom of their shoes and messed up the shampoo I did ten years ago!

My goodness there is a spider web! It wasn't there the last time I swept there about 10 years ago. If I removed the spider web 10 years ago, why does it keep coming back? Forget about, "Who let the dogs out", I want to know, "Who let the spider in?"

Somehow I get the idea that cleaning a house is much like our spiritual lives. We may have cleaned house sometime ago, but the devil keeps looking for ways to dirty our dishes, walk on our clean floors and build spider webs on unused gifts.

Theses dirty floors are witnessing!

Somehow I feel a whoop coming on! The broom is testifying! The vacum cleaner is glorifying! And the clothes in the dryer are shouting..."I been washed...I've Been redeemed!"

I'm about to have church over this vacum cleaner!

I feel a whoop coming on!

..now back to the real world. I still have eleven rooms to go!

My Son Will Take Care of the 5th

After reading my last post, my son Robert, sent me an email. He says, he'll buy the 5th and put it in my refigerator for me.

He questions why I would even be concerned with what others think since I have freely stood alone against public opinion in the past. It's pretty easy to stand alone when you know you are right. It's harder to do when you know that Word does not back up your action.

The problem with me standing in a line in a liquor store is that it clashes with
1 Thessalonians 5:22 which says believers should, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." A prominent, nationally known pastor standing in line at a liquor store somehow seems to give the appearance of evil to me; even though I know that the 5th would be used for medicial purposes and would probably take 30 years to consume.

Well it turns out that we didn't need the 5th anyway. Sunday morning, Dr. Claude Minor, a deacon of our church and his wife Dorothy, a registered nurse, came to Joslyn's rescue. They came to our home in a "house call" and pulled out the old needle to the arm. A fresh shot of anti-biotics runs away the germs which caused, what turned out to be bronchitis.

The issue of avoiding the appearance of evil is a dilemma of many pastors who are constantly aware that often innocent acts may be perceived by others as an evil that will diminish their witness. It should be an issue for everyone who is a Christian.

For example, when my son walks into the liquor store to buy the 5th for me; someone from the church where he serves as musician is bound to see him with the little brown bag. They won't ask why, they'll just repeat what they saw, "the church musician was in the local liquor store. He bought a fifth of whiskey, put it in a brown bag and walked out of the store."

What they will report will be the truth, but not the whole truth. Since the whole truth won't be told to explain questionable activities; many believers have learned to avoid known questionable activities. This is done for the good of those who would be devastated by our misinterpreted action.

Preachers live in fish bowls. Everyone watches every action.

What some people forget is that non-believers put all Christians in the same fish bowl.

After 24 years, The bottle was empty

After 10 hours on an airplane, it was good to touch ground in Monroe yesterday.

The warmth and beauty of Hawaii is a nice post card memory, but Dorothy had it right, "There's no place like home."

When we entered the airport all of the youth were met by their parents with smiles and hugs. My wife and I were met by our luggage. We loaded it all in our vehicle and made it home.

There were newspapers and mail stacked neatly inside by my youngest son looked after things while were away. Everything was just as we left it.

The cold that my wife, Joslyn, wrestled with during the whole trip, came down hard on her once we made it home. She was coughing and weazing something terrible. She tried all of the medicines we usually use for colds, but they didn't work.

I would have made her a hot "totty" (A tea with a shot of whiskey) but the 5th of whiskey that we used for 24 years for such occasions was gone. It was given to us by an elderly woman who told us about "hot totties." It took 24 years for us to use it up. I could have bought one in Hawaii but it would have been my luck for someone to see me buying a fifth of Whiskey on a church trip in Honolulu. Neither was I about to be seen standing in a liquor store buying a 5th of whiskey at 1 a.m. in the morning in Monroe! Try to explain that on Sunday morning!

So at 1:45 a.m. this morning I was standing in Walmart with two bottles of Night time Nyquil. It wouldn't be as effective as the "Hot Totty" but it would have to do.

She coughed and weazed for a while until the NyQuil kicked in. About 2:30 this morning I finally dozed off too.

It was a great trip. The Lord favored us with a safe journey and return.

Before I dozed off I had a very silly thought, "I have to figure out a way to get another 5th without standing in line at the liquor store. At age 56, the next one will have to last about 30 or 40 years."

As I smiled to myself, I said, "Maybe someone will send me one, like I was given the first one. Home remedies beat Nyquil anytime." Then I dozed off to sleep