Day 25

 

A Trip To The Mall

 

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self ..."

 

Ephesians 4:22

 

 

The Minister of Music and I had gone to the mall for lunch and to play video games at the arcade. It wasn't exactly a power lunch by 2 young executives, but this was back before everybody had their own game system at home. We were eating at the mall food court with the goal of a quick meal and moving on to play video games. We had just started our lunch when a guy from the church came over and asked us if he could join us.

 

He was a young guy like us and worked as a mall security guard. He was one of those guys who came to church on Easter and Mother's Day but never at any other time. It also became apparent that though he recognized us as people he knew he did not recall where he knew us from.

 

He began to talk about the girls who worked in the mall. His conversation became "R" rated as he began to mention certain attributes of these girls. The Minister of Music and I gave each other wide eyed looks of amusement. Finally the guy got up to leave and go back to work.

 

"By the way," he asked, "where do I know you guys from?"

 

The music guy said, "Church."

 

The dude turned pale and quickly walked away.

 

I had a Seminary professor who always said, "It's not how high you jump, it's what you do when you hit the ground." You can be jumping for Jesus on a Sunday but you better be sure when you hit the ground on Monday morning that you're living the right way. As Christians we should be the same person at work that we are at church. Jesus told us to take up our cross daily, not just on Sundays.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Ephesians 4:20-32

• What are we to put off? (v.22)
• What are we to put on? (v.24)
• What are we created to be like? (v.24)
• What are some of the things Paul lists that we should put off? (v.31)

 

Day 24

 

Ode To A Deacon

 

"Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them."

 

Acts 6:3

 

 

At one of the churches I served at as a youth minister there were a couple of deacons who had their own business. At least 3 days of the week they would come to the church around lunch time and we would all go out and get something to eat.

One day as we came back from lunch the church secretary and the janitor informed me that there was a young lady waiting in my office to talk to me. They both had big smiles on their faces so I knew something was up.

I went to my office and closed the door and introduced myself to the young woman and asked what I could do for her. Her answer was somewhat surprising.

She wanted to talk to the girls in my youth group. She had a special piece of advice to share with them from her personal experience. She wanted to share with the girls in the youth group about the evils of topless dancing.

As a topless dancer herself she had become discouraged with the profession, she told me. It was hard to make an honest living at it and so many of her friends had turned to drugs and prostitution. She complained long, bitterly and graphically about the plight of topless dancers.

At one point she was telling me about what happened to a co-worker of hers that had been particularly talented. She described how this girl could do this dance while standing on her head on a table top. Then she offered to demonstrate this dance on the top of my desk!

I assured her that it wasn't necessary, that I was convinced it was a very special dance. And while she is telling me all this I could hear this faint giggling outside  my office door. Those 2 deacons had been informed by the secretary that it was a half crazy topless dancer in my office that I was talking to so they had crouched outside my door to listen in for "my protection." They would have never done such a thing for a legitimate counseling session but this dancer gone scooters was one they couldn't resist.

In all my years of church work I have never had a difficult time with deacons. You hear all these jokes about pastors and deacons not getting along. I have found that the vast majority of them want to do nothing more than serve God and their church. They want to be what every church needs, servants.

After I had promised the young lady I would give her a call if any of the girls in the youth group started considering topless dancing as a career move she left. The deacons came in and were laughing with tears in their eyes over my little counseling session. I got them though. Several months later when they asked me if I knew anyone who might provide some entertainment for the deacons and wives Christmas party I gave them her name and phone number.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Timothy 3:3-8

 

• What are deacons to keep a hold of? The church finances?
• What are deacon's wives supposed to be like?
• Is the standard for deacons and their wives a standard that everyone should try to meet?

 

Day 23

 

Here's Your Sign

 

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

 

John 13:35

 

 

The pastor's daughter was getting married and it was a big production. People were coming in from all over the country for the wedding. I was the youth minister at the church and hopelessly single. There was a single girl flying in for the wedding to be a bridesmaid and suddenly everyone was too busy to pick her up. So, guess who they asked to go to the airport?

I was not totally stupid. I know why they were all too busy.  They had already told me about this girl. I was nice enough to play along (okay, desperate enough), so off to the airport I went.

When you are picking someone up at the airport that you have never seen you have to have a sign. You've seen the people standing there with a person's name on poster board. Usually they are limo drivers or desperate guys like I was. So, there I stood holding the sign up and hoping that the girl who bore a striking resemblance to a dachshund wasn't the one I was there for.

The problem is you aren't just holding up a sign with the person's name on it. There is another invisible yet readable sign. In the movies it is Tom Hanks holding up the sign and it has Meg Ryan's name on it. When she reads the invisible sign it reads, "Nice guy, willing to help friends."

My life is not Hollywood and I am not Tom Hanks. The girl does look like Meg Ryan though. (This is so it is all the more painful for me). You see the invisible sign I am holding up says, "Desperate Loser."

It's only a minor setback. Everyone loses a few checkers before they win the game.

We all carry signs. Yours may read, "Business Man" or "Nurse" or "Athlete." Hopefully you are carrying a sign that reads "Christian." Jesus tells us that people should be able to recognize us as his followers by our love for each other. Out of all the signs I had that day at the airport, visible or invisible, that was the most important one for me to be carrying.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read John 13:1-35

• What is going on in John 13 when Jesus tells his disciples they will be known for their love for each other?
• How did Jesus demonstrate his love to his disciples just prior to him telling them to love one another?
• What did Jesus know about Peter and yet he still demonstrated his love for him? 
   



 

Day 22

 

He Who Has Ears

 

He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

 

Mark 8:21

 

I lived in a small apartment complex that only had about 40 units. It was mostly older people that lived there besides me and the young couple who lived above me.

One Saturday night I was awakened by a loud thump. It startled me and I thought it sounded like it came from the apartment next to mine but I ruled that out. There was an older lady who lived next to me who never made any noise so I figured it must have been the couple upstairs and I went back to sleep.

I awakened later in the night when I heard what seemed to be someone tapping on my wall. Again I figured it must be the couple upstairs and that the sound was traveling down my wall, so I went back to sleep again.

I got up on Sunday morning, headed for the shower to get ready for church. As I left the bedroom it sounded as if someone had faintly called my name. I paused but did not hear it again, so I went on and got ready for church.

After church that morning I came back to the apartments to find an ambulance in the parking lot. It was pulling out as I was pulling in. I parked my car and was walking to my apartment when the manager of the apartments approached me.

"What's with the ambulance?" I asked.

"It's the lady next door to you" he told me. "She fell in the middle of the night when she got up out of bed to get a glass of water. She couldn't get up but she was finally able to reach her cane. She said she was tapping on your wall with it trying to wake you up. She even called your name! Did you hear anything?"

 

Jesus was always saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." I can only think of one guy in the Bible who didn't have an ear and his name was Malchus. Actually Malchus had ears but on the night Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter cut Malchus' right ear off. Malchus was only earless for a short while because Jesus put the ear back on. So, when Jesus says, "He who has ears," he is talking to everybody. We all have ears, we just don't use them to listen all the time.

Sometimes it is not just a question of listening, but of understanding. In Mark chapter 6 Jesus feeds 5 thousand people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. In Mark chapter 8 Jesus feeds 4 thousand people, this time starting with 7 loaves of bread. After feeding the crowd, the disciples and Jesus get in a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee and the disciples only bring 1 loaf of bread. The disciples become concerned that they haven't brought enough bread with them.

Jesus interrupts their discussion about the lack of bread and asks his disciples some questions. "Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see and ears but fail to hear?"

The disciples, like us modern day disciples, had ears but sometimes didn't listen. They sometimes listened but they didn't always understand. We read God's word and think, "Well this doesn't apply to me." We hear sermons and think the message was for someone else. We are just the same as I was at that apartment, we hear but we don't understand that the message was for us.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Mark 8:14-21

• How many loaves of bread did the disciples bring with them?
• Did the disciples understand Jesus' comment about "the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod"?
• What was Jesus trying to get his disciples to understand?

 

Day 21

 

A Trip To The Dentist

 

"And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 

Matthew 25:30

 

I grew up at the dentist office. I'm sure I was his most regular customer. If it could go wrong with your teeth I had it. I had braces for 5 years, two dental surgeries, and I have got enough silver amalgam and a gold crown to provide me with a retirement nest egg.

 

Dentist are kinder and gentler these days. One big change is that they wear gloves that seem to cover more of their hands. When I was a kid my dentist had the hairiest hands. I guess all that saliva watered the hair on his hands so that it grew disturbingly long. Every time he stuck his hand in my mouth I felt like a cat with a fur ball stuck in my throat.

 

My dentist had quiet a setup. His office was in a strip mall and after your appointment he would give you a coupon good for a ice cream cone at the drug store in the mall. He insured my repeat business by keeping me addicted to the cavity producing ice cream.

 

The guy who did my braces was a graduate of the Marquis De Sade School of Orthodontics. Every month he would commit Nazi war crimes in my mouth. I endured this torture patiently at first but after he pulled a wire out of my gum that he had the surgeon insert, and pulled it out without any anesthetic causing massive bleeding and pain, I decided to fight (make that bite) back. His evil machinations eased up when he came to understand that I was not without recourse.

 

Once when I was a young adult I had gone to have my teeth cleaned. My gums bleed so profusely that afterwards I had to go get a transfusion. My hygienist informed me. "Your gums wouldn't bleed so much if you would gargle with salt water every day." Not willing to accept full responsibility for my bleeding gums I informed her, "My gums wouldn't bleed at all if you wouldn't poke them with that sharp stick."

 

On another occasion I became concerned that the hygienist was draped all over me. I appreciate the fact that they must get reasonably close to you if they are going to work on your teeth but this girl needed longer tools or longer arms. I finally informed her, "If you were Dolly Parton I would have suffocated by now."

 

The Bible tells about a time when there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." I'm not a dentist but I'm pretty sure that gnashing your teeth can't be good for you. Hell is going to be bad for a lot of reasons; if bad teeth is one of them I'm glad I have got another destination.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Luke 16:19-31

 

• What was the destiny of the callous rich man?
• After death what did the rich man complain of?
• Could the rich man's fate be changed or altered in any way?

Day 20

 

His Voice

 

"When he has brought out all of his own, he goes ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice."

 

John 10:4

 

I worked in a shoe store when I was in Seminary. There was an unusual cast of characters that I worked with during my tenure there. I found that most everybody that worked at that shoe store had a story to tell.

 

There was a woman that worked there who was 30 something, married and attractive. She was having marital trouble: some of it having to do with her husband not adjusting to life after Vietnam and some of it because they had a handicapped child. I'm sure that if I had heard her husband's side of the story there would be more to it than what she told me.

 

I tried to help as much as I could. Being young and single I really had no clue when it came to marital advice. I tried to encourage her and I prayed for her. When the trouble finally led to seperation I invited her to come to church with me. I figured worshipping at church might perk her up.

 

I waited outside of church for her to show up and she arrived a little late so we sat in the back. After we sang a few hymns there was a responsive reading. I had never been a big fan of responsive readings until what happened that day. The reading was from John 10 about Jesus being the Good Shepherd. When, with the rest of us, she read the words out loud about the "sheep follow him because thery know his voice," I could see the tears streaming down her cheeks. She was a hurting little lamb that had heard the Shepherd's voice.

 

I hope you hear the voice of the Shepherd when you read his word. I hope, that like Peter, you can say, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

 

Upon Further Review

 

Read John 10:1-21

 

• Where can sheep find safety? And how do they enter eternal safety?
• How can we know that Jesus is the "Good Shepherd?"
• Who are those "other sheep" that are "not of this sheeppen?"  

Day 19

 

Donnie's Roommate

 

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me."

 

Psalm 139:1

 

 

 

My first roommate in Seminary was perfect. Because he was so perfect, he was not the perfect roommate.

 

Donnie was 6 foot 4 inches tall. I am just 6 foot. Donnie was big muscular guy. I looked like the poster boy for "Feed The Children." Donnie played college football. I played college hooky and went to the zoo as often as I went to class. Donnie had money. I had a car payment. Donnie had his shirts sent to a laundromat and were starched and ironed. My polyester shirts would have melted into a puddle if an iron touched them. Donnie drove a Camaro. I drove an un-air conditioned Vega. Donnie played the guitar. I could identify a guitar in a line up of musical instruments. Donnie's grandfather was a lawyer and his father was a doctor. My grandfather once rescued a orphaned baby squirrel and raised it and my father won a hockey stick for us with a center ice slap shot at a promotion during a hockey game (chalk one up for team Jess). All the girls on campus knew Donnie. I had no name. I was called Donnie's roommate.

 

I could have been angry about that but did I mention that Donnie was a great guy? I couldn't be mad at him, it wasn't his fault that girls thought he was so wonderful and thought that I was so ... actually they didn't think of me at all. Still it would have been nice to have a name other than Donnie's roommate.

 

The good news is that God knew and knows my name. The 139 Psalm tells me that God knows everything about me. He knows my limitations. He knows my thoughts. He knows how I spend my time. And he thinks I am "fearfully and wonderfully made." (Psalm 139:14) So if everyone else knows me as Donnie's roommate, Ethan's dad or Jo's husband, I'm okay with it. God knows who I am and that is good enough for me.

 

Bonus Story

 

My boss told me that because of the snow the store would be closed on Saturday. I had been at Seminary for several months and had not made a trip home because I had to work on weekends because I was poor and I liked to eat. So despite the heavy snow I got in my Vega and headed for home.

 

I decided to take a short cut on a country highway to cut over to the interstate. The snow was really coming down so I figured I better get to the interstate in a hurry knowing if a road would be kept open that would be it. I was in the middle of nowhere when I got a flat tire. I got out my spare and jack and began to take the flat tire off. It was so cold I couldn't feel the lug nuts in my fingers. I got the flat tire off and was putting on the spare only to discover my spare was flat as well.

 

At this point I began to think of a short story we had to read in high school. It was a story by Jack London called To Start A Fire. The main character in the story is in the frozen wilds of Alaska and he has one match to start a fire or he will freeze to death. He manages to start the fire but as the warm smoke drifted upwards some snow in a tree melted and fell out of the tree and put out the fire. When you are cold and in the middle of nowhere with no one around you think of theses things.

 

I started to pray. I promised God if he would get me out of the mess I was in that I would go to Africa as a missionary if he wanted me to. I promised God if he wanted me to I would marry a fat girl. (Okay, I know that is really shallow but it was real cold and I wasn't thinking too clearly). Since I am not in a freezer now sitting next to Ted William's frozen head you can safely assume that God got me through the situation.

 

Psalm 139 not only tells me that God knows my name and all about me, he also knows where I am at all times and is with me. There is nowhere in his creation I can go without his presence with me. And that is very comforting if you are in a hospital room waiting for news, in a motel far from home or in a car with 2 flat tires in the middle of a snow storm.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Psalm 139:1-24

 

• Can you ever escape the presence of God?
• Can there be a patch of your life so dark that God cannot see you?
• How long has God known you?