When grace replaces guilt and fear...
When relationship outweighs behavior...
When church involvement becomes meaningless rituals...
When you refuse to live in fear of what others might think or say...
When rejecting others over dogma or doctrine becomes sickening...
And when you want to be a simple human being accepting and loving all the other human beings...
The only thing left is a carpenters son saying Come Follow Me and that makes all of the difference.
Since I have written about forty books, having a new one published is no longer a big event, but this time I am scared. The others have been about grief, aging issues, listening etc. This one is about me, and I feel rather vulnerable and exposed.
This book is not a criticism of Baptist nor of anyone else. I tried to write a book that fits the title. It is the story of my discovering the love of God
Read MoreHis name was Art Wright, and he was not only known as the town drunk, he was also one of the most despised men in town. His wife was hostess to the women’s organization of the Baptist church and Art spiked the punch. The ladies seemed to think the punch was especially good and the story ended with Art driving some of them home in an open top touring car and dragging main street so the citizens could enjoy the view. That story was still alive when I was a teen.
Read MoreI was teaching a class of older teenagers at an Oklahoma youth camp named Falls Creek. In a class of about fifty, one person captured my attention without saying a word and I could not get her off my mind. She sat in the middle of the back row with ‘’deer in the headlights” eyes full of fear and pain. I never got a chance to speak to her after class, but I kept seeing her eyes in my mind. What kinds of fears were haunting her life? What threats did she face?
Read MoreI attended a city-wide memorial service at the First Baptist church in Tulsa a few days after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. Perhaps I went for the right reason but with the wrong attitude. I was proud of myself for being there with my black arm band showing respect for a man and supporting a people who had lost their Moses and perhaps their dream of equity and freedom. I did not see my own arrogance that hid me
Read MoreOklahoma voted to go wet in 1959 in spite of Will Rogers saying we would be dry as long as the Baptist and the Methodist could stager to the poles. As soon as the vote was taken many Baptist churches voted that if any of their members applied for a license to sell liquor they would be removed from membership in their church. I got caught in a room with six other pastors who had led their churches to vote in that rule and was jumped on by all six because I had not done so and would not say that I would. It was an easier vote for those pastors than it was for me. I was the only one in the room with a member who had applied for a license. It is a lot easier to take stands if you don’t have to actually act on the stand you have taken.
Read MoreHis name was Cliff, a deacon in a church I pastored who had gotten caught and wrongfully accused of being homosexual in a large sweep effort put on by a district attorney in Oklahoma City who was trying to become Governor.
Cliff was a traveling salesman of auto parts who happened to stay in a hotel in Oklahoma City when calling on dealerships and auto parts stores there. He stayed in that hotel because it had a parking garage attached and it was possible to park on the same floor as your room. Cliff had a bad back and no one had dreamed up roller luggage in the late 1960’s.
Read MoreWhen I was a young man, the preachers would often talk about finding God’s will for our lives. I found that to be beyond my comprehension. I had no idea who I was, so how could I even begin to know what I was supposed to be or do with my life. I am not sure I ever solved that riddle. I seemed to just stumble into my life and careers and somehow ended up doing work I could never have dreamed of until I was doing it.
Read MoreI have spent over sixty-five years maintaining a fairly heavy load of what some call counseling and I call companioning people. This has been my greatest joy and most significant part of my life. Nothing else comes close. Someone said to me “you must really love people doing all of your counseling and never charging anyone a fee.” I said, “I do love them, but I am also nosey, and I love to hear the stories.” Actually, most of my education about life and people has come from the stories they tell. Now I want to share this joy with others.
Read MoreI did a very brave act yesterday. I did not climb the Devon Tower or anything like that, but I did go for a walk and leave my phone at home on purpose.
My daughter seemed to be more upset about that than I was. She said a left behind phone is something you go back to get and remarked that it felt strange. I thought it felt wonderfully freeing.
That led to my thinking about the role the phone has always played in my life.
Read MoreToday is September 25. My wife of fifty-seven years died twelve years ago today. I think of her all the time of course but in September each year the memories flood my mind. These memories are usually not just about her death, they relive our life together and rejoice in the love we shared. Those thoughts reenforce three things I have found true about grief.
First: It never goes away, our loved ones live on in our memories. No one is dead until they are forgotten.
Second: Hopefully in time gratitude replaces some of the pain. We either become grateful for what we had, or we will remain a victim of what we have lost.
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