Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

Last week our church did the Ramblin Road Trip for VBS. There were kids everywhere. I’m glad it is over. Our family is going on a road trip this week to Seabrook Island, SC (near Charleston). My parents own a house with 10 other families and get it 4 times a year.

There are a lot 0f things happening that I have not been informed about. That has made it difficult to function. I don’t do well in dysfunction. Where I’m at in life is dysfunctional and I’m not talking about my home life. I guess it will all happen while I’m gone. O well, that is the way it goes.

We are starting a youth worship service starting in September and I hope it removes the students from all this dysfunction.

Soup and I have been trying to stay out of the stuff @ our church. Thankfully we have for the most part. Last Sunday I made a proposal to our interim leadership @ the church to do several things. They would not allow some of it. I am not a trouble maker so I won’t even say what it was. I won’t even whine about it because it was not meant to be — at least for now.

But an unbelievable thing happened. We are going to start a Student Worship Service on Sunday Mornings! I can’t believe it. We will have the students all Sunday morning. This will allow us to get the students more involved in leading in worship. We will have a time of emerging worship every week and break into small groups. The students will be highly involved in planning and participating in this time. I’m excited because it will keep us out of STUFF! It will keep the students out of it to. We have great young people and we want them to be excited about church.

Sunday mornings will be geared to our church youth and help them grow in their faith. The music will be more like what we are already doing on Wednesdays. Sunday nights will be geared to training them for doing ministry! Wednesdays we will rock the place out. It will be geared for our students to bring their lost friends to church. It goes with our Motto, “Engage and Entreat.” We hope to start this in late September of this year. Please pray for us.

Psalm 46:8 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The King James says “cease striving” I’m not a person that enjoys silence. Especially when God is silent with me. The last three years of my life have been silent. Never before have I experienced a time when it seems God’s hand was not on me. I have confessed every sin I know about. But looking at the live’s of Joseph, Job, Jesus, Paul and others. Silence is a part of the growth of every believer. Joseph was stuck in jail for years for something he didn’t do. God was silent. Job experienced pain unlike I can ever imagine yet God remained silent. Jesus hung on the cross for our sins while God remained silent. I don’t pretend to think I have experienced troubles like any of these men, esp. Jesus! But these last three years have been very trying. These years have been the most fruitless in my ministry. God has been silent.

Henry Blackaby teaches that when God is silent He is about to do something amazing in our lives. It may be tommorrow, next week, next year or maybe years from now. That is where my hope is.

But back to Psalm 46. God wants us to quit striving, be still and let Him be God! That is so hard to do. There are times I just need to be silent and allow God to talk to me. Not like “Benny Hinn” or any of those goofs. But let God speak thru His Word and the Holy Spirit.

Wow, we survived Dennis. We were ordered to evacuate Mobile by the Gov. so we went to my wife’s mom’s house in Scottsboro, AL. Unfortunately we didn’t get to go to Unclaimed Baggage (It was closed on Sunday). We came back Monday and a trip that should have taken 5 1/2 hours took 10! The traffic was unbelievable! We went down all of the back roads and stuff but still it took 10 hours! We did stop in Birmingham to see my old school Samford. It was nice to show our children where we met and look around the school.

Now Emily is headed in the same direction. I pray she dies and goes away.

I’m not believing we have another hurricane bearing down on our fair city. Ivan was less than 10 months ago. The stupid insurance companies have robbed us because there is a hurricane deductable that takes 2% of the value of your house off the $$ they give you. This stinks! We already are struggling because of our church situation. We have no $$ to cover the deductable. I pray Dennis goes away. I pray no lives will be lost and I pray for all!