Just thinking back on the year, I first remember it being
the year of my first granddaughter – and my second granddaughter - definitely
the highlights of my year. I remember my church launching a new campus
and getting to be a part of the serve team there. I remember helping Dan
lead our small group studying the Divine Conspiracy. I remember playing
in the Georgia Wind Symphony under the direction of my good friend, David
Gregory. I remember three fun trips to the beach – one with Caroline’s
family, one with my family and one with good friends. I remember
fun with family and friends at the lake. I remember having the
privilege of working with Janet and Michael helping others find their own spot
on the lake. I can’t wait to see what 2016 brings.
If you clicked on the GettingDeeper link looking for the SpotOnTheLake Water Depth Guide, this ain’t it. This blog gives our lake community, and anyone else that might be interested, a chance to share ideas about things that matter.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Innocence of a baby
The Christmas season comes to me burdened with the pressures
of finishing the year strong, shopping, Christmas cards and entertaining.
My church has helped me to remember that this season is about the innocence of
a baby – a baby born to a scared mom who felt the weight of the world on her
shoulders. The innocence of that baby has been made real to me this year
by the recent births of Caroline and Nora to my children. To hold those
babies close and look into their eyes, I am amazed at the miracle of their
creation and reminded of the miracle of their Creator. I hope that
your experience more of the joy of Jesus this week.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Perfect innocence
This season is all about celebrating the birth of the
baby, Jesus. Our family has been blessed with another reason to
celebrate. Nora Catherine was born to my son, Michael, and
daughter-in-law, Emily last week. This is their third child and
their first girl. There is nothing like holding a newborn baby and being
totally overwhelmed by the wonder of the event. At the same time, I am
convicted of the responsibility we all have to make sure that she has
everything she needs to grow into the person that God has intended her to
be. I will be praying that we make Jesus known to her so that one
day she will trust Him as her Savior.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Connecting the dots
I try to be true to not repeating myself in this blog, but I
felt the need to connect the dots today. Last year, before
Christmas, I posted this
entry with a link to one of my favorite pieces of music, O Magnum
Mysterium, sung by the Kings
College Choir in Cambridge, England. “O
Magnun Mysterium” is Latin for “the great mystery” written about the
birth of Jesus. In February, I wrote about my dear friend, David
Gregory. David was my high school band director and predicted that
one day, Caroline and I would be married. On this coming Saturday,
under the direction of David Gregory, Caroline and I, now married, will perform
O Magnum Mysterium under the direction of David Gregory at Cambridge
High School, all connected by the black dots on a piece of paper - and
everything in between.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
My Kind of Coach
I don’t have much to add to everything that has been written
about Mark Richt leaving UGA. There are people who know a lot more about
football than me, and there are people who know him much more than I do.
So I won’t repeat everything that has been said, but I do have two personal
memories that I want to share. The first time I met Mark in person was
when he came to our church to speak. I can’t remember the year, but it
must have been very early in his tenure at UGA. He spoke on a
Sunday evening and the sanctuary was full. He shared his stories of
football and his faith – very well done as you might expect. Afterwards,
our minister mentioned that Mark was going to need to leave quickly after the service
to be with his family. I’m sure that some who had hoped to shake
his hand were disappointed. On Monday morning, the church office
got a call from Mark’s office saying that he had felt bad that he had left
quickly the night before and wanted to know if he could come back to meet
people and sign autographs. He stayed true to his commitment and came
back on a Wednesday evening to the delight of many members. The other
story I have is through my daughter-in-law. She worked as a trainer with
the UGA football team while Mark was coaching there. In a regular
review meeting with him, Mark’s question to her was “are they guys treating you
with respect?” I appreciate Mark for looking out for my
daughter-in-law. I am a fan for life.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
More Family
With the birth of baby Caroline two months ago, we don’t
have a photo of the whole family together yet. It would be out of date in
two weeks anyway with the birth of our fourth grandchild coming in
December. This is one of my favorites, though. Baby Caroline
meeting her cousins for the first time with the moms looking on with
delight. I thank God every day for my family.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
gods
I watched with horror with the rest of you the terror unfold
in Paris this week. I am embarrassed to say that I understand very
little about ISIS, what they are trying to accomplish, and why they would do
the things they do. One of my pastors posted this link to an article. Unlike the usual 50-word rant that we usually see
on Facebook, this was an in depth article on the subject. Most of it was
new to me, and I ended up spending most of the morning trying to
understand. What I took from the article is that ISIS is not a fragmented
group of lunatics being recruited on the internet to kill people. While
this may happen, this is not what ISIS is. ISIS is a group of people led
by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who intend to follow the literal instructions laid out
in the Koran that will culminate in the apocalypse. ISIS follows
the takfiri doctrine which is determined to purify the world by removing any
person that does not believe as they do. Sound familiar? I believe
we are all fully aware of the parallel evil experienced by those who were
living 75 years ago. And while the crusades of the middle ages have
been characterized as religious zealots seeking to build their political
kingdom, the leaders of that time were actually battling the same forces that
we are now battling 1000 years later. I believe that the collective
“we” need to do whatever is necessary to thwart the people who believe their
god is requiring them to rape, enslave and murder innocent people, and I
rejoice in the fact that their god is not my God.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Who is the enemy?
I don’t have a lot of enemies that I know about. There
may be some out there I don’t know about, but any offenses against me would
obviously be minor if I don’t even know who they are. Sure, I get upset
with others plenty, but it is usually with people cutting me off in
traffic. Some of my good friends just endured a year of living
hell. He was accused of an offense that never happened.
A year later, he was acquitted of all charges. During the year, he and
his wife had to deal with the uncertainty of when the trial would be and
whether or not a jury would hear the truth. If there was ever
someone who deserved to hate, it would be them. But instead, what I saw
in them was a total reliance on God for peace and a desire for the broken
accuser to get the help she needs. Thanks for modeling God’s love for me.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
How bad can it be?
Our connect group from church is reading about anger this
week. My conclusion so far is that while anger is something to be
avoided, sometimes that is impossible. Even Jesus himself was angry
multiple times in the bible. Anger is our natural reaction and defense to
someone or something that is against our will, and if our will is good, that
defense can also be good. Unresolved anger can lead to
contempt. Contempt can be much worse that anger, because in contempt,
there is an utter lack of concern for the other person. Contempt
can sometimes lead to malice. In malice, we are actually wishing
evil or harm on another person. The best way I can express it is
like this:
Anger: “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!”
Contempt: “Do whatever you want. I couldn’t care less”Malice: “I hope you rot in Hell”
I believe contempt and malice are never good. I want
to be like that less.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
God bless who?
Chapter 4 of The Divine Conspiracy talks about the
beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). Willard has
his own interpretation of what Jesus was trying to get across which has
generated some controversy both in my little circle and outside it.
After reading the chapter again, I wrote this prayer that expresses how I feel.
Blessed are those who do not yet know God, for the joy of
knowing Him is close at hand.
Blessed are the poor, for they have full access to the
riches of the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who mourn, for God can comfort them.
Blessed are the meek, for God can give them courage.
Blessed are those who know God and are trying to follow Him,
for He can show them the way.
Blessed are those who are mocked because of their faith, for
God will ensure they can endure the ridicule.
Blessed are the oppressed, for they can find hope in God.
Blessed are the incarcerated, for their sins have been
measured and can be forgiven.
Blessed are the thieves, the child molesters and the
murderers for their salvation can bring great glory to God.
Blessed
are those who would seem to have everything, but don’t, for God can show me
that He is all I need.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Smartest man ever
Chapter 3 of The
Divine Conspiracy wraps up the first section of the book dealing with WHY
we should want to be disciples of Christ. Many Christians and
non-Christians agree that Jesus must have been a great guy – really nice.
But Willard drives home the point that Jesus wasn’t just a nice guy, He was
also the smartest person that ever lived. His ability to teach and lead
so effectively is only made possible because He is God. He joined
us on Earth for a short time to show us and tell us how to live in His
world. It shouldn’t be a surprise that 2000 years later, a lot of
people are still trying. Now the rubber is going to hit the
road in the next section of the book as Willard helps us understand HOW we
might be able to try a little harder.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Sleeping beauty
Last weekend I had the chance to spend some time with my new granddaughter, Caroline. Her mom and grandmother had been up with her quite a bit through the night. I was up early, so I got to be in charge for a couple of hours that morning. At first, I found myself being frustrated trying to be productive while I was holding her. I was fixing coffee, messing with my phone, etc. Thankfully, I finally recognized that the chance for the two of us to be alone together was a special opportunity. I sat on the sofa and just stared at her sleeping in my arms. I listened to every small breath and took in every feature of her face. I felt the warmth of her small body. I couldn’t imagine loving anything more. And then it hit me. My love for my granddaughter pales in comparison with God’s love for me and the rest of his children. I think He deserves a little more of my love.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Just Forgiven?
Our connect group made it through chapter 2 of the Divine
Conspiracy this week. This chapter started with a look at the familiar
bumper sticker: : “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” While both parts of that statement may be true, the overall message is “don’t
expect Christians to act any differently than anyone else”. Willard then
takes some time talking about the religious right and the religious left.
The extreme right with the mantra of a saving grace that will get
us into heaven no matter what we do, and the extreme left taking a position
that religion is all about what we can do to improve society and remove social
ills. Again, while neither of these approaches are inherently bad,
Willard claims that neither reflect the centrality of the message that Jesus
proclaimed while He was here. And that was that Jesus came to us as
a teacher to show us how to get closer to a heaven on earth. This is what
Willard will be focusing on for the remainder of the book.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Kingdom Thinking
Dallas Willard closes out chapter 1 of Divine Conspiracy
talking about kingdoms. We each have rule over our own kingdom,
which Willard defines as “the range of our effective will.” Many
people feel as if they have control over nothing and others think they are in
charge of a lot more than they actually are. For believers, God gave all
the people control over the living things on earth in Genesis 1, and He
has prepared an individualized kingdom for each one of us. As He sees
that we can be trusted with small things, He has promised to give us more
things to be responsible for. He wants us to be stewards of all the
riches that are available in the kingdom where He has invited us to live with
him – both now and after we leave our earthly kingdoms.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Footprints
Our Connect Group from church met on Tuesday to discuss
Chapter 1 of the Divine Conspiracy. Willard opens the book by talking
about some of the reasons for the moral depravity that is rampant in our
world today. While public schools are all about following rules, they are
forbidden to give credit to where those rules originated. Even private
universities that were started by religious organizations may have some
of the brightest minds as it comes to ethics, but would never actually expect
students to adhere to the ethics they are learning about. Our social
culture is governed by cute slogans and bumper stickers like “just do it”
and even for Christians “I’m not perfect, just forgiven”. The
movies and television we watch, the music we listen to, and the fb posts we
write all seem to control or mirror the world we live in. But every
person has inside of himself some drive for significance - a desire to
leave a positive mark with our life footprint. By seeking to understand
that drive, we can get a clearer picture of God and his plan for us while we
are here. But this isn’t the whole story. We are just half way
through the first chapter. Stay tuned.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Carolines
Many of you have met my wife of 32 years, Caroline, or at
least heard me talk about her in previous posts. My son, Michael, works
with me, and he and his wife, Emily, have blessed us with two grandsons, Evan
and Levi. Lizzy is my daughter, who is married to Trey, and we were
all excited to welcome our first granddaughter to the world yesterday.
She is 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19” long - and perfect, as you can imagine.
I am so excited to have her here and know that she is in for the time of her
life with Lizzy and Trey as parents. I am sure that they will do an
amazing job giving her every opportunity to discover God in everything she
experiences. She is getting a great jump-start with the name Caroline
Ann, named after her two grandmothers who are both fantastic examples of the
kind of woman we hope she will be.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Divine Conspiracy
Our Connect Groups at The
Vine Church are starting up again for the fall season. My
friend, Dan, and myself will be leading a group at our house on Tuesday
evenings. We will be reading and studying “The
Divine Conspiracy” by Dallas Willard. I reported on this book in the
past and received some enthusiastic responses which I very much enjoyed.
If anyone would like to join us in person, I believe there are still a few slots
remaining. If you are not able to join us, I would also invite you to
read along with us. You can reply or private message me.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
In His Wakes
When I was growing up, Kristi Overton was a
world record holding water skier. You may recognize her last name from
one of the world’s largest watersports companies, Overton’s. That company
was started by her parents. Back in the day, I received a catalog every
month tempting me with the latest water toys. Not surprisingly,
over 95% of their business is now online at www.overtons.com. Kristi has passed her prime as a world record water
skier, but she is making her mark by putting a twist on the sport that she
still loves. She has started a ministry called InHisWakes. The organization exists to give kids a chance to
experience water sports who might not have a chance to otherwise. I love
that Kristi found a way to combine her love for skiing with her love for
Jesus. Check out her site for more information on how to support or be
involved.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Clemson Gets It Right
Bob and Diane Saville are my neighbors at Lake Hartwell. We see them frequently boating on the lake with their family enjoying water sports. Their son David is one of the happiest people I know. He is always the first to wave from the boat, the first one to greet me when I pull up beside them and the first one to tell me about what he is most excited about that day. David has just graduated from Clemson University and held an important position on the Clemson Tigers football team. This highlight video is all about David. It is about 10 minutes long, but if you have the time, I will guarantee you this will be the most inspiring 10 minutes of your day.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Abby Normal
Please excuse the vague reference to this classic moment from
Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein”. Igor mistakenly picks out the
wrong brain for Dr. Frankenstein’s life-generating experiment. The brain
was labeled ABNormal – pronounced Abby Normal by Igor. I
couldn’t help but remember that movie as I started to read this book from John
Ortberg – Everybody’s
Normal Till You Get to Know Them. I have just started it, but
his premise is that while people may seem normal on the outside, we are all
ABNormal when you really get to know us. We are all broken
creatures in need of our Savior. And our biggest need after knowing our
Savior, is knowing each other. Ortberg spends the first couple of
chapters talking about community and how we can find it. Let me hear from
you if you have read this one or if you would like to read along
with me.
Friday, August 14, 2015
The Vine II
I mentioned in an earlier post that my church, The Vine, would be opening a second
location in Flowery Branch. We had our “soft” opening last Sunday.
Our leadership; had hoped for around 50 people at our first service. 270
showed up. And that was with no promotion outside of our church
family. I was excited to be a part of the first service there and can’t
wait to see what God has in store for us. If you are in the area come see
us!
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Cecil and Simba
I watched with disgust the story about the rich dentist
luring Cecil out of his protected habitat so that he could kill, skin and
behead the beloved lion. I am not a hunter, but it’s not because I have
any moral objection to killing animals. But this one did kind of
hit a nerve with me. Is it because Disney did such an amazing
job of capturing our hearts as the young Simba grew into the proud warrior in
The Lion King? Perhaps.
I found this post
by Caryn Rivadeneira which did a good job exploring why the uproar over
Cecil’s death was so loud. If you don’t have time to read the whole
article, I will sum it up here. There were two main reactions
to the lion’s death in social media: 1) the dentist is a villain and 2) why is
everyone so worked up about a lion dying when people are dying senselessly
around the world every day? The uproar is not over a dead
lion. The uproar is over the man that killed the lion and the
method he used. If the dentist had killed Cecil attempting to save the
life of a small child, he would be a hero, not a villain, but Cecil would still
be dead. The dentist is a coward, and cowardice is a trait that people
universally agree is deplorable. So why do we choose to talk about a
lion’s death instead of people’s death? Why do we have to choose?
Why not use the momentum created by this story to try to learn more about
ourselves and how we should treat others?
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Watch Out for Big Brother
In case you didn’t see it on Facebook, I wanted to make sure
that you knew that my older brother, Craig, was appointed
by Nathan Deal to be the director of the Georgia Film, Music and Digital
Entertainment Advisory Commission this week. Craig has been working in
film and video production for his whole career. He graduated from UGA’s
Journalism School and began working for AFLAC in Columbus in their media department.
He started his own company, Craig Miller Productions, shortly thereafter, and
moved his family and his business to metro-Atlanta. Craig focuses on
corporate and public film/video production and has developed and maintained
several large clients. Due to my band background, this short video
is one of my favorites. So needless to say, I am very proud of my big
brother for what he is accomplished in his business. But while doing all
of this, he managed to take care of his wife, Carolyn, and raise six fantastic
kids – four through college and two still finishing up – and four weddings,
growing the Miller clan even further. I love you, Craig. Thanks for
being a great big brother.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Great minds think a life
I just got back from Milwaukee
today. Caroline and I were attending the annual meeting for her company,
Northwestern Mutual. I have been several
times, and always leave entertained, well fed and glad that I am a
client. There are also multiple opportunities to be inspired, and one of
the speakers this year was Ben Carson. Dr. Carson is a retired
neurosurgeon with some great stories. He was raised by his mom, who only
made it through third grade, but she insisted that all of her kids get an education.
Ben was a below average student with an above average temper. His
temper got him into trouble frequently, including a stabbing incident that
could have turned out a lot worse than it did. After that incident, he prayed
for three hours acknowledging that he could not change himself and could only
change through the power of the Holy Spirit. That started a series of
events that were almost inconceivable. His grades and his temper improved
enough to earn him admission to Yale, where he excelled He took a
position at Johns Hopkins and became the youngest major division director at
the age of 33. He was most well-known for performing the first
successful separation of twins that were conjoined at the head. This has
to be one of the most moving stories of redemption that I have ever
heard. We were presented with a copy of his book, Think Big, which I cannot wait to read.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Singing In A Truck
Several weeks ago, I ran into Ben Smith at a downtown church.
We were both there for the baptism of children recently born to our family
members. My first memory of Ben was when he and some other friends were
singing in the back of a pickup truck at a Friday afternoon pep rally. The pep
rally was for a Shiloh High School game where he and my son both
attended. Singing in the back of a pick-up truck wouldn’t be that
unusual, except that Ben was singing worship songs to Jesus – and students were
singing along with him. The pick-up truck band developed into a real
band called Unhindered and that group made a name for itself by singing at
local churches and youth revivals. The band then gained popularity
outside of Atlanta and toured regularly. Ben is now a worship leader at Bethel Atlanta Church in Tyrone and
continues to tour with Unhindered. I found this
video from 2007. Ben plays the keyboard and leads this song
vocally. He has an immense amount of musical talent, but his real gift is
leading people to a God that he loves very much. I am glad I know
him. If you have a connection to Ben, Unhindered or Bethel, let me know.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Absolutely Nothing
Caroline and I attended a marriage class at Veritas Church when we were members
there. One of the take-aways from that class was to commit to a date
night once a week. Our date nights aren’t usually very glamorous, but
making the commitment for just the two of us to be together at least once
a week has proved to be very important to us. This week we went to one of
our favorite dinner locations, Bonefish Grill – nice meal , but nothing out of
the ordinary until the waitress brought our check. The hostess
accompanied her and announced that another couple had paid our bill. She
pointed in the direction that they had been sitting, which was only a couple of
tables away. Part of me was embarrassed for not noticing who was there,
but another part of me was glad that my attention had been on Caroline.
The hostess said that they had called me by name, but had instructed her not to
tell me who they were. And they were gone. So this act of
generosity generated much conversation and speculation with the first big
question being, “who would have done this?” and the next being “what had I had
done to deserve this?”. The only answer I could come up with was
“absolutely nothing.” The next question was, “who would do this
without wanting to be acknowledged or thanked for what they had done?”
Paul said: “When you do something for someone else, don’t call
attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call
them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting
compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get
applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think
about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your
God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you
out.” I expect whoever paid our check had read that before once or
twice. Praise God for treating me like that every day.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Standing Up
Over the past few weeks, I have noticed even more than usual
how the media loves to portray a laissez-faire attitude towards faith and
spirituality. “If it feels good, do it” seems to be the
mantra. And anyone who wants to take a stand on anything remotely
resembling God is not only ignored but sometimes vilified. Celebrities
that are acknowledged followers of Jesus are often quiet, and when they speak
out, are relegated to the back of the bus. In searching for an exception,
I remembered this moment when two of my favorite country artists got together
for this performance.
The response from those in attendance was amazing to me.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
The change we need
Last week, I posted that I was with Caroline’s family
at Myrtle Beach. The post went up on Thursday, and at that time, we hadn’t
had the TV on for at least 24 hours. It was late in the day on Thursday
when I heard the horrific news of the murders in Charleston. I
probably wouldn’t have been ready to write about that last week anyway.
Since then, I have watched with sadness the news and social media
coverage. I see the overall message as “something has to change”.
There has been much chatter about the confederate flag flying in SC and streets
that are named for people that oppressed black people. I believe that if
there are public symbols that offend a lot of people, public officials should
seek to change that, but I can’t agree that I think that is the “change” that
we need. My parents taught me that the change we are most capable
of is the change in ourselves. Prayer is an important part of
that process for me. By slowing down and turning off the world for
a few minutes, it allows me to listen for what is important.
And while this process can be relaxing, it also frequently leads to a call to
action for me. I don’t know for sure that the call is always God inspired
during those times, but I choose to believe it is. So in my prayer time
over the Charleston murders, the question that confronted me was “what I am
going to do? “ Not “what are the police going to do?” or “what are the
lawmakers going to do?” or “what is the governor of SC going to do?”, but “what
I am going to do?” When I think about the killer’s motive, I think
of two things – hate and illness. I am not sure both were there for
the murderer, but I believe it must be so. I don’t know if it was
the hate that brought on the illness, or the illness that allowed the
hate. If he was taught to hate by people close to him, then those people
need as much (or more) help that he does, and they should be our focus.
If he learned to hate on his own, I want to understand what would cause someone
to do that. If he is sick, and I believe he is, then I want to understand
what we can do to help people recognize the sickness earlier, and get them the
help they need. I have spent some time this week trying to find out what
other people know about the relationship between mental illness and
violence. Most of the articles I found deal with debunking the myth that
the mentally ill are more violent than the rest of us. I
believe that, but that is not really what I was Iooking for. I found this
heartfelt
video from Kevin Breel. Kevin is a comedian that struggles with
depression, and he offers his thoughts on what living with the disease is
like. He talks about what he is doing to overcome the
problem. I found Kevin’s video in this
article, which also has a good discussion of how to help people that you
think may be depressed. I don’t know about all of the
different kinds of mental illness, but I suspect that a lot of them start with
or include some form of depression. In summary, the article
recommends that if you feel like someone you know is depressed, ask them “how
are you doing”, with the goal being to truly understand that, as opposed to
figuring out how you can fix them. I like that advice, and I want to do
that more. I might not prevent a mass murder, but it is something I can
do
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Family Ties
I got to spend this week with some of Caroline’s family at
Myrtle Beach. Aunt Delma and Uncle Dickie rented 4 condominiums so
everyone that wanted a bed would have a bed to sleep in. Family birth
dates spanned 7 decades, with Uncle Dickie and my grandson, Evan, serving as
the “book ends”. I know how hard it is for Caroline and I to decide
where to go out to eat when it is just the 2 of us, so it is amazing that 17 of
us ended up at the same table at two different restaurants two nights in a
row. We don’t get to see Caroline’s family a lot, and it is
extremely rare that this many of us would be together at one time. I love
being with her family and love seeing how everyone takes care of each
other. I am thankful to be a part of it.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Who's accountable?
Caroline and I have been participating in small group
meetings in our home that are sponsored by our church. These
group meetings give members a chance to get to know each other better, learn
more about Jesus and pray for each other. Our last group was made up of
about 12 men and women. Our church is starting a new program that will
encourage men to meet with other men, and women with other women in group of
only two or three. These groups are designed to promote more sharing and
higher intimacy and accountability. I am excited that I will be meeting
with two other men next Tuesday morning. If you have experience with a
similar group that you would like to share, please feel free to post or send me
a private message.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Who’s the hero?
With all the chatter this week about heroes, I couldn’t pass
on the opportunity to post my own entry. I love music, and these two superstars
singing about a hero make me happy. Some of the lyrics hit home with
me. “I don’t want to be your hero. I want to fight like everyone
else.” “Your masquerade - I don’t wanna be a part of your parade.”
Very timely. Very true. Please excuse the advertising up
front. When 11 million people want to see you, somebody needs to make a
buck. Nathan and Eva, thanks for being my kind of heroes.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Cultivating the vine
Thursday, May 21, 2015
A soldier’s prayer
I feel fortunate that I have not been directly impacted by
the heartbreak of losing a loved one who is serving in the armed forces.
I cannot imagine the pain that would bring. If that were to happen,
I hope that I could have some since that that person died doing what they loved
and what they felt called to do. But, I can only imagine that. For
those of you that have suffered that loss, I pray today that your heart would
be healed from the sorrow of your loss and that your memories of him/her would
be full of joy. I found this soldier’s prayer online and it gave me a
glimpse of something to hope for in each one that is currently in service.
Click here
for the prayer.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
SkyFall
In case you were hoping for another James Bond movie review,
sorry for the fake-out. Pew Research Center makes a living
doing surveys of what is going on in churches. They released some
findings this week that the sky is falling for Christianity and reported an
8% decline over the last 7 years in people claiming to be Christians.
That certainly sounds like something for all of our churches to be worried
about. Seeing the growth at my church in Braselton and the growth of
other churches around the country, the statistic surprised and concerned
me. I was happy to find this counter
point by Ed Stetzer which was published in USA Today and sure hope that he
knows what he is talking about. In case you don’t have time to read the
full article, his theory is that people who were raised in a Christian home
that used to check the “Christian” box on surveys, are now checking the “None”
box, indicating that they are not really practicing any religion.
The percentage of people going to church has actually remained
fairly stable with the number of people identifying themselves as evangelicals
increasing by 2.4 million people. All of the survey questions pale in
importance to the one question that matters the most: “What am I doing to
become more like Jesus today?”
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Gathering The Troops
For those of you that follow my blog at
SpotOnTheLake, you know that our team loves the lake and loves our
work. With my son, Michael, working with me, it makes it that much harder
to get our whole family together for some down time. Last week, all of us
made it down to Daytona for some time together without work (mostly).
Janet did an amazing job keeping the business thriving while we
were gone. The Atlantic offered us the opportunity to try surfing on real
waves (very limited success) instead of on a wake behind a boat.
Of course there was plenty of fried seafood, books and some board
games. Most of all, it was just fun having everybody together with time
to relax and no schedules. Caroline didn’t make the photo shown.
She was probably up in the condo making sure that everything was perfect
for us before making her way down to the beach. I love that we have kids
and grandkids that love being together. I understand that is not a given
these days.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Toy Stories
Almost everyone has seen or heard of the Disney series of
movies featuring a young boy, Andy, and his assortment of toys which come to
life to help protect Andy and themselves from a world full of
danger. I was reminded of the movies this week as our small group
continues with CS Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity. Towards the end of the
book, CS Lewis tells a similar story. The boy, who I will call Andy, has
a collection of tin soldiers that one day come to life, but their life is
conflicted because they cannot understand the new world into which they have
been born. They reject the feel of their soft flesh and yearn for the
strength of their armor. Andy sees their struggle. His love
for the new creatures is unimaginable. He wants them to know all that the
new world has to offer them, and he wants them to love him in return. But
the only way for him to do that is for him to become one of them. The
gut-wrenching part is that Andy knows that some of the tin soldiers will reject
him and likely kill him. But out of his love for them, he goes anyway. The toy story plays out as expected. Many of the tin soldiers reject all
that Andy has to tell them about the new world, and they conspire to kill him,
and succeed. But a small group of soldiers believe, understand and love
Andy. And from that moment on, they become a sort of secret society,
infected by the knowledge of what Andy has explained to them, with their only
mission being to tell everyone they know about the new world that they were
meant for.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Age of Ultron and the unlikely heroes
There has been a lot of hype about the upcoming release of
the new superhero movie, Avengers: Age of
Ultron. I am not a huge fan of these movies, but I will probably see
it when it comes out on Blu-ray. My son-in-law keeps me in the
know. I AM a big fan of Donald Miller. Donald wrote a book called Blue
Like Jazz that I read several years ago, and I had a chance to meet him
when he spoke at our church before he got all big and famous. I also have
a loose connection to him through some common friends. Donald continues
to write books and shorter essays on his blog. After doing some analysis
of heroes in movies, he came up with a list of six characteristics that most
heroes have. You may be surprised to find out who the unlikely hero is.
Click here
to find out.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Whose Voice
I have to admit that I am a fan of the live music reality
shows. I started watching the third season of American Idol when Diana Degarmo made it to
the finals. Diana went to school in Snellville with my daughter and the
personal connection got me hooked. I believe the level of talent
continues to improve as more good singers decide to compete. This season
on The Voice, another small-town-Georgia-girl is trying to make her mark.
Deanna Johnson is from Hazelhurst, GA. I don’t think I have ever been to
Hazelhurst. Or maybe I have, and didn’t know it. You might pass
through it if you take the backroads from Atlanta down towards Brunswick.
This week, Deanna
performed Oceans, a Christian song made popular by Hillsong United.
It was satisfying to see a young singer have the strength to pick a song with a
Christian message. I was underwhelmed by her performance, but the fans
voted to save her using the new “instant save”. I usually like what
coach, Adam Levine, has to say. He has proven that he knows what a
lot of people want to hear. This week, however, I got really annoyed with
him. A common theme for coach’s comments in general goes something like
this: “Technically, that was a great performance, but I didn’t feel like
you really connected to the lyrics. I want to feel something.” In trying
to defend Deanna’s selection of a Christian song, Adam’s comments went
something like this: “Even though this was originally a Christian song, I
think all people should be able to relate to this in their own way.” What
I heard was, “Don’t hold it against Deanna for picking a Christian song.”
It was sad to me that he felt it necessary to practically apologize for the
song selection, and dilute whatever statement Deanna might have been hoping to
make. Would it have been so hard to say, “Deanna has picked a song
with a message that reflects something that is very important to her”?
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Bunnies and Eggs
For those of you that celebrate Easter, I am sure you have
had your fill of bunnies and eggs. I know I have. I had an exchange
with one of my pastors about Easter and Good Friday and learned a few
things. Easter began as a pagan celebration of Spring. The word
Easter is believed to be derived from the goddess Eostre, which means spring,
and she was worshiped in Northern Europe as the goddess of fertility. The
same virtue was worshipped in the goddess, Ishtar, in Babylonia. No
surprise, her symbols were rabbits and eggs. Apparently, there are
some Christians who are offended by this and are very defensive. I don’t
think there is any need to be offended. I believe that once Jesus came
and was resurrected, believers thought they would rather worship Him than a sex
goddess. There was already a celebration going on in the Spring, so they
just decided to make it about Jesus. Jesus taught a lot of great lessons
while He was here. On the Thursday before his crucifixion, he taught his
disciples that no matter who you are, you were put on this earth to serve, not
to be served - and then He washed their feet. Here is how one artist
depicted that scene
(graphic violence).
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Happy Mother's Day
I know I’m is a little premature, but I couldn’t wait until
Mother’s Day to talk about Moms. We love having my mom living next
door to us. We get to see her or talk to her almost every day, and she
continues to take good care of us. Caroline’s mom passed away when
we were seniors in high school. She died suddenly of a brain
aneurism. We miss her a lot, especially around this time of the
year. I get to learn a lot about her from knowing Caroline. I am
sure that some of Caroline’s best qualities came directly from her. I
also get to know a lot about her from our kids that Caroline has poured all of
her love into for 31 years. We now have another generation to watch and
learn from. Michael and Emily have two boys of their own, and I am excited
to announce that Lizzy and Trey are pregnant with their first. No doubt,
that baby will be one of the luckiest on earth with Lizzy as her mom, Caroline
as her grandmother and my mom as her great grandmother. Happy First
Mother’s Day Lizzy and Happy Mother’s Day to all of the amazing Mom’s in my
life.
Friday, March 27, 2015
The Deadliest Sin
In the third section of CS Lewis’s Mere Christianity, he
explores Christian behavior. And just to clarify, he is not talking about
how all Christians behave, but how we should behave if we are following
Jesus. He spends time on several of the things that many of us struggle
with, but then he lands on what he calls “The Great Sin”, and I have called
“The Deadliest Sin”. That sin is pride or self-conceit. He talks
about pride as being the only sin that is competitive. It’s not “look at
how much I have” or “look how good looking I am”, it is “look how much more I
have than Joe” or “look how much better looking I am than Betty.”
Regrettably, this competitive nature applies to how we view our religiosity as
well. “I go to church every Sunday and go on a mission trip every
summer. I wish all Christians were as committed as I am. Bless
their heart.” Looking down on other people has the terrible result of
making it harder to look up to God. And Lewis leaves us with an ominous
warning: as soon as you start feeling like you have conquered pride,
achieved humility and begun to think good of yourself, you better take a closer
look at what just happened.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Celebrating March 17th
On March 17th, there was a lot of green beer consumed in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, but my brother, Craig, and his wife, Carolyn, were celebrating something different - their 36th wedding anniversary. Just staying married for 36 years is cause for celebration, but Craig and Carolyn have a lot more to celebrate after successfully raising 6 children and getting them all to or through college. Their home is not what you would call a quiet place. And that is because it is almost always filled with family and friends who laugh a lot. I am envious at how much laughter is in their house and know that it is primarily due to the spirit that Craig and Carolyn have nurtured in their home. I am also very proud of their Christian witness within their family and their community. Both of them have led/are leading groups in their home that gather to learn more about Jesus and give thanks for what He has done and continues to do. I am proud of the example that Craig and Carolyn have set for their family, for others and for me and know that there will be many more anniversary celebrations to follow. I love you both.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
An Investment That Pays Off
My workload was doubled up this week due to Michael being
on vacation. Instead of taking his
family to the beach or Disney World, he
is in Nicaragua leading a group of college students on a mission trip. This is
his third time to take the trip and the first time that his wife, Emily, has
been able to go with him. That means
that Caroline and I, in addition to Emily's parents, are able to spend some
quality time with the grandkids while they are gone. I am so proud of both of Emily and Michael
for their passion for service. I know
that the investment they make there will
pay off for everyone: those they are serving, those they are leading,
themselves, and most important, the Kingdom.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
What a great guy
I saw this article about a new painting by Sam Spratt that was just revealed in
conjunction with the book, Killing Jesus, by Bill O’Reilly and the National Geographic movie of the same name. I am no art critic, but I do think the
painting is beautiful. More interesting to me however, were the artist’s notes
about the painting:
“While I’m not
religious or Christian, there are just some pretty universal truths out there,
regardless of belief system, one of which being that he’s easily one of the
most — if not the most — influential figure of all time.”
This struck a
chord with me as I had just finished reading the chapter in Mere Christianity with our Connect Group which addresses this position that many
people seem to hold: “Jesus was a great moral teacher, but I just don’t
believe he was God or God’s son. What a great guy, though. Really
influential.”
“A man who was
merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said, would not be a great
moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with a man who
says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of
Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the
Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him
up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at
His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any
patronizing nonsense about Him being a great moral teacher. He has not
left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
There is no sense
in me trying to rephrase what CS Lewis said so perfectly:
Clear enough?
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Moms
I believe I have mentioned in the past that Caroline and I
are blessed to have my Mom living right next door to us. We get to see
her or talk to her almost every day. She has been next door for several
years now, and it is easy for me to take that for granted. At the age of
83, she is active in her church, volunteers at the library, participates in
neighborhood groups and still has time to take care of me and Caroline.
We love having her near us. If your mom and dad are still around, but
maybe not as close, give them a call or drop a note in the mail today for no
reason at all except to tell them that you are thinking of them. I love
you, Mom.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Human Nature
I mentioned a few weeks back that our Connect Group from
church will be reading and discussing Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. This
is one of my all-time favorite books. In case you are not familiar, CS
Lewis was a professor at Oxford University from 1925 to 1954. He was an
atheist, but due to the influence of a fellow professor, JRR Tolkien, and other
friends, he became a Christian and wrote several books dealing with the
subject. Mere Christianity is actually a collection of BBC radio
addresses that he made during World War II. The first group of messages
is dealing with the fundamental idea that all cultures seem to have an idea of
right and wrong – or the law of human nature. But this law is very
different from the natural laws. The natural laws describe what actually
happens. We throw a ball into the air and because of the law of gravity,
it falls back down. But while we all have a good idea of what is right
and wrong, our daily actions show that we don’t follow the law, and when we
don’t, we usually feel bad about it. So if there is this law, which
does not reflect how we actually are, where could such a law have come from?
CS Lewis warns that he is nowhere close to talking about Jesus yet – just
the idea that this law of human nature had to come from someone or something
that created us and made it an integral part of who we are.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Music Man – Part II
Last week I recognized David Gregory, my high school band
director, and shared a song that he directed when Caroline and I were in band
under his direction 35 years ago. Before Christmas, I shared
a link to the Kings
College performance of O Magnum Mysterium, one of my favorite pieces of
art. That wasn’t a song that I happened upon while surfing youtube for
“great music”. That song is one that I performed with Caroline
under the direction of the same David Gregory when we were a part of the
community orchestra, Tara Winds. Here is a link to that recording.
I hope that you are able to feel a small degree of the joy that we felt
performing it under David’s direction.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Music Man
I posted this to facebook but I wanted to make sure all of you had a chance to see it as well.
I played the trumpet in high school band. I will never forget the day that my band director told us that our lives would be changed because of our experiences in the band, and that someday, some of us would even be married to each other. There was this flute player that had caught my eye. She finally agreed to go out with me, and we dated for two years in high school. In the spring of our senior year, her mom died suddenly of a brain aneurism. Her mom and dad had been active in the band program, and her dad asked that one of the songs that the band had performed be played at her funeral. Shortly after her mom’s death, her dad moved to North Carolina, and there was a family that agreed to let her stay with them as she transitioned to the local college. Twenty years later, I was at a church and felt called to start an instrumental ensemble there. I had no experience doing anything like that, but with the encouragement of a local school administrator, was able to pull a group of 30 players, mostly high school students, including my son and daughter, together. The highlight of my time with the ensemble was a patriotic program that we put together shortly after 9/11. We invited a guest conductor in for a Saturday clinic to prepare the program and then performed on Sunday evening. I think back on that event as one of the most important things that I have ever done. Through our involvement in the church ensemble, I began playing the trumpet again after 20 years. I learned of a local community band that was made up of mostly school band directors and applied for membership. I was given the opportunity to play and participated in that group for five years. We had many great concerts and trips together, culminating in a 10 day trip to Italy where we were invited to play with the Italian National Band. My love for instrumental music has remained strong and for the past several years we have been watching with interest the music program at a small university in North Georgia. We have been supporting the program and have joined a new community band which was started there.
I played the trumpet in high school band. I will never forget the day that my band director told us that our lives would be changed because of our experiences in the band, and that someday, some of us would even be married to each other. There was this flute player that had caught my eye. She finally agreed to go out with me, and we dated for two years in high school. In the spring of our senior year, her mom died suddenly of a brain aneurism. Her mom and dad had been active in the band program, and her dad asked that one of the songs that the band had performed be played at her funeral. Shortly after her mom’s death, her dad moved to North Carolina, and there was a family that agreed to let her stay with them as she transitioned to the local college. Twenty years later, I was at a church and felt called to start an instrumental ensemble there. I had no experience doing anything like that, but with the encouragement of a local school administrator, was able to pull a group of 30 players, mostly high school students, including my son and daughter, together. The highlight of my time with the ensemble was a patriotic program that we put together shortly after 9/11. We invited a guest conductor in for a Saturday clinic to prepare the program and then performed on Sunday evening. I think back on that event as one of the most important things that I have ever done. Through our involvement in the church ensemble, I began playing the trumpet again after 20 years. I learned of a local community band that was made up of mostly school band directors and applied for membership. I was given the opportunity to play and participated in that group for five years. We had many great concerts and trips together, culminating in a 10 day trip to Italy where we were invited to play with the Italian National Band. My love for instrumental music has remained strong and for the past several years we have been watching with interest the music program at a small university in North Georgia. We have been supporting the program and have joined a new community band which was started there.
There is a
common thread to my story. That thread
is my close friend, David Gregory. David
was my high school band director. He is
the one who predicted I would marry my wife Caroline. David’s family is the one that allowed
Caroline to stay with them after her mom’s death. David is the school administrator who
encouraged me to start an instrumental ensemble at my church. David is the clinician that led the patriotic
program at our church. David founded
the community band that I went to Italy with.
David is the man that built the instrumental program at the university
in north Georgia from nothing to their performance this week at the Georgia
Music Educator’s Convention. David is
the founder of Georgia Winds, where my wife and I will continue to make music
together as long as we are able.
Thank you,
David, for your uncompromising dedication to your craft, your students and for
your love and support of me and my family. I wanted to share this recording of the song
that was played at Caroline’s mom’s funeral.
Caroline and I were in the band together for this recording, and it is
the only time that I can remember the band also performing vocally.
Who puts his
trust in God most just
Hath built his house securely;
He who relies on Jesus Christ,
Shall reach his heaven most surely,
Then fixed on Thee my trust shall be,
For thy truth cannot alter;
While mine Thou art, not death's worst smart
Shall make my courage falter.
Hath built his house securely;
He who relies on Jesus Christ,
Shall reach his heaven most surely,
Then fixed on Thee my trust shall be,
For thy truth cannot alter;
While mine Thou art, not death's worst smart
Shall make my courage falter.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Insanity
I have mentioned in the past an organization I am connected
to called Café 1040. Café 1040 is dedicated to taking the story of Jesus
to people groups that have never heard it before. My good friend, Stephen
Byerly, is a leader there, and he sent me a book called The
Insanity of God by Nik Ripken. The forward to the book lets us know
that Nik Ripken is not the author’s real name, as the places he has been and
the stories he reports could place him, his family or his subjects in danger.
Nik reports story after story of people making supreme sacrifices to
spread the story of Jesus. In fact, Nik lost his own son while
serving overseas. If you are passionate about spreading the Word of
Jesus, please check out this book or visit Café
1040 for more information.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
The Truth
Veritas is Latin for “truth”. Veritas Church is in Decatur. We had
the privilege of being some of the first members of that church, and while we
don’t still attend there, Veritas is celebrating its 10th birthday
this week. If you have been around church plants, you probably know
that very few new churches are still around after 10 years. I believe
that Veritas Church is still around because, the pastor, David Slagle, listened
to God before starting it, listened to God while he was leading and is still
listening for God’s direction for the church. After listening to
God, David delivers the truth, and delivers it beautifully. While David
is not my current church pastor, I do consider him my life pastor and also
consider him to be one of my closest friends. May God bless Veritas
Church and all that have been and will be connected with it.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Moving Day
I am so excited for my son Michael and his wife Emily this
week. They have just purchased a home in Jefferson and are moving
there from Athens this week. The move gives them more space for
their family and puts them 30 minutes closer to us in Braselton and 30 minutes
closer to Michael’s work at Lake Hartwell. They still have easy
access to Athens for Emily’s work and church. I am very proud that
they have done an amazing job managing their spending over the last few
years allowing them to make this move without financial
trauma. I am also proud of all that they are doing to raise
their two boys in a Godly home, ensuring that they have the best chance
possible of loving Jesus as they are old enough to make that decision.
Praise God.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Connect To The Vine
I am looking forward to a new season with my Connect
Group through The Vine Church
in Braselton. My friend, Dan Kniffen, will be leading our group
that will be reading and discussing Mere
Christianity by C. S.
Lewis. The book and author are probably my favorites of all
time. For anyone that is close, I would love for you to join us on
Tuesday evenings at our home. For those where that is not convenient, I
would love for you to read along with us. If this topic is not up
your alley, you are welcome to join one of our other groups here.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Mindfulness
Last September, Caroline and I went on a bike trip to
France. One of the things that made the trip so great were the two guides
that took care of us while we were biking. One of the guides was
Suzanne. She had an amazing way of handling the most awkward situations
(old people complaining) perfectly. She also was great at making you feel
like you were the only one on the planet when you were talking with
her. I found out that she is a student of
“mindfulness”. I am not ready to give mindfulness full
credit for how amazing she was, but it no doubt at least plays a
part. Mindfulness got some national attention last December when
Anderson Cooper made this
report on 60 Minutes. I think this practice is an important part of
prayer that I am not very good at. I would like to change that this year.
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