In the words of Jack Nicholson in The Shining, I'm back! After a brief hiatus from blogging it is a good time for me to return. Ever notice how life has a way of taking your schedule from you? The last two weeks or so was one of those times here. Last week was hectic while preparing for the funeral eulogy for a 14 year old boy who died in a four wheeler accident. A lot of time was spent going back and forth to the family for times of prayer and listening. My hope was that in the midst of grief that God would do a good thing. Perhaps something said to that standing room only crowd will last more than a week. There was also a junior high track meet that was really enjoyable. If nothing else it served as a reminder that even in a crisis life goes on.

This week it is just the three of us here at home. Mom is off in Dallas on a training event for her job. Tomorrow my youngest turns 11. I would guess that in the afternoon we will go out to celebrate. His big present arrives next week after the official day. He received a present today at school. I also wonder how it is he gets gifts that are so noisy! We are almost done with the week so we can return to the normal rat race. Either way, in the end we are still going to be busy.

We will soon be in bed resting for Thursday. I just finished cleaning out under my son's bed. It never fails to amaze me what can be found there. Perhaps the "stuff" just accumulates under his bed. Perhaps it is drawn there by some magnetic force. However it happens, the floor was in dire need of a good sweeping. How about you? Ever sense God trying to clean out the "stuff" that accumulates? God will regularly do a cleansing in our lives to be sure we are in a right relationship with Him. We never notice our need until He brings it to light. Sure it is painful at times as He does His work. Afterward we discover how grateful we are that He didn't just let it slide.

Bro. Trey

I finished the book that was featured in my last blog post. It took me about 24 hours to complete the task. That wasn't 24 hours straight of course. Only Jack Bauer would do something like that. My guess is it took about six hours of reading time. Yes, I am a fast reader. It also says something about the quality of the book. I am not consumed by professional wrestling but there is still an interest there. Spending time with the family that is a Texas wrestling legend allows me a different view of those involved. Many people look at wrestlers as they probably once looked at carnival workers about 100 years ago. The hours I sat around the coffee table discussing life and death matters let me see behind the image they project.

Here I was in my mid 20s learning real theology from a family who knew the adulation of 1000s of people in the arena. I met kids as well as grand kids. One day the family patriarch even shot some video of me while on a visit. By the way, I never did ask if it is "real." There was no need for me to get physical proof in answer to that question! The view behind the image was more than enough for me to know how real life was for them. Though the public would see them as invincible in the ring, I knew they were all too human.

In the book, Mick Foley writes of his spiritual background. Now do not expect him to show up on religious television but he does have a religious side. He details how he made the move from the Catholic faith to being a Methodist. These chapters are intriguing for how God works in lives beyond our expectation. We say that we believe God is big enough to do anything. We often pray for God to do the extravagant in the lives of others. We may not agree with some of the excess of religious television but most of us do hope in a God who can do the incredible. But what happens when He really does the incredible?

I was truly convicted while reading Foley's pilgrimage about how God can be squeezed into a box. We want God to do wonders but we want Him to do it in a comfortable way. So this morning I had a long conversation with the Lord about that. Can we short circuit the faith process by our expectations? When God responded to people in scripture it often took them by surprise. God might answer their prayer but in ways beyond their anticipation. My prayer was to lay down expectations while still having that hope needed to make faith work. We should not be so amazed that God works through our praying. May we always have the excitement of how He makes things happen.

Bro. Trey

Tonight I got to make my first solo trip to town in a week or so. There were errands that needed to be run including a stop to see one of my favorite people at the nursing center. I also got my hair cut, paid a bill, and browsed the bookstore. My reading habits are varied to put it mildly. I read novels and history along with my biblical stuff. One of my favorite writers in the past is a guy named Mick Foley. Mick has several biographies out along with a novel or two. He is also an occasional professional wrestler. He was one of the most popular wrestlers of our day until he cut back his schedule. In spite of his former job he is really very articulate. This book I bought tonight is written by him. It is a behind the scenes look at his wrestling world with all the interesting details laid out in the open.

Wrestling is one of those odd stories that is woven into my life. Not many people know that I left college as the two time heavyweight champion on campus. The matches were usually held in various dorm rooms at night. Just prior to the end of my last semester I regained the title in a rematch against the student who defeated me. You will need to know as a matter of honesty that I won that rematch with a powerful headbutt followed with a pin fall where I held onto the tights! The so called referee either did not see the move or ignored it. Perhaps that is not the most ethical thing I could do but it worked. I went off to graduate school with my ethics damaged but my title reign in tact.

In my first church I spent time with a fairly famous wrestling family. At the time they owned the old Sportatorium in downtown Dallas. There were several afternoons spent in their home especially when tragedy began to strike them on a regular basis. I drank many cups of coffee with the mother while listening to her dealing with a loss in her family. I talked to the patriarch often about the old days of wrestling as we discussed some of the guys from my younger days. He told me about giving them the professional name and persona they would use in the ring. One of the sons would win the NWA heavyweight title before spiraling down in drug abuse. He would later win the Intercontinental title while hiding the fact he lost a foot in a motorcycle accident. There was a lot of practical theology learned in those days about suffering and grace.

Most of my wrestling since then takes place in church. Though I never use the headbutt anymore there are times I wonder if one might not be in order. Church behavior is not always in line with the teaching of Jesus. Sometimes people wrestle for attention or for some other reason known only to their DNA. I even find myself on occasion being the referee for an old fashioned church tussle. We just don't seem to realize that our true foe is unseen. Our eyes are diverted from a focus on our Lord to behave as if another person is our enemy. The reality is when that happens, we are our own worst enemy. Even worse is when it occurs no one wins.

Bro. Trey

Another Sunday evening with the day behind me. I really look forward to Sunday nights. To be able to blog means I lived through another day. Add to the normal routine of Sunday is the fact my body is still in shock over the time change. Seems like we barely get used to one set of time before it changes back to another. It usually takes me a few days at the least to adjust to the new time. Odds are good that there will be a few naps the first part of the week. With school beginning again tomorrow there will at least be a decent opportunity to get back in the routine.

For a few days there has been a constant nudging to let you know something of my routine. I realize that the number of readers here may be few but it might help to put it in public view. When church is over on Sunday night the best thing I can do is to do nothing. My week lays out something like a football coach would approach it. Sunday becomes "game day" where all the preparation of the week is used. Mondays and Tuesdays are the days to recover as well as tackle things that need attention. For example, tomorrow I really need to do some pastoral care through visits or other contact. Spring break set me back in my schedule of keeping up with some in need. There are some other church issues that will call for my attention. By Wednesday my mind is ready to become more serious on what I feel led to say the following Sunday. Through the week I read and reflect on scripture to get a sense of what needs further study. The sermon outline is developed on Thursday night to be printed in the bulletin for Sunday. Now there are two days at a minimum to finish putting it all together. That is not all I do toward the end of the week but it is the thing that gets my greatest attention.

Time can easily be our greatest resource as well as our largest foe. What I wrote above is just a scratch in the surface of the average week. There are usually meetings to attend. There can be emergencies where I need to go make a visit. There is the wandering around time that is important when I catch up with people when we cross paths. The more time we spend thinking about time could just send us over the edge! We are told to redeem the time as followers of Jesus but we get around to counting up where it goes. You and I have the exact same amount of time every day. It is the same amount of time Jesus lived with on a daily basis. There is so much left out of this post related to time. Perhaps more can be said on another day...when there is more time!

Bro. Trey

We are halfway home on spring break. Only a few days until the usual routine returns to break the monotony of having free time. My question is do we get another time off to recover from this week? The best part of this week is still using the time to connect with my two children. We went on a few adventures into town to eat and play. We stayed home some days to just do stuff around the house. We will at the least make another trip or two to run errands or just get past cabin fever. Yesterday I mowed the winter weeds with the assistance of my youngest who likes to sit on my leg until it becomes numb. We also tried hooking up some cooking contraption that probably laughed at us while we attempted in vain to get it to work. There are photographs of a few of our outings. There are none that will embarrass anyone...too much.

One of the things about the followers of our Lord in scripture is they seldom seem bored. It is true some of those times were a bit more dangerous than we prefer. There is nothing like facing down a giant with a bag of rocks to get the heart rate up. Can you imagine looking at a bush that burns without going out and not feel a tad bit excited? In my mind the disciples of Jesus had to wake up each day wondering what great thing He would do that would be more than He did the day before. One day they see the deaf begin to hear. One day they watch a blind person begin to see. They go out on a boat ride with Jesus not knowing they would see Him stand up and tell a storm to be quiet. No, I don't think boredom was an issue for these followers.

We get so wrapped up in our ruts we leave no room for those unusual moments when God chooses to show Himself. This week is a reminder not only of the adventure of being a follower but also of the fun. Life is short as well as difficult. We prayed tonight in our prayer time about people who are really having trouble. My heart hurts when we hear about those who are terminal or facing what seems impossible scenarios. We begin to focus so much on our issues we miss the vision of what God wants to do in life. We start missing those moments of joy that our God wants to give. This week has been a gift in that spending time with my son and daughter offers me time to just smile or laugh. It allows me the time to listen to God in the midst of moments where I might miss Him otherwise. Soon it will be time for me to sleep. I hope I wake up with that anticipation of wonder what great thing God will do in the day.

Bro. Trey

Spring Break is upon us. One day is behind us with the rest of the week to go. This time of the year our town can resemble a ghost town. We have people skiing in Colorado. There are some running away to other destinations. You can tell it is spring break since there are no traffic jams in Tatum. Every morning around 8:00 and every afternoon around 3:00 there will be actual traffic jams in our small community. One good thing about it is that the traffic can be good practice should anyone want to drive Nascar! All we have to worry about this week is the ongoing procession of oil field trucks along with the wood hauling vehicles. As for me, I am staying right here in Tatum this week. My role is to do like a single dad to keep a daughter and son entertained.

My wife is in the DFW area for job training. Of course the week selected for the training just happens to be spring break! It couldn't be a week where kids are in school. It just has to be a week where they have nothing but free time! Oh, I promise that those words are written with a smile. So far it is going fairly well. We are eating really good this week. Now, we are eating out a lot but we are eating good! We discovered that my son loves to dance on the dancing game in the mall arcade. It has the added bonus of exhausting him for bed later in the day. We got through the weekend in good shape. Now we just have to get through the next few days without going too crazy!

My hope is whoever you are that you can take opportunities to connect to others even when it comes at a bad time. These days are important to me since I will have time to connect with two of the most important people in my world. I would also hope that wherever you are that you can learn when interruptions are opportunities in disguise. My daughter and I planned to go skiing this week. Needless to say, those plans changed quickly when the job training went on the calendar. There was the usual frustration since we looked forward to getting to ski. However we had such a good time Saturday that any frustration is gone. God has a way of giving times to reconnect with others. Now we just have to take the opportunity when it is given.

Bro. Trey