This is just a quick update on this blog. The basic purpose of this site is to relay to anyone who reads what is going on in my world. Most who come here have some relationship to me or to my congregation. It is not my desire to be controversial. However the very nature of church life is often marked by controversy. No two people agree totally on much if anything theological or personal. This is not right or wrong but just human nature even within the sphere of the Spirit.

It is possible that future posts may be more direct in scope. That is why I just attempted to reset some of the tools of the blog. I put my name on each post that I write. Whether you agree or disagree with the material is up to you. There is no place for anonymous posts here as this is solely my reflection at any given moment. From now on anyone who comments has to be honest and upfront. Anonymous comments are a bit like some of the anonymous letters church leaders receive on occasion. No opportunity is given for dialogue when something is signed by Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous. I put my name up on posts when I go to other blog sites. You will have to do that now on this one.

My goal is not to eliminate comments. My goal is to bring about the same level of accountability in the comment section as there is in the original post. It is possible that my lack of technological knowledge may make this a bumpy transition. I think I got the settings right but who knows? We just will not know until someone tries to comment here. By the way, thank you to those who do show enough integrity to put your name on your words. I always look forward to my "friend" who has his own Spanish blog. I tried reading his blog once. Maybe after my daughter takes Spanish next semester we can translate it together. Well, keep those cards and letters coming! Just know that integrity and accountability will be part of our journey together.

Bro. Trey

Greetings from Fort Worth, Texas. It's late on Thanksgiving night here as we are ready to call it a night. I hope you and yours enjoyed a good holiday. My day went pretty good considering it involved travel, family and snow. We left late for our destination yet we made it on time. Guess that tells you about my driving. A great meal was enjoyed by all. What took three days to cook took less than an hour to devour. The turkey was especially good. That is high praise seeing as it is not my favorite food. Truthfully, it was even better this evening wedged between two pieces of bread. Did I mention snow? If you watched the Cowboys game today then you saw the odd weather here. One of my jobs was to fill the car with gas this evening. My drive was combined with Christmas music from one of the local radio stations along with large flakes of snow. Earlier my nap was interrupted by the sound of sleet. Unlike the song by Dan Fogelberg this time the sleet turned into snow. Nothing stuck to the ground but it was pretty exciting for my youngest. Two days ago the temperature was about 80. Just can't beat the weather in our part of Texas! Even the family time is good so far. Those who know me realize that it is me who can be the quiet one. It was a good day to catch up on everyone including surprise guests this evening. My son enjoyed his video games. My daughter entertained the gathering with her school exploits. Even I joined in the conversation...when the Cowboys went to commercial. Tomorrow is the big day. One of the area malls opens in just a few minutes to get a head start on the sales. Today's paper took a wheelbarrow to haul into the house due to the ads. You cannot put a price tag on the holiday season. No amount of money you save will duplicate the unique opportunity of this time. However, God did tell us just how valuable all of this is to Him. The coming of Jesus tells us just how much He does truly love us. It says we have value to Him. What did it cost Him? The obvious answer to that is everything. What isn't always obvious is that it costs the same for us. The gospel says that God gives everything of Himself to people who really have nothing in comparison. We give Him that nothing in exchange for everything He is. Think on that as you go through the sales papers this season. Bro. Trey

The holiday season is now in full swing. This year it began around Labor Day. We are now in the home stretch that takes us into the new year. On Friday the newspapers will double in size with advertisements for all the big sales of the day. We will eat too much during the next few weeks. Chances are we will be caught up in travel that mirrors a NASCAR race before we are done. Lists are being created for presents to be bought. We may find ourselves in near violent struggles to be sure we get that gift before someone else does. Ah, don't you love the finer points of the season? No wonder some turn into Grinches before all is said and done.

My holidays officially began today. It was the day to put lights up on the house. The first time this happened my focus was more on not falling than hanging lights. Now I can scoot along the roof like Spiderman. All went well until my daughter hooked the lights to the extension cord. Seems the cord weighs more than the lights. Ever see lights go off a house like dominoes falling? All I could do was to hang them again. This time the duct tape went along the line of the house to hold the lights. When the task was almost completed the bells from the church began to ring. They ring out Christmas music now. It was really nice until I noticed the neighborhood dogs singing along. Not sure a stranger duet was ever heard.

What are you doing now to get ready for the holidays? It really isn't enough to survive them though that can be difficult as it is. My hope is you make time in a crowded schedule to keep your spiritual life alive. It never ceases to amaze me how fast we can turn loose of our spiritual habits during this holy season. We get so busy doing Christmas stuff we wander from our relationship with God. Add to that the stresses of travel, purchases, or being with people that we aren't crazy about and it nudges us from our faith. Make time no matter how busy to rediscover the marvel of the first Christmas story. Find a quiet place where you can pray without distractions. Do something out of the ordinary that brings you into a closer walk with God.

Don't let your lights fall off this holiday time. Keep them shining in your heart as well as your life. Open yourself to all God has for you during this special time of the year.

Bro. Trey

Jesus was tired. He spent much of his time trying to deal with the hurts of the masses. It was not uncommon for him to take a break to rest. On one occasion he slipped quietly into a house in an area called Tyre. Mark's gospel tells us he wanted it to be a quiet time. The problem was that a woman in town heard the gossip about his being there. Her daughter was demon possessed. We cannot easily imagine the emotional torture of her situation. She comes to the house, makes her way inside, then proceeds to ask Jesus for help. She also has a problem. Up to that point our Lord focused his attention on the Jewish people. She is a Gentile. The disciples even add to the chorus of criticism of her search. What will Jesus do? How will he answer her?

The surface reading of their dialogue sounds almost insulting. It is at the least not the type of answer we are accustomed to hearing from Jesus. Yet something very odd happens in their exchange. The mother who is at the end of her rope gets not only what she wants but what she needs. She endures the silence as well as criticism in her yearning for a miracle. Her faith is not shallow or superficial. It is faith that hangs in there when the easy road is to let go.

My mind wandered last week while traveling. Could we be like this brave woman? Far too much of what people call faith seems to be no more than wishful thinking. Our prayers may be met by a loud silence from God so we stop praying. Perhaps our prayers are answered in ways that we did not expect. We bring our requests to God like an order to be filled. He chooses to answer on occasion with a dialogue not dramatic displays. This frustrates us because we didn't truly want to talk to God. We just wanted something fixed. God wants to grow us in this relationship. Mature faith handles the silence or the dialogue as part of growing up. It means wanting to know God as much as we want someone to fix things for us. Now that would be dramatic.

Bro. Trey

One of the predicaments of this job is the tendency to make people mad. That sounds very odd doesn't it? How can one work for the Prince of Peace yet end up with different people upset or angry at times? For over 25 years my approach to ministry is to avoid having individuals feeling that way. Sunday might be a day when a new record was set in people being disappointed. The sermons were almost decent to my way of measuring. It was the decision making aspect of ministry that caused the problems. Now, don't think any of this makes me feel proud. Some ministers or leaders seem to thrive on rubbing others the wrong way. I'd rather have ministry flow smoothly without the speed bumps.

Our spiritual life is filled with times of decision making that are painful at best. Jesus told us that we might even have to choose Him over family. One could ask if that is even a decision at all if He is our priority. We may not ever need to make that choice in a dramatic fashion. We do make similar choices on a daily basis. Sometimes those decisions upset others even when we truly believe we are following God's will. Reflect on the real life stories in the Bible when men and women followed that will even when it wasn't applauded. One of our needs to be spiritually healthy is the courage to follow God even when others may not agree. I'm not saying we set out to intentionally anger people. I'm saying we need to be ready when or if that occurs.

How do we limit the possible negative effects on others? One thing that I am reminded of is we can communicate clearly about the choice. This is no guarantee people will understand but it at least informs them. We can discuss the particulars of a decision as testimony of what God is doing in life. One reason others may be upset with us is we may not let them know what is going on in a choice. You do not have to be arrogant about your approach. Just let those who may need to hear it the most of why you are taking this course of action. Doing this does not make your following God a matter that is up for a vote. It may lessen some of the drama when you are being misunderstood.

My hope is to limit making people mad when decisions need to be made. Surely next Sunday will be easier on that. I cannot promise that there won't be choices down the road that will be upsetting to some. All I can really do is to discern God's mind in a matter then follow through. My idea is it is better to be in line with God by my choices than always please everyone else. He is the One that I truly do not not upset with me.

Bro. Trey

If we are to understand how to be happy then we also need to get a handle on why we can be unhappy. It does sound a tad confusing but it is true. Happiness is fleeting if based on situations or a perspective of the current status of life. We may live with the idea that our emotional health is the sum total of our possessions. Perhaps our view of happiness centers on achievements in various arenas of life. Some people view happiness in terms of relationships which can be volatile at times. No doubt one reason happiness is so hard to attain is due to it being hard to define.

Once upon a time there was a young man who went looking for happiness only to find it in his own back yard. He isn't a terribly nice person when the story begins. His approach seemed to be to get what would be his long before it was due. In fact, he basically wishes his father dead in order to gain his inheritance. That inheritance gets him some so-called friends for a time. When the cash ran out, his friends went with it. Before long he is living in the worse squalor imaginable. The answer comes to him while trying to live and work among pigs with all the yuk they leave behind. Perhaps he can manipulate his father into giving him a job back home with the other paid employees. Imagine his surprise when he finds that his father is waiting in hope of a trip back home. Imagine his greater surprise when his father lavishes him with gifts then throws an enormous party to celebrate his return! How can he not be happy with all the failures of the past to find out just how big his father's heart really is?

Maybe you recognize that as the story of the prodigal son from Luke's gospel. It is an incredible story on so many levels. One of the lessons we can take is that being happy means letting go of the past. We cannot change the past events of life. But we do not need to live with the baggage of any past pain. Let me suggest that you simply be responsible for your part of life. You cannot be responsible for the bad behavior of others. I will be honest enough to say that I do not understand why some people can leave deep wounds in life. But my answer is that we have to bring those to God for His healing. Read through Psalm 55 to view a real life case of how one of God's own does just this.

There is one other thing we can do that the prodigal will discover. We can learn how to love. The greatest lesson on love and happiness is taught by God Himself in our story. We cannot naturally love the way that God does. It will be a result of becoming aware of just how amazing His love can be. How do we learn this? We admit our need of His love for our life. We learn to give to others our of that overflow of divine love. Can you picture what the prodigal must feel when being showered with love? That type of love may be past our ability to conceive but it is never beyond God's ability to give.

Bro. Trey

This is the time of the year where all various forms of Southern Baptists get together for some type of meeting or the other. Trying to explain how we relate to each other is a bit like trying to herd cats. From time to time I try to describe the various types of Southern Baptists and how they are connected to one another. Most of those attempts are met with empty, glazed eyes. We are a confusing bunch to be sure. There are associations where a group of churches in an area get together. There are state conventions in each state. They major on ministry across a given state. Now we have some states with more than one state convention. Both believe they are right. One tends to lean to the right while the other leans to the left. It leaves a bunch of us in the middle very perplexed.

It is no secret that my approach is still in the old time Baptist tradition. One of my prized possessions is a yellowed paper that gives the date of my enrollment into the cradle roll department in First Baptist Church, New Orleans. That means when I could do little more than lay on my back and look cute that I was a Baptist. There is not a day in my almost 47 years of life when I have not been a Baptist. If you were to cut me I'd probably bleed Lottie Moon or Amazing Grace.

It is a hard time to be a Baptist. We are pulled in every direction while being told who is right and why the other is wrong. Everyday it becomes more and more difficult to stay in the middle with someone pushing you in either direction. It is also a sad time to be a Baptist. There is much to find distasteful in both approaches to the denomination. My state convention is mired in scandal and poor leadership. The national convention is filled with dissension to the point that too much disagreement is punished. As one of my deacons would say, "a plague on both their houses."

My approach is to continue to be informed even at the expense of being irritated at the behavior of our "leaders." My theology will not change at this point. You will always find me being a biblical conservative. This isn't because I am close minded but because it simply makes sense. There may not be much room for Bapists who are like me. This does not bother me one bit. My motto is, "Baptist born, Baptist bred, when I die will be Baptist dead." Of course, my hope is the latter is not for a few years yet!

Bro. Trey

Today sure had its share of intriguing moments. It was far from an ordinary Tuesday. The day began as most Tuesdays do but took a few curves along the way. Ever notice how often that happens in our life? We think a day will be the normal rut and routine then it takes on a life of its own. No wonder scripture reminds us in many places to just take this life a day at a time. I understand why God gave manna on a daily basis to the children of Israel. Then our Lord said for us to ask for "daily bread" to face the day. We can be assured life will be much easier to handle when we take that approach.



The first event of the day was to close a ministry of our congregation. This troubles me anytime something like this occurs. Perhaps it was time to bring that work to a conclusion. Maybe it died a premature death. Analysis has not shown if either one is true. We are still way too early in the aftermath to know for sure. For whatever reason, a door closed today. My perception is that its life was somewhat overrated in its effectiveness. Still, my heart hurts when we try something unique for God then fall short. No, there is no blame for anyone from me. It is just one of those things that happens.

The other big moment of the day was my daughter getting her driver's permit. She passed her written test with flying colors. It's too bad the real lessons of driving don't occur in the classroom. She will progress slowly I'm sure. The real issue is obvious to me. The real issue is that now I am old enough to have a daughter that drives. I am man enough to admit that time flies by. That is why each day counts. One day your children are learning to walk then you turn around and they are learning to drive. Sorry, I had to pause a moment to let that sink in.

Let God be in charge of whatever happens to you today or tomorrow. He can turn the bad days into good days just by His presence. When you are overwhelmed by crisis He can give you wisdom beyond your ability. He can arrange your day far better than you can with a calendar. Don't forget to invite Him along into your world. You will discover more of Him in those daily events than you ever thought possible.

Bro. Trey

Wish my week improved after my Thursday venting but it didn't. The same problems that led to the entry that day still exist. However, that does not mean my disposition got worse. I can report that there was a drastic upturn late Thursday night. The major factor in this was in my spending quality time alone with God. It never fails to amaze me that the God of the universe really has something to say to me here in Texas. All day I wrestled with the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke's gospel. It is similar to looking for something you lost and you can almost remember where you left it. That's how it was on Thursday night. My search centered on how to live a happy life. It finally dawned on me about 11:00 that evening that the way to be happy lies in living a life that makes Jesus happy! Doing that may not be easy but it really is that simple.



Jesus tells us this story to display the quality of life that pleases Him. The key element is that the Samaritan is moved by compassion. It isn't enough to quote the Bible if the heart of God is missing from our life. Those who we would consider to be the most biblical in the story end up showing no compassion at all. The religious characters end up leaving the victim no better off than the robbers. He is still half dead after they pass by. It takes someone completely unexpected to show the mercy to take action. Compassion is a fascinating word in the original languages. It has the idea of feeling that starts in our gut and overtakes our heart, mind and body. This is exactly how God is to us in our need of Him. Jesus dies for us as well as lives through us even though we were once sinners. He is our ultimate model of giving compassion to those around us in need.



Why is it so hard for us to do this? We learn from this story that our Lord is happy when we live in such a manner. For one thing, we need to grow up. There is no way to be happy much less make God happy if we are consumed with our selfish heart. Far too many people filter life around them in terms of how it affects them first and sometimes only. We cannot see others in need much less God Himself if we only focus on us. We also need to be able to reach out once we get over ourselves. Jesus told us to "go and do likewise" following his tale. This is much more than just being nice to people. It has the idea of taking risks with others not knowing what may be the outcome. We are never told how the victim responds to the grace of the Samaritan. That is not the point of the story. We only know the Samaritan behaves like Jesus. Do we? One last lesson we need to remember is that we need God's help to live this way. This is not natural behavior in our world. I cannot love as God loves without His assistance. I cannot love as displayed here unless I encounter the love of God in my wounds. My guess is that we can ask God for that help and He will be more than glad to give it.



This week has zero guarantee of being any better than last week. The hope is that the lessons learned last week will keep the focus on being a person who makes God happy. If that happens then no matter how things may seem to fall apart my heart can stay intact. Life is a contact sport without a doubt. But God promises to heal our wounds to restore us to wholeness. Let us give Him those wounds so we can join in giving others the compassion we experience in

I admit that I am totally at a loss today. In fact, it is difficult to even get my thoughts together. For over 25 years my life revolved around church as well as the people who make up a church body. There are tons of stories to be told that relate to the issues people face and how God guided them through. Many times it seemed as if there was no hope only to be in one of those moments when the Lord Himself stepped in to display His goodness. It goes without saying none of this was due to my abilities or lack thereof. My hope is that I can always cherish those memories with a sense of gratitude for God's goodness.

Now I am at a loss. For seven years the labor here has been marked by one obstacle or the other. It really all began the day the moving van unloaded at the house. It seems that everyday turned up yet another painful event to tackle. God saw us through each one even when we stumbled to know exactly what He wanted from us. I will not claim that each occasion ended the way I would want. Too many friends have been lost over the years. Too much pain is inflicted by people who immerse their desires in religion then call it God's will. Too many blows to a body leaves it bruised and even broken.

This is where life finds me today. Seven years of absorbing body shots leaves me feeling very bruised and more broken. There are no more answers that I can give. What saddens me even more is the effect this can have on those who simply want to find God's best for life. These are the ones who carry no vendettas or harbor no ill will. We spend so much time wringing our hands over the damage being inflicted on a daily basis that we forget the needs of those around us. Why is it those who claim to be godly would intentionally destroy His body? There really is no one simple answer to that. But it is still the question running around my brain.

Never have I seen such ungodly behavior exhibited in a church. Sure there were times in the past when my heart hurt over random acts of cruelty. This is something that boggles my mind and is destroying my spirit. Is there an answer? My honest response is that right now there is nothing that satisfies my search. Could it be someday all that God gave us over the years will be just a memory? That is going to be the outcome if the ridicule, slander and cruelty does not come to an end. I do not know how to make it stop. Sermons do not seem to have any impact whatsoever. Dialogue meetings do nothing to cure the venom. One would think the amount of prayers being offered would lower the volume but as of now it has not.

This is the lowest that I've ever felt in ministry. Yes, I know some of it is due to my focus or lack of it. A lot of it is due to wondering how the gosel of grace can be lost by those who should know it the most.

Bro. Trey