As a general rule, Baptists do not celebrate Holy Week very much. However, some of our churches are becoming more in tune with the church calendar to include recognizing this time. Our more mainline friends take this time very seriously. I try to keep up with the season of Lent in my own life. Most years a better job is done of it than this year. If one fails at reflection during the season of Lent, is that not a awkward sign of why it is needed? This coming Sunday will be Palm Sunday. I do need to do a better job being ready than I am now.

My habit is to look through other websites or resources for points to ponder. Calvin Seminary has a terrific website where I come often for a nudge. It helps me think outside of my baptist box. Sometimes it can be a bit discouraging. The more material that I read the more that I realize how much my mind gets locked down. We become so accustomed to our experience and education we often miss even more truth around us. We mostly know the Easter story to the degree we do not stop to take a longer look at what it means.

Today in my reading I was reminded again that Palm Sunday is only the beginning of a wild and wooly week. What began with a happy parade passed through a horrific experience only a few days later. Crowds would shout praises to God on one day even if they were following for all the wrong reasons. This leads of course to the same crowd calling out phrases and wishes too ugly to describe. Never forget the people who were so happy on Palm Sunday would be so ugly on Good Friday. Also, never forget it can happen to us as well.

Happiness can give way to hatred much too fast. When the celebration meets head on with reality we experience the same mood swings as the crowds. Last year the economy was perking along with sky high stock numbers. This year we watch as capitalism is giving way to socialism with each passing day. If we could only return to those happier times how good it would be. But we are faced with the harsher realities of 2009. The same people who drove the economic numbers to new heights became the same ones who drove them right off a cliff. Happiness is not near enough to get us through these days. There must be a greater reality.

The good news is that the story does NOT end on Palm Sunday. We do have a Good Friday that changes everything. The bloody horror of the cross is far more meaningful that spontaneous happiness. It forces us to see our responsibility in life. We are the ones who sinned. We are the people who can take the best of times and create failure. God comes to save us from our sin but also from shallow sentimentality. There are two words every church needs to keep at the front of their mind. Grow up. Recognize we are still prone to the same silly sin that plagued the original Holy Week. Every minute spent blaming someone else for life's condition is a moment wasted in finding God's very real grace. Let us give ourselves to owning up to our feelings. Let's be real about our tendency to mess up a good thing. Then we can look forward to more than a happy parade. We can find very real grace for our messy life.

Bro. Trey

My youngest turned 13 today. There are now two teenagers underneath my roof. My little guy is not a little guy any more. Fortunately his birthday today was much more relaxed than when he entered the world. He is one of those late night babies. His birth time was about 1:30 in the morning. It was quite the scene that night with us speeding down the highway to get to the hospital. My daughter who was 4 sat sleepily in the backseat while we greatly exceeded the speed limit. His mother was focusing on her breathing as I told her to not notice how fast we were going. From the time we entered the hospital until the time he was born took about two hours. The only reason it took that long was from the waiting on the doctor to arrive. It doesn't seem he slowed down any after that night.

He was born without the benefit of his mother having any drugs in her system to ease the pain. Needless to say it was a religious experience for all involved. She was the only mom in labor that evening so the nurses all congregated by the window. They were taking guesses on when he would be born. It might be there was also a little wagering along with the guessing. We looked at his baby photos last night. He was quite the cute kid. There are also photographs of his sister giving her parents instructions on what we should do. Some of the night becomes a bit fuzzy for me. Turns out that I went about 40 hours without sleep. There was too much excitement going on for me to rest. I had too many plans to make for him.

If you are just stumbling across this blog then you may not know all those plans changed about three years later. That was the time he was diagnosed as autistic. Everything in the plan was torn apart with the news. We went from having the grand dreams most parents have for a child to wondering what life would bring. We saw a ton of doctors back then. Some of them were positive about the prognosis. There was one however that crashed the party with a very pessimistic outlook. The outlook is still very much a possibility. But for now he is my best bud as well as frequent travel companion.

There are still very real moments when my emotions get the best of me. Sometimes it just happens in the normal routine of a day. Sometimes it happens when there is a reminder of his being different. On occasion it is the result of doing the paperwork required for school or other things. Some moments are when we hug or just hang out together. Most people would say my personality can be stoic or even distant. They would be shocked to see me in those moments when the sadness overtakes me. The heartbreak is beyond my ability to describe. All that can be done is to let the tears loose to soothe the emotional ache.

Other emotions can rise up along with the sadness. Anger is one that finds it way to the surface in some moments. Some people don't understand his illness. It would take a team of oxen to hold my tongues when some person comments in ugly tones toward him. I confess that it wasn't always held quiet. He was once described as an excuse in a meeting. I have to admit that my composure gave way to a sharp response. One person came far too close to pushing me to totally blow what cool I may have. It's been a long time since I'd wanted to hit another person. Thank God that didn't happen though it took more than a few hours for the anger to go away. Guess it is safe to say my son brings out the best and the worst in me. My hope is that far more is positive than anything else.

People sometimes tell me that God only gives special children to special parents. Maybe that is true for the most part. Sadly, not all of these unique lives are always nurtured by their mother or father. All that I know to do is to do the best parenting possible given the circumstances. He and I are facing the future with uncertainty as to what it holds. A friend of mine has a Down's Syndrome child who now lives in a group home in Tyler. Just the thought of that leaves me literally trembling. Yes, it may be the best for him but it will absolutely tear me apart. He is my pride and joy no matter his limitations. He is my son.

Know why scripture says for parents to love their children? It's because they love you back. The love you give away is measured by what you receive along the way. We give the best of ourselves only to make a discovery. We also become better from the giving. We become better people. The best gift of this birthday is the continual shaping of my life because of his. That is why life has meaning. It's why we celebrate.

Bro. Trey

My email box was flooded this week with requests on the blog. At last count there was at least one person wondering what happened. To me, that is a flood. So here we are late on a Friday night about to do some blogging. It is back by popular demand. Maybe it is a little on the over side of estimating the readership but it sounds good. Right now the main obstacle on keeping current is my attempt to avoid being redundant in the posts. There is plenty to write about but much of it revolves around the happenings in my world. My goal is to avoid just repeating the same thoughts. But it could be that this week brought some of that world into clarity.

This was a very strange week. Yes, that is a common refrain on here. It just seems like the routine for me is anything but that. Last Saturday was a wedding in the middle of the afternoon. Let me report that a good time was had by all. Wednesday was my second funeral in ten days. Both graveside services were for people who once lived here and returned to be laid to rest. That of itself is not too uncommon. Our community is one of those where people return to lay aside other family members. It is just different to have two in that short of a time period. To be honest, those times are very important to me. It is a responsibility that is not taken lightly. God also opened some doors for spiritual conversation with some people that was unexpected. One can only hope those moments were fruitful even if not on my calendar.

It goes without saying that the weather wrote the story for much of the week. For awhile there was the possibility that we would need to begin building arks. Hopefully the rain is pushing through tonight as the wind is colder and more intense. Thursday was my day to assist at our junior high track meet. Tomorrow is my day to try to help at our Eagle Relays. My best contribution is in yelling loud. Usually my job is to aid in lining the runners up in their lanes. Luckily the weather will be windy and cold tomorrow. Odds are good my voice will be shot for Sunday services. At least the congregation will have that to give thanks about.

We could go in depth into the daily grind of family life. We will leave it with it was also in no hurry to get into a routine. My youngest turns 13 on Sunday so that will be a fun day. This does not begin to even get close to understanding how the week unraveled. But there is a lesson that I may be slowly learning through this. It is one that touches on past frustration revealed in past blog posts.

You may remember that one of my chief sources of discouragement is the lack of a normal ministry pattern. Sometimes the fatherhood issues can intrude on the career. It is my great opportunity to have a larger amount of parenting time than many fathers get. This week that included taking care of my daughter when her contact lenses went amiss. It also involved attending a birthday party for my son at his school. It is also a large responsibility for me to deal with the normal stuff such as laundry. It is often very difficult for me to just outline a normal week of work. This bothers me more than a little when those daily things can interrupt the work. Most ministers just do their work while someone else takes care of the other stuff. The end result is how that frustrates me when there is an expectation of what the minister should be doing.

Here is my thought of the week. Like many things that roam through my mind it is still a work in progress. What if what I am doing is exactly where God wants me to be? My youngest is growing but he will not move past his autism. My oldest sometimes needs help if something comes up in her day. Could it be that doing all of this while juggling ministry is part of God's will for my life? This is in no way meant to say that ministry is not important. The job does matter. But perhaps if I adjust my unusual routine to God then He can multiply it not just at work but as a parent. This is a brand new thought that needs more time to ferment. Just hope for me that the answers as well as how it is applied come quickly. Maybe there will come a sense of guidance on how to better balance the two areas. Perhaps instead of frustration over the juggling that there may come new freedom to blend the two areas together.

Bro. Trey

Thunder is echoing in the background now. The sky is turning darker with each passing moment. Looks like the promised rain is about to fall on us this afternoon. Welcome to spring in our corner of Texas. Last week we basked in daily sunshine. This week we may need to start building arks. If you don't like the weather here just wait a little bit. Chances are good it will change soon. Let's hope none of the storms are serious enough to cause any damage. We could surely use the rain but not the bad stuff that can come with it.

Last week we also wrote of returning to the blog. My apologies for taking a little longer than expected. Life in its varied forms kept me from composing anything new. It's been hectic but still there were moments free to write. My choice was to take a deep breath rather than write. We will return to doing more writing. There is one lesson to take from the break from the blog. Writing here is therapeutic for me. Even if no one reads my words, it is a good thing to put them down somewhere.

Much of today is being spent still searching for whatever truck ran over me this weekend. The last two days were very slow and foggy for me. No, that is not meant to be whining. It is yet again a mere statement of fact. My theory is there are more of us who go through times like this than we know. Not everyone lives with that vim and vigor we admire. There are moments we just almost muddle through the day. We hope for something better while dealing with the fear that better is not to be found. One result is we recycle the same day over and over. We can avoid doing anything risky since it has no real promise for improvement.

This is human life. Even those of us in the divine relationship with God may be infected with a low grade hum drum existence. No, we do not truly desire to be this way. Probably no one ever wanted to let this happen to us. In fact, we usually are not even aware of it happening until we are well into it. What do we do once we are diagnosed? How do we get better at avoiding the ruts that are so prevalent in our world?

First, be clear that only God Himself is our source of life. We cannot substitute human relationship or achievement for Him. Sometimes we think if we just review the stuff of our life we can find the moment we slipped into the ruts. There is one small problem with that logic. If we are in the midst of the fog how can we see everything clearly? This is why our gaze is to be on God even if we occasionally glance at the situation. Second, go to the Psalms as much as possible. David charts not only his spiritual life but also his emotional world. You will read of him being happy or sad or somewhere in between. You will also notice how he brings God into the midst of whatever emotion he feels. Third, keep a written record of your life. This does not mean you need an extensive diary or blog. Fortunately for us, the Psalms contain the diaries of David. Yours may be just the occasional note to self in your calendar. Having such a record will give you the ability to notice patterns to life. You can record your encounter with God, others, or even your private life for later review. It is a great practice to develop.

None of the above will guarantee you won't have foggy or difficult days. It will keep you open to God. They can allow you to move past the problem to lean on God. You may find that you spend more time in God's sunshine that life's dreariness. Now I'm going to go practice what I blog.

Bro. Trey

You gotta love spring break. There is nothing like it to bring families together. Or is it that it can drive us up the proverbial wall? Fortunately, in our house it is a good thing. Of course, now that my daughter drives it means swapping out vehicles too. She can drive now. The good news is she is a very good driver. Perhaps she learned a lot while in driving school. It could also be that she learned from the bad habits of her parents. My worry is normally not for her when she is out. I worry about the other guy who may not be paying attention. My youngest hits 13 in a week or so. Somehow I do not see him driving but maybe that will prove otherwise. Regardless, all the going and coming of the week is giving me time to get a start on mowing. At least it seemed like a good time to start.

My riding mower has been under wraps for awhile now. This yard is rather large by any measure. The constant use of the mower just wore it out. The last few times of mowing has been with a push model. Mowing an acre with a push mower is an experience all its own. My opinion is that all the training in the world cannot prepare you for hours of pushing. Even with a good mower it takes more than a few hours to cover the entire yard. Yesterday was the day for finishing up the back part of the yard. Today I pulled it out, added gas, pulled the starter cord only to have it snap in two. All I could do was stare at the severed cord in my hand. Hopefully by next week we will be back in business. One phone call was all it took to arrange for someone to come do the tune up and repair.

Doing yard work is hard enough with good equipment. Things become many times harder when your tools are in need of repair. We said the other day that perhaps we could talk some on doing church in today's times. Here is one idea that is at the core of my approach to doing church today. We must be healthy believers in order to be a healthy church. That one is way to obvious but it is nonetheless true. Unhealthy people make up unhealthy churches. You can face it either way but you cannot escape the reality. Here is one of the problems with that premise. We are all unhealthy in one way or the other. We all need divine repair both in our life and in our church. Yes, that statement includes me as one of the participants. You do not need to remind me (though many often do) of my own need of growth. It is part of my job to remind you of your need also.

An unhealthy church cannot carry out life changing ministry. It cannot be creative to discover new avenues to reach others. We will recycle the pain of anxiety, insecurity and conflict without being open to God's creative grace. This is why all the great ideas in the world will not automatically insure a church to grow. We do not check our emotional or spiritual baggage at the doors of the church. Sadly, we carry it with us everywhere we go. Knowing this is the first step to becoming whole again. How can we ask the lost to trust God to save them if we cannot trust God to heal our hurts? How can we take the risk of attempting new ministry if we will not risk our own heart to God?

Lots of books are in print concerning church life and growth. Enough of them passed through my hands for me to get some handle on what it takes to be a part of God's work. This is not to say anyone should call me an expert. Sometimes it feels like my ministry is more about learning great ways of failure rather than success. This anxiety will not stop me from trying. Some books talk about small groups as the cure. Some books talk about doing extravagant worship services to draw the masses. Some books go in depth on doing faith sharing even with total strangers. Everyone has their idea on what makes church life the experience we know that it can be. My core idea is still that no matter the vehicle for ministry that we as the people must be growing in the faith. We can only go as far as we love God or as far as we fear being left behind by new strategies.

This means much to me. It tells me there is still a need in my life to face the darker areas for God to work. We can cover leadership at another time but suffice it to say there is more to being a leader than clever slogans or charismatic personality. Far too many churches are suffering mightily because they succumbed to the temptation of the ideal leader concept. We are in this thing together for better or worse. My openness to God will determine which result we get. Good to great leaders have one common trait. This trait is not their talent or ability. Not every person is wired the same by God. Some are great preachers while some do not overwhelm you with their skill. Some are powerful evangelists who seem capable of moving people to faith by the same words we use but see differing results. Some are wonderful administrators who can put marvelous plans together. But there is one thing all good leaders share. They are willing to allow God to continue injecting their life with His grace.

We are all in need of constant grace or attention from God. If you should happen by and read this my hope is you will let that happen. We will only be as strong as a church as we are able to let God fill our weaknesses. This truth will never change. The church in Acts didn't just get some magical infusion that took away every problem. They faced difficulty both from without and within. It is their ongoing openness to God that makes them the effective congregation that they became. We cannot stop where we are with God yet expect to continue making a difference in the world. We are really much like lawn mowers. Constant maintenance and repair makes all us constantly useful in the task. God already defined the task as being His people in the world. But are we ready to carry it out?

Bro. Trey

We are moving right along with spring break 2009. Most of it is business as usual around the house. My daughter got out some yesterday but stayed home today. My youngest and I stayed in yesterday but got out today. Tomorrow we will again reverse the order. She will be going on an outing while us two guys stick around the house. Maybe that is going to be the norm for the week. At least today's outing wasn't too long. Luckily he found the new video game he wanted in record time. This gave me time to do some exercise as well as some mowing. Perhaps it is fitting on St. Patrick's Day that my mower took care of the clover. Can't say that there were any of the four leaf kind but maybe I didn't look too close. It was busy enough just keeping the mower blades clean of all the wet clover.

Is it me or are our news channels getting even more doom and gloom? We don't normally observe Lent in the Baptist tradition. At the rate its going, my Lent action would be to give up news television. They seem as if they stopped reporting news. Most of what little I saw today consisted of having people argue on a topic. Somewhere we stopped getting the news as much as watching people fight. We spend more time blaming someone else for our current conditions rather than dealing with them. If Congress wasn't so important it would be almost hysterical to watch them in action. We do live in a different world now.

We sit here on St. Patrick's Day 2009 watching our world be transformed daily. Our country is divided more than ever. It seems to me almost a replay of the 1960s with conflict over Vietnam or other social issues. Could it be the political division of our time is a reflection on the turbulence of that era? I would imagine most people are on the conservative side of the political spectrum. That would be especially true of most regular people like us. But we also have a generation that swings the other way. It looks like we lost the middle ground where agreement outweighs division.

Our world is also much less Christian than ever. Sure, we have lots of people who claim to be religious or spiritual but maybe not Christian. A recent study shows that my denomination is shrinking along with getting older. We Baptists thought we would be immune to that but we aren't. What is common among the more mainline denominations is now happening to us. One writer suggested that Methodists may just go away before long. It will not be much longer until the same projections are made of us. There really is no call to brag if we outlast any other denomination if we are both heading for the same fate.

We pat ourselves on the back for believing the Bible yet tend to fall short of putting it into practice. We use the local church as some measure of pride without realizing it really does not belong to us. We have too many private meetings where ministers or other church folk are dissected like a high school biology class. We hold on to our traditions that outlived their usefulness. We could go into more but let's leave it at that. Maybe we can take the next few posts to lay out the possibilities for the future and not just a terminal prognosis. Just be prepared. We will probably be brutally honest in some of the comments. Know that there are things that I need to hear as well as write. Our goal will not be for you to agree with me. Just think or pray about what we may say. The church is worth it all to God who works through it. The world is worth it to God since He gave His son to die for it. Let it be worth something to you as you think about how to join Him in rescuing both.

Bro. Trey

Spring Break 2009 is now in full swing. There may not be a teacher in our local school system to be found over the next week. Those who are not traveling away are probably hiding out. My two are extremely happy with this time away from school. My daughter who is doing quite well with her grades could use the time away. We won't brag but she is for sure smarter than your average bear. Not sure if my youngest needs the break as much as his teacher. Some people take advantage of the week to get away to rest. We will probably just stay right here in our town for the most part. Oh, we may run errands but none of them will be extravagant. The best part will just be hearing them rummage around the house.

My role this week is to be part driver and part referee. There is a wedding to perform on Saturday night but my goal is to leave the schedule open. We had our children much later than most parents. I was 32 when my oldest child was born. You will be glad to know that no gory details will be given now. Just know it was a long and torturous process. I completely identify with Abraham in the Old Testament and Zacharias in the New Testament. My point is that enjoying my children is never difficult. Yes, they can be normal kids but that passes with time. It is going to be extremely painful on me when my daughter goes to college. We are trying to get her to do online college while living at home. So far, that idea is going nowhere fast.

We are a typical two income family in many ways. Where we differ is the nature of our jobs. Both of us work in careers that can call for very strange hours. My wife is in the Child Protective area of social service. Obviously, my work is through the church. Do not take the following as complaining or whining. It is just a statement of fact. One of most gut wrenching struggles is to juggle the work life with being a parent. Yes, this is a statement to be said by most parents. At least it's my hope most parents would say this. The issue for me is when an emergency arises where I may be unable to just drop everything to go. On more than a few occasions it took me longer to get to the hospital or another place where needed. It goes without saying that office hours are a nightmare to handle when there is no school. The point to be made is simply that never doubt my desire to be somewhere when called. Just let me get everyone settled and I will get there.

My daughter is a huge help when she is home. Even with autism, my youngest really does not require constant attention. The bulk of my presence at home is to just insure his safety. Perhaps it is my bad habit to let his condition affect me as much as it does. He has gone with me to the hospital on occasion. One day he even had to go with me while seeing someone who just lost a loved one. That did not go well at all. Many if not most ministers have that freedom to come and go as they please. With my family, that is not always possible.

Are there any answers other than sounding pessimistic? Patience is one word that comes to mind. My arrival times may not always be punctual but it does happen. Perhaps we could grow to realize that having those closest to you there may give more comfort than I can. Most occasions on arriving to a crisis I find more than a few people already there doing ministry. It is my theological conclusion that we place more emphasis on the official minister than is called for. This is not to say my role or the role of any other minister is not significant. It simply means we forget the profound effect of regular people. One does not have to be a professional to make a difference. Last, know that my heart hurts when those times happen and time is needed to juggle everyone. It is truly my desire to be as free and open as possible. We can and will get through those times. Let's just work together if it happens again.

Bro. Trey

Today there was a funeral for me to officiate. Wanted to say that to anyone hoping that it was mine. It went well as far as I could tell. The family was very gracious to me. Last night was spent pulling thoughts together for my time. Thankfully, God directed me to some verses with thoughts to match. The message was brief and to the point. Guess it was the stereotypical funeral weather with grey skies. It's my honor to do such services for people. Even if there are a limited amount of ideas for funeral messages my hope is to keep them fresh. Sometimes our words do matter. My prayer is that God miraculously takes those words to use them.

This set my mind to more thinking on the subject of sermons. Since this is my time to finish up my preparation for tomorrow it will be wise to keep this short. Every preacher that you hear is wired differently. There is no one right method to sermon delivery. Some guys are able to sweat, scream and still get the message across. Some guys are quieter while almost reading their words. Some preachers tell lots of stories in their sermon. There are some preachers that are almost like seminary professors in how they get the message across. Just remember that like the different approaches to preaching there are various ways we prefer to hear sermons.

You may like being screamed at while the preacher pounces around the platform. You may enjoy hearing a story teller who mesmerizes you. You may even want the deep, theological preaching. Again, there is no one wrong or right way to approach this. But let me encourage you to just let your preacher be himself. He will best do God's work by using his gifts or talents. If your preacher is not quite your cup of tea then ask God to give you the "ears to hear." My first preacher was not powerful or eloquent in his sermons. My next preacher was dynamic. He still preaches all over the country. Both spoke from the heart. Both used their gifts to speak to us each week. It isn't about style. It's about being open to God.

Tomorrow just let your heart open wide to what is said. Listen to both the words as well as the application to your life. God speaks to your preacher. Let Him speak to you.

Bro. Trey

Thursday night is when my sermon outline comes together so it can be printed for the bulletin on Sunday. That is my goal at least. It's not that my problem is procrastination. But that is a topic we will get to later. Most weeks the material is ready to be put down on paper. This does not mean that the entire message is ready. My approach is to use every moment possible to pull the rest of the sermon together. Tonight will simply be the start of the basic outline for what I want to say. There are still two days left to build around the skeleton that will be printed.

How does a good preacher come up with sermons? I wish that I knew the answer. I only know how it works for me. Let's start with the ideas for messages. Obviously the basic source of the material is the Bible. Beyond that there are tons of places where ideas are born. Sometimes I will look at websites of other preachers just to get some idea on what others are saying. It is like getting a different view on what is within my heart. Sometimes the ideas may come from browsing bookstores on the latest popular books or interests of people. That is not one of the main sources for me but it is still an option. Sometimes there is just an idea that comes when reflecting on life, God and such. This latest series related to the 40 Days of Love came while out running one winter afternoon. My daughter even gave me inspiration on one occasion by mentioning she thought that Paul really rocked. That led to several weeks preaching from Ephesians. Also, the summer is usually a time when we go with a series to last until school starts. These tend to become some of my favorite times of preaching.

The point is there is no limit to where the ideas originate. That is about half of the battle. During the week my mind is always looking at conversations or reading for inspiration for the upcoming Sunday. I place a heavy value on the bible study notes made in research. In fact, you could steal my sermons if you leave me the notes. You want to know my real opinion? Sermons as such are often overrated. They are only as good as the research in the foundation. I know people forget the sermon usually by the time the Sunday afternoon nap is over. Let's be honest about this. Do you really remember the outline of the last sermon you heard? It's really ok as the act of preaching really is not about me. Only God can take the preparation to make it sink into the heart of the listener. My chief source of enjoyment is in the interaction with God's word in the research.

Having killed that rabbit, let's move on to the nitty gritty of preparation. Usually two copies of the Bible are consulted. One is a contemporary translation while the other is usually the New American Standard version. It is technically close to the original language. Do I spend time dealing with Greek or Hebrew? Yes I do. Just today I spent time looking at the verbs of my text for Sunday. You can often find the original premise and the eventual outline by looking close at verbs. Now it is time to consult commentaries for insight into the passage. Some of the books are technical in dealing with the language and such. Some of the commentaries are more practical in their outlook. These are often the source of devotional type ideas based on the passage. These notes are written out or sometimes typed out for posterity. This is what is so valuable to me.

Once upon a time, I would write manuscripts for the sermon. There are still times when that happens now. Most of the time though I use a fairly detailed outline for the sermon. My goal is commit most of it to memory. It's my view that if you work that much with the information then you should be able to retain most of it. For me, its better to speak out of the overflow of the preparation. Confusion sometimes happens in the middle of the message when trying to remember exactly what was written. That is not to say my sermons are ever less than confusing. But if there is a manuscript it is usually better for me to mostly read it like a speech rather than try to memorize pages of words. I don't know if I ever really complete a sermon before Sunday. It works best for me to stay open ended with the preparation until it is actually delivered.

We can revisit this topic at a later date. There is much more we can say about sermon preparation. It is one of my main priorities in ministry. Some ministers major on pastoral care or church management. My sense of ministry always places great weight on preaching. I don't think that I really do it well but I try. If you heard me years ago it is my sincere hope that you would think there was real improvement. Maybe someday I can get to a point of confidence in my abilities. Maybe that won't happen so there is a greater dependence on God. Either way, its time to put the outline to print. Let's hope for a decent one this week.

Bro. Trey

Last night had to be one of the largest upsets in all of sports history. Yet, many people missed it due to cable television limits and such. The Dominican Republic is the source of most of the real baseball talent today. The players they sent to the World Baseball Classic total over $400 million in contracts currently. From pitching to hitting, the team was absolutely loaded for this tournament. However, last night they needed to win a game or else be eliminated from the Classic in the opening round. You may not know that the Netherlands is far from a booming baseball pool of talent. The total salaries of that team is just over $400,000 total. Baseball fans would know most of the names on the D.R. team. Only two players from the Dutch team are recognizable. This tournament is probably as good as it will get for the youngsters from Holland and the area. No way could this rag tag group of players beat one of the greatest teams on the planet.

But after nine innings the game was locked in a scoreless tie. It was a loser goes home game. Sure the kids from Netherlands were often outmatched but they never gave up. In fact, the Dutch team could only muster up 2 hits over the nine innings. So the game went into extra innings. The next inning was scoreless as well. Both teams had chances but could not capitalize. The D.R. team would score in the top of the 11th on a fielding mistake in the outfield. They could bring in their big gun who plays for the Chicago Cubs and was also an All-Star last year. No way these inexperienced kids would come back in their half of the inning.

Would you believe that the Netherlands team began the inning with a double? Eventually the runner advanced and scored to tie the game. By now I was sitting in my chair taking in every pitch. My heart began pounding even faster. This was history in the making and it was my good fortune to be watching it live. The mighty pitcher of the Cubs made a bad throw so the runner moved on to third base. With two out, the incredible took place. A hard hit ball down the right field line scored the winning run for the Dutch kids. I yelled. I jumped up. I called my daughter in to watch. This was something almost biblical in proportions. It's not that my heart was locked into one team or the other. This game was on the level of the U.S. Hockey team back in the 1980 Olympics. Not many saw this baseball game but it will be one that is remembered for years to come.

Upsets are special because they tend to be very rare. Sports fans can recall other games where the expected loser would win the game. People who follow politics know the names of candidates who defied expectations in an election. For the fan they are moments of incredible excitement. Our team or player overcame the odds to win one. But they are still rare to be sure. These scrappy kids may not win much more in the tournament. But they left a moment to be treasured.

You do not have to live life as a constant loser. God wired you for more than that. He even promised that we could and would overcome the odds because of His presence. We can live with the wisdom of God in a world often chaotic. We can live with confidence in His purpose even when condition on earth change. We can open our heart with our praying to realize we are not alone when others dismiss us. We can know each day lived in His guidance is building a wonderful future. We do not have to be at the mercy of a world gone mad. When we know it's not about us then we are free to thrive consistently. It is still about God. He already won. We can discover that thrill of victory rather than drift in the agony of defeat.

Bro. Trey

So, who knows what the future holds for us? To be more to the point, who knows what the future holds for you? Today's blog takes place during weather fit for the middle of May than the middle of March. Tomorrow looks like a totally different environment. We are waiting on the rain and cold weather to strike us perhaps for the last time this season. There is one problem with this. Forecasters began calling for this change to happen in the middle of last week. Here we are a week later still waiting for the conditions to change. Did you know that after only a few hours that the weather forecast is almost worthless? That is how little meteorologists can predict the future.

Fox Business interviewed a man last night who is predicting the price of oil to go up to $300 a barrel soon. Let us all hope he is dead wrong in his prediction. We were to begin recovery from our economic crisis toward the end of this year. That was the guess only a few weeks ago. Now, even Warren Buffett is looking into 2010 as the earliest for any upturn in the financial news. If oil spikes as high as the one gentleman predicted then it may take years for any recovery to begin. The Dow Jones seems to be betting against recovery now. Let's all hope these guys are wrong and times get better soon. By the way, my limited opinion is our economy is going through an adjustment to a 21st century understanding of economics. It could be we never see the various numbers return to normal. We may soon see a new normal. It doesn't have to be bad but it may not be measured the same.

We all want to know the future. How amazing would it be to return to the 1970s knowing what we know now? Imagine all the wagers we could make! Think of how you could amaze your friends with predictions of what would happen in sports or entertainment. You could really know the future but it wouldn't be quite the same. We might be able to predict the future in that scenario but it would be time we lived through already. Perhaps there is a reason we are given this one life to experience.

Last week I mentioned one of my TV shows is being canceled. It's theme is similar to this post. The story revolves around a policeman who somehow is whisked off to 1973 after an incident in 2008. So last Saturday night I was channel surfing. We have satellite which we cannot imagine living without. When I got to the BBC station (British Broadcasting) there was my show! Well, it wasn't really my show but the British version of what we have. Turns out that my luck could not be any better. It was the series finale that laid out what happens in the end. To make a long story short, all live happily ever after...in 1973. The lead character, Sam decides to return to where he felt most alive. So no matter what happens with the American version at least there is the knowledge of how life turns out.

Not even Nostradamus knows for sure how this world will go. We do have the words of the Revelation but most of us shy away from its dark themes. We even have no guarantees about when our life ends. My heart truly aches at those people we lose at much too young of an age. A man who was living on borrowed time helped me get a handle on this. He told me of living as much as he could with the time he had left. I love that he did exactly that. We talked one time about living and dying. It occurred to me that none of us have any promises on how long we have. In fact, I said that I envied him because he knew somewhat of his limits. It's my contention that his living so well put off for a year his death. So perhaps that is all we can do. We take each day as it comes. We fill it up with God and turn it loose. Someone said we can live life in such a way that when we wake up Satan panics. We are on the loose again. No matter the weather or the economy let's live in the present to make the future better.

Bro. Trey

Another Sunday is drawing to a close. It's getting to where this is one of my favorite times of the week. It is my end of the work week. There is only one problem with Sunday night. It means that another one is only a few days away. In fact, one of our students asked me tonight what next week's sermon would be. Luckily my preference is for non violent encounters. Letting out a blood curdling scream did come to mind. But discretion is the better part of valor so my answer was simply, "I don't know yet." We will start worrying on that one tomorrow.

How about we make this next week a good one? In the midst of what seems to be nearly apocalyptic turmoil we can still have good days. There was an article yesterday about the NBC news anchor looking for good news to broadcast. He was saying how shocked he was that people were calling out for some positive news amid all the doom and gloom. His broadcast will still carry the heavy news of the day but he promises to start running stories about the good that people are doing.

We really do not have to let the bad news of the day overwhelm us. This does not mean living in denial about the economic turmoil going on. We do not have to turn a blind eye to the tragic tales we see broadcast. You and I can choose to look beyond the moment. The Bible never said we would have an easy path on planet earth. I will leave it to the eschatological escapists to ignore the harsh reality. We still live here as disciples to fulfill the promise of life. Some of our fellow followers only seem to be looking for the quickest ticket out of here. My understanding of scripture says we don't spend our days looking to get snatched out. We are to be faithful in using what God gives us to better the lives of others.

I wonder how many of the stories upcoming on NBC will be from people of faith. Why should we not take the worst of times to live the best of lives? Being kind to another person doesn't have to cost a single cent. Helping another person in need does not require economic stimulus. We do not even need a bail out to be better in our relationships. Did you realize you can even be a democrat or republican and assist others in their moment of need? Even Congress cannot stop us from making our world a better place.

Take it one day at a time. Take it even one person at a time to do something for them. It may be someone at work who needs a boost. You may find someone at the store who needs a moment's break from the stress. Maybe you know someone even in your family that could use your unique touch. Realize that what you see as an interruption just might be a divine assignment for you to give yourself away. Let's see if we can end up as a good news story somewhere. We will be better for it even if we don't.

Bro. Trey

Two days away from blogging is too long. There are times when the well of inspiration runs a bit dry. But the longer that I try to consistently blog, the more that I look forward to writing. This blog may not change the world. It probably is not as deep or philosophical as some blogs out there. You can just factor in the writer of the material for this fact. Perhaps we can on occasion strike a note with whoever might actually read this.

The last two days were more hectic than usual. Some of it was work related with projects that needed to be finished. Yes, there are times some of my work does come to a completion. Some of the craziness was family related with my role here. Yesterday was a busy day of catching up on house stuff, yard work, and other things that needed attention. Part of that included mowing. Yes, it is March and the yard already needs tending. You can count on me being out in the yard for a day or two a week from now until October. Right now all the mowing is done with a push mower. My riding tractor needs to go for a pit stop to bring it up to speed. For the next few months, breathing will be something that won't come easy. Allergies love me.

Yard work is part of my life. It is one of those things my father so graciously allowed me to do while growing up. We had a huge yard in those days. There is no telling how many riding mowers we went through. In fact, part of my summer work included mowing other yards. I got a nasty spider bite while mowing a neighbors yard one day. It got me right on my chest. There was another lady who insisted that her yard be mowed to the level of a golf putting green. I remember arguing with her about how her grass was being scalped. To my amazement, I won the argument. One of the joys of my mowing work was the yard of a woman who ran the expensive dress shop in town. Her brother was the former Speaker of the House in Washington. She was such a delight. Many times she would offer me ice tea after I got her seal of approval. I think that if I weren't in my job now that being a groundskeeper for a pro baseball team sounds wonderful. Grass never argues with me or holds committee meetings.

Most of my efforts yesterday really included no grass. It's the time of the year where clover or other weeds are coming up. If you let clover get to high, it will mock you later when you try to cut it. Don't get me wrong, it looks all pretty and springish. But when that passes it is simply a pain to handle. It is better to not let it get started and so it went under the mower yesterday. Next will be the fertilizing and the seeding of grass so it stays strong in the coming heat. Yes, these are lessons learned the hard way.

All of us have stuff that grows up in our life. We may even find it attractive for awhile. But if we do not deal with it then it overruns our life. Attitudes and actions can dominate our personality if we do not get an early handle on it. It all starts innocently and even naturally. But it can choke out the good stuff that withstands the elements later. Don't let this happen to you. Stay ahead of the game by letting God show you what may need to be cut down or even cut out. A little pain now is so much better than lots of pain later.

Bro. Trey

Yes, it is a bit late to blog tonight. Is one of those days where real life interrupted the best of intentions. At least the night ended with me watching my two favorite television shows. My daughter and I started out with "Lost" years ago and at least one of us will finish with it next year. Then it was time for "Life on Mars" which became a favorite of mine very fast. It is a blend of science fiction and police drama. It is only a one year show as the network cancelled it this week. For some reason, I enjoy the strange shows that don't seem to make it.

The premise of the show takes too long to explain. What is fascinating to me is the setting of the drama. All of the action takes place in 1973 which means there is great music in the background. The fashions may fall short but the music is great. The 70s are my era. It was the time of my growing up in small town East Texas. We didn't know how to deal with our long hair just yet. Our 8-track players would skip far too often. Blue jeans had wide bottoms to the point you could hide small children in them. They were still innocent times yet there was a mischievous tone to them.

My town was great for being a kid. We had a fully functional town square. One of our grocery stores would deliver your order if you called them. Our cars were big while our gas was cheap. We would chase each other around town just because we could. Often we would end up on the parking lot of the local DQ to intently talk about nothing. Going to Texarkana or Marshall was a trip to the big city for me. That is where you went if you really wanted to impress your date. There are so many stories that could be told about those growing up years. Most of them are probably not fit for a blog of this nature. My life was not spent in a bubble until I somehow mysteriously became "holy." Not only do I know where the bodies are buried in my town, it may be that I assisted in putting some there!

Those were great times of bad hair and worse fashion. My town looks nothing like it did back then. Time and the economy tore a huge hole in its soul. The DQ is there but that may be all that remains. The 8-track players are now in museums. It was almost 20 years from the time of my graduation from high school until the next time I walked into my high school. Trophies were dusty while my teachers gave way to my classmates taking their place.

We had a big reunion a few years ago. My daughter went with me. It was great! We both had a blast with my friends and their kids. There were more than a few people I had not seen in 25 years. Some aged better than others. Some looked like their mom or dad. Some did not attend because they lost a battle with life far too early. It could be that we do it again this summer. It would be fun to see them all again.

Ok, so there is no real application tonight other than to reminisce. We will try to be more spiritual tomorrow. We will also try to be earlier tomorrow. No promises as my schedule has me out of pocket for some of the afternoon. But we will try to do better.

Bro. Trey

Ah, another day, another blog to write. You should know that somedays it is far easier to compose something than other days. This is one of those days where it seems to be on the more difficult side. My usual practice is to just start writing to see what comes out. That fact may frighten you a bit. It probably should be a tad unnerving. I know that it makes me wonder for sure. My hope for the blog is still that every so often you can find something that makes you think. Thinking is very underrated in our world. It is one of God's best gifts to us yet far too many stop thinking too soon. We tend to just go with our feelings at any given moment and that can be disastrous. I just want the blog to help you think sometimes in ways that are different. That should be fairly easy seeing that I'm a different breed.

Last night turned out to be a chicken free zone. We ate lasagna at the baptist meeting. The church is very old in terms of when it began. The floor of the fellowship area still has the markings on the floor from when it was a basketball court. To me this is just very cool. But I'm a history guy so that kind of stuff appeals to me. Anyway, we lived through the meeting as well as the lasagna. Next month the meeting is here in Tatum so it was good to do some recon work to scope out the menu. I did hear a really good sermon last night so that was good. It wasn't fancy but just a well thought out message. We don't get many of those anymore.

Most of my day is revolving around reading to get my mind in gear for next Sunday. Reading also includes thinking for me. Asking questions in my brain is a good way to get a handle on what may need to be said. One of my best theology teachers was a divorced, liberal, Catholic history professor. Her view was that if we can not think about or discuss what we believe then perhaps it is not worth believing. She was ahead of her time. That is exactly the way our world looks at faith today. It is also a good explanation for why some see life in general differently than we do. Faith today has to be informed as well as inspired. We need to be able to answer the questions of why, what, who and the like. The day of the simplistic answer has passed us by.

Our students today are way smarter than I ever was. They know more at their age than we did. Not all of this is good but it can be. They think deeply about the big issues of our world. We do not need to shrink from the basics of the faith but we need to know how to communicate to them. Those outside of church also think deep about life. One of the things that I really enjoy is just sitting with people like that who do not know what I do for a living. It seems being a "preacher" can be a real obstacle to normal, human conversation. But when I use my limited skills in conversation while keeping my identity secret it seems people are always willing to talk. You can learn alot just by listening. Asking questions is a huge help to draw out the dialogue also. People usually do not turn off at the topic of faith but you have to be willing to think with them on where they are.

Could it be Jesus was onto something when he dialogued with sinners? Read through the gospels and you see a Savior interested enough in people to talk with them as well as think with them. Yes, he did at times speak pointedly with sinners about their life. We cannot deny that. But, he also models for us how genuine conversation includes thinking, listening and caring. Do not hear this blog as some type of bragging on my skills. God knows there is so much more for me to learn. Just think about it while taking inventory of how you relate to others. Think about it in terms of your relationships with those outside of the church. Think and hope that tomorrow the posting comes easier than today. At least I think I can...I think I can...

Bro. Trey

It can be determined now that I did indeed lose track of how far I ran yesterday. My legs are basically screaming at me today. You can find the story of my Sunday afternoon run/walks in the January 09 section of the blog. It's been a very long time since I missed out on that. Well, I lost count on my laps yesterday while speeding around the high school track. Perhaps it was not really speeding but it was going round and round. My legs are telling me that I added a lap or two to the usual mileage. It was probably looking up at the circling buzzards that distracted me. My best guess is 3 1/4 miles if not 3 1/2 miles yesterday. This is something to learn from at my age. Hopefully by Wednesday I will be ready to return to the running part of exercise.

Most of my afternoon is being spent looking for a very small town here in East Texas. We are having one of our famous Baptist meetings there tonight. The churches in our area get together and share even more reports than we do in the local church. Yes, there is of course food for us to enjoy. The typical meal for such a meeting is either chicken spaghetti or carry out from a local chicken restaurant. My thinking is we may want to serve healthier food at these meetings. Baptist preachers do tend to buy belts that are larger than the norm. Between overeating and the stresses of being a Baptist, we can be very unhealthy. This is why the health insurance from the Baptist headquarters costs an arm and a leg. It is also why my goal is to stay busy working until 70. The sad thing is I am getting far closer to that age than I care to admit.

Also, my social security statement came in the mail today. It seems that now I am worth more dead than alive! The family will be well taken care of should a piece of that chicken go down the wrong way. You should know that more than a few Baptist preachers have to keep working because there is no nest egg for them. We may occasionally have a good bedside manner but we have a nasty habit of not saving for later. I had such a man in my congregation years ago. He was well into his 70s yet needed to work in order to eat. This is one reason why I always encourage my churches to contribute to a cause to help men like this or their families. With $1800 a year we can provide for those who desperately need help.

My intention in posts such as this one is to simply be informative. Sometimes I think being a Baptist preacher is a bit like professional wrestling. We live with illusions we create for a congregation rather than be real. More than a few books are in print concerning the pitfalls of ministry. Articles are written weekly or monthly related to the difficulties of daily church work. Sometimes we ministers will even whisper about this to each other at chicken laden meetings. You just don't always know what goes on behind the curtain. These posts are not meant as complaining or whining. I've learned over the years they are two exercises that do no good. If you read something here about ministry that enables you to understand your pastor better then my job is done. We really are in this thing together. Now if you will excuse me, there is a chicken dinner south of here calling my name.

Bro. Trey

So, what does a young, handsome, successful pastor do with his Sunday night? I don't know either but I can tell you about my night. There were guests at the house tonight so we did some visiting. Then, one of my favorite characters of fiction was on a television movie. Jesse Stone is the fictional police chief of a small town in New England. I enjoyed sitting back and taking in his latest escapades. There is nothing like following along in a good mystery story. Getting lost with familiar characters is a great way to close out the day.

I'd like to think it was a good day. Sometimes it is very difficult from my perspective to tell how a day goes. You can be assured of one promise. No one wants you to have a good day of worship as much as me. Trust me, if the sermon stinks it bothers me more than anyone. When there are glitches along the day then it keeps me up trying to find a way around them. You may think that ministers are content with mediocrity. You would be wrong in that assumption. A healthy minister does indeed give himself primarily to God. But a healthy minister is also not naive about the effect of the ministry on others.

We live with the constant critique of both members and observers. We know what it is like not to measure up the the gifted orator at the big church on television. We hear the whispers about our preaching. We also understand what it is like if our bedside manner is not quite the same as the kindhearted pastor of the past. We know what it is to sit alone in the quiet when well intentioned words leave us wounded by comparisons. We live with the tension of not being able to admit to our hurts while dying bit by bit on the inside. We cannot tell you how we feel. We get the fact that we are to be beyond human in our perfection. We won't ever complain publicly but you can rest assured we are at the best very much human.

None of the above is meant as whining because there are wonderful moments in ministry too. You can't beat today when a two year old boy escaped from Dad to join his sister in Children's Church. The look on his face was priceless as he smiled back at me. He was so proud of his making a run for the door. He did not appreciate being left behind the last time she went without him. It was not happening again. He was still quite proud of himself when I stopped by this afternoon for his sister's birthday party. I was still smiling.

These are the moments that put the more negative issues into perspective. We see churches on television where all goes perfectly. You would think there are no bloopers or outtakes in the programming. Sigh, that is so opposite of my experience. My experience is that we live with fugitive toddlers on the run. We get through services that just sometimes seem off key. Sometimes our sound system screams for one reason or another. Life just tends to happen in church. That's more than ok to me as long as we stay open to God. He can say more in our bloopers than we can imagine. That is why the minister regroups after a stressful Sunday to do it all over again next week. We aren't the performer here. God is the one who we want to be most active in your life. We just want you to know we give our best. The rest is between you and Him.

Bro. Trey