Tragedy arrived today in my part of Texas.  One of our hospitals went into crisis mode after a young man pulled a knife then began stabbing people around him.  It seems as if he experienced some type of breakdown while waiting for his mother to have a procedure.  Some visitors in the waiting area were injured while a nurse lost her life in the incident.  Part of my job takes me in and out of that hospital on occasion.  Most of this area is in some level of shock tonight.  Many may wonder how something this awful can occur two days prior to Thanksgiving. 

My focus is not on how it may happen but what do we do about it.  Grief is a complicated matter in it's easiest day.  No amount of information can fully prepare you to enter into such a journey.  Variables to the grief adventure are as many as the events that cause it.  Just because we are in a holiday season does not mean we are immune.  This is one of the huge truths some overlook or give little thought.  People carry around some measure of grief that gets amplified during this season.  I probably wrote about this before but it's worth revisiting.

I always say to my congregation that we need to be mindful of those who lost loved ones as we go through these days.  The part we often forget is this will be true of almost every person we see.  I could name those who are facing their first holiday time without a significant member of their family.  Others may still struggle with losses from years gone by.  Now you see how this includes everyone of us.  I know yesterday brought to mind some important losses over the years.  Twenty years later that reality still causes me pain.  Can we do anything about it?

There is no simple formula for getting around those feelings.  One idea may be to learn gratitude that you did know the person who is absent.  They are a part of who you are to this day.  We also are reminded to bring our lives to God for His comfort.  There is something unique about His presence that outweighs any logic or information we seek to help us through.  God often promises peace to us as a gift.  We take that for granted sometimes.  You do not need peace when you can handle it by yourself.  These are moments when we draw near to God only to find He is longing to draw close to us.  And that is a lesson more of us could stand to learn.

Bro. Trey

Perhaps the highlight of my career is the time spent with children.  They always keep me entertained.  It might be more accurate that my time is spent trying to entertain them.  Last weekend is an example of that.  I began to lead our Sunday evening gathering while a toddler explored our choir area.  He was just trying out different chairs as he found one that fit him.  Did we mention he was also a fast little guy while trying to catch him?  So we stood to start our service together.  The daft old man holding one who is just beginning his journey.


This was our annual Thanksgiving service which included a fellowship meal afterward.  Another young buddy wanted me to sit with his family.  He just celebrated his birthday where he turned 3.  I sat between him and his younger brother who showered me with cracker crumbs.  Such is the life of one so popular with kids. I often say that I am good with children and animals.  It's the rest of humanity that gives me problems. 

Children retain their innocence.  They have a limitless life ahead of them.  Hearts of children are not yet poisoned by those things that taint us as adults.  Odds are good that I will not ever write a great book, or be famous, or even get noticed much.  But to do good in the life of a child will guarantee your legacy can continue.  To be a good parent is the best job anyone can have.  To model the life of Jesus who drew children to His side is a part of discipleship that lasts a lifetime or more.

Bro. Trey

We are entering the holiday season full force now.  Here is another year for us to try our best to get ready.  Perhaps some people actually get to a point where they are fully prepared but that is usually not my story.  My tendency is to find myself sometime in early January wondering where it all went.  This is one of the realities of life it seems.  We get so involved in what is going on in our world we cannot fully appreciate the gift of the moment.  I would say that sums up these last few weeks or months.  The calendar tells me of the busyness of that time but it is easy to miss all of the blessing.

We began a journey sometime in July that took us down paths never explored.  It all started innocently enough with a simple effort to offset the usual summer slump.  We just now concluded a four day revival emphasis that rotated among the four churches in our area.  No one can locate any record of this ever occurring in our town.  Not only did we meet every few weeks as a community but we also came together for revival.  It may well be that just this one event is a mark of God's activity in our midst.

My congregation also focused our attention on a strategy from the Billy Graham organization.  Our focus was to reach out to those who are unchurched.  It was a good time to do studies or sermons related to this topic.  My thought is it was also a good time to ask how are we doing in relating to such people.  Our results were mixed.  Maybe some got a little humility in realizing how poorly they do in genuine relating to the lost or unchurched.  We did see some results as a few made a conscious effort to share their faith.  God always seems to bless such endeavors beyond our immediate goal.  Right now my hope is to think or pray through all we did in evaluation.  Doing outreach is the norm of spiritual health and not the exception.

Now we shift to the holiday schedule.  Balancing between evaluation and seeking direction for the new year is a fine line at best.  Yet this is my hope for the next six weeks or so.  We cannot always be looking to the past but we cannot ignore it either.  Always looking forward sounds good but one can overlook important factors if that is all we do.  We learn to let go of the past because it has no desire to turn loose of us.  Thanksgiving is a matter of days away.  Christmas surely waits on no one.  Don't miss out on blessings from being distracted by demands.  Learn to enjoy each day as you uncover its riches of grace.  That would indeed be worth celebrating.

Bro. Trey