Living a long time has its share of ups and downs.  Since my journey explored the options of a shorter stay on the planet let me just say the longer path works just fine.  But you will find every so often all types of intersections between the past and the present.  I found out yesterday that the clinic and hospital where my dad worked for twelve years is closing.  This facility is in a small town with not much economy to count.  My memory is of a thriving practice where the beds were filled constantly.  Things do change and years ago a regional healthcare system bought out the buildings.  No doubt there were all types of differences over the last few years from my experience growing up there.  Now the parent company will be closing all of the doors for good.

Grief happens to us not just when someone dies.  We do not always recognize the many facets of loss that occur regularly.  I left that town three decades ago.  My dad also left about that time to practice elsewhere.  My ties to the hospital are only in my mind.  What this piece of news does is bring back a flood of images from years ago.  I also do regret the practical loss of services in that area.  Good people will have to find work in other medical outlets because of this.  Maturity does allow me to look beyond my selfish interest in this news.  But to be honest about the whole thing I can say it is the end of an era in my hometown.

This complex saw lots of babies drawing their first breath there.  Even my sister was born up on the hill years ago.  I also saw death at an early age while growing up in that town.  Some drew their last breath within those walls.  Relationships were so much of what I did when wandering around waiting on my dad.  There were people in the offices to visit with.  Some of my classmates had parents doing various jobs there.  This is where I got my shots, had various ailments treated and once had a single piece of a beanbag chair washed from my ear.  So many of my friends grew out of that business of providing healthcare to a small town.  What is an economic decision for a parent company hits home to me.

We would be wise to accept that grief is not limited to death.  Growing older means dealing with that conflict between memory and reality.  You also face loss when the kids get older, moves are made or at any time life changes.  Growing as you travel in this world will call us to attention always.  We are very much who we are because of our past.  But it is true we can be who we are by God's presence seeing us through.  My heart does hurt from this news.  Reality says that pain cannot keep us from moving on to the next place.  Who we are along with where we go is contingent on how we draw near to God.  He never closes down or leaves us on our own no matter how old we become.

Bro. Trey

I truly miss it when there is no blogging.  My problem is not with having ideas for writing but with making the time to put it down.  2014 is becoming a hectic year so far with the various stuff that I do daily.  But if anyone reads or stumbles across this place then let me say that we are going to be consistent in writing.  I need it as a tool to help me think through ideas and such.  My time management is so much better than ever but this is one area that got left out lately.  So let's begin with something on the controversial side just for the fun of it.

Maybe it's just me but it sure seems like more and more people are coming out as gay lately.  I sometimes wonder if there is a race somewhere for people to state their own preferences.  Actors, athletes and other public figures come out almost daily now.  It's enough to make you wonder if we are missing something amid all the hurrah.  Maybe people are realizing what they prefer but I also wonder if there is pressure to make such statements.  We now have a gay basketball player active in the NBA.  Another athlete hopes to make his mark in the NFL draft.  No doubt a few more will declare their identity before this week ends.

We in the church face pressures with all of this uproar.  Critics will accuse us of using hate speech should we not fall in line with the culture.  Even a nuanced and generous view of scripture is immediately designated hate speech if it does not affirm the gay lifestyle.  The irony is people then hate the traditional Christian for believing in scripture as they say we are haters.  I do not believe we need to apologize for an honest approach to scripture that does not affirm such behavior.  But there is a huge need for us to evaluate how we say what we believe.  This is not yielding up to culture to me.  Saying that we do not believe scripture approves of the gay agenda is well within our rights.  But if we are to gain a conversation with those that disagree will call for some serious praying and thinking.  We tend to avoid doing either if at all possible.

It does not matter to me one bit should an athlete succeed while being homosexual.  Part of that is my libertarian leaning but the other part is that being gay is not at the core of the issue.  Should this draft hopeful become a star is not going to change my thought on scripture.  We also have to come to grips with moving past genuine hate that does flavor far too much of what we say on the topic.  These are real life people with all of the faults that trouble any individual.  Using labels or calling people names is not going to be a satisfactory solution.  Our hearts need to be radically honest about our faults before we begin tossing around ugly words.  What would be my response if someone close to me came out as gay?  Can my mind and heart find grace to accept without sacrificing my faith?  It is easy to throw out labels at those we do not know until it hits home in a concrete fashion.

Jesus dealt with sinners of His day in far different methods than we tend to do.  He is very much honest with them about their sin.  No one can say Jesus had His head in the sand when it came to the culture.  But there is always a huge amount of grace in those conversations.  He seems less concerned with behavior than in belonging to God in that grace we often sing about.  Can we really preach that same gospel while driving people away from the grace they so desperately need?  My concern with all of this recent coming out is less about the lifestyle as it is about people needing the Lord.  Our first calling is to point sinners to a Savior who loves more than we normally realize.  Every single person on this planet needs to grasp just who Jesus is without all of the stigma we can add to Him.  Jesus died for my sins even if they aren't as out there as for some people.  But we do know the blood and the cross reminds us how much Jesus cares.  May we someday grow closer to that love than we toss out labels.

Bro. Trey

There just are no words to describe today.  But we will continue on and try to find some appropriate exposition.  We had an experience unlike any here in my nearly fourteen years of ministry.  Power went out all over our town this morning.  It was indeed not more than two minutes into my message.  We did pay our light bill but my guess is an animal or human being had an accident with a transformer.  There was a blink followed by a last gasp of electricity failing in our building.  Darkness reigned literally for the rest of the service. 

The first issue was regaining composure as we adjusted to a lack of light.  I knew the message would be intentionally brief.  Why would we cut back on the sermon you ask?  I fully grasped we had kids in the nursery that would not tolerate these conditions for long.  Adults going into mutiny is one thing but our workers deserve some understanding of the situation.  So we began shaving away all extra to the material to bring it down to about twenty minutes.  All affected seem to be grateful.

We could make the obvious point about a church not having power but it would be too easy.  I do wonder if we notice the lack of electricity more than we do spiritual power in the service?  Our churches today are so dependent on technology and such to keep us involved as we go through a service.  That is not usually a major complaint but merely a reality.  God's servants in scripture knew more of His power than we care to admit.  We can duplicate the sounds and sights of those moments with all of our gadgets.  But it will always be more imitation than the real deal.

I did read of a large church in the South that has regular studies with only the most bare of technology.  Being as close as possible to the climate of mission churches in poor countries.  Only a few songs are performed if any followed by extensive study from the Bible.  Reports are positive even during a time without all of the bells and whistles.  My guess is most congregations would not do quite as well in that effort.  Now we do not have to copy that approach just to be spiritual.  You still have to wonder how much of what we do still exists due to divine power.

We start again in the morning to get ready for next Sunday.  The technology should be working again.  But will we have any more of God active in our midst?

Bro. Trey