The End is Near/The Beginning is Near

The journey that began a little over 8 months ago is about to come to an end.  Kristy is almost 37 weeks pregnant and her belly looks like an overfilled balloon.  She’s still beautiful though.  Her eyes sparkle, her smile makes my heart soar, her laughter fills me with joy.

It’s been an interesting journey.  The first trimester was filled with the sound of Kristy vomiting every morning and being tired every evening.  The second trimester she felt much better physically, but we worried a lot then, wondering if anything would go wrong.  This last trimester has seen us at the doctor’s office on a regular basis.  Kristy has had elevated levels of amniotic fluid that caused the doctor a little bit of concern.  It seems everything is ok as we head toward the finished line.

I’m as excited as a 4 year old on Christmas morning.  I’m also as nervous as a man about to jump out of an airplane without a parachute.  We have 4 children, but we’ve never done this part of it before (our other 4 kids are adopted).  I have been told what to expect and people have tried to encourage me by promising that I wouldn’t pass out during the delivery.  I’ll believe that when I see it.

Of course, after the birth we will have a new little life that depends on us.  To be honest, I often feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of being a good, godly father to my kids.  They look up to me for guidance and for love.  Sometimes I don’t feel up to the challenge, but I keep trying any way.  I pray that they will always know that I love them and that they can turn to me with any problem that they might have.

Life is exciting with plenty of twists and turns.  Thank God for His awesome blessings.

Franklin Graham’s Boldness

Being bold about your beliefs is difficult.  You must have a thick-skin when it comes to criticism and you can not be afraid about what someone may do to you because of what you say. 

Franklin Graham is holding a Festival in Knoxville on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend any of these meetings.  I have kept up with the best that I can and, if this article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/26/thousands-watch-bands-listen-graham-accept-christ-/) is a good indicator, then Franklin does not lack in boldness. 

I appreciate his ministry and his words and pray that the response will be great to the messages that are shared.

Baptisms Down–Surprised?

Here is a link to a Knoxville News-Sentinel article about the decline in baptisms for the Southern Baptist Convention – http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/25/southern-baptist-membership-baptisms-decline-2007/.

In looking at the article and comments that follow, it is easy to come up with a conclusion that it must be the fault of the Christians.  It must be because we do not do a good enough job of living out what we claim to believe.  I agree with this to a point–so much so that I wrote a column in the paper about it last year.  Here is the link:  http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/jun/10/an-apology/.  I received a lot of feedback after this column and enjoyed corresponding with those who agreed and disagreed.

But, there is another reason that has little to do with how believers behave.  Jesus tells us that if He is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself.  When He said this it indicated Him being hung on a cross.  It also indicates that if we lift Him in our lives that people will be drawn to Him.  However, there are no promises that everyone will believe or stay with Him.

During Jesus’ ministry, He continually spoke truth, some of it being considered “hard truths.”  Occassionally, after hearing these hard truths, people who followed Him stopped and left to go back to their homes.  The message that Jesus is the only way is divisive and causes many to reject Jesus and in turn reject those that follow Him.

Truthfully, we shouldn’t be surprised when the Gospel is rejected.  We live in an era where there are numerous defenses readily available to anyone who wants to justify their beliefs and reject Jesus.  What would should be amazed at is that there are still people who become followers of Jesus.  He still saves and it is still a miracle when someone gives over their will to His will. 

Those of us who believe in Jesus and have put our trust in Him need to be sincere followers of Him.  However, even when we do this there will be those who will reject the message that could set them free.  All we can do is try to emulate Jesus as closely as possible and allow Him to do the work of drawing people to the truth of who He is.

A Dash of Sarcasm

Because Noelle (age 6) is adopted, she has no physical traits passed on to her from me.  Sure, we look a little alike, the way that a lot of people do.  What resemblance there is has nothing to do with my genes though.  However, there are other things that I have passed on to her, like my sarcasm.

This is not necessarily a trait that I am proud of.  Taken in small doses, though, it is not too bad.  I have seen this in Noelle a few times, but the dash of sarcasm she used recently may be a precusor of things to come.

When Kristy picked Noelle up from school on Friday, the 3 boys where in the Expedition with her.  When she got in a buckled up, she heard Bradley (age 5) singing a song from The Backyardigans to the top of his lungs. 

Noelle:  Did you watch Backyardigans today Bradley?

Bradley:  No (and he kept singing).

Noelle:  So, it is Happy Singing Moron Day or something?

Kristy tried not to laugh, but to no avail.  Lord help us as she gets closer to the teenage years.

Celebration Sunday at Stoney Point Baptist Church

You are invited to Celebration Sunday at Stoney Point Baptist Church.  Some of you have indicated that you would like to visit the church that I pastor.  If so, this Sunday would be a fantastic time for you to join us.

From 9am to 9:45 am, you can come to a free continental breakfast in our fellowship hall and get to know some of us.  Then at 9:45 am, we will have Sunday School classes for all ages.  I know that it is sometimes scary to come to a new class, but we will do our best to make you feel welcome.  After Sunday School, we have our usual Worship Celebration at 11 am.  We hope that you will join us as you are to experience God as He is.

That evening at 5 pm, you are invited to come back to the fellowship hall for pizza and togetherness.  After that, at 6 pm, we will meet up in the sanctuary to watch the movie “Flywheel.” 

God is good and full of love.  We try to be the same, though we fail sometimes and have to rely on grace.  We would love to meet you and hope to see you there.

The church is located at 1980 Stony Point Road in Knoxville.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Weighty Issues

For a while, I was blogging about my weight on a weekly basis.  Frankly, that became as boring and tedious and listening to Al Gore.  In addition, I found myself obsessing about my weight because of it.  This is one of the reasons that my weight-loss experiments have failed in the past.  So I decided to blog once a month about it and that’s it.

At the end of March, I weighed 315 pounds, which means I have lost 17 pounds in 3 months.  This is one pound short of the goal.  I’m going to keep after it, though.  Please keep praying.  I’m tired of being a fatty.

Tombstone

I have a favorite t-shirt.  It was given to me by Linda Durham, a wonderful lady who is like your favorite grandmother, only a touch cooler.  She was at a worship conference for seniors when she saw this shirt and felt she had to get it for me.  On the back is the quote “Live your life so the preacher doesn’t have to lie at your funeral.” 

When I was putting this shirt on yesterday, I thought a morbid thought.  Morbid thoughts come to me on occasion.  I’m not creeped out by them.  Rather, I welcome them.  It is in thinking about death that I see better how I should live.

I thought for a few moments on what I would like the theme of my funeral sermon to be.  Many funerals have themes, though they may not be perceptible to people who have never spoken at one.  One theme may be the love that the deceased had for his/her family.  Another theme may be the dedication the deceased showed to his/her church.

I think a good theme would be “Flawed but faithful.”  That pretty much sums up how I try to live life, anyway. 

I’m a messed up person.  I don’t have a problem admitting that because we are all messed up.  We all have our own idiosyncracies, sins, and strange behaviors.  Some are easier to see than others, but that does not mean that they are nonexistant. 

I am often too harsh with my children.  I don’t always listen to my family with great enthusiasm.  I can become self-absorbed in a flash.  I worry far too frequently.  And I have a short attention span. 

Those are just a few of my issues.  There is not enough space to list them all.  Of course, you have pletny of problems as well.  We all do. 

The thing that we should strive for then is to be faithful even though we are flawed.  I’m not the best husband or father in the world, but I am faithful to my family.  I’m trying to improve.  I’m not the best pastor or preacher out there, but I give all I can to remain faithful to my calling.  I’m as flawed as the next person, but I have faith that God knows what He is doing.  So I give up my life daily to the One who can transform me to be the man I was made to be.

That is what being “flawed but faithful” is really all about.  Hopefully you are on this journey with me.  It’s a great ride.

Big is Beautiful

We went to the doctor today for another ultrasound.  We’re having them quite frequently now because Kristy has elevated levels of amniotic fluid.  This means there is a chance of pre-term labor as well as other problems.  The doctor does not think anything bad will happen, it is just a precautionary measure.

Today marks week 34 of pregnancy, but Mary Hope is measuring at 37 weeks and Kristy is measuring as 40 weeks.  Mary Hope’s estimated current weight is 7 lbs.  Yes–you read that correctly.  From what I have been told, a baby gains about 1/2 pound a week in the final trimester.  This means that if Kristy carries the baby to term, she should weigh about 10 pounds. 

This is not too far off of what I weighed at birth (9 lbs. 8 1/2 ounces).  From the 3-D ultrasounds (which are really amazing), it looks like she will have chunky cheeks and be rather plump.  I hope to find a “onesy” that says “Big is Beautiful.” 

It truly is awe-inspiring to be able to place my hand on Kristy’s belly and feel Mary Hope kicking and moving. I can even feel when she has the hiccups.

I thank God for the opportunity to be able to go through the process of having a child the natural way.  We have been blessed with 4 wonderful children and to be able to do this after waiting so long is such a blessing.

Please keep praying as we go through these next few weeks. 

 

Long Time, No Blog

It’s been a while since my last entry–a lot of things going on and not a lot of extra time/energy to keep up with this.  So–here are a few “quick hits.”

1.  Pregnancy is still going well.  Kristy is feeling awfully tired (as well as feeling bigger and bigger).  We’ve gotten a few recent ultrasound picures recently and go for more tomorrw.  Kristy thinks that Mary Hope looks like me–lucky girl.

2.  Our other kids are doing great.  They helped a lot in the yard this evening, picking up sticks so I could mow. 

3.  Everything is going well at church.  God is really blessing us–one accepted Jesus as her savior this past Sunday. 

4.  My quest to lose weight is still going on.  I finished the month of March at 315.  That is a 17 pound drop from my starting weight of 332.  The average weight loss I was shooting for was 6 pounds a month, which I have almost hit.

Overall, life is good; because God is good.