Saturday, June 30, 2012

How Many Times???


In the Gospel of Matthew Peter approached Jesus and asked how many times he should forgive some one and then said “As many as seven times?”

Peter wanted to know the limits of forgiveness. How far does a follower of Jesus need to go in tolerating and reconciling with those who sin against him? Peter very likely thought that seven times was very generous as the law only required the Hebrews to forgive an offender three times.

It is tempting for us to want to say to someone who is irritating us: “Sorry, but you have used up the number of times that I am required to forgive you.”

Jesus teaches us that since there is no limit to God’s forgiveness of us, then we need to forgive others without limit as well. As long as someone asks us for forgiveness we are to forgive. Remember that in the Lord’s Prayer we pray to God to forgive us in the same was we forgive others. As I count the number of times that I have the opportunity to forgive another child of God I am in awe of this part of the Lord’s Prayer and the teachings of Jesus on forgiveness.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Miss-Quotes




Political ads are creeping in to all kind of unsuspecting places. Both sides are doing it so there is lots of blame to spread around. On a social media site there have been what at first looks like quotes from President Abraham Lincoln. The wording however is very modern English and sounds like a certain political view.  

This is nothing new as people have put words in the mouths of long dead people who can not defend themselves for thousands of years. People write down things they wished the ancient hero had said and apply it as a quote. Then others copy and reuse the miss-quote until it seems real.

One very ancient miss-quote is people say that the bible says; “God helps those who help themselves.” That is no where to be found in the bible but a lot of people believe that it is because it has been miss-quoted so often. We want to believe these things so we accept them with out checking and pass them on as real.

In this political season with the country so divided and so far apart we need to be aware and do a lot of  fact checking. Before I use or repost anything I need to ask my self, “Is this real?”   It may very well be what I want to be real but if it is not real I should not pass it along. 

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Life Changing Moments




Father’s Day had me thinking about the births of my darling daughters. Both of them were life changing moments for me. I have not been the same person since.

The year was 1969 the day that the first men to land on the moon splashed down on July 24th a momentous day. We lived in Smithville Texas where I was Pastor at First Christian Church. At one minute after midnight Katherine Ann Groh came screaming into the world. No doubt indignant at being evicted from her comfortable abode for the previous nine months. When the nurse handed her to me she was still screaming. I looked into her beautiful eyes and my life changed. I said, “It is alright Katherine your daddy loves you.” She became quiet and looked up at me and smiled.

Now I had known that I would be a parent/father but at that moment I became a daddy. As I looked at her all I could think of was to be the best daddy for her that I could be. It was not always easy but that is still my goal to this day. She is now a mother of my adult grandson William and I am very proud of my eldest darling daughter.

My youngest darling daughter was born in Fort Worth where I was in Seminary at Texas Christian University. It was Christmas Eve of 1972 and her mother went into labor and after the Christmas Eve service we headed to the hospital. Laura Lea Groh was born one minute before midnight. These two are sisters in many ways but Laura was quiet from the beginning. When I held her for the first time it was the same feeling as before. Here was a girl that depended on me to be the best daddy possible. I felt the love and adoration for her and still do. As I told her how much I loved her I felt an intense sense of pride she was now a part of my life.

One of my dedications to my baby daughters was to be the kind of daddy that when they became adults they would be happy to be my daughters and that our relationship would be filled with love and joy. They changed my life and I am the better man for it.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Accepting and Offering Forgiveness



As those forgiven by God, we are called to exercise forgiveness. 

As those grace by God, we are called to extend grace. 

Sometimes we ourselves have the greatest need for forgiveness and grace to experience freedom. We may struggle with accepting God’s forgiveness or offering forgiveness to another precisely because we have never been able to forgive ourselves. We know it is the same with grace:  we find it hard to struggle with grace because we find it hard to extend grace to ourselves and others.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Of Love and Lust


Of Love and Lust

Love can sneak up and take us by surprise at any encounter with another person. It is basic human nature when hormones start surging. If both individuals are adult, single, and willing you can let passion can take control. The same feelings are true for lust and the two are closely related. There are a great many people who sadly can not tell the difference.

Those who are married, in a committed relationship or under vows of celibacy need to be able to tell the difference and have the self discipline to control both. With lust you can let the moment pass and as soon as the object of lust is out of sight the energy is gone. Love on the other hand is much more difficult to deal with and takes more awareness. Love lingers in the heart and mind for a long long time.

Love is a good emotion and can be very healthy if dealt with appropriately. You can love a great many people with good boundaries for the expression of that love. The love of a good friend does not need to lead to sex nor interfere with a comment. Awareness, self-discipline, and honesty about your feelings will make the difference. 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Remembering Sermons



Pastors like to think that people remember and cherish every word of those carefully crafted sermons we work hard on each week. A good preacher spends an hour in preparation for each minute he or she preaches. A little secret is that most pastors do not remember last week’s sermon either.

Memory is a fuzzy thing. Try to remember what you had for lunch a week ago Wednesday? Most of us can’t do it. How ever though the memory of what we ate is gone but the nourishment from what we ate is now part of us.
So too with the sermons we hear our memory of titles may fade as we walk out the church door but the spiritual nurture remains to feed us.

I am sometimes pleasantly surprised when years later some one tells me about a sermon I delivered and don’t remember myself.  I stand up to preach and it is an act of faith that God will use my words to touch someone.

What was the last sermon you remember?

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Criticism is Hard!


Criticism is hard! Most of us don’t like to be criticized and we feel bad when it happens. We have to admit that sometimes we deserve it and sometimes we don’t and I am not sure which hurts the most. My personal problem is that I tend to respond much too quickly when I should take the time to cool down and evaluate my part of it.

There are some differences between Criticism, Critique, and Evaluation. Criticism is usually sharp and says, “I don’t like what you did or said.” It is an expression of displeasure from one person to the other. It is most often received badly and does little good. In fact it is often counter productive.

A Critique is a step up from criticism though the two words stem from the same root. A critique can be either positive or negative and often both. It too can say something went wrong so let’s discuss the possibilities for correction. This is an approach that is often lost in our society.

As a Toastmaster I am very much into evaluation as a tool to help one another improve our lives, work and progress. It usually starts with here is what went well and is followed with here is one way to improve on this. Always it is followed up with appreciation for the effort.

As a mayor of a small city I am in a position of no matter what I do some people will be happy and some will be very unhappy by the same action. Some of those who are unhappy will remember for a long time but that is just the way it is. What I have to constantly work on myself about is how do I respond? Sometimes even when I try to have a cool down period the other party is impatient and demands an immediate response. When I fall for that I am usually not going to give a good well thought out answer. We are still a work in progress. Lord help me!