Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

MORTALITY ON THE VIA VENETO

BMMC, Christian Discipleship, History, Master's Commission, Spiritual Growth, , , , , , , , ,

Via VenetoI remember it like it was yesterday.  I was in Rome, Italy.  January 20, 1977.  The day Jimmy Carter was inaugurated President.  I was a 2o year old college student studying abroad.  That may sound a bit Ivy League, but it really wasn’t all that.  I signed up for a Jan-Term archaeology course at Samford University that included a three week trip to Israel and Italy.  “Studying abroad” just sounds cooler.

Our class spent two weeks in Israel seeing the sights and visiting archaeological digs .(Basically, we visited what other people had dug.  Interesting, but not really National Geographic material. We were, however, housed in the cold attic of a three hundred year old church.  That was cool.)  I enjoyed the trip very much.  Just being in the land that Abraham claimed, that David ruled, and that Jesus walked was inspiring enough.  But we got to visit places that regular tourists couldn’t even see.  It was an exhilarating adventure.  I thought about Jesus every single day.  It was quite a spiritual romp for a twenty year old.

One day in Jerusalem was especially memorable. We were strolling through the Valley of Hinnom, on the southeastern side of Jerusalem, just outside the ancient wall. It is a beautiful municipal park now, but in the time of Jesus it was Jerusalem’s garbage dump.  No kidding.  In Jesus’ day it was called Gehenna, where there was always garbage burning and dead animals smouldering and swelling in the hot sun.  Imagine the stench!

Continue reading MORTALITY ON THE VIA VENETO →

GREASY HAIR AND SILLY PRAYER

Biblical Truth, Christian Discipleship, Master's Commission, Spiritual Growth, , , , , ,

IMG_1056It was 1970.  I was 14 years old and needed help with life.  Being the shortest kid in my class was hard enough to handle, but couple that with my inability to excel at anything athletic, and anyone will understand why I needed help.  The eighth grade is ground zero for male insecurity.  Everybody knows that everything matters in the eighth grade– voice, wit, romance, odor, clothes, and especially HAIR.   In 1970 it was a guy’s hair that told his story.  The crew cuts and flat tops of the 50’s and 60’s were history, and guys were finally liberated to look like Jesus– or at least like the Beatles.  The coolest men on TV sported locks of hair down on their shoulders and plenty of facial hair.  Add bell bottom jeans, wide leather belts, and love beads and any guy could possess undisputed coolness.

Unfortunately, I was a 14 year old shrimp with only a little facial fuzz and very traditional parents who thought long hair was a sign of satanic rebellion.  I tried showing Dad multiple pictures of Jesus in my Sunday school quarterly to prove that long hair could be a godly look, but it was of no use.  He wouldn’t even let my hair creep over my ears, much less flow across my shoulders.  We were able to work out a compromise though.  I WAS allowed to wear my hair down on my forehead like Paul McCartney, just so the back was neatly trimmed and the entire ear showed.  He didn’t like my “bangs” hovering over my eyes, but it was a compromise he was willing to accommodate– especially when he noticed how many of my friends were actually chasing the Jesus look, while their parents were obviously looking the other way.  For me it was just the best I could get, even though I looked like a clean cut guy with love beads and a brown possum resting on my forehead.

Continue reading GREASY HAIR AND SILLY PRAYER →

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR $20

Biblical Truth, BMMC, Christian Discipleship, Master's Commission, Spiritual Growth, , , , ,

Version 2Jesus is Lord. Lord of All  Period. Settled. Done. Nothing will ever change that.  But the question is, “Is He Lord of You?”

This, of course, is a statement that I have heard preached and taught since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  I heard it at least once at every youth camp, every youth revival, and every retreat that I ever attended, and I have taught it at least a thousand times myself since I have been in ministry.

But don’t become deaf to it.  There’s no place for jaded disciples.  It must be an important truth for so many to have made it a priority all these years.  In the English New Testament the word “Lord” appears 618 times– of which Jesus is personally addressed as “Lord” or “my Lord” 249 times.  It’s a big word and a big concept.  It’s synonyms are master, ruler, commander, and “one who exercises absolute ownership rights.”  Absolute ownership.  That’s big.

Doesn’t it seem odd to claim that He is Lord of ALL, without being MY Lord?   How does that make any sense?   Follow my logic.

Continue reading IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR $20 →

NEO-NATAL MELTDOWN

Biblical Truth, Christian Discipleship, Spiritual Growth, , , ,

In my more than thirty years of pastoral partnership with Ron Cox at Kingwood Church, my mind has amassed dozens of humorous stories that we experienced together in ministry. I learned quickly to “expect the unexpected” when working with Pastor Ron. He is like a lightning rod, attracting bizarre and unpredictable strikes in his direction. It’s not that terrible things occur when he’s around, but that hanging around Ron Cox sometimes opens the door to rare adventures—usually originating from life’s most common circumstances.

extreme preemieOne of those “never to be forgotten” moments occurred when Pastor Ron and I were doing routine hospital visits one hot, summer afternoon in downtown Birmingham. We had made a trip to the UAB Hospital’s state-of-the-art neo-natal unit to visit a sick child. While we were there we discovered that one of our church members was a specialty nurse on the unit. She was eager to show us around her workplace, and even allowed us minister to some of the families who were desperately hoping for their tiny loved ones to get well. The quick visit turned into a long and busy ministry opportunity which we welcomed with open arms.

Just before we left, the nurse took us to the part of the unit where the most delicate premature birth babies were struggling for survival. Both Ron and I were moved by the tiny children we saw gasping for breath and fighting for their lives in the incubators. One of them had been born so prematurely that his razor thin skin was nearly transparent. We could actually see his internal organs, and watched his tiny heart beat like it was under opaque glass. The neo-natal nursery was amazing.

Continue reading NEO-NATAL MELTDOWN →

3 THINGS THAT ONLY GOD CAN DO

BMMC, Christian Discipleship, Spiritual Growth, , , ,

Screen-Shot-2016-02-04-at-11.14.53-PMWorship music is powerful. When I first heard Vertical Church Band’s “Spirit of the Living God” a few months ago, I knew immediately that it had made a permanent impact on me. There are a few worship songs in the past that have done that—songs like Chris Tomlin’s “Good, Good, Father” and Kari Jobe’s “You Are For Me.”  Earlier it was Hillsong’s “Shout to the Lord” that held the top spot. Before that it was Keith Green’s “Make My Life A Prayer to You,” and Chuck Girard’s “Abba Father.” I even remember the impact “Oh My Jesus” by Ron Salisbury had on me as a teen.

Those were songs that I would listen to over and over, and sing in my mind all day long. I let them push me and move me toward a deeper personal relationship with Jesus. Everything in my life was touched by them—my prayers, my thoughts, my ideas, and even my vocabulary. “Spirit of the Living God” did that to me when I heard it.  As the wellspring of this blog post, it is echoing in my soul. I am especially fond of these lyrics in the chorus:

‘Cause when You speak. and when You move; 

When You do what only You can do

It changes us, it changes what we see, and what we seek.

I have mulled over the full meaning of those lyrics for some time now, and here is my take.  God, and God alone, is “placed above” and “set apart” from anyone or anything else, because there are some things that “only He can do.”

Continue reading 3 THINGS THAT ONLY GOD CAN DO →