I’m getting an email again that was first sent to me at least a couple of years ago. It’s about a boy who was walking home from school with all of this books and supplies on a Friday. A classmate saw him and wondered why anyone would carry so much home on the weekend when he saw some other kids start bullying the boy with all the books. The classmate goes over to help the boy and walks home with him just being friendly. That strikes up a friendship that remains through high school. The book boy is the valedictorian and gives the commencement address and tells the story of his friend helping him on that day revealing his plans were to go home that day and commit suicide. He was carrying all of his stuff so his mom wouldn’t have to go clean out his locker but the classmate, in an act of compassion, changed his desire. The point of the story is how one person can make a difference.

It’s a touching email but the story is more than just touching. We may never know when a person is at their lowest or on their way there and we may never know when a single act of kindness or compassion can change the course of someone’s life – but it can happen. As Christians, our actions may not only save some mortal problem, it might just lead someone to eternal life with God and it can all be started with the simplest of actions.

I spent a good bit of yesterday hunting pheasant near the Red River. I didn’t get as many opportunities to shoot as I would have liked but I never do but it was a fun day spent with two good friends. I enjoy my days hunting and fishing because it takes me into God’s handiwork and I spend some time slowing down and seeing the wonders of His hand.

Last night, I had another opportunity to speak to our youth group and I am always thankful for that. I’ve mentioned before that speaking to a group of 13-18 year olds worries more than speaking to 40 year olds because I’m speaking to the future. I pray my words help them find their way to God.
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Obama’s preacher was on TV today. Wow. I can’t imagine if similar words came out of our pulpit. I appreciate the fact that I don’t understand what it’s like to live in “black America” as one lady described it on TV but when someone stands in a pulpit and damns America, the tone I hear isn’t one of reconciliation but continued division.

The preacher won’t affect my vote one bit but it does make me question how the divide between black and white will ever be eliminated when I hear his words.

Do you know a lonely person? It’s a group of people I feel for. I guy who used to work for us was separated from his wife for a time and I really thought he might go crazy he was so lonely. Another man who works for us now strikes me as being a lonely person. He and I often talk about hunting and where all the quail have gone but he is very guarded when asked anything personal and says little about what he does with his time now. I hope I’m wrong and he’s doing great but I feel for him today because I believe he is lonely.

One of the joys we should find in God is never being alone but I know in my life, I have often tried to keep my distance from God while I wallowed in whatever emotion that was prevalent at the time. It wasn’t that God didn’t want to be near me but that I was attempting to keep my distance from God. I think a lot of loneliness, sorrow, hatred, fear, self-pity and every other emotion could be alleviated from my life if I would always be searching for God instead of turning away from Him.

My hope today is that I will seek Him every day, every hour, every minute and draw Him closer to me instead of doing the opposite.

My son and I headed to Chickasha, OK last Friday for a cold weekend. I went Friday to tour the plant of one of our manufacturers and then my son was playing baseball over the weekend. The team didn’t fare so well but I felt like my son had a good tournament and was happy to see him playing again. It was collllddddddddd. All day Saturday and Sunday morning I was bundled up with thermals, turtleneck, sweatshirt and coat, gloves and beanie (that’s what they call ’em these days) and I was still cold. Sunday afternoon finally saw some sun and upper-50 degree temperatures.

Sunday morning, we met in a hotel room with another family to sing, pray and read God’s Word. I couldn’t help but think what the early church was like – maybe just a few families studying the Word, singing – maybe not the prettiest but with hearts attuned to God, and prayers lifted up by young and old. In some ways, I felt a closeness to God I don’t always feel in a big group. In a small group, you’re either plugged in and invested or you’re on the outside looking in. Please don’t misunderstand, I am not criticizing our big facilities and large numbers but simply saying I enjoyed the time we had Sunday, just a few of us, everyone participating and all focused on our wonderful Lord.

I’m reviewing a software system for one of our entities named Total Control. It will supposedly give me total control over everything we need to do to make the company successful. As I sat in class last night thinking about my relationship with God, I thought it funny that the idea behind the software is often the idea behind how I try to run my life – with total control. Over the years, I think I’ve done a better job of letting God be in control, trusting that He will guide me through my days but I still find myself in situations where I rush to make a decision instead of stepping back and praying for/waiting on guidance.

I want to give God the control. It doesn’t mean I won’t make decisions, but instead, that I will make decisions based on His desire for me instead of my desire for myself. I want to surrender my will, my ego, my ways for His will, His love and His ways. I only want to make one decision on my own – to follow God and walk in His paths.

In my conversation with an 11 year old about the election last night, I was told that voting for one of the Democrats was bad because they were for abortion. He wondered if one of the Democrats was elected President, would there be more abortion. While we discussed the idea that the thing a President can do to affect legalized abortion is being able to place a Supreme Court Justice on the court who would uphold the current ruling, we also discussed what impact a wave of people who had decided to live more Christ-like would have.

For years, I have looked at politicians to uphold moral dignity for this country but for me, it’s becoming more clearly focused that politicians only do what they believe the people want them to do. Having a Baptist preacher or a Mormon or an agnostic for President want make much difference in the morality of the country if the people of the country want to live a certain way. All that to say, each day I am realizing that the more I can live a Christ-like life and affect someone else to live that way…well, it’s like that hair commercial from a few years ago where one lady used the shampoo, liked it and told someone and that person told two people and the good news about the shampoo grew exponentially.

I still believe picking a good person for President (or any elected office) is important but not near as important as me living in God’s will every day and hopefully setting a good example for someone else to live in God’s will and they affect two people and those two each affect two people and so on. Can you imagine what would happen to abortion if 50% of our country lived in God’s will everyday? What would happen to drug use, alcohol abuse, hatred?

While this may sound idealistic, I believe it to be truth. You and I can have as big or bigger an impact on changing the world today than our President. The question is, will I live to change it for the better or worse?

Today’s the day Texas gets to play in the political scene. I’ve lost my appetite for election coverage over the past few years but I think tonight I will likely be watching the TV and keeping up with what is happening. While I will vote for neither Clinton nor Obama, I will be most interested in seeing which one pulls out the victory in Texas and Ohio. While I don’t care for their politics, they have made it an interesting year.

I more concerned because I haven’t done the job in getting familiar with more local races. I do know I have received a number of recorded phone calls from a few candidates and that alone has made me less inclined to vote for them. If some politician thinks interrupting the privacy of my home and talking about how wonderful he is will endear me to him, that is VERY wrong thinking.
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If you want to hear the Word proclaimed, spend some time at the Decatur Church of Christ. The past few Wednesday nights, I have listened to some incredible messages about baptism and the cost of bearing the name of Jesus from our youth minister, Jacob Baker. Rick Ross, our minister has finished a series of sermons on Heaven and started one on the cross and both have kept me captivated and motivated to know God and see His hope and plan for us. I’m getting the CD’s of both series to keep and listen to from time to time to remain challenged and convinced in my desire to be a child of God.

While pondering my questions about the Lord’s Supper, I can’t help but go one step further and question my worship. I almost hesitate to type my thoughts because someone might ask “is he talking about me?” Well, my intention is to only raise the question of my personal thoughts in the past and present but if you think the question applies to you, I would encourage you to spend time thinking about it.

To the point, WWJD in this context asks “what would Jeff do?” What would Jeff do if Jesus was sitting in worship with me? Would I be more alert? Would I sing with more fervor or smile more or show more emotion? Would I feel more emotion about the words of the song? What would Jeff do if Jesus came to preach at my church? Would I look at my watch periodically to see how long he was going? Would I be wishful that he was moving it along so I could get home and watch a football game or get my nap in? Would I spend time thinking about whether I liked the songs or not, would my mind drift off during a prayer, would I dread the potluck lunch after church? How would I view worship differently than I do today.

There are many things about our current worship that I’m not a big fan of. I think we end worship on a down note instead of an upbeat ending. I think Sunday nights are painful and forced. I want to sing more “new” songs that engage our youth in the worship as opposed to some of the standards I can sing without thinking about. At the same time, I realize other people see it completely opposite of me and in many ways, we are both right so I can accept the stuff I don’t like because I know I have brothers and sisters accepting things I do like. That said, I go back to my initial question and ask myself how I would feel about worship if Jesus sat on my pew. I think I would have much fewer questions and ideas on how to make it better and would have a more intensive focus on what and who I was really there for.

I pray God will help me see Jesus on my pew every time I gather with the body to worship.

I wrote in one of the early blogs of this year that this would be my space to write some thoughts – often just for my own benefit – so I can see them in words to think about. This is one of those. I’m not looking for agreement nor an argument, only to think about something more deeply. If it makes you think, great. If not, great.
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I’ve been visiting with a friend at work recently about communion. I don’t know much about it other than what I read in the Bible so I’ve never studied it in it’s historical context. That said, my view of communion is that it is one of the most significant pieces of my worship, a centerpiece of why I am there. Because of that, it has led me to the idea that we have made the act of communion a very efficient process that I find hard to believe was ever meant to be efficient. We have the right number of men who travel the aisles passing the right number of trays with the right number of cups and then it’s on to the offering and the preacher. Yet, during that efficient process, we are remembering what Christ did on the cross. Would we even need a worship service if Christ had not been our sacrifice? With that question, I begin to wrestle with how we should “do” communion. 1 Corinthians refers to a meal, albeit a meal that the Corinthians have messed up, but still a meal. When Jesus was with the apostles telling them what the bread and the wine were for, they were at a meal. In my mind, that implies a much different setting than what I see on Sunday mornings today.

The congregation I worship with shares the Lord’s Supper each Sunday and that’s the way I want it. My translation of the Bible says “as often as you do this…” which, in my feeble way of thinking, makes me wonder whether once a week is enough or even too often (I’ll probably deal with pattern theology at some point) but I prefer to share it at least weekly because Jesus’ death and resurrection is the only thing that really matters. Without that, I am nothing. With it, I have a hope that is beyond comprehension.

I could go on babbling about what I think but enough for today. I’ll wrestle with it more and begin reading some books I’ve bought to learn more about communion in the early church. In the meantime, my only hope is that however you celebrate the remembrance and covenant God made with each of us through the cross, you will rejoice in the love and mercy God has for me and for you.

We spent most of yesterday without water. Without going into a long, drawn out story, suffice it to say that a little rubber o-ring (basically the same thing that grounded our flight home from Sao Paula in 2006) created a situation where our water had to be turned off. Hopefully, we can find a replacement this morning and get the precious commodity flowing again.

I hear stories about areas where there is a water shortage and try to imagine what life would be like when we can’t get any of it. I’m hear to tell you that it would be miserable. While oil companies are wanting to pump their waste back into the ground, I’m growing closer to becoming an activist for the groundwater protection groups.

We stayed at my wife’s parents house last night and my daughter had early track practice today so I had to get up extra early this morning. My son is our only morning person and even he was a bit sluggish this morning. We were 15 minutes late getting my daughter to practice so I wrote a note that I hope keeps her out of the doghouse.

If you get a chance today, have a drink of water and take the time to enjoy it. Trust me, you will miss it when it’s gone.