Tag: God

It Wasn’t About the Honey

It was a good day.

I snuck a picture from the platform with my iPhone, hiding down near my legs to take the shot. That would explain the strange perspective which makes Billy’s (Cole) legs look huge. (That’s Mark (Nicholson) leading the choir.) Billy preached.

Tonight it was my turn. I told the story of Saul and Jonathan in 1st Samuel 14, the stupid decisions Saul made, and the good decisions Jonathan made – in spite of Saul. The title was “Bit o’ Honey”, but it wasn’t really about the honey. It was about the battle – but Saul’s stupid decision changed the focus to the honey.

I’m not sure if I made it clear that Jonathan’s good decision – to attack the Philistines – actually looked like a stupid idea to begin with. But he submitted it to God, getting God’s confirmation before he acted. Unlike Saul.

It’s early, but the kids are in bed. School starts tomorrow!

Jazz and Honey

I’ve been preparing for tomorrow night – Pastor is out of town, and I’m speaking.

In my preparation, I finally got around to reading Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. We heard him speak at the Willow Arts Conference in June, and I’ve wanted to read his book ever since.

Great book. I can’t agree with him on everything, but part of what I got from the book was that we let those less-important things get in the way of true relationship.

So, while I may have different views on politics, social issues, and the importance of certain standards, he was very thought-provoking and made me reassess the priorities I give to certain things.

One of my favorite parts was his story of the confession booth he helped create on a college campus. I won’t spoil the story by telling it here, but I thought it was a great idea, and I hope others do it, too.

Even though I enjoyed the book, I don’t think I’m specifically using anything from it for tomorrow night. I think I’m only borrowing his attitude.

We are His hands

Here’s a nice idea someone implemented…

A Call to Prayer and Fasting

The following is a letter Trudi recently wrote:

I received a phone call this week that distressed me greatly. A marriage was falling apart with a spouse choosing to break their promise and walk away. This is always a troublesome thing to hear, but even more so now. It was the fifth call my husband and I have received in the past six weeks. In every case but one, these couples actively attend and are involved in a home church where they live. My heart’s cry is ENOUGH! Satan has always attacked the home but seems to be doing so at an increasingly aggressive rate. He knows – where there is division, there is weakness. And where does he desire for there to be weakness more than in the body of Christ?
In praying for these marriages, I felt God leading me to call for a day of prayer and fasting. I haven’t done anything like this before, but I’m proceeding as obediently as I know how. I asked God to lay the names of twelve women on my heart to join with me in this endeavor. That is why you are now receiving this letter.
First, let me say you may not be able to join me or have a desire to join me and that is perfectly okay – you owe me no explanation. You can still pray. However, if you can join me, I’m asking that you respond either by phone or by e-mail using the information below, so I know that at least twelve will set that day apart for this specific purpose. Feel free to invite others, both male and female, to join us for this special day of intercessory prayer.
I’m not setting specific guidelines for your fast – whether it is one, two, or three meals; full fast, partial fast, etc., – that is between you and God. But use this day to focus on Him with this clear purpose in mind: waging spiritual battle for homes and marriages.

Since she wrote this letter, we have heard of several more couples in the same situation, and even more people that are very concerned about the marriages of friends and family members whom they know.

The original 12 have told their friends, who have told their friends – at this point we don’t know how many people will be joining in this effort, but we know the number is growing.

I talked to someone Sunday whose marriage is in serious trouble. I was able to tell him – you’re not alone; there are people that are praying; God is about to do something that will surprise you.

I believe God is ready – but are we willing to seek Him? Are we willing to make the effort?

This is your invitation to a day of prayer and fasting, to wage spiritual battle for homes and marriages – Monday, July 30th.

You Never Know, part 2

The very long sad tale in my last post was leading towards a big finish…then I got sidetracked and never made the point I was headed for.

Which – before I get sidetracked again – was this…{drum roll}…you never know.

That’s it. “You never know.”

You think you know. You think you will know. You think that surely God would give you a hint, a sign, a feeling…something. Somehow, someway, with all the circumstantial evidence and bits of data, you think you would be able to predict, to piece together all the clues.

Have I completely lost you yet?

The whole departures/arrivals theme is fresh in my mind due to being on this current trip, plus other personal departures and arrivals that I have (and in some cases, have not) blogged about.

And, ever since the passing of my friend, Bob, this thought has percolated, finally taking shape this weekend – you never know.

I didn’t really know when – or if – any of my flights would depart. I didn’t know when they would arrive. I wasn’t in control of any of it.

That’s so true in so many ways in the departures and arrivals we experience in life.

People depart – and it’s not always in our control, no matter how much we wish it was.

I don’t have an ending for this…so I’ll stop now.

You Never Know

Here’s one for Pastor Goss’s Sunday school class.

Yesterday (the 6th), I left Fort Myers, headed for Tucson and the Assemblies of God Teen Bible Quiz National Finals.

The trouble began when I checked my luggage. I hadn’t paid attention to the weight, and my suitcase was 13 pounds too heavy. I also had a golf bag, so I had to open my luggage and try to redistribute some items from the suitcase to the golf bag. Kind of embarrassing to do all that right there, but at least there wasn’t a line behind me.

While I was trying to figure that out, the ticket agent said, “Mmm. I don’t think this is going to work. Your plane is running late and I don’t know if you’ll make your connection in Houston.” Turns out the weather in Houston was stormy, and ALOT of Continental flights were affected. My flight, scheduled for a 5:18pm departure, was going to be delayed by at least 2 hours.

To speed up my connection in Houston, which would be two concourses apart, the agent asked if I would like to move up…from my comfy exit-row-window seat to a middle seat in the front of coach – which would still give me room, but I hate the middle. But it would move me up 12 rows, so I took it.

Finally, I got the suitcase down to 48.5 pounds, which put the golf bag EXACTLY at 50 pounds, and off they went. And off I went to the gate.

On the way, I got the opportunity, for the very first time, to be selected for additional security screening. This trip was starting to gain too many negatives.

The plane from Houston came in, we boarded quickly, and it looked like we would get off in good time, with the computer estimating that we would be in Houston at 7:50 local time, one hour before my connection was to leave. There was also the possibility that my connection might be delayed, too. AND the woman that was supposed to be on the aisle moved to the middle – to be by her husband – so I had an aisle AND good leg room! Things were looking up!

We got ready for takeoff, the pilot gunned it down the runway…then lifted off the throttle…and we coasted…to the end…of…the…runway. Some warning lights had gone off in the cockpit, so they wanted to check it out. We taxied back to the gate, so the mechanic could inspect the plane. (The mechanic is the guy in the red.)

They told us that nothing was wrong with the plane – other than a secondary warning light going off when it wasn’t supposed to – but now we WERE delayed and didn’t leave Fort Myers until 8:18pm.

I completely missed my connection in Houston, waited in a very long line at customer service, received standby status on the 10:55pm flight and confirmed status on a 7am flight for this morning.

The 10:55 flight was delayed until 11:57, I DID get on, but my luggage didn’t. The plane didn’t take off until 12:20. After discovering in Phoenix that my luggage didn’t make it, I was given a complimentary travel kit with toothpaste, toothbrush, comb, deodorant, razor, etc. and I was off to Hertz to pick up my economy car.

Which the nice lady upgraded to standard with a free tank of gas. Nice. Impala. I arrived at my hotel and finally hit the pillow at 2:30am…local time…which made it 5:30am Fort Myers time.

This morning I went back to the airport, my luggage came in about 10 minutes after I got there, and I was happily on my way to Tucson.

So…I mentioned Pastor’s class. Why? Because his current topic is: Is it God? Is it Satan? Or is it just me?

I asked those questions a lot yesterday. I didn’t really answer them.

But I thank God for his blessings and hope to make wise decisions along the way.

Cost Analysis

Remember when we used to take prayer requests in church – out loud?

Maybe you’re in a church that’s still small enough to do that. It’s been years since we have. Now, prayer requests are turned in via “Communication Cards”, then shared weekly via the “Prayer Sheet.” It’s efficient and I like it better – most of the time.

But I’ve noticed that it’s cut out an old favorite from the “Does anyone have a Testimony or a Prayer Request?” days. The unspoken prayer request. Someone always had one. And that invariably led to the pastor saying, “Does anyone else have an unspoken prayer request? Just raise your hand.”

We all knew that meant there was something serious, but personal, that you were praying about.

Tonight, my hand’s up. Can’t talk about it. Definitely can’t blog about it. I can only tell you it’s not about me or my family, it’s not deadly, but it is serious.

And it led me to this thought – happiness is expensive.

Many of our prayer requests have a similar goal – our own personal happiness. But that leads me to ask:
– in what areas of your life would you like to be happy?
– in what areas of your life could you be less than happy?
– how happy would you like to be?
– how will you know when you are genuinely happy?
– how long would you like to be happy?
– can anyone else be happy along with you, or is it only you that can be happy?

You can’t make everyone happy.

But it’s pretty easy to hurt a large number of people.

I’ve done that.

Sacrifice = personal pain + relational gain.
Selfishness = personal gain + relational pain.

What I’m trying to say is that the more I’ve acted like Jesus – in being selfless and sacrificing – it usually was pretty painful for me personally, but it improved my relationships 100%. Not just the relationships I cared about – ALL my relationships.

On the other hand, every time I’m selfish and focus on my own wants and desires – which is quite frequently – I’m able to achieve personal happiness, but my relationships suffer. Not just the relationships I don’t care about – ALL my relationships.

Trying to create my own happiness is a fairly expensive deal, usually exacting a very high relational price.

So, anyway, I’m praying, hopeful that this will end up like an unspoken prayer request did for a girl in our youth group many years ago, when she said, “I’ve got an unspoken praise report!”

Cool Idea

This video was shown (legally) at the Willow Arts Conference. The group is “Nickelback” and the song is “Savin’ Me.” Really cool. You might not like the style of music – although I do – but it has a thought-provoking message.


One of the first things I did when I got home from the conference was purchase this on iTunes.

Categories
ThoughtStream

Happy Birthday!


I’m in another airport. Atlanta Hartsfield. It’s 9:15pm – our flight was supposed to leave at 8:10pm – and we’re waiting for some sign that we might leave soon.

But this post is for my sister, Tammy. Happy Birthday, Tam! This is the only picture I have with me – I offloaded all my other pictures onto an external drive that’s not available at the moment. She’s probably glad I don’t have access to any of those. [EDIT: Looking back at this post, this is hilarious. That is NOT me. It’s my brother-in-law, Terry. I have no idea why I said it was me. -Tim 5/9/22]

I won’t say how old she is, but 1970 was a long time ago.

Like I said in my last post, I seem to have an overload of birth and death things on my mind at the moment. That’s not a bad thing. Thinking about life and death in a healthy way can keep you focused on what’s important. It doesn’t have to be morbid.

Birthdays – rather, your original birth day – is one of the beginning steps to your death day. Okay, that might be a little morbid. Trite, but true – you don’t live forever – at least not in this life.

But your birth day is also one of the beginning steps in your forever days. Eternity is out there. The only question is how you plan to spend it – with whom and where.

This would be the Rev part of RevMcGator – are you living right now with your eternity in mind? Live everyday as a birthday – a new birth day, in the realization that every day God gives us the opportunity to live out the reality of the new birth of grace we experience in him.

{We finally left Atlanta just after 10pm. But the rest is a story for another day.}

What’s so interesting about an empty sky?

In less than 20 posts it seems I’ve been doing a lot of writing about life and death. With our summer schedule, and the things that have been happening, it’s almost unavoidable.

Tomorrow I leave with five others for the Willow Arts Conference in Chicago. Another departure. We fly AirTran, not the most luxurious airline around. We’re all looking forward to this. It should be fun – even if I have to go without Trudi {frown}.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my friend, Bob Bean, passed away last week. Tonight we attended the memorial service. I was privileged to have a small part, representing the family and sharing their words with the congregation. Although I’ve spent the last week thinking very hard about what I would say, and what personal anecdotes I might share, I ended up not saying very much at all.

For one thing, there were four preachers behind me that were all going to take a turn, so I didn’t want to preach. And most of the stories I could think of wouldn’t have meant a whole lot to anyone else. After I sat down, I wished I could’ve had another shot at it. (There’s a lesson in that, isn’t there?)

Mentally, and maybe a little emotionally, I was having a bit of a battle with the whole thing – and not like you would think.

Part of the problem was, I wasn’t sad. I’m still not. Maybe I will be. But I haven’t been able to see Bob a lot in the last few years, so I’m used to him not being around. And I know that he is one gatrillion percent happier right now.

I realized as I was coming home – and maybe I’ve heard this illustration somewhere, but I don’t remember – that it was sort of like going to the airport and seeing a relative depart. There are hugs and best wishes, and perhaps some tears. You watch them walk through security and towards the gate. You might wait and watch the plane take off. Then you stand around and talk with the rest of the family awhile, stopping by Starbucks on your way out, and drive home.

That was what the hospital was like.

The memorial service was like going to the airport a week later, standing in the terminal, talking about what it was like before we went to the airport the first time, and how we’re dealing with the departure. We might see other planes taking off, but he’s not on any of them. He left a week ago.

We’re just standing there, looking out the window at an empty sky.

Yes, just like Acts 1. “Why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky?”

Luke doesn’t record the disciples’ verbal answer. It was probably something like, “Um…we were just – thinking. Remembering. Wondering. (pause) I guess we better get going.”

Me, too.

Blessed are Those That Haven’t Seen…

More departures and arrivals.

This could be the theme for the summer, since I have a few more trips to make. Just noticed the time, and realized that Sunday has turned to Monday. It was an eventful Sunday.

Starting from the end and working my way backwards…

Looks like Billy Donovan might be having a change of heart (and budget) and staying with the Gators after all. I thought his leaving was good for him. I would’ve been upset had he left the Gators for Kenyucky or some other rival, but had no problem with leaving for the NBA. (and I like Dwight Howard.) So is he really staying with the Gators?

I’ll believe it when I see it. (I don’t know Billy.)

Shae returned from El Salvador. They had a great time and gained perspective. I’ll be looking at her pictures tomorrow. Maybe she’ll let me share one for the blog. Several people told me how impressed they were with her on the trip.

I wasn’t there to see it, but I believe it. (I know her.)

My friend, Bob Bean, whom I spoke of in an earlier post, passed away Sunday at 3pm. Trudi and I were privileged to be there with his wife, Chris, and their son, Willie, as Bob officially went to be with the Lord.

It was very painful on the one hand, experiencing the pain of separation. And, of course, it was joyful to know that Bob is where he most longed to be, with God.

I’ve never been there, but I believe it. (I know them both)

Departures and Arrivals

Blogs are for deep thoughts, right? (Well, that, and stupid YouTube videos.)

Can’t avoid thinking of departures and arrivals at the moment. I’m writing this while waiting for my flight to Greensboro by way of Charlotte. Headed to this weekend’s Southeast Region Teen Bible Quiz Finals as part of my Pen. Florida District Coordinator duties. (For more on all that, listen to my podcast.)

It’s an old adage and true – every departure means an arrival…and vice-versa. You can’t get where you’re going until you leave where you’ve been. And – if people like you – the arrivals are happier than the departures.

My friend, Bob, is lying in a hospital room right now. They’re not sure what caused it, but he experienced renal and kidney failure, and pancreatis. His liver doesn’t seem to be working. Doctors haven’t given him much chance of making it.

Right now , we don’t know if Bob will be making his departure soon, or not. I hope not. I can’t imagine that God is done with what He wants him to do in this life.

But I don’t have God all figured out. I hope I never think I do. God is more complex than that. He’s bigger – big enough to not figure out. But He loves us, and does all of those complex things in order to simply love us and do what is best for us.

I hope that means that Bob’s departure is later rather than sooner, and that I’ll see him next week.

But if I don’t, I know I’ll see him soon.