Wake Up!

I love to read! I’ll admit it….I’m a book nerd. I read mostly fiction, everything from fantasy, sci-fi, suspense, horror, mystery…..and I even read a Nicholas Sparks book once (I hate to admit it, but it was pretty good…) If you’re like me and your idea of a good time is a good book, then here are a couple of books and authors that I have been enjoying recently:

Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd (by Dean Koontz)
Dean Koontz has become one of my favorite all-around authors and Odd Thomas has become one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Odd is just your average ordinary short-order fry cook, who happens to be able to see the lingering dead. Odd’s connection to the supernatural leads him on some incredible adventures full of mystery, thrills, hope, and redemption. I challenge anyone to read these novels and not find a new hero in Odd Thomas. I haven’t read Brother Odd yet, but I can’t wait. These are Dean Koontz at his best, but anything he’s written is worth reading.

Hood by Stephen Lawhead
I just reviewed this book for Christian Library Journal and I loved it! This is the first book in a trilogy about Robin Hood. The twist is that this story is based in medieval Wales, and Lawhead actually includes an author’s note that is very convincing on the idea that the Robin Hood Legend may have originated in Wales. This book is all about how Bran ap Brychan, heir to the throne of Elfael, becomes the legendary Hood. If you like action, suspense, and historical fiction you will love this book!

These are just a few of the books that I love. Here are some other great authors worth checking out:

Eric Wilson- This guy is one of my favorite authors in the Christian fiction market, and if you like mystery and suspense then you will love him. I’ve read all of his books and each one is great.

Melanie Wells- I stumbled across her name on Eric Wilson’s website and bought her first book, When The Day of Evil Comes, and Angie and I both gobbled it up in a few days. Her follow-up, The Soul Hunter, is also a must-read. Melanie Wells is a master of suspense and the first-person narrative. And she also lives in Dallas and sets her novels there. Great stuff.

Ted Dekker- A couple years ago a good friend gave me a copy of Dekker’s Three, and I was blown away. I remember thinking this is the way Christian Fiction should be done: powerful but not preachy, full of twists and turns, something that you enjoy but really makes you think. It was after I read some of his novels, that I began to think I might like to give writing a shot. His Circle Trilogy: Black, Red, and White are simply mind-blowing and in these three novels Dekker tells man’s story of redemption in the form of a modern-day sc-fi, fantasy, thriller masterpiece. You can’t go wrong with any Dekker novels.

Just a few of my favorites, but not nearly all of them. If you happen to read any of these books let me know what you think. I love talking to other book nerds. Later…

Just a quick update on the baby….We had another appointment today and everything is great. We heard the heartbeat again. That still blows my mind… Angie is 15 weeks now and is feeling a lot better since she began the 2nd trimester. She is starting to show a little, and in another month or so she should probably be able to feel the baby moving a little. We go back on December 27th for our 20 week sonogram, and hopefully we’ll be able to find out if we’re having a boy or a girl. What an awesome Christmas present huh? We are so excited and we’re so thankful for all your prayers so far. Please keep ‘em coming. God Bless..

Yesterday I started a new sermon series on the Parables of Jesus. I began with the parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-31. We often refer to the son who squandered his inheritance in wild living as the Prodigal Son. He was lost, and when he returned to his father and repented he was then found.

As I was preparing for this sermon I began to realize that the character who was truly lost in the story was the older brother. When his younger brother returns, he becomes jealous and angry because his father threw a party for his brother. He was wondering where his party was and his gifts. He deserved them more than his brother. Instead of having hope and love for his brother in his heart, he instead had hatred and spite.

What’s scary about the older brother is that it is so easy to be like him. I’ve never actually known anyone who was angry or jealous when someone else came to Christ, but I have known people who had no hope in their hearts for those who are lost. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been guilty of it myself. There are certain types of people that we can look at and shake our heads and say, “There’s no hope for them.” In our minds some people are so bad, so evil, so wrong that we are certain that they will never come to Christ, and worse….we may not even want them to.

I don’t know about you, but God blessed me with a lot of people in my life who never gave up on me. They didn’t care what I had done or how bad I might have been. All they cared about was my soul and they wanted more than anything for me to come to Christ. I thank God for them and I pray that God will always help me to be more like them.

Luke 15:31-32
31” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” NIV

Today Angie and I visited with an older couple from church. I hate that phrase, “old couple”, because I don’t see their age. They’re just friends with more life experience. We sat down to a wonderful meal and then set around talking for an hour or so. We were enthralled by their conversation and the stories from their childhood. They both grew up in Arkansas, and they were sharing story after story of what life was like for them as kids. As kids they didn’t have much and they learned to never throw anything away. Someone’s trash was their treasure, and they learned how to make toys out of everything from string to old cigarette cartons. They would make their own kites out of sticks and newspaper and it wasn’t until they were older that they knew that you could actually buy a kite!

We hear stories like that and we think, “Man it must have been tough to be poor.” But as I watched their faces and the twinkling of their eyes as they reminisced, it was obvious that their lives were anything but poor. They learned to be content with what they had and they embraced the simple things in life. They look back now and are reminded that God has always taken care of them and always will.

I pray that as Angie and I grow old together we have that kind of faith and contentment. I spend so much time worrying over finances and pursuing earthly gain, and the end it gets me nowhere. I don’t want to spend my life longing for the “big things.” I want to embrace the simple ones. God has always taken care of me and if I continue to trust in Him, He always will.

Last week our good friends John Anthony and Kristen Renwick and their 8 month-old Brennan, came to visit us for most of the week. They are currently missionaries in Aberdeen, Scotland, and they were here visiting their supporting congregations. It had been 2 years since we had seen them and our week with them was such a blessing. John Anthony and Kristen are both friends Angie and I knew at Harding University. We were all a part of the same social club on campus and we have all remained close since our college years. This was the first time we had met little Brennan, and we absolutely fell in love with that kid! While they were we here, we spent an evening with some more of our closest friends from Harding: Marcus and Stacey Neely, and their little guy, Sam.

As we spent the week together I was flooded with memories of the “good ole’ days”, and at the same time I was amazed at how close we all still are, despite the thousands of miles between us. It is so incredible to have friends that you always feel close to, no matter how far apart you live or how long its been since you’ve seen each other.

When I think about those relationships and others in my life, I realize that I shouldn’t be surprised or amazed. The reason we are all so close is because of our bond in Christ. There is simply no better relationship than a Christian relationship. No other mere friendship or acquaintance compares. As I look back on that week, I am reminded again of how God has constantly blessed me with incredible relationships. From my wife, to my family, to my friends I am surrounded by people who love Him. No wonder I love being around these people so much.

Psalm 133:1
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! NIV

Being the last episode until February, I knew that this episode would be a bit of a cliffhanger, and boy was it ever. First things first though.

This episode’s flashbacks were all about Kate. Kate (aka known as “Monica” in the flashbacks) meets a cop and falls in love and gets married, all the while hoping this will help hide her from the marshall who is hunting her down. As she tries to settle into her everyday fantasy housewife role, she begins to feel more and more guilt about pretending to be someone she isn’t. After a failed pregnancy test, she decides to drug her husband and leave him. After all, she doesn’t want to hurt the guy.

Meanwhile on the island (the small one), Kate and Sawyer declare their love for each other. Meanwhile Jack escapes from his cell and gets a look at Kate and Sawyer on one of the monitors. You can just see Jack’s heart breaking, and he turns around to find Ben watching him. Jack agrees to perform Ben’s surgery if Ben lets him off the island and Ben agrees.

The operating room scene was riveting as Jack gains control of the situation by putting Ben’s life on the line. He demands the release of Kate in exchange for Ben’s life. Kate doesn’t want to leave Jack or Sawyer and the episode ends with her thinking over the decision in her head.

A few thoughts: One of the Others (Pickett I think) says to another, “Shepherd wasn’t on Jacob’s list anyway.” Is Jacob the real leader? Is he the eye-patch dude? Kate looks like she is emotionally torn between Sawyer and Jack. Has she really made her choice? Will she run? Tune in in February to find out…

Where do you stand on the issue? To vote or not to vote? Does your vote really matter? Is an uneducated vote really better than no vote at all? Is it OK to just walk in there and vote straight down the line based on your political party allegiance? Is it a Christian’s responsibility to vote? We could debate these issues all day long.

One responsibility Christians do have is to pray for our current and future political leaders, and to pray for our governing body as a whole. Whether or not you choose to cast your vote, I hope you are choosing to get on your knees in prayer. I don’t believe it is enough for us to try and get “our man” or “our woman” into office. We need to be continually praying that God will lead our leaders, and that they will be receptive to His voice. Shall we pray?

Epehesians 6:18
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests…” NIV

Friday night, our church did the unthinkable. We hosted a Jr. High and High School Lock-In. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, a Lock-In is a youth event where a handful of adults and a bunch of teenagers hunker down for the night in a church building. For 9 hours or so we eat a lot of pizza, banana splits, pringles, and various other forms of health foods. In between the eating we play fun, quirky group games, sing songs, talk about our faith, study the Bible, and worship God. Oh yeah, you don’t sleep either. At least that’s the idea.

This was a surreal experience for me. I grew up in this congregation, and when I was a teenager our youth group had about 5 people in it and we were scattered throughout 5 different grade levels. Until I went off to Harding University, I had no concept of what a youth group was, much less youth group activities. This might come as a shock to some of you, but the first Youth Group Weekend Retreat I attended was the one I planned for my youth group when I was a Youth Minister.

You can imagine my surprise when 22 kids showed up for this Lock-In Friday night (the first lock-in in our congregation’s history). 22! That may not sound like a high number, but trust me for our little church this was a milestone. Only a handful of that number were kids from our church. The rest were friends they invited.

God is doing some big things in our little church, and this was just one example. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

As several new characters have begun to emerge on the show, it seems that it was only a matter of time before someone had to go. Unfortunately that was Eko. I loved Eko and I hated to see him get the boot. He was one of the most interesting characters on the show and I had great visions of grandeur that showed him and Locke working side by side for seasons to come as they duke it out with the island.

The flashbacks were of course all about Eko. We followed him after his brother (Yemi) was shot and taken away on Eko’s drug plane. Eko is then mistaken for a real priest and he subsequently does his best to find redemption as a man of the cloth. That doesn’t end too well for him, and he finds himself in a situation where again violence seems like his only alternative. As he leaves his church he is confronted and told that he will have to pay for his sins and that he owes his brother one church. Now we know why he tried to build a church on the beach.

Throughout the episode Eko encounters ghosts or visions from his past, mostly in the form of his brother Yemi. When he confronts Yemi’s ghost towards the end, Eko confesses to Yemi that he has nothing to confess. Eko beleived that he had simply done the best he could with the life given to him. Surprise!….Yemi isn’t Yemi! Eko chases after fake Yemi and then gets attacked by the mysterious smoke monster. Sadly, Eko loses the fight. Eko’s last words to Locke are that “You are all next…”

Meanwhile Jack and Juliet seem to become a bit closer as Jack figures out that the X-Rays he saw are Ben’s. Juliet secretly sends Jack a message basically asking Jack to kill Ben in surgery, because “some are ready for a change.” In one very interesting scene, Ben tells Jack that he wants Jack to want to help him. Ben asks Jack if he believes in God, and tells Jack that he believes God sent Jack to him. Does this mean the Others had nothing to do with the plane crash?

Time for random observations and more questions. Who is the eye-patch dude the other survivors see on the video screen in the Pearl Station? It looks like newbies Nikki and Paulo are slowly being pushed into the main character spotlight. Did anybody else chuckle when Nikki said Paulo is always complaining they they are being left out? Will the mystery of the smoke monster ever be solved? How about why Eko and Yemi both crashed on the same island? Why are so many chracters seeing ghosts on the island?

Next week is the last episode for a few months, and don’t be surprised to see a few startling revelations and a possible cliffhanger. The previews seem to indicate that Kate chooses Sawyer, and that could make things real interesting for Jack. Will we finally see Walt and Michael before the break? Can’t wait……..

People always ask me how Angie and the baby are doing, so I thought I’d give a little update today. Angie is almost 12 weeks along, and so far everything has been great. She has had her good days and bad days, but she has done very well. We had a routine doctor visit yesterday, and we were able to hear the baby’s heartbeat again. The doctor came in and started examining Angie’s stomach with some little machine. We were asking her all these questions and suddenly the sound of our baby’s heart beat filled the room! We all just stopped and smiled. It was such a cool moment and it gave me chills. The doctor said the baby’s heart sounded great and everything was normal.

We appreciate so much all of you who have been praying for us. Please continue to pray for Angie and the baby as they enter into the 2nd trimester. So far there have been no complications and we hope and pray things remain that way. We go back for another routine visit in 4 weeks, and our 2nd sonogram is scheduled for week 20. That’s all for now! God bless….