Humility

Kim was recently listening to the radio while working in her craft room. She heard a man speaking on the subject of humility. He  defined humility in a way that really spoke to her. When she shared this with me I thought this would be a good subject to put in the blog. The Bible says there is nothing new under the sun. We seldom have original thoughts anyway so I am "stealing" this thought in order to share it with you.

How often have you heard people say about themselves that they are worthless, no good, or just plain awful? I have heard many people live their lives with this cloud surrounding them echoing the Biblical words, "I am a worm." This is their attempt to be humble. Humility is a grace that we should attempt convey. But what is humility? Jesus was our best example of this virtue. He certainly would be a good one to follow. So how did he portray humility? Did he go around telling everyone how worthless he was? Did he have a dark cloud around him? Not at all.

What the speaker on the radio said that day was. "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less" - CS Lewis. Humility contains the aspect of putting others and their benefit ahead of your own. I recently got a flyer in the mail for a youth conference. They were calling it "iConference." Taken from the term the iGeneration where we obsess about our iPads, iPods, iPhones, iMacs, etc., the play on the word "i" was obvious. We are living in a me first generation. Rev 3:14 is address to the Church at Laodecia. This church is characteristic of the church in our historical timeframe. The word Laodecia means "rights of the people." Boy does that ever make sense. Look around and notice the clamor for the rights for gays to marry, the right of the mother to terminate her unborn child, the rights of illegal immigrants, the right to bear arms, and the list goes on and on. We are obsessed with our rights.

Jesus came to "give himself a ransom for many." He demonstrated the greatest degree of love by dying on the cross for the sin of mankind. The Bible says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Jesus demonstrated the greatest degree of humility by putting others ahead of himself. He died so we might live.

A New Adventure

Maybe I am going through a bit of a mid-life crisis or maybe I have just lost it a little bit. Either way, I recently bought a ukulele. OK, now that the laughter has died down a bit I just want to say, I AM HAVING A BLAST. I started playing guitar when I was just a little guy about 10 years old. I was never very good but I loved to play. I have played all kinds of music in my life. At Christmas time I bought JB a small ukulele just for the fun of it. I had it around the house for about six weeks prior to giving it to him for Christmas. During that time I could not help but pick it up and play around with it a little, you know just to check it out and make sure it was not broken or anything! I enjoyed it so much I started looking around for a good deal on one for myself. I have gotten on the internet and began teaching myself how to play. One day I want to be able to play well enough to play in church. At least there not too many people will laugh me out of the building! Anyway, thats my story and I am sticking to it.

"Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings." - Psa 33:2

"David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy." - 1 Chron 15:16

"I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel." - Psa 71:22

Logan the usher

This week I want to introduce you to another church member. My dutiful assistant, Haley, has been preparing bio's for me to include so this is her first contribution.

Logan Simpson is one of our ushers at The Church at Katy. He works as a computer tech guy for some of the local schools in Houston. At 22, Logan is also a talented comic book artist/illustrator , T-shirt designer, and is developing his own T-shirt company. When asked what he enjoyed most about the church he said, "I really like our pastor. He has a great style in his messages, and I appreciate how he adheres to the truth. He isn't afraid to talk about the touchy subjects, and he really hits the nail on the head." (Thanks for the props Logan the check is in the mail!!!)

Do It As Unto the Lord

Kim and I have been doing a marriage counseling session each Friday night with another couple. This is the second time we have used this particular teaching material. One thing that stuck out in my mind this time through is the statement, "whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord." The basic premise or principle this taught me is that I am to show my love to my wife as though I were showing my love to the Lord. When I do this, her actions are secondary. It does not matter what she does or what she says. I am loving Christ through her. If you stop and think about this it changes everything. So much of what we do in our relationships is based on responding to what others say and do. Would your arguments with your spouse stop if you thought you were relating to God? I dare say this one thought will revolutionize your marriage.

Pastor Nixon Ackon is one of the missionaries our church supports. Nixon is a missionary with the Rock of Ages Prison Ministries in Ghana, W Africa. I first met Nixon back in 1998 while I was living in Ghana. I was out in town soul winning and inviting people to our newly established church, Rehoboth Baptist Church in Takoradi. I went to a little hardware kiosk to follow up with the lady who owned the store. Nixon was there doing the same thing for his church. We began to talk about our respective churches. He claimed to be a Baptist pastor but as we talked he confessed that he only chose that name for his church because he had met some people from the USA that were Baptists and he wanted to associate with them. He asked if we could work together. I asked him about what he believes the Bible teaches about certain things and realized very quickly we were not in agreement doctrinally. I invited him to my house where, for the next several months,  we studied the Bible together, in particular the doctrines that make me a Baptist. Soon after that time Nixon went back to a Baptist Bible Institute and studied further, was eventually ordained in our church, and has been serving the Lord faithfully ever since. Nixon, his wife Mary, and their children were a very faithful family in our church for many years while we served in Ghana.

Home Sweet Home

Earlier this week we returned home from an eleven day, 3,600 mile trip that took us through ten states. It a great trip as trips go. We got to see a lot of family and friends we had not seen for a while. We did not get to see everyone we wanted to because of work schedules and such but it was good. Micah (our now 13 year old) got to see and experience a beautiful snowfall. We were able to attend our son JB’s junior classical guitar recital. The time away (coupled with many hours behind the wheel) afforded me the opportunity  to do a lot of meditating, thinking, and planning. I must confess that I needed the time away.

As good and enjoyable as the trip was, Kim and I both said when we walked through the door, “It is so good to be home.” Most of us have had this feeling of getting back home after an extended time away. Why is it so? What makes home such a great place to be? 

Home is a place where we can be ourselves. If we want to walk around barefoot and in our PJ’s we can! If we want to kick back and do nothing at all, we can. If we want to raid the fridge for a little indulgence, no one cares. Most of the time it is a place where we can be who we are without wondering if we are offending someone or getting in someone else’s space. We don’t have to be on edge. And the valleys in our mattress fit us perfectly.

This is the feeling one should get when he comes to church regularly. Church should be a place where you feel comfortable being. It should be a place where you fit in and can be who you really are without putting on a facade. It should be a place where you look forward to going.

“Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”