Did you find joy? Did you bring joy?

I spent the better part of last week (Tuesday morning through Monday night) accompanying the Clinton High School Science Olympiad team to the Science Olympiad Nationals. I am so grateful to Mary Ann for filling in for me while I was away (your thank-you gift is coming, I promise). This year I coached Sounds of Music (an event that did not compete at the state level in South Carolina). In a few short weeks we had to design and build two musical instruments to compete in an event that most teams had been working on all year. My team placed a respectable 31st out of 60 teams.

It was a long trip: two days to get there and two days to get back. Video systems on tour buses are both a blessing and a curse. They do bring some distraction that can keep kids from getting on each other’s’ nerves quite so easily, but this can come at the expense of having to endure some pretty awful examples of cinema art. Just because a teenage girl likes it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good movie. On the other hand, the Science Olympiad trips have enabled me to see (and enjoy) some movies that I have not seen before. One such movie on this trip was THE BUCKET LIST.

Aside from some coarse language (it’s a Jack Nicholson movie … go figure), the story is really quite good; heart-warming without excessive glurge. One of the stand-out scenes of the movie takes place atop a pyramid in Egypt. Citing what he said was the ancient Egyptian view of heaven, Carter (Morgan Freeman) forces Edward (Nicholson) to confront two important questions: Did you find joy in your life? Did you bring joy to the lives of others? While I firmly believe that heaven is ours based on a living, active, transformative faith in Jesus Christ, those two questions are important.

As I watched that scene, I was reminded of what the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Church at Philippi (Pp. 2:1-4. NIV):

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

The interesting thing (and I didn’t come up with this on my own) is that when you’re in a fellowship in which everyone is looking out for the interests of everyone else, you never have to worry about your own. A place like that would have to be overflowing with joy.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Believing a Thing Rightly

You do not believe a thing rightly until you act in accordance with it.  (A. W. Tozer)

That was the statement that greeted me Monday morning via Twitter. One of the Twitter feeds I follow posts a daily quote from 20th century theologian A. W. Tozer.


I think we all have difficulty with believing things rightly, and it shows up in our actions … at least it does in mine. For instance: how many of us “believe” the statistical reports that state that texting while driving is 26 times more likely to cause a serious accident than is driving drunk … 26 TIMES more likely … yet still fudge on that for “just a quick yes or no response” to a question we just received on our phones if the traffic doesn’t seem too heavy? And we would all agree that having a serious accident is something that we would very much like to avoid. Acting in accordance with that belief, then, would mean that we would never even try to read a text while driving.

Another example: in high school and college I spent a good deal of time working in a hospital. It always amazed me to see the respiratory therapists light up cigarettes on their lunch break. Many of them spent the morning doing treatments on people whose lungs were horribly diseased and damaged due to years and years of smoking. I’ve seen what gets coughed up during those treatments and it’s nasty. Then they go to lunch and light up?

Do I “believe” that it is important to put away my shoes? I answer “yes” but if you went to my house right now you would probably find 3 pairs of my shoes that are not in my closet. Do I “believe” that it is important for my dresser top to be neat and tidy? I answer “yes,” but the condition of my side of the dresser would tell you otherwise. You get the idea. We are great “hearers of the Word,” but our doing is sorely lacking.

I had a teaching DVD running in the background last week while trying desperately to get some things organized. My desk is still in disarray (another point of dissonance between belief and behavior). Reggie Joiner was interviewing Mark Batterson and asked about how we increase our education about a certain matter in church life. Batterson responded that what we needed was not more education, but more application. “We in the church are already educated far beyond our level of obedience.”

That’s why I resonate so with the words of the Choristers’ Prayer. It’s not enough to sing the words. We must believe them. And the true test of belief is not verbal assent, but behavior. God help us all.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Only Love Can Do That (MLK)

Blogger's Note:  written for my choir rehearsal Wednesday, May 4.

U. S. forces have found Osama bin Laden, and he was killed in the raid. The leader of al-Quaida – an organization founded on an ideology of hatred and murder of non-Muslims (aka “infidels”) that saw its ultimate expression in the heinous acts of September 11, 2001 and countless other suicide bombings – is gone. What now?

I am thankful that Osama bin Laden will no longer be leading his followers to carry out such a hate-filled agenda. I admire the bravery and skill of those in our armed forces who carried out a dangerous and distasteful raid (if killing ever stops being distasteful, God help us all). Though I believe that Muslims are misled about truth and salvation, I am also grateful that those in charge had the wisdom to demonstrate respect for Islamic law in dealing with bin Laden’s remains. Though many would prefer for him to have been treated as al-Quaida treated those whom they captured and executed, to do so would deny the character I desire to be shown by those who represent my nation in military service. It was a stroke of genius to bury his remains at sea, thereby preventing a location which could be designated a shrine and a rallying point for his followers.

I honestly believe that the removal of bin Laden from leadership ultimately makes certain parts of our world a much safer place for peaceful people. Whether it means that immediately or not is yet to be seen. I know that my friend and pastor Blake Harwell is wondering what this means for where he will be conducting his sabbatical study this summer. Some of the deepest wisdom I have read in the past couple of days comes from a voice that some sought to silence in hatred: that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am grateful that his influence also lives on beyond his death and I am indebted to bloggers that included this quote on their blogs this week.

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. You may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. You may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, nor establish love. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.  ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” (1967)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Almost ... Will Happen Soon

I almost got to see my oldest best friend last Monday. He was my best friend in kindergarten and the friendship continued through elementary school. When we were in our early teens, he moved from Dothan to Mobile, but we still saw each other whenever he came to Dothan. His grandparents lived less than a quarter-mile from my house, and he always called me when he came. As he was finishing Birmingham Southern, I had transferred from Auburn to Samford, and he invited me to campus for a worship service. I don’t think I saw him again until my wedding when he stood up with me as a groomsman. We haven't seen each other or spoken since.

I say that I “almost” got to see him because he was in Greenville on business on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. We were going to meet in Simpsonville and stay up late catching up with each other. Then we realized that we are both almost 50 and that staying up like that would mean that we wouldn’t be worth killing the next day. We took a rain check.

Some may wonder if our friendship means that much, why has it been almost 25 years since we’ve seen each other or even spoken? I don’t know if I can answer that question. I had tried to look him up, but there are a dozen Andy Martins in the Birmingham phone listings. But let me tell you what a true friend he was to me growing up.

We got to know each other in kindergarten at Evergreen Presbyterian Church. We were the ring-leaders in imaginative play on the playground. We made up characters and had new adventures every day (I even remember the characters, but if you think I’m going to embarrass myself by sharing them here, you’ve got another thing coming). School, cub scouts, sleep-overs, you name it … I could count on not feeling left out if Andy was there. He was in the room with me when I called on the phone to ask the first girl to “go steady” with me ... and was the first to know when she broke up with me the next day after recess.

As we grew older, our interests diverged. We were both intelligent, but he was focused (not a hint of ADHD in him) and athletic while I was bookish, scattered, and could barely even figure out how to get my foot on the ball in kick-ball. He often went to Compass Lake with us, but he agreed to go only after I promised not to take a book or a musical instrument. It did not seem to matter to either of us that the other had strong interest in things that we ourselves didn’t find particularly engaging. Our friendship was just friendship … period.

Business promises to bring him back to Greenville several times over the next few months. You can bet we’ll figure out a way to get together ... because that's what friends do. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.