"God, You Sure Are Pretty"

I was having lunch today with two of my very best friends in the entire world, David and Norma Wright, and as it does so many times when we're together, the conversation turned towards their two grandsons - Blake, age 6 and Ryland, age 2. Blake and Ryland spend almost every weekend with David and Norma due to their parent's weekend work schedules.

Well it seems that Blake has really become fond of attending church with his Mimi and Poppy in recent months, which he does just about every weekend, and has started asking some very deep and thought provoking questions about God...questions like, "if God created everything, who created God?" And, "how can God be everywhere at once?" You know - those questions that adults just love to field from 6 year olds.

Last weekend after church, Norma was standing in her kitchen when Blake came into the room and asked her..."Mimi, how do you talk to God?" Norma, gathering all of her theological wits, replied, "sweetheart, that's what prayer is...you don't have to close your eyes, you don't have to say any special words, you just open your mouth and talk to God just like you would talk to Mimi."

Equiped with this new found theological truth, Blake quietly whirrled around and left the room, apparently satisfied with his Mimi's counsel. About an hour later, Norma walks by the playroom when she hears Blake say, "Dear God, you sure are pretty..."

Wow, the pure and simple faith of a child. It made me stop and think about how I relate to God in my own life. Do I approach Him like He's some sort of etheral, immpersonal and distant Being? Or, do I come running and jump into His lap like He's the loving heavenly Father that He is? I'd like to say that I have the latter mindset, but unfortunately, I tend to let myself get caught up in the litany of religious rituals and traditions of man made origin that serve no other purpose but to throw up roadblocks in our relationship with God.

God help me to be as natural in my communion with my heavenly Father as a child is with his Mimi.

Fun, Fun, Fun at Operation School Supplies!

What a great day it's been so far at Operation School Supplies 08. We had people in line at 5:30 this morning waiting for us to open our doors at 9:00. Things have run very smooth so far and tons of kids are getting everything they need for back to school. By the end of the day, close to 2000 kids will get their school supplies and a backpack as well as their back to school haircuts, school immunizations, dental screenings, vision screenings, as well as all kinds of free give a ways from Boys and Girl Club. In addition to all that, every social service organization in town has a booth set up at the resource fair with information about all the different programs and services that are available to kids and families. Heck, we've even got Tubby the Clown here again this year making balloon animals and entertaining the kids. What a great day! Thank God for the opportunity to be an agent of hope and love to the families of our community today!

God' Laughter

There is truly no sweeter sound to the ears than that of children playing. Listen carefully and you can hear the manifest presence of God in the midst of the laughter...love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness, patience, faithfulness and self-control...the very nature of God incarnate is in our midst in the laughter of children. In a very real way, it's as if God is sharing a laugh with us. God thank you for children and the laughter that reminds us of who you are.

The Gold Standard

I love the Olympic Games...and in spite of all the hype, the over-commercialization, and the incessant chatter from the media's talking-heads...I think it's still one of sports greatest spectacles.

I love the great stories of victory and triumph...like the incredible story of Michael Phelps. Behind all of those stories are even bigger stories of years, if not lifetimes, of training and sacrificing for a goal greater than the athlete themselves. It's simply an inspirational time that rolls around every four years.

But I'll have to tell you that every four years, where I truly find the most inspirational and compelling stories, are from the athletes who came away without reaching their ultimate goal. There's just something truly inspirational about gritty perseverance in the face of bitter defeat or disappointment. Even sitting here typing this, I can see on the TV screen in my mind the images of athletes from past Olympic games who had to deal with...as the late, great, Jim McCay used to say on Wide World of Sports...the agony of defeat.

As emotionally moving and proud those stories of great victory are, there's so much more to learn and so much to be taught from those stories of athletes who came up just short of their dream...for it is in those stories where most of us find ourselves and where we best relate.

My first memorable story from this Olympic games came earlier this week while watching the women's gymnastics team finals. Team USA gymnast Alicia Sacramone has trained for the better part of her young life for the very moment she found herself in last night. Unfortunately for her and the USA team, she made a couple of technical errors during her performances the other night that proved to be disastrous to the USA team’s chances of winning the gold medal. That honor went instead to the Chinese team.

Aside from all the obvious things you think about at times like that...like that you just feel horrible for the poor girl, being right out there in front of the entire world...there was one thought that stuck with me and that I woke up the next morning contemplating on. I was struck by the obvious level of disappointment from Alicia Sacramone and the rest of the US gymnastics team...at winning the silver medal.

Yeah, it seemingly almost got lost that this team of extremely talented gymnasts won a silver medal at the Olympic games! Here you have a handful of young women who are at the top of their chosen sport among the literally millions of teenagers and children around the world who would give almost anything to be where they are at right now. Yet at that moment, there was almost a tangible feeling that this group had underachieved.

And therein lies my first lesson that I take away from these Olympic games – that our true measure of success is not just in what we achieve, but; in what we could have achieved. This group of young athletes obviously felt like they were capable of performing much better than they did, and; although they came away with a silver medal…no small accomplishment to say the least…there level of expectation for themselves was set at a gold medal level.

The same is true in our daily walk with Christ. It goes without saying that with the unconditional love and grace that God lavishes on us, comes a humbling responsibility to pass on that same unconditional love and grace to everyone else we come into contact with. After all, that is the essence of the Christian life, loving God by loving others. My question that I’m posing to myself today is this - am I doing that to the very best of the ability that God has given me? Am I using all of the gifts and abilities to serve, love and touch others that God has placed within me?

Oh it’s easy enough for me to start listing off the “things” I do each day in the area of Christian service. I can even make myself feel pretty “holy” about what I do if I just give it a try. I mean, come on, I teach in the student ministry, I work with Awanas in the children’s ministry, and I serve on several teams and committees in the church. Oh yeah, don’t let me forget about Love Granbury and Healthy Kids, Operation School Supplies and Christmas for Children. Nice list I might think to myself.

But here’s the question – how am I actually doing in my Christian walk in comparison with how I could be doing? Ouch!! Am I living up completely to the potential that God has placed within me for the furtherance of His Kingdom? How about you? As Dr. Phil always asks…”how’s that working out for ya?”

Here are a couple of good self-check questions that we can ask ourselves, and they both tie right back into our Olympics story:

First, the obvious question - are you in the game? Are you serving others in the name of Christ to the honor and glory of God? Those young gymnasts in Beijing are gymnasts not simply because they woke up one day and decided to call themselves gymnasts. No, they are gymnasts because they have each made the intentional and deliberate commitment to a way of life that has made them an elite athlete. They have trained, sacrificed, and studied and made gymnastics their priority for years to rise to this occasion.

Likewise, do we simply call ourselves Christians, or do we exercise and practice the daily spiritual disciplines necessary for the Christian life? As sure as thunder follows lightning, spiritual works of service follow a commitment to Christ and His Kingdom. That’s exactly what James is talking about when he wrote that faith, without works, is dead (James 2:14-26). Just as those awe inspiring routines on the balance beams, vaults, parallel bars and floor exercises indicate those young ladies status as a “gymnast”, so our acts of self-sacrifice and humble service indicate the true status of our heart’s relationship to Christ.

Second, here’s a not so obvious question…if we’re in the game…if we’re deliberately and intentionally serving others in the name of Christ, do we sweat the small stuff? Do we pay close attention to the things that, in the grand scheme of things, seem small and insignificant? This is huge! My pastor, Mark Forrest has a somewhat rhetorical question that he asks during a lot of his sermons, and I love the question because it serves as a checkpoint for me (and because I love baseball). The question he asks is this – do we focus so much on the grandeur and drama of the grand slam home run that we forget about the importance of the routine ground balls? I must confess that often times I do…both in the areas of personal devotion and service.

In my personal devotion, I sometimes get so caught up in the “home runs” of the big service projects…like Love Granbury or Healthy Kids…that I tend to neglect the spiritual disciplines that are absolutely critical to my spiritual health. Things like daily Bible study, prayer, quiet time and worship. Just as those highly trained gymnasts follow a strict physical training regimen of which proper nutrition is a major component, our spiritual lives must have that same regimen of spiritual disciplines in order to be at our peak performance for Kingdom activities.

In athletics, neglecting the small stuff can be devastating. For example, did you happen to notice the margin in scoring between each of the medal winners and then between the three teams that won medals and those that didn’t in the team gymnastics competition? There was a razor thin margin between each of the medal winners and between the medal winners and the rest of the field who didn’t medal. In most instances it literally came down to tenths and hundredths of single points! In the world that is gymnastics scoring, that equates to a single slight step on a single landing, or a single foot being out of bounds on a single floor exercise, or even a teeny-tiny wobble on the balance beam. So believe me, these gymnasts know that the little stuff matters.

It is no different in the area of Christian service for us. We may be out there doing all the right things…serving and being the hands and feet of Christ…but if we neglect the seemingly small and insignificant, moment-by-moment opportunities to serve, we will simply not be as effective in sharing Christ’s Kingdom as we should be. So the next time we have an opportunity to open the door for a total stranger and let them go first, or to help someone to their car with their packages at Walmart, or just offer a kind word to someone who seems to not be having a good day, we need to recognize those times as the holy moments that they are…moments to plant a seed of love and kindness in a heart that desperately needs the love of Christ. So as Pastor Mark says, “focus on doing the simple, everyday, routine stuff well.”

Finally, as Christians we are often times very prone to evaluating our spiritual walk by comparing ourselves to other people around us. As long as we aren’t as “bad” as the person we are comparing ourselves to, or as long as we appear to be “doing” more than the other person, we tend to feel pretty good about ourselves. As evidenced by the US Women’s Gymnastics team the other night, the fact that they won the silver medal was little consolation for the knowledge that they didn’t perform up to their full potential. I didn’t see any of them jumping around going, “hey, aren’t we great because we won the silver medal and this other team over here only won the bronze medal.” No, those comparisons were nowhere to be found the other night.

So remember, it’s not what we are doing for Christ that really counts, but what we are doing, measured against what we are capable of doing for Christ. In the final analysis, we all have a gold medal standard to strive for.

I'm Micky Shearon, and that's Life on The Way.

Rethinking Our Missions Mindset

On the mission committee I serve on at our church, we are having a lot of intentional dialouge among our committee members right now about "changing the culture" of our church in regard to "missions". I give a lot of credit to the current Chairman of our committee for recognizing the need for a broader definition and understanding of missions and for initiating these discussions.

For a lot of years now, our church has been stuck in the mindset that mission work is something you do in a foreign country. That's not to say that our church has not taken on or participated in local mission projects in the past, but the clear emphasis has been put on "international" missions. Local or even regional needs have always been given at least an implied second tier status with the exception of just a select few local charities.

A perfect example would be our church's participation in the Operation Christmas Child program. This program has been a major emphasis in our church during the Christmas season for a number of years, and rightly so. Operation Christmas Child is a very worthwhile organization that does great work. But every year, running concurently with Operation Christmas Child, which focuses on providing Christmas gifts to underprivileged children in foreign countries, has been Hood County Christmas for Children, which does essentially the same thing for our local underprivileged kids right here in our own county.

The response of our church family to the program aiding children in other countries has always been exceptional. By contrast, the response to the charity helping local children is always much more tepid. There just has never been the enthusiasm for helping the "local" children as there has been for helping the foreign children. And please, don't think I'm playing an "us" versus "them" card, because I'm absolutely not. I believe with all my heart that we have equal responsibility to be the Body of Christ in Africa or China as we do right here in Granbury, Texas, USA. What I'm doing is trying to illustrate an apparent disconnect in our missions mindset.

In the account of the birth of the Christian church found in the book of Acts, Luke spells out for us a very clear, concise and methodical approach to missions. In Acts 1:8, Luke, under divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes, "and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." As my good friend Tillie Burgin from Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex says, mission work is not something that's only done "over there". Sometimes I feel like there's almost an unwritten and unstated view that our efforts are missional only if those efforts are being done at least fifty miles from our home.

How contrary to the charge given to us in Acts 1:8 where we are clearly told to begin our mission work literally in our own home, then on our own street, and in our own community...our Jerusalem...and then expand those efforts out into a broader region around us, like our state...or our Judea. At that point, we can expand those efforts out to an even broader area around us, like our nation...or our Samaria. Finally, once we are fulfilling our charge to be missional in those areas closest to us, we then expand onto the global stage and take Christ's Good News...to the ends of the earth.

As author Steve Sjogren illustrates it in his book "Outflow", it's much like a four tiered water fountain. Each succesive level of the fountain is filled as those levels above it fill and spill over to the next level...hence, the "outflow". What a beautiful way to look at the very logical and purposeful way that scripture sets out our duty to be missionaries to the entire world...starting with those who are closest to us.

Unfortunately, far too many times we spend all of our efforts trying to fill up that largest, bottom tier of the fountain at the expense of the other levels that come before it and are running dry...never realizing that by spiritual design, if we fill those other levels to overflowing, the natural progression of things is to flow outward to a wider area. I would go so far as to say that if we really want to expand the scope and effectiveness of our international missions outreach, we need to refocus our efforts closest to home...and then let the outflow work outward.

The bottom line is that everyone, everywhere, needs the love and grace of Jesus Christ. God has given us a clear, easy model to follow to expand His Kingdom on earth if we will simply take Acts 1:8 to heart.

I'm Micky Shearon and that's Life on The Way!

Precious Resources

Last night, we had just sat down to dinner, when there was a knock at the front door. It was a guy from our local water company who was driving through the neighborhood looking for green grass...you heard right...green grass. And anywhere he saw green grass, he pulled up, stopped, and went up to the front door of that home and knocked. Which was why he was now knocking on our door...because we have green grass.

The man from our water company proceeded to explain to me that the reason he had stopped and interrupted my highly nutritious Pizza Hut dinner, was because he saw our green grass. Not trying to be a Mr. Smarty Pants, I said to the man, "thank you, I'm glad you like it." Unfortunately, the man was not there to bestow an award for the greenest lawn in our neighborhood. To the contrary, he launched into this somewhat probing interrogation relative to my watering habits...which I must confess caught me just a little off guard.

"How many days a week do you water? What days of the week do you water? Do you water on even numbered days or do you water on odd numbered days? Do you water between the hours of 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM on any day of the week regardless of whether it's an odd or even numbered day?

Now the Paul Harvey as to why this young man was now standing on my front door step has to do with more than the fact that I have some green grass in my front lawn. Several weeks ago the water company had sent out a letter telling all the residents of the neighborhood that the water well that provided water to our quaint little village was running dangerously low because of the hot temperatures and high demand for water. The letter had specifically instructed all residents not to water between the hours of 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM. Furthermore (now I'm sounding like a lawyer, right?), according to the instructions contained in this letter, if your address ended in an even number, like mine, you could only water on even numbered days of the week...but only before 8:00 AM or after 8:00 PM. The letter contained a similar admonishment for those water mongering odd numbered residents.

Well it seems that the water level in the water well has not recovered, and in fact, has now reached a critical stage. If drastic conservation measures are not initiated immediately the neighborhood could temporarily be without water in a matter of days and until such time as the water company can drill an additional well. Which brings us back to my dinner time visit from the water company representative. The water company has apparently decided that if you have any green grass in your yard, you must somehow be in violation of the aforementioned water edict. So the pointed questioning as to the true nature of my aquatic habits continued unabated.

I must admit that at this point I was beginning to feel like I was back in the fifth grade at North Euless Elementary School being lectured by Ms. Morrison, my fifth grade teacher after someone ratted me out for stuffing papertowels in the drain of one of the sinks in the boy's bathroom and turning on the water. She kept me after school that day for what seemed like at least six hours...which I think it was only an hour, but to a ten year old wanting to get home and play, it was an eternity. Ms. Morrison went into great detail with me about why we should respect God's creation and the precious resources He gave to us to sustain life on this little blue planet. She read to me the Genesis account of creation from the big ol' family Bible she had on her bookshelf, and she told me horrifying stories of kids my same age in other parts of the world who were dying because they lacked enough clean water to drink. Then, she made me write on the blackboard 100 times that "I will respect God's creation and not waste water ever again." That's a long sentence for a 10 year old...especially when you're having to write it 100 times!

But you know what? I can promise you that after the lecture I received from Ms. Morrison that day some 36 years ago, I have never, ever, ever, knowingly wasted water. What's more, I have always been keenly aware of God's incredible creation and of the awesome responibility we all been charged with by God to care for it. Whether it's the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, or other resources he has blessed us with, we are God's stewards and caretakers of His creation. How sad that we so often take for granted the gifts we have have been given...many times until it's too late. One day, we are going to run out of something that God has given us, like water...and we won't be able to just drill another well...like they are planning to do in our neighborhood.

Oh yes, the nice young man at my door - where did I leave off? Oh yeah, I explained to the fellow that the reason I had greener grass than both my even and odd neighbors, was because I happened to have an anaerobic septic system. The kind that cleans the water to the point where its cleaner than our lake water, and then waters the yard with it. Our's is the newest house in our neighborhood, and by the time we built it seven years ago, all the building codes had changed and traditional septic systems were no longer allowed. No one else had a septic system like ours. Obviously this nice young man wasn't aware of that fact. After several minutes of explaining the finer nuiances of our septic system to the guy...while my highly nutritious yet somewhat cold pizza dinner awaited...he went away - I think still somewhat skeptical.

However, I appreciated the reminder of just how precious the things God has given us are. And that includes a lot more than just water!

I'm Micky Shearon and that's Life on The Way.

Mission Trip Photos

Hey, I've posted all of the mission trip photos on the Picasa photo web site and they can be downloaded/ordered/printed directly from there. The photo site is http://picasaweb.google.com/mgshearon/MissionPhiladelphiaLakesideMissionTrip08

Mission Trip Round Up

Hey everybody, it's Saturday and we have now made it home from mssion trip in Philadelphia.  It's been a couple of days since I've posted to my blog with an update about Mission Trip Philadelphia. My phone didn't charge overnight on Wednesday, so I was without a phone for most of Thursday.  Then Friday was another travel day with us doing a little sightseeing in Philly in the morning and then it was time to get our travelling circus to the airport for the journey home.  Let me just say this about the last two days in Philadelphia, they were amazing and we really saw God's hand at work in a lot of areas, and I'll get this all on the blog for you to read about.  I'll do this in several different posts over the next couple of days.  Let me start by talking about the kids who accepted Christ this week as a result of VBS at both Ezekiel Baptist and House of Prayer.  We had far fewer kids at both locations than we anticipated having (average of about 30 at Ezekiel and 20 at House of Prayer), but it became very obvious very quickly that God gave us the very kids, in the exact numbers that He wanted at VBS.  These children were very needy and required a lot of individualized attention from all of us.  These were kids straight out of some of the roughest, most dangerous and most poverty stricken neighborhoods in the entire country, so our students had their work cut out for them.  But boy did they ever rise to the occasion!  Because of them allowing God to work through them and being the hands and feet of Christ this past week, nine children accepted Christ as their Savior at Ezekiel Baptist and there were four who accepted Christ at House of Prayer.  If you've been keeping up with the blog, you've already met Shakina, the 19 year old who accepted Christ on Tuesday at VBS.  Today, I want to introduce you to two little guys, both 9 years old, who accepted Christ on Thursday.  Theses are two of the seven who accepted Christ that day.  There names are Randy and Dominick.  I've got a little story to tell you later about Dominick.  But here's a little video of each of the boys.