When I would go to feed them, the calves would become excited and almost jump around when I brought the bottles.  They would literally skip on their way to be fed.

This is how we as believers in Christ are described in Malachi.  We, who fear the Lord, are said to skip like calves.  We are described as having the same joy as a calf leaving the stall.

So, I wonder.

How many of us truly live life with this kind of joy?  We have every reason to.  We belong to the Creator of the universe.  We have been covered by the blood of His son.  We are redeemed.  Saved.  Blessed.

Is that your experience with the folks in your church?  Is that your experience with the followers of Christ that you know?

I know many with that kind of joy.  Others, though, act as though God is out to get them.  Their lives reflect a belief that God means for their life to be miserable.

That isn’t how God wants our lives to be.  He wants us to live joyful lives.  He wants us to live lives like skipping calves, joyful and happy to be in Him.

How about you?  Do you live a joyful life?  Will you skip like a calf today?

I know that my regular followers have been wondering where the Deuceology blog post about this has been.  They know that I have been a lifelong Southern Baptist and are wondering what I think about it.  So, here goes.

I don’t care.

I hope that wasn’t too anti-climatic.  I simply don’t care what the name of the denomination of my local church.

I understand  all the sides of the issue.

Are you really a Southern Baptist if your church is in Massachusetts or Kenya?

The name is offensive to some due to the origination being tied to the South and slavery.

Some are proud, like the leadership of the Tennessee Baptist Convention,  of the Southern Baptist name.  They do not see the need of any sort of change.

Again, I don’t really care.  I’m not terribly proud or ashamed of my Southern Baptist heritage.  I’ve never felt the need to apologize to anyone for what my ancestors did.  All of that is history.  I don’t ignore it , but neither do I fly a banner or allow it to trip me up.

My concern is whether people know Christ.

If I call myself a Great Commission Baptist in New England, and people know  Christ, then that’s what I want.

If I call myself a Southern Baptist in the Bible Belt , and people know Christ, then it’s a win.

I won’t boast in either one.

All I want to do is boast in Christ.

Are you a Southern Baptist?  Do you care about the name?  Are you okay with this non-change change?  Did you even know about it?

Someone asks how you’re doing.  How do you respond?  “Living the dream!!!” is often the answer.

That’s awesome, isn’t it.  So many people who you run into answer back that their life is the dream they have always wanted.

Right?

Is it?

Are that many people really living the dream?  I don’t think so.

It’s become a cliché’, like so many other sayings.  People say living the dream just give the facade that their lives are exactly like they have always wanted.  They want to give the perception that their lives are awesome and couldn’t be better.

How many people are really there?

I don’t think that many.

Very few people are living the dream.  If so, there wouldn’t be so much divorce.  If so, there wouldn’t be so much of pursuit of happiness in things that don’t really matter.

Stop living a cliché’.

Stop living the dream.

Where is your dream really coming from?

In the days when Samuel was young and serving the Lord, word from the Lord and visions were rare and infrequent.

I think it is that way today.  Why?  Because most people aren’t pursuing God through Christ.

They don’t know Him.

They don’t believe in Him.

They don’t trust Him.

They aren’t turning to the Source.

They may say they are living the dream, but they don’t even know the Dream-Giver.

They want to live the dream, but He wants to give them the Dream.

My prayer is that they their eyes will open and they will see the One who can truly give them the Dream.

Then they really can live the Dream.

Let’s make sure that we are.

Are you living the Dream?

I remember, as clear as a bell, a girl in second grade having a box of 64 Crayola crayons.  I gazed upon her multitude of colors and then looked back at my eight.

Her pictures were so much better.  Why?  I know it was because she had more and smaller crayons.

I couldn’t color in the lines.  Even when my crayons became smaller I couldn’t do it.

I was told and cajoled to color in the lines.  And I was never really able to.  Even now, my coloring would not look as neat and beautiful as someone else’s.

Now, as an adult, I face the same challenges.  You mean you want me to drive 50, not 51?  You mean I can’t walk on that grass?  I really want to touch that paint.

I don’t like lines.

I don’t think I’m unique.

The church wants me to color in the lines too.  In many ways I will.  Then, somewhere along the way, I get outside the lines in a big way.

Steven Taylor wrote a couple of decades ago about a guy who has to color inside the lines called “I Want To Be A Clone”.  He satirized the fact that the church wants everyone to conform and be like everyone else.  Many really don’t know what to do with those who want to color outside the lines.

There are people in your church today that color outside the lines.  Maybe an entire church colors outside the lines of the other churches in the area.

Do you know what you should do?

Applaud.  Clap.  Support.  Encourage.

Why?

Because they are part of the Body.  Because they are a leg to your arm.  They are a left hand to your right.

Because they may have little fingers with a big crayon.  Or bigger fingers with a small one.

Because they are drawing and coloring a picture that God finds beautiful.

And so should we.

What size is your crayon?

Solid preaching from our interim pastor.

Worshipful music that leads to a corporate experience with God.

However, that isn’t what I want to focus on today.

I want to zero in on what happened after the worship service yesterday.

We had a potato/chili luncheon to raise money to send the youth to a conference.

It was fantastic to see the response of so many people bringing chili and potatoes to support the youth.

But even that isn’t what I really want to talk about.

Jan and I spent time with a couple who shared how much they led and loved the youth when they were younger.  Now, some of those youth are now having children and they are loving those children.  They also shared with how God has blessed them at different times in their lives.

We also got to spend time with another couple.  One of them is having surgery on Friday, so we have an opportunity to pray this week for them.  On a side note, they also own cattle.  Growing up, my family had cattle as well.  It’s great to get to know people who you have things in common with.

The bottom line is that we are truly beginning to feel connected in this church.  We love it and it is becoming home.

How are things going in your church?

I’m currently reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin.  In it, Godin describes a linchpin as someone who is indispensable.  My own take on it is that a linchpin is someone whose absence would make a huge difference.

Who are the linchpins in your church?  Are you one of them?

I’m not talking about folks who do a lot of work.  They could be just cogs in the factory of your church.

I’m not talking about big fish in the little ponds of church structure.  People like that come and go.

I’m talking about people who really make a difference in the way the church is supposed to be.

I’m talking about the members of the body who are functioning according to their purpose.  If they are an arm, they are being the best arm they can be.  If an eye, the best.  If they are a knee, a knee.  They know who they are in Christ and the church and serve accordingly, happily and joyfully.

I’m talking about the people who know why they are assembling every Sunday.  They are there to worship, but the way they do that is different from anyone else.  They are there to stimulate others to love  and good deeds.  They are there encouraging each other.  These are woven into their worship, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week.

Joyful servers.  Encouragers.

These are the people who are linchpins.  You notice when they aren’t there.  They stand out.  You love being around them.

Are you a linchpin?

Sunday’s post was Diet Mountain Dew and The Glory of God.  This turned out to be a well received post.  Actually, I think it is the most read post of 2012 so far.

Monday brought First Church Year #4.

Collaboration, Community and Christ was Tuesday’s offering.

Wednesday’s I Killed My Bucket List brought my biggest day of the week.  I wish, in hindsight, that I had given this post the title, Kick The Bucket List.

I gave some Christian Copouts on Thursday.  Andrew Zahn suggested I write a book based on this one.

Finally, on Friday, Smells Like…… was the last post of the week.

I am going to add a new page to the blog.  It will be my speaking schedule.  It’s not like it is extensive, but beginning in May I will be speaking weakly ast a local campground.  I would love to add some other opportunities.  I will include this list for the main reason that I would love for my friends who read follow my blog to pray for me as I do this.

I also am taking baby steps to going toward a self-hosted blog.  I would really like to have more flexibility in what I do here.

Also, I am preparing for my first video blog.  I think I have enough material.  Hopefully, I can pull it off in the next couple of weeks.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Tell me how your week went.  Was a good one?

All in all, it was a good week.  I appreciate everyone who visits and comments.

As with most things, I began to have strange and weird thoughts.  One was, “Could I get away with writing a Deuceology take on the song and call it Smells Like Holy Spirit?”  Like I’ve said before, I’m not good at satire and parody.  So I wondered if I could write something like this…..

Smells Like The Bible.

A couple of people are thinking the question, “Alright Larry, where are you going?”

Maybe you have been in a Bible study class with a group that has gone something like this.  The teacher reads some scripture.  They talk about it for a minute and then begin a round the class discussion.

One person says something like, “This verse means this to me.”

The next person says, “Well, it means this to me.”  And it is something completely different.

And it goes on and on.

Sometimes they sound like they have Weird Al’s marbles in their mouth because I’m not really sure what they are saying the verse means to them.

Basically, when it comes down to it, they are similar to me when I was when singing along with Nirvana.

I’ve never understood what in the world Kurt Cobain was singing, so I made up my own words.

I wonder if that isn’t what some people do when they read the Bible.  They don’t really know what’s going on, so they just kind of make up their own interpretation of what the verses say based on their own experience.  Basically, they interpret the scripture based on their own life.

I don’t mean to single anyone out.  All of us have done it.  I’ve done it plenty of times.   I just want to encourage all of us to dig in and try to figure out what the scripture means to the original writer before we state what it means to us.  Once we know that, then we can really begin applying it to our lives.

Otherwise, the Bible might Smell Like Teen Spirit.

Have you ever heard someone give a strange interpretation of a Bible verse?  Do you remember ever having done it?

The Devil Made Me Do It

The Devil tempted me.  He presented me with an opportunity that I couldn’t resist.  He knows exactly where I am weak and attacked me there.  He tripped me up.  He caused me to stumble there.  I had a real bout of spiritual warfare there, but I lost that one.  I’ll try harder next time.

The truth is, I wanted to do it.  It wasn’t something that I should have done, but I wanted to.  So, I did it, but it sounds spiritual when I can pin the blame on the Devil.  That way it wasn’t really my fault.  This didn’t work for Geraldine (hope some of you get that Flip Wilson reference) and it doesn’t work for us.

God Told Me To

There really isn’t an argument you can put up with someone who uses this one, is there?  They say God told them to.  End of discussion.  They will play that card over and over.  “Why am I walking around barefoot?  I was reading in Exodus that God told Moses to take his shoes off when he approached the burning bush.  I know that is a word from the Lord for me to not wear shoes.”  I know that is a silly example, but I have heard people use something similar.  I bet you have too.

God Hasn’t Told Me

The exact opposite of the previous one.  This one helps someone avoid responsibility.  An important decision needs to be made.  You don’t want to do it, but you don’t want to come across as not being spiritual.  “Would you like to chaperone at the youth conference?” “No, I’m sorry.  God hasn’t told me to.”

Or here is another variation.  A decision needs to be made.  You don’t like the direction that someone else wants the decision to go.  What do you say?  “God hasn’t given me that answer.”  Really, you don’t like the other decision, but you cloud it up with spiritual talk.  You paralyze the proceedings.

We’ve All Done It

I’m not getting onto to you if you’ve done this before.  We have all used one of these excuses or something like it.

I just want to encourage to stop it.

Don’t blame the Devil.  Don’t do something you want to do and blame God.  Don’t stall by saying that God hasn’t told you.

Pray about it.  Make a decision.  Live with it.  Stop using Christian Copouts.

It’s not going to screw up His plan for you.  Whatever the decision, it was His plan.

Have you ever used an excuse like these to avoid responsiblity for something?

It’s gone.  Never more to rear its ugly head.  I’m through with it.  Done.

The bucket list is gone.

You may be asking, “Why?”  Glad you asked.  I’m here to tell you why.  I’m here to tell you why you should kill the bucket list.  But not before I go Ricky Ricardo and do some ‘splainin.

First, what I’m not telling you is to get rid of a list of things that you would like to do.  If you want to see the Grand Canyon or skydive, though I have no idea why you would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, then by all means make a list of things you would like to achieve.  If you want to be a millionaire or drive a racecar or whatever you can imagine, then do it.

Just don’t call it a bucket list.

I’ve called it that before.  I have made a list and called it a bucket list.  Even before the name came around, I had one.  I would say my first one was as a teenager.  When I thought I was saved as a teen, I hoped that I wouldn’t die or that the Lord would come back before I had sex.  I think this is probably how most teens think, by the way.

The problem with using the bucket list thought and terminology is this:  It implies that  nothing beyond this world  can satisfy us like these things can.

It says that nothing in eternity can compare to the Grand Canyon, skydiving, driving a racecar or sex, so you better get it done for you die

It says that life with Christ in eternity will be boring.  And that is, I think,  a way of taking the Lord’s name in vain.  It minimizes all of the promises that He makes us.  It says that He isn’t enough.

So, go ahead and make your list.  Set your goals.  That’s all fine.  If that day comes and the Lord wills it, it will happen.

Just don’t’ call it a bucket list.

How about you?  What do you think about the concept of the bucket list?