Roller Coaster
8/1/2005 6:59:48 PM
I'm living a roller coaster these days. I'm dealing with a new direction with my weight. I have an opportunity to truly make a difference with weight loss. I'm motivated like never before. I am also facing personal opposition like never before. The enemy understands what God is showing me. If I can muster some spiritual gumption over the course of this next year and do what I am being told to do, nothing will be impossible for me. Nothing!

My Family
8/3/2005 9:36:29 AM
I am blessed beyond measure by the family God gave me in this world. My heavenly family is the eternal one from which I draw so much of my life today. But my earthly family has been so very precious to me as well. We have a solid bond that runs deep. Lately, I have been reminded that my family loves me and will support me in any endeavor I attempt. I have my childhood memories of playing with my siblings in the pine forests, abandoned sawmills, and rural roads of Goodpine. The football games played in our yard were classic. As adults, we have always experienced our joys and sorrows together. In our family, we share everything alike. What is mine is yours and yours is mine. Your mountains are my mountains. Your enemies are my enemies. Your victories are my victories. I've seen many great families, but I truly feel ours is one of them. Having such a support group makes this journey through life richer.

The Prodigal Returns
8/5/2005 7:42:13 PM
Clint moved back in today. When he first pulled up, he stretched his limbs some as they were stiff from his five hour ride. We hugged, sort of. He immediately began to unload his stuff into his room. It was all business at first. I know that he loves the city of New Orleans, but it is unforgiving sometimes, and he simply wasn't ready to sustain a household on his own. I know that his goal is to do just that one day. Move back to New Orleans in a home of his own. After unloading, he took his shoes off and we talked some. I watched him rub his feet over the carpet in the living room. He stood up and sort of slid his feet along the carpet as he walked to the refrigerator to get a coke. As he returned he said, "It sure feels good to be walking on carpet again." He watched me closely as he said it. I wanted to just jump up and grab him and spin him around and act out the whole prodigal son scene from the Gospel. Lord knows I've got a fatted calf or two in my freezer. I wanted to tell him with all the gusto I could muster: "WELCOME HOME!" I wanted to tell him how much I love him and care for him and that he will alway have a place to call home...a place where he is unconditionally welcomed when the world isn't kind to him. I looked up at him, shrugged, and mumbled, "Yeah, carpet is really cool." I think he got the point.

A New Creature
8/8/2005 3:45:04 PM
Yesterday, I preached to my congregation that God ALWAYS causes us to triumph in EVERY place. What a wonderful scripture that is in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16! I explained during the evening service what God has been prompting me to do in my life to get my body in line with the Will of God. I am going to give myself totally to changing my lifestyle to lose the weight that now prevents me from being the pastor I'm called to be. I am less than a third of the minister I could be if I was healthy. The time has come for me to sell out to being obedient to God in this area of my life, no matter what happens. In fact, for the last week I've been on liquids in an attempt to purge myself. The congregation was behind me 100%, no matter what it takes. Of course the enemy attacked me last night with kidney stones. I spent most of the morning at a local emergency room. I was too big to fit into their machines for scanning and the like. It was suggested by a doctor on call that I could perhaps find a Vet who has equipment big enough to scan horses, cattle and other "creatures". I sat there in pain from the stones, humiliated by the facts and limitations of my overweight condition. Such a beautiful, encouraging Sunday had turned sour pretty quickly. But the scripture came rushing back to me: God causes me to ALWAYS triumph in EVERY place. That includes emergency rooms in Jena, Louisiana. I refused to be discouraged! I may be a creature in the eyes of some, but I am a New Creature in Christ! The pain is gone; the humiliation is gone. I feel the hand of God is ordering my steps.

Watching The Anointed
8/10/2005 8:46:02 AM
I always take pleasure in watching those fellow believers in the Kingdom of God around me grow in maturity and in anointing. This one lady has stepped up lately in such a way that I am astounded at God’s purpose in her life. She is truly an encouragement to me. Watching her battle the many demons in her life, witnessing her struggle to hold the Kingdom together in her family despite the work of the enemy, I am proud to call her “Sister” in this spiritual niche we are carving for the Kingdom. I expressed my joy in her optimism by telling her I could tell God’s anointing in her life is growing because, in her wake, the ground is littered with the chains and bonds of those who have been set free by the presence of God in her. Some people are a blessing to watch.

Hunger
8/12/2005 3:55:59 PM
As my eating habits change, I can't help but notice how important food is to us. Hunger is a strange thing. Lately, I've been watching my hunger for God's Word rise as my hunger for food increases. It's a tightrope that I'm walking. I do not fear, however, because the more I defeat my flesh the more my spirit soars. Hunger comes in many forms. I'm learning that today.

Spiritual Children
8/16/2005 7:06:52 AM
I was pleasantly surprised by a young couple who I raised from spiritual pups in my youth ministry years ago. If there is a thing as spiritual children, these two belong to me. Both were stars of my group. The young man is perhaps the most effective evangelist/preacher to come from my youth groups. The young woman is by far the most accomplished singer. Even back in the day, we knew they belonged together. What a rocky beginning these two had! That's a story for another time. But God had a plan with these two. I keep up with them from time to time, but lately, I simply have been too engrossed in my own rat-killing to check in on them. I received a copy of a new song she's singing and heard about some great ideas for a new youth ministry paradigm God is revealing to him. They seem excited. Their maturity astounds me. To think, in some small way, I had something to do with setting their ship on course through the high seas of the Kingdom of God is humbling. I am proud of them. I am proud of God. What we do is never in vain!

Anxious Expectation
8/18/2005 8:01:33 AM
My new scales are due to arrive today. I have been unable to chart my progress with the weightloss from my diet because there is no convenient scales to weigh myself on. My family decided to help me purchase one so I can keep a constant accountability. I am anxious to know how my better eating and excercising is paying off. It feels like the day of judgement is upon me! If this is how the lost feel when they consider that day that is coming when all of us shall stand before God then I partially understand why they don't like to think or talk about it much. I certainly hope I've made progress.

Motivation
8/19/2005 7:06:19 AM
I've loss 16 pounds in the last 10 days. That is 30 pounds in all so far this month. It's a start. My cousin Tommy has a plan to get me to a workable weight a year and a couple months from now. I must average 18 pounds a month to get there. He said I must see it as a football season; each month is like a game I must plan for and then win. I need to make that 18 pounds each month. I must go 14-0 over the next fourteen months and then I will have won my Super Bowl. I love football! Tommy truly knows how to motivate me. Most of the things we do in life are all about motivation. We do what we want to do. Why do we sin? Because we want to. We like the feeling that sin gives us. We like it more than we like the feeling that comes with denying our flesh. We do what we want. We must motivate ourselves to want the right thing. Thanks, Tommy.

Limping Along
8/22/2005 10:12:52 AM
The weatherman says we can expect temperatures in the upper ninety degrees for the rest of the week. Nothing but humid, life-draining heat for as far as the eye can see. I'll just have to spend more time inside, under the air conditioner. With football just around the corner, I am starting to get that feeling way down in the dark recesses of my mind: That "football" feeling. Every fall, after the school year begins and the sounds of football pads cracking in the distance fills the air, I remember back to the grand old days of two-a-day practices. It is hard to believe that I used to run into people at full speed and roll around on the ground like these kids are doing. That world seems so far removed from the reality of today where creaky knees and arthritic joints remind me that time is taking its toll on me. Though my body is no longer able to endure the heat, the physical contact, and the stains of such activity, that little place in my mind where the memories live stirs my heart with joy at the coming season. I can't help but feel good and walk tall today, even if its with a limp.

Intelligent Design
8/24/2005 12:35:08 PM
I couldn't help myself; I had to write a quick article concerning the teaching of "intelligent design" in the classroom. Go to my articles and check it out.

Hurricane Katrina and the Golden Rule
8/28/2005 7:04:33 PM
Lord, have mercy! They are calling this the Big One. For fifty years or more they've been warning us that a major hurricane slamming right into New Orleans would be catastrophic. The city would be 30 feet under water. Well, Hurricane Katrina is being called the worse storm in history, and it’s headed right towards the City That Time Forgot, the Crescent City, the Big Easy, New Orleans. The so called "Worse Case Scenario" has everyone panicked here. Refugees are pouring into Northern Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, and Northern Mississippi. My younger brother, Packy, who pastors a six hundred member church in Houma, La., which is located about fifty miles Southwest of New Orleans, right along the coast, has led a procession of his members up to LaSalle parish where we live. LaSalle Parish includes the little town of Olla which is still recovering from a huge tornado that ripped the town apart in November of 2004. The churches and the people of the town are opening up their arms to the Cajun strangers from South Louisiana. I pastor a church in Olla. We will be feeding and housing refugees the next several days—for who knows how long, really. Jena is also opening up its arms to those fleeing Katrina’s wrath. I guess this is what you call paying back what others have done for you. When Olla needed help, so many reached out to the people there who were left homeless due to the tornado. It is wonderful to see the Hand of God present even in this most frightful time. Pray for us all!

Katrina: Could Have Been Worse?
8/30/2005 6:06:41 AM
They keep telling us we dodged a bullet in New Orleans...That things could have been worse. Eighty percent of the city is underwater. Off ramps from I-10 have been turned into boat ramps where individual are taking private boats, striking out into communities that are covered in water up to the rooftops, listening for the cries and screams of victims trapped in their attics, bringing load after load full of frightened families back to the interstate. Hardened veteran reporters are weeping over what they are witnessing; victims of Katrina in Mississippi and Alabama are praying for those in New Orleans. At least, they understand, the water will recede in their towns and cities. In New Orleans, the water has no where to go. The levee has been compromised, and Lake Ponchatrain abides by the laws of gravity. The city is becoming a modern day Atlantis. The rescue operations continue even at this moment as thousands who could not flee before the hurricane become part of a dramatic process on a scale never before witnessed in America. My nephew moved back home from New Orleans just a couple weeks ago. He lived in the 9th Ward, where his house is completely covered in water. Some places in the area are beneath twenty feet of water. And they keep telling us it could have been worse. For me, it could have been—if Clint had still been living in New Orleans. For others in my family, and evacuees who have become refugees all over the Mid-South, it’s hard to imagine that just now.