"Crowin'..............."

My thoughts lately have been a jumbled mixture of life as it has come to me, all giving me pause, reason to wonder about the basic principles by which we exist as a society. Mostly, it has been a pondering of human nature, such as it is, a wondering about what we, the Church at large, really thinks separates us from everybody else out there. I sat in service last Sunday morning, listening to worship and recalling how, back in 1972 when I stepped into this, a well-known author had just published a paper-back book predicting the return of Christ in ’81. In truth, it seemed that, during that eight year interim, out of every ten Gospel songs written, seven or more dealt with the rapture taking place and believers being caught up to be with the Lord. Nowadays, within the Pentecostal bunch, anyhow, the bulk of our music refers to power, authority, blessings, and prosperity being ours to claim, freedom from whatsoever bondage ours to possess if we’ll simply stand and speak faith unto it. I long ago, though, realized that “building one’s house upon sand” could apply to our interpretation of the Word as well as it did anything else. We remain people, even “in” Christ. The difference in me is no more than the Holy Spirit’s abiding tug on my reins and my willingness to follow Him as we go. He, therefore, must be my wisdom and my witness, indeed my humility as well as my boldness, the sword His to swing, not mine. Anything less may be well-meant, but prone to error….

We rode over to Chic-fil-A this afternoon to support Dan Cathy’s right to espouse his own religious point of view. The drive-thru was packed, automobiles wrapped around the building twice and then continuing maybe another thousand feet from the entrance. We parked and walked over, thinking perhaps our two-thirty arrival to avoid such a crowd would find breathing room inside. The line began about thirty feet from the door, then once inside turned to the left, circled a small alcove to return to the door only to cross to a larger alcove on the other side and circle it before finally reaching the counter. It took us forty-five minutes to get some great food, pleasant service while enjoying some pleasant conversation with all those around us as we went. It probably won’t get much coverage in the news, but this, to me, is how to do what I tried to say above. No need to replicate the other side’s action and boycott those businesses who disagree with us. I applaud my wife who responded to some woman’s vulgarity in attacking another about this issue this morning on Face Book. “The difference in us,” she said, “ is not so much our opinion, as it is the language we use in expressing it.”...