Pastor John’s Blog

On December 1, 1990, Englishman Graham Fagg and Frenchman Phillippe Cozette met for a monumental breakthrough. It was a breakthrough like never before. It wasn’t a breakthrough of a foreign defense, or a scientific breakthrough, but a literal breaking through solid rock. For two years prior to this date, both nations had been operating their own drilling equipment, boring a tunnel underneath the English Channel that would eventually become the “Chunnell.” Graham and Phillipe were the first to punch through the remaining layer of bedrock and shake hands. Though they were 370 feet below sea level, and started drilling over 23 miles apart, the two countries were only 14 inches off center when they met.

I heard about a study recently where researchers presented three scenarios to a group of teenagers and asked which they would prefer: 1)meet up with friends online, 2)meet up with friends in person and have adults organize some activities for you, or 3) meet up in person with no planed agenda and you and your friends figure it out yourself. Think about it for a second and decide which you would prefer….

Option three was the overwhelming favorite. There’s something noteworthy about this in an age when kids often have everything planned out for them by adults in a very professional and controlled setting. I’ve heard some sociologists point out that the “professionalization of kids sports” has led to the problem of kids not learning how to hash out rules of games with their peers, which leads to anxiety in those kinds of situations as one grows up.

I remember my first day of work at the grocery store. Barely 16 years old, the fast paced atmosphere and the energy of working with a team was more fun than expected. I was learning tons every day and meeting new and interesting people. Everything was going great, until I received that first paycheck. $3.35/hour didn’t sound like much when I started, and the pay slip proved that it indeed was not. Though momentarily discouraged, the task remained ahead and I kept with the work for many years.

One summer in Middle School I spent a couple of weeks with my Great Uncle Wayne, helping on his farm in central Indiana. It was a ton of work, but also buckets of fun, learning about farm life, eating huge lunches with lots of fresh corn, operating a small tractor and front end loader and all kinds of other equipment we had only in miniature at home. Probably the highlight though was getting to drive his pickup truck on the road. I hadn’t driven much at all before this, but of course it was something I dreamed about often, anticipating the day when I finally had the freedom to drive on my own! 

In December of 1880, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, Sheriff Pat Garett finally apprehended the notorious Western outlaw, Billy the Kid. He was put in prison, and sentenced to be hanged in May. Just weeks before the scheduled hanging date, he killed two prison guards and escaped. Most assumed he would flee to Mexico, where he would be free to live life without worry of re-capture. But Billy didn’t want to go to Mexico, he wanted to stay near his network of friends and loved ones. He thought he was savvy enough to handle any problem and get out of any situation. And so a few months later, while walking into a friend’s house near his very place of capture, Fort Sumner, Pat Garett was waiting. This time the Sheriff didn’t take any chances and shot Billy dead.

Last week our country celebrated our national freedom. An estimated 3 billion dollars were spent on fireworks in America (I think most of that was in Valley Station!) We celebrate freedom from a foreign ruler, but the kind of freedom that man experienced after baptism is far more powerful. That’s why our memory verse this month is Galatians 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” If you are carrying around anger, bitterness, or unforgiveness toward your parents, or anyone for that matter, it’s important to forgive them (which is complicated and may still mean you need to set boundaries). Ephesians 6:2-3 says it so well, “Honor your father and mother… that it may go well with you.” The anger and bitterness toward them isn’t hurting them nearly as much as it is hurting the person carrying it around. When we honor our parents, it goes well with us. We find freedom!

In an effort to become relevant, the Church of England has become completely irrelevant. I wrote that sentence in the margin of the article next to the 1.7% statistic. They thought that updating doctrine to match the culture would help them become more relevant when actually the exact opposite has happened. People have left in droves. In fact, it seems pretty clear that almost no one in England really cares about the Church of England. The same seems to be happening to some American denominations that have increasingly strayed from biblical authority, especially Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. 

The eye represents the lens or filter through which we take in information about reality, the way we process truth. If your truth filter is off or “bad”, then you will not be able to see truth. In fact, Isaiah says there are those whose spiritual eyes are so cloudy they “call evil good and good evil.” Their moral compass has completely flipped!

How do we keep the eye clear? Part of healing my scratched eye involves some high powered eye drops. To bring clarity to the eye of the heart, we apply the soothing ointment of God’s Word. And not just occasionally. My prescription requires dropping in some fluid almost by the hour. It’s a steady application of healing drops. The more you apply God’s Word to your heart, the more clarity it brings. Be generous with his Word! 

Coming off of Vacation Bible School, and headed into a summer where we have reduced church programming, it’s easy to slip into a spiritual malaise, stuck in the doldrums, going through the motions. We all face that at times, so let’s pray that our church moves forward, with wisdom, counting our days, and even our minutes, so that we don’t drop off into apathy, but keep moving forward in health and growth.