Miss Maxwell

Friday I was in Salem, Virginia. Salem is my hometown and in my opinion is the greatest city in the country. One of the things that makes Salem so great is that it is surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is beautiful.

But the greatest thing about Salem is the people. I grew up in an awesome neighborhood. There is a small valley on Broad Street that had a mix of people who truly loved doing life together.

When one of my best friends heard I was coming in town he and his mother orchestrated a luncheon with some of the women from that neighborhood. They were known as the "Broad Street Broads" of which my mother belonged. They had t-shirts made up and wore them proudly even though the name may be condescending to some. They didn't care though because it was the association with each other that was the most important thing.

It was great seeing them all because they are all people who helped shape me into the person I am today.

There was a surprise that day also. When Lewis (the best friend I was referring to earlier) told me that our 1st and 3rd grade teacher was coming to lunch I got tears in my eyes.

Miss Maxwell, the greatest teacher I ever had. When I have driven by the old Academy Street School I always thing about her. She influenced all of us in some way. She will be 94 this week and is the same person now that she was then. I first met her in 1971. She reminded Friday that I was not fond of going to school that first week. My mother used to have to drag me in crying because I didn't want to be there. It quickly changed because Miss Maxwell made it easy for me to adapt to this new adventure.



Miss Maxwell taught me how to read and write. She helped mold both Lewis and me into the people we are today. One of the things I remember most about her class is her boldness. Even though it was looked down on in many schools and would never be done today, she would read the Christmas story every day before we started our studies. Each of us would take turns acting out the Christmas story. Some of us would be angels, shepherds, Mary and Joseph. The left overs got to chose to be animals like sheep, cows, chickens and even pigs.

We all left 3rd grade knowing the real meaning of Christmas. We all left being able to read, write and do math.

The thing that struck me on Friday is that she still has the heart of a teacher. I believe she would still be able to control a class of 1st graders and make them feel like they were the most important people in the world.

Today I want to thank her for all she has meant to so many of us. I also want to thank the Broad Street Broads for being there then and even today. I want to thank Lewis for being a life long friend.

Most of all I want to thank God for putting these people in my life. He dealt me a great hand of cards even when things didn't always go the way I would want them.

Man, I love Salem, Virginia!

WallBuilders - Issues and Articles - Church in the U.S. Capitol

I was watching Glenn Beck last night. I never watch him, but I could not get one of the boys to join me in a game of Call and Duty. He had David Barton, a historian on the show talking about the faith of the founding fathers. Below is an article about how in the beginning of our history church was held at the Capitol Building. That's right, our founding fathers, early presidents attended church in the Capitol.

2000 people attended church in the Capitol (one of the first mega churches). Yet now, we interpret separation of church and state quite differently than what was intended.

Read the article and tell me what you think.

WallBuilders - Issues and Articles - Church in the U.S. Capitol

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"Move" John 3:22-36

Have you ever been riding up a crowded escalator and the person in front of you stops as if there is no one behind them. When we had season tickets to the Cavs a couple years ago I had to ride the escalator up to the second level. It never failed. With people on every step on the way up someone would stop right at the top with 200 people getting ready to be pushed right up their back. Eventually you would hear several people saying "Move!" (I was always one of them.)

The person would turn around, look at everyone as if to say, "What's your problem?"

John the Baptist did not have to be told to "move." He knew exactly who was behind him. He knew that the time had come for him to "move" out of the way so people could see Jesus.

He said this, "He (Jesus) must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30).

We need to "move" out of the way and have the same attitude as JB. We need to "move" so Jesus can become greater and we take a lesser place. As followers of Jesus if we do not move out of the way people may never see and know Jesus.

We need to stop putting our own desires first and learn to seek first the kingdom of God. It becomes less about style and preference. It becomes all about Jesus. His desires become our desires and we live out our faith authentically.

Have you been getting in the way of people seeing Jesus? Are you standing in the way of people who are trying to move toward Jesus? If you answer yes to these questions then let me say something to you: MOOOOOVE!

"Born" John 3:1-21

There are three days I will never forget. The births of Eli, Cole and Seth each have their own story, but the result was the same--"New Life." I cried when I held them for the first time. I was overwhelmed with the miracle of life I got to witness. Seriously, for nine months they had been growing in the womb and now I am holding them in my arms. Wow!

This passage in John is about being "Born" again. A religious leader by the name of Nicodemus approaches Jesus. He is told, "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." How can this be Nicodemus asks? How can a person enter into his mothers womb for a second time?

Then Jesus said, "no one can enter into the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and the Spirit." Nicodemus was still confused, but he shouldn't be. Within Judaism there was a practice for Gentiles who would convert to Judaism. They would be baptized (immersed) to become ceremonially clean. Converts to Judaism were said to become "as newborn children."

Nicodemus should have gotten what Jesus was saying. Maybe he missed it because in his mind there would not be a need for a Jewish person to go through such a ritual. This was one of the things that the religious leaders questioned when they saw so many Jews going to the desert to be baptized by John the baptist.

I had the opportunity to baptize a single father about a week ago. He brought his four children. They sat in the front seats of the worship center as we went up to the baptistery. Before his baptism we were standing in the water together and his six year old began to ask questions. She wanted to know why he was doing this. He explained to her that he wanted to start a "new life." A life devoted to following God.

She then asked him why he changed clothes. He said, "Because God does not want to see me naked." You know he's right. When Adam and Eve hid in the garden, they hid because they were ashamed of their nakedness. When we sin our weaknesses are exposed. When we are naked--everything is exposed and it is not pretty.

After God explained the consequences to Adam and Eve, that they would experience death and then he kicked them out of the garden he did something else. He made clothes for them to cover up their nakedness. He did something about the shame they were experiencing. He showed grace and mercy which gave them new life.

He has done the same for us. We stand exposed before God as unrighteous, but he provided new life through Jesus. Through Jesus' sacrifice, our sins were paid for so we can have new life. Paul says in Romans 6 about baptism: "Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:3-4).

I will never forget two other days. The day my two oldest boys decided they wanted to have "new life." Each has it's own story, one was baptized at church during a service, the other was baptized in the Alantic Ocean while on vacation. Both were born again. Again I had tears in my eyes because they both made the decision on their own that they need Jesus to cover their nakedness. They both decided to be united with Jesus' death, burial and resurrection which is what they need most to have life.

This is the point Jesuse was trying to get across to Nicodemus. The story is still the same for us today.

"Temple" John 2:12-25

Jesus walked into the temple, the most magnificent building in his time. It was the place people came to worship and have access to God. It was divided in different courts. There was a place where only the priest could go. There was a court for Jewish men, a court for Jewish women, a court for Nazarites, a court for lepers and a court for Gentiles who had converted to Judaism.

The court of the Gentiles was just outside of the temple building. When Jesus came to the temple the Gentile court had been turned into a marketplace. It was loud. You could hear bartering going on. You could hear coins being passed back and forth. There was the sound of livestock bellowing as they were being sold for sacrifice. It just was not the best place to have to worship.

Then there were the inflated prices being offered for those who had come to the temple without an animal to be sacrificed. It was a crazy scene and Jesus made it a little crazier. Jesus made a whip out of cords and began driving the animals out of the temple area. Then he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. It was quite the scene.

He said, "How dare you turn my Father's house into a marketplace!"

The problem was not as much the selling, the problem was how the Jewish leaders looked down on the worship of the Gentiles. They looked at the Gentiles as if their worship of God was of lesser importance than the worship of the Jews. Their was an arrogance that existed within the temple area. It was so segregated that it it gave the appearance that depending on who you were your worship was of greater value.

It still exists today, not just within Judaism, but within Christianity. There are times people will say, "The church just is not very friendly." Maybe that is not exactly what is meant. Maybe what people sense or feel is this arrogance that we are more spiritual than someone who has not been here as long. There is a spiritual posturing that goes one within. I think it is mostly subconscious, although I am sure sometimes it is deliberate. But that does not make it right.

As followers of Jesus we need to practice humility. We need not think to highly of ourselves. We are all sinners saved by God's grace through Jesus.

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance to the measure of faith God has given you." Romans 12:3