“What is behind-a me is not-a before me!” shouted the Italian racer as he ripped the rear view mirror off the windshield, and put the pedal to the metal in one of those silly seventies rally movies. We used to quote it when heading out on family road trips, exaggerating the dialect for effect.
Most of us would like to live that way, “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead…” as the Apostle Paul would say. But the truth is, many of us do look back, are held back emotionally and spiritually, by mistakes we’ve made in the past, things we wish we could “do over.” We don’t necessarily call them sins. We’re still uncomfortable with that verdict. But if we were honest we’d admit that most of them were. We were raging, or deceitful, or covetous, gossipy, greedy, or gluttonous. We indulged our sinful nature and it cost us. In our guilt we look for “do-overs,” ways to fix what we did wrong, or indulge melancholia in an attempt to appease God.
Trust me: God doesn’t need your melancholy. If you’re living with some left over guilt from 2010 allow me to share some encouragement for 2011. It comes from Hebrews chapter ten.
Under the old covenant, The Law of Moses, “every priest stood daily ministering and offering, time after time the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins.” (Vs. 11 paraphrased). That didn’t help much because the sacrifice of an animal was never enough to cover all sins. In fact, verse three explains, “…in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.”
All the Law could do was to remind us of our inadequacies and encourage an eternal longing for “do overs.” But Jesus Christ, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD…” Sitting down is a symbol for finished work. Jesus was one and done. He made one sacrifice, himself, and it was enough. Hebrews explains that the whole Old Testament temple system was a model, a type, a shadow of the real thing in heaven. When Jesus made his sacrifice it wasn’t offered on earth alone, it was offered in the real temple, the heavenly temple. It was once for all, eternal, infinite in its ability to wipe out the sins of all who believe. In other words, the sacrifice of Christ enables all of us to do without the do overs.
So no more do overs. Grab that mirror, rip it off the windshield, and say it with me as we head off into 2011: WHAT IS BEHIND-A ME IS NOT-A BEFORE ME!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
THE CHRISTMAS QUESTION
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. (Luke 1:26-27 NIV)
Every year the world’s largest automakers come together in Detroit Michigan for a stellar event. First string entertainers man multiple stages, high-tech extravaganzas of light and sound and video and graphics fill the conference hall, multiple 5 star banquets are laid on in the adjoining ball rooms for the VIP guests and millions of dollars are spent producing the Detroit Auto Show. Oh and don’t forget the press. The automotive media and every other media service is there in great numbers and wined and dined like royalty because after all, they are the town criers of the electronic age, the royal heralds and chroniclers of the 21st Century.
And what is all this for? What is all that moving and grooving, singing and schmoozing and million dollar light show all about? Well, Ford and GM and Chrysler and all the other big names just want to make an announcement. They have some new models coming out and they want to be sure that everybody hears about them.
2010 years ago God did something totally new, something completely different from anything that had ever been done before. But compared to the Detroit Auto Show and most other new things we hear about, he barely made a peep about it. God never announces things like we do. Most of the time, when God makes an announcement about something he’s going to do he does it in an out of the way place, to an unsuspecting person at an inopportune time and lets the rest of the world catch up very slowly.
That’s what he did on the first. God sent a supernatural messenger to the teenage fiancé of a Jewish carpenter in a tiny backwater Judean town to tell her that an unplanned pregnancy would precede her marriage. I can’t think of a more inconspicuous and, from Mary’s point of view inconvenient way to usher in the arrival of the Savior of the World. Mary’s life was going to be turned upside down. Yet that’s the way God works. The Christmas question for Mary was: would she cooperate with God? Would she receive this blessing mixed with such difficulty?
Incarnation is always difficult, always inconvenient from a human point of view. When Jesus wants to make his presence known in your life, to work in you and through you to bless the world, it will most likely happen at a time and in a situation that is problematic for you, awkward, just plain hard. The Christmas question for you is: will you let him be Lord in that moment?
The Savior does not need and will not use a big, loud, splashy forum to do his work. He comes in quiet ways to humble people who are willing to cooperate, even when his timing is inconvenient. How will you answer the Christmas question?
Every year the world’s largest automakers come together in Detroit Michigan for a stellar event. First string entertainers man multiple stages, high-tech extravaganzas of light and sound and video and graphics fill the conference hall, multiple 5 star banquets are laid on in the adjoining ball rooms for the VIP guests and millions of dollars are spent producing the Detroit Auto Show. Oh and don’t forget the press. The automotive media and every other media service is there in great numbers and wined and dined like royalty because after all, they are the town criers of the electronic age, the royal heralds and chroniclers of the 21st Century.
And what is all this for? What is all that moving and grooving, singing and schmoozing and million dollar light show all about? Well, Ford and GM and Chrysler and all the other big names just want to make an announcement. They have some new models coming out and they want to be sure that everybody hears about them.
2010 years ago God did something totally new, something completely different from anything that had ever been done before. But compared to the Detroit Auto Show and most other new things we hear about, he barely made a peep about it. God never announces things like we do. Most of the time, when God makes an announcement about something he’s going to do he does it in an out of the way place, to an unsuspecting person at an inopportune time and lets the rest of the world catch up very slowly.
That’s what he did on the first. God sent a supernatural messenger to the teenage fiancé of a Jewish carpenter in a tiny backwater Judean town to tell her that an unplanned pregnancy would precede her marriage. I can’t think of a more inconspicuous and, from Mary’s point of view inconvenient way to usher in the arrival of the Savior of the World. Mary’s life was going to be turned upside down. Yet that’s the way God works. The Christmas question for Mary was: would she cooperate with God? Would she receive this blessing mixed with such difficulty?
Incarnation is always difficult, always inconvenient from a human point of view. When Jesus wants to make his presence known in your life, to work in you and through you to bless the world, it will most likely happen at a time and in a situation that is problematic for you, awkward, just plain hard. The Christmas question for you is: will you let him be Lord in that moment?
The Savior does not need and will not use a big, loud, splashy forum to do his work. He comes in quiet ways to humble people who are willing to cooperate, even when his timing is inconvenient. How will you answer the Christmas question?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
RANDOM ACTS OF CULTURE
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor 3:17 NIV)
On the day after the Al Qaeda attack on a Catholic Mass in Iraq I had a rather extraordinary experience in contrasts. I took a break from studying to prepare for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church and opened an email from an old friend. It took me to a Youtube video of a self-described Random Act of Culture. The Youtube caption explains:
On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. (See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU or search Opera Company of Philadelphia Hallelujah.)
I watched the video with tears in my eyes, remembering the thrill of singing that song with a chorus of hundreds in years past. Then I sent my friend the link to the Resurrection Sunday Dance in Budapest, Hungary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dSIL358NM ). Both videos elicit deep emotions of joy for our freedom in Jesus Christ along with longing for the day he returns.
That’s when the extraordinary contrast hit me. Just before viewing the Hallelujah Chorus video I had watched painful, first-hand accounts of persecution from fellow believers in Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Egypt, and Iraq. The brothers and sisters were under extreme pressure and spoke with great feeling and urgency asking us to pray and to speak up for religious freedom in their countries. I groaned within as they told their stories. And their oppressors? Fundamentalist Muslims and Islamic governments.
I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath and reflected. What are the Random Acts of Christian Culture? Glorious music performed in public celebrations with complete freedom, joyous dancing by thousands of young people in ancient city squares where atheistic communism once ruled. And the Random Acts of Muslim Culture? Well orchestrated and Sharia-law legalized oppression of human rights, annihilation of entire Christian congregations, brain-washed boys and girls with bombs in their clothing, premeditated ambushes on defenseless fellow soldiers, airliners crashing into sky-scrapers.
What to do in the face of such things? Keep singing. Keep dancing. Keep praying and advocating for the persecuted. And keep telling the world that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is true freedom.
On the day after the Al Qaeda attack on a Catholic Mass in Iraq I had a rather extraordinary experience in contrasts. I took a break from studying to prepare for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church and opened an email from an old friend. It took me to a Youtube video of a self-described Random Act of Culture. The Youtube caption explains:
On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. (See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU or search Opera Company of Philadelphia Hallelujah.)
I watched the video with tears in my eyes, remembering the thrill of singing that song with a chorus of hundreds in years past. Then I sent my friend the link to the Resurrection Sunday Dance in Budapest, Hungary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dSIL358NM ). Both videos elicit deep emotions of joy for our freedom in Jesus Christ along with longing for the day he returns.
That’s when the extraordinary contrast hit me. Just before viewing the Hallelujah Chorus video I had watched painful, first-hand accounts of persecution from fellow believers in Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Egypt, and Iraq. The brothers and sisters were under extreme pressure and spoke with great feeling and urgency asking us to pray and to speak up for religious freedom in their countries. I groaned within as they told their stories. And their oppressors? Fundamentalist Muslims and Islamic governments.
I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath and reflected. What are the Random Acts of Christian Culture? Glorious music performed in public celebrations with complete freedom, joyous dancing by thousands of young people in ancient city squares where atheistic communism once ruled. And the Random Acts of Muslim Culture? Well orchestrated and Sharia-law legalized oppression of human rights, annihilation of entire Christian congregations, brain-washed boys and girls with bombs in their clothing, premeditated ambushes on defenseless fellow soldiers, airliners crashing into sky-scrapers.
What to do in the face of such things? Keep singing. Keep dancing. Keep praying and advocating for the persecuted. And keep telling the world that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is true freedom.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
FOR WHOM WOULD JESUS VOTE?
Someone asked Jesus that question once. He famously replied, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. In other words, “Get your allegiances right and your obligations will become clear.” The Christian’s role on planet earth is as an Ambassador of God. Our ultimate loyalties are to God’s values, God’s purposes, and God’s mission.
If our ultimate loyalties are to God what exactly are our obligations? In a democratic republic we the people are Caesar. We owe it to ‘Caesar’ to vote. We owe it to God to understand what he says about the political issues of the day and vote accordingly. Here are a few examples:
The War in Afghanistan – Scripture teaches that government is God’s servant, “an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doer.” (See Romans 13). Scripture also teaches us to love neighbor as we love self. War for the purpose of conquest, revenge or greed is unjust. War for the purpose of protecting the weak and innocent before they can be harmed or coerced by a nut with a bomb is just and loving. Christians should vote for the person they believe will do the best job of protecting the weak and innocent here and abroad from Islamists.
Abortion – Back in 2004 I watched a presidential debate with a friend. A question arose about the partial birth abortion ban. My friend didn’t understand the phrase – a euphemism for a gruesome death delivered to a child in the final stages of birth. When I described it he was horrified. He should be.
God is the creator of life. Children in the womb are the weakest of the weak, the most defenseless. Isaiah 1:17 says, Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Christians should vote for the people who will support the partial birth abortion ban and defend the unborn.
Homosexual Marriage – God created marriage to be between a man and a woman. God established the moral order for the world that he created. If we observe it and abide by it, things go well. If we abandon it we can expect trouble. (See 1 Timothy 1:8-10). Christians should vote for the people who will honor God by protecting the traditional definition of marriage.
Religious Freedom & Freedom of Speech – Jesus instructed us to ‘go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ Religious freedom and freedom of speech are two of the founding principles of America. Activist judges who wish to silence Christians in the marketplace of ideas are challenging those freedoms. Thoughtless lawmakers and leaders who make room for the growth of Sharia (Islamic) law in America undermine Religious freedom and freedom of speech in the name of protecting them. Christians should vote for the candidates most likely to protect us from Sharia law and from legalized oppression of Christians in the work-place and academia.
Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s. Get your allegiances right and your obligations in the voting booth will become clear.
If our ultimate loyalties are to God what exactly are our obligations? In a democratic republic we the people are Caesar. We owe it to ‘Caesar’ to vote. We owe it to God to understand what he says about the political issues of the day and vote accordingly. Here are a few examples:
The War in Afghanistan – Scripture teaches that government is God’s servant, “an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doer.” (See Romans 13). Scripture also teaches us to love neighbor as we love self. War for the purpose of conquest, revenge or greed is unjust. War for the purpose of protecting the weak and innocent before they can be harmed or coerced by a nut with a bomb is just and loving. Christians should vote for the person they believe will do the best job of protecting the weak and innocent here and abroad from Islamists.
Abortion – Back in 2004 I watched a presidential debate with a friend. A question arose about the partial birth abortion ban. My friend didn’t understand the phrase – a euphemism for a gruesome death delivered to a child in the final stages of birth. When I described it he was horrified. He should be.
God is the creator of life. Children in the womb are the weakest of the weak, the most defenseless. Isaiah 1:17 says, Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Christians should vote for the people who will support the partial birth abortion ban and defend the unborn.
Homosexual Marriage – God created marriage to be between a man and a woman. God established the moral order for the world that he created. If we observe it and abide by it, things go well. If we abandon it we can expect trouble. (See 1 Timothy 1:8-10). Christians should vote for the people who will honor God by protecting the traditional definition of marriage.
Religious Freedom & Freedom of Speech – Jesus instructed us to ‘go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ Religious freedom and freedom of speech are two of the founding principles of America. Activist judges who wish to silence Christians in the marketplace of ideas are challenging those freedoms. Thoughtless lawmakers and leaders who make room for the growth of Sharia (Islamic) law in America undermine Religious freedom and freedom of speech in the name of protecting them. Christians should vote for the candidates most likely to protect us from Sharia law and from legalized oppression of Christians in the work-place and academia.
Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s. Get your allegiances right and your obligations in the voting booth will become clear.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
YOU ONLY SAW HER HANDS and not her face on TV
YOU ONLY SAW HER HANDS (and not her face on TV)
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Col 3:23-24 NIV)
"I'm a good ole boy and my Momma loves me, but she can't understand why they keep showin' my hands and not my face on TV." Waylon Jennings was so well known on the Country Music scene that by the time he played that song for the redneck sitcom The Dukes of Hazard in 1979 everyone who heard the verse above knew who was singing it. The good ole boys (myself included) of the old South immediately grasped the message in the verse. Waylon’s face never appeared, only his jeans, cowboy shirt and leather vest framing his fingers picking his signature white and black electric guitar. It was an inside joke. But we understood. Waylon was already famous in the South as an “outlaw” country singer. We didn’t need to see his face. We could recognize that guitar and that coal mine deep baritone anywhere.
At about the same time that Waylon and the Duke Brothers were hitting their stride the hands of another musician of a totally different stripe began appearing regularly on television. In Touch, the ministry of televangelist Charles Stanley was airing nationwide in the early eighties. In those days part of the signature opening sequence for the program was a shot of a pair of skilled hands caressing the ivory white keys of a black grand piano. The viewer never saw the musician’s face and very few people ever knew her name but those of us who were members of First Baptist Church of Atlanta back then didn’t need to see her on TV. We recognized the hands and knew the signature sound of one of the most dedicated servants to ever play a hymn. Her name is Alice Marie “Bee” Wolter. We used to sing her that verse of Waylon’s song just to kid her. For twenty-two years she pounded the keys for countless rehearsals, worship services, weddings, funerals, church theatrical productions and traveling choirs as part of the ministry of First Baptist Church of Atlanta. But that period doesn’t make up half of her time in service to the King at the keyboard. Bee began playing for the church when she was ten years old. As of last Sunday, when she played the entire service at FCC, she has been at her post in some church or ministry, almost every Sunday and many nights in between, for seventy years. She has “worked at it with all her heart, as for the Lord, not for men…serving Christ” and the rest of us who love to sing his praises.
So if you ever get discouraged or tired in your service to the Kingdom, and wonder if anyone will ever appreciate it take a little perseverance lesson from my mother-in-law Bee. Very few people on earth will ever know her name. And no one is likely to see her face on TV. But her inheritance is waiting in the presence of the King.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Col 3:23-24 NIV)
"I'm a good ole boy and my Momma loves me, but she can't understand why they keep showin' my hands and not my face on TV." Waylon Jennings was so well known on the Country Music scene that by the time he played that song for the redneck sitcom The Dukes of Hazard in 1979 everyone who heard the verse above knew who was singing it. The good ole boys (myself included) of the old South immediately grasped the message in the verse. Waylon’s face never appeared, only his jeans, cowboy shirt and leather vest framing his fingers picking his signature white and black electric guitar. It was an inside joke. But we understood. Waylon was already famous in the South as an “outlaw” country singer. We didn’t need to see his face. We could recognize that guitar and that coal mine deep baritone anywhere.
At about the same time that Waylon and the Duke Brothers were hitting their stride the hands of another musician of a totally different stripe began appearing regularly on television. In Touch, the ministry of televangelist Charles Stanley was airing nationwide in the early eighties. In those days part of the signature opening sequence for the program was a shot of a pair of skilled hands caressing the ivory white keys of a black grand piano. The viewer never saw the musician’s face and very few people ever knew her name but those of us who were members of First Baptist Church of Atlanta back then didn’t need to see her on TV. We recognized the hands and knew the signature sound of one of the most dedicated servants to ever play a hymn. Her name is Alice Marie “Bee” Wolter. We used to sing her that verse of Waylon’s song just to kid her. For twenty-two years she pounded the keys for countless rehearsals, worship services, weddings, funerals, church theatrical productions and traveling choirs as part of the ministry of First Baptist Church of Atlanta. But that period doesn’t make up half of her time in service to the King at the keyboard. Bee began playing for the church when she was ten years old. As of last Sunday, when she played the entire service at FCC, she has been at her post in some church or ministry, almost every Sunday and many nights in between, for seventy years. She has “worked at it with all her heart, as for the Lord, not for men…serving Christ” and the rest of us who love to sing his praises.
So if you ever get discouraged or tired in your service to the Kingdom, and wonder if anyone will ever appreciate it take a little perseverance lesson from my mother-in-law Bee. Very few people on earth will ever know her name. And no one is likely to see her face on TV. But her inheritance is waiting in the presence of the King.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Time Traveling from the Latest to the Greatest Generation
On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' (Exod 13:8 NIV)
I had one of those time travel moments recently that form part of life as a pastor. No, Scotty didn’t beam me up for a ride on the Enterprise and I haven’t passed through any time portals, at least not lately. But I did cover the distance from the Greatest Generation to the Latest Generation (1942-2010) in less than twenty-four hours. And I came away with a sense of how difficult and how important it is to transmit the virtues of the one to the other. I guess I should explain.
I spent an hour or so one afternoon with Rich Crum who, at 93, is our church’s oldest member. Rich was born in Kansas in 1917. He went to war in 1942 as part of the US Strategic Bomber Service, serving in Europe till war’s end. Listening to Rich talk about that era brought all of the danger and sacrifice, the courage and faith of that generation back to vivid life. The men and women of his time not only won that war, they built the America that you and I know today. They understand sacrifice and service and the cost of freedom better than most people now living in the USA.
Flash forward to 7:30 AM the following morning. I stood with about forty-five students and adults around the flag pole in front of the Middle School for the annual See You At The Pole ceremony. We joined with millions of students across America who met that day to pray for their schools and their country. My job was to offer a 9-11 remembrance. Middle Schoolers are 6th thru 8th grade students, 11 to 13 years of age. None of them were older than four years of age when the towers fell on 9-11. Rich's war is ancient history to them. That’s when the time warp hit me. How can we, who live in the present, possibly transmit to these kids the gravity of the moment, the enormity of the evil we faced on that fateful day and give them the virtues they will need to face the enemies of freedom in their own generation?
Scripture gives us the answer. After God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt he gave them - through Moses - a number of instructions on how to keep the memory of those great events alive. He gave them the Passover, and other colorful ceremonies of remembrance. He gave them the law. And he gave them the tabernacle, with all of its forms of worship. Essentially, the Israelites were to model the great truths of their faith and history; mentor their children in its virtues; and memorialize the extraordinary events of the past. In this way each new generation would have a vital link, a time portal through which the ancients could travel forward in imagination and pass on the virtues that strengthen the foundations of freedom.
Let’s you and I commit to keep the portal open. The next generation is going to need it.
I had one of those time travel moments recently that form part of life as a pastor. No, Scotty didn’t beam me up for a ride on the Enterprise and I haven’t passed through any time portals, at least not lately. But I did cover the distance from the Greatest Generation to the Latest Generation (1942-2010) in less than twenty-four hours. And I came away with a sense of how difficult and how important it is to transmit the virtues of the one to the other. I guess I should explain.
I spent an hour or so one afternoon with Rich Crum who, at 93, is our church’s oldest member. Rich was born in Kansas in 1917. He went to war in 1942 as part of the US Strategic Bomber Service, serving in Europe till war’s end. Listening to Rich talk about that era brought all of the danger and sacrifice, the courage and faith of that generation back to vivid life. The men and women of his time not only won that war, they built the America that you and I know today. They understand sacrifice and service and the cost of freedom better than most people now living in the USA.
Flash forward to 7:30 AM the following morning. I stood with about forty-five students and adults around the flag pole in front of the Middle School for the annual See You At The Pole ceremony. We joined with millions of students across America who met that day to pray for their schools and their country. My job was to offer a 9-11 remembrance. Middle Schoolers are 6th thru 8th grade students, 11 to 13 years of age. None of them were older than four years of age when the towers fell on 9-11. Rich's war is ancient history to them. That’s when the time warp hit me. How can we, who live in the present, possibly transmit to these kids the gravity of the moment, the enormity of the evil we faced on that fateful day and give them the virtues they will need to face the enemies of freedom in their own generation?
Scripture gives us the answer. After God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt he gave them - through Moses - a number of instructions on how to keep the memory of those great events alive. He gave them the Passover, and other colorful ceremonies of remembrance. He gave them the law. And he gave them the tabernacle, with all of its forms of worship. Essentially, the Israelites were to model the great truths of their faith and history; mentor their children in its virtues; and memorialize the extraordinary events of the past. In this way each new generation would have a vital link, a time portal through which the ancients could travel forward in imagination and pass on the virtues that strengthen the foundations of freedom.
Let’s you and I commit to keep the portal open. The next generation is going to need it.
Monday, September 13, 2010
IN MEMORY OF BIG MIKE
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Heb 12:1 NIV)
Nitrogen fumes from the Shell premium gas Mike burned in his Honda CBR 1100 XX motorcycle drifted back to us, threading their way into our helmets along with the mountain aromas of cool granite, green laurel and fresh-cut grass. Family friend Jessica McGill and I kept pace with Mike and my daughter Mikeala on a borrowed BMW, railing the tight curves and slowing to a walk on the one hundred and eighty degree switchbacks of Georgia SR 180 as we wound our way up Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the State. It would be our last motorcycle ride together before he died on August 5th and one of the best, climaxing as it did with a view of the world from 4,784 feet above sea level. He had already covered 200 of the 350 miles he would ride that day and wasn’t even tired. It stands as a metaphor to me of an even greater climb that the big guy made.
My older brother Mike, Uncle Fuzzball to my girls, suffered from a chemical imbalance in his brain diagnosed as a-typical bi-polar disorder. In the mid nineties I watched this disease grab him like the imaginary monsters of childhood, shake him like a ragdoll and fling him to the ground.
Big Mike, his nickname in the neighborhood where I was born, stood over six feet tall from the time he was twelve years old. He was always bigger and stronger than me and most of my friends. He was also a spiritual rock for me when I needed him most. Watching him break into a thousand mental pieces was almost more than I could bear. But watching him climb up out of that psychological black hole, a place from which few men return, was one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever witnessed. We talked about writing a book on it. I’m writing this today to encourage you and anyone else that you know who suffers from a mental disorder.
Mike’s ascent up the mountain of mental health was marked by three things. The first was humility. He was a proud man, a strong man that submitted himself to hospitalization under the care of competent, Christian professionals who prescribed medication and psychotherapy. Once out of the hospital Mike took responsibility for him self and worked the program. It took years and, like many bi-polar patients, along the way he decided he no longer needed the meds. This led to a relapse and another hospital stay. But the second time was the charm. He humbled himself by taking his medicine every day and visiting a counselor every week for years. Even when he no longer needed the counselor he stayed on the medicine and visited a therapist now and then just to keep a check on himself. He knew the monster all too well and as strong as he was knew he couldn’t handle it alone.
The second thing was his faith. In all the years of his suffering Mike never turned his back on his Savior. I never heard him blame God or use his illness and disappointment as an excuse to quit worshipping or neglect his devotions or stop fellowshipping with other believers. He wanted to be well and he knew that in the end, only walking with Jesus would give him the strength to get there.
The third thing that characterized his recovery was perseverance. Sadly, in twenty years of ministry I’ve known a lot of people who gave up, wallowing in the slough of self-pity, and let their illness define them for the rest of their days. Mike never gave up even after two years of fruitless searching for a regular job, something that spins many men down into depression. He was as healthy on that day at the top of the world as I have ever known him, enjoying the good gifts God gave and discussing plans for his new business. He was working in his home shop on the day his heart stopped.
So if you know someone who is struggling with a mental disorder tell them about my brother. Tell them there’s a guy in that great cloud of witnesses, cheering them on.
Nitrogen fumes from the Shell premium gas Mike burned in his Honda CBR 1100 XX motorcycle drifted back to us, threading their way into our helmets along with the mountain aromas of cool granite, green laurel and fresh-cut grass. Family friend Jessica McGill and I kept pace with Mike and my daughter Mikeala on a borrowed BMW, railing the tight curves and slowing to a walk on the one hundred and eighty degree switchbacks of Georgia SR 180 as we wound our way up Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the State. It would be our last motorcycle ride together before he died on August 5th and one of the best, climaxing as it did with a view of the world from 4,784 feet above sea level. He had already covered 200 of the 350 miles he would ride that day and wasn’t even tired. It stands as a metaphor to me of an even greater climb that the big guy made.
My older brother Mike, Uncle Fuzzball to my girls, suffered from a chemical imbalance in his brain diagnosed as a-typical bi-polar disorder. In the mid nineties I watched this disease grab him like the imaginary monsters of childhood, shake him like a ragdoll and fling him to the ground.
Big Mike, his nickname in the neighborhood where I was born, stood over six feet tall from the time he was twelve years old. He was always bigger and stronger than me and most of my friends. He was also a spiritual rock for me when I needed him most. Watching him break into a thousand mental pieces was almost more than I could bear. But watching him climb up out of that psychological black hole, a place from which few men return, was one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever witnessed. We talked about writing a book on it. I’m writing this today to encourage you and anyone else that you know who suffers from a mental disorder.
Mike’s ascent up the mountain of mental health was marked by three things. The first was humility. He was a proud man, a strong man that submitted himself to hospitalization under the care of competent, Christian professionals who prescribed medication and psychotherapy. Once out of the hospital Mike took responsibility for him self and worked the program. It took years and, like many bi-polar patients, along the way he decided he no longer needed the meds. This led to a relapse and another hospital stay. But the second time was the charm. He humbled himself by taking his medicine every day and visiting a counselor every week for years. Even when he no longer needed the counselor he stayed on the medicine and visited a therapist now and then just to keep a check on himself. He knew the monster all too well and as strong as he was knew he couldn’t handle it alone.
The second thing was his faith. In all the years of his suffering Mike never turned his back on his Savior. I never heard him blame God or use his illness and disappointment as an excuse to quit worshipping or neglect his devotions or stop fellowshipping with other believers. He wanted to be well and he knew that in the end, only walking with Jesus would give him the strength to get there.
The third thing that characterized his recovery was perseverance. Sadly, in twenty years of ministry I’ve known a lot of people who gave up, wallowing in the slough of self-pity, and let their illness define them for the rest of their days. Mike never gave up even after two years of fruitless searching for a regular job, something that spins many men down into depression. He was as healthy on that day at the top of the world as I have ever known him, enjoying the good gifts God gave and discussing plans for his new business. He was working in his home shop on the day his heart stopped.
So if you know someone who is struggling with a mental disorder tell them about my brother. Tell them there’s a guy in that great cloud of witnesses, cheering them on.
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