Year End Thoughts

It's funny how certain events trigger different emotions. I have already confessed I am not doing well with my upcoming birthday. (Just 10 days to the big 5 - oh!) Not only does it not set well with me, becoming a half century old, it also triggers weird feelings of nostalgia and melancholy. This is really uncharted territory for someone like me who likes to stay on the cutting edge of everything new, much to the chagrin of many of my traditional Christian friends. But I find myself watching old movies and wondering where these actors and actresses are today. I look at the old "zoot"suits and ball qowns and think, "How cool would it be to dress like that." (The men's suits not the ball gowns. I'm melancholy not male-challenged.) The old movie sets that are obviously outdoor scenes with slick concrete floors and silk plants. But nobody cared. They knew it was a set and they didn't care. No computer graphics or animations were necessary. It was make believe and no one confused it for reality. Those were simpler times. (Ahhhggg, I hear my mother's words coming from my mouth and I have no control.) I think while watching Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye sitting in a dining car during "White Christmas", "I wonder if they ever thought someday they would grow old and eventially die." I know that I have crossed the border of melancholy and entered the land of the macabre, but I am being totally transparent here. I wonder how much they appreciated where they were and what they were doing? I wonder if they thanked God for the time and the energy to perform? Did they ever know how lucky they were? Then I think, "Do I?"

I am taking my family to Disneyworld the day after Christmas. We will be returning in time for my birthday on January 2nd. So let me say, Thank You Lord for the time, the means and the health to be able to go." I think I will buy a pair of Mickey ears and wear them all over the park just to embarrass my family. So little time and so much humiliation to get done while I still have my boys with me. So I am going to suspend blogging for about the next ten days. I am just going to enjoy time with my family and Mikey and his friends. Until then have a merry Christmas, kiss your spouse, hug your children and pet your dog. Oh yeah, and thank God for His precious gift of life. See you next year.

Pastor Ken

At A Loss For Words

I am about to leave my study and perform one of my least favorite duties as a pastor. I am about to officiate a man’s funeral. Now, please don’t misunderstand, I believe he was saved and there is no reason to doubt that his address is now Route #1, Heavenly City. It’s not the deceased at a funeral that concerns me, it’s all of us who are left behind. Wondering. What did he see when he got to heaven? What does it feel like to fly? Can they see us or are we just as invisible to them as they are to us?

The state of mind of family and friends also concerns me at a time like this. They are grieving because they have lost someone they love. They are often angry because God took them away. They are often confused because the death occurred at a most difficult time. While there are many uncertainties at a time like this on the part of family and friends there is someone just as bewildered, me. Even with all my education (by the way, I am educated far beyond my intelligence) and experience I am still at a loss at to what to say at a time like this. I always pray before I visit the home of the bereaved. It’s just that He is always painfully silent when I ask for “on the spot” wisdom. Awkwardly silent I turn to the Bible. I think the reason God is always silent concerning wisdom on the subject of death is He knows whatever I would say could not match what He has already said.

Imagine this. Jesus is about to die. He knows it and now His friends know as well. It has struck them like it does us. They are perplexed, worried and confused. Jesus sensing their emotions begins by saying, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me.” Then He goes on to describe the most awesome place anyone has ever seen, “In My Father’s house..” The first three verses in John 14 are the most encouraging words I have ever found to comfort someone who is left behind by someone they love. When Marco Polo used to describe China to those who had never been they believed he was being dishonest. He declared before he died, “I have not told half of what I’ve seen.” This “sketchy” description of heaven delivered to a group of bewildered disciples must not have been “half of what Jesus had seen.” But it was enough. Paul writes “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9. So, off I go to the funeral. I am going to deliver words that came from a person who knows how to deliver encouragement much better than me.

In His Shadow,
Pastor Ken

There Ought To Be A Law

I went with about 300 fellow church members to see "The Nativity" at a local theater last night. It was interesting to watch a movie about Christmas that didn't involve flying reindeer, talking snowmen, misfit toys or unwilling Santa's. The whole concept of Christ's birth on the big screen is refreshingly new. I can't remember ever seeing a movie that didn't just hint at the "principles" of giving, but blatantly displayed the "principal" of the first gift. There were a few inaccuracies concerning the first Christmas. I will not detail them here. I get annoyed at self proclaimed experts of everything Biblical who lambast every little "nook and cranny" of Hollywood's attempt to cater to the Christian community. Don't get me wrong, when producers start marrying Jesus to Mary Magdalene or even worse try to lessen his manliness I will be the first to scream, BLASPHEMY! But to argue that we're not sure how many wise men there were or if Persians ever rode camels is straining on a gnat. Give me a break, the virgin birth of our Savior is clearly portrayed in this movie and for that I am thankful.

What I am not thankful for is at least a dozen movie promotions of "upcoming attractions" that you have to endure before the feature ever begins. It is tantamount to torture. They will not tell you when the real movie is going to begin so you are afraid to leave the theater, withdraw money from your second mortgage line of credit and buy a soft drink and popcorn. So you're stuck there like a mouse in a laboratory. They keep adding one more advertisement after another until the mice falls to the sticky floor drooling and muttering incoherently. I propose a "truth in viewing" law. When a theater advertises the start time for a movie it should include the time the advertisements start and the real start time of the feature. It could read "Soft drink commercials begin at 7:30, previews for upcoming movies begin at 7:40, self promotion from corporate headquarters at 8:05, safety instructions in case of a fire at 8:10 and finally feature film begins at 8:15." There should also be a disclaimer that the first 5 minutes and the last 15 minutes of the movie will be credits. That's why most of my cinematic viewing time is done in front of my TV with the remote in my hand. I had one church member complain last night that he thought he was going to have ask Jesus how the movie was. He was sure the Lord would return before it was over.

I'm praying for you that you're praying for me.
Pastor Ken