Dead Stinks

One of the only things about Indiana that I like in the area of travel is that there are still quite a few farm roads in which I can take as alternate routes to school in the morning. Some days I ride my motorcycle and other days just cruise in the car. I have yet to experience a full summer here and I have heard that it gets pretty hot. As you know Fishers Indiana is in the top 10 fastest growing cities in the country, which means, CONSTRUCTION everywhere. Homes going up like crazy. Track homes side by side by side. Woods and farmland being bought by the hundreds of acres and "developed".



Now as I said I have not experienced a summer here yet, but the other day I was driving and had my window down. I was experiencing the smells of summer. Cut grass, farm animals, flowers, and then it hit me like bat right in the sensory region. Dead Carcass.... You know that smell, it hits you and gets into your car and in your vents and on your skin.. I see up ahead in the road a dead animal. Now earlier that year I have noticed many raccoons right in this area, and everything is waking up from the winter and for whatever reason heads right for the road.



All that woods, nope heads for the road. So you know the scene, Bloated little animal on its back, little legs straight up, you know the whole nine, no literally nine yards of intestines strewn across the road, I could tell what the little guy had for dinner the night before, CORN? no I think Walnuts, is that some fruit. So I drive on and eventually the smell goes away. The next day I noticed something strange. As I approached the same spot, I saw the dead little raccoon who by now had bee flattened like a pancake and it was evident that he was dead, the funny part was there was another dead animal next to him. All that road to die on, and two animals in the same spot. As the smell permeated my car and vents and face I had my nose in my shirt like you did in 3rd grade when teasing someone that they smelled, I saw that it was a opossum. As I thought about what I saw I realized the opossum was more than likely drawn to the death. Dead Stinks but it attracts us. Things that kill us spiritually and physically attract us. Lust Anger Porn Gluttony Envy Hatred.

I heard a story once of a boy and His Father. They had some trouble with rats so the father and the boy set up the big rat trap in the barn. They waited all night. In the morning the boy told the father the trap had caught a rat. It had taken the bait and Whammy. The boy quickly started to reset the trap. The father spoke up, "Son you need to clean all the blood off of the trap, if the rat smells death it will not come for the bait, the trap has to be perfectly clean." As the boy cleaned the trap and reset it he said to his dad, "If only humans were that smart"...

Dead stinks, so why am I drawn to it. John tells us to take off those dirty clothes and put on Christ, I am big fan of hamper fashion. I go to the hamper and just wear dirty stuff. My wife says take it off it is dirty. I am so quick to put on that stinky dead stuff that only kills me in the end. I have many times been that opossum looking for pleasure in the Dead. For we are dead in Christ and have been raised with him. Dead stinks. I hope it does not kill me or trap me. I need to stay away from the road.......

Last Day of School

I have had an opportunity to teach Bible again at one of the largest Christian schools in the country. Heritage Christian is your typical prep school that has all of the cool stuff. A million dollar football field, I mean the kind of field that the pros use, you know the rubber field that when you make the great Harrison catch near the out of bounds line you drag your foot to stay in side and the black beads fly up out of the rubber grass. Semi pro teams rent the field to play on it. Heritage is a classic Christian school that still has not separated the idea that just because it is a ministry to teach there, I mean isn't every place a ministry field?, they still pay pretty poorly. So I did not sign up for the money obviously. I signed up for the kids. These kids are rich too, well there parents are rich anyway. I pull into school in my 01 Jetta and these punk 9th grader are driving Lexus, and Rovers. You know the old song, Novas to Hondas to Lexus to Rovas', well these kids skipped the novas and Hondas part and went right to Rovers.

I am finding myself sad to see this class go. They are tenth graders, and I remember when I was in 10th grade, and I really did not care about how to do a geometry proof, let alone Bible class. It was social life and the "Ladies". As I have gotten to know all 150 of these sophomores I have realized that I am still a sophomore at heart. Those of you, you three, that read this and know me might even say that is pushing it. But aren't we all just sophomores who have for whatever reason decided to grow up by acting mature. Yet we all still laugh when someone farts. We would never claim to be sophomores anymore. Maybe we should claim to be sophomores again. Have we forgotten what it is like to have our hearts broken or to be rejected by that hot chick that you liked for so long, or raging hormones that almost seem uncontrollable? Am I really that different now? Or does culture tell me to be different? All grown up so to speak?

Obviously we need to be mature, but really what is the difference? I think I like these kids so much because they are real, or at least struggling to be real. Maybe they have experienced divorce or abuse or illness or death, these kids will be those same kids 15 years from now.

Do you ever see an older guy or girl and think about how they probably were as teenagers? You probably might not be that much off. I mean I am basically the same guy, just hopefully a little smarter, a lot more cynical, and a whole heck of a lot heavier(fatter that is). Most parents have forgotten what it was like to be 16. I pray I never forget what it was like to be 16. It is only high school right, Can I say that as a teacher? It is only high school...

So the year went on trying to get to know 150 kids every day, they learned my weird idiosyncrasies and I learned theirs. Now the year is over and I feel like I have just gotten to know them. They are moving on. My prayer for the year was to show them that Jesus loves them and that He wants to give them a life more abundant right now. There is so much pressure out there today pressure I did not have. I just found out one of my girls, 10th grade girls, was sexually harassed yesterday at the park trying to study with her friend for my freakin final, I mean come on the park? I guess he exposed himself to her. I was furious. I thought of my girls(wife and kids) and I realized how much I care again for these kids. I say this again because I have not taught in a school setting for many years, and being back I realized why did I leave?

Thank you Sophomores for your honesty, your emotions, your mood swings, your compassion, your teasing, your respect, your hope. Maybe that is why Jesus became so annoyed with the disciples when they told the children to stop coming and "bothering" him. I believe that it probably was the most relaxing time of the day for Jesus, maybe. He had a chance to let the politics go, to have a real conversation, an honest conversation, a transparent conversation. He got to be a sophomore again. He got to have a little fun. I have heard some teachers say the kids drive them crazy, I find them intoxicating, almost like it brings me back to what is real and important, so the question is when I leave the classroom and get in to the "real world", what is so real and genuine about being an adult?

Thanks Jerry

I found out today that Founder of Liberty University Jerry Falwell died today at 73. I guess they found him at his desk. Maybe he died working or maybe praying. I remember the first time I met Jerry Falwell at the notorious Liberty University, (go flames) that I remember thinking this guy seems pretty cool. He always had time to talk to students as he walked around in his suit and tie. Interestingly enough he always thought the music and clothes we wore was ok and never had an issue with it. He was a traditionalist in every sense of the word but never a legalist. He had a funny habit of seeing you walking around campus as he was driving and he would swerve at you with his huge black SUV. I remember hearing him in chapel, He loved the Lord. He loved his family and He loved his school.

He has for obvious reasons not been very popular with people who are against what he stands for and I guess he has rubbed people the wrong way in "blurting out" what he thought. He was always judged for that, but always managed to apologize if needed. He was anice guy, a true evangelist in every sense of the world.

The years I spent at Liberty was in my opinion some of the best times in my life. I met my wife there and enjoyed school. I did not know the man well, but actions speak louder than words. He has done some great things and although he has messed up, like all of us by the way, I know there is a party going on in Heaven right now, and Our Lord has welcomed a hero of the faith home, home for good....

Thanks Mom

I called my mom up yesterday to wish her "happy Mother's Day". her voice sounded so warm over the phone and excited to hear me. We moved away from "mom" almost two years ago, and one of the hardest things about moving 15 hours away is that not only can I not see her but my kids miss out on too. They miss their "Grammy". I guess it says alot about a mom whose kids think she is the best. We all want to be by her, even my wife wants to be by her, she is a great mother in law. I remember my mom and I not always getting along growing up, you know she would not always be happy with some of the choice girls I would bring home, the truth was it was me she had to worry about, not the girls. We budded heads some times, but the truth is I think that we are the most alike out of all of my siblings. I always wondered where I get my opinionated ability to tell it like it is, obviously the three of you that may read this blog know my dad and I surely did not get that trait from him. But when I called my mom yesterday for her special day, I am sure the highlight for her was not getting the "flower: at church that the elders pass out at church with that cheesy smile, I am sure the high light of her day was not even talking to me, but maybe it was just the high light of her life and her kids, and dad. All of my siblings have grown up well, married well and are now trying to raise kids like we were raised. My mom seemed tired on the phone, she sounded older, she is 54 now. I remember seeing pictures of my mom in the seventies and teasing dad saying, "wow, mom is a nice piece of.... slap, Dad would cuff me in the head and then laugh and say "you know it!!!"

Mom is older now, older from raising not only us four kids in which I gave her the most trouble, but older from investing in my kids lives as well. See my mom and dad too are not these kind of Grandparents that just expect my kids to come to them, they go to my kids. My mom has invested so much time into my kids.

Moving was hard, like I was whining about before. I miss those summer afternoons of sitting around the kitchen playing scrabble and drinking tea or coffee, you know whatever was our fancy that day. Running relay races in the yard, going skiing on Sunday, when all the "fundy's" judged us for having family time like that on Sunday, hiking etc.

Later in life we all got motorcycles, mom and dad got Harley's. I have a triumph, a rice burner so to speak. Some of my favorite times was when myself, mom and dad would go for those bike rides. We would cruise around upstate NY and stop after about 30 miles to get something to drink, Mom would always treat me to a YOO-HOO. We would sit and talk about life, about the kids. It was like for a small moment in time mom got to be more than a mom, I mean really what is more than a mom, what could possibly be more than a mom? Maybe being more than just a mom comes when you your kids become your friends, there is that transition, that cross over in which, that person who bore you, who changed you, who spanked you, who was wiling to have you hate them to make you better some day, to stick to their guns, can now experience the fruit of their labor for just a moment, maybe it is nothing more than a short talk on the picnic table with her son while we have some YOO-HOO, Maybe it is nothing more than a walk down to the river with the dogs, or maybe a game of Dutch Blitz, maybe painting together, or just a quick trip to Wal mart that always ended up with mom paying for lunch at McDonald's. Maybe being more than a mom is just that, I think there is one more thing that is more than being a mom and that is being a Grand-ma. Now all of those things I did with her, I get to watch my kids do that with her, but I see it from a different angle, I get to see it from the angle that she saw it with me so many years ago, I get to watch her be a mom again, but now I get to peak in, like a third party getting to experience bits of her being a mom to me through watching her with my kids. I guess maybe I am the one really being blessed, Thanks mom, I love you.. Hey mom do you want to play Scrabble?

Like Father Like Son

I had the priveledge of teaching up at Word of Life this last weekend at the annual Father/Son Conference. I felt a little out of place when my friend called me and asked me if I would speak. I do not have a son, but I have a Father and I am a son, so I said yes. My friend Troy and I arrived in NY on Thursday night in Albany International Airpory and my friend Chad and my Dad met us there. I do not get to spend as much time with my dad as I would like, since I have moved away. He is the kind of guy that everyone wants to be around. Growing up my friends thought he was cooler than me. He had long hair, which eventually evolved into a mullit and than back in to one length, ( we have all been guilty of long hair short hair) But anyway he could barefoot ski, and rock climb and fix everything. As I thought about what I would say to this mish mash of evangelicals and one Catholic, I thought about God the Father and how His Son is just like Him, Like Father like son, right? I could see the relationship of my Dad and I and how I was very much like him. The way he laughs, his sense of humor, How he treats my mom (which is great), all of that. I was realizing that Jesus was very much like His Father. Everything that he said was a reiteration of something His Father said out of His word written by Him so long ago. Little things like when the devil was tempting Jesus and all the devil wanted was for Jesus to bow down and worship Him. Jesus knows that His Father taught Him that, "You shall worship and serve the Lord your God only." It is interesting to me that Jesus quotes it correctly, he does not leave out the serve part. The serve part is always left out today. We think that we can worship without service. The devil thought that if Jesus just gives him this "lip service" worship once and that is all than He can have all the kingdoms.

Jesus corrects Him with His Father's words and says basically that you think that you can have true worship without service but you cannot according to my dad. Like Father like Son. What if Jesus usurped God's word, what if he was not like his father, what if he left out the details and made the verse what he wanted. What would have happened I think, is that Jesus would have jumped off the temple during the other temptation and the angels would have caught him and he would have mande that graceful landing in the courtyard by the temple. I think that if he had done that they would have worshipped him and they would not have, (this is totally specualtion), crucified him. He would not have died, Satan would have one, just the same way he won with Adam. Like Father Like Son, Jesus knew His dad enough to know that His obedience was crucial to our salvation. What if Jesus had not known God's word well enough and when the devil said, "worship me" without service, Jesus would have just worshipped him? Jesus knew that true worship goes hand in hand with service, because that is what His Father said.

My knowledge of my dad is not as profound, but we both like to play jokes, but I will tell you this much, I remember the important stuff he taught me and when I choose to forget it, I am in a bad place. Like father like son. My dad, grandpa, and two brother in laws were at the meetings to support me, and I told endless stories of the lessons I had learned from my Dad. Like Father Like son. I am glad to be like my Dad...