Lawrence, Massachusetts

This week God blessed me to spend time with the Lawrence Church of Christ in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This is a loving and kind group of people, seeking to do their part in building the Lord's Church. I was glad to meet and spend time with John Kurpiel and his wonderful wife Gladys, who have been ministering there for over thirty years. We had a good time, challenging God's people from the Scriptures.

I also got to meet some new folks and reunite with old friends. The Sprigg's family came out every night from over an hour away. The Maxwell family as well. Special props to the Burton family.

On Wednesday afternoon, I drove down 30 miles to Boston and met up with one of the princes of the city, Gregory Burton. He and his wife own and manage a highly successful real estate company. Check them out at http://www.burtonre.com/.

But back to me. Greg took me to a well known seafood restaurant called Legal Seafoods. And he bought the preacher a Lobster.

This is how they brought it out.

This is how I sent it back.

You understand?

Sometimes it's good to be a preacher.

The Message

Salutations and good will to my loyal blogloggers.

The Message is a contemporary version of Scripture. I highly recommend it as an accurate and effective version of Scripture. It is so contemporary that it often makes you wonder if it is Scripture at all. I know that sounds scary, but we often think that ancient language is the way that God spoke, rather than God speaking in ancient times.

There’s a difference. God did not speak in “Thous and Hithertofores”. The people of Scripture didn't even speak that way. God spoke in the language of the people so that they could understand and follow His Word. This is why we need to speak the eternal Word in contemporary language as well.

Here’s a favorite Psalm translated into contemporary language in the Message. Not just the words, but the phrases, idioms and imagery is modernized. See if you can guess which Psalm it is. Winners will be given a prize.



How well God must like you.
You don’t hang out at Sin Saloon
You don’t slink along Dead-End Road
You don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.

Instead you thrill to God’s Word
You chew on Scripture day and night
You’re a tree replanted in Eden
Bearing fresh fruit every month
Never dropping a leaf
Always in blossom.

You’re not at all like the wicked,
Who are mere windblown dust-
Without defense in court,
Unfit company for innocent people.

God charts the road you take.
The road they take is Skid Road.

Po Watson

James Watson says that Africans are genetically inferior to Europeans. James Watson says that Africa will never be helped because of the way that Blacks think.

James Watson says a whole lot of racist, soulless, white supremacy garbage and bases it on his study of the genetic code.

But there is no need to get twisted up. By the looks of things, James Watson won’t be saying things for too long before he meets up with the creator of the genetic code.



It won’t be very long
Till this short life will end
It won’t be very long
Till Jesus shall descend

Wake Up Elephant!!!

There is a great lesson on life at the circus. Once you are wowed by the acrobats, awed by the tightrope performers and amused (or frightened) by the clowns, you should consider the elephants. These glorious, powerful, heavyweights of creation are centerpieces of the show. What would the circus be without them?

Yet, there is something unsettling about the elephant shows. The largest and strongest animals on earth are controlled by a little man with a whip. The man raises the whip and the elephant stands up. The man waves the whip around and the elephant dances. The man brings the whip down and the elephant sits.

You have to wonder why something like this happens. How can something so large be controlled by something so small?

Well, the answer is profound. The reason the man can control the beast is understood in the infancy of the elephant. The trainer convinces the baby elephant that he is its master. He feeds it, pets it, bathes it and tells it what to do. So through time the elephant comes to accept this reality as the only reality there is.

And the show begins. The elephant doesn’t know that he is stronger than the man and that the whip can only sting. So he dances with no thought for dignity. He prances with no sense of pride. He amuses with no knowledge of his awesomeness.

Every now and then, however, an elephant has an awakening. Something ignites inside of him, shattering the imposed reality and replaces it with a view of what he was supposed to be. He suddenly decides that he doesn’t like the food, that he doesn’t want to dance and that he’s sick and tired of the little man and his so-and-so whip. He breaks the rope, tramples the man and rampages down the street. And a new star is born, filmed for the nightly news at eleven or “When Animals Attack”.

Herein is the lesson. You are greater than what controls you. You were made powerful, glorious and awesome. Yet through the deception of perception, you’ve let the less of you confine the best of you for the amusement of the crowd.

The Devil dreads the day that we finally wake up and understand who we really are. “Awake, awake; put on thy strength oh Zion... (Isa. 52:1).”

Fasting for Families

This week the Kings Church of Christ hosted our Marriage and Family Enrichment Seminar. We had a great time of learning and inspiration with Stanley and Laura Hubbard of Indianapolis, Indiana.

It started Sunday in a great way with our Baby Dedication. Over forty visitors came out. Then through Wednesday, we had great crowds and great communication every night. Good job Kings. You make a preacher proud.

To close it out, we’ve been asking for prayer request of families in crisis. This list has been compiled and now we are fasting and praying for these families. We believe God hears our cries for direction and deliverance. Thus we pray.

The family was the first institution of God. Before governments, schools and even the church, the family was crafted, created and commissioned by God. Subsequently, it is the first target of the Devil. Even now he seeks to tear apart what God has brought together.

In the Garden Adam was at peace. Walking with God, working the earth, and wonder with his wife. Sin’s consequence destroyed all of it. He and God were separated, his work became less rewarding, and he and Eve became strained. Peace and paradise was lost because of Adam’s sin.

Thank God it is found in Jesus, the second Adam. He restores us to a new relationship with God, He makes our lives purposeful, and He heals the enmity in the family. Peace with God is peace on earth and peace in the family. No longer under the curse, the Christian can cultivate relationships through the resources of the knowledge of God. We can learn to bring Eden into the house.

Thus we pray.

“Oh God, our God, Please use us as vehicles of blessing and transformation in a world filled with family pain. Help us to help them know that in Christ there is Peace. Peace with you. Peace in purpose. Peace with one another.”

Daddy Glen, Preacher for the Church of Christ

Glenn Wilson, 92, died Friday, Sept. 21, 2007.

He was born Sept. 8, 1915 to the late Daniel and Annie Ijames Wilson. He was united in marriage to the former Mattie Neely, and to this union eight children were born; one of the twins died shortly after birth. After the loss of his wife, Mattie in December 1959, Glenn married Juanita Brandon and was blessed with two more daughters that instantly became his. Juanita preceded him in death on March 4, 2004.

Wilson worked as a share-cropper in his younger years, and was a logger for a lumber company. After being added to the Redland Church of Christ in 1960, he worked as a mail clerk at Cooleemee Mills. He worked at Cannon Mills and Fiber Industries.

Later he began preaching and traveled to Lincolnton from Woodleaf every Sunday for several years. After the death of Quincy Carter, Wilson was asked to become the minister of Smith Street Church of Christ in Kannapolis. He preached there until he and his wife moved to Rock Hill, S.C. At that time, he associated himself with Derek Franklin and Crawford Road Church of Christ, where he remained a faithful member and one of the assistant ministers until his death.

Survivors: 9 children, Richard Wilson, Mildred Bares, George (Cottie) Wilson, Mary Lassiter, Glennie Latten, Particia Copeland, Claudine (Larry) Clark, Vonnie (Eddie) Cunningham, and James (Deborah) Wilson; 3 brothers, Allen and Raymond Wilson of Inwood, N.Y., and Wilmer "Pete" Wilson of Detroit, Mich; 27 grandchildren; 45 great-grandchildren; 5 great-great-grandchildren; a host of other relatives and friends.

Rest in Peace DG

When I approached my Grandfather’s casket, I was immediately awed by the look on his face. There were very few wrinkles for a 92 year old, no circles under his eyes, and a slight smile on his face. It was the look of peace. I know morticians can do great things, but I’ve done enough funerals to know the difference between cosmetics and characteristics. There’s make-up and then there’s makeup.

Daddy Glen had the face of practiced peace. That’s the level of quietness, simplicity and contentment that actually shows itself in the countenance. It doesn’t happen with the forced false peace that we experience; calming down, avoiding trouble, finding a quiet place, drinking and such. This was a peaceful life. Not a life of finding peace but a life infused, composed of it.

Hard work, faithfulness, honesty, kindness and prayer reverberated in that lifeless body. I couldn’t see worry. There was no hint of animosity. No sign of a grudge or offense. To say rest in peace to Glen Wilson was to offer him his favorite blanket or trusty overalls.

I’ve come to understand that resting in peace makes much more sense after you’ve lived in peace.