New Years Eve

Tonight we will say goodbye to 2008....

We will be spending a couple of hours at the church and then later on with family....

To my blogger buddies....

May the Peace of God be with each of you and may you each find HIS blessing upon you in the coming months....

Blessings...

rks

Merry Christmas Officer

What did I do officer?

Were the ever so innocent words I asked the DPS guy at 1 a.m. this morning.....

70 in a 45 he replied...

I already knew....

Are you in a hurry?

Well sir I am staying at the La Quinta while I visit my folks for Christmas and my wife wanted bottled water and Redonia wanted coke and in this one horse town of Lufkin Texas I cannot find an open store....

These tickets are Tracie's fault....

Can I see you insurance card?

Actually officer my insurance card is in my briefcase back at the hotel with the thirsting to death girls and the reason it is in the briefcase is I have it in my wreck file since this car just got out of the shop after being rear ended before Thanksgiving while I was shopping for a new door for Tracie....

The wreck and these two tickets are Tracie's fault.....

Wait right here sir.....

Sign right here sir......

Sir you can contact the judge before January 5th to pay these tickets your wife just got you....

Thank you sir.....

Officer...

Can you tell me where to get bottled water tonight?

You can't he said as he walked back to his car....

Thank you sir.....

Merry Christmas Officer!

From Tracie and Me

Give Me a Living Jesus!

The phone rang and I heard the sweet voice of Sis Opal Keen crying on the line....

Brother Smith, they stole my Jesus!

Turns out that Sis Keen had a plastic nativity she had been using for years and somebody came by and stole parts of it from her yard....

The newspaper came out and she made the front page as she cried about her stolen Jesus.....

Only Sis Keen!!!!

This plastic Jesus caused me to think....

A Jesus that can be stored away in the shed for most of the year....

This Jesus who would need to be dusted off after an eleven month nap.....

This Jesus who is only needed at a convenient and fun time of the year.....

This Jesus that if stolen can be replaced down at Wal-Mart!!!

This is not the kind of Jesus that I need....

Rather....

Give me a living Jesus!!!!

A Jesus that cannot be stuffed in a box....

A Jesus that cannot be stuffed in the attic or shed.....

Give me a Jesus that invades my space....

Give me a Jesus that turns dark to light.....

Give me a Jesus that expects no less than my best....

Give me a Jesus that demands that I love others.....

Give me a Jesus that still hates sin but loves the sinner....

Give me a Jesus that did not stay in the manger....

Or grave!!!

Give me a Jesus who still speaks through His Word....

And HIS man.....

Give me a Jesus that still changes lives...

Give me a Jesus that changes circumstance....

Give me that Jesus that re-creates that which is flawed.....

Give me a miracle working Jesus....

Give me a Jesus that can save my family.....

Give me a Jesus that brings joy in the midst of storm....

Give me a living Jesus!!!

While others store theirs away next week.....

Let my Jesus be a well spring of living water issuing from my inner most being....

Let my Jesus have control of my life....

My Jesus can have control of me....

Some will be content this season with a plastic or plywood or blow up Jesus....

But not me....

Give Me A Living Jesus!!!!

Congrats Amy Baby!

Last Evening Amy Brown Weldon Stewart (she answers to all of those names) graduated from Sam Houston State University with a business and accounting degree.....

I am so proud of Amy!!!

Tagged the airhead by her classmates at Conroe Christian School she is showing us what airheads can do.....

As she walked across the stage a beautiful Pentecostal young lady I could not help but remember......

Remember the night she told me she was ready to be baptized....

Remember the days and nights spent with she and her friends and family.....

Remember the miracle of the new birth experience in her life.....

Remember he efforts to overcome sin and ugly things in her life.....

Remember the service before she made up her mind to live for God.....

Amy showed up that service with her hair freshly cut and dyed bright burgundy and a mucho short skirt on......

But I remember the victories, joys, and momentous moments that have made this fine young lady to be what she is today....

She married Jared a couple of years back and moved away.....

But invited Tracie and I to her commencement and party....

Amy may attend church elsewhere....

But I will always be her pastor.....

Congrats Amy Baby!!!

Pastor

My Buddy Frosty

This little guy has been in our foyer for nearly a month now.....

The girl has been in my heart and head for nearly 27 years.....

No Grinch Zone

It seems to me that the holiday season is filled with so much pressure.....

As a pastor I find myself so busy with life and helping others and even attending Christmas functions that I am simply on auto pilot....

For instance, the first Monday night of December we always attend a minister's banquet....

Mind you, this is the week after Thanksgiving and who has had time to shift gears for Christmas?

Then comes other banquets, parties, staff functions and so much work....

Not to mention the $$$ pressure that is felt during the season....

But yesterday it happened.....

I got in the Christmas mood.......

A few weeks ago I wrote a letter to Santa requesting a new Blackberry and then even told her that I had hidden sufficient gift cards on her dresser so my new Blackberry shouldn't cost her/Santa anything.....

I saw Santa at church on Sunday night and reminded him of the letter I had written her......

Maybe it was the story of Christmas at the Christmas Program.....

Maybe it was the family I carried a card filled with money......

Maybe it is thinking about the 32 underprivileged kids that will receive 3 gifts each this Sunday....

Maybe it is because I know today Trent and I are going to be with some friends for lunch.....

It might be the freezing weather outside....

I am not certain exactly at what moment it happened.....

But the magic caught me.....

I am now ready for Christmas......

Get out of the way Grinch....

This is now the No Grinch Zone....

Have a great Christmas.....

rks

Monster Makers

I have been telling the little story for years of the Momma was watching the marching band go by in the parade....

Her Johny was the only one out of step but her perspective was to say this....

Looky there, the whole band is out of step but my Johny......

Come on now.....

How can the whole group but one be out of step?

I had somebody tell me one time that nobody understood their baby....

The baby was nearly grown.....

I have had parents tell me that their child was more mature than the other 12 year olds....

Why is it that the same baby that was too mature to stay in the nursery at 2 is too immature to attend youth functions at 13......

I had a classmate in Bible School who asked if he could skip the first two years of the curricula since he already knew all that would be taught those first two years......

He is in prison somewhere today.....

Come now and let us reason together.....

Few of us are prodigies....

Few of our kids are either...

Rather most of us are average folks with average kids who dirtied an average amount of diapers.....

That smell was not roses either.....

Let's get real.....

All of us must take the tests and must pass them.....

None of us are above what the rest must learn to do.....

Face reality....

The band is not out of step but rather the little sweet one.....

Why is this knowledge so hard for some to understand.....

The reality of life is this....

Those young people for whom exceptions are made for usually become monsters in life....

And if the whole band is made to keep step with Johny somebody is creating a monster.....

Johny was not a monster until somebody transformed him....

He was once a sweet little boy/girl that everybody used to love...

Blogger friend....

If the whole world smells bad today, I encourage you to make sure you have no Limburger cheese on your own mustache......

Blessings....

rks

Yesterday At Dusk

Three Fold Cord

A three fold cord is not quickly broken Ecc 4:12.......

Tis the case with good and evil.....

A man and his woman holding hands with their God is a cord that is not easily broken....

A church and its pastor holding hands with their God is a cord that is difficult to sever.....

But let just one of the three release their hold and difficulty arises.....

Tis the same with evil......

A three fold cord will not easily be broken.......

Adam and Eve walked daily with God and communed.....

Eve released the hand of the Lord to pick up the forbidden fruit.....

Adam also to receive the fruit from Eve.....

A three fold cord was broken......

Where are you Adam?

I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.....

Oh the tragedy of a broken cord......

The devil has used this divide and conquer tactic for a lifetime.....

Click on the chart below and see if you have ever seen this in operation......






















We release the hand of God and break the heavenly cord.....

Shame overcomes us and we feel naked.....

We allow fear to take over because want no one to see our nakedness or shame or vulnerability....

So we find ourselves in damage control mode.....

We try to control and manipulate circumstances and people around us so nobody will find out our nakedness or fear.....

Hence we create an ugly three fold cord that is not easily broken.....

I have tried to help people that were bound by yesterday's shame, today's fears and a lifetime of control and manipulation.....

It is like trying to nail jello to a tree......

It is nearly impossible to understand the person....

It is virtually impossible to get truth from them.....

It is so difficult to even get the same story twice from the one bound by the devil's three fold cord.....

They are so miserable and my head spins......

Here are some things that start the vicious cycle of shame, fear and control

• Ongoing Rejection – especially from early life
• Scape-Goat Syndrome - always being and taking blame as a child
• Physical Abuse – especially
• Neglect
• Violence
• Shame by association
• Sexual Abuse
• Failed dreams and vision
• Physical deformity
• Teen promiscuity
• Parental breakup

Four lifestyle behaviors that are coping mechanisms

1. Angry (Argumentative)
2. Condemnation & depression – cycle through low grade depression
3. Apologetic
4. Passivity

The person bound by the devils three fold cord mirrors the following behaviors

• Striving and Driving (Perfectionism) -Unrealistic expectations of self and family
• Religiosity – super spiritualism
• Truthfulness - he has tried to control the shame and fear for so long that whatever he says is truth and his reality

Who told you that you were naked asked the Lord....

Adam did you let go of my hand and take the forbidden?

My dear blogger friend.....

If you find yourself bound by the devil's cord of shame, fear and control please today let go of the control and fear and shame and take HIS hand and allow The Lord's three fold cord be restored.....

You, your family and HIM....

You, your church and HIM.....

You, your spouse and HIM......

Whatever you do, humble yourself and take his hand.....

Remember....

Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.....

SFC tendencies are pride in full bloom....

Release that pride and take HIS hand.....

Release that shame and hold HIS hand....

I am praying for you....

Blessings...

rks

Bishop at the staff party....

The pic speaks for itself.....

Bishop and I had to take a little timeout from all the paryting....

Tonight we were blessed to have the Danny Lewis family surprise us in our service......

Great friends.............

I Think I Like This....

4 p.m. Conroe Texas......

Houston is one of our Southern suburbs....

4 p.m. at the Kroger gas pumps.....

33 degrees.....

Sleet and snow......

I am shivering while the sleet and snow bounces off or my coat....

It is cold.....

4 p.m. miracle.....

I just filled up my car for $21.......

The snow and sleet made me very cold.....

But the $21 tank of gas sure warmed me back up!!!!

Blessings....

rks

First Chrismas Present of '08

Impact, the College & Career group here at CUPC made gift baskets tonight to give away this Christmas season....

David Weldon placed a special gift in my basket.....

I know he is very proud of this....

So am I.....

Thanks Bro Weldon and the entire rest of the group.....

Pastor

Male Bonding

The Bishop is now 8 weeks old

No Coffee @ Starbucks!!!

I told the barista guy I wanted a grande Pike's Place coffee and to leave room for cream.....

He looked embarrassed and then told me....

Sir this will sound crazy but we don't have any coffee today because we ran out of coffee filters....

He proceeded to tell me that he would give me anything for free on the menu as long as coffee was not required....

Hummmm........

No Coffee @ Starbucks.....

I wonder how many times someone visited CUPC and got the same response....

I wonder how many times the hopeless came and left without hope.....

I wonder how many times the depressed left depressed.....

How many times did the lonely leave lonely.....

The barista today told me he had plenty of coffee just not any thing for that coffee to flow through......

And there is never any shortage of HIS spirit or anointing....

Sadly sometimes there is a shortage of folks who will allow HIS spirit to flow through them.....

I pray the pulpit and pew of CUPC never runs short of people who have the Holy Spirit flowing in their lives.....

I could have hung around Starbucks for a little while today and the coffee would have been flowing nice and fresh but I did not have time.....

I wonder how many might have visited my church and hung around waiting for someone like me to allow HIM to flow through myself to them.....

I think I might need to go pray....

Blessings...

rks

Stand!!!

The last several days I have been pressed with this simple word...

Stand....

Paul encouraged the Ephesians when they had done everything they knew to do to Stand!!!

Moses facing the Red Sea an angry Pharaoh and a scared congregation said....

Stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord......

More than once in this life of mine I have been overwhelmed with circumstance and I discovered that sometimes all I can do is.....

Stand!!!!

To my blogging buddies or church members or whomever might happen upon these simple words....

You are not alone....

Busyness might be helping you this time around....

Chatter and clatter isn't helping....

You might not know who to fight or which direction to turn....

In moments like this....

Stand!!!

And allow HIS work and process to unfold......

Put your foot firmly on the shaky ground you find yourself on....

Allow him to lead you to a rock that is higher....

Enjoy the journey he has chosen....

If he leads you to that rock surely you are Standing!!!

You might be shaky but you are Standing!!!

Hold HIS hand and Stand!!!

Blessings....

rks