God’s Christmas Wish…

I remember the most exciting day of the Christmas season was the day the Sear’s catalog arrived at our house. I would anxiously turn past the clothes, appliances and cooking wear. As I came to a sudden stop on the toys, my joy began. I spent hours looking, dreaming; circling everything I wanted for Christmas. A drum set, Evel Knievel bike, Atari it had it all. That is why it was titled The Wish Book. While I never got everything I circled or turned down the page, I did wish and dream. And as blessed as I was, you could bet every Christmas I received at least one gift from the Sear’s catalog. I just could never figure out how Santa always knew exactly what I wished for and it coincidental was sold at Sear’s.
Now that I’m older, I now spend time trying to figure out what others want for Christmas. This is hard to do. Christmas is a time of giving. It’s a season of gifts, companionship, and times spent with family and love ones. Christmas is about traditions, decorations, and food. Christmas opens us up to those who are less fortunate as we give to those in need. There is an instinctive part about our humanity that ignites our generosity during this season like no other time during the year.

If Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, I wonder what Christ wishes for Christmas? What does the Creator of our universe and our existence wish for? Have you ever stopped to wonder what is on God’s Christmas list? I know we have the gold, frankincense and myrrh stuff but that has already been done. What is a gift to someone that already has everything? You can't really re gift something you don't want to God. How do you wrap up something meaningful to the one who saved you, loves you unconditionally, desires an intimate personal relationship with you, and desires the best for your life? How do you return the love? What does God want for you this Christmas? Join us during our Advent Sermon Series: God’s Christmas Wish: What God Wants for Christmas? As we look at what we can give to God that will enrich our life and relationships. As we search together, you might just find that it is everything you dreamed for that can't be found at Sears.

See ya in church but until then take care of yourself, dream, and wish.
Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy
Tommy

“ I Am THANKFUL…”

As we approach this Thanksgiving and in reflection after our Thanks Living sermon series, I have discovered so many things to be thankful for. Like many of you, I am in awe sometimes of all the blessings God has placed in my life. Yes, my life has its challenges, difficulties, and painful moments, but I marvel at the joy I have when I view the totality of my life. So I would like to take this opportunity to share a few, praying that it may help you find that same joy in your life. I am grateful God called me to serve an awesome congregation that works diligently to connect others to the love of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for everyone who accepts me as I am and shares in my passion to exhibit Christ’s love to those around us. I am so thankful for an understanding wife and children when ministry calls me away. I am grateful to watch my children grow in their faith and develop a burning desire to show Christ love by helping others. I am thankful for a wife who loves me, even when I stink and is my best friend. I am thankful God has placed so many cool friends and family members in my life.  I am thankful for the compassionate way those in all communities who  respond every time someone is hurting, sick, or in need. I am grateful for ever person who helps others over come addictions, protects children, and helps others heal from the pains in life. I thank God for everyone who chooses to worship with us and the abundance of children who have descended upon us lately. I am grateful for a patient and kind congregation who has endured as after ten years of ministry I have began to learn a new preaching style. I thank God for I get to be apart of Centralia Group Workcamp. I praise God for diligent dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to teach the faith to the next generation. I thank God for those who go the extra mile to visit, call, and stay connected with our home bound members. I am thankful for the Soldiers. I am thankful for the outrageous generosity of the people in our faith family. With giving of their money, time, and resources, in an era of decline we have managed unprecedented growth. For that I am thankful. I am thankful for all the people who work so hard behind the scenes to do the ministry. I am thankful God placed great examples in my life of Christian service and taught me what true faith really is.I am appreciative for all the individuals that I get to lead worship with each week. I am grateful something greater than myself is active in growing in my life. I am grateful for my health. I am thankful that I still have a lot of room for growth in my life. I am grateful I still have a lot to learn about being a good husband, father, and minister. I am thankful I don’t have it all figured out and that God is still active in my life. I am grateful for the forgiveness of others when I mess up. Last but not least, I am eternally grateful and find joy in the fact that I am loved, accepted, and validated by my Savior Jesus Christ and by so many wonderful people. I feel blessed and thankful that each day I get to do what I am called to do.  I also thank God for you, that our paths in life have crossed, as you are a blessing to me.
With all our love from our family to yours.
Happy Thanks LIVING….
Tommy

Perceptions: Back to the Church for Meat Loaf

Tony Campolo tells about the African American church he attends in Philadelphia that celebrates student recognition Sunday once a year. After a few students had spoken, the pastor stood and said, “Young people, you may not think you’re going to die, but you are. One of these days, they’ll take you to the cemetery, drop you in a whole, throw some dirt on your face and go back to the church and eat meat leaf.”

What an awesome sermon opener but also what a underscoring of the fact of death.
After I had preached at the funeral of an inspired and inspiring person, a guy approached me and said, “The problem is when you have to do my funeral, you won’t have all those wonderful things to say.” My response was, “Well, thank God you still have time to change that. Begin to live now in such a way that I won’t be on the spot and have to dig deep when I preach your funeral.”

Maybe that is something we all really need to think about.

“Resisting the Urge”

Mathematically and statically for all intended purposes the season for both the Cardinals and Cubs are over. Neither will make the play offs so the excitement, enthusiasm, and fanfare has quickly faded. Already real sports fans are talking about the Rams and the Bears as football commences, it is tempting to move on with another year’s disappointment, under achieved expectations, and frustration. In baseball, whenever the pitcher has two strikes on the batter, he will intentionally throw one low or in the dirt. The pitcher is relying on the desperation of the batter to swing at the next pitch. Professional players, great hitters will swing at a pitch in the dirty. They will lung their bodies, adjust there swig just to make contact with the ball. Most batters just want to make contact with the ball and hope it goes foul. When a batter is struck out by a pitch in the dirt, they immediately know they “fell” for it. They walk back to the dug out, knowing full well they have been had. All their experience, practice, and patience were thrown out the window by their desire to swing.

In life we have all swung at bad pitches. We have all swung and missed at a pitch in the dirt. We have all chased after something we thought was success and realized we had been duped. Sometimes our desires can overcome our common sense and the results are we fall into temptation and strike out. Like in baseball and in life, the great hitters are the ones who fight the temptation to swing and hold off; allowing the pitch to hit the dirt and be called a ball. Mediocre batters swing and hope to make contact, good hitters swing and foul it off, but great hitters control their impulses and watch the pitch hit the dirt.

I am not sure about you, but I know I desire a great life. Mediocre is fine for some people, good is fine for others but I want a great life. I want to be the greatest husband, father, and minster I can be. I don’t want to look back at life and tell people, “You know I could have been great but….” I want to look back on ever season of my life and say, “At the time, under the circumstances, I was greatest _____.” I am not saying I want perfection, just to live up to the potential God has placed in my soul.

In reality we are surrounded by temptation that nudges us to take the easy way out, to take a short cut, to justify our actions. Like the batter, just swing, get out, and take your chances next time you face that pitcher. The only way one can defeat temptation is by discipline. The discipline batter stands firm and strong and resists the urge to swing at any bad pitch. Many people lives are uprooted because they lack the discipline to resist urges. We are reminded that Christ, himself was tempted to take a short cut. Join us Sunday as we look at Jesus’ temptation and learn from him; the discipline we need in our own life to resist the urge to swing, when we know we should hold back.

Peace & Love,
Tommy

"Regrets I've Had a Few"

In honor of death week, a tradition of most Memphians who remember the week Elvis Pressley died, I immersed myself in Elvis music. One of my favorites is when the king sings, “Regrets I’ve had a few, then again to few to mention.” (For the purest out there, I know Frank Sinatra recorded it first.) Irony seems to dance through these words when we consider the circumstances surround Elvis’ death. It did however spark my conscious to think about the regrets I have in my own life. Regrets are weird crazy things. They are situations in our life that if we could magically do over again, we would do differently. Regrets are different than failures. Regrets are not situations that we do not go into without much thought, we think them through, we pray about them, we move forward but in retrospect looking back we would have chosen something different. Regrets are not all bad, wrong, immoral, illegal, or unchristian. I regret I ate the whole pizza; I should have stopped at three pieces. Regrets are just situations in life, if we had to do all over again, we would try something different. I regret not spending more time with my loved one before they died. We have all had moments when we have said something to someone and we regretted it the moment it came out of our mouths. We all have regrets in our life. Some of us have a few, to few to mention, and some of us have too many to list. The thing about regrets is that in the precise moment, the decision, the action seems like the right action to take, but looking back we are not so sure.


As we continue our Batter Up! Sermon series while preparing the message of  looking at the Home Run Swing, I discovered how regrets keep us from hitting the homerun. We all love the home run ball. Hitting a homerun is hard to do but some players seem to do it with ease and make it look easy. In life we look at other people’s life and it seems they have the homerun swing. Everything seems to go their way; their job, marriages, house, kids, relationships, and other things we sort of envy. We begin to compare thier life to ours and more regrets begin to mount up. We look at them and say, “Man I wish I was that lucky.” Like homerun hitting and life; luck might not play any part in their success. When you watch a homerun hitter, they seem to do it with ease. What we don’t see is the preparation, experience, confidence, and wisdom the homerun hitters have. We see the ball go over the fences, the crowd cheer, and the fireworks explode and we forget the hours in the batting cage, watching video, weight training, and what the hitter has learned from the million of times at bat. If our life is full or regrets, to stop repeating them, we may have to explore new questions we need to ask ourselves. We need to learn, practice, and dedicate ourelves to when we are in similuar situations we make more wise desicisons. We might need to ask ourselves: What did we learn from our past? What is the most wise thing to do for our present circumstances? What is the best decision for our hope and dreams for the future? Answering theses questions before we act, may help us all reduce the regrets in our life..
Take care of yourself and one another,
Peace & Grace,
Tommy

“Handling the Strike Out"

Every one of us has moments in our life when we strike out. These are the moments in our life when we simply fail. We loose confidence, we mess up, we swing for something and miss, or we just stand there and watch the perfect pitch or opportunity pass us by. These moments in our life seem to stick with us forever. We can all remember freshly, no matter how much time has passed, those moments in our life when we have simple struck out. We have faced the humiliation and walked defeated back to the dug out. Each of us can recall when someone has hurt us or we have hurt someone else. We have all had situations in life when we have botched something up, messed up, made bad financial or business decision, trusted the wrong person, or someone we love has died. We automatically hold on to these moments and wonder why some people adjust better than we do.


Those that follow baseball will argue who is the best hitter of all time. If we look at statics only, (not getting into the steroid era debate) we look at three of the all time homerun leaders. George Herman (Babe) Ruth in 22 seasons hit 714 homeruns but also had 1330 strike outs. Hank Aaron in 23 seasons hit 755 homeruns with 1383 strike outs, and Barry Bonds 762 homeruns with 1539 strike outs. If you notice these hitters struck out about twice a many times than hit homeruns. What made them great was not their homeruns but how they overcame striking out. These great hitters did not allow the strike out to define who they were as a batter; if they did they would have never made it out of the minor leagues. When they stuck out, they adjusted their swing, reinstalled their confidence, and with great anticipation of success and enthusiasm stepped back into the batters box. They not once asked to be taken out of the game because of a strike out. They understand that slumps are just part of the game. When we look at baseball any great player will have a .300 battering average. A .300 batting average will get you into the Hall of Fame. Baseball is a game where greatness is defined by someone failing only 7 out of 10 times. In baseball like in life, you may fail more times than you succeed.

We all have failures in life, it is just apart of living. What is important is how we handle those strikeout moments. We have all made bad decisions, said the wrong thing, believed the wrong person, must trust in those who are not trust worthy, and let both ourselves and others down. Jesus’ own disciples struck out on him when he needed them most. Sometime in our prayers to God during our strike out moments we may be just asking the wrong question. We pray for God to deliver us, restore us, help us, and save us. These are great prayers however instead of simply asking God to rescue us; we may need to ask God what WE can do the next time we are in the batters box. We need to explore and be open to new ways God can help us adjust our swing, reinstall our confidence, and encourage us to get back in the game. Staying on the bench is not really an option. Just something to think about next time we strike out..
Peace & Love,
Tommy

The Sacrifce Bunt

In the current sermon series I’m preaching, we learned that the sole goal and responsibility of the leadoff man in baseball is to get on first base. After getting on base, the next batter must strive to get the leadoff man into scoring position. With no outs, the best way to get the runner into scoring position, getting them to statically the desirable position to score is the sacrifice bunt.  For those who know nothing of baseball, the sacrifice bunt is where the batter takes a different stance and lightly hits the ball, so the infielder can get it and throw him out a first which advances the leadoff man to second.  When the batter bunts, he is trying to get out advancing his teammate into scoring position. If you have never played baseball, bunting is hard to do. You must expose yourself to the pitcher, when one squares away, you expose your intentions, and it ruins your own personal statics. A well timed, well placed bunt is not flashy. People in the stands don’t tend to get excited or cheer for a well-placed bunt.  ESPN doesn’t show highlights of greatest bunts. We want to see the home run hit. In a game where success, fame, and money are stressed on individual statics and achievements, a sacrifice bunt is not helpful to one’s contract negotiations.  I have yet to hear of a manager sign a contract for a player that is just a good bunter. I cannot name on person that became famous because of their bunting abilities. Yes, there are good hitters that can bunt well, but no one wants to be the guy who has to sacrifice bunt. If you ask most baseball players they would rather try to get a hit than bunt.

Our culture that we live in celebrates, rewards, and glorifies personal statics and achievements. We reward those who do what they do and do it well. In our personal careers we are evaluated, valued, and accepted by our personal statics and achievements. It begins to define who we are. We all want bigger and greater. This works for preachers too, I have yet to hear a minister of a large church not tell me within two minutes of any conversation how many members they have in their church. Listen carefully next time you hear a pastor of a mega church and you’ll hear the number, I’ll guarantee it. I’ll admit it most preachers don’t like to sacrifice bunt either. We begin to value our self-worth by such goals. As a society we cheer the runner as he crosses the plate but rarely acknowledge the guy who laid down the sacrifice bunt. 

There are crossroad moments in our lives that we must choose to do something for ourselves or sacrifice for others. I have found that these moments define who we are. I can recall these crossroads moments in my life where my life could go one way or the other. The problem is I struggled just like everyone else, I don’t want to sacrifice bunt. I want or need to swing for the fences; I want the attention of hitting the home run. I want people to acknowledge and celebrate my accomplishments, I want to improve my individual statics and Christ keeps asking me to lay down the bunt. When we sacrifice for others, it pleases Christ, but not necessarily brings about fame and fortune. When we sacrifice bunt for others, we find something more valuable. There is something intrinsic about sacrificing for others. The ability to give up a little of our self to influence someone else’s life is the greatest feeling in the world. It is a blessing upon all blessings. Even if we feel we have nothing to give, we can all lay down a sacrifice bunt to advance others. In the processes we may find we all win in this game of life. I have come to give thanks to God for these reoccurring crossroad moments, where I am reminded of the bigger game. The bunt may not be glorious but necessary to win the game.

Peace & Grace,