I showed up at the gym yesterday, ready to tangle again with Jacobs Ladder, its newest chamber of horrors, among other things. Just as I hit the sidewalk, I passed an older couple getting out of their car. “Older” as in mid-to-late sixties, I suppose.
There was something different about him. Maybe it was that he moved with a straighter, more invigorated gait than other men his age. Maybe it was the intentionally-tight silver buzz haircut. Maybe it was the black Army t-shirt he wore – something similar to the one pictured here.
“Stop,” said that little voice inside my head. (You have one too… you may want to pay more attention.)
A bit out of character for me in places like this, I paused to ask: “Are you a veteran?”
His already-alert face lit up as he helped his wife to the curb. “Yes, I am,” he smiled. [click to continue…]
A few years ago, my friend Rick was on a plane loaded to the wing flaps with hazardous cargo.
It was hauling a bunch of preachers to a convention.
Rick was in his best never-met-a-stranger form, and he was trolling up and down the aisle introducing himself.
“Are you a pastor?”
“Where are you from?”
He’d chat for a while and move on. And the more he moved, the more the passengers paid attention.
Finally he reached one row and asked a well-dressed man, “You look like a pastor. Where are you from?”
“I’m not,” the man replied in a louder-than-usual voice. “I’ve just been sick for a few days.”
The whole plane erupted with laughter. [click to continue…]
Brad is a living legend… at the local bar. At first his mostly-daily trips were his way of unwinding after a stressful workday. But over the years, one painful situation after another brought Brad to the point where he lives pretty much continuously between buzz and stupor. Offering the standard denials and predictable claims that he can quit anytime, Brad has long ago crossed the line between soothing his nerves and declaring war on his soul.
Sandy is a shell of the girl she once was. The once-vivacious high school and college student now sits in her immaculate apartment, trying to stay busy enough to avoid the reminders of how alone she is. Estranged from her family, deeply disappointed by marriage and even motherhood, Sandy has never let go of the bitterness that ultimately seeped into every corner of her life. To a stranger, Sandy is a hard-working professional with impeccable taste in decorating and fashion. But the excellent exterior hides a war-ravaged soul. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on November 5, 2010
in 100 Words
(You can make it yours, too.)
Because of God’s unsparing love for me,
I am a new creation of infinite worth.
I am chosen to live because He wanted me.
I am destined for a purpose because He called me.
I belong to his family because He connected me.
I am righteous in his sight because He covered me.
I am beautiful to behold because He crafted me.
Whenever my lifestyle, loneliness or looks
Try to condemn or accuse me,
I will raise the banner He purchased in blood,
And find my peace in His victorious love.
I AM my Beloved’s, and He is mine!
The audio is a bit thin, but worth it…
Me: One day Jesus’ disciples got into a big boat. And they began to go across the… water. Can you say “water?”
Laura Kate: Water
Me: When all of a sudden, the wind began to blow… whooohhhhhh.
LK: What’s that?
Me: It’s the wind blowing. And the rain began to fall… whishhhhhhhhhhh. And the thunder started to roll… plwwwwwwww. And the boat began to rock! And the disciples were so…
(I’ll let LK take it from here…) [click to continue…]
Saw a strange thing the other day. We’d driven to Abilene to watch the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys defend the Wilford Moore trophy against local rival McMurray for the 20th straight year. Division III football at its finest.
HSU had already knocked out the starting quarterback. Number 2 wasn’t faring much better. Scrambling around in the backfield, he was nailed at midfield for about a 12-yard loss.
McMurray lined up for the next play. Shotgun formation. All of a sudden, the quarterback called timeout, turned toward the sideline, and ripped his helmet off. Next thing I know, he’s on his knees, then hands-and-knees, and he wasn’t praying.
Hmmm. Maybe he was. [click to continue…]
He outran them all.
From the woods and swamps around his home in Millry, Alabama to the grass turf at Wildcat Hill, where the Millry Wildcats play their home games…
From a stint in the postwar United States Navy to the gridiron at the Mississippi Southern College…
From the sidelines and dugouts in the rural South to a legacy of influence that will long outlive him…
Nobody ever outran Morris Brown.
Nobody.
And he’d be the first to tell you.
In college they called him “Lightning.” But the people whose lives were most impacted by his teaching, motivation, and personal influence to this day simply call him, “Coach.” [click to continue…]
I hate sleep. I’m afraid I may miss something.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I “get it” and I get it.
I know that, too. God’s design and all that. It just chaps me a little that somebody who lives to be 90 will spend 30 years of their lives physically unconscious… and then talk about “sleeping in” as if it’s a life goal.
What’s even more disturbing, though, is how easy it is to be asleep when our eyes are open. Spiritually oblivious to a world of life and movement and transformation and possibilities – all ready and waiting… for the awakened spirit.
Snapshots of Awakening
February 3, 1970. In a small Kentucky Christian college, students showed up for what they thought was a routine chapel service. It was anything but. What was supposed to be an hour-long service lasted for 185 hours round the clock. And the lights never went off in the chapel until Ju [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on October 25, 2010
in Spoofs
What the Founding Fathers said to the lawyers:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
What the Lawyers said to the Judges: [click to continue…]
“He who is powerless before God is powerless before men” (Watchman Nee).
On September 16, 2001, an amazing phenomenon took place in churches across the United States. Civilians came out of their foxholes in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11.
And they were talking about God.
On that day, in churches everywhere, they came looking for answers.
Within a matter of weeks, however, things had settled down to business as usual. Not long after, The Washington Times had a story that predicted that within a decade Americans would “invent” a religion of their own that met their needs. The article said that when they revisited the places that had once nourished them, they didn’t find what they were looking for.
Ouch.
To be fair, maybe they were looking for a place that let them have a god of their own making. And the fact that people may try to invent a religion of their own doesn’t bother me – we’ve been doing that since Adam and Eve were escorted out of the Garden.
What bothers me was that when they came to our house – the church – looking for answers, evidently something was missing.
What if they came to our house looking for answers, and we were just as confused as they were?
What if they came looking for life, and we were just as dead?
What if they came looking for supernatural power – some evidence that God is still on the throne, still works miracles, and still has the power to change lives – and all they found was platitudes, programs, and politics? [click to continue…]
I showed up at the gym yesterday, ready to tangle again with Jacobs Ladder, its newest chamber of horrors, among other things. Just as I hit the sidewalk, I passed an older couple getting out of their car. “Older” as in mid-to-late sixties, I suppose.
