retreat! retreat!

we leave this morning for our annual agency-wide retreat to beautiful harriet, arkansas at the shepherd of the ozarks retreat center. i wanted in on some of the action over at jim's blog, but i was too beat (and pressed for time) to get it together. i'm interested to see how this thing plays out. appreciate allyour prayers for the weekend. thanks!

there is a way that seems right to a man...

dont think i have some kind of french fetish all of a sudden, but the other day when i posted about the "paris syndrome" article, it reminded me of something i ran across back in 1995. some (or many) of you might remember this, but surprisingly enough, almost no one i've told or asked has ever heard this story before.

the year is 1965. a french lawyer by the name of andre-francois raffray arranged to buy, under the french system en viager ("for life"), the paris apartment of 90 year old jeanne calment. at $500 a month, not a bad deal for mr. raffray, considering he was only in his mid-40's at the time. even if he only had to make a few months or years worth of payments before mrs. calment's demise, under french law the apartment would be his, and at quite a bargain.

what our hapless lawyer friend didnt know was:
1. that mrs. calment would eventually become the oldest living person in the world, according to the guinness book of world records... and
2. that mrs. calment would outlive mr. raffray by almost 2 years.

andre-francois raffray died on Christmas day, 1995 at age 77. jeanne calment died in august, 1997 at age 122. to add insult to injury, mr. raffray's widow was obligated to continue making payments, and had mrs. calment outlived her, the raffray children and grandchildren would have been on the hook for the $500 per month. when all was said and done, mr. raffray and his wife paid $184,000 for an apartment that was valued at around $60,000, and which mr. raffray never even got to spend a single night in. nothing illegal or even immoral took place here. the elderly property owner receives a steady and predictable monthly income, and, in theory, the buyer gets a heck of a deal on some prime real estate... in theory.

up front it seemed like a pretty smart business deal on the part of mr. raffray, but the apostle paul, writing to the church in corinth, had something to say about the world's idea of what's smart and what isnt...

"do not deceive yourselves. if any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards
of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. for the
wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. as it is written: "He
catches the wise in their craftiness." (1 cor 3:18-20)

we're never told if mr. raffray was a Christian or not, but there's plenty here for the Christian to take note of. its pretty safe to say that as mr. raffray's investment neared the break-even point, he probably began to wonder if he'd done the smart thing after all. by the time of his death, when he'd paid over 3 times what the apartment was worth, he must have held a world record of his own... the biggest case of buyer's remorse ever. how often have we as Christians found ourselves literally consumed by the fallout of some ill-conceived (read: not-prayed-over) idea we've hatched? and its not just our finances that get hijacked, but our energy, our hearts and our minds can get diverted from our Kingdom service as well. when we fall into such traps, it takes our focus off of God and the plans He has for us... nothing will stop a Christian in his tracks faster than guilt and regret. they can suck the life right out of a person. of course, it should be noted that at such times in our walk, our focus was no doubt already off of Him, hence the reason for many of the mistakes we make.

God gave us our brain, and He wants us to use it. mark wegley has an awesome (long, but awesome) post about this right here. but just like if somebody were to give me the most souped up mac on the market, i'd be tracking down jeff noble for as much guidance as i could get before booting that sucker up. in the same way, God wants us to seek Him out when we have decisions to make, and herein lies the value of hiding His Word in our heart.

truth be known , i had actually intended to publish this post before "this world is not our home," but for reasons unknown to me at the time, i went ahead and posted that one first. after hearing and reading tj's and mark's responses, i realize God wanted to use that post at that particular time, and i'm humbled and awestruck by the thought. oh that i would always be so sensitive to His leading...

this world is not our home

news item: "Paris Syndrome" leaves tourists in shock

at first i figured well, while the french can behave rather idiotically at times, surely nobody's shocked anymore. but then i read the article, and it seems "paris syndrome" has a particularly adverse effect on the japanese. seems their culture is so foreign to that of the french, that unsuspecting travelers end up suffering from a wide variety of mental ailments after just a short time in gay paree. says one such tourist, who calls herself aimi: "for us, paris is a dream city. all the french are beautiful and elegant ... and then, when they arrive, the japanese find the french character is the complete opposite of their own."

the first thing i wondered was, if paris is such a shock to the system, how come the japanese love new york so much? maybe because they dont have such grand illusions of the big apple...

then another thought struck me... how come we Christians often dont suffer from "earth syndrome"? why are we sometimes so at home in a place that is the complete opposite of what our heavenly home is? i'm not saying that this place should make us crazy, but neither should it become our "dream city." Jesus said we should be in the world but not of it. i had a sunday school teacher who was very fond of saying "you can be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good." i'm not buying that for a minute. dont get me wrong, i'm not one to sit around pining for the day that Jesus takes me home, but if my mind isnt on heavenly things, how can i possibly reflect His light in a dark world?

there are 2 things that motivate me to share the Gospel... one is the very thought that God loved me so much that He sacrificed His Son for me. He suffered and died... and rose from the dead to pay the penalty for my sin. the other is the fact that the ultimate reward for accepting that free gift is spending eternity in heaven with Him, and i want as many people as possible to be there with me!

but for now, i'm here. i'm just a pilgrim, a guy traveling through. a stranger in a strange land. i have a job to do while i'm here, but at the end of the trip, i'm history, and there'll be no looking back. the japanese have expectations of beauty and elegance that paris can never live up to... i, on the other hand, have expectations that can never live up to the beauty and elegance of my heavenly home.

"red rover, red rover, we call the principal on over"...

news item: massachusetts elementary school bans tag
can duck duck goose be far behind? are these people for real? kids have played tag, touch football, and any number of other "unsupervised chase games" since the beginning of time... give or take a few millenia. people have become afraid of their own shadows anymore. i hate to put all the blame on trial lawyers, but i do understand how our increasingly litigious society would cause a school to stop and think. but if we're going to start suing over a game of tag or two-hand touch, something's seriously amiss.

how do you have school boards across the country coming out with all kinds of school nutrition guidelines because our kids are too fat (and they are), and then right on the heels of that, you tell them they arent allowed to exert themselves at recess? (btw, i had this written this morning before whaley told me fox news already worked that angle). you watch... it wont be too long before somebody sues some school somewhere because their kid was denied proper exercise, and now he's even more obese than he was from eating twinkies and kool aid for lunch before bill clinton single-handedly (dont believe it? just ask him) removed junk food from school lunch menus.

also, they made a pretty fine point of making sure we all know they are banning "unsupervised chase games" from the playground... as opposed to what?? what exactly constitutes a supervised chase game? i submit to you that a parent inclined to sue (read: greedy, opportunistic and/or highly susceptible to the advances of ambulance-chasing lawyers) would be even MORE inclined to do so if there was supervision ("you mean to tell me that there were teachers right there and my kid still got hurt??")

[a little side note concerning ambulance chasers... not even 2 weeks after filing workman's comp to recoup medical expenses from my wife's OTJ injury and subsequent surgery, we've already received letters from 2 lawyers who scour new workman's comp claim files in search of people they can entice to sue somebody, ANYBODY even remotely connected to the accident. in this case it would boil down to the owner of the property where the horseback riding accident occurred, or the owner of the horse she was riding... the former is a fellow church member, the latter is a co-worker, and even if we werent related to them in those capacities, suing would never be a consideration].

so, how far do we carry this nonsense? when mark wegley writes stuff like "pseudo-intellectual, equine laxations" when commenting on my blogs, can i sue him for making my brain hurt? when jeff noble gets through explaining to me the finer points of "parking a domain", can i sue him for making my brain hurt?? enough with the lawsuits already... probably the most disturbing thing in the whole article was the last quote, attributed to one celeste d'elia, whose son is a student at the school in question. says she: "i've witnessed enough near collisions." OH PLEASE! i guess we better start sending our kids to school dressed like this--> ma'am, with all due respect, please dont emasculate your son... he's an elementary school boy. its his job to have collisions.


one last thing... how come schools are so worried about what parents might do to them for allowing their kids to run around on the playground, yet be so insensitive about parents' concerns over things like giving their children birth control without their knowledge or permission, or forcing them to sit through indoctrinations into islam or homosexuality without their approval? talk about swallowing a camel and straining at a gnat.

ok, i give up...

i've had my eye on all the construction at mcdonalds for awhile now, and i pretty much have everything figured out except those steel beams they stuck in the ground right in front that dont appear to have anything to do with anything.

i bet jeff noble has the scoop on this, but anybody that knows, clue me in...

the parable of the workers revisited

at my job, besides being house-pappy to 8 teenage boys, there are various and sundry other duties we have to fulfill on a daily basis. when i first started here, my "other duties as assigned by supervisor" (the default catch-all at the end of every job descripition at every place i've ever worked at, including union jobs) was to run transportation, which involves getting kids where they need to be when they need to be there. of course it involved DRIVING, which was just icing on the cake for me. so it sort of blows my mind that just about everyone else who has ever done this job hates it. as time went by and they realized i could be better utilized doing maintenance projects, i was taken off of transportation.

recently due to unique circumstances, i was re-assigned (temporarily) to transportation, and of course, i'm lovin it! even on the worst day of the week for appointments, its the easiest job i've ever had in my life, and i just eat it up. so as i was tooling around in the great outdoors the other day, i got to thinking about why some folks will do everything in their power to avoid something that they knew they were going to have to do when they signed up for the job. i get especially amused by pro athletes, who make obscene amounts of money to play games, and then they want to re-negotiate a legal and binding contract to get even more obscene amounts of money for having a good time, and for only a few months out of the year at that. if ed superstar signed a 5 year contract to play catch with the quarterback for 20 mil, great for him and his agent. then bob superduperstar signs for 35 mil and then it hits the fan and ed refuses to show up for mini camp unless his contract is re-negotiated. i say, more power to bob and HIS agent for making a better deal. ed, in 5 years, its your turn again.

so after feeling all self-righteous for about a minute, because after all, i have way more morals than people like ed, i remember back to when i was in seminary and working maintenance at a hospital in new orleans. we were helping a doctor move from one office to another, and we spent the entire shift lugging exam tables and boxes of files from one building to the next. because i was taking night classes, i had to leave about an hour early, and one of the guys from the next shift took over for me. the next day, the doc gave us all 20 bucks for helping him (even though we were all on the clock), including the guy that worked for an hour after i left. man, did that fly all over me! i worked 7 hours, and he worked 1 hour, and we both got a jackson for our troubles.
then it dawned on me what a bozo i was being. in the first place, i was already being paid by the hospital to do the job i was doing. in the second place, it was the doctor's money, and he could do whatever he wanted with it. some folks wouldnt see it that way, and i'm no beacon of virtue for figuring it out either. it was only because of the conviction of God's Holy Spirit, and He used scripture i had hidden in my heart to convict me with. in matthew 20, Jesus told the story of the workers in the vineyard, and while the point He was making wasnt so much about wages as it was about the sovereignty and grace of the Father, the principle still applies. as a child of God, He will meet my needs as i seek His kingdom. and if He provides for my needs, and someone else's needs AND wants are provided to them, what is that to me??

in my sunday morning Bible study we talked about being content. i'm not always a big fan of that word, because sometimes it conveys COMPLACENCY, but really those are 2 different words entirely. whereas contentment is satisfaction with what God has blessed me with, complacency is satisfaction with what i've done for myself, often at my own peril. as i live my life for Him daily, i desire more contentment and less complacency.

about bellevue...

it was pointed out to me by a friend of mine that i may have left an inaccurate impression in my "warrenism" post, and after re-reading it for myself, i tend to agree. i was surprised to hear that there was a terrible rift threatening to tear bellevue baptist church apart, and so i was checking things out to see what was going on, and after following a number of links, found myself at a site called stateofthechurch.com. this site is solely devoted to trashing purpose driven, rick warren and what's come to be known as the "church growth movement." it was at this site that i found a particularly disturbing page that misrepresented the truth (and even told several out and out lies) concerning what happens when a church is transitioned to a purpose driven church. that was what i intended to be the sole focus of the "warrenism" post.

anyway, the way i made the leap from talking about the situation at bellevue baptist, to talking about the lies against purpose driven made it seem that i was lumping the folks that are at odds with their pastor at bellevue in with the anti-warren crowd at stateofthechurch. i dont have a dog in that race over at bellevue, and i dont know any current members there. however, i do have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the late adrian rogers, and considering he pastored bellevue for over 30 years, that sentiment sort of carries over to the church as well. also, it grieves me whenever ANY local church goes through such turmoil, regardless of who may be in the wrong.

however, i'm learning that in such a public forum as the blogosphere its a whole 'nother ballgame than emailing privately with a friend, and i always want to be accountable for the things i write and how i write them (not that i'd ever say one thing in public and another in private, but because i know many that read the blog wont know my heart that well, i have to be more concise and not assume that everyone knows exactly where i'm coming from).

that being said, i feel i need to retract a statement i made in my last post. while on my way to making my point about the lies against purpose driven, i had said that if the things that steve gaines is being accused of turn out to be true, then he should resign. in all my church-going life, i have NEVER called for the resignation of the pastor of my own church, much less the pastor of a church i have no connection with. the proper thing to do would be for pastor gaines to examine himself and repent if and where repentance is needed. if in this time of self-examination the Holy Spirit impresses upon him that his ministry and the ministry of bellevue would best be served by his resignation, then he should follow the conviction of the Spirit. i dont believe he should resign because of pressure brought to bear by any group within or outside the church, but only at the urging of God's Holy Spirit. repentance where repentance is due should be the first objective whether there is a resignation or not. if reconciliation can be achieved, all the better.

this holds true for the savingbellevue camp as well. i've read volumes from both sides, and without knowing any of these folks, it's hard to say what's what. there's humility and arrogance in abundance on both sides of the issue, and the fact it has blown up in such a public way has not pleased God at all.

so to summarize... my beef is not with steve gaines or anyone with concerns about him. i hope there would be honesty and transparency from both sides, and my prayers are with both. i think it was unfortunate that savingbellevue chose to link to the stateofthechurch website, and i would hope that they'd do a little more research and disassociate themselves from the lies and half-truths being put forth from those folks. after all, i find it hard to believe that a church that has grown from a tiny log cabin to 29,000 members could be anti-church growth!

"warrenism"?? purpose-driven church under attack

wow… where to begin. first of all, I had no idea that there was so much downright hatred toward rick warren and purpose driven. i mean i’m not so naïve to think everybody buys into his methodology (heck, I don’t even buy into every aspect of it), but I really had no idea. i first got a clue when I was referred to the brewing controversy over at bellevue baptist in memphis, and the more i dug, the crazier things seemed to get. and the more links i clicked, the deeper i got lost in the labyrinth (<--75 cent word!!) of websites and blogs. i should have left a trail of breadcrumbs because i almost didn’t find my way back out. (ironically, when just for fun I checked synonyms for “labyrinth” one of the words that came up was… “warren”!) now, let me just say that the whole steve gaines (senior pastor of bellevue) thing seems pretty bizarre, and if what some are saying he did is true, he should resign. however, that isn’t what i wanted to address (in this post, anyway). while at savingbellevue.com (a site put up by a deacon opposed to pastor gaines), i linked up to http://www.stateofthechurch.com/ its not really clear who’s behind this site, but whoever he or they is/are, they are dead-set against what they call the church growth movement, and the two people they believe are the driving force behind it: rick warren and bill hybels. while i was checking that site out, i clicked the following link, and that’s when i decided to get enraged… uh, i mean engaged. not too many things i dislike more than misrepresentations and outright lies. to make sense of the rebuttal I emailed to the website (which appears below), you’ll need to click the above-referenced link and check out the issues they raise, and the very misleading topic titles assigned to said issues. the article they have taken exception to was written for pastors.com by chuck mcalister, senior pastor of church at crossgate center in hot springs, ar. the links on the “transition an established church” page will take you to different sections of the mcalister article. it’s many of those link titles that i have big problems with.

as i said, i don’t subscribe to every single strategy that pastor warren or pastor mcalister espouse, but there are better ways to challenge somebody’s methodology than to tell out-and-out lies about it. if Christians cannot dialog without lying and misrepresenting the facts, we have even more serious issues within the body of Christ than i thought. what i will say about the so-called church growth movement is that i believe they have it right so far as the big picture is concerned. they empower and encourage individual Christians to utilize their talents and spiritual gifts to go into their communities and do ministry. its through this strategy that churches like saddleback have grown. the only importance that warren places on the numbers is that every number represents a soul being impacted by the gospel message as its not just preached, but also as its lived out in the lives of believers. this is what i alluded to in my comment on jim whaley’s first quote from the book “organic church.”

well as i’ve looked back at all the links i inserted into the paragraphs above, i seem to have created my own little labyrinth, haven’t i… bring plenty of bread crumbs.

my email to stateofthechurch.com:
dear sir(s):

i read with quite a bit of interest and concern some of your self-titled topics on your "transitioning" page, and i have a few questions/comments.

several of your topics are quite misleading, which becomes quite obvious to any balanced person who happens to click the link and read what's actually there. for example...

- "change church name (remove baptist)": nowhere in the text does it state "remove baptist" from the name of the church. while some churches do indeed decide to remove "baptist" from their name, many do not.

-"let-um go if they don't like it": that is a very misleading statement in light of what one reads after clicking on the link:

"You must remember that the transition will not please everyone - that would be impossible. Do not abandon your vision to appease a person or even a group of persons who choose to leave. God will send other leaders to take their place. This is the most difficult part of the process for some pastors because we are wired to please people. You must remember that pleasing God is what matters; besides, the church does not belong to you or a disgruntled church member. It belongs to Jesus Christ. We are simply called to do what God says is best for His church."

so what would you propose to do about church members who choose of their own volition to leave the church? force them to stay? the implication of your wording is to turn those church members out, when in fact what the author is saying is if they choose to leave, GRACIOUSLY allow them to do so. again, very misleading.

-"remove baptist name": same as my first point above. nowhere in the text of the article did they specifically say to drop "baptist" from the name. additionally, no matter what they changed the name to, the article is very clear that the church members' support was enlisted for the name change.

-"sermon notes on IMAX": how do you equate a church video projection system with an IMAX theater? you do realize that IMAX is approximately 5 stories high, and wider than the peripheral vision of the audience in order to give a sense of "being there". IMAX doesnt lend itself well to simple projection of song lyrics (with maybe an aesthetically pleasing background). i believe you grossly exaggerated this point, perhaps out of ignorance, perhaps out of vindictiveness. additionally, i know of many people, particularly the elderly, who have poor eyesight which makes trying to follow along from a hymnal difficult, if not impossible. many of these folks are very appreciative of having the song lyrics projected because the text is large enough for them to see.

-"rewrite old hymns": another misrepresentation of what the author actually wrote. introducing new arrangements of hymns is a far cry from re-writing old hymns. by the way, are you aware that many of our most beloved hymns are merely re-writes (lyrically) of old saloon songs? no one seems to have much of a problem with singing Godly words to the tune of an old drinking song. why do so many people have a problem with singing those same Godly lyrics to a different arrangement of the music??

-"phase out organ and piano, bring in guitar and drums": what the author wrote was "gradually de-emphasize piano and organ..." there is a big difference between phasing out and de-emphasizing. in order to bring other instruments into the mix, of course the instruments that formerly garnered all the musical attention must be de-emphasized. the author never made the case for getting rid of the piano and organ. furthermore, why do you have a problem with guitars and drums? are you not aware that psalm 150 pretty much includes all types of musical instruments to be used to praise God? i'm not even real sure that there was any sort of instrument that would have been comparable to an organ back in Bible times. the organ might very well be the most "unbiblical" of the instruments mentioned in this discussion. you shouldnt equate 18th, 19th and 20th century worship forms with "the only right way" to worship.

-"reshape the core members thoughts": you make this sound like some sort of insidious brain washing. the author is merely stating that many church members have operated under the belief that their spirituality is somehow connected to how busy they are for God. that sounds an awful lot like works-based salvation to me, and i agree that those people need a (literally) healthy dose of re-education. surely you would agree that it isnt healthy for the church or the people that a very few should shoulder all the work. ALL of us should be involved in the ministries of the local church. however, i also know that some folks feel that they have "control" if they can monopolize things, so new members or even long-time members that have never been involved before are shut out because those that have "done it" for so many years dont want anyone else involved. this is neither healthy or biblical.

-"kiss them goodbye and good reddens": i assume you mean good "riddance." it is nonetheless another of your misleading topic titles. the author specifically states that the departure of some church members is a heart-breaking experience. he goes on to state "you love them and you want what is best for them..." how do you get an attitude of "good riddance" from that?

well, that pretty much covers the misrepresentations. however, i was curious about some of the other topics you focused on, and wanted to ask you about those if i may.

why do you have such a problem with reaching the unchurched? is that not the essence of the Great Commision? do you feel threatened by the possibility of new believers joining your church? if so, why?

concerning adopting new by-laws: what problem do you have with adopting by-laws that "comply with the biblical structure for a church"? dont you want your church's structure to model the structure of a new testament church?

concerning a church covenant: your topic states that it is a new covenant. what i get from what the author wrote was that he isnt necessarily espousing replacing an existing church covenant, but rather introducing a covenant where none existed before. however, as with new by-laws, if the church covenant needs re-working in order to help members grow spiritually and personally, why is that a problem?

about dismissing staff that dont go along with changes being made. i dont know you, but i would suspect that you would have no problem dismissing the author if he were a staff person in your own church because you disagree with his vision for ministry within the church. if i'm wrong, please accept my apology. in any event, in order for a church to move in a certain direction, no mater what that direction may be, all staff must be on the same page. how could a pastor, a shepherd, lead a flock toward green pastures if some of the under-shepherds are trying to lead the flock in another direction, or simply trying to make the flock stay put?

not interested in swapping church members... i dont even know what to say to this. i cant even imagine that you would have a problem with this statement. do you mean to tell me that you would condone taking members from other churches in your area? our churches dont need to be "sheep stealing" but rather going out and gathering lost sheep into the fold.

"identify the 'power people' (possible troublemakers)": i respectfully challenge you to show me where the author ever used the term "possible troublemakers." i am tempted to assume that you may be a "power person" in your church, and you feel threatened by change. power people feel threatened by change because change may mean they can no longer control the church. they should feel threatened, and they should not be in control. if i've mis-characterized you, again, accept my apology. in the case of churches where deacons are the power people, the author was dead on target when he said they should be moved to a servant role. the book of
acts makes it perfectly clear that the role of a deacon is to be a servant. period. deacons do not run the church. deacons should not run the church. deacons should be too busy tending to the needs of the church members to have the time or energy to want to run the church.

changing of the church structure: the author plainly stated that the church family readily embraced this. if the church body is in favor, why is there a problem for you? and the new structure has enabled the church members to utilize their spiritual gifts more effectively in
order to carry out the ministries of the church. surely you dont have a problem with that, right?

starting activities for men... i'm speechless that you would have any problem with this at all. what would be your alternative to having God-centered fellowship opportunities for the men of
your church... or the women or the children for that matter?

i hope i havent overwhelmed you with my many questions. i'm just a curious type of person i guess. i'm also passionate about the work of the church in my community, and the world. our churches and our church people need to be equipped to carry out the great commission. there are well over a billion people in our world that have yet to hear the gospel, and any church that can make changes necessary to more efficiently carry out the great commission is a church that God is well pleased with.

thank you for your time.
in His service,
dean m. cirelli

not an "i told you so"...

... but perhaps a little vindication. don wildmon finally caught up with the rest of the world and sent out his action alert with the pre-requisite petition concerning veggie-gate. i guess he was waiting for nbc to hand down their decision concerning madonna and her faux-crucifixion stunt, and whether they were going to edit it out of her upcoming special (SURPRISE!!! they left it in). that worked out for bro. don because then he could really go to town on nbc (they get the double whammy... God bad, madonna good).

anway, in his action alert, he quoted phil vischer from another article, in which mr. vischer stated that had he known how much censorship NBC would exercise, he would not have signed on for the network deal. so while some may see a castrated veggie tales as being better than no veggie tales at all, not even the guy who created the franchise thinks this deal turned out all that great.

of course, what IS great about the whole thing is that God IS bigger than the boogie man (and the nbc censors), so i have no doubt that what man intended for evil, God intended for good... a romans 8:28 moment where some kid somewhere will get his parent to buy him some REAL veggie tales videos. and maybe what God wanted us to learn from this all along is that He will do exceedingly well even when we mess it up. after all, in our weakness, He is strong!

God and mammon

news item: COURT SAYS TITHING NOT AN OPTION FOR THE BANKRUPT

well, this is one i can see both sides of, although the law, the way it's written is certainly flawed. to cut to the chase, in 2005 congress passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. part of this law states that if a person or family makes more than their state's median income, that person or family cannot include their tithe (or any charitable giving) as part of their living expenses, which must be reported to the banruptcy court. the 1998 law, which the new law replaces, allowed tithing and charitable giving in all bankruptcy cases. a more detailed explanation of how the new law affects filers can be found here.

i couldnt find any statistics to reflect who files and why, but basically you have 2 categories of bankruptcy filers:
1) honest hard-working people that either fall on hard times (laid off, injured, etc) or, due to the actions of others who have failed to pay them what they owe, are unable to pay their own creditors. having been a paint contractor for almost 10 years, i've seen a number of self-employed tradesmen lose their business, and pretty much everything else they have, because someone they did work for wouldnt (or couldnt) pay them for their services. they in turn, are unable to pay for materials or labor, and are often forced into bankruptcy.
2)unscrupulous or irresponsible people who run up an impossible mountain of debt, and skip out on it by filing bankruptcy.

the law obviously needs fixing. even the authors of the bankruptcy protection act (sen. orrin hatch, sen. chuck grassley, sen. jeff sessions) were caught off guard by the way the law was interpreted by the judge in new york. i would hope part of the fix would include a way to distinguish between those who were forced into bankruptcy by circumstances beyond their control, and those who irresponsibly run up needlees debt and then walk away. also, that whole median income thing is something that needs to be scrapped altogether. what in the world that has to do with anything is beyond me. if you make $10,000 and have $100,000 in debts you can't pay, or if you make $100,000 and have $10,000,000 in debts you can't pay seems immaterial to me. the circumstances under which a person has filed for bankruptcy should carry more weight than whether or not their income is above or below the median income of the state in which they live.

it is indeed a poor witness for a Christian to fail to honor their obligations, and i can certainly see the point of a creditor who would have a problem with someone continuing to tithe to their local church while they -the creditor - have been left holding the (empty) bag. at the same time, i see no place in the bible where God make exceptions for His people not to give back to Him what is His to begin with.

so, to borrow a phrase from bill o'reilly... what say you??

wild horses

...one of my all-time favorite rolling stones songs. the whole "wild horses" thing hit really close to home this weekend when my wife decided to go horseback riding with a group of our kids. at 11:00 saturday, i got a phone call saying that she'd had an accident and an ambulance was on the way to get her and take her to drew memorial. all the info i had was that the horse took off all at once and she lost her balance and hit a tree. on the way to the hospital i called her mom in MS, then i called in some prayer support... i dialed up my road warrior jim "dad" whaley, and my dearest friend and sister-i-never-had, tina b. not surprisingly at all, i got way more than i asked for. not only did they pray and tell others to pray, but both got to the hospital right after i did to lend their moral support as well. jim stayed until right before the ambulance got there, and then he had to get back to mind the store. tina stayed with me until they allowed me to go in back to be with crissie. later in the day when we were about to be discharged, i suddenly realized that between the EMT's and the folks at the ER, most of her clothing had been cut off of her (well, not her jeans anyway), and jim and denise came back to the hospital and brought some shirts so we could get home with some shred of dignity.

my co-workers jumped in without having to be asked and covered for me while i was at the hospital, as well as the rest of saturday and all day sunday. days off are few and far between around here, so i thank them for unselfishly offering to come back to work so i could be at crissie's side.

the ambulance folks from MASI were outstanding and did a great job for her, and i appreciate all they did to stabilize her and get her safely to the hospital. we were really fortunate... she got away with a broken wrist, 3 broken ribs and an array of bumps, bruises, scrapes and scratches... the thought of crashing into a tree while falling off a horse at full gallup conjured up images i didnt even want to consider.

i'm truly overwhelmed at the care and concern we continue to receive... we've had more food brought to us than you'd see after any funeral, and one of the girls we used to care for even bought crissie a 24-pack of dr. pepper, a gift of high value (to crissie anyway) if ever there was one! so many have called and stopped by to see how we're doing.

all this outpouring of love has reminded me of how it must have been in the early days of the Church, and God expects nothing less of His people today. in acts 2:42-47, the Christian community came together thusly:

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

that last part of verse 47, where the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved... that, friends, is a direct result of folks looking at our lives, and seeing how we treat each other in His name. see, we dont have to be bold orators or great teachers. st. francis of assissi once said "preach the gospel always... when necessary, use words." some very kind and heartfelt words have been spoken to us this weekend, but by far what has been most meaningful are the expressions of Christian love and kindness that have come our way!

yeah, the stones had a hit on their hands with "wild horses", but just a few years prior, a guy by the name of peter scholtes wrote a more excellent song...
"...and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love; yes they'll know we are Christians by our love."