Did You Hear About First Grade?

Something exciting happened in one of the awesome first grade classes!  "You wanna know?" you ask. OK then, I'll let you in on it!

Fortunately, it was the "get your eyes checked" day at North Campus, so for the morning I got to walk around with all of you.  I walked some of you upstairs and some of you back downstairs for some of the morning.

While I was walking up or down, I don't remember which, I looked in on one of the first grade classes.  Our teacher, Mrs. Seery, was waving at me to come on in.  I did.

I heard a wonderful story that goes like this.  It seems the kids were working on words that rhyme with "bell."  Mrs. Seery was writing the "rhymers" on the white board.  One word in particular got quite a bit of attention.  It starts with "h" and, of course, rhymes with bell.

Mrs. Seery told us later that she sensed God's Spirit speaking to her about talking to the first grade about Heaven and Hell and how God has made a way through Jesus for us to go to Heaven.  Well, first grade had some very good questions.  At the end of all the questions and answers was when I poked my shiny head into the door.

By then about ten of the students were quite sure that they would like to ask Jesus into their hearts.  I was so thrilled to get to pray with them right then about Jesus becoming their personal Savior!  I reminded them about Jesus saying that the angels in Heaven rejoice when just one boy or girl prays like they had just prayed.

And this gets me to thinkin' about where that verse is in God's Word, the Bible.  Do you know where to find it?  I had to look it up again.  It comes in when Jesus is telling stories about things that are lost.  Jesus had three great "lost stories" in the book of Luke chapter 15.  The stories were about a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son.  After the stories about the sheep and the coin, Jesus says this very important sentence, "I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (15:10)."


Repent.  That word got me to thinkin' again, because our character trait for next month is "being repentant."  "What does that mean?" you ask.  OK, I'll tell you.  


It means changing our minds about sin and God.  Instead of loving the ways I disobey God, I change my mind and hate them.  And instead of ignoring God and acting like He doesn't exist, I love Him and want to obey Him and spend time with Him.  It all happens when I accept the forgiveness of God through what He has done through His Son, Jesus.


Isn't it amazing?  By His Holy Spirit, Jesus found some "repenters" in first grade that morning!  I wonder if the angels are still rejoicing in Heaven about what happened in first grade...?


It makes me want to pray.  Dear God, thank You for inviting us into a friendship with You.  Thank You for looking for us while we are lost.  And thank You for giving us a peek into Heaven by what Your Word says about the joy there when just one of us turns to You through repentance.  In Jesus' name, Amen.  


Proud of you,
Pastor John    

What's Integrity?

Some of our sixth grade boys let me hang out with them a couple weeks ago.  We got to talkin' about what it means to be a man and about things we could do to help our school.

A couple of things we decided that make a good man are 1) to see what needs to be done, make a plan and do it, and 2) to always do my part without making excuses.  It's called integrity!  

Several of the guys thought that starting a boys Bible study would really help the school.  They started to make some beginning plans for starting the Bible study.

I'm thinkin' like, "OK... nice talk."

I guess the sixth grade boys were thinkin' like, "Let's do this thing!"

The next thing I knew, I heard that not only had they organized the Bible study; but they'd already held it twice.  Yep, they were spending Friday lunch times to study God's Word together.  It's called integrity!

All this talk about integrity, as well as, the acting out of integrity by the guys, got me to thinkin' about Jesus.  Three times in both the book of Matthew and Mark, Jesus told His students that He was going to Jerusalem to be crucified on a cross (See Mark 8-10 or Matthew 16-20).  It would have been a bit easier for Jesus to say, "OK, guys,... nice talk."  And then He could have avoided going to the cross.  On the very night of His arrest He said, "Father, let this cup pass from me, but not My will, but Thine be done!"


God provided eternal life to all who would believe, because Jesus did what He said He was going to do with making excuses or blaming anyone else.


It's called integrity!  Kinda like those sixth grade boys - the ones we look up to.

Let's pray for God to help us.  Dear Father, in Heaven, we know that we don't always follow through on our word.  Give us Your strength, Your courage and Your integrity so that we follow Your call on our lives!  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Proud of you,
Pastor Wilson

Leaving It All On The Floor

I was watching an exciting game a couple nights ago, Chapel Hill Black against Chapel Hill Maroon.  The game came down to the last quarter, and there was only a four point difference with about four minutes to go.  There was a lot of excellent playing.  Eric hit some one-hand jump-hooks, Jonathan had several excellent drives to the hole, Skyler got a bunch of rebounds and the Nathans (three of them (2 black team and 1 maroon team) and Kyler were hustling all over the place.

David was unbelievable.  He was scrapping on the floor for loose balls.  He was taking on guys way taller than him and winning the rebound battle.  He was driving down "among the trees" and "kissing the rock off the glass."  He had a bunch of takeaways on defense and he was shooting from inside and outside on "O."

What a game!  Back in my day we would have called it "unconscious."

I sat near David's dad and mom during part of the game, and I'm not sure they even knew David had this kind of game in him.  At one point I simply had to take my hat and whack David's dad over the head with it.

After the game I walked over to congratulate David, and his mom said something like, "This is David's last season to get to play at Chapel Hill (David's a sixth grader)."  In other words, David doesn't want to have look back at his last season of B-ball at CHCS and think, "I didn't give it my best."  He wants to leave all his hustle and effort on the floor and walk away knowing he gave everything.

A famous basketball coach named John Wooden would never let his players compare themselves to other players.  He always asked them to give their own "personal best" night after night.  David would have made Coach Wooden smile on Monday night.


All this "personal best" stuff got me to thinkin' about Jesus.  In II Corinthians 5:21 the Apostle Paul was talking about how Jesus gave His "personal best:"  "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God."  Jesus died for our sin; He took on our sin; and He took all the wrath of God against sin.  He did that after living a perfect life - a "personal best."


Now how should we respond to that?  Sort of like - how should we "congratulate Jesus after His game?"    Paul wrote about it just above the verse I was just talking about: "God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us."  


What's all that mean?  Just this.  We are to respond to Jesus by entering into a friendship with Him.  We do this by accepting what He has done by His death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  Then we live our lives to tell others the good news of this!  We are His agents on His mission!


Better pray!  Dear Jesus, thank You for giving Yourself for us.  And thank You for giving Your "personal best."  Live inside of us and live Your life through us, so we can look back knowing we too, gave our "personal best" as a way to show You our love.  Then send us out onto "Your floor to play in Your big game of life as Your player."  Help us leave it "all on the floor!"  In Jesus' name, Amen.


Proud of You,
Pastor John
PS At the end of His life Jesus prayed, "Father, I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do."  Wouldn't it be great to be able to pray that?       

Kindergarten "Convo"

The kindergarten class let me come in to chat last week.  It was way cool.  I got to sit on the rocker; they all sat on the reading rug.  We were rappin'!  No, not nappin; that's what they did in the afternoon after my visit.

The kindergarten class had been talkin' about things like receiving Jesus and what heaven is like.  Mrs. Wise invited me in to hear their thoughts and have a "convo" with them.  I started in on these topics and as kindergarteners will do, they listened for a while.  I realized after a bit that it was their turn to talk, because several of them had their hands in the air.  They wanted the "convo" to go two ways.

Their topics for the day were not heaven and Jesus; their topics centered around the loss we experience when a pet dies and...rainbows.  It may not be easy to see how those two subjects are related, but on that day they were for our kindergarteners.  God seemed to be in our conversation, though, because it kept coming back to Him and his Word.

This conversation or "convo" with these awesome kindergarteners got me to thinkin' about prayer.  I've been reading about prayer lately, and it may be that our kindergarteners are onto something.  Prayer is not so much about coming to a talk with God with a definite set of things I need to tell Him and then walking away from the "convo."  Prayer is much more two-way.  It is talking and listening and listening and talking.


Prayer is not thirty-five minutes of talking over requests and five minutes of praying.  It is more soaking in the company and presence of God.  And prayer never ends with me as the result or focus; it always goes back to God and His will and purposes as recorded in His Word.


Soaking in the presence of these kindergarteners was the best part of last Friday for me.  They had to teach me how to do it; but once I put my speech away, I saw how patient and kind they could be with me.  After that it was easy - listen and talk and talk and listen.


Let's pray about prayer!  Dear Lord, make us people of prayer.  Instead of "request-ers", we want to be "pray-ers."  Thank You for being patient and kind with the praying we do now, but don't let us get stuck just speaking at You.  Help us learn to converse with You in awe and wonder!  In Jesus' name, Amen.


Proud of you,
Pastor Wilson

Soccer Invitational

Yep, they let me in the soccer game this week.  This was no ordinary game of soccer; this was stereo soccer.  I want you to imagine it!  There were two games of soccer, one a fourth grade game and one a fifth grade game, going on on the same field!  But that's not all; in the northeast corner of the same exact field a very active game of kickball for all comers was going on as well!  Rumor has it that sometimes, just sometimes, a game of sixth grade football breaks out in the midst.  Oh my!

I watched for just a little while, and noticed that the fifth grade boys were letting two girls play.  I thought, "Wow, that's nice of those boys; maybe I'll join the team the girls are on to help them out just a bit."

Guess I was about to be "schooled."  I should've watched a little more closely.  These girls didn't need my help.  Oh yeah, sure, they let me play and kick around with them, but they didn't need me on their team.

Yep, Kenzie and Claudia didn't need me to play, but they wanted me to play.  Sure, they could stop the ball on a dime and change directions, and they could pass directly to each other's feet.  They could, while moving quickly down the field, fake a kick, moving the goalie to one side; and then put the ball in the net.  While I'm the type that shoots the ball directly at the goalie's chest, so that if he remains perfectly still and closes his eyes, he will typically stop my shot.  Even so, Kenzie and Claudia, George, Nick and Aaron invited me to play.

This got me to thinkin' about the wonder of God inviting us to do His work.  Did you know that God, who has all power and knowledge and who is everywhere at all times, doesn't really need us to do His work.  Even though He doesn't need us, He invites us to join Him in the marvelous things He is doing.  Some of the great things He is accomplishing are going on right here at Chapel Hill Christian School.


Do remember when God was teaching Moses about humility and honesty?  Moses asked God what His name was.  God said, "Tell them I AM THAT I AM."  Do you remember the three things we talked about that this name means? 1) God exists.  2) God exists at all times.  3) God exists by Himself or without help.  


No, He doesn't need you and me, but because He loves us He invites to be in a friendship with Him and to join Him in all the amazing things He is doing.  Isn't that awesome?!


Let's thank Him for that this morning!  Dear Lord, Thank You for the invitation of Your love.  Thank You for allowing us to join You in the great things You are doing.  As another group gets ready to go to Guatemala, we pray for the members of the team for protection and for a sense of joy that each one is getting to work with You in all You are doing there.  In Jesus' name, Amen.


Proud of you,
Pastor Wilson  

Mas Hoops

Well, you had to know that sooner or later I'd come back to basketball.  Those Chapel Hill teams are just about to finish up their regular seasons, and some pretty exciting things have been goin' on on the court!

The most exciting thing for me, personally, was that Coach Sumner needed a substitute for one game.  Yep, you guessed it; I got to sit on the bench with the Tan Titans.  I hadn't coached for a long time (four years), so Julie Schipper volunteered to be my assistant coach.

The Tan Titans, however, did not need much coaching.  "Why?" you ask.  Well, one of several reasons has to do with two players and three words.  "Explain!" says you.  OK.  Decatur Brothers Defense or DBD.  Yep, Miss Julie and I basically had very good mid-court seats for the game because of DBD.

What is DBD?  Well, you may have to see it to believe it, but it works kind of like this.  If someone tries to dribble, like a flash DBD steals the ball.  If someone tries to pass, DBD intercepts.  If the ball gets loose on the floor, DBD get there first and moves immediately from defense to offense.  And if someone from the opposite team stands still with the ball, Oops, DBD has stripped him clean and is goin' the other way with the "rock."

Sitting on the sidelines speechless, I got to doin' some serious thinkin'.  "What kind of defense are we supposed to be playing in our friendship with the Lord Jesus?" I asked myself.  You didn't know we were supposed to play defense.  Yep, it's called "standing firm with armor or SFWA."  Wow, sounds pretty cool; you want to know more? OK.


You can read all about this in Ephesians 6:10-18.  These Bible verses tell us that we have an opposing team to our friendship with Jesus.  The verses call him "the evil one."  God has given us a plan for our defense to deal with him.  Let's make a list.  First, we have to recognize that we have an opponent (verse 12).  Second, we must make a choice by our will to "be strong in the Lord and His mighty power (verse 10)."  And third, we must put on every piece of the armor God offers to us (verses 13-18).


"What armor is God handing out?"  Let's make another list.  1) Being truthful and honest, 2) Living by God's right rules given in His Word, 3) Keeping Jesus' command to go tell others the Good News about Him, 4) Believing in faith that all God's promises are true, 5) Keeping our minds set on God's free gift of eternal life through Jesus' death at the cross and coming back to life, 6) Using God's Word to destroy any arguments of our enemy and 7) Talking to God all the time through prayer.    

SFWA (standing firm with armor) always works.  It will protect our friendship with Jesus and allow it to grow stronger each day.  Now, armor pieces one through six all go to work for us when we do armor piece number seven.  So let's pray!

Dear Lord, we thank You that You've given us a great defense.  We choose to live this day by the strength of Your mighty power.  We take up the armor You are offering to us, yes, every piece of it.  And we will keep the lines of talking with You open all day through prayer.  In Jesus' name, Amen.


Proud of you,
Pastor Wilson  

MAS RAKSAB

Well, all of you take Spanish, so you know that "MAS" means "more."  So what's happened is I have another really cool example of a Random Act of Kindness or a Senseless Act of Beauty that I wanted to tell you about.

Yep, someday, you don't have to worry about this yet, but someday you'll get a new job.  When you do, you'll wonder if you're doin' your job well.  You may even worry about it some.  It may cause you to stay awake just thinkin' about it.  This kind of thinking will cause you to pray (the Bible says to pray with thanksgiving) and quote God's Word in your prayers.  That is the only thing that seems to help (Philippians 4:6-7).

Well, I was thinking thoughts like this about a month ago, and guess what happened?  A RAKSAB that's what!  A girl named Myra, who is one of our awesome fifth graders, sent me a note.  The note included some of her art work.  The words she wrote down there were very special to me.

She told me that she really appreciated all I was doing to make our school a good place.  She also said that she thought I was doing a really good job.  So Myra's note was a gift from God to me and an answer to my prayers, because it talked about exactly what I had been talking to God about.  A RAKSAB from Myra and a RAKSAB from God all at the same time!

Now if you've read other blog entries at this site, you know that this kind of thing gets me to thinkin' about God and His Word.  So I got to thinkin' about verses in Proverbs written by King Solomon, who was very wise.  He wrote a lot of verses about the power of words that help us think before we speak and then use our words for God's purposes.


We can always ask ourselves, "Are the words I am about to say or write kind?"  If we would just ask this simple question, we wouldn't say anything hateful or mean.  Proverbs 12:18 and 25 go along with this; listen: "Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing." And "Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up."

You see how it works?  Myra wrote kind words to me, a RAKSAB.  Her words were used to encourage me and build me up.  They are the kind of words that help someone keep going if he or she is tired or discouraged.

So here's what I want you to do: speak or write something kind to someone today or tomorrow.  Can you do it?

Let's pray that we will!  Dear Lord, will You bring someone across our paths that needs to be encouraged?  Then give us the courage to speak kind words into his or her life.  And remind us Lord, to always ask, "Is it kind?" before we speak, write or type.  In Jesus' name, Amen.


Proud of you,
Pastor Wilson

Got "RAKSAB-ing?"

Hey before we get going today, I have an announcement.  We reached 1,000 together!  Sometime over last night "O The Places You Will Go!" blog site was clicked for the 1,000th time.  Thanks for joining me here.  I am hoping you've smiled, been made to think and come to know our Lord Jesus better because of the time you've spent here meeting me and meeting one another.

Well, I'm wondering if you've RAKSAB-bed lately?  You don't know whether you have or not, you say?

Why don't you know?  Well, cuz' you don't exactly know what it is, you say?

You want me to tell you?  You don't know, cuz' it sounds kind of dangerous, you say?

I'll tell you what; let me tell you a little story about it, and then I'll tell you what it is - OK?

I've been making friends with Devin.  He's one of our awesome third graders at North Campus.  Well, we were "hanging out" on the gym floor in afternoon daycare a couple of days ago.  We weren't talkin' about much.  You know the kind of talk:  "How ya doin' D-Bomb (I call him that sometimes)?" "Pretty good," he answered.  "Anything goin' on?" I asked.  "Not really," said he.  "Had a good day, bro?" I keep trying.  "Not too bad," said the D-Man.

Then it happened.  Devin pulled out a three inch salamander.  No, not a live one, but one he had been very careful to make out of clay.  It was brown with a definite tail, head and body.  Yes, it had all four legs.  But the most awesome parts of his brown salamander were its huge fluorescent green eyes.

"What ya' got there, bro?"  "It's a salamander I made for you" comes back Devin.  "For me; are you sure?" I asked.  No answer.  He just held it out for me to take it.

That is a RAKSAB!  Is it dangerous?  Well yes, in some ways.  It is the risk of making friends.  Could you be a friend to someone like Devin was a friend to me?

What happens if I try, and the person to whom I'm trying to be nice doesn't be nice back, you ask? You may never know unless you try by taking a risk to be kind.

So what's a RAKSAB anyway, you ask? A Random Act of Kindness or a Senseless Act of Beauty.  Acting out love for someone expecting nothing in return - that's what it is!

Devin did a kindness for me without any thought of getting something from me.  Now - have you RAKSAB-bed lately?

All this talk of RAKSAB-bing has got me to thinkin' about the greatest RAKSAB ever.  God gave His one and only Son to die on a cross so that you and I might live forever with Him.  While Jesus was dying for us, He looked down upon those responsible for His death and said these words, "Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing."  Yep, RAKSAB all over the place!

When Jesus lives inside of us by His Holy Spirit, we'll find ourselves RAKSAB-ing all the time.  And guess what?  We won't be afraid.  Why not?  I John 4:18 that's why!  His "perfect love" in us "expels (gets rid of) all fear."

Better pray!  Dear Lord, thank You for loving us perfectly!  Fill us with yourself, so that we will RAKSAB without fear.  Then give us the pure joy of serving You and others freely without looking for anything in return!  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Proud of you,
Pastor Wilson

What Happens When You Go "Bump"

Alexandra and Malik were running around in the same group in after-school daycare.  After all they’re both in Mrs. Truthan’s preschool class, which is totally awesome.  By the way, have you seen their cool t-shirts?  I want to get one of those!

Well Malik was running around one of his preschool friends one-way, and Alexandra was running around the same girl the other way.  BUMP!   They smacked right into each other.  Malik stood there kind of stunned; Alexandra went backwards and bumped her bottom.

Malik immediately tried to comfort Alexandra with a hug.   By this point in the day Alexandra needed a big person, so I elected myself to pick her up and go for a walk.  When she had cried out most of her shock from the bump and her exhaustion from the day, I walked her over to Malik.  In his very kind voice Malik told Alexandra that he was sorry for the bump.

Guess what happened?  Alexandra and Malik were ready to play together on the playground!

This got me to thinkin’ about how we all should act when things do not exactly go our way.  You know – when people or the things of life “smack right into us,” how do we act?  What comes out of you and me when we are “bumped?”

Well it’s always important to have a goal so you know where you’re goin’.  Then you can figure out how to get there.  What’s the goal when I’m bumped, you ask?  The Apostle Paul wrote it down for us in the Bible.  He said, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:2-3).”

The goal is unity or, as we would say in preschool, to be able to be “kind to our friends.”

When anger or “playing get backs” come out of us when we’re “bumped,” we usually say or do things that keep us from the goal.

God has given us one another as a gift to make us more like Jesus.  Maybe we should take a lesson from Malik and Alexandra. 

If we “bump” or get “bumped”, 1) first, we should try to comfort one another through the tough time.  Next, 2) we may need to have a good cry with a friend to let out the sadness.  3) Then it may be time to apologize and offer forgiveness.  We do all this so we can get back to the serious business of playing on the playground together.  Bigger people might say, “4) So we can live together in harmony.”

Let’s ask the Lord to help us: Dear Lord, we know that You died for us on the cross, so that we could not only be forgiven, but so that we could forgive one another.  Help us remember that “bumping” is going to happen; but when it does, we can still be friends (have unity) through the kindness of Your love.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Proud of you,

Pastor Wilson

Under-Doggies

One of the best parts of being at school is the swing set.  Every-once-in-a-while I take a break from paperwork and go out to the playground to push some of you as you swing.  Yesterday during afternoon daycare was one of those times.

“Smaller children get to swing first” is the rule.  Malik, Kaitlyn and Jonas were “up to bat.”  One problem though: they can’t quite get their bottoms up to the level of the seat of the swing yet.  Yep, they have to “belly swing.” 

There are a couple problems with “belly swinging.”  First, you don’t get very high and you’re always lookin’ at the ground.  That’s right; you don’t get the feeling that you’re about to take off into the big blue sky.  

The other problem is that when you do try to go high, a lot of times you’ll find yourself too far forward on the swing.  What happens next is not too good at all.  Yep, you go head first off the swing.  And while you’re happy that the rubber mulch is there, you didn’t really want to eat it for your after-school snack.

Malik, Kaitlyn and Jonas were all smarter than to involve themselves in the problems of “belly swinging.”   “Hey Pastor Wilson,” they called out, “Give me a push!  I wanna’ go high!”   Next thing they knew they were laughing with their eyes wide open lookin’ up into the big blue sky.  They had been given an “Under-Doggie.”  You know the kind.  It’s when someone pushes you and runs underneath your swing, so you can get really high.  And of course, when they started to slow down, only one word was necessary, “Again!”

“Belly swinging” and “Under-Doggies” got me to thinkin’ about our friendship with God.   So often we try to be to be friends with God in a silly way.  We don’t talk to Him like He is a person, so we leave Him out of the friendship.  Yes, yes, we may be going to church and to Christian school to learn about God, but are we really getting to know Him?

God wants to be involved in every part of our lives.  We let Him in by talking to Him.  The Apostle Paul wrote this down in his letter to the Ephesians: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18).”

Now when we let God into every part of our lives, we have to remember who He really is!  He has all power; He is everywhere at once; He knows everything!   And He wants to share all He is with us! 

None of us want to be in a friendship with God that is like “belly swinging.”  You know - always looking at “earthly things”, not feeling like we’re getting very close to Him and worried constantly about falling out of our friendship with Him.

No!  We want to ask Him for His life in every part of our life, so that we “soar high” with our eyes looking ahead to being with Him in Heaven!  He is willing to give us His strength; all He asks is that we talk to Him in prayer.  

Yep, sort of like asking for an “Under-Doggie.”

Let’s talk to Him about it.  Dear Father, thank You for wanting to be in a friendship with me.  I want to include You in every part of all I do.  And while I know that You may “push me high”, I ask You to give me Your power and Your love and Your thinking so that I can “soar high” with You!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Proud of You,

Pastor Wilson

PS: some good verses: Isaiah 40:31, II Corinthians 12:9, Colossians 3:1-4

For God SO Loved

McKenna came to Green Campus Chapel on Friday, September 30th.  It was a big day.  One of our armed servicemen was being honored and welcomed home from Iraq.  It was also Zoo Day for several of our classes, and we were handing out awards for Entertainment Book sales.  The school was buzzing with activity.

In the midst of all the excitement, McKenna wanted to talk with me about something she'd memorized.  Now most two, three and four year olds are just a bit (and some are "a lot a bit") shy of bald-headed guys who are school administrators.  Not McKenna.  She confidently recited John 3:16, not just in words but in song as well.  "WOW!" I thought, "That was awesome!"

I decided to "press my luck" with McKenna.  I mean after all she wasn't hiding behind her mom or dad like most small children, so I popped the question.  "Hey McKenna," I asked, "What would you think about singing your song for the whole school?"

She looked at me for about two seconds, and then surprised me by agreeing to do it!  We worked it out about me picking her up, so the other kids could see her.  She also agreed to sing straight into the microphone.

The moment of truth came, and there we were in front of about 250 people at chapel.  McKenna belted it right out: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

And of course, all this got me to thinkin' about a verse from the Bible.  The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes... (Romans 1:16)"

So here’s the question: “Why do we adults and teenagers become so hesitant about sharing the Good News (Gospel) about Jesus?”  Maybe, just maybe, we begin to value what other people think about us, more than what is true and more than what God has done for us in Jesus.

What’s that mean?  Just this: we start thinking it’s more important to be liked and comfortable than to be honest and Christ-like.  Now there are a couple of things that happen when we start to think like this. 

First, we become selfish with what God has given us in our friendship with Him through Jesus.  In other words, I care more about me than I care about you.  I think this really silly thought, “As long as I have my friendship with God, it doesn’t matter if He loves anyone else or not!  And it doesn’t matter if anyone else knows about Him or not!”  This idea is the beginning of all kinds of wrong thinking and wrong behavior.  The idea is called: self-centeredness.  It means that I act like I am the center of everything

But, there’s a second problem too: we begin to be afraid.  Yep, we start to spend a lot of time worrying about what other people think of us.  This can really get in the way of being interested in what God thinks.

WOWIE!  How do we stay away from those two really horrible problems?  Simple!  Remember McKenna’s Song, and “sing it out loud” like she did!  We have to live as though what God has done for us through the gift of His one and only Son, Jesus, is not only true, but also that it is the most important thing.  Read Hebrews 12:1-2; it says that we are to “fix our eyes on Jesus.”

We’ll need help to do this, so let’s pray about it!  Father, in Heaven, we don’t want to be selfish and afraid.  We admit that sometimes we are.  Forgive us.  Help us live today thinking about Jesus who died at the cross so that we could be in a friendship with You.  And help us, dear Lord, to share, by how we live and what we say, that You are the most important thing!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Proud of you,

Pastor Wilson       

PS: Hey McKenna, thanks for the song! 

Stuck on Hoops

As you can see, I’m talkin’ CHCS Hoops this week.  Well, I would, because games have begun, and next week I get to be a substitute coach for the tan team.  I even got to practice with the tan team this week.  And I noticed a couple things during practice that I found interesting.

Number one:  It doesn’t look like I am ever going to dunk.  I always thought that if I would just grow a few more inches or improve my vertical leap about a foot that I would jump from the floor and “bring the thunder” with a smashing dunk.  I don’t think so.  I would be hard pressed to slide a piece of notebook paper between my sneakers and the floor when I’m really jumping these days.

Number two: “I got no shot.”  I can barely hit the backboard, much less the rim.  Putting the ball in the hoop?  An impossibility.  During practice I was what I refer to as an “o-fer”.  That means I put zero shots in the basket for however many I attempted to shoot.

Codie, one of our tan team players, however, couldn’t seem to miss.  While I was hard-pressed to get the ball anywhere near the backboard and rim, Codie was scoring from everywhere.  He made layups; he hit short shots; he scored from fifteen feet away; he was on fire from 3-point land.  I said, “Yo Codie, you’re unconscious, dude (cool hoop lingo).”   He was experiencing what basketball players call being “in the zone.”

Thinking of the “Codie-zone,” I couldn’t help but get to thinkin’ about the “God-zone.”  Oswald Chambers, in his classic devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, wrote about the “God-zone” when he was discussing the prophet, Isaiah.  In chapter six of Isaiah’s great book of the Bible, he stepped into the presence of God, and some unbelievable things happened.  He saw God sitting on a throne and large birds were flying overhead and they were calling, “Holy, Holy, Holy…!  And, finally, the floor started to shake and the room filled with smoke. 

Isaiah responded by confessing his sin, receiving God’s forgiveness and asking to be sent out as a person who speaks for God!  Wow, a lot happened in the “God-zone!”  The idea of being “In the zone” in the Bible is not quite like basketball.  It’s not about just every-once-in-a-while a player shoots the ball better than he normally would.  God would like for us to live our entire lives in His zone or in His presence.

Jesus talked to His students about “abiding” in Him in John 15.  Listen to this: “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man abides (or remains) in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).”

Now why couldn’t I make a shot a shot at practice this week?  Easy – I haven’t practiced shooting for the past thirty years.  Codie, on the other hand, has obviously been “throwing the rock at the hole” pretty often lately. 

God wants us to “practice His presence” or live our lives “trusting in Him with all our heart” and “acknowledging Him in all our ways (Proverbs 3:5-6).”

Let’s ask Him to help us: Dear Father in Heaven, we confess that we get distracted from living in and practicing Your presence.  Thank You for making Yourself available to us every moment of every day.  Strengthen us, dear Lord, to stay at the source of our strength – YOU!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Proud of you,

Pastor Wilson

Shot to the Face

As I was saying, I love to watch Chapel Hill Christian School basketball.  I was watching the purple play the orange the other night.  It was a fun game.  There were really good players on both teams.

One of our sixth grade girls named Maddie obviously loves to play.  Whenever she is on the floor, she has the biggest grin on her face.  It didn’t seem to matter what was happening in the game; she was enjoying it.  She could be scrapping for the ball on the floor, shooting a layup or taking a hard foul; it was all the same:  smiling!:)

Along about the third period Katie, one of our fifth graders, was in for the orange.  She was fighting under the board for a rebound; yep, she was fighting pretty hard.  Then it happened – a “shot to the face.”  Not on purpose mind you, but it was a hard shot nonetheless.  Down on the floor she went, and I thought, “Nope…don’t think poor Katie will come back from that one.”  I’m pretty sure stuff was running out of her eyes and nose.  What stuff?  You know the stuff; it’s the stuff that comes out when you take a “shot to the face.”

But then she began to move and got knee high off the floor.  Shortly she was waist high.  And wonder of wonders she stood to full height!  Right after that Katie was given a technical foul shot.  You know the kind.  It’s when they clear the floor, and you get to shoot one by yourself.  Guess what?!  Katie’s face looked like Maddie’s face :)!

Of course this got me to thinkin’ about Rocky Balboa, who said: “It’s not about how hard you can hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep movin’ forward!”

Jesus’ brother, James, said it even better in the Bible: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds (take life’s “shots to the face”), because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

Let’s look at it backwards.   If we want to be “complete” in our friendship to God, we have to keep trying and not give up.  It’s just like getting up after a “shot to the face” or movin’ forward after getting hit.  In this life we will take many “shots to the face.”  If we remember that these tests will make our friendship to the Lord more complete if we go through them, we can have joy in the midst of the trial!  Or, like Katie, we can stand at the free throw line and grin.

Can we pray about that?  Dear Lord, we all go through hard things.  Some of us are going through something difficult right now.  Will You, even today, begin to show us how this particular trial is drawing us closer to You?  And as our friendship to You becomes more complete, could You give us Your joy in the midst of the struggle?  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Proud of you,

Pastor Wilson

B-Ball Grace

I went to the basketball games at our Green Campus last night.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed watching Chapel Hill b-ball.  As I recall, and I don’t recall much, I sat on the bench coaching basketball teams at CHCS five or six times.  What a blast!

All the teams have really good players, and the players who are learning how to play this year are really trying hard.  Everyone played with enthusiasm, heart and kindness. 

I loved our referee Mr. Ernie.  He was careful not to call everything.  Sometimes he let a double dribble or a travel just slip by his whistle.  He let the ball bounce off the ceiling several times without stopping the game.  “Why?” you ask.  Grace.

Mr. Ernie knew that if He called everything, we would’ve been at the Green Campus gym all night.  Why?  Because he would’ve had to blow his whistle about every fifteen seconds.  He also understands that in order for the game to be fun, and in order for the girls to learn how to play, he has to let the game keep moving.  A game filled with judgment, criticism and starts and stops, to talk about rules too often, means no fun and no learning.  In effect – no b-ball. 

Mr. Ernie, on the other hand, smiles a lot and gives the girls compliments.  Ya’ gotta’ like that.  He created a combination of learning and discipline mixed with the joy of getting to play.

It got me to thinkin’ about how God treats us.  He has given us His Word as a love letter with instructions.  He doesn’t come into our lives each time we make a mistake to criticize us or shout at us about what we’ve done wrong.  Instead, the Bible says that God unconditionally loves us, that His mercies are new every morning and that His faithfulness is great!  When we are in error, He simply asks us to tell Him about our sin, to turn away from it and to trust Him for forgiveness.

Further, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For you are saved by grace through faith – and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8).”  I like the acronym that many people use: G.R.A.C.E.: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  God chose to apply the penalty for our sin to His Son.  That’s what is meant by “Jesus died at the cross for our sin.”

This gift is offered to us for free.  We do not pay or work for it.  We receive it by faith or by telling God that we believe in what He has given us.  That’s grace!  The Bible says, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God… (John 1:12).”

Wowie!  We ought to thank God for that, huh? Father in Heaven, thank You for not giving us what we deserve for our sin, but for applying that penalty to Your Son, Jesus.  Thank You for giving us the gift of grace by forgiving us and giving us life that lasts forever with You in Heaven.  We are so grateful for Your faithfulness and mercy!  In Jesus name, Amen.

Proud of you,

Pastor John