Author Archives: Royce

Jul 31 2008

Morning Sounds


I am a morning person and my wife isn’t so my movement in the house about daylight could easily be confused with that of a thief, carefully placed steps, opening the cabinet door purposefully, taking a coffee cup with surgical precision so that it doesn’t touch another, and then placing it on the counter as if it might explode if handled roughly. One heaping spoon of Maxwell House is met with instant hot water and then as I very carefully stir the mixture avoiding the sides of the cup the hot water dispenser groans and gurgles to quickly replenish the supply of almost boiling hot water.

Once comfortably positioned in a rocker on the front porch, a nice long sip of hot java, and the morning sounds start to gently massage my whole being and I am delightfully at peace. The assortment of birds have been hard at their morning concert long before I take my seat in the audience. A distant owl adds his haunting hoots without fail every morning. A few times each week I hear a woodpecker having breakfast in a nearby tree. I wait….and am not disappointed, for the buzz of hummingbird wings and the almost squeaky chirp as they visit day lilies, hibiscus, roses, and the two feeders purposely positioned near my morning perch.

The distant drone of a truck over a mile away slowly fades as it labors toward Arkansas. Then, right on cue, every week day, I hear the squeak and rattle of a neighbor’s garage door slowly rising. A door closes, then another, and the garage door repeats its morning ritual with its unpleasant groans. As the neighbor’s van backs into the road the familiar crunching of tires against stones reminds me of how nice it will be when our road is paved. More compressed gravel sounds and one, then another, and then another vehicle takes it’s drivers to the paper mill in Bastrop, the university class room, the hospital office, and the community center in Monroe. I hear the whurr of all terrain tires slowing to a stop as one and then another of a parade of cars and trucks stop and then go off to daily duties down Highway 134.

Finally I hear tires against gravel again and the much anticipated “flop” as my newspaper hits the concrete at the end of my driveway. I hear a faint fluttering sound as the cool breeze toys with the corners of the paper in my lap and enjoy the tinkle of a slightly disturbed wind chime. I hear a distant dog greet his master as he does every morning when he comes out of the house and starts to the car. I can imagine from hearing the pitch of his bark that he is an unattractive, pudgy faced mutt, about 20 pounds, whose only purpose is to add to variety to my morning and make his owner’s yard look bad.

After the news is digested, the cup empty, and the thermometer rises, I come back inside and carefully place my coffee cup in the sink without a sound and then quietly walk a few steps to my office to check the Drudgereport and email. The only sounds are the clicking of the keys as answer email and the occasional sound of cool air flowing from the vent in the ceiling over my desk as the air conditioner faithfully works to offset a warming morning. Suddenly I hear the vibration of my cell phone as it moves slowly to the right on my oak desk as a call comes in. I reach for it frantically so I can open it before the loud ring starts at the end of about 4 vibration pulses. It is a reminder of a noon meeting at the office.

As I am about done at my desk I hear the familiar sigh of my sweet woman as she stretches and begins her agonizing routine of getting fully awake. I soon hear the banging of a cabinet door, the clainging of a coffee cup on a plexiglas cutting board, the unmistakeable sound of a spoon rotating in a cup of hot coffee and then the nicest voice I know says “You want to go outside with me?” “Sure” I reply “Let me get another cup of coffee and I’ll be right out”.

So it goes at my house most every day and I never tire of the morning sounds that greet me. I am thankful for another day God has given as a present to be enjoyed, a time for rejoicing and gladness. When I am reminded of those in our world who are greeted with the sound of gunfire, the cry of a hungry child, the siren of a police car, or the angry shouts unhappy parents it is a fresh reminder of how blessed I am. I’m 63 and if I live 20 or 30 more years I’ll never understand why in God’s providence He chose me to be so kind to. I am very, very grateful.

His peace,
Royce

Jul 23 2008

Conditional Salvation?


A gracEmail dated July 15th by elder Edward Fudge ended with this paragraph.

“Salvation is not some kind of project to which God and sinners make respective contributions.  It is God’s project, and he accomplishes it by his own power. “All that the Father gives me,” said Jesus, “shall come to me; and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me; that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that every one who beholds the Son, and believes in him, may have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:37-40).”

I agree, what about you?

His peace,
Royce

Jul 10 2008

How valuable is my relationship with God?


Perhaps no other question is as important for each of us to consider than this one, How valuable is my relationship to God? When I seriously consider the gravity of that question, and more importantly, how I honestly answer it, it is scary to say the least.

Many of us who claim to be followers of Jesus actually are not at all. We cannot live our lives as practical atheists and at the same time be authentic disciples of Jesus. Another way to understand the question I raise is to ask another, not of you but of myself. What is it that happens in my day to day living, my weekly and monthly routine, that could not happen if suddenly, and unknown to me, God ceased to exist?

I can read my Bible, pray, go to church twice each week, attend some devotionals with friends and in every way a man is usually measured I would be considered to be a “faithful” Christian. Another even more telling question I should ask is this one. What is happening in my life that is supernatural and the only explanation for it is the activity of God?

It is one thing to read the Bible, it is another to be taught it by the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to pray, often saying the same things from rote memory, not expecting an answer, and quite another to pray asking for something specific and having an answer that is clearly the work of God. I know we don’t always get remarkable answers to our prayers, but shouldn’t we sometimes? It is one thing to say we want to share our faith with others, but actually doing it and then seeing God change a life is another.

If I make the mistake of measuring my life against yours, or some other person’s, I have shown that I am a foolish man. (2 Cor 10:12) To quote Paul, “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends”2 Cor 10:18. I believe that in proportion to how much I value God, and my relationship and standing with Him, I will actually be a disciple. It is not enough to be committed to a cause, a church, a heritage, or even a theological ideal, to be an authentic believer in Jesus Christ He must be what I value most. He must mean more to me than my family, my house, and even my church. (Matthew 16:24)

I am becoming less concerned about how I am perceived by my faith community and more concerned about what God actually knows about me and how I should live in view of that fact.  I must admit, there have been far too many time periods in my life when Jesus was relegated to someplace less than first in my daily living. One day I (and you) will stand before Him at the judgement seat and give an accounting for how I (we) have responded day by day to God’s gracious gift of life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There will be no smoke and mirrors, no bait and switch, just raw truth staring us in the face.

My goal today and going forward is to be less a hypocrite than I have been.

Your comments are welcomed.

His peace,
Royce

Jun 17 2008

Here’s your sign!


I once spoke in a small church in Alabama and after my address I was approached by a man (whom I would learn later was the least spiritual church member I had met in years) and he declared I was “sound”. I am still not sure what he had in mind when he made that pronouncement but I have an idea. I didn’t know if I should consider it a compliment or not. I have since learned that most of the time the word “sound” applied to a preacher, teacher, or writer in church of Christ circles is simply code for saying “this fellow adheres to the tenants of the traditions and doctrines of the church of Christ”. I hardly fit the pattern, (no pun intended)

 

Many of those of us “with like precious faith” speak in code and for the uninformed it can be tricky. The term “like precious faith” is also a reference to compliance with church of Christ traditions first, and perhaps sometimes secondarily means what Peter intended when he penned those words in 2 Peter 1:1. The first time a gentleman used that term while speaking to me it was clear that he did not have in mind the righteousness that comes from God through Jesus Christ but rather another church of Christ. Trust me; they are not necessarily the same.

 

Following this same train of thought, what do you suppose is usually means when someone references “the Lord’s church”? My limited experience indicates that it always means only the churches of Christ. “The Lord’s church” is the church universal or “catholic” to be precise, which consists of ALL of those who have been saved. In that church there are no labels, but only that whose whole trust was, or is, in Jesus for eternal life and forgiveness of sins. I have a shocking news bulletin for you! There will be folks in heaven who were not members of a church of Christ on earth or any Restoration Movement church for that matter.

 

One of my favorite code phrases is “change agent”. I proudly wear that one myself. I was given that distinction by a fellow whose whole life it seems is given to defending a cappella singing in worship with a few less weighty matters thrown in for good measure. I dared to send an email disagreeing with him and that made me a “change agent”. I am in good company with two of the most famous being Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly. A “change agent” is not one who is leading folks into apostasy and unbelief but rather one who is preaching salvation through Christ alone sans any good works. How dare they! Recently a fellow spotted a book or CD by Lucado in a church and quickly informed the shocked brother that Lacado had “left the church”, again using church of Christ traditions interchangeably with the body of Christ universal.

 

Isn’t it odd that the labels sometimes appear to be backwards? For instance, Max Lucado preaches salvation by grace though faith in Christ alone and is labeled a “change agent” or “liberal”. While on the opposite end of the spectrum someone who teaches another gospel, which is not another, and teaches a mixture of trusting Christ and good works for salvation is called a “conservative”. That is strange to me. Is it conservative to abandon the historic, biblical, gospel of Jesus Christ just as those men Paul dressed down in his letter to the churches of Galatia? I think not. Back in the 1930’s it was “liberals” who were denying the deity of Jesus, teaching a works based salvation, and even denying the resurrection of Jesus. Now those same sorts of folks are labeled “conservative”. Odd at best in my view.

 

Time and space is limited so I will not attempt to mention all the labels people if our faith community have given each other over the last several decades. There are many of them. What are some of your favorites? Or, perhaps I am wrong, where?

 

Thanks for reading,

Royce