Teach well
In this season between Mothers’ Day & Fathers’ Day, I found myself thinking about the work of Graham Nash. Mr. Nash is a bit of a nut, but nonetheless a gifted poet. He wrote about his troubled relationship with his father, who was often in jail. Knowing he needed to find a good guide for life, Nash wrote this…

Can you hear?
And do you care?
And can you see?
We must be free
To teach your children
What you believe in
Make a world
That we can live in
– Graham Nash, “Teach your children”

You and I need to teach our children well. And those whose parents were poor guides need to find in God the perfect leader. He is and always will be “the Father to the fatherless.”

God bless,

Wayne

Respectable sins
The late, great Jerry Bridges wrote and spoke about the dangers of what he called “respectable sins” – things that are biblically wrong but accepted in a current Christian culture. On the ATD podcast and broadcasts, we are examining a number of our current practices that fit the “respectable sin” description. We discuss the performance illusion in some detail (the idea that I must perform well to keep God’s love), but do not take time to examine the impact of this lie on young adults in particular.

Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes, does so quite effectively in his new book. Below are some excerpts that illustrate the devastating pressure of this lie on people in their 20’s and 30’s:

Precocious achievement is the exception, not the norm
The fact is, we mature and develop at different rates. All of us will have multiple cognitive peaks throughout our lives, and the talents and passions that we have to offer can emerge across a range of personal circumstances, not just in formal educational settings focused on a few narrow criteria of achievement. As Neuroscientist Joshua Hartshorne concludes, ‘There’s probably not one age at which you’re peak on most things, much less all of them.’ Late bloomers are everywhere once you know to look for them.

Our worship of youthful success generates unhappiness
How we evaluate young people places needless emotional burdens on families and has helped to spur an epidemic of anxiety and depression among teens and young adults. The effort to forge young people into wunderkinds is making them fragile and filling them with self-doubt: It suggests that if you haven’t become famous, reinvented an industry or banked seven figures while you’re still in your 20’s, you’ve somehow off track. But the basic premise is wrong: Early blooming is not a requirement for lifelong accomplishment and fulfillment.

Keep pressing on
All of us know someone, care about someone or love someone who seems stuck in life. The critical thing to remember is that we cannot give up on ourselves or others, even—and especially—if society has made it harder to catch up. Human life spans are lengthening. Most people recently born will live into the 22nd century. The vast majority of us will be better served not by high SAT scores or STEM degrees but by discovering and embracing our true talents. A healthy society needs all of its people to recognize that they can bloom and re-bloom, grow and succeed throughout their lives. Rich Karlgaard [These quotes are adapted from Mr. Karlgaard’s new book, “Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement” (Crown Currency).]

God bless,

Wayne

Understand

Nick Kennicott recently shared a quote that relates to the current ATD radio & podcast series: “The more we understand our own propensities to sin in our interactions, our temptation to be filled with pride, and or desire to be seen as right, the more able we will be to focus our hearts on the truth and hope we have in Christ.”*

My friend David Wade sent that statement to me and then wrote, “To the end of that paragraph I would add, ‘and consider others more important than ourselves.’” Amen to both. Let’s put on the new self every day..

God bless,

Wayne

*“Christian Discourse in an Age of Outrage” by Nick Kennicott, published online in Recent Posts from TableTalk magazine, April 8-April 12, 2019.

All The Difference

Pastor Wayne is on a study leave this week preparing for an upcoming series, so we thought we’d take a moment and share with you about the All the Difference podcast that has been available now for just over 2 months. It has been exciting to see how it has grown in downloads and subscriptions during this time from just a handful of downloads a day to over 200 one day recently.

We took the opportunity to launch as a podcast (in addition to its current radio broadcast on The Word 100.7 FM in the Dallas/Ft Worth TX market) to provide Pastor Wayne’s unique and engaging Bible teaching to others throughout the US and the world because we know that it’s only God’s Word that can make “all the difference” in people’s lives. We have had downloads from India, Nigeria, Brazil and over 20 other nations around the world- What a blessing!

We’d love to hear from you, our listeners, how God is using the teaching from ATD to impact and change your life. If you would write us and tell us about what God is doing in your life, it would be an honor to celebrate with and pray for you.

A new series begins tomorrow, Raising the Bar– recognizing & overcoming the sins we tolerate. You’ll be stretched and challenged to live a more holy life through this series- you won’t want to miss it. If you haven’t done so yet, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music or other podcasting platforms like OnePlace, Soundcloud and Stitcher and you’ll be automatically updated with the latest episode each day.

Blessings,

Andy
Director, All the Difference Ministry

Another roofer

It was another roofer at the door. Getting pulled away from my work-laden desk, I was less than excited to deal with another roofing solicitor. But as my foot hit the bottom stair, I was brought up short. The Holy Spirit seemed to be reminding me to slow down and take advantage of the opportunity.

So instead of cracking the door to declare, “Wehavearooferbutthankyou,” I actually walked outside. I didn’t waste his time or mine. It was clear in the first 30 seconds that we have an unshakeable relationship with our Christian roofer friend. But this dude didn’t mind; in fact, he wanted to talk. Turns out he is also a brother in Christ. However, he hasn’t gone to church in years and relished the chance to talk with a pastor.

We discussed his reasons for separation, which were just as understandable and inexcusable as the ones we all create. I was able to gently but firmly blast his pride and judgmentalism, and he took it like David in Psalm 141. In fact, he was very grateful. He even promised to stop working Sunday and go to a good church near his house.

As we follow the Resurrected Jesus, I pray we are always like David and our roofer brother – open to and thankful for needed reproof. And I pray we will all slow down and take the opportunity to listen and share rebuke when needed. Amen.

God bless,

Wayne

How embarrassing
Here’s my heresy story of the year (so far):

• As is my norm, on my first day of study for last week I read a number of textual experts. One 19th century scholar shared an excellent point about a particular term, only he mistakenly referred to the term appearing in the wrong verse. The point was still solid, although it would have had even more impact in the correct verse context. No big deal, but I chuckled at his little goof as I added his point to my own pile of observations.
• The second day of my studying, I forgot about the intricacies of the previous day’s work, focusing instead on the big-picture meaning of the passage I was to teach. I labored for hours and pulled together all the various parts into something bearing a small resemblance to a sermon. It was rough, but at least it was all together.
• The third day of work, I began to ruthlessly edit: eliminating the good-but-not-necessary, changing verbiage to fit the audience, and adding transitional comments for flow. In the ensuing days slides and illustrations were added, and the whole thing practiced repeatedly.
• On the sixth day, I taught. God blessed – as He always does with His word. The experience was joyful and convicting for us all.
• On the seventh day, the mail started arriving. There were many sweet and positive notes of lives touched and decisions made because of our time worshipping in scripture. And there was one letter asking for clarification on a particular term. I dutifully went back to get some data for the questioner, only to find…

The very thing I hate
I made the same mistake which had caused me to laugh! Seriously! Plain as day, I put the term in the wrong verse. Didn’t catch it during any of the other work sessions, not even when using the most powerful language software ever developed. In my horror, a few lessons arose from the experience:

• It is very easy to become the very thing we hate.
• One must continually battle entropy, sloppiness, and error. [I have since changed the way I check each week’s work.]
• Pride does indeed go before stumbling.
• I need to accept the same grace I extended our forefather – unintentional mistakes are worth a snicker, not a flogging.

What about you?
Now, having read this laughable episode, it’s your turn. If you wish, send me a note about some similar experience in your life. When have you made the same error that you previously pointed out in others? Your story may help me learn new ways to watch for my future mistakes, and it will likely allow me a chuckle as well. After this past week, I need one!

God bless,

Wayne