The Wednesday Word 2.27.08

"[The Kingdom] is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants." Mark 4:31-32

There is so much to share from my time in Israel, but the overall gift was how it made the Scriptures come alive. I want to share some of that with you. This passage, for instance, takes on greater significance now. We think we know what a mustard seed is, but what they sell in Publix is not a mustard seed. A real mustard seed is much smaller, and they are more prevalent in the Middle East. Smaller than a grain of sand. So fine that it seems as if your breath would blow it away. Tiny, tiny seeds. Seemingly insignificant. Sometimes the fragment of the Kingdom in us seems very insignificant. Maybe our faith is small. Maybe our understanding is minute. We beat ourselves up because we can't quite grasp it all or are brand new at faith or not as advanced as we should be. But the gift of the Kingdom is that it doesn't need to start off big. The important thing is that it is planted in us, and that we give that seed a healthy environment in which to grow. There is not seed of the Kingdom that is too small or too new or too simple. The Kingdom will work for itself. We just need to do our part. We are not the seed. We are the soil. Embrace the seed, no matter how small it seems in your life right now.

Top 3 Tuesday 2.26.08

Okay, so I'm back from Israel and have pretty much gone into a sweet tea coma since I've been back into the states. Good Lord, how do people in other parts of the U.S. and world live without that stuff? It has been good to taste the choice fruits of the South again, namely pork. I'm not sure I realized how much I love our little swine friends and all the delectable offerings they give us until I couldn't have them. So, today I'm giving you my top 3 pork dishes, mostly with a lot of local fare.

1 - The Grilled Pork Steak at The Corner Stop Cafe in Lawrenceville, GA. Really, it's hard to explain how incredible this dish is. If I'm in town on Tuesdays, I'm usually there for lunch.
2 - BBQ Sandwich at Hot Thomas BBQ in Watkinsville, GA. Man, I miss not living closer to Hot Thomas. It's perfect BBQ. Finish it off w/ some Pecan Pie and a glass bottle Coke.
3 - The Mediterranean Sausage Burger at The Grill in Athens, GA. Uh, it's a burger...made from sausage. Need I say more?

(close 4th & 5th were the Chipotle Wrap at Digger's in Lawrenceville, GA and Ribs at Dreamland BBQ in Tuscalossa, AL. Man, I love pork.)

Are you hungry yet? Got any gems I'm missing out on?

Mondays are Man-Days 2/25 Edition

So, I did something pretty monumental tonight. I took Morgan, my eldest son, to his first T-Ball practice. It's 3 & 4 year olds, so it's pretty much mass hysteria mixed in with a little bit of crying and a pinch of T-Ball every now and then. It was an awesome experience, though, and it was one of those moments when you sort of know what's coming down the road. This was different than school. School is emotional for moms. This was totally a man thing.

My wife stayed home with our youngest, so I took Mojo (as we call him) by himself. Something interesting happened during practice. When Morgan would do something he was especially pround of, he wouldn't look to his coach, he wouldn't gloat to his teammates -- he looked at me. And he was longing for affirmation. When we got home, he told his mother that he hit the ball and "Daddy said, 'Way to go, Morgan!'" He looked to me for what only I can give him. He cannot get that affirmation anywhere else. It can only be found with his father.

I'm no expert on child-rearing, but I think I've come to understand some things about boys. I have only one brother. My brother has only 2 sons and I have only 2 sons. My family simply does boys -- so far. There is an element to life that my incredible wife cannot impart on my boys. She is not a man and she can instill manhood in them. It's impossible. This isn't some kind of bravado that they're supposed to have. It's what my firstborn was looking for in that look: affirmation. Was that okay, Daddy? Did I do good enough, Daddy? Do I measure up? If I don't have the emotional fortitude to affirm him throughout the years, something will be missing in his life. If I can't communicate with him that he is all he needs to be, then he will forever feel like he's falling short. It doesn't matter if he's an athlete, a piano player, or a scholar...he just needs to know that he's okay with Daddy. The danger of all of this, of course, is much deeper, because "if I'm not okay with this father, I wonder if I'm okay for that other Father." If that thought begins to creep into the brain of young lad, it's simply toxic.

Carter

Home Sweet Home

Well, we're home. We got in about 6:00 a.m. this morning after a smooth 13 1/2 hour flight -- much smoother than the one over. Our last day in Israel was a beautiful one, without a cloud in the sky. We took in the Garden Tomb, which gives you a much better look at what Golgotha and the tomb Jesus was buried in looked like. We also went to the home town of John the Baptist, which in English is called "Spring of the Vineyard". It's a really cool little community that really reminded me of a small Italian town. We were able to visit the Museum of Israel, mainly to see two things: the Dead Sea Scrolls and a HUGE model of Jerusalem in Herod's day. It sort of made all the places we saw make sense. When I say "model", what I mean is a replica of the city that is almost the size of a football field. It took them 7 years just to build the model. We finished off the trip with dinner on the Mt. of Olives, which was awesome because it was one of my favorite places in Jerusalem. We saw the sunset over the city then headed off to the airport in Tel Aviv.

Let me just say that security at Tel Aviv is extensive. They cross every T and dot every i. All it all, it was incredible. Emily held up with toting that baby around, and we learned so much. We ended up taking over 600 pictures. Right now we're pretty jet-lagged and getting rested up to get back into the groove as parents and life. We have already guzzled multiple gallons of sweet tea and I have partaken of various and sundry pork products. Thank goodness we are no longer under the law! Pork is our friend!!!

Thanks for the prayers from so many of you. Hopefully next week we'll get back in the weekly routine of posts here as we find the way together.

Blessings,
Carter

Cold Day in Jerusalem

We miss our boys, but know they are being well taken care of. Thanks to all those that have helped! Well, we woke up to about 2-3 inches of snow on the ground in Jerusalem. But our plans included a trip to Bethlehem today, so we went to Bethlehem in the snow, which was pretty amazing. We visited the Shepherd's fields and the traditional site of the birth of Jesus. It's kind of interesting. Nothing here is really ever what you expected it to be, so it is all sort of awe inspiring. Basically, Jesus was born in a big cave that was used as a stable.

We also went to Mt. Zion and the tomb of David and got a look at the Upper Room. Of course, it is just the site of the Upper Room, as those houses have long since been torn down. Probably the coolest place we went today was the House of Caiaphas, the high priest. We went to the cave/dungeon where Jesus was probably held before he was handed over to the Romans (Luke 22:54-62) and the courtyards where Peter disowned Jesus. Being in that dungeon cell and singing Amazing Grace with my friends here was unbelievable. Much of what you experience here is kind of surreal.

The politics here are interesting. Both Bethlehem and Jericho are in the West Bank, which is basically Palestine. It is occupied by Israeli troops, so there is a check point you must go through and a wall much like what used to exist between East Germany & West Germany. Life is very hard for the Palestinians in Israel, which are mostly Christian or Muslim. However, the Palestinians keep electing radical officials that support terrorism toward Israel and Jews, so no one is innocent. Basically, they all want the land that is known as the West Bank or Palestine, and they've been fighting for 6,000 years over it. You learn over here that there are good people on all sides. It's basically the radicals on each side that cause all the trouble. But we still have much work to do in praying for the peace of Jerusalem.

I do miss sweet tea, but I am also jonesing for some pork products. Good Lord, please give me some sausage or bacon or ham! The pig is nowhere to be found in these kosher parts, and that is regrettable. The food pretty much all taste the same, but there are some decent things. We had some good roasted turkey last night. There are also very strange things. I've learned that we put a lot of sugar in our desserts, because here something may look very good, but after a bite you realize it needs about another cup of sugar in the recipe. Thank God for Asa Candler and the Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia. The most I've paid for one so far was $3.60 for a 12 oz glass bottle -- and it was worth every penny.

We are so thankful to have this experience. Em is doing well walking around the city toting around that baby in her belly. I'm so glad we were able to come for 10 days and not just a week because that means we would have missed Galilee. That's an amazing place away from the busy-ness of Jerusalem. If I ever came for a sabbatical here, I'd spend about the whole time in Galilee and take in the peacefulness of that region.

We miss all our friends and family and wish you could be here. See you soon. And save me a sausage biscuit and some sweet tea!!!!

Carter

Mid-Week n Israel

well, what can i say? it's pretty amazing over here. today we swam in the dead sea and visited Qumran, where the dead sea scrolls were found, a 2,200 year old community. We've already been to Galilee, the Mt. of Olives, the valley of the shadow of death, the garden of gathsemene. we've also gone through a couple of checkpoints at the israeli/palestine border, which is interesting. it's safe, so don't worry. we've seen so much and have so much more to see. but it makes every story come alive. the stories of Jesus are very real here. Boy, do i miss sweet tea.

Carter

The Wednesday Word

"Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me." Psalm 54:4

I don't know about you, but it seems like it's always something. My Great Aunt used to say to me that I'd always be busy, no matter if I had anything to be busy about or not. I think that's just my nature. On the go all the time. When I go on vacation, I don't want to do anything but just sit because I "do" enough when I'm in the real world. You ever feel that way? You put on top of that the fact that it feels like I live in one of the busiest counties in the history of earth, and life can get, well, manic. Life oftten leaves me exhausted, never feeling like I gave enough to God, to my work, to my wife, to my children, to myself. But, for those who follow Jesus, we are not sustained by food or sleeep or rest. We are sustained by God. I find that more and more I need to turn to God for this sustaining. I find more and more that life is too much for me. The responsibilites of family are too great. The pressures of work are too strong. But God will have none of it. That doesn't mean when I turn to God that everything is just okey-dokey. It does mean that there is a change in my heart to understand that my problems and my busyness are not my own. My life is God's, and He is the fuel I need to make it burn. Are you looking for other ways to light your fire? It won't last, friend. Turn to the only thing that can sustain you.

Top 3 Tuesday

So, every Tuesday I'm thinking of Top 3's. Tomorrow I'm leaving for Israel, a place I've never been. I'm super-pumped. To be fairly young, I've been blessed to take some pretty awesome trips around the world, but I got to thinking, after getting the Holy Land under my belt, what would be the Top 3 places I've never been that I'd like to visit?

1 - Australia. Those people just seem cool. They speak English, too, which is good because I'd be able to immerse myself a little more easily with the locals. The whole Outback deal, the Opera House, a Vegimite Sandwich, it all looks like a great place, and a world away from me way down under. Really, though, I'd mostly be hoping my flight got detoured to a far away island so I could run into Jack, Sawyer, Kate & the gang.

2 - Japan. Just sort of feel like I have to experience the busy-ness of it all. The business culture interests me as well as the people. I don't know if I know a soul from Japan, and perhaps that's why I'd like to go.

3 - Spain. Somehow, when I was rounding my tour of Europe, I missed Spain. Those people look happy, and movies that portray Spain seem fun. And the movies are always accurate, right? I'd like to try realy Spanish food.

That's mine. What are yours?

Mondays Are Man-days

Okay, so it's officially Tuesday instead of Monday, but who's counting? What will be my first post? It has to be about men, because, well, I'm a man. Manhood is an interesting thing. I can really feel how society is trying to take it away. Christianity has tried to do so even harder. One of my life goals is to restore "man-ity" in my little corner of the world, especially for myself.

So, I play church league basketball, and yeah, I'm the pastor. I'm also the mouthiest one on the team, complaining about every call that goes against us, chirpping at the other team a little bit. My language is clean, but I'm mouthy. I'm not that good, but I play hard and feel like I left a little something on the court if I don't get a few fouls a game. I'm pretty sure I'm the only pastor playing in the league. Tonight, at the end of the game, after flying around all game and chirpping in the ref's ear all night, the ref says to me, "And your supposed to be a minister?" What the heck does that mean? I tell you what it means. I think it means we've messed manhood up big time.

We've conditioned ourselves to understand that a pastor or a Christian man is supposed to be meek and mild, turning the other cheek, and basically being a doormat for people to step on and run over. I just can find that in the Bible. And I know that we are supposed to be humble (and, yes, we are commanded to turn the other cheek in some situations), but the great men of God that I read about are fighters. Now, that doesn't mean physical fighting, but they had a mental toughness. I don't feel my best when I'm run over. I feel my best about being who God created me to be when I man-up. Now, this is really tricky, because being a man isn't about being some testosterone-filled jerk. It is about meeting the challenges ahead of us full steam ahead. The problem is that we train ourselves to be nice, meek, and mild in sports or business and then, when it really matters, we get run over by the real problems in life like addictions, temptations, finances, and relationship problems. We LEARN to run and hide. I don't want my two sons to be that kind of man. I want my boys to take life by the horns and dominate it...because I believe that God believes in them. I believe that God believes in us, too, men.

It's funny, I left that game and spent some time with friends who aren't sure about church or God yet. I'm glad to know them. They need to know that they can be that kind of man, that they can meet the challenges of life head on. Yes, this is a fine line, and I cross it mistakenly all the time. Sometimes being a man means giving yourself up, taking one for the team, or dying to your own desires. Those are the times that it's toughest to be a real man. Dying to yourself takes real masculinity, not some fake machismo. So, that's the nuance. Being a man is not about talking back to referees, being a great athlete, or gaining power as a CEO. It is about victory...ultimately over yourself and all the lies we are told about ourselves. Every guy has a different personality. I'm a self-professed loud mouth in pretty much all areas of my life (which has it's positives and negatives). Some guys are quiet. Not every guy is competitive, but no one wants to lose at life. Every guy wants to win the war with themselves. To defeat the voice that says, "You're not good enough." "You're a loser." "You'll never amount to anything." "Just shut up and take it." "Accept your place in the world." Those are lies from the devil himself. Life is a beautiful thing, but the wear and tear of life beats us down. Well, I came looking for a fight. And I'm bringing my big, bad Creator of the Universe God with me. Take life by the horns men. Dominate it. Because you were made in the image of Almighty God.