Losing It!

I received an email yesterday from my good buddy and close friend, Rick Warren. Yeah, he sends me an email every week to mentor me and encourage me. Me and about 763,459 other friends I think get an email. So I find out that Rick has left the "fold" and joined the "dark side" and of course, I immediately email my other good buddy and close (best) friend, Mitch Wilburn and let him know of Rick's betrayal. You can read of what transpired below:

From: Joel G.Quile [mailto:joel.quile@lakecitieschurch.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 9:35 PM
To: Mitch Wilburn
Subject: We're Jacked!

Our hero has betrayed us.

http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/default.asp?id=292&artid=10140&expand=1

Joel

Joel G. Quilé
Senior Minister
Lake Cities Church of Christ

to which Mitch replied:

Ah yes, but has he considered the biblical truth in it's totality. Proverbs 9:17 - "Food eaten in secret is delicious".

To which I say:

AMEN!

Macro Missions

I reminded our staff this morning that the Church doesn't have a mission. The mission has a church. It is so hard to keep our focus on the big picture and not get bogged down in "church work" Only God has the energy needed to fuel the mission that he initiated. And it is so much bigger than how we often use the term. Mission is not simply evangelism and church growth. It involves joining God in his work of social justice, redeeming the lost, loving the lonely, healing the hurting, and restoring creation to it's rightful relationship with it's creator.

I want my days to be consumed with something bigger than programs or even people.

I want the presence of God. It is His mission.

I want to be His man!

Another Year, Another Cut

New Year's Eve is the time of year where I step out of box for a minute, adjust my gloves and grip, stare down the pitcher and take a breath before getting back into the box.

New Year's Day is when I to take another cut. Another 365 cuts to be exact.

I'm ready for a great '07!

Happy New Year!

You are so loved.

T Cubed! Thanksgiving Thursday Thirteen

Here is my first ever Thursday Thirteen:

13 Reasons I’m Thankful for My Wife

1. Her beautiful and beaming smile is a contagious catalyst that brings joy to everyone (and I mean everyone) around her!
2. She has a deep love for the poor, under-dogs, and neglected of the world.
3. Kim is an amazing cook and uses that gift to bless others and keep me full!
4. She is “simple” and by that I mean she can be happy in all situations. We could live in or Burundi (top 5 poorest county in the world) or Beverly Hills.
5. Her laugh!
6. Kim can be just crazy silly! It is not uncommon for her to chase Laura around the house or tickle Emily to death.
7. That girl can make friends faster than anyone I know!
8. She loves her family with an ocean deep dedication and servant hearted kindness.
9. Kim is romantic. Actually, she is just plain sexy!
10. Her work ethic is incredible. Ask her former coworkers at ACU or current coworkers at Starbucks…she works as if she was working for the Lord! Truth be told, she is.
11. She married me! Oh how I’m thankful for that!!!
12. Kim is mighty warrior in the Army of the Lord and her weapon of choice is powerful, prayer!
13. Kim shows me Jesus everyday! She possesses an unquenchable passion for the Lord!

Without Warning

This morning God was talking to me through scripture (Matthew 7:28-29, 8:1-27).

Let me summarize for you the story he shared first.

Jesus just finished the best sermon ever: short, plenty of scripture, great illustrations, relevant, challenging, funny, you name it - he nailed it! His disciples heard this sermon and were amazed.

He comes down off mountain and is met by a mob and a guy with leprosy. The guy knows Jesus can heal if he wants. Jesus wants to and does heal this guy but then tells him not to tell anyone but the priest and temple officials. His disciples see him heal a guy with leprosy.

Jesus heads southeast about 3 miles to Capernaum and a centurion approaches and asks Jesus to heal his servant who is paralyzed and in pain. Jesus accepts but in an amazing display of humility, the Centurion tells Jesus to just give the word because he's not even worthy of Jesus entering his house. Jesus gives the word and his disciples witness the long distance miracle.

Next Jesus enters Peter's house, touches his mother-in-law's hand and heals her. His disciples see it all with their own eyes. Later that night Jesus kicks it up a notch and a bunch of demon-possessed folk and heals all the sick. His disciples have a front row seat in all of this.

So then Jesus tells his disciples to get into a boat and while sailing across the Sea of Galilee a furious storm comes without warning and his disciples freak out and become convinced they are going to drown! Before calming the storm, Jesus confronts his followers, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" His disciples hear every word. Jesus shuts up the storm and, get this, his disciples were amazed!

This morning the Holy Spirit wrote the following on my heart:

"Joel, in this life you will face troubles of all kinds so don't say I didn't warn you. Some pain will pound others and some storms will sweep over you. You're not going to drown! Have faith. Don't fear. I'm in the boat with you so don't say I didn't warn you."

Preaching Ministry

I am constantly trying to improve the "preaching ministry" component of my role as Senior Minister. Consequently, I'm always on the lookout for what people are saying about the gift of preaching. Today I ran across a great quote from Philip Jensen is the Anglican archbishop of Sydney and an influential evangelical leader.

"The present debate about human sexuality often betrays a failure to grasp how the interlocking teaching of scripture in Old and New Testaments can be brought to bear on contemporary life. The Bible is read subjectively, or as an endless succession of small segments without a proper connecting link or a single voice. The lack of a proper approach to the Bible prevents its message ever impacting on the church. You cannot say with authority, 'The Bible says . . . ' Once people lose confidence in the word of God, the preaching ministry of the church is lost. Once the preaching ministry is lost, the world's message is heard in the church, instead of the church's message heard in the world. Then the churches decline."

Listen to that last part again.

"Once people lose confidence in the word of God, the preaching ministry of the church is lost. Once the preaching ministry is lost, the world's message is heard in the church, instead of the church's message heard in the world. Then the churches decline."

Wow!

Dear God, give me confidence in Your Word.

And the Winner Is ...

Jesus.

He must. He better. If He doesn't, we are in big trouble.

Heaven forbid (and it does in scripture) that we ever believe the lie that is seductively whispered to us from our adversary, Satan: that salvation, joy and hope are found in "the Church."

Lord help us not to ever think that "the body" doesn't take its cue from "the head"

Jesus save us from preaching "the Church realized" and not "Christ crucified."

Holy Spirit remind us that Jesus saves and not our people, programs, or plans.

God teach us this truth: Churches don't have a mission. God's mission has a church.

I believe that we have sinfully shifted our focus from "of Christ" to "Church"

The sign out front of our building reads, Lake Cities Church of Christ. Other tribes of faith might not like the sign. Most in the Restoration Movement clan like the sign.

I both love and hate the sign. I love it because it reminds me that we are in fact called to be a church - our gathering is Godly and our body is blessed. But I hate it because it reminds that there is a frequent and futile and frustrating fight being fought between Christ and His Church.

Open the envelope of Philippians 2 to find the winner.

Every knee will bow ... Every tongue will confess ...

that Jesus is Lord.

Jesus wins!

Who'd Win In a Fight?

Some of my fondest memories from my 12 years of youth ministry occurred in a church van. I loved driving on long trips with a van of full of frontal lobotomy-like teens. The conversations that would crop up after their CD players ran out of batteries were classic! Walls would come down and hearts would open up after 4 or 5 hours in a rolling sardine can (smell & seating situation) and Kim and I would be privy to some of the funniest comments ever.

7th grade boy to no one in particular: "Hey does your mom fart because mine does and it is nasty."

9th grade girl to her 'new best friend forever': "When I first met you I thought you were a slut but now I think you're way cool."

Senior boy to Jr. High boy: "When we get to In & Out Burger you go save my place in line cuz I got to hit the bathroom and take care of the "out" before I take care of the "in" ... okay dork?

Jr. High boy in reply: "Well since your mom works there you can just get her to wait in line for you!"

In an effort to take the conversation to a more intellectually stimulating height, I invented the game, "Who'd Win in a Fight?"

The object of this game was to throw out two random people that would not likely be paired to fight by anyone, ever. Then others could chime in with their picks and give a defense of their choice. I'll give you a few examples of my favorites:

"Who'd win in a fight, Lois Brown (75+ yr old lady at our church in CA) or Matt Alvarez (16 yr old in our youth group)? Replies went something like, "Lois, cuz she goes hunting and would shoot Alvarez!" or "Matt, because he plays video games non stop and has quick reflexes."

"Who'd win in a fight, Shaq or J-Lo?" Replies included, "Shaq because he could bust out his genie magic (Kazaam reference) on J-Lo!" or "J-Lo, because she could distract him with her booty and then slap him upside his head!"

So you get the idea...

A blogging contemporary offering might be: "Who'd win in a fight, Mike Cope or Grant Boone?" Some replies could come, "Mike because he could summon the Zoe Group to help" or "Grant because he could stab Mike with his sharp wit!"

I'm sure you can think of others (both possible matches and possible outcomes) and in fact will.

But here is the question of the day (at least for me and on my blog) which I will attempt to answer in a post tomorrow:

Who'd win in a fight ... the Church ... or ... Christ?

I believe that the two are currently in conflict and yet should never be. I believe that we (church leaders and church goers) are responsible too. We have misled people into thinking the Church would be the answer to all their problems - that it would save them, change them, and fill their needs.

Stay tuned.

The Body

Our church hasn't grown numerically as much as I would have liked in my first year.

We haven't seen as many life commitments as I would have hoped.

But I'll tell you one area of transformation in which our church has made great gains:

Intergenerational unity.

Tonight our faith family got together for our second annual Trunk or Treat. The child-focused event began at 5:30pm. Our Empty Nesters, the group of our members who have about 55 years or more of life experience, usually gather for their monthly gatherings at 5:30pm. Instead this beautiful group of seasoned saints moved their meeting time back an hour to come spend time with the younger families of our congregation. I was so moved by their intentional involvement ... I just couldn't get their "gift of presence" out of my mind.

God is at work in the whole body of Lake Cities. It is a Holy movement.

Friday Night Lights

Some people spent last night on a delightful date wtih their wife (my usual Friday night activity).

Some people spent last night on the sidelines of a great high school football game (my last week activity).

Some people spent last curled up on the couch with family watching a good movie.

There are numerous possible Friday night activities that people would find enjoyable.

Last night I cleaned the garage.

And it was wonderful!

The garage is the one room in the house that can feel like the trash compactor scene from the original Star Wars. You know the one where Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie are in that room where the walls are moving in and it gets smaller and smaller. That is the garage.

So last night I did what I had been wanting to do for more than a month - cleaned the garage.

And it was wonderful!
__________________________________

Congrats to Mike Cope and oh yeah, the Cardinals. I was listening to game 5 on the radio (a great way to experience the game) while cleaning the garage (did I mention I cleaned the garage) and realized I was not really rooting for the baseball team but was simply pulling for my preacher. Mike has been talking a lot this week in his blog about the '68 series (the year I was born) and I couuld just see him watching the game last night on the couch with a smile the size of the St. Louis Arch.
__________________________________

My wife is amazing and I love her!

Kim raised money for breast cancer for the DFW walk. However, she did not raise enough ($2500) and so they wouldn't let her walk the 20 miles a day for three days. I thought that was kinda weird (and mean if you want to know the truth) but Kim was not halted. She has been walking 20 miles for the past two days throughout the town. (She is about to head out for another 20 today as I type this) I am a amazed at her dedication. I think that if they had told me that I couldn't walk I would have been like, "oh, what a shame...bummer" and spent my time in other productive ways, like say - oh I don't know...cleaning the garage!

__________________________________

A quick update on our household:

Emily: turned 10 this month and is loving the fourth grade. Currently she is making a mum for her guinea pig, Calvin.

Laura: turned 16 this year and loves Faith Christian and her 1st boyfriend, Weston. Currently she is sleeping at Ryan's house. Ryan is a girl and the daughter of the school's president.

John: turned 21 this year and is the Systems Administrator for Solona Health Care in Westlake. Currently he is sleeping.

My dad: now living with us and recovering from a broken hip. Currently he is admiring the garage that I cleaned.

Kim: turned 40 this year and is as fine as ever! Works part time at Starbucks and loves it! Currently she is wrapping a gift for a friend.

Joel: In his 2nd year as Senior Minister at Lake Cities. Loves his wife and kids more than ever! Currently blogging about cleaning the garage.
__________________________________

And finally, I want everyone to know that I'm about to go get gas in the car and pick up a coke and some pumpkin seeds while I'm at it.

I Wish I Was a Gansta?

Kim, Emily and I went to our HomeBuilder's Halloween Party on Sunday. I wrote about it in detail in my weekly newsletter on our church's website so I won't rehash it here. But I did want to share some pics with the world and my friends orbiting said earth in the space station. It is not everyday that you see a pastor with a grill.



















Kim was a New York fashion designer (Manhattan). I was a New York Gangsta (Bronx). Emily was a hippie (Woodstock - Bethel, New York).














Hangin w/ two of my fav homies, Hunter-P and P-squared!















Emily is nuts!

Times Square and More

Times Square is crazy. Last night I stood in the middle of the intersection for about 10 minutes and just took it all in. Remind you the picture below was taken at 11:00pm on a Wednesday night. The view from our room was beyond belief too. I'll post a picture of that later. About to head out Carnegie Deli, then take the A down to the wharf to gaze at Lady Liberty and spend a little more time at Ground Zero. Tonight we visit the "house that Ruth built", Yankee Stadium. Before I go, let me just confess that if it is a food item that is sold from a cart hosted by a poor English speaking man, I've eaten it. I love New York.















Here are some facts about Times Square:

1.7 million people passing through Times Square each day including the 26 million annual tourists.

274,000 people working directly in Times Square each day.

13,200 hotel rooms are in Times Square.

Approximately $4 billion in private investment has recently been injected into in Times Square.

500,000 people come to Times Square on New Year's Eve. 1/2 billion people watch the festivities on television worldwide.

Words Cannot Explain

I write this from a 24 hr Starbucks in New York's Times Square. This is one of the few times in my life that I've been both awake and speechless. This has been the trip of a life time! I owe it all to my wife. She too, is also equally indescribable. The "Three G's" start to describe her: Godly, gorgeous and Giving.

I was in Boston yesterday with my best friends and today New York. How to describe sitting in the Old North Church on Tuesday and standing at Ground Zero on Wednesday is impossible.

Here are a few pictures.

























Thank you so much Kim. You have no idea of what this trip and you mean to me.

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

A lot of pastors are sincerely trying to grow their churches. (Acts 2:47)

Some are desperately trying to help their churches function like God wants. (Acts 2:42-47)

I'm simply praying for the Holy Spirit to fill me and my church. (Acts 2:1-12)

Some pastors want to be honored. I'm ready to be mocked. (Acts 2:13)

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" 1 Cor 3:16

Come Holy Spirit. Come.

Blarfing

Blarfing: verb. To blog about way too much stuff because you haven't blogged in a long time.

Okay, I just made up the above definition. But I didn't know what to title this post because I have so much to say about so many things. So blarfing just fit.

Be forewarned - this will be a long post.

- I have the best wife on the planet. Possibly in the solar system (not counting Pluto of course) the reasons are as many as the stars themselves but let me just drop one on you. It comes in form of a story.

Last week my good buddy Alan (blind since birth, crazy as long as I’ve known him and a former roommate), Todd (a kid – now 25 – who used to be in our youth ministry) and I met my best friend Mitch at his parent’s house in the bustling metropolis of Quitman, Texas. Our plan was simple: relax, ride four-wheeler’s, eat red meat, and relax some more. Kim had our friend Leslie Miller call me before I left and ask me to take some gifts to Mitch’s wife Shannon. (Are you with me here?) But I didn’t know Kim put Leslie up to this and thought the gifts (two small, beautifully wrapped boxes) were really from Leslie and really meant for Shannon. We arrived in Quitman on Thursday night and came home on Friday afternoon. Well, a couple of hours before we were due to depart, Mitch & Todd gave me one of those gifts that I had given him and told me to open it. I said, “no way pal, Kim will kill me. Mitch assured me that Kim would not kill me and so I unwrapped the first box to find a miniature replica of Fenway Park. I then opened the second box and found a miniature replica of Yankee Stadium. I felt my body go limp as Mitch yelled, “We’re going on another Ball Park Trip baby!!!”

My smoking hot wife had been working with Mitch (and other friends like Barbara and Karen) to plan a trip for us (Alan too) to go to Boston to see the Red Sox play and then to New York to see the Yankees. But that’s not all – we are going to Cooperstown too! Is that not incredible! Mitch and Alan fly into DFW next Monday and all three of us fly to Boston that day. We will return home that Friday. I’ve never been to Boston or New York! I cannot wait! I still can’t believe it! And while I’m aware that this will sound cliché, what meant the most to me was not that I’m getting to spend a week with my best buddies or that I get to see two states for the first time or that I get to see two historic ball parks – no, what meant the most to me was the obvious love that my beautiful bride has for me to pull off a surprise of this caliber.

So be looking for live updates from the Eastern Seaborg next week!

Last week our church blessed us with a One Year Anniversary Celebration! It was so sweet! They cancelled the whole midweek line up and we all shared a great meal together and then a time of a true blessing. I’ll be honest with you: having a bunch of people go up to the mic and just speak words of love and gratitude in your behalf was both powerful and painful. I like to be on the giving side of encouragement not the receiving. I praise God that He has placed us in a spiritual family of loving, spirit filled disciples. We are so blessed. I am asking God to use us for another strong year of service and transformation with them.

I am currently at ACU for Lectureship. This is the first time they have been held in the fall and let me tell you that Mark Love is genius in my book! The weather is absolutely gorgeous! It seriously couldn’t be better. And the line up of speakers and classes is stronger than ever. But if I’m being honest, (and I usually am) the best thing about lectureship is seeing old friends and making new ones. So far I’ve been given the gift of eating lunch with Chris and Zen (stud ACU freshman from my church. Conner was out of town) at Harold’s, having a coke at McDonald’s (actually water and a yogurt parfait) with Mike Cope (former coworker and good friend), dinner with Matt & Chase (stud ACU seniors who used to be in my Bible Study here in Abilene and good friends) at Sharon Allen’s BBQ, breakfast with Phil Schubert (former college roommate and ACU’s VP and CFO and good friend) at Cracker Barrel, lunch with Steve Hare (former coworker at Highland and good friend) at Harold’s (yet again), and I’m meeting Luke Norsworthy (former youth ministry intern and good friend) for a bit here in a few. I got to see Mike & Holly McFarland’s new baby, Riley and he was just way too cute! I’ve ran into so many other wonderful people that have meant so much to me in the past and continue to be a source of wind behind my sails to this day. (Coach, Jan, Casey, Kasey, David, Janice, Matt, Doug, Michael, Tim, Alicia, Chris, and Dora to name just a few)

The classes and theme lectures have been so inspiring and invigorating! I could write so much about each one. But perhaps the coolest thing about being on “The Hill” again, was getting to see “Jacob’s Dream”, an art display, experience, place, ??? by Jack Maxwell. I am at a loss for adequate words to describe it. Just hear me when I say: If you are ever within 20 miles of Abilene, Texas, come to the ACU campus and find this sculpture/garden/holy ground called “Jacob’s Dream” It is absolutely amazing. Yesterday I sat in awe at this creation for almost a half an hour. Those of you who know me well, know that I’m not much of an “Artsy” guy. This is beyond simple art. It moved my soul. Just trust me and find a way to check it out.

Well, Luke will be here in a minute. For the two of you who are still reading this, thanks.

With love from beautiful Abilene, Texas,

Joel

Kingdom of Heaven

My favorite quote from the movie, Kingdom of Heaven is from the Hospitaller:

" I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here [points to head] and here [points to heart] and by what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man. Or not."

And the ending title slide (the writing that comes up at the end of the movie before the credits) is pretty profound:

"The King, Richard the Lionheart, went on to the Holy Land and crusaded for three years. His struggle to regain Jerusalem ended in an uneasy truce with Saladin. Nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven remains elusive."

My God's Kingdom come and His will be done -

on earth
in my family
in my church
in me

as it is in Heaven.

"Help!" Is On the Way.

"He will send down help from Heaven to save me because of his love." - Psalm 57:3b (LB)

I ran across a great quote from Jim Cymbala's Book, Breakthrough Prayer. It was fortuitous that I read it this morning. The day ahead of me seemed bigger than me and I was feeling overwhelmed. Really? You think? Everyday is bigger than me. Each problem itself isn't always, but the cumulative effect of them all looming on the horizon like an approaching wildfire is sometimes paralyzing with fear. On Monday I was feeling the weight of caring for my father when I received these words from my buddy Matt Waldron who was in the Amazon with his dad:

Joel,

I'm at an Internet cafe in Leticia, Colombia (on the Amazon) and just got an email from Laura about your dad. I know that is a difficult time for you but wanted you to know that I was thinking about you and that someone was offering up prayers for you on your dad from the Amazon basin.

Because He has overcome, we will overcome.

Matt

Think about that last line. Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

So I'm reading this morning when I ran across these words of challenge and hope:

"Such times of trial and difficulty remind us of [the great challenge] regarding the prayer of faith. The first challenge is to believe that no situation, however evil or entrenched, is beyond the scope of prayer. In theory, we know that God can do anything, but many of us fail to trust him when it comes time to pray for specific people or situations. Instead of looking to the Lord for help, we keep our eyes on the problem, which grows bigger the longer we gaze at it. We don't pray seriously about such problems because they just seem too big, too hard, or too complex for prayer to resolve." - Jim Cymbala, Breakthrough Prayer

Read your blogs.
Post your comments.
Do your day.
But don't forget to pray.
In fact, I challenge you to stop right now and just pray.

Pray.

Climb up in Daddy's lap.
Approach your King.
Storm the Gates of Heaven.
Have a little talk with Jesus.
Meet with your Maker.

Just Pray.

I Want. I Need.

I want to eat dinner at PF Changs.
I want to become a better leader.
I want to get my golf handicap into single digits.

I need God.

I want to put in hard wood floors in my living room.
I want to continually improve as a husband to my incredible wife.
I want my teeth whitened.

I need God.

I want my dad to stop drinking.
I want to memorize the Sermon on the Mount.
I want a Nissan Armada.

I need God.

I want to be a better teacher for my kids.
I want a Palm 700 Smart Phone.
I want to finish Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal.

I need God.

I want patio furniture.
I want my son to have a wife as wonderful as mine.
I want to get my doctorate.

I need God.

I want to learn to play the guitar.
I want my brother to live close to me.
I want a projection tv/surround sound system in our family room.

I need God.

I want my girls to never doubt my love for them.
I want to improve as a preacher.
I want to visit the Holy Lands.

I need God.

I want to take my family on an incredible vacation.
I want my church to know I love Jesus more than ministry.
I want to make a difference in the lives of those I love.

I need God.

I want...

I need God.

God is all I want.

Carolina, Coffee, Cope, and Mercy

Tonight our family is celebrating the Carolinas with a feast of a meal. Pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, chips, sweet tea & Big Red (I know - probably more of a Texas drink...) and strawberry shortcake for dessert. We are going to call our favorite UNC alumni, Ken & Lois Brown (dear friends in their 80's from RWC, CA) and include them on the Carolina celebration.

All that to say, I am already hungry and dinner isn't for another 8 hours.
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Kim started working a few hours a day at Starbucks yesterday and she absolutely loves it! I looked through some of the training manuals and other partner (they don't call them employees) material and it looked incredible. I am well aware that not everyone is a Starbucks fan, but I am impressed. Great hours, decent pay, incredible insurance, fun people, free coffee and an opportunity to be salt and light...sounds good to me.
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My buddy, Mike Cope turns 50 today! Happy B-day Bro Co!

Here is a prayer I left for him on his blog:

"“Dear Father, would you please be gracious enough to give your servant Mike another 50 years to live as salt and light? Please? I, for one, would be so grateful for the blessing of another 2500 sermons, 18,250 Blog Posts, and a million other sacred delights that you pour out through Mike. In the name of the One who makes both life and death a good option, Jesus. Amen."
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As I was writing this a small bird slammed into the window in the front of our church. Our youngest, Emily was babysitting some kids when it happened and was the first on the scene. She ran into my office as if one of the kids heads had fallen off.

"Daddy, come quick, we have got to help a hurt bird!"

So I make my way outside to find a small sparrow having a seizure of sorts. I quickly determine (armchair vet) that it has a broken neck or back and unless we can secure a tiny little birdie wheelchair, there is nothing we can do. 'Nothing' was not working with Emily.

"We have to do something!" proclaimed Emily. "We can't do nothing! Call the police."

I explained that you can't call the cops for a bird that can't fly.

That didn't fly with Emily. I called the cops. Not 911, but the number I thought was the local animal services guy."

"Denton County Sheriff Dispatch" came the voice on the line, "What is your emergency?"

"I'm an idiot!" I thought to myself.

Just as I was explaining the "emergency", Emily came running in and announced, "the birdie is okay! It just flew off!"

I stumbled my way off the phone so the Denton County Sheriff Department could tend to real emergencies and made my way out to see the site of the mini miracle.

Sure enough, no bird in sight. I asked Emily what happened.

"I touched it very gentle and it calmed down. Then I picked it up and held it for a minute very softly. Then it flew out of my hands."

To be honest (and why lie on your own blog, really?) my first reaction was rather maternal: "You're going to get all kinds of diseases! If you die of bird flu, your mom is not going to be happy! Why would you touch a dying bird?" (because...) We're my first thoughts.

But I didn't say any of that. I simply told her good job baby. Now go wash your hands.

As she walked inside and down the hall to wash, two things came to mind:

1. Her sweet smile

2. Luke 10:25-37

and I could hear the strong, tender voice of Jesus speak into my heart,

"GO AND DO LIKEWISE."

Because...

Remember when you were a kid and your parents, teachers, parole officer, etc would ask you why you did something dumb and you would offer up that wisdom filled reply of, "because" as if that was going to bring the conversation to a screeching halt right there?

Oh, you don't remember that?

Okay, then it was only me...

Anyway, I used to say "because" a lot as a kid. It was my secret weapon, my ace in the hole; my ... you get the point.

Really I just said it because it sounded better than the alternative response which in my case would've no doubt included the phrase, "I'm an idiot - That's why!"

Well, even though I'm older and less of an idiot, I still find "because" a decent enough reply for some of life's agenda items.

We highly effective, purpose driven, best life now folk always feel a need to do something for a very intentional purpose, don't we. Well what if there isn't a big occasion or strategic move?

I experienced the simply beauty of the "because" this morning when I checked my email.

I received the most incredible email from my bride - and here’s the catch - for no real, intentional, effective, best purpose at all! It wasn't my birthday, or Father's Day, or Arbor Day or any other big deal day. It was sent late Sunday night and read mid Monday morning!

It made my heart leap and eyes wet and I'm sharing it with you!

"Why?” you ask.

"Because!"

I love you soooo much! I really appreciate who you are! I am soooo proud of you and that I get to be your wife! I love that others love you so respectfully!!! You are an honor to me with your gift of preaching, speaking, and passionately loving His people. You are an amazing dad, the way you love unconditionally, and pray for them, encourage them, and trying to keep them challenged! I am thrilled for us honey and how far we have come! I am filled with joy for who's we have accepted to be! God is awesome for breaking the cycle of destruction with us! You rock! I am in love, romantically, spiritually, and emotionally with you!!!

Thank you for loving me in and out if my iniquities!
Your wife, Kimberly