Frustrated

Frustrated is probably not the right word for how I feel, but i get to feel this way from time to time with the Church. You got to remember, I have spent a lifetime in the Church of Christ. I have worshipped with them all, the one cuppers, non-class, class, many cups, no kitchen, kitchen, no pitch pipes, pitch pipes, etc. (isn't that a shame, so many different factions!). I was visiting with some folks the other day about Texas Tech football before the huge UT game. The person was going on and on about how Colt McCoy was a member of the Church! Ok, that's cool and I knew that. Then they went on to tell me that Mack Brown was a member of the Church. Ok, what difference does it make? Are we going to become UT fans just because they have a couple of three folks (don't forget the Shipley kid's a member of the Church too!) that are members of the church? I know that Colt has had an awesome impact on that team. His ethics have been impeccable! And there has been several of his team mates take note. That is awesome.

Then I had a friend to ask me if the girl I was seeing right now was "a member of the Church"! So what if she's not? Am I not allowed to do things with a person of the opposite sex if they are not members of the church?

I have two really close friends of mine that are not "members of the Church". They are probably 2 of the best friends I have ever had. We have all been through very painful divorces. We talk a lot about the struggles of moving on. Should I not hang out with them if they are not members of the Church?

What did Jesus do? Matt. 20:20-28 talks about a mother's request. She wants her two sons to sit at the right and left hands of Jesus "in His kingdom". The woman didn't understand what she was asking. Then Jesus asked "can you drink from the same cup that I drink?" The woman answered "we can!". And indeed they could. But to sit at the right or left hand of Jesus was not His decision. In Christ we are all the same! Jesus went on to say that he did not come to this earth to "be served, but to serve.".

Are you able to follow me here? I get really frustrated with most folks in the Church of Christ because of the feeling of superiority they sometimes reflect. It's like my granddad's church is sticking it's ugly head up again! "We're the only ones going to heaven!". You've heard it! It's the same legalism that had me condemned for many, many years of my life! And it still lives today! Are we here to serve each other in the Church? Are we true reformist? Are we followers of Jesus? Are we followers of Campbell? I wonder sometimes what our message is as a Church?

I know what our message should be! To love and to serve, just as Jesus did! And stop this crazy legalism crap that has so crippled the church! The fact Colt McCoy, Mack Brown, and co., belongs to the Church should not even be an issue. I have known scores of people that were members, or should I say attended services, at a Church of Christ that were not christian. I know that's a bold statement, but I was one of them! I was baptised as a child and thought that if I just made it to service, I was in! That's not at all true!

I am a Christian! I do not belong to a church! I belong to Christ! I have the most wonderful family here in Lockney! We all share one thing! The blood of Christ that continues to flow, YES, IT"S STILL FLOWING 2,000 YEARS LATER!!!!!, for me and you!!!!

Oh yeah! One more thing! That blood will never coagulate as our blood does! It cleanses me daily!

ARE YOU A PART OF JESUS' FAMILY OR A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH?


Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Ivory Palaces

We sang a song tonight at worship that I haven't heard since I was a kid. My friend and brother in Christ, Todd Bissitt, lead the song. Todd is an awesome song leader. His dad is a band director in the Frenship school district.

"Ivory Palaces" #343

1. My Lord has garments so wondrous fine, And myrrh their texture fills; Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine, With Joy my being thrills.
2. His life had also its sorrows sore, For aloes had a part; And when I think of the cross He bore, My eyes with teardrops start.
3. His garments too were in cassia dipped, with healing in a touch; Each time my feet in some sin have slipped, He took me from it's clutch.
4. In garments glorious he will come, To open wide the door; And I shall enter my heavenly home, To dwell for evermore.

Chorus: Out of the ivory palaces, into a world of woe; Only His great eternal love, Made my savior go.

In the past couple of years, the words of the songs we sing touch me differently. I have learned to worship in song, as we are commanded. Now I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but I love the singing part of our worship. The words sometime bring a tear to my eye. Can you imagine what the garment of our Lord and Savior must look like? All the splendor? I can't wait!

I almost forgot to mention it here, but one of my first post here talks about brother Dee Copeland. Brother Dee will be 100 October the 24th, and yes, he lead one of my favorite songs tonight, "His eye is on the Sparrow".

Thanks for stopping by today!

Preston

Prayer

Just heard an awesome sermon on prayer. Do you ever wonder why we don't pray more than we do? I know that I don't spend as much time in prayer because I think God has bigger fish to fry than me. I know that is crazy to think that way, but sometimes I do. And I know that a lot of the good in my life comes from my friends praying for me. I also know that God always answers prayers. You have to look for his will in those prayers, and the answer is not always what we expect. I am reminded often of a prayer that Paul prayed for the church at Colosse. Collossians 1:9-14 "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that (I always like to highlight the "so that's") you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin."

What an awesome and eloquent prayer! This prayer has completely changed the way I approach the Throne in prayer. To be filled with the knowledge of God's will is really awesome. I don't claim to have all the knowledge of God, nor will I ever. But that doesn't stop me from looking to Him for answers that builds my knowledge. And to live a life worthy of God! How in the world can I live a life worthy? I struggle with this daily! I know that Christ's blood still flows for me. That's what keeps me worthy. And you know what? That blood never coagulates like our blood does. It's still flowing, cleansing us, just as it has for the past 2,000 years. And it will till judgement. And what an awesome day that will be. To stand before God, with his son sitting at his right hand, having already been judged for my sin by Him! 2,000 years ago!!!

I am also reminded of another prayer by Nehemiah. In Nehemiah 1:8 "Remember". I just find that fascinating that Nehemiah is reminding God of his promise. The instruction He gave Moses. I would have never thought about reminding God of anything. Maybe it's a way Nehemiah needs to show himself that he knows what the promise was, I don't know.

I am praying for you all!!

Preston

AIM Kids

One of the things I absolutely love about my church is our AIM kids. I talked about the group we have this fall in an earlier blog. These young kids really push me to be the example God would have me to be. There is no question in my mind why He allows us to have the kidos for the time we have them. Many of the past AIMers we have had I still keep up with. My first introduction to the AIM program was in 2002 when when my friend, Russell "T-Bone" Harris, introduced my son Jonathan to the program. I fell in love with all the kids the first night he was there. The kids come from many walks of life. Some from very grounded, 2 parent backgrounds. Many from broken homes. They come from around the world to live in Lubbock for 9 months and get the best missionary training in the world.

Here in Lockney, we have had kids from Alaska, Brazil, and Peru plus many other states. These kids all have a single, binding influence, Jesus Christ.

My favorite time with them is their first long weekend here. They usually show up on Friday evening and stay till after worship Sunday night. I always make it a point to feed all the kidos on Saturday night. We sit around here in my home, share our Jesus stories, and really get to know them. I usually keep the boys here in my home. I have an extra bedroom and a bunk house that they stay in. They are a hoot! We have tons of fun.

Our long weekend is coming up in about 3 weeks. I am so ready to have them in my home. The only thing I regret is the fact that it's not my weekend to have my girls. All of the kids have left lasting impressions on them.

Love you all!
Thanks for stopping by!

Harvest Time is Near

Just in case you didn't know, I sell fertilizer/crop protectants/enhancements retail. I work for Crop Production Services (CPS). We used to be United Agri Products (UAP), but 2 weeks after I went to work for them, Agrium, which is the parent company of CPS, Acquired UAP in a huge deal. Agrium is the largest Fertilizer producer/miner in the world. With the UAP acquisition it makes us the #1 retailer in north America. Our name will change September 1 to CPS.

What I do for a living is not new to me, I have been involved in agriculture all my life. My dad was killed in a farming accident when I was 7. When mom remarried, what else, it was to a farmer. I live less than a mile from where my dad is buried. My degree from Texas Tech is in Agricultural Education. The only teaching I did was my student teaching. I started my career in fertilizer sales on the Monday after I graduated from Tech. I have been back in Lockney for 10 years now.

Harvest time is always kinda bitter sweet for me. In my mind it marks a couple of things every year. The end of a battle, not what most of you would think of as a battle, maybe more of challenge. The weather elements, economic elements, that come with raising a crop. But always at the end, you can look back and take pride in what you have done. It's very fulfilling. I am going to have to start thinking outside the box some what over the next couple of years. With the increase of grain prices, cotton is no longer king. Cotton input cost have grown + grain markets moving into historic levels making corn, wheat and sorghum the crops of choice. Less input, more profit. That's the name of the game. I have spent much of my career in the cotton field. I love the plant. It seems to always survive. So, I have spent much of the past few weeks sharpening my grain skills. And there's quite a bit of sharpening to go.

Harvest time marks the end of life. The reaping your success. Marks the end of the year. What's fun is the time we spend preparing for the next year. We are learning new ways to prepare the land for new crops. We now practice quite a bit of no-till, minimum till. That's where we leave crop residue from the previous crop to help reduce soil erosion, and conserve water.

It's kinda like our walk with Christ. At the end of our lives we will reap what we have sown. There is judgement. We have 2 directions to choose. We can choose a worldly life, or, we can choose to put Christ on. You can continue to maintain your Christian faith by studying the word, living by example, or you can choose to follow the world. We can reduce the erosion of our time, conserve our faith. It's never ending.

Thanks fro reading this!

Love you all! God Bless!

Preston

Success

Over the past few months, I have been struggling with the definition of "success" and what it means to me. I think I have put some meaning into that today:



To turn out well.

To obtain an object.



So many times, success has to do with earthly possessions. That's not it at all. I have tried my fool headed hardest to make it that. I have spent so much of my life trying to "please" everyone, and I mean everyone, that I lost touch with the true meaning. Success to me was to be every one's friend. For everyone to like "me". To please them all. It's a vicious circle. Like the "crazy wheel". My friend Kurt and I talk about women who are on the "crazy wheel". Those women who just can't seem to get enough of drama and craziness in their lives that they just keep going round and around.



I was on that crazy wheel for much of my life. I have stuck a stick in it a few times to try and make it stop, but the weight of "craziness" just snaps it off and starts rolling again. I have found that solid steel "brace" to make it stop. Christ. My faith, so many times, has been in me and what I could earn $ wise. What kind of toys I could or couldn't afford, but get them anyway. What my friends expected of me. What my granddad expected of me. Never what God expected of me. Never one time, did I ever stop to think "what would God's will" be?



I can't say that I have all the answers yet. Nor will I ever have "all" the answers. But in Christ Jesus, I am redeemed!



Let's visit what I have for a definition for success:



To turn out well. That's huge! To turn out "well" to me is my journey. This journey here on earth. James 4:13 and 14 sums it up! Now listen, (pay attention, James is about to say something important here) you who say, "today or tomorrow we will go to this city or that city, carry on business and make money". 14 Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? (here's the point) You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.



The King James version calls us a "vapour". A vapor.



Have you ever seen a release of anhydrous ammonia or Propane? The liquid is coming out of the hose near the release point. But just a few inches from there, the liquid turns to a vapor and then mixes with the atmosphere till you can't even smell it any more. A vapor. We are but a vapor. I like that! We won't be here for more than our allotted time. It is number well before we are conceived. See, God created us. He loves us, takes care of us, even when we don't want him to. He knew we were coming. We are his plan. And he knows when we are leaving this earth.



So to turn out well is getting to heaven! At all cost! And to make sure our kids get there.



To obtain an object. FAITH! Faith is the object. Our Faith is in our Hope. Our Faith is in the tomb! And It's still empty!!! Our faith is in a nail in each hand and one through the feet.

Romans 8:1 "Now, There is NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus. FAITH! We can't touch it, we can't see it, we can't even taste it. But it's there.



I have to quit using words in my mind like "do my best" and "do all I can do". To do a good job per the situation.



Matthew 25:21 "His master replied 'well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness."

Just to be faithful with a few things. That is tough. But I will "do a good job per the situation".

Ok, Not so serious today!

In Lockney right now it is 104 and the wind is blowing about 40 mph! It's like a convection oven out there!

Just some random stuff today.

Romans 8:1
Therefore, there is NOW NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

Just how does that make you feel? It makes me feel redeemed! I can face the rest of the day!

1 john 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that WE should be called Children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that IT did not know him!

How cool is that? He so loves us that we can be called His children! I'm not worthy, but I like it!


Thanks for reading today!!!

Preston