Got a Minute? Not on Misfit Garage

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

A Christian view of the world is based squarely on the resurrection of Jesus, an historical assertion that validates both His and our claim that He is the Son of God. And so, we accept the Biblical view espoused by Jesus that God created humanity “in His image” (See Genesis 1). As a result, we should seek to understand and to affirm the purposes of God in creation and ultimately in redemption. These bodies of ours are not just the vehicles that we drive around, implying that we can modify them at will to suit our fancies, like a human version of Misfit Garage on the Discovery Channel. Rather, each of us is an integrated whole as a human being. Further, we don’t simply own our bodies like we own our cars or trucks. Rather, we—body, soul, and spirit in unity—belong to God in Christ. This is the meaning of being holy. We are set apart to God as His special creations. This has direct and natural implications for our embodied lives, including our sexuality.

Smiley Mudd

Got a Minute? A Dangerous Split

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

In a very timely and instructive book called Love Thy Body, Nancy R. Pearcey asserts that current views on gender and the human person are based on a faulty view of the world, one which separates the facts of biology from the value of a person.[1] Adapting the two-story-house illustration used by the late Francis Schaeffer, she shows how this fragmented philosophy has dramatic and deadly results on human flourishing. Here is how she drafted the fact/value split: in the lower story you have the realm of Facts. These are public, objective, and valid for everyone. However, in the upper story, you have Values. These are private, subjective, and relativistic. This leap has led to such anti-scientific and meaningless distinctions such as these: “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body”; and, “Yes, we admit the fetus is a human being, but it is not yet a person, so we can abort it at will.” God help us (and Professor Pearcey) to recover a wholistic view of human life that bears the image of God. See Genesis 1:26.

Smiley Mudd

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[1] Nancy R. Pearcey, Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality (BakerBooks, 2018), pp. 9-15.

Got a Minute? Thank You, Dad.

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

Thank you, Dad. You served your country well during a World War and valiantly carried the emotional scars of that experience the balance of your life. Thank you, Dad. Though you were grieved at the death of your first wife, you allowed God to open your heart to marriage again, to my mother. Thank you, Dad, for your example of absolute faithfulness to your wife that raised the bar for your two sons. Thank you, Dad, for not feeling too old to have children in your forties so that my brother and I could live and learn and serve. Thank you, Dad, for setting us an example of faithful and determined Christian ministry in little towns that others overlooked and undervalued. Thank you, Dad, for taking my brother and me hunting and fishing, instilling in us a love for the outdoors. Thank you, Dad, for trying to keep me from self-destructing in my teen years. You were determined to stop me, and I was determined to go there. Thank you, Dad.

Smiley Mudd

Got a Minute? What’s in a Flag?

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

On this day, June 14, in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the American Flag. Independence was declared in 1776 and won in 1783, after eight years of fighting with Great Britain. The adoption of the American Flag was a rallying point for the new nation, giving the states a national identity and providing a source of American pride.

Celebrations of this day have a long history but were made formal by an act of Congress in 1949. Though not a national holiday, Flag Day is a day of commemorating the high cost of Independence as a nation and affirming its ideals. Since its final form in 1954, our Pledge of Allegiance reminds us of these ideals: our nation is a “Republic” designed for people of faith and virtue; it is “one nation under God”; and it believes in “liberty and justice for all.” I am still willing to stand in honor of such ideals. Happy Flag Day to all.

Smiley Mudd

Got a Minute? A Missed Opportunity?

Hi, Friends in exile, got a minute?

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted, “If it weren’t for Christians, I would be a Christian.” Apparently, as reported in the Kansas City Star in 2016, “One Sunday morning Gandhi decided that he would visit one of the Christian churches in Calcutta. Upon seeking entrance to the church sanctuary, he was stopped at the door by the ushers. He was told he was not welcome, nor would he be permitted to attend this particular church as it was for high-caste Indians and whites only. He was neither …. Because of the rejection, the Mahatma turned his back on Christianity.”[1]

Paul wrote, “Keep walking in wisdom toward those outside, making the most of every opportunity” (Colossians 4:5, FJV). The caste system in India was not supported by the teaching of Jesus. Yet, that church in Calcutta practiced it. This was at the very least “unwise,” and it certainly did not “make the most of the opportunity” to have an impact on a man who has had such an influence in the world. Everyone needs what Christians have found: grace and truth from Jesus Christ.

Smiley Mudd

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[1] https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2016/08/26/why-did-gandhi-say-x2018/985856007/.

Got a Minute? The Invitation

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

Imagine yourself working in your front yard when a young guy on a bicycle rides up. He looks a little scruffy with his shirt partly untucked and a baseball cap with visible smudges. He hands you a fancy envelope with a wax seal. He asks for your signature on an untidy clipboard. You open the envelope to find it is an invitation from the governor to join him for lunch the next day at noon at a nice restaurant. Would you go?

Now imagine this: you are working in the yard, and a luxury car drives up. The driver is dressed sharply. He hands you the same envelope, asks for your signature in a leather journal, and then drives away. Would you be more inclined to go?

The Apostle Paul wrote, “We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants because of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:5, FJV). Our message is an invitation to life from God through Jesus Christ. Some of His messengers are a bit scruffy and some are better looking, but it is not about us; it is about Jesus.

Smiley Mudd

Got a Minute? A Private Line

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

Pick your favorite celebrity. Then, imagine that this person invited you to call them on their personal cell phone anytime just to chat. How would that make you feel? How would you respond?

Paul writes, “Continue in the prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:1, FJV). Here is the fantastic opportunity­ to commune with the Creator of everything else outside of Himself. God has invited us into this ongoing conversation through His Son Jesus Christ. He has offered to forgive our sins, strengthen us in our weakness, reveal knowledge to us through the Scriptures and by the Holy Spirit, and so much more. What an opportunity! Thanksgiving is the faithful practice of recognizing the nature of this opportunity. Then we must move on to give thanks for everything else: God’s generous provision, healing for our illnesses, fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ, families in which to share love and purpose. We should give Him a call. He has extended the invitation to us.

Smiley Mudd

Got a Minute? BFFs without Talking?

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

In my children’s message this past Sunday, I picked two of the boys (one of whom just moved here from across the country) and asked them to become “best friends.” They laughed awkwardly. But then, to prepare them for my assignment, I put a blindfold on one of them and told the other one he could not talk. Then, we all waited—even more awkwardly! Finally, I took off the blindfold and asked them how it was going at becoming best friends. “Not too well,” one of them said. All the children agreed that it was hard to become friends without talking with each other.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” My point went something like this. We cannot become very close with God without talking with Him, either. Prayer is the mode in which we pour out our souls to God. We open the Scriptures to hear His voice—with our eyes open to His self-revelation. “Be devoted to prayer,” writes Paul, “being watchful and thankful.” We not only want to see the enemy coming, we want to see where God is at work, also.

Smiley Mudd

Got a Minute? “I Fixed Your Heart.”

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

Lying in the OR, Pastor Bruce McIver asked his cardiologist, Dr. Dudley Johnson, ‘Can you fix my heart?’ The physician, known for being short and to the point, said, ‘Sure.’ Then he quickly turned and walked away. After the long surgery, McIver asked Johnson, ‘In light of the blocked arteries that I had when I checked into the hospital, how much blood supply do I now have?’ ‘All you’ll ever need,’ replied the terse surgeon, who [then walked] away. Upon his discharge from the hospital, McIver’s wife, Lawanna, asked the doctor, ‘What about my husband’s future quality of life?’ [Dr.] Johnson paused and then said, ‘I fixed his heart; the quality of his life is up to him.’”[1]

When God works in the human soul through Christ, He brings that transformed person into the Church, the Fellowship of the Gospel. This changes everything! Then, the quality of our lives depends on our earnest cooperation with the work of His Spirit, changing us from the inside out.

Smiley Mudd

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[1] Bruce McIver, “Stories I Couldn’t Tell While I Was a Pastor” (Guideposts, 1991), p. 244-247; submitted by Hugh Poland, Kingwood, Texas, to PreachingToday.com.

Got a Minute? Facebook Photo Memory

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

I just ran across one of those Facebook memories, a photo of my wife’s family when our sons were very young. It was the 1970s and our dress styles prove it. My, does my lovely wife look young in that photo! Not everyone is smiling. Perhaps that is due to the seven little boys (yes, all boys) in the scene. Their moms look a bit grim. At that time, I was trying both to figure out adulthood and to learn what it meant to be a husband and father. The learning curve was steep on all fronts. I feel like I failed all too often to get it right.

One thing my lovely wife and I did right was to seek the Lord early in our marriage. We went to church as a family. We took roles of service. We read the Bible together and alone. We read books and attended seminars. We practiced forgiveness—a lot. We received grace from God and slowly and steadily learned to express it to each other. We learned to “submit to each other out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).

Smiley Mudd