In God We Trust-Lindale

Hey friends!

I haven't used this blog too much because I figure I bore people enough in person. Why do it online? However, I have to write this note about an amazing thing that happened last Wednesday night, May 29, 2013.  I apologize right now for the length of this. It's a long, but amazing story!

 A friend who we'd known from our Prestonwood days sent the link you see below. Years ago, Diane and I along with Jeff Brockleman wrote a Children's  musical entitled, "IN GOD WE TRUST". It's a patriotic musical basically telling of the Christian foundation that America has. After examining statements from our Founding Fathers,  it doesn't take long to recognize that their faith in God was the catalyst for our nation being born. I'd recommend a book by William Federer called, "America's God and Country". It's an encyclopedia of quotations from many of our forefathers that clearly indicates that not only did they believe in God, but they also had a faith in Jesus Christ. Check it out!

Back to the story! We wrote this musical in about 1996. After some frustration with publishers, we decided to publish it ourselves. We did a mass mailing, and basically a grassroots, word of mouth campaign created an ongoing use of this musical. We still sell it today. Of course, we've seen it performed by churches and Christian schools, but very occasionally by a public school.

We got word that an elementary school in Lindale, TX was doing the musical. Turns out, this is the 11th year that they have presented it. This year, a certain parent got offended and notified the atheist group, FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION. A lawyer from that group sent a letter to the Superintendent of Schools demanding that the play NOT be performed, citing a 1st amendment violation of the separation of church and state. (By the way, that phrase, though spoken by Thomas Jefferson, does NOT appear in the Constitution anywhere. None the less, that phrase gets used as a sledge hammer by groups like this).  At first, the school decided to go ahead with a "sanitized version" of the play, taking out any Christian references.

Oh, by the way, we were named in the letter. They'd gone on our website and this is from the linked article:  "Cavell states the Machens run a music and worship ministry whose goals are to 'lead the church in worship and reach non-believers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'" Isn't that terrible? The Machens are trying to do their ministry. Horrifying! They also printed an excerpt from the supposed offending dialog. Funny thing was, they misquoted or intentionally moved lines around to make it say something it didn't actually say. (I'd be glad to provide that dialog if anyone is interested).

Moving on! 

The pastor of the First Baptist Church Lindale got involved. Not one to be bullied by an outside group, he rallied the entire town together. The church rented out the Lindale Performing Arts Center so the kids could perform the musical in its entirety, "voluntarily."  Of course, the FFRF got wind of this and sent another letter stating that no school employee could participate. Not true! Who are they to dictate what a person does on his or her private time?

As I said, the whole community got involved. Diane and I decided to make the 2 hour drive to go and support the kids, the school and the town. When we drove into town, our jaws dropped.  Marquee after marquee of businesses all over town had put up messages saying things like, "WE SUPPORT IN GOD WE TRUST" or "CLOSED TO ATTEND IN GOD WE TRUST." Businesses that didn't have marquees used masking tape in their windows with the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" boldly displayed. Churches that normally meet on Wednesday nights were closed to attend the 5th graders' performance.

Here's the good part! Lindale is a community of about 4000 people. Some more if you count the surrounding county property. The Performing Arts Center seats 1200. OVER 3000 PEOPLE WERE IN ATTENDANCE to support the kids, the school, the teachers and administrators and district officials! More than that, they were there to support FREEDOM OF SPEECH  and FREEDOM OF RELIGION.  Two overflow areas had been set up, plus some people were outside the Performing Arts Center listening on speakers that had been set up. Oh, and the teachers who were threatened not to participate in the "off-sight" performance were there. Volunteering, of course.

We've never seen anything like it. There still aren't words to describe the evening. It was like a Pep Rally atmosphere. In fact, Diane said, "It was a 'God Rally!'"  The people gave a standing ovation to the kids after almost every song. The cheers were for the kids, but for America, too. There were also state and local officials in attendance.  And almost every person was wearing an IN GOD WE TRUST t-shirt. 3000 t-shirts!!!! Let that sink in.

Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice has been contacted to represent the school district and community. This could turn into and national debate. My response is, GREAT! In my lifetime, I've seen the secularization of our American society. We're wagged around by small, but rather vocal minorities and in the name of political correctness, our beloved nation is quickly turning from away from God. But as much as certain liberal groups, politicians and university professors would try to rewrite our history, you cannot erase the facts that this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian morals, ethics and laws. We may try to expunge the Ten Commandments from our society, but we can't erase them from our history. We can't escape the fact that our laws are based on God's Laws. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, etc...Yeah, that was God!

Well, if you've survived this rant of mine, I'd invite you to click the link below to take you to the news site that contains the details of the Lindale ISD vs. Freedom From Religion Foundation debate. It's gonna be interesting to see where this goes. Just remember that God sits on His sovereign throne and....well, read Ps. 2 and find out!

God Still Moves,

Chris

http://www.ketknbc.com/news/lindale-5th-grade-play-to-be-modified-after-compla

I"m back!

Well, Arizona Boy took a year long hiatus! Actually, I forgot about this blog page. No problem. I'm fairly certain that no one is reading it. No matter! On I write.

I just returned from Bogota, Colombia on a mission trip with E3 Partners. We assisted churches in ministries to draw more people to there churches. We saw 671 people receive the gift of heaven from Jesus! Exciting! Now back in real life in Texas. It's hot!

Watching Big Bang Theory. See you later!

Chris

Eye of the Hurricane

Next week our church holds its annual VBS. It's a great event for our church. Lot's of people working very hard. But also, Music Texas happens next week as well. It's going to be crazy trying to do both things. VBS from 8-11, drive an hour to Ft. Worth, attend conferences from noon into the night. It'll be fun.

We've sung concerts for Music Texas and conferences like this for years and presented music of our own to the ministers of music. Interesting to be on the other side of the stage. We've got great friends that come to these events. Look forward to getting to see them again.

We'll also be setting up the Worship to the World booth to try to get groups interested in our mission trips with E3 Partners.

Great times, but need strength for a busy week.

Let It Rise

You may know the worship song Let It Rise by Holland Davis. "Let the Glory of the Lord rise among us..." Holland wrote a book that I bought several months ago, but am just now reading. Very excellent thoughts on worship. It's a quick read and worth the time. Let me quote a section:

Worship isn't about SELF expression or musicianship. Worship isn't about having our personal needs met as we encounter GOD's presence. It isn't about what I get out of it. Worship is about seeing the KING and responding appropriately. It is revelation and response. God reveals himself, and we respond.

Holland based this on Isa. 6:1-8. Take a look. I'm always struck by this scene. Isaiah gets caught up to the throne room of heaven, is so overwhelmed and confronted by his own sin and the sin of his people that he just cries out "woe is me." He finds forgiveness and he's changed by being the presence of God's holiness. That's what worship is. Being changed by a real encounter with God. We can't help but be different if we get to that place. And the response: WORSHIP AND SERVICE!

Hey, have a great day! Love to all

Chris

Blogging about Blogging!

Hey there! It's been awhile. If anyone is reading this, welcome to my musing page. I hope you are well today.

I saw my friend, Gene Wilkes, who is a pastor and author, at the Starbucks near my house. He was, yes, blogging! It was good to see him. He's a brilliant thinker. I was having trouble spelling "brilliant." Anyway, he inspired me to get back to it. So here I am.

I sometimes feel I have nothing interesting to say. Then it occurred to me that blogging is not necessarily supposed to be interesting. Many of the ones I read are not. But, I guess that's not the point. It's more of an exercise in thinking out loud. Not because you want someone to think you're clever, but just to spew! I decided to get back to spewing.

I'll be back more frequently. If you think I'm clever, then fine, but if not...I don't care. I'm going to spew. You might want to stand back!

Good Friends!

I was thinking the other day about how blessed I am with good friends. We can all say that, but I really mean it. I remember my Dad saying to me when I was a kid, "If you wind up with 2 or 3 good friends, close friends in your life, you'll be really blessed." He was right about that. But for some reason, the Lord has blessed me with far more good friends than 2 or 3.

I have friends from High School that I place in that category. Glen and Steve. True blue friends that even though we don't see each other often, we just pick up where we left off. I love them.

I have friends from my days at Baylor that are just as close as the day I met them. Brent and Sherry were the first two people I met on campus as an 18 year old freshman. Sherry talked Diane into going out with me. (actually she chided me into not being a coward and asking her out) Brent and I share the love of music and worship together. Their daughter, Liesl, was Jennifer's roommate at Baylor. She introduced Jen to Stephen. Brent and Sherry are on the ministry board of Worship to the World. We've been in Europe and Asia together on mission trips. Our lives are really divinely intertwined. We love them.

Mike & Beth, Gary & Teri are wonderful friends that the Lord brought into our lives via our church years ago. They are friends who love and encourage us in ways too numerous to name. They give Godly counsel and prayer support. They are friends with whom we can be completely ourselves. We love them all.

I married my very best friend. Funny! Diane and I met in a singing group and have been singing together ever since. We actually became close friends, but did not date because we both were dating other people. When that ended (yeah, we both got dumped) the Lord brought us together. We'd been such good friends and then we fell in love. Now we still get to enjoy our friendship. I can't imagine life without her. I treasure our time together. Almost 31 years married and she's still my best friend. She knows everything about me and still loves me. I love her.

Remind you of anyone? Jesus knows all about me/us and loves anyway. Deep, Strong, Forgiving, Everlasting. He said, "I no longer call you slaves, but I call you friends." Inconceivable! But He does. What a friend we have in Jesus! I love Him, with all my heart!

Be blessed and remember...God Still Moves,

Chris

Birthdays!

I don't like 'em!!! Well, actually, I do! Funny how they are so significant in your life as a child. Less so as you get older. Each year drags slowly when you're young and races as you get older. But, I wouldn't go back. The blessing of getting older is the wonderful memories you build and the wonderful friends you make and the wonderful family you're blessed with. I have all those things. So, really each birthday is a time to reflect on how good God is and how much he's given to you.

You can see in these pictures some of my blessings. A wonderful wife, son, daughter, son in law and granddaughter, not to mention a wonderful extended family. And all who are a part of the family of Christ. I am blessed...and stinkin' old!!! But I'm not bitter!! HA!

Love to you all,

Chris