Understanding Community

As new experiences go, this one was refreshing. Upon accepting an invitation to a mountain party, thoughts of what I would experience brought on images of everything from the Elvis mountain movie “Kissin’ Cousins”, to the “Dog Patch” comic strip characters, and to unknown events that might lie ahead.

                                                                                                  

The party was only ten miles out of town, but with the winding roads and traveling at 20-30 miles per hour, it took us forever to get there. Traveling around one twisted turn to the next, we saw this little building that was four feet wide and about three feet deep. There was a door in the side and a window in the front. The wood had grayed with age and an old sign hung above the window. It read, “Welcome to Mudhole, TN Community Center”.

Lynnette and I laughed about this building and questioned what was in store for the rest of the evening. Driving down this gravel road, we turned into the driveway of our friends who hosted the party. The end of the driveway opened into a beautiful valley with an attractive home. To our amazement there were cars everywhere.

Talking to our host, he told us that he has this party every year around his birthday and the party lasts for three days and nights. We found such a peacefulness in the air as we met a lot of new people from the mountain area. Everyone kept bringing in great homemade food as we sat around a big bonfire listening to personal life stories being told.

Just as you might imagine there was music in the air (Beatles) as the host sat down and talked about their little community. He said, “We have a great community here. There are about 75 families that live on this mountain and we watch out for each other. If we dialed 911 for an emergency, it would take no less than a half hour for someone to arrive. Therefore the telephone company has set up a special line so that if there is an emergency, we dial one number and it rings into all the homes in the area. Within three minutes of the call, five to ten cars will be in the driveway of the person needing help.

Heaven forbid that someone is being hurt by someone else because we take care of our friends.” Funny, but I realized what he meant. They really understood the value of community. Many people today will live their entire lives and never experience community like this. We have acquaintances we run into occasionally, people we only smile at in church,  or a group of soccer parents you see once or twice a week for an hour.  But, do we really build lasting relationships with those near to us?

Maybe by taking the first step and getting into a small group of people doing life together we can take the dynamics of a church and become small communities of believers that watch out for each other. Jesus spent most of His ministerial relationship with just twelve people, and they have changed the world forever. Isn’t time we build a community of believers?

Can you tell I love being part of a small group?

Clearing the Trail

Have you ever been a part of the Boy or Girl Scouts? If so, you were given the opportunity to learn many of life's lessons from Scouting. Through that experience 51 years ago, I was involved with my Scout Troop in establishing a national hiking trail that is still being used today. Our farm was only nine miles from the birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant, our eighteenth President. He attended school as a young man in a town 30 miles away, so our Troop set a goal to blaze the trail following the path he walked daily for the Dan Beard Scouting Council in Ohio. Our job was to mark the trail with permanent identification markers. We took big rocks and made milestones for everyone to see. We made metal markers and placed them on trees for others to follow. It was a lot of fun.

Then we came to the dense brush where we had to use machetes and cut through five-foot high weeds and briers. We were no longer having fun as the briars cut though our skin and mosquitoes buzzed around our heads. About eighteen miles into the trail, we saw a farmhouse about a quarter of a mile away. To the disapproval of our Scoutmaster, we began running across the field toward the farmhouse in hopes of filling our canteens.

We quickly found out why our leader did not want us going in that direction. Off to our right was a huge bull, watching our every move. As the Scoutmaster yelled for us to stop, the bull began moving closer. Looking around, we saw a fence about fifty feet to our left. We first started walking slowly toward the fence, but with the bull now in full stride, we started running for the fence, all the while yelling at the top of our lungs. Thankfully, we all outran the bull.

During the rest of the trail blazing, we obeyed every order of our Scoutmaster. We set every marker that was needed for generations of hikers to follow. In Luke 3: 3-4, we see John the Baptist also blazing a trail. A trail that led to Jesus. He called for people to repent and reminded them that the Lord was near. His message was clear and to the point. Unlike my scouting friends and me, John never left the trail. Even when confronted by adversaries, he boldly preached the message that God had prepared in his heart.

Just as the US Grant Trail is still in use today because a bunch of kids marked the way, the message of Jesus continues to heal and enlighten over 2000 years later because, in part, of the trail that John blazed.

What about you? Are you blazing any trails with your life that reflects Christ's love? Will it affect generations to come? All you have to do is make yourself available. And watch out for briars.

The Devil's Workshop

Growing up, my grandmother often gave me words of wisdom. She would quote these “tidbits” to me when she desired to keep me from doing something wrong. So the phrase, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop” was impressed into my brain quite often.

Living on a farm meant chores from early morning until late evening. So I thought there was not a lot of time for my mind to be idle. Nevertheless, when I just wanted to relax and do nothing there was always someone like my grandmother to give me a reminder of not being idle.

They believed that if you were not doing something constructive you were inviting Satan into you life. Years later, I realized that it was not continual work that kept Satan away but the grace of God through His son Jesus. Being an “A” personality, I keep moving most of the time, and my mind does not take many breaks.

Even when I am still and take time to meditate on the Word of God, my mind wanders into what I need to be doing in the next five minutes, next five hours, or the next five days.

Therefore, I have learned to force myself to spend time incorporating Philippians 4:8 through nature. For me, everything that the Lord created brings this verse into focus. So to sit and watch the cloud formations or the squirrels playing in the trees, or to observe a snowfall in the mountains, always brings this verse to the forefront of my life.

In the Disney movie, “Hook” do you recall what it was that made Jack fly? It wasn’t a feather like Dumbo thought, or pixie dust. It was happy thoughts.

Today try and focus on the “happy” thoughts of life. Focus on what is pure, lovely, and good. You do not have to go far.

Just set your mind on things that are worthy of giving the Lord praise.

Then give Him the praise! 

Philippians 4:8 “Here, my brothers, are some things I want you to think about. Think about things that are true, honest, right, clean and pure, things that are lovely, and things that are good to talk about. If they are good, and if they bring praise to God, think about these things.”