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As I was celebrating my 48th birthday on January 15, an 11-year-old girl from Port-au-Prince, Haiti was ushered into eternity.  Now I understand that life and death occur every minute of every day, but the circumstances of this little girl’s death have really gripped me.

This little girl had been trapped, all alone for three days before rescuers finally heard her cries for help. Her right leg was crushed and held her pinned beneath tons of rubble.  Upon being discovered, the girl was conscious, able to eat and drink, and was able to talk to her rescuers as they worked to free her.  After hours of digging, they were able to free her from the rubble, but sadly, just one hour later, she died from her injuries.  Her last words spoken were, “Mother, don’t let me die.”

This story has broken my heart.  Maybe it’s partly due to the fact that I have a 9-year-old little girl who will turn 10 in a few months, and I’ve tried to imagine what it would be like if it was my daughter who was trapped, alone, afraid, and in pain.  My heart aches for this little girl and her family.

The earthquake that shook Haiti is over, but the aftershock is being felt all over the world.  This little girl is just one of hundreds of thousands of stories that could be told by people whose lives have been turned up-side-down.  But now, here’s the point of my article…don’t miss it…As we sit in our comfortable homes with our families, let us not, because of our own personal comfort, forget the second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).  Don’t allow this opportunity to minister in the name of Jesus to pass you by without doing what you can to help your neighbor.

Just this past weekend, while I was driving in Bowling Green, I saw two men carrying crosses on the side of the road, followed by a crowd of about 30 or 40 people.  As I passed these two men, I looked at the crosses they were carrying and I couldn’t help but notice that both crosses were accessorized with wheels!

Now, I understand why they placed wheels on these crosses.  The wheels make the crosses they are carrying easier to carry.  The wheels make the crosses more convenient to bear.  But that’s the impetus for this article.  You see, there’s nothing convenient about a cross!  In fact, it was designed to be an inconvenient, excruciating, and humiliating means to kill someone.  Convenient crosses?  They don’t exist…or at least shouldn’t.

If I can jump from what I saw this past weekend to a spiritual application, I would say that from the looks of things, I believe that many people have attempted to put “wheels on their cross.”  Remember that Jesus said that in order to be one of his disciples, one must be willing to deny himself, take up a cross daily, and follow him (Luke 9:23).  From what I’ve witnessed in some, rather than denying self, and bearing one’s cross daily, some have attempted to accessorize their cross.  Unwilling to reject Christ completely, they have attempted to fashion a cross of convenience – crosses with wheels.

Our society has made an icon out of the cross.  We wear them around our neck, they dangle from our ears, and they are even tattooed on our bodies.  This all makes me wonder if we have failed to comprehend the true significance of the cross.  The cross represents selflessness, sacrifice, obedience, dedication, and self-denial.  Do you think most people realize that?  The cross is more than a piece of jewelry or a trinket, and it certainly doesn’t have wheels.

My advice to those who wish to gain public attention by carrying a cross…take off the wheels! Those wheels are incongruous with the message of the cross.  I for one, noticed the wheels, not the cross.  Don’t lessen the burden of the cross by accessorizing it with something that makes it convenient.  What do you think?

As the have now arrived at the New Year, completing the first decade of the new millennium, I did a little reflecting.  These reflections are personal, and may not mean a lot to you, but they are my mile-markers over the past decade.

• Our youngest daughter, Anne Marie was born in the year 2000.
• Both of our sons became Christians during this time.
• Our oldest daughter graduated from High School and has almost completed her under-graduate work at Freed-Hardeman.  While at FHU, Kelli spent one semester in Europe.
• I was robbed at gun-point at a church in Alabama and survived.  Tends to put life into perspective.
• I had a tumor removed from a salivary gland.  Benign!  That tends to put life into perspective as well.
• My sons and daughter excelled in Band…state finals, All-District every year.  Countless hours of discipline and hard work.
• My Pittsburgh Steelers won two Super Bowls.  You may think, “so what?”  But I got to watch both of those games with my dad.  Wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
• My mom and dad reached 50 years of being married, 50 years of preaching, and 45 years of preaching for the same congregation in Chester, WV.
• Kim and I celebrated 25 years of marriage and 25 years of preaching.
• My wife and our two oldest children took part in a mission trip to Ica, Peru.
• I was privileged to speak in approximately 70 gospel meetings and lectureships.  Two of the more memorable ones, due to locations were in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Anchorage, Alaska.  Beautiful trips…and cold -18 degrees and more than a foot of snow.
• I completed ten years of MercEmail email devotionals, sixteen years of daily radio work, and 20 years of preaching for the South Green Street Church of Christ in Glasgow, KY.
• And after 20 years of working with the South Green Street congregation, we accepted an offer to move to Knoxville, TN to work with the Karns Church of Christ in June of 2010.

There’s much more, but these are mile-markers that quickly come to mind.  But they are only mile markers.  So much living has taken place in between these events.  So much has happened for which to be proud of with respect to my wife, my children, extended family, and church.  I have been blessed, and I am thankful to the One from whom all blessings flow.

It is my desire to stake out some more mile-markers in the upcoming decade, but especially, between those mile-markers live with greater purpose, commitment, and faith in God.

There are some things that I’m sure run through the minds of every preacher, but they are suppressed by our better judgment before they are ever spoken. For me, one of those unspoken thoughts occurs every Sunday prior to Christmas. I always find myself suppressing the urge to say, “Good to see everyone today. I hope to see some of you again next Sunday, and for the rest of you, I’ll see you on Easter.” — (See why those thoughts need suppressing?)

While the problem of only attending church twice a year is a problem that should not be addressed in the above fashion, it is a problem that does need to be addressed.  The “twice-a-year church goer” is so common place in our society that  today’s Urban Dictionary has given such people a name.  They’re called “CEO’s” (Christmas & Easter Only).

Don’t misunderstand, I’m thankful when people think of Jesus, even if it is only twice a year.  They need to think of him more, but twice is a starting point.  I don’t want to criticize their movement in the right direction, but I don’t want them to think that such shallow commitment is equivalent to discipleship and sufficient to please God.

Being a Christian is so much more than attending church services twice a year.  It is total commitment.  It is self-denial.  It is sacrifice.  It is a pattern to be lived so others may follow.  It is a life lived in response to the death of an innocent caused by our negligence.  It is a sacred trust of one’s life into the hands of God.

Upon reflection, how could anyone seriously think that “twice-a-year” is an appropriate response to the eternal redemptive working of God which culminated in the horrific death of His Son?  How could anything less than our entire lives – all we have to offer – be an acceptable response to God?  (Not that we can merit God’s gift, but rather show appreciation for it).

“Twice-a-year?”  “CEO’s?”  They need to be taught.  They need to understand just how far this practice misses the mark.  How do we do this, especially when they’re only present twice a year?  Well, here’s a suggestion.  This Sunday before Christmas, why not remind people of Jesus’ coming, but also remind them of his second coming?  Why not preach about the “baby Jesus,” but also remind them that Jesus grew up and placed moral demands upon our lives?  Why not talk about the helplessness of the babe in the manger, but also talk about the power and authority of the King of Kings.  Why not remind people of the gifts brought to Jesus by the wise men, but also remind them of the gift that Jesus now gives to those who fully trust in him?

What I’m saying is start where they are, just like Philip did with the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:35), but take them farther than they realized they needed to go.  Use their interest in the birth of Jesus to introduce them to the “rest of the story.”

Next Sunday, our churches will be filled with CEO’s.  What will we do with this opportunity?  Certainly we must use “tact,” but not to the exclusion of “contact.”  God’s word gives us the solution, “speak the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15).

I was going to give this $100,000 dollar bill away to the 100,000th visitor to my website.  However, there was just one problem.  I didn’t know the identity of the 100,000th visitor any more than I knew whose picture was on the $100,000th dollar bill.  But whoever the 100,000th visitor was, and whoever all the other 99,999 visitors were, I want to thank you!

It was in January of 2008 that I decided to create my own website and offer some of my thoughts for anyone else out there who might be interested in reading them.  So I began and by word-of-mouth and less than two years later, we have reached the 100,000 visitor mark.  (Actually, we reached 100,000 visits approximately 6 months ago, but due to a backup glitch, I lost approximately 30,000 visits to my counter.  But the counter has now “officially” turned over the 100,000 mark).

To me, 100,000 seems to be one of those milestone numbers.  Consequently, I’ve done a little reflecting.  First of all, I thought of how easy it is to reach so many people today.  We have mediums available to us today that were unknown, in fact, unimaginable to former generations.  However, with opportunity comes responsibility.  Are we using this medium as well as we can be?  Are we exploring, brainstorming, and implementing new ways to use this technology to reach the lost and strengthen the saved?  We need some men and women of vision to step forward with cutting-edge ideas on how to use this mass medium.

I have also come to realize just how many men there are who are disciples of Jesus, but are not “full-time” preachers.  These men work secular jobs through the week and preach for congregations on the weekend.  Hardly will a week go by that I don’t receive an email from someone in this situation who is pressed for time and ideas who find the sermon outlines on this site helpful to them.  They’re not “lazy students.”  They’re not “looking for a shortcut.”  They’re trying to do the best they can with the time they have and I commend them for saying “yes” when saying “no” would be much easier.

So anyway, I just want to say “thank you” to those who are reading this, and for visiting this site.  I would also like to ask you to pass the word along to others if you feel this site could be beneficial to others.  No, I don’t have any delusions that I will set the world on fire through this website, but I do want to be found “striking matches” when the Lord comes again!

Oh, and by the way…Woodrow Wilson…it’s his picture on the $100,000 dollar bill in case you wanted to know.

This past weekend, Sony released Roland Emmerich’s thriller about a global cataclysm that is scheduled to take place in 2012. With the release of this movie (which I have not seen, nor will see due to the language) we will be hearing more and more about speculations of 2012 being the end of the world.

As you may or may not know, the ancient Mayans predicted that the world would come to an end on December 21, 2012. The Mayans believed that the world would last through five cycles consisting of 5126 years. We, according to the Mayans, are living in that fifth cycle and the 5126 years will come to an end on December 21, 2012.

So could this be it?  Are we nearing the end of the world?  My question is: What would make one think that the Mayans had insight into the time of the end of the world?  Grant it, they knew much about the heavens, the stars and their alignments, and the seasons.  But these are the same people who thought the Sun in our solar system was a living god.  These are the same people who thought that if they did not appease the god of the Sun with human sacrifices, it would refuse to rise in the morning.

As I see it, here’s the bottom line.  We have a choice to make. We will either believe the Bible which, concerning the end of time says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36), or will we will believe the Ancient Mayans who said the world would end on December 21, 2012. It’s that simple.

If the Lord does not have it in His plans to return before 2012, the Ancient Mayans will just be another name added to an already long list of prognosticators and false prophets who have incorrectly guessed when the world would end, proving yet again that “God is true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).