Emmanuel Christian Fellowship - McGregor, TX

The “Got Milk?” ad people are ingenious!  I did a Google search on the campaign and the people that they’ve gotten to endorse the message is out of control!  Even Batman is in the loop.  They now have a website where you can order hats, bibs, posters and of course…bumper stickers.

Just like you, I see all kinds of bumper stickers.  Most of them are political.  Some are hilareous and every now and then you’ll get one that is just down-right inappropriate.  I cracked up a couple days ago by a sticker I saw on an old busted / rusted pick-up truck.  The driver was probably in his late 70s and  he had four dogs in the back of the truck checking out traffic.  The sticker read:  MY BORDER COLLIE IS SMARTER THAN YOUR HONOR STUDENT. I could not contain the laughter!   People in Colorado are crazy about their dogs.  Geez!  I digress…sorry.

In all honesty, I abhor religious bumper stickers!  I’ve never seen one I like.  Even the displayed “ichthus” just rubs me the wrong way.   I don’t have the energy to explain to you why this kind of thing wears me out, but last nite I had to run an errand a couple miles from the house.  I pulled up behind a vehicle that had this particular bumper-sticker proudly displayed on it’s back window:   GOT JESUS? -big sigh-

Now, I will defend the right of that driver to display whatever they choose on their car, but I have a problem with the entire notion!  I had to stuff down all kinds of preconceived thoughts and judgements.  Was this a weak and ineffective (in my estimation) attempt to evangelize the masses and send a message?  Why?  Why send this message this way?  Why not live the message, be the message?  I do not remember reading anything in scripture about Jesus OR his disciples carrying around a sign that said “Please receive ME, accept ME, take ME!  GOT ME?” He did “say” these kinds of things…sorta, but it was always with personal delivery, backed up by flesh, blood and Spirit.  I can not imagine anyone reading that bumper sticker and then having an internal discussion that leads to their ultimate decision to receive Jesus!   In fact, I think it just fuels lost people to dig in just an 1/8th of an inch deeper in the scoff and mockery of something that can not be explained without love.  Maybe the goofy thing works (it just seems too shallow, too thin, too rigid…too frikk’n easy), but I have doubts about that.

Ok, so you know me well enough to know that I cringe at this kind of stuff, but that is not my real point.  The bottom line here is that I think that the goofy bumper sticker is actually poising the wrong question!  I think the better question or the real question is this:  DOES JESUS GOT YOU? Yeah, my old High School English teacher just threw up in her mouth a little bit and maybe that is why I’m not in the marketing business, but it still is a serious question that requires reflective inventory.  Too many people “got” Jesus, but I’m not too sure that Jesus has all of us.  Maybe “some” of us, but “all” of us?  Does HE “have” my heart, my life, my family, my marriage, my finances, my hopes, my future, my dreams, my appetites, my fears, my body, my circumstances, my relationships, my kids, my work, my service, my worship, my friendships, me?  Does He “got” those things from us?   It’s the better question.   One that requires me to actually process with integrity and relentless honesty what the real stuff is in my life.  That’s the advertisement that I think HE approves of and endorses!  And PLEASE…don’t Honk if you love Jesus! A smile, a hug, a touch works a lot better.   -smile-

Love and Miss you!

Mike

I can’t stop weeping.  Patti and I read hundreds of blogs weekly.  We respond to most of them, she more often than I.  They’re all good, but every now and then, you read one that seems to dissolve the ceaseless barking of everyday task and cares.  The stories wreck us, because the writer has been wrecked.  We’ve already spent enough time with “L” squad to know that they’re a part of our spiritual inheritance.  The richest and most fertile soil for us to plant, water and nurture.  We also know a “little bit” about these kid’s past, their pain, their dreams and the undeniable transformation that happens oh so stealthily.   Then, like a bolt from heaven, someone writes a blog that peels back the cocoon and reveals a breath-taking beauty and change in one of the most spiritually ugly places on the planet.

The Birth Of An Intercessor.  I believe that is a reality about MaryAnne.  I felt the prophetic winds as I was reading.  I don’t claim to know a whole lot, but when the Wind blows…I usually know it.  I really think it’s worth your precious time to read this blog.  It’s a great story that can’t all be told here.  It’s a story of a woman that is growing in anointing and intimacy with the Father.  Another life wrecked for the spiritual ordinary!

Check out MaryAnne’s blog: CLICK HERE!!!

Our 20-year-olds are invited to a 6 week study of Galatians, prayer, fellowship, etc. to be hosted at our home. We will begin this Sunday the 10th at 7pm. So bring your Bibles and an open heart and let’s see what shakes loose.

Paul

Speaking of 20-Somethings, check out the tab at the top of the page titled Testimony.

It’s a new year and we encourage you to continue in prayer regarding serving our kids. Hopefully, we can branch out beyond our four walls and include some service to our community and just plain FUN activities this year. Our January teaching schedule is complete and we are beginning to think about February. Be in prayer about taking a Sunday to hang with the children and speak some life into them. Most likely, however, it will be the other way around.

Paul