It’s Never Enough

Are you reading The Word daily?

Please know….
the Word
you know now is good

You should rehearse it everyday

But there is more Word to learn.
There always is.

Never think or assume you have enough Word
for the remainder of your life.

You need food to a certain degree.

You require water more often.

You cannot exist without the organs working involuntarily in the body gifted you.

You make your mouth speak, your hands and feet move as you wish.

The heart works even when you are asleep,
You breathe as well without making it happen.

God gifted that to you.

Do not neglect the Gift of The Word …
deposit it into your mind every day.

The One Who gifted you so many and important things….
has more in store for you.

Terry
October, 2015

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I had never seen him before. He called me from the car and met me in the baggage claim area.

When riding in a taxi or limo I usually attempt to engage the driver in a conversation about himself or where he is from.
They will usually talk about their country, their family and their faith, if you inquire.

As you have experienced, the drivers are from any and everywhere.

As he pulled out of the airport I asked my usual question …” Where did you come to America from?”

“Christian Lebanon!!”

He did not speak softly.

He said it like I have seen fans almost shout out their phrases of allegiance to a college sports team.

“Christian Lebanon!”

He went on to describe being raised there and we began to talk about his faith.

I asked why he described it as “Christian” Lebanon.

He replied,
“There are those of us who worship Jesus Christ in Lebanon.”

I told him I worshiped
that same Jesus.

I just met a brother I never knew…

who I would now know throughout eternity.

He described how some family wanted to kill him.

He talked of how so many over there try to end their lives because of pursuing other prophets and other belief systems.

He stated “God gives us life to live …not to try and end it quickly”

I thought of how he had experienced a life I never had…and honestly would not want to.

He spoke of how so many lived in Peace for so long but that now no area was without constant conflict.

I asked him why he thought that was the case.

He stated “the enemy has them.”

Just like there….
our common enemy has
hold of many here as well.

That’s not demographic,
nor geographic.

Spiritual battlegrounds manifest themselves on every corner of our world.

There….it comes out in constant conflict and warfare between groups of people who have battled since Abraham made a bad decision.

Here…the battleground
Is not physical and visual as much as there….
it might be more subdued …
but it is warfare nonetheless.

The brother I never knew
has seen a family member put a gun to his
head and threaten him.

I have never experienced that,
Do not want to.

This spiritual brother not only drove me to my destination…he led me to see a Christian experience of struggle and turmoil much different and difficult than any I have felt or been through.

We both have a shared hope of Heaven.

We both have a shared Savior who experienced
the difficult walk my Lebanese brother has walked…
as well as the path I have tried.

The same Death cleansed us both.

The same Resurrection
saved us both.

The same JESUS suffered Death and walked out RESURRECTION for the two of us.

The same Kingdom exists within us and the same Heaven awaits us both.

The appreciation for the ease of my life and the admiration of those in desperate straits was increased beyond simple comparison,

Never hesitate to engage those you do not know when the occasion presents itself.

You may meet a brother you never knew you had.

And will have,  for Eternity.

Think About It

What attitude or tone comes out of your mouth when you give voice to your thoughts or feelings?

What is being heard by those around you as you speak, react or express yourself.

Sitting in the restaurant this morning I heard a group of guys talking. Politics. Sports…the conversation ran the gamut of male topics.

So much of their conversation was sarcastic and negative.
They made fun of and were lightly, and sometimes heavily, demeaning to most of the people who came up in the discussion.

What do those who hear your words….hear?

Is it uplifting?
Are your words cynical and cutting?

Think before you speak.

Think about the weight of your words.

Consider who is listening to you.
If it’s a locker room and the talk is jocular….that’s one thing.

But when you leave that temporary atmosphere…leave that attitude and those words behind.

Cutting up and cutting down can get old……quick.

Cynicism coming out of your mouth continually…. reveals a heart filled with spite and destruction.

Encouraging words filling your conversation gives evidence of a spirit full of Light and Joy.

What effect do you words bring?

What do your children hear when you watch television with them as your react or comment on the show?

What does your wife hear from you as you come in from work and comment on your day or co-workers or customers…or your boss, if you have one??

What do those in your house hear when you talk about those people who are your friends?

Consider your words.

Think before you speak.

Know that your spoken words reveal what lies beneath the surface in your life, in your mind and heart.

And when it’s spoken…Good or bad,,,Light or Dark…
It’s being heard and is effective to the positive or to the negative…in the hearts and minds of those hearing you.

Terry
October 2015

LIGHT

Read a devotion today which used the scripture from John 9….

“As long as I am in the world, I am The Light of the world”.

I will encourage you to see this statement extended to you.

As long as YOU are in this world…
and as Christ is in you…
YOU to are the light of the world.

In His initial Treatise on the mountain side He said this.

Because of Christs Presence in you
You are that same LIGHT

Read John 14:12
Matthew 5:14,15,16
John 17:23

You can shade that Light

Don’t.

If you think you do not have that Light in you,
and you are a Disciple of Christ…
you are filling your mind with incorrect information.

Read John 14:12
Matthew 5: 14, 15, 16
Read John 17:23

If you call yourself a believer…
Then allow the Light in you to be revealed.

If you think it’s not in you…talk to someone who you DO see that Light shining out of.

Man cannot see without Light.
Jesus came to literally and figuratively bring
“Sight to the Blind”.

Read John 14: 12
Matthew 5: 14, 15, 16
John 17: 23

Bring Light.
Bring sight..

Terry
October, 3015

I was in a hurry today, went to eat lunch, had to sit at the counter. > After about two minutes another guy sat next to me.
We have this sense of space and anything closer than about three to four feet is a bit abnormal and can be uncomfortable. Generally, people feel like they HAVE to say something…
but do not want to.

I tend to speak to people at these times.

In these circumstances….if you feel the PUSH to speak….you should.
If you resist and neglect the PUSH, you are silencing what could be an important moment in your life, or the life of the person next to you.

The biblical reference says not to “quench” this PUSH.

I asked the guys name, told him mine. Commented on the crowd at the restaurant.
He said he had not been to this establishment in years.
I told him to come back for breakfast and try the french toast, which I believe is the best in town.

Just simple conversation.

I then asked him the “man-question”….. “What do you do?”

Simple, general, everyday question.
He told me.
Seeing that we were roughly in the same age group I mentioned that many guys our age are aimed at retiring.
He nodded. I told him I loved what I do and do not plan on retiring.
He said that his current occupation used to be his hobby… therefore he would not retire because his hobby was now what he did everyday.
We talked about how liking what you do, along with being healthy is essential to working and not retiring.

I said what I say often….that the Bible says nothing about retiring. Retiring might be restricting the workmanship placed within you and it might be failing the gifts and talents we are meant to fulfill.

He then mentioned his health and how several years ago he had suffered injuries from a car wreck where a drunk driver hit him head-on. He talked about how the health issues restrict him at times.

General conversation with someone I had never met, ten minutes before…now was leading to this stranger telling me a very personal part of his history.

The PUSH I had felt earlier came into clear vision as my new acquaintance revealed some of the struggle he had with his earlier job and how it lead him to change things.

I then told him I would pray that his health improve.

He then said he believed that prayer works and he would appreciate the thoughts.
Then he told me he believed in prayer and that he followed Christ.

I had just met someone I had never known, that I would now know forever.

Never once did I refer to my Church or that he needed to do anything. I responded to the PUSH.

Respond to the PUSH.

Speak to people who come into close contact with you.

Never restrict what might be a vitally important moment in a life.
It’s not for you to judge why the PUSH occurred, it’s not yours to rationalize that you might be bothering or interfering with someone’s day.

What happened to the “women at the well” when she was spoken to? > Did she generate the conversation?

What occurred to the short, tax collector when he was told he would be hosting guests for Dinner?

Lives were forever altered.
Simple conversations can bring eternal changes.

It’s just engaging another in everyday dialogue …..
and allowing the knowledge and workmanship in you to be revealed.

Do not neglect the PUSH.

Just talk to those around you.
Allow what’s in you to come out.

These conversations are the most fundamental aspect of what The Nazarene did and what He desires those who have received His Workmanship to share.

Terry
October, 2015

Corners

You cannot have a dwelling that is secure
without corners holding up the walls and roof.

Corners can provide strength and security for
a building, house and any structure.

At the same time …
there are corners one can get into that lead to fear, depression and retreat.

I know someone who used to get into a corner financially and emotionally …
and his addictions would rise and flare and lead him into depths of drunkenness, loneliness and self hatred.

Corners can be a place of strength.
Corners can be a place where some feel trapped
with no way out.

I believe we are called to
be that strength for others when they are feeling trapped and without help.

We will not know that though unless we are involved in their lives before they get cornered.

Be a corner man before the need arises.

Open the eyes given you,

Open the ears placed near your brain to hear and understand .., and get involved in the lives of the people placed in your circle.

Be expanding that circle.

In someone’s corner
you can be a source of stability, of strength,
of consistency and of positive influence.

Your words can bring Light into the darkness they feel engulfs them.

Your willingness to listen allows them the chance to be heard.

Do you realize how valuable it is to feel as though someone is listening to you… and hearing you?

Your simple presence can give them reassurance in their value as a person.

In that Corner there is.a time for coaching,
for correcting
for encouraging,
for healing ….
and sometimes there is just time spent in their presence without any words.

As those angles in a structure …
you can be a source of strength, stability.

You might be the cornerstone in the
Construction of their new existence.

It can be that you are being the “fifth Gospel”.

The most successful fighters in the Ring or the Octagon would not be where they are without those in their corner.

Get there.

I would bet you know someone who needs you there.

Terry
October 2015

Jump The Route

With experience or just a sense of things, the defender senses the next few steps,  sees the glance of the quarterbacks eyes,  takes the forceful steps and jumps the route, intercepts the pass and heads off to change the Game.

The sport does not matter, I was instructed
to jump the route in basketball as well as football.

I was fortunate to see, sense and then jump the route several times in both sports.

I want to be found to have jumped the route in a few peoples lives.

It’s anticipation.
It’s having sight to see .
It’s experience.

We are in football season so football is the seasonal sport…and we are watching passes being intercepted and routes jumped.

 

Do you see tendencies in anyone’s life right now?
Tendencies leading them in the wrong way?

Do you sense anyone you know leaning the wrong way or looking too much in a direction which will lead them astray?

It’s about anticipation.
It’s about experience.
It’s having sight to see.

If you see or anticipate a leaning or misdirected steps in a life close to you…. Jump the route.

Insert yourself.

Get in the way.

Intercept and lead them to switch direction.

If you saw a defender wearing the jersey you care about …
In position to jump a route and change possession ..,
If you saw them in the position to switch the field….
and they didn’t do it…
you would yell at the television or rise out of your seat and scream.

Jump the route.

Switch the field.

Don’t be nice and stay away…
interject yourself to change the direction.

Dig in with your spiritual cleats …
Watch the tendencies of those around you, placed in your domain by the Author of the Game…
and be ready to jump the route leading them astray.

It’s the act of a shepherd.

It’s the heart of a Father.

It’s the care of a friend.

If you wait too long the opportunity is missed and the route will be on its wrong way.

We have to be willing to look bad…
We have to be willing to get beat….. as any good defender knows.

Yet…
those in our coverage area require
our attention,
our anticipation,
our experience and
our willingness to
jump the route we see and switch the momentum in their lives.

Jump the route.

Terry
October 2015

Music can take you to many places and down several paths.

My tastes in music have changed over the years. I was an impressionable 10 years old when The Beatles arrived in February, 1964. They did impress me….still do. No group has ever wrinkled the music scene as they did. With apologies to the two current guys who have taken names which are much too close to Jehovah and Jesus, no one has changed music as the four guys from Liverpool did.

Elvis maybe….I don’t think so.

I still recall the words to most every popular song from the 60s and 70s, some from the 80s. Many events in life are enhanced and made more colorful by the music they bring to mind. And, many times hearing a song from the past will bring the past to life.

My father once said that the music was a pathway for the lyrics to settle into the mind and heart. Thats why he warned against several songs…I discounted that then….I do not now.

Hearing music led me to take a walk in the Summer of 1969.

I was at a Church Camp with about 500 other young people. before the worship service one night a choir of high schoolers who led the singing had a rock band made up of their group, playing in the sanctuary. They played and sang Light My Fire , then started those familiar chords by Keith Richards which led into Honky Tonk Woman. Without a lot of thinking, I stood and walked out because of the oddity of that song in that place. I went and bought a Coke Float in the concession area. As I came back in front of the sanctuary, the entire audience of teenagers and their leaders were in the courtyard having walked out. One leader saw me and yelled…”There’s the guy who led the walkout”.

I did go get a Coke float, I was uncomfortable with that song preluding the worship service….. but I had not given thought to leading a small rebellion.

Music had led me to a place of unintended leadership.

I can remember listening to Walter Hawkins and The Love Center Choir and also Andre Crouch and The Disciples,in the early to mid-seventies and being drawn to the soaring soulful sounds of their choirs and their music. That was the first time I felt music lifting my heart….when I heard “Going Up Yonder” with the Hawkins Singers, their voices and the organ lifting my heart to an unfamiliar place.

A place of WORSHIP ….a place I did not really know about.

But I knew I was in a new and different place as my head would shake slowly from side to side and my eyes would close ….I knew I was in a higher place.

In the late 80s, maybe because of the condition of my heart, I began to hear music again as I had when I heard Crouch and Hawkins back in the 70s. Particular songs can take you from the position you are in to where Your Creator prefers you to be.

As I have heard certain songs and arrangements in my own Church and from places like Hillsong and Highlands and Bethel…..the music, as my father said, paved the way for effective words to touch my mind and heart.

There are moments in worship when the music separates you from the surroundings and allows you to enter a place of reverence or joy or exaltation that either comes from or leads you to a spiritual experience.

I have come to understand that in these moments my spirit is being filled in a way my flesh can never realize. For it is not earthly or sensual as some music leads to.

Personally, it leads me into The Presence of God.

It occurs in Church…it occurs in my car. There is no locational exclusivity…for the One it draws me to is not limited to any locale.

I might fail with a verbal definition to explain it….yet I know it when I feel it.

It moves the spirit and yet it does not totally ignore the flesh. If the experience leads the eyes to tear, the throat to get full and tight and the heart to seemingly rise in the chest….it is not solely spiritual.

True worship music, whether with a beat, with an anthem sounding guitar or synthesizer….or with one singular small voice….can break a bond, it can lift a heart and it can open that heart to the overwhelming Presence of The God Who created the universe….The God Who is always next to you.

True worship music of whatever kind….rowdy, four beat rhythm, soaring anthem sounding synthesizers….Carrie Jobe, Brooke Fraser, Big Daddy Weave, CJ Blount…..listened to with a heart of pursuit…. will take you to where you need no “stairway” to Heaven….your lifted heart will feel as though its there already.

Terry Bethea

It all centers around whatever is at the center or core of your existence.

Is it a center of Strength and Truth which outlasts any trend or doubt?
Is it a center of vacillation and capitulation where the latest thing becomes the main thing….
for a while.

In the “everything’s okay” culture we are in there seems to be a wave which carries whatever
tends to be the latest, whatever is “trending”, whatever is the current craving of a few…..
for which the entire populace is supposed to genuflect, bow down to and accept as a new normal.

It may have always been this way in times past….I can only speak for my time.
Gandalf said to Frodo in the initial “Lord of The Rings” segment that …..
“we have to decide what to do with the time given us”.

I think we must decide what to do with this time.
In some ways we have decided…..and it sometimes seems like abdication.

One of the saddest stories of the twentieth century was of a man ….born and in line to be King of the greatest country
in the world at that time….who abdicated his throne.
He changed his mind because of a feeling.
He never could change who he was intended to be…what his genetic make-up had him in line for.
But he changed his mind….and suffered a lesser existence for it.
Some in society said he made a brave decision for love.
Its hard to argue that without seeming coldhearted. Maybe that where much of this started.

May be that it is time to look at that wave which carries the latest “whatever”….
and say STOP.

You cannot change your gender.

What the former decathalon champion is doing….is just dressing up.
In the wrong clothes.
He has changed his mind about what he prefers to look like.
Even if he hormones it up and even if he has “it” removed…he will forever, genetically, be a male.

I have a nephew, who, when he was younger, was dressed up by his two older sisters ….
to look like them. He even put lipstick on once when no one was around…to see what it looked like.

They were children.

He was trying to fit in with his older influential sisters.
It was “dressing up”…..which is what children do.
They play.

This current exercise with the former Olympic Champion is being carried out on television in front of an viewing public….
probably doing so with their chins drawn in in skepticism and their heads going from right to left rather than up and down.
But so few of them want to allow their real thoughts to be uttered for fear of being labeled “intolerant”.

I do not know his heart…..and I will not condemn him…I am no ones judge.
There is, however,  the opportunity to view the actions of another.
And comment.

One cannot change ones gender.
Its not “trans-gender”……Its being TRANS-MINDED.

You CAN change your mind.
You can change your clothes.
You can alter your appearance.
You can put on make-up.

You cannot alter your genetic make-up.
The chromosones in your DNA, placed within you by your parents, dictate your gender.

Mr.Jenner is dressing up.
Or, as the center or core of many lives would say…he is dressing down to a lower level than he was intended.

He is not the only one doing this.

For if we vacillate and capitulate from the Intention of our lives…..we are all acting trans-minded.

Abraham did it.
David did it.
Peter did it.

I have done it.

I have “dressed-up” in clothes not intended for me.

There have been many instances in this, my time, where I have acted out, dressed-up and put on behaviors
not intended for me and made decisions affected by that wave which brings whatever seems right at the moment.

I should have told myself to STOP.

As I have grown up from being a child, I have aimed to listen to the VOICE which has been gifted within me
to be steady and strong against those waves which always come. I have heard it…….”STOP!”

I hear IT now more than ever, yet there are still times, when, if I act exclusive of that INFLUENTIAL VOICE…I fail.
Its not a lifestyle choice though.

I may stumble in something…but as understanding and wisdom are exercised, I am led back to the center of my existence.

In a very important piece of work a man named James said…..
“a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways”….he is “carried about with every wind (or wave) of doctrine”.

Mr.Jenner….. me…and whoever acts  “double-minded” is unstable in their ways.
Instability precedes breaking, failing and falling.

What is at the core of your existence?

Is it a fad or fashionable wave carrying a trend?

Or is it a Rock which has no instability, being the same yesterday, today and tomorrow,
.

With no center, with no compass… we do not know what is true.

You cannot change your gender.
You can change your mind.
You can make it up to look different and change its appearance…..

but there is no changing what is TRUE.

Terry

September, 2015

Like so many other relationships in my life, I first spoke to him in a gymnasium. I was shooting basketball by myself one afternoon at my Church, in 2006. He came walking through to put something away.

As I had heard him sing on Sundays for sometime, I stopped to tell him he really enhanced the services and I received a great deal from his singing.

It grew from there.

After the services once in a while I would speak to him and encourage him. As I knew he was getting a small salary I sometimes shook his hand and had placed money in mine.

The voice I hear inside my heart pushed me toward him.
I was supposed to encourage and prompt him, maybe get involved.

I knew in my “knower” that he had more in store for him than where he was. There were bigger stages from which he would be singing.

Having written a few things throughout my life, after my mother died in 2006 I wrote a song. about her…or about what I had gained from her influence. CJ read the lyrics and i asked him to put them to music. As I sat one day and heard him put notes and sounds to my words I knew what I was to do with and for him.

After getting CJ to agree, he met my nephew, who was and is a recording and mixing engineer.
We then went to Florence/Muscle Shoals where CJ and my nephew, Chris recorded the song I had written and about four songs CJ had put together.

The purpose of the trip was not to get my song done.

There were bigger stages from which CJ would be singing.
This was knowledge which was settled in my mind.

We traveled back to Muscle Shoals again to complete the recordings and I invested the money to get the musicians and get the work done to complete the disc. In my mind, it had to be done.
I probably irritated him at times to get it finished.

It got finished.
It was good.

There was no motive but to get this young man from Georgia on his way to where I was being told he should go.

I believe that is the role we are given when we come into relationships with younger people. If we do not get invested with those we are led or drawn to….we are failing them. I was not going to fail this young man…..for I had grown to love him….and was convinced of his potential.

I was convinced about those bigger stages.

CJ is not in my age bracket nor do we look anything alike.
Yet, there has been an absolute connection between us since we met.
The “businessman”….as he referred to me after our first conversation…and the young singer.
The businessman who was grown up in his life and career and the young man who was getting started and was looking into his future with enormous possibilities.

You could see those possibilities.

His career took a hit in August of 2007. His boss left and he felt his opportunity was about to be shutdown. A couple of days later I was sitting in the Sanctuary, alone, thinking through all the thoughts and emotions of the days before, and CJ walked by.

Coincidence?

Coinsidences are not coincidences when they are too big to be coincidences.

He was down, distraught and devastated. He had been brought to Birmingham by the guy who had just left. He said that he felt his time here was limited and would end soon.

I knew there was more to come for him.

As we talked that day I encouraged him. There had been a sermon preached at some point before that and I quoted a line that was perfectly appropriate. He was saying how he felt and I spoke to him the words….and you have heard this phrase….

“It’s Friday….but Sunday’s coming”.

I repeated that to him several times in the days and weeks following.

Sunday came.

He began to take leadership in the worship services.

Several leaders in town began asking him to sing at different venues.

As we ate lunch at different times I heard about these opportunities and knew they were part of and were preparing him for those larger stages I believed he was to sing from.

Many times as he sang, I was drawn to walk down the aisle and worship not at my seat but from the altar. For the GIFT which was in CJ was more than just his voice….It was God speaking to people…to me…and drawing everyone to Him. That is what worship is….God drawing His people…and His people responding and walking closer to Him.

As he grew in that GIFT and as he grew in the opportunities being presented to him he was getting noticed. He was presented with an opportunity to lead worship at a larger church, out of state…..yet he came to realize that in spite of an attractive offer, it was not the thing for him.

Maturity rising.

When he shared that opportunity with me I knew the larger stages he was to walk on were not far off. I did not want him to go….but that’s why we learn how to walk. When its time to go…after we have learned to walk….we are most definitely to walk toward and into the opportunities being laid out before us.

I care so deeply for this young man, and now for his wife and children. My wife and I have had them in our home at different times. As they were house hunting, my motive was to get them interested in a house near us.

Selfish……?

Absolutely.

I have had nothing to do with his talent. I have had nothing to do with his advance. But, I knew what I WAS to do and that was to invest myself in him, and trust that it was to be productive for him.

I have given rise to no children from my body. Yet, my God has given me the privilege to invest what he has given me in a few people.

CJ is not my biological son. However, from my perspective I consider him a son, spiritually gifted to me by God. The Joy I derive from hearing him exercise the Gift given him draws me into the presence of God. Hearing him now fills me with a fullness which consists of Thankfulness, and Happiness and I cannot imagine any father being more proud of a son.

He is now singing from a very large stage.

He is singing in front of thousands in cities across this country.
He is the worship leader at what I believe is one of, if not the, fastest growing church in America. He has traveled to Australia and Africa and led them in worship. He sings at events where there are thousands in attendance…..drawing them into worship and into the presence of The One Who gave him his gift. When I hear him sing now I want to…and do sometimes …spread my arms out wide and soak in the worship and once in a while I yell….out of that fullness and joy for what I hear and what has occurred for him.

After hearing him be the featured singer last Christmas, I spoke to him afterward.

Or I tried to.

That feeling rose in my throat and welled up in my eyes as I looked at this young man of whom I am so proud and told him…..that those larger stages we had talked about earlier were now under his feet and he was excelling on them.

There are bigger  ones to come.

Terry
August, 2015