The Family that Spades Together...

We had this pit in our yard because of a huge red oak tree. It was an old landscaping flaw done way before we moved in. I was afraid it was going to erode away the whole backyard, so I ordered a load of dirt. I was at the dentist's when the dirt arrived (for a double root canal, see the blog on pain... BTW, it was no big deal. Root canals are not what they used to be.) Anyway, the dirt hauler dumped the pile of dirt about ten yards from the pit. He said that was as close as he could get. So, we borrowed shovels from friends and neighbors and began shoveling it in.

It was tough, hard work, but I think it was good for us to work on a project together. I was proud of my wife and kids for their hard work. We filled the kid's wagon, a shovel at a time, and dumped it in.

We finally got some relief, though, from Larry Jones, a parishioner from church. He brought out his tractor and finished it for us. He did in about three hours what would have taken us a couple of weeks to do. You can see the before and after pictures here.

The One That Got Away

We went to my grandparents' place yesterday. They live on a lake so the kids got in some fishing. Between them they caught about 10 small fish -- here's a picture of the first two they caught. I had the swell (isn't that a great old word; I'm a swell guy with a head to match...) job of pinching the worms into pieces and baiting the hooks -- and taking the fish off the hooks when they got caught.

The water was so clear we could see fish swimming around beneath the peer. A couple of really big black bass were cruising around and both kids hooked one of them -- but each time, it got free. One of them bit right through my daughter's line and took hook, line and sinker.

I'm sure it was a whopper, but for now, it's just the one that got away.

Free Youth Ministry Discipleship Resources

If you are looking for solid, dynamic material to teach your youth group or Sunday School class, give these E-books a try! Sales of the paper versions approached ten thousand books across the country -- in every state -- and all around the world. We sold out of the paperback books, but still have them in the form of PDF files. So, we're giving them to anyone who would like to have them.

The books are: Sharpen Your Acts, Yikes! What Am I Teaching Wednesday Night?, Yikes Again!, and Ground Your Faith.

Sharpen Your Acts is a 10-week program where your students practice their faith. It includes prayer practice, witnessing practice, scripture memory practice, self-esteem practice, and much more. Under your guidance, students actually PRACTICE the tenets of the faith. Sessions are about an hour each.

Yikes and Yikes Again each has 26 Bible stories (6 month's of Wednesdays) with great application for your students, and activities for your Wednesday night program. Yikes was our best-seller in bookstores before it sold out. Let us provide your Bible Study while you minister to your students!

Ground Your Faith is a 10-week program that deals with issues that all students need to discuss, including "Why Can't we Look at God?", "Evidence for God's Existence", "Evidences for the Resurrection of Jesus", "Walking by Faith", "How We Got the Bible", "Having a Heart for Worship", and much more. It has handouts, discussion guides and plenty of scripture.

If you would like one or more of these E-books to use in your ministry, just click on the books you want and they should open as PDF files on your computer. Click "File" and "Download" to download them.

Why a Loving God Allows Pain

I just found out I need a root canal. Fun huh? They prescribed some pain medicine for me to take now -- and also to take when they work me over.
You want to know the funny part? I drove to the dentist’s office and walked right in the front door of my own volition. No one threatened or forced me. I wanted to go because my tooth was hurting and the only way to stop the pain was to go through more pain.
Do you see what I am saying? An oxymoron? Perhaps, but it might help us understand how God can be in control, but allow awful things to happen in his world.
Often, we think we would be happiest if all of our troubles went away. We envision the perfect life as one devoid of difficulty. But that’s simply not true. A life without challenge is not a life worth living. There is no victory without conflict. How boring would it be if you knew your favorite team could never lose? The games would be meaningless and the victories hollow. An abundant life is only possible when it contains conflicts, difficulties, challenges and heartache. That’s the price we pay for living with the possibility.
Don’t get me wrong, I would never in a million years compare the ache of a tooth to the pain a parent feels when she loses a child. I would rather sit in the dentist’s chair the rest of my life than lose a child in a school shooting.
What I am saying is that God knows in his infinite wisdom that we must go through some sorrow now in order to live pain-free in eternity. If he hadn’t given us free will, our love for him would have never been real. But the price of true love and free will is living in a fallen world. You can’t have one without the other. If we could, God would have gone that route to begin with. If Jesus could have avoided the agony of the cross, he would have done so. It is comforting to know we have a God who walked in our shoes and can emphasize with us.
God never promised us a life without suffering. He said, instead, that we would die and that we would have distress. You knew that in the gym, no pain equals no gain. You knew that hunger pains were necessary for a successful diet. You knew the sting of childbirth was necessary to experience the joys of parenthood. Pain, then, has value if it is for a purpose.
The Bible teaches that God plots out our lives before we are born. If we live a century, that’s his plan for us; if we are cut down by cancer or a madman, then our lives stand as a warning to all that life on earth is short and there are no guarantees. Our death would remind others that we must be ready to meet our maker today. Or, it may bring about social change or do some other good. Every life has purpose, no matter how long it lasts. And yes, God even uses evil people for his ultimate goals.
Careful, though, I’m not saying God causes people to commit evil, but I believe he uses everything we do, good or bad, for his final will. In other words, either God is in control or he is not, and I say he is. How he remains in control while allowing us free will in a sinful world is a mystery that I will never fully understand. That’s okay, Paul couldn’t quite see it either. But life without that hope would be like going to the dentist with no anticipation of the pain ever ending.

Supernatural versus Anti-natural

This is an e-mail I received from my brother, Kevin, this week. Kevin and I like to discuss the deeper issues of the universe. I loved this essay:

"I wanted to talk to you about the distinction C.S. Lewis makes between supernatural and anti-natural. It is difficult to define outside of giving examples. The Bible describes supernatural acts of God (miracles) that may be unnatural, but not anti-natural. Lewis says in mythology, trees talk, ships become goddesses, men become literal beasts, and so on.
In these cases, were they to occur, we would realize we were being invaded by a power - but an alien power - not a power in keeping with nature. In particular, God's "style" is that he does not so defy nature in his acts that he is alien to it. All belongs to him and his acts tend to reflect that he is the God of nature.
When Jesus healed legs they still walked naturally; restored eyes saw naturally; the manna came with the dew and literally spoiled if not used. The miracle, once it occurs, becomes part of the stream of nature much like a branch thrown in a river - it continues downstream. Lazarus was resurrected but he died again, etc.
What about Balaam's donkey? That was more in line with a theophany, not a nature miracle as such. God clearly "opened the mouth" of the donkey, but the text says it was the Angel of the Lord communicating in this unusual way. Same with the burning bush. If the donkey were portrayed as understanding what it was saying - that would in fact be anti-natural.
I sensed this several years ago but did not know what to call it. I gave the example of God's making a gigantic mosquito to suck up all the water in the flood. Certainly God could do that, but he doesn't seem to do the preposterous. A donkey with human reasoning, a man who is immortal in this earthly body, and a moon-sized mosquito are all monsters. God doesn't make monstrosities."

Jumping and Digging

We got the kids a trampoline for Christmas this year and have all had a great time jumping in between the raindrops this winter and spring. But we couldn’t help but notice something strange. Our resident dachshund, Jello, has dug up the whole back yard this year. There aren’t any moles out there, either, and I couldn’t figure it out. But my son, the GT genius, saw what was happening. Jello was digging furiously every time the kids jumped. He was picking up the vibrations of the jumping -- and going after some imagined subterranean critter.
I don’t know how to solve this, so for now all we can do is watch the confused pup dig up the yard every time we jump.

Stand Firm and Bow Your Neck

Stand firm. Bow your neck. These are two of the phrases my brother and I remember our dad saying to us when we were still living at home. Kevin, my brother, sent me an email this week with the “top ten sayings from Pops”.
Most of the sayings on the list were pretty standard fatherly stuff like, “Read everything you can get your hands on.” Some of the sayings applied only to us, since we worked for him at his radio station: “When public safety is at stake, interrupt all programming.” Some were downright funny, like “Don't go in there; you might walk up on an alien!”
But Kevin’s number one saying was “stand firm.” That’s some good advice, and if I recall, he said it when we were teenagers. He was admonishing us to take a stand for our beliefs, our rights, our convictions – and to stick with it and not crumble or waffle. Kevin and I are in our mid forties and I hope we are still taking that advice.
My number one saying from Dad is “bow your neck.” He said this to me the day I drove home from Texas A&M after only one day. I didn’t think I could do it and needed him to be strong and send me back down there – which is exactly what he did. When he said it, I got the picture in my mind of putting my head down and shoving forward. The advice could be for facing any difficult task. You clinch your fists, bow your neck, and push ahead with all of your strength.
I went back to Aggieland the next day and have the ring and degree to prove it. If you know me, you know I suffer from homesickness. For some reason, it always takes us two days to drive to the mountains, but we get home in just one day. Once we cross the Texas border, we’re nearly home, even if it’s six hundred miles away!
What struck me as interesting about Kevin’s list and my addition is that Dad said these things after we were pretty much grown. Dads, if you think your children need you when they are young, I’m here to tell you they need you just as much as they get older. Your help and advice will never no longer be needed.
It is terribly important for young children to have their dads around, but that importance never wanes. Experts say children’s personalities are pretty much set by the time they are seven, so dads need to be there in the formative years. But pre-teens face difficult social issues and they need their dads to be alert. Then, teenagers are forming decisions that will affect the rest of their lives – and you guessed it, they need their dads to be part of that.
Often, it is during those teen years that the communication breaks down between fathers and children, but that is a tragedy because kids need their dads as much as ever. To say dads are no longer needed is like picking a wheel on a car and saying it is not as important as the others. Children need their dads during every phase of their lives.
To this day, I hear my dad telling me to bow my neck when the going gets tough, and I must admit I’ve already used that phrase on my own son. I want my children to stand firm on their convictions and I want them to bow their necks and face the challenges of life. And I want to be right behind them when they do.

Passing Down Your Faith

I’ve heard parents say they are going to let their kids make up their own minds about matters of faith. Newsflash! Our children are going to make up their own minds no matter what we do.“I don’t want to push religion on my kids like my parents did me,” I’ve heard. That sounds like a good idea; no one wants anything pushed on them. “So, we don’t go to church or talk about God in our home.” Here’s a reality check about matters of faith. We all form our own opinions and make up our own minds about it. My faith is not a clone of any of my parents’ or grandparents’ beliefs. As far as I know, in fact, I’m the first Harris from our family who is a preacher. But I grew up seeing that faith was important to my folks and that became the foundation of everything I am. That’s the way it works: children see what is important to their parents and emulate it. Notice I didn’t say that children hear what their parents say is important, but I said children see what really is important to their parents. Talk is cheap, but actions reveal the truth. It’s our actions that show who we really are and what we really believe.In fact, talking about faith, but not making it a priority can do more harm than good. It is the inoculation effect. To inoculate a person from the flu, he is given a weak dose of the flu virus. The body makes antibodies and fights it off, then those antibodies keep him from getting the full illness. It’s wonderful in medicine, but terrible in matters of religion. Some children are given a weak dose of faith from their parents and they build up spiritual antibodies against it so they are never infected by the real thing.Or, if a parent shows his children that faith is simply not important to him, that can effect those kids’ spiritual development the rest of their lives. We all begin our journey with the basic beliefs of our parents. Eventually, faith must become our own, and that’s okay, but we start with the foundation laid by our heritage. Every child knows what is most important to his parents from a very early age. My kids know where my heart is. I couldn’t hide it from them if I wanted to. They know what makes me tick and what ticks me off. They know if I believe in God and what I believe about him. They know, in fact, if I revere God, and they know if I seek his face or call on him in times of trouble. They know if my faith is important enough to modify my behavior. They know whether or not I am willing to give any money to God. They know whether I see faith as a bother or a wonderful gift. They know how I feel about church, religion, and my relationship with God. And your children know every one of these things about you, too – maybe better than you do. Am I pushing my faith on my children? No, but they know exactly how important it is to me. Am I trying to push my faith on you by writing this column? No, you’ll make up your own mind. I’m just trying to remind all of us that our children are watching. If your faith is important to you, don’t be ashamed to show it to them. Believe me, they already know.

Snow Day!

We enjoyed a rare snow day Saturday, April 7th. Not only is it rare for it to snow in April, but it never snows in Palestine. It was the day before Easter Sunday and we stood out in it, catching flakes on our tongues and drinking hot coffee and hot chocolate.
I took a lot of pictures of the snow on the bluebonnets and Indian paint brushes.

Evidence for The Resurrection

Easter Sunday is the day we Christians celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But did he really rise again? If he didn't, then he was a liar – or a madman. If he didn't rise again, then our faith is useless and there is no life after death. The whole Bible is a lie, in fact, if Jesus didn't rise again. So, is there any real evidence that the resurrection of Jesus actually happened – or is it just a myth? I want to share some of the solid evidence that Jesus’ resurrection really did happen:
First, the reliability of the Scriptures. Did you know that we have more than five thousand manuscripts of the Greek New Testament? Some manuscripts date to within 100 years of the autographs (the original writings) and all agree with each other. (Yes, there are minor differences, but there are so many copies available we can look at them and get a very accurate picture of what the New Testament writers said.) What this means is that the Bible is extremely reliable as an historical document.
Second, we have writings of historians outside the Bible that corroborate the stories within it. These historians, like Pliny the Younger, Ptolemy, Tacitus and Josephus, not only mention kings, governors, dates and places found in the Bible, they also mention the disciples and Jesus himself.
Third, the empty tomb. The Gospel writers all mention that the tomb was empty Easter Sunday morning. If there had been a body there, the Romans or Jewish leaders could have shown it and that would have ended Christianity right then and there. Remember, the tomb was well guarded. Also, in the Bible, women saw the empty tomb first – that would never happen in Jewish fiction of that day, so it must have been true!
Fourth, Paul wrote in First Corinthians that 500 different people saw Jesus after his resurrection. Paul wrote this about twenty years after the resurrection and points out that most of them were still alive and could verify what they saw. No one disputes the validity and historicity of Paul or First Corinthians, and 500 people do not have the same hallucination.
Fifth, Jesus fulfilled more than 400 prophecies from the Old Testament, proving he was the Messiah and that the Scripture can be trusted to be true.
Sixth, why would the early Christians have celebrated Communion and Baptism if Jesus had remained dead? History teaches that the Christians began celebrating The Lord’s Supper within twenty years of Jesus’ resurrection. Communion commemorates the sacrificial death of Jesus by celebrating the blood he shed and how his body was broken. Why would they do this if Jesus’ death had been meaningless?  Further, the early Christians changed the meaning of baptism from a Jewish cleansing ritual to mean “buried with Christ and raised to life with him.” (Romans 6:4).
Seventh, why would the disciples die for a lie? We see in the Gospels that they were basically cowards. Why did these timid lambs suddenly change into the lions of the faith? Yes, people die for what they believe is true, but people do not die for what they know is NOT true. History says all of the disciples died for their faith except John.
Eighth, the emergence and growth of the church. The church started with a small rag tag group of mostly poor people who were murdered and persecuted for their belief. Within two hundred years, it conquered Rome. We name our dogs Nero and Caesar and our children John and Paul. Thousands of churches and changed lives stand as a testament to the resurrection.
Ninth, the conversion of skeptics. Scores of non-believers, including Jesus’ own brothers, Paul and atheists, have put their faith in Christ after seeing him alive or examining the evidence.
Finally, the ongoing encounters with Jesus today. Millions of us throughout history have had a conversion experience. We know Jesus is alive because we have felt, known and experienced him. This is the good news: that God came to earth, redeemed us and can be experienced by us. This Sunday morning, remember, we don’t celebrate the good life of a dead man, we celebrate the resurrection of a living Savior who made us, loves us, and wants to know us.

Could God Heal an Amputee?

Could God Heal an Amputee? This question is one of the latest being asked by atheists and skeptics. They say that God could prove he exists, once and for all, by restoring someone's lost limb. They point out that millions of Christians pray for healing every day, but nothing "irrefutable" like such a restoration has ever been verified. Every prayer answered, they say, can be explained by natural forces. In my life, I've seen God do many wonderful and remarkable things, but I must admit, they all have at least a seed of doubt that they could have occurred without divine intervention. I've prayed for hundreds of people who got better, but don't people get better all the time — some without being prayed for? So, the skeptics want an irrefutable, verifiable miracle. I will submit that even if they were presented one, they wouldn't believe it. They would claim the photos were altered or the video was fake. What would it take to convince them? How about this: God appears as a man, walks among us, claims to be God and performs miracles to prove it, including his own resurrection. That should do it and that is exactly what he did!What skeptics really want is for God to appear in the sky today and show his face. He did that already. He is not going to return for every generation. He was born once and died once, fulfilling more than 450 Old Testament prophesies.We have the witness of the apostles, who were eyewitnesses to his life and resurrection. They saw him, heard him, touched him. They wrote down what they saw and we have their record. We can know that record, the New Testament, is accurate because each word has apostolic authority, early church verification, and an enormous amount of copies. Is there a seed of doubt about this? Sure, the passage of two thousand years does that, but the evidence is on our side. When John the Baptist had doubts about Jesus being the Messiah, Jesus told him to examine the evidence (Matthew 11: 2 - 5). God invites us to examine the evidence to this very day, and it is more than enough to support our faith.God does answer prayers. He does remarkable things. But he has chosen not to reveal himself again in an empirical, irrefutable, undoubtable way. Perhaps it is because he wants us to have faith in him. He said in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to please him without it. We live in a fallen world and God is a rewarder of those who seek him. He has veiled himself so that only the humble will find him. That's the way he wants it right now and that settles it. In heaven, there will be no shadow of doubt, but on earth the righteous will walk by faith — and faith exists only where doubt is a possibility.For those of us who believe, God is as present as the air itself. We experience him as real as any friend. We see him answer prayers and think nothing of it. Sometimes we feel let down, sure, when prayers are not answered like we thought they should have been. But when we realize that all things work together for our own good — and that means everything causes us to become more like Christ, a man familiar with suffering — and when we realize the joy of seeing God glorified in our weaknesses — our faith is restored. Oh, and don't worry, God will show his face again just like the skeptics require, but when he does, he will not be a meek and mild Savior who dies, but a conquering king who reigns forever.