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Heaven’s Waiting Room by ACHUCKAllen

I get asked about Heaven regularly. I’m asked about Heaven at every memorial service or funeral, especially as I plan a service with a family. Most of the questions about Heaven are focused on the wants and desires of the party asking. I hear things like, “can they see us down here, after they’ve gone to Heaven?” Or my favorite question about Heaven is this, “what will we do up there?”

To be described by the Word of the Divine as a place with no more sorrow, we have some pretty funky views of Heaven. By the way, I love the art just above. It’s entitled “Heaven’s First Day.”

But this isn’t an effort to drop a nugget or two about my theological underpinnings and the vast amount of information the Scriptures offer about Heaven. This an attempt to see Heaven through the eyes of the people that have gone before us. Here goes:

Arrival: Whew, I made it! That answer was already determined before I drew my last breath on earth. But wow! These gates are indeed made of pearl. How about that?

In the gates: It really was so cool hearing “well done.” I’d hate for you to miss that.

On the streets: So, you know that whole golden street stuff? It’s more than true. It’s not just the streets. It’s the curb, gutter, and sidewalks too.

The walk: On the way to my new eternal house – excuse me – mansion, I chatted with my folks. Man, Mom has all her memory and her hair is in place. And Dad! Just wow! Dad had hair too. Who knew? Seeing the old country preacher that introduced me to Jesus was a hoot. Dude just said, “told ya!”

At the house: I’ve never seen a neighborhood like this before. O my stars. No, really! O my stars! The back porch on this bad boy is about twenty feet from the lake and there are about seven fishing poles all rigged up. Peter can’t get over the fact that I just like to catch the fish, without eating them or selling them. Peter? That dude is a mess. He was telling me that when he reached into the fishes mouth and got the coin to pay his temple tax, Jesus was laughing so hard, his ribs hurt.

My first Sunday: Okay, you cannot imagine the music these folks can crank up. It’s some funky mix of hymns, country, pop, worship and a touch of hip-hop. It all comes together with hundreds of different instruments. Man, it was hoppin!

I could go on and on, but the real big deal about Heaven is that everybody is healthy, happy and at peace with everyone and everything. I love it when Jesus stops by for a little church time. When I see Him and I remember what He did for me, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I wonder if I was filled with that kind of awe when I was on Earth? Neh, I know I couldn’t have been. 

I do know this, whatever you do, don’t miss Heaven! I wouldn’t leave here and return to the messed up earth that I left for anything. Actually, I can’t remember anything about the earth. That’s why this new home has no sorrow, no chemo, no cancer, no handicapped parking spots, or doctors. Did I mention that I can go fishing anytime that I want to?

I’m home, forever, and I love it! Don’t forget these words – Don’t Miss Heaven!

–AChuck

Beaten: By ACHUCKAllen

I’ve been beaten like a yard dog at times in my life, haven’t you? I don’t mean physically, I mean something far worse. I’m talking about getting your soul pummeled like this poor dud in the photo.

Maybe you have been fortunate to have never had your soul whipped and left to die on the side of the road, or worse…left to bleed out in front of the people you cherish.

If life seems to be dragging you through a briar patch covering a few dozen rattlesnakes, which are hanging out with a hand grenade with the pin pulled, then I want to encourage you today.

I’ve offered a fair amount of transparency on this BLOG, but just in case you are new to my writing, here you go!

First, stop expecting folks that go to church to be that much different than the folks selling you a mattress. I am convinced that plenty of church folk wouldn’t know grace from a buzzsaw. I know, I know…Chuck, how can you say that? Hey! I’m a pastor. If anybody knows how cruel church people can be, it’s me! In a very broad view, I think about 40% of folks attending church really want to live more like Jesus, but there are not many folks that are willing to be placed under the scrutiny of the public eye to jump in and help. My best counsel to you on this is: Reset your expectations. Going to church 50 out of 52 weeks in a year isn’t the same as chasing after Jesus and falling a few thousand times as you run. Don’t put your hopes in a class, an author, a pastor, priest,  church, or denomination! Never place your soul in the hands of anything other than Jesus. He is the only real deal I’ve experienced in my 58 years.

Second, take it easy. You haven’t even come close to ruining your life. Are you breathing? Great! Now that you recognize your life, celebrate it! Peace, joy, fulfillment, and hope are found in Christ alone. Don’t settle for the applause of humans. Too much human praise comes with an unhealthy dose of false modesty or hooks your soul and will leave you thinking you are somehow better than somebody. Dude, the only thing that any of us offer this world is the story of Jesus of Nazareth and how He radically changes our life when we offer Him everything in sold out abandonment. 

Third, a wise old man once told me that we are never as good as we think when looking in the mirror, and we are never as bad as when we don’t. 

The cure for people beatings? Three simple steps:

1. Simply ask the Divine to speak some truth to your wounded soul. He might use other folks, music, quietude, or no telling what. He is God, and you are not. Let Him do His thing!

2. Go and serve people in need. If you want to get over the beating that life has given you, serve people in need! If you want to stop being a martyr and want to get out of the beating rut, serve people!

3. Start your day by answering this question – What three things are you grateful for today? Write them down and keep a running list. Don’t get all preacher with it, just write! If you think that you can’t possibly find three things every single day, well, you might have just found the problem.

The universe isn’t conspiring against you. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe is cheering you on. Cheering like a daddy at his first child’s first soccer game. Can’t you hear Him? “That’s my kid! Look at them! That’s my kid!”

Peace, AChuck

WORDS that MATTER by ACHUCKAllen

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me – said no adult, ever! Words are powerful. Powerful enough to move waring countries to peace and peaceful countries to war. They are powerful enough to cause our dreams to be shattered and enough to spur us on toward victory. Words matter.

I had several folks reach out to me regarding a few words that I shared Sunday morning in my teaching on “Why is Jesus the Biggest Deal Ever?”

I offered these words about priorities:
“The last thing one knows is what to put first.” —Pascal.

I offered these words regarding the phrase that describes the heart of Sugar Hill Church, WELCOME HOME:
I earnestly believe that the church should roll the red carpet out for all people…and I mean all people. If you are searching or saved, black, brown, or white, gay or straight, sure or unsure, well or sick, peace-filled or pain-filled, able-bodied or differently abled, no matter how many moms or dads or chromosomes or failures or successes or questions or dollars, divorces or houses, boats, things or how many kids you have, no matter where you were born, or where you were raised, my friend – YOU ARE WELCOME HERE.

I offered these words regarding The Bible, or as we say, The Bible is a Very Big Deal:
I truly believe that Bible is:

Both a guardrail and a freedom trail.
Both a liberator and a life director.
Both a history lesson and a promise book.
Both an instrument of encouragement and a management tool.
Both hope and correction.
And is inspired by God to teach us History, direct our Present and offer Hope for our Tomorrows!

I offered many words pointing to the passionate belief that Jesus is the Biggest Deal, but I’ll focus on this one thought:
HE NEVER ASKED US TO BECOME SOMETHING BEFORE HE LOVED US…HE SIMPLY LOVES US! “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”  Romans 5:8


When we gather up the thousands of words that we will use today, let’s remember the powerful words of hope, peace, fulfillment, and love that Jesus offered in Him: “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.”

Amen, Amen, and Amen
AChuck

Many of you have asked why I have been so scarce in my BLOG writing over the past month. Thank you for asking. It’s good to know a lot of folks missed me. I’ve been involved in another writing project that I’m very excited about and earnestly, I’ve been a bit worn out. Thanks for your kindness in asking. 

If You’re Happy and You Know It by ACHUCKAllen

Do you remember singing that song as a kid? Man, it could go on for days, but the whole song was great. Although it might have been a question, it was quite a deliberate order. It said IF YOU ARE HAPPY, DO NOT KEEP IT TO YOURSELF, GoofBall!

It sounded happy and easy and kid-like…“You know what? If you are happy your face and your whole you ought to show it…Right?”

I’m not sure when I stopped singing that song, but it was way too early to stop it!

I know folks that haven’t been happy since they were in kindergarten. I know others that once were happy, but haven’t felt happy for decades. And I know folks that have that fake happy kinda giggle that makes me want to puke. Sorry. As someone said to me recently, “you know Chuck, you don’t have to be that transparent.”

My point is, that I have listened to preachers and teachers speak of life as a Christ-follower as if they were terminally in pain. That as a Christian, fun was not to be considered and my favorite is, well if you didn’t drive that car, you could feed 14,213 Haitian orphans each month.

Let me get control of my rant for just a sec………OKAY.

I recognize that this life has its fair share of heartache. I know the pain that this life can dish out. We all have seasons in our life that just beat the fool out of us. But for goodness sakes! If there is no joy in your life STOP. Seriously STOP! Stop breathing and watch what happens. Stop eating and see what happens. Stop looking at the sun setting over the lake, stop listening to music, stop watching a ballgame – just STOP!

This weird planet, full of weird people can frustrate the crud out of you. But should you choose to sing that little song while you drive the kids to the park, or on the way to work, or even better, as you lay in the Seaside sun with a little umbrella in your glass…just bless your heart, but sing it and mean it. Make the people next to you wildly uncomfortable and sing your guts out. Try to sing it like Lynyrd Skynyrd, or Billy Ray Cyrus. Maybe try it like Bono or Ed Sheran. Put your own little funky style on it and let er rip, tater chip! But sing it!

Then stop and say out loud, three things that you are grateful for. If you aren’t fired-up and ready to get a little happy on, well…contact Beth and get on my calendar. You might just be dead. Come on! Get Fired Up! It’s Wednesday. Who doesn’t love a great Wednesday?

Happiness is found in peace, not in a purchase.
Happiness is a choice, not a chore.
Happiness is hope, not a handout.
Happiness is a mindset, not a feeling.
Happiness is yours if you want it enough to trust the Divine with it.
Happiness is contentment and a passion for greater contentment,

If You’re Happy & You Know It – Get Fired Up!

–AChuck

I Can Only Imagine by ACHUCKAllen

The first time that I heard Mercy Me’s breakout triple platinum song was at a little boy’s funeral. Just two weeks prior to that, I’d been asked to come and anoint little Carter Martin with oil and pray for him in the Children’s Healthcare cancer ward. This kid was such a special little boy.

I recall sitting in that funeral for this great kid and was so saddened that I truly was moved beyond a touch of emotion. If there has ever been a what the heck moment for a pastor, it was this little boy and his family suffering.

I was jarred awake from my sad countenance as my wife leaned over to me and said she had heard that song on the radio and asked if I would be sure that it was sung at her memorial service. And sure enough, in just a few short months, Aaron Keyes played that song just before I preached her funeral.

My dear friend, Jay Strack, who had flown from London to be there for her service, only to get back on a plane and return with no rest asked if my daughters and I might want to escape for a few days before trying to figure out what we would do next. On our ride home from Orlando, “I Can Only Imagine” came on the radio. All three of us made the same motion to turn the radio off – it was just too soon.

Thirteen years later I’ve preached a few hundred funerals and heard the beautiful song sung in honor of a loved one or friend dozens of times. It no longer disturbs me to hear it. As a matter of fact, it comforts me. My life has been a seemingly never-ending series of challenges and heartaches. But I love my life! Jenny rescued my sorry behind in 2007, and Sugar Hill finished that process when they foolishly allowed me to become their pastor in 2011. I am at such a great place of peace and hope. A peace and a Hope that has completely changed the very nature of my being.

This evening, Jenny and I went to see “I Can Only Imagine.” I had pretty low expectations for yet another cheez-wiz Christian film. My expectations were completely blown away. After watching the story behind the song, I was no longer thinking the song as the funeral song that it had become to me. I saw and heard it as an offering of praise and hope.

Maybe you heard that beautiful song and equated it with a funeral song. If so, get to the theatres and see the film.

“Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine”
–Bart Millard

Peace, AChuck

You Can Do This by AChuckAllen

Hey there! I’m back after a two week break from writing. I’ve been working on a very exciting project and had just a few things going on over the Easter season.

What would you do if you knew you wouldn’t fail? What might you attempt if you knew you wouldn’t be laughed at or scrutinized? Great questions, right?

I was asked to speak at a mission agency some time ago on a subject that someone must have thought I was a subject matter expert.

F A I L U R E!!

When I started writing that talk, I discovered how adept that I was in recounting story after story of my failures.

I had some doozies. But I’ve also learned that life’s greatness lessons are learned through times of great failures.

I’ve never really been afraid of failing. But I have never enjoyed people laughing at my failures.

I can be pretty insecure and often pretty self focused. By the way, those two characteristics will cause you to earn your own PhD in failure as well.

Here are three sure fire ways to move past a failure or a fear.

1. Own it! If you fail, own it as your own doctoral class in “I’m another step closer to success.” Don’t look for excuses, look for what you now know to refuel you and either let it go, or dive in again.
2. Seek wisdom and pray big. What you just learned will get washed away in the busyness of your life if you don’t aggressively seek to know what lessons are to be learned – NOW!
3. Build a new plan. Thenattack it with a resolve to learn more, plow on and achieve success. Should you fail again, remember…You are that much closer to success.

You are not alone. Lucille Ball was fired for not being funny. Michael Jordan was cut from his Middle School basketball team. Walt Disney was terminated for not being creative enough. Thomas Edison was told by his 5th grade teacher to quit school as he was “too stupid to learn.”

More importantly, the Divine promised that you could do anything with Him. He never promised it would happen in your timeframe, but He did promise it in His perfect timing.

Whatever you are chasing, go out and kill it today!

Isn’t that really what Easter is all about? The Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus is the remembrance and celebration of the 2nd chance and the next chance!

You can do this! But you can’t do it alone!

–AChuck