AChuck's Top 10

The world has gone all the way over the hill in its idiocy, cruelty, and incivility!

I refuse to watch the hearings regarding Judge Kavanaugh or Dr. Ford. Not because they aren’t important, but rather because of the sheer foolishness in the conversations. PLEASE don’t get me wrong. I do not want to become another voice in a crowded space of terminally certain people screaming at this process or these people.

I do, however, wish to point out that somehow, someway we have become bullhorns full of often foolish assumptions, attitudes, and narratives that leave no room for civility, decency or gracious leadership.

I’ve never met Dr. Ford and I’ve never met Judge Kavanaugh. I do not know whether he or she over-served themselves in high school, college, or in their present lives.

I do know that both of these people seem to have become pawns in a whirlwind of binary thought focused on party lines. And friend, that’s a shame.

Dr. Ford is probably a credible person that has had a challenging and gut-wrenching experience. Judge Kavanaugh is probably a credible person that has now had a gut-wrenching experience himself. Neither of these folks is ideal or perfect, I’m sure. My soul hurts for them both. They both have been sucked up into a funnel cloud of anger, resentment, incivility, and hate. I’ll bet that both of them would love to go back a couple of months and have a mulligan. But that isn’t going to happen.

This divided loyalist party line foolishness must stop! We cannot continue down this nasty slope of finger-wagging, name calling, and party line dogma that is currently the norm. Not just in DC, but in every area of our life!

The only thing I know to do personally is to want to want to be a better man. A better follower of Jesus, and seek to not let my heart and my soul follow the easy road to sarcasm, incivility, cruel intentions and angry actions. I need to work on me.

God help us if we ever give in to walking the path of critical, mean-spirited conversation regarding everything. I see it in politics, business, families, leadership and yes, in the church.

Surely we are better than all that, aren’t we?

Maybe you are wondering how to start correcting your own voice, attitude or assumptions. Here are three suggestions that I promise to work on with you:

1. TAKE A LONG LOOK IN THE MIRROR and compile a short list of not more than 3 things that you would like to correct. Maybe it’s a temper or an attitude. Maybe it’s a critical spirit or an envious heart. Ask the Divine to point out the truth in any of these areas. WRITE THEM DOWN! Then assess yourself each day for the next week on a scale of 1-10. “1” is you totally blew it. “10” is you fought that dragon and you are killing it. Here’s a suggestion – You are rarely on either fringe, but you should always be moving forward.
2. STOP NEGATIVE LANGUAGE! No matter how you may think or feel about something, recognize that just because we think it, doesn’t always make it so. Negative talk to others leaves no room for mercy, grace, wisdom or genuine blessing to become a part of the cure. STOP IT! Stop the negative talk, both to yourself and to others as well.
3. READ THROUGH THE GOSPELS with a slow, note-taking, methodical read. I promise you that the hate speech that is now our norm can be whisked aside to make room for learning more intently the truths and teachings of Jesus. He is where we will feel a serious respite from the barrage of the shouting masses, regardless of which side they come from.

If we are to find our way out of this pit of foolishness, it will be a result of the people of faith ceasing to engage the foolery.

Take a look at the words used in Proverbs 26:4; “Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.“

If you would like another word on civility, just click HERE on this BLOG:

–AChuck

I can’t dance, but I convince myself that I can occasionally. Don’t you just bust out a groove thing and dance sometimes? I do! It’s usually when I am cleaning our main floor. I ask Alexa (Amazon Echo) to play some Sly and the Family Stone and just crank it up and dance to the music, dance to the music! (See what I did right there?)

And then, there are times that I lose my pastoral inhibitions and bust out in public – just watch. WAIT! Before you click on the play button below, be sure there are no children in the room. This is not pretty!

The thing about dancing is that it’s a great equalizer.  How many people do you know that don’t look silly dancing? We all do. There’s always that person or that couple that really shows off because they took classes. Come on, man! The beauty of dancing isn’t Dancing with the Stars, it’s in losing your fear and insecurities and just dancing!

Life is hectic, stress-filled and can seem overwhelming most of the time. But how we respond to life’s challenges determines how well we will handle the next challenge. We are all in one of three stages of life. We are in a mess, just getting out of a mess, or preparing for the next mess. I am convinced that most of us would truly be happier, healthier and more content if we would just let go occasionally!

I’ve spent most of my life attempting to achieve everybody else’s plan for my life. When I set my course to the true north found on the compass of the Divine, I started to dance to the music, I found peace, fulfillment, and laughter playing a much bigger role in my day to day life. I still find myself in a mess, or just coming out of a mess, but I don’t linger there. I have learned that when I “just dance”, both literally and figuratively,  I significantly shorten the seasons of struggle. When I let my soul dance, I am worshipping in a spirit of gratitude, praising in a spirit of joy, trusting with great hope, and loving without selfishness. When I dance literally, I look ridiculous, but in that moment, I’m John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

Let your soul dance today and get your groove thing on, as you sway to the rhythms of grace. Turn you hang ups and fears loose and enjoy the journey. When you do, you’ll discover that you are encouraging everyone you connect with…even if they use your dance video to get a few laughs!

Go ahead! Let your soul dance today!

–AChuck

I’m a Liberal?

I’ll never forget it. A couple sat in my office last year and shared their many grievances with me. The grievances included a few things that I’ve heard before. Things like, you are too casual, the music is too loud, you aren’t deep enough…you know, the usual preacher stuff. And then it happened! I’d never heard my name associated with this statement, “You know what you’re problem is? You are a Liberal!” Well, how bout that? I never knew that.

I rarely feel the need to defend the usual preacher stuff, but now it got real all up in here! My immediate response wasn’t what they imagined or what I imagined, for that matter. Without much thought, I declared, “Thank You!” Again, how bout that?

If your version of liberal includes the following, then yes, I am a proud, card-carrying liberal: Caring for hungry kids, helping kids break the curse of poverty by helping them graduate, helping single parents, orphans, widows and breaking the sinful attitudes of bigotry and racism, then yes…I am a liberal. If you mean that by not screaming and picketing against people that don’t agree with me, then yes, I am indeed a liberal. If not teaching on the millions of things that you find wrong with other people and asking you to look within your own heart is liberal, then wow, I am a liberal. If the statement that I believe the Bible is a BIG DEAL, that Jesus is the BIGGEST DEAL, and living that means we will naturally desire to SERVE PEOPLE IN NEED is liberal, then I am proud to be a liberal. If you mean that being a liberal means that we welcome anybody and everybody to worship with us, then, by all means, put me in that camp. If you mean that being a liberal includes living life with open hands, broken hearts and well-worn knees, then I long to be more liberal.

I would love to be a part of a church that is liberal in love, grace, mercy, compassion, generosity, kindness, acceptance, truth without hate, purpose without predetermined agendas, and neighbors without regard to race. I’d love to pastor a church that determined that if we could get Jesus in the right priority of our lives, we will get the rest of life’s decisions right as well. Let us all be willing to be liberal in our worship and in our desire to live more like Christ.

Let us all be willing to be liberal in caring for single parents, pregnant teens, immigrants, orphans, impoverished families and hungry and hurting people. Let us be willing to be liberal in our love for one another, liberal in holding our tongue when tempted to cast our hatred on people that we do not understand or cannot empathize with.

Liberal is a term we often use for folks that simply do not agree with us. Let’s learn to be liberal in our gratitude for what we have, gracious in our actions, sacrificial in our giving, and passionate in our service to the Divine and to the rest of His creation. How about being liberal in our concern for sharing the message of The Gospel with rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight, old and young, Jew and Gentile, man or woman, and even liberal and conservative. Here’s a thought: Let’s be liberal in our willingness to stop the insanity of right and left bickering and foolishness.

I know, I know, I’m truly a well camouflaged progressive conservative in my day job, and a Jesus loving, liberal in my heart. So bring it on! Let’s do this Liberal in Love Thing and Change the World!

Go in Peace, AChuck

Heart Attack with ACHUCKAllen

During the first week of January this year I wound up in the Emergency Room. I had problems catching my breath, my chest was in pain, my left arm could feel that pain, and I was sweating profusely. I had just finished speaking at one of our local schools and Jenny sent my assistant, Beth to pick me up and deliver me to the ER. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. But, of all the women on the planet, I have learned to listen to both of them and got into Beth’s Tahoe like a little boy that had just been given detention for fighting. I use that illustration as an example that I have no problems relating with.

Once in the ER, the first concern that the nurses and technicians have is “are you having a heart attack, or have you had a heart attack.” My EKG was wonky, my BP high and my breathing was shallow. Add that to the fact that I am in my late 50’s, still overweight, and live in a tension-filled role and you have the perfect candidate for a heart problem.

After multiple tests, screens and scans, it was determined that I should have a Heart Catheterization to determine what was going on. When the cardiologist said, I think you will probably need at least 2 bypass corrections, it got real. All of a sudden, all those double cheeseburgers and biscuits with gravy had come back to haunt me! There is no such thing as privacy in a heart cath. Stuff gets shaved, taped, prepped and left uncovered that completely leave you in a weird situation, but hey, it’s your heart.

As the heart cath was ending, the tech looked at me and gave me the 2 thumbs up sign. I had no idea if he was telling me good, you are healthy, or awesome, we get to bill you thousands more for open heart surgery. About 30-minutes later the cardiologist stopped by and opened the file. He read through some notes and looked up at me and Jenn, only to say, “Your heart is shockingly healthy.” He seemed a bit disappointed since I clearly was a candidate for a heart attack. Once they determined my heart was fine, and in spite of the fact that I still didn’t feel well, they couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.

When I look at the challenges in our country right now, I think she is in the middle of a heart attack. Filthy, nasty, deceitful politics, race wars, inflation, pornography, poverty, fatherlessness, fragile economies, massive debt, and we haven’t even gotten to Russia, Isis, Boko Haram, Sudan, Cuba, Haiti, and immigration. We could go on and on with this list, but at some point, something has to change. Every counselor on the planet has learned the value of these words, “Nothing Changes, Until Something Changes.”

If we could treat these problems one at a time, we would want to know the symptoms, the family history, the systemic challenges created by each, and we would want to start running invasive testing that would allow us to see deeper into the problem.We would order blood work, x-rays, CT scans, Pet scans, sonograms and eventually a heart catheterization. And this time, there would be no 2 thumbs up. There would be no evaluation that would sound remotely like, “Your heart is shockingly healthy.”

This diagnoses would be that our planet has a heart problem, a neglected heart attack, and is dying, one artery and one beat at a time. Pick the issue, any issue and when put it through the gauntlet of testing and scrutiny, you’ll find that its root cause is one thing – A MATTER OF THE HEART!

Race, radical Islamic terrorists, economics, education, politics, government, faith, immigration…just pick one or pick 40 more. The search for the problem leads you to the cure for the problem simultaneously – THIS WORLD NEEDS A HEART TRANSPLANT! 

We left stents and bypass surgery decades ago. We are in a full blown heart meltdown that requires a brand new heart. But watch this – the first heart that needs a transplant is mine, and yours, and those folks over there! We all do.

The Divine spoke through the Prophet Ezekiel and offered a promise that still stands true and deliverable today: “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”

Okay! I get it! We need the terrorists to have a new heart. We need the bigots to have a new heart. We need the political party (that is not yours) to have a new heart. We need Wall Street and Main Street to have a new heart. But HEAR ME! The only place to start is with the heart that you control…especially when you surrender that control to the One that created it. ME and YOU – WE NEED A NEW HEART! Here are three ways to get a new heart today:

1. Recognize that we don’t know everything about everything. And in that, realize that there is only ONE GOD, and you are not Him.
2. Forgive! The heart grows stronger when the soul is willing to forgive. I didn’t say anything about anybody accepting your forgiveness. I said your soul must forgive. In case you need a refresher on this, Jesus helped us understand forgiveness. If you need to be forgiven, you must be willing to forgive. Maybe you’re saying – “NO WAY, Chuck,” I will not, I can not forgive them.” Then your day in the Heavenly Courtroom might be a bit funky. All those folks that you are harboring hate in your soul for? They are one prayer away from being your Heavenly neighbor!
3. Serve! The great challenge in our country isn’t economics, debt, immigration, politics or fake news. The problem is a lack of leaders! John Maxwell has sold millions of books and made million of well-earned dollars helping folks lead better. I remember hearing him say, 30 years ago that leadership is best defined as INFLUENCE. While in my heart, I totally agree with him, I’m puzzled as to why all these leaders can’t seem to make a dent in all these problems? Here’s my AHA! We don’t need more Great Leaders with greater influence! We need a handful of Godly Leaders who are influenced by the One that created the world, and all that is in it…including you! Jesus said that if we were to ever be great, “we must serve!” Serve who? In this order 1) Him! 2) Others! 3) Him Again! 4) Others More!

Today is the time to start! Recognize, Forgive and Serve and watch your heart expand in its newfound health and see it take hold and spread like strep throat at a Youth Camp! (okay, bad example—but you get it!)

You see? You are the solution.

Peace, AChuck

Beauty & The Boycott:

Okay…Deep Breath…Here we go!
I find the whole boycott Disney thing so ridiculous. I really do. On the other hand, I can see why folks are all jacked up about it. But here is my take, not that anybody asked for it, but here it is none the less.

If people who are claiming to be Followers of Jesus are willing to boycott Disney, why do they keep spending thousands of dollars for their kids to enjoy the parks and films? Why do we keep ESPN and faithfully watch SportsCenter? Why do we watch Good Morning America? Here are a few companies that you may not know to be part of the Disney Family of Companies: Lucas Films (think Star Wars), Pixar (think Cars & Cars 2), Marvel Entertainment (think Iron Man & Captain America),  Touchstone (think Bridge of Spies, Lincoln & The Help), ABC (Think 20/20, Modern Family & Good Morning America), A&E (think Duck Dynasty), ESPN (think Monday Night Football), The History Channel (think American Pickers), and there are plenty more. But hey, it’s pretty easy to get all whacked out about Lefou! (You really didn’t think he might have been gay in the original animated film?)

Why are we so selective about what we want to scream about? Are we willing to also praise Disney for the decades of great entertainment? Are we going to thank them for hosting Disney’s Night of Joy, which hosts tens of thousands of Christians and bands like Mercy Me, Casting Crowns, Crowder, and plenty more?

Come on, folks? At what point did Christians develop such venom and hypocrisy in America? We call for boycotts, but too often, don’t really know what or why we are boycotting.

I listened to a TED Talk yesterday from a young woman that grew up in the hate-filled, angry lynch-mob better known as Westboro Baptist Church. I am pleading with you to listen to and watch this 15-minute talk on how and why she got out.

You may feel that it’s your spiritual job, or even calling to shout, scream, picket, or hate other people. But with all I am, I do not believe that is the message of The Christ. I refuse to believe that the Divine’s highest calling on our lives is for us to spew venom and hatred to anybody!

When Jesus speaks of our desire to point out someone else’s  sin, He is perfectly Waterford Crystal clear that we are first called to address our own sin. To hide behind the statement “love the sinner and hate the sin” is so easy to state. I’ve discovered that we should drop that mantra and replace it with “hate my own sin so that I might love others well.”

Listen, folks. I’m probably more conservative than you are, but I continue to grow in the understanding that I have more than enough sin and selfishness in my own life to keep me busy, don’t you? In a season of American polarization and segregation, why can’t we, as Followers of Jesus first choose to work on our own hearts, minds, and souls to love God, and love others as we love ourselves?

In the TED Talk mentioned earlier, Megan Phelps suggests these four things to check-up on our love, hate, and motivation meters. Again, I urge you to listen/watch Megan by clicking HERE.

1. Don’t Assume Bad Intent. Assuming ill motives will end our opportunity to introduce our faith and the life-altering love of Jesus. I sincerely doubt that Lefou is part of a worldwide “Gay Agenda.”
2. Ask Questions. You might be right, but we must learn to convey a willingness to listen and hear rather than proving our position in anger.
3. Stay Calm. We often allow our “rightness” give liberty to our “rudeness.” At that point, the opportunity to live Jesus with others has stopped. Often finished with our tone and decibel levels.
4. Make Your Case. Paul explicitly directs each Follower of Jesus to be able to “have a reason and understanding for why you believe.” Terminal certainty, even when that confidence is fully correct and biblical, must always be personal, not corporate. Loving, not hate-filled. Kind, not angry. And lived, not just talked (or in this case screamed).

As the Divine directs, “let us not grow weary in doing good.” But I guess that depends on your definition and understanding of “GOOD.”

Seek Peace today and if you’re not sure where to start, try clicking  HERE.

Peace, AChuck