faithrunner

This past weekend, I attended a family reunion, my family on my father's side. Sixty nine relatives gathered on Lake Whitney for two days of telling stories and catching up ; AND, celebrating the legacy which we share. My cousin, Terry, read of eight generations from John H. Mulkey, who was born in 1824 and to which my father, Mulkey Carl Wilkes, belonged . I learned that the head of each of those generations was a Christian. My father's father, and his father, and so on, not only embraced the faith but passed it on to their family. I am a recipient of that heritage of faith, and I trust the faith I have passed on to my children will be passed on to their children. The legacy of faith I inherited reminded me of Paul's words to Timotheos , when he was reminded of his young friend's "sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and...now lives in you ." ( 2 Timothy 1:5 ) We h ave the choice to pass on generational sins or...

Walter Brueggemann wrote that the essential message of a prophet is that the dominant narrative of the culture has failed and God's alternative way of life remains supreme. If the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has taught us anything, it is that the dominant narrative of a petroleum-based lifestyle has failed us . We can no longer count on it to give us the lives we want because it is essentially killing that life now. While British Petroleum has worked non-stop for over 50 days to stop the oil that gushes from the ruptured pipe 5,000 feet below the surface of the gulf and have invested their best engineers, technology, and ingenuity to stop the flow, the man-made leak continues. Our biggest and best can't stop what our biggest and best created. Even the President's promise to kick some a__ has and will not change the situation. Pointing the finger of blame will not solve this disaster. We are reaping what we have demanded by our lifestyles and what we have sown to have...

Manoah was the father of Samson , a warrior-judge of Israel. An angel reported to Manoah’s wife they would have a son who was to “be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel…” (Judges 13:5) Being set apart to God included the child not drinking “wine or fermented drink” or eating “anything unclean” from birth. Nor were they to use a razor on his head. This was to be a special boy, and Manoah had never been a father before. Manoah wanted help with God’s plan. Like a good father who is responsible for the spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual development of his children, Manoah’s first prayer was “O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” [ Judges 13:8 ] He wanted instruction on how to raise his son. Visitation by an angel was one thing. Parenting a boy set apart for God was something completely different. Manoah’s prayer is that of every potential p...

A friend emailed me the link to this entry on the opinion blog in the Dallas Morning News . The writer tells the story of how Roger Staubach gave up his seat in first class to a returning Army female who had lost her leg to sit in her assigned seat in coach. Read the short story here , and you will agree with the writer (and me) that "Roger Staubach is still Captain America." [I can't verify the story, but I pray it is true. I need a hero today.]

I described Samson's life as " an angel in the flame " from the mysterious event that happened at the announcement of his birth. An angel, a messenger of God , affirmed Manoah’s wife would become pregnant with a son, who would begin the deliverance of Israel. At a sacrificial meal to commemorate God’s child-giving grace, we are told that, “as the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame.” (Judges 13:20) The angel in the flame was a foreshadowing of Samson’s life. Israel’s leader was set apart for the purposes of God, empowered with muscle, looks, and wit…He was to be a savior, a hero, and leader… As long as he stayed within God’s plan and Spirit, he would have the power to serve God’s purposes for his birth and life. Step outside the plan, and he would fall to earth like Lucifer after his failed coup in heaven. (38) The flame of ego rather than God’s Spirit consumed Samson …in the end his life flamed out in self-in...

Last week I started writing a weekly message of encouragement to men through the Legacy Church men's Yahoo group: texasoutfitters . We use the group to share upcoming events and outings for men connected to Legacy Church and post notes to the group. You know how those work. I wanted to encourage those in the group from my time spent in the stories of Samson and Jesus. Both are model men, and we can see ourselves in one and who God wants us to be in the other. These devotionals are intended to help us be the "angels in the flame" God created us to become through trusting and following our warrior-judge, Jesus. Wednesday, May 26, Our Cycle of Choices God sent Samson into His-story when Israel had fallen into a cycle of sin-repentance-rescue-and-sin. (See Judges 2:10-23 .) People ignored God and would do things they way they wanted. Consequences followed, and they cried out to God for help. God responded by raising up a warrior-judge to rescue them. Things would get better...

Last Sunday, Legacy Church , hosted our third annual Cultural Fair that celebrates the world in our backyard . Plano has become a multi-cultural community; especially in our neighborhood (75024). We have committed to embrace this change rather than relocate or huddle together in our own ethnic conclave. We can't call ourselves technically a multi-ethnic congregation a la' Mark Deymaz and others, but if you join us on Sunday, you will see that we are not a "homogeneous unit" gathered to escape our changing world . We look something like the mission field in which we find ourselves. During our worship Sunday morning of the Cultural Fair, we observed Communion. We celebrate it differently at times, and this week we chose to have people come and receive the elements at five different stations. We took the bread, and the server said, " The Body of Christ broken for you ." We dipped the bread in the cup, and the server said, " The Blood of Christ shed for ...