MAY 2009 EDITION

I used to laugh at my friend, John, for his strong attachment to his bird dog, “Smoke”. I would kid him unmercifully. That is… until we adopted “Missy”. She is a “pound puppy”, meaning she was adopted from the Cobb County Animal Shelter. I do not kid him so much anymore.

The story of Missy’s adoption is an interesting one. In October of 2007, I was attending my grandson’s football game. It was a late afternoon game on Saturday. Suddenly my phone rings. It is Peggy. She explains that she and our oldest granddaughter, Audrey had been out shopping and “just happened” to go by the Cobb County Animal Shelter. Peggy, you see, had admired Audrey’s family’s dog, Buddy, who had been adopted there. Peggy just wanted to see where the place was located. (Wink, wink!) After looking at all the dogs for adoption, they were ready to leave when Audrey found where the new arrivals were kept. She told her Nonny that she had found a dog just like Buddy!

Back to the phone call...Peggy tells me that they have found a dog just like Buddy.
“Can we have it? Can we have it, Buck?” said Peggy, sounding almost like a small child that has brought home a stray. She said the shelter was closing soon and if “we” did not get the dog then it would be gone when they re-opened. Another lady had wanted the dog, but did not have the required adoption fee.
Having had to”put down” our two golden retrievers because of cancer, years before, I was not inclined to have a dog again. The best answer I could supply to Peggy’s plea was ”Whatever!”

When I arrived home from the game, I found Peggy in the backyard, dog grooming clippers in hand, piles of fur on the ground, and a rather scruffy looking dog of indeterminate origin standing there shaking badly from fear. I told Peggy that I was sure that, in time, I would come to like the dog, but at that time, I was not a “happy camper.”

Fast forward a year and a half, I am now sitting at my desk brooding over the fact that we are going to “abandon” our “dog/child” to a kennel to be boarded for the weekend while we are away. “Will they care for her and love her the way we do?”
“Will she miss us?” “Will she be O.K. in some stranger’s care?”

I truly love that dog as a family member. What is it about dogs that make us think and act like this? I think it is because dogs are such a wonderful picture of God in Christ’s unconditional love for us. Our dogs only want us to be with them. They rejoice when we come home to them. They love us no matter how we treat them. They make no demands of us. They give so much more than they receive.

“Missy, I thank God for you. You are a blessing from God and a constant reminder of His unconditional love for me.” Now, you see why I don’t kid John so much.

MINISTRY NEWS:

We began our new weekly men’s group, called “Tuesday Night Lights.” I am meeting with young men in my neighborhood who are in their 20’s and 30’s and are or will be new fathers. We will use the book, “Man In The Mirror” by Pat Morley as a guide for our discussion.

We held our annual Spring Fling social for our Friday Morning Men’s Group. There were more that forty people in attendance.

Our Friday Morning Men’s group initiated our First Friday Meetings, where we have a featured speaker from the group
who shared from his life experiences. Glenn Gray was our April speaker. Glenn was a test pilot for Lockheed Aircraft Corp. He bought a video featuring some exciting scenes from his test flights. Our May Speaker as O’Neal Sisson, who is a retired pilot from Delta Airlines. He shared the story of a particularly harrowing experience of an aborted take-off in Hawaii. These meetings are intended to invite new guys to attend the group and, so far, have been a successful endeavor.

I am continually humbled and grateful for your friendship and support for the work of Net Work Ministries.

May God bless each one of you and your families with a rich, family-filled Summer filled with great memory-making events.

APRIL 2009 EDITION

I love birthdays, especially my own. Not everyone does. I have a friend who absolutely refuses to acknowledge his birthday. Me, I love them. I actually celebrate two birthdays each year. Why do I do this? it is because I have experienced two births. Huh? What is that you are saying? It is true.
I celebrate my physical birth, which took place on December 8th, 1945. (You do the math!) My other birth took place at approximately 8:30 on the evening of April 29th, 1975. It was a spiritual one. It was then that I was “born again”, a term that has somewhat fallen into disfavor as being archaic, connoting a rural Southern fundamentalist. However, being born again is a term that Jesus used in a night-time meeting in which a Pharisee named Nicodemus was checking out the authenticity of Jesus as a man from God. This incident is found in the Gospel of John, chapter three, verse three.

Interestingly enough, I had little or nothing to do with either birth. Certainly, I was a passive participant in my physical birth. I just “went along for the ride!” In my spiritual birth, I just confirmed what the Holy Spirit was prompting me to realize, that I was a sinner. I could not save myself. I needed a Savior. I realized that Jesus paid the penalty for my sin on the Cross some nineteen hundred and seventy-six years ago. On that night in 1975, I confessed (agreed with God) those facts. I acknowledged, by virtue of the fact that I was a thirty year old man who was conscious of the fact that I had been born again, that I was a new creation, as it says in II Corinthians, chapter five, verse seventeen, “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Here is an interesting slant on the “two birthday” deal. Not everyone who acknowledges Christ as Savior and Lord has two birthdays. Many of my friends and relations cannot point to a specific time and place where they acknowledged their need for a Savior. Many point to the time when they were confirmed in the Church as that time. Many say it was when they went through a believer’s baptism as an adult. But many more, who were raised in a Christian home, cannot remember a time when they did not know Christ as Savior and Lord.

For some of, you only know of your physical birthday. You have questions about whether or not you have two birthdays. You have looked at the person of Jesus Christ. You know a lot of facts about the Christian faith, especially if you were born in the South! You are sort of interested, but kind of scared about this “new creation” thing. Is God going to change me into some kind of religious nut case? Let me say that God wants you to become the best person He created you to be. He wants you to experience life to the fullest as it says in The Gospel of John, chapter ten, verse ten, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

Do you sense that you are not at peace? Do you need to feel loved just as you are, not as you should be? Do you feel that there is something more to life than just chasing the dollar? Do you feel a certain emptiness in your life? Do you feel that there is something more to life than what you are currently experiencing? I did, prior to that night in 1975.

If you are not sure today that you have been born again, you can experience your second birthday right now and have that assurance. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, "Here I am! I stand at the door (of your heart)( my paraphrase) and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and (live with him and he with me)( also my paraphrase). How do I do this, you ask? Simply agree with the Holy Spirit who is right now prompting you, as He did me in 1975, that you are a sinner (Choose to do things your way and not God’s way,that you need a Savior (Jesus Christ) and acknowledge that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin, then agree with God (confess) that you are a new creation of His. Then thank Him for making you this new creation.

If you have done this today, let someone know…your pastor, a Christian friend or relative, me (I would love to know!) for it says in Romans 10:9,
“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

God bless you, my friend!


I want to thank all of you for your many years of friendship, encouragement and generous support.
I am blessed to have you as friends