My Birthday Confession

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    Counting time in the womb which I do because God does, I turned 60 about two months ago.

    While you won't find that listed in Parade or even The Boone County Journal, Boone County Shopper, or Belvidere Daily Republican, it's kinda significant to me; 'cause I never thought I'd, uh, you know, ever be, uh, this old.

    I mean I still listen to Jimi Hendrix.

    When Paul and I got together to bury our friend Paul in Kansas City back in 1994, we looked at each other and asked simultaneously after comparing notes before the service, "Who's gonna speak at the next funeral?"

    Now more than then, I know the time left ain't as much as what's been spent.

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    Now that my wife's been hired/called as CE/youth person - she's lots younger despite people who believe in reincarnation thinking I'm Peter Pan - I figure folks will stop wondering if I'm staying at First until I'm assassinated, die, or retire.

    Parenthetically, I'll never retire.

    I'm not the, uh, retiring kinda guy.

    Psst.

    People who've left the church during my tenure have already figured that out.  That's why they left.  They realized they couldn't outlast me 'cause my call is stronger than their, uh, uh, uh, whatever.  Again, unless someone pulls the trigger or Grandpa Jacob's cancer is in my system, I'm counting on more than a decade or two to keep scratching on the surface of my relationship with Him/His.

    Really, I feel so fresh and new and, uh, born anothen.

    I'm learning more and more and more every day; again, just scratching the surface of an expanded exciting adventure with Him/His.

    I love Jesus more and more and more every day and thank Him for the privilege to share Him with others and join, uh, forces with everyone/anyone who gets it/Him.

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    Certainly, He's in charge; and like Jerry described fidelity for me so many years ago before I only got it/Him recently, "I'll go wherever He wants me to go, say whatever He wants me to say, and do whatever He wants me to do; depending upon His grace."

    Yeah.

    More than less.

    Trying more than less.

    I don't have an updated resume/dossier/PIF on file with www.pcusa.org or anybody else; but media stuff related to I Just Wanna Ride (FTW) has forced me to update my vita which is symbolic/representative of my, uh, evolving relationship with Him/His:

    Vita

    The Rev. Dr. Robert R. Kopp

    Pastor Bob

    Dr. Kopp

    Chaplain Bob

    Professor Kopp

    Bobby

    There are many other names given to me by antagonists!

    While you can read what I really think about this on page 161 of I Just Wanna Ride (FTW) or go to the egotistical version on pages 234-235 of my non-best-selling Fifteen Secrets, here's a real

brief summary for the curious, suspicious, distrusting, and cynical...like me:

    Born on March 2, 1952 in Washington, D.C.

    Non-distinguished graduate of Wyoming Valley West High School (1970), maxima cum laude (Wow!) graduate of King's College (1974), M.Div from Princeton Theological Seminary (1977), and D.Min. from Drew University (1982).

    Lots of studies in Germany, Rome, Geneva, and Israel.

    Is this getting impressive or what?

    Stints as Professor of Homiletics at Nazarene Seminary and Carolina Divinity School.

    Pastor of churches since May 8, 1977 (ordination) ranging in size from just over 100 to a shade under 3000.

    Those last two paragraphs are really important to clergy who are into size and status regardless of what Jesus or Paul said or people figure out sooner than later.

    Five non-bestsellers before I Just Wanna Ride (FTW) which, uh, I think is more important than anything so far that's come, I think, from Him into my noodle.

    Lots of other stuff to impress those impressionable posing clergy; but I'm most proud in a Christian kinda way of being a police chaplain for Belvidere and Boone County (Illinois) and just completing five years as P of a big junior tackle football league.

    Of course, my day job is undershepherd of Belvidere's First Presbyterian Church.

    Seriously, it's about who you are more than what you do or have done.

    I'm still working on the first part of that last sentence; meaning I'm just scratching the surface of...

    I have a really, really, really big family; and if I have to explain that to you...

    First Presbyterian Church

    221 N. Main Street

    Belvidere, Illiinois

    (815) 544-6402

    www.belvpresbyterian.org

    Sorry, don't text, twitter, or Facebook; and once I get your e-mail address, you'll...

    Back in October when I was with my covenant brothers in Montana and blessed to spend so much time with Eugene, I got caught up in his/His disdain for religion about Jesus more than relationship with Him and his/His disgust with clergy who are often more religious about Him/His than relational with Him/His.

    Maybe that's why my vita has...

    Anyway, I was overwhelmed by an inspiration/indigestion.

    You decide.

    Does anyone really think Jesus would wear the funny kinda stuff (vestimentum) that clergy often wear?

    Does anyone really think Jesus would lead worship with one of our bulletins in hand or liturgies in mind?

    Yeah, I can just see Him now in Genevan robe with collar and tabs and...

    And, surely, He'd get out our directories, rubrics, ceremonies, rites, a good bulletin cover service, and...

    Barf.

    This section has been a metaphor for...

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    Speaking of my latest book, one of our elders who gets it/Him sent one of his recent prayers to me: "Dear Father God, may Bob's book be a major tool for people to be pointed to Jesus.  Open up all avenues for it to become a best-seller and be a blessing to multitudes for Christ's sake.  Amen."

    Of course, my mom hates it.

    That's because it's so direct/candid that she keeps asking, "What do people in the church think about it?"

    She's asked me that almost as much as she's bantered and moaned about me not wearing a helmet to give hope to people who hate me in a Christian kinda way.

    Essentially, she doesn't like some of the language and personal confessions; and despite countless explanations of the genre/art of reporting, quoting, and incorporating reality into, uh, reality redemptively and that I don't use the language personally because I try to be more creative in a Vonnegutian, Buechneristic, and Daliesque kinda way, she still hates it.

    O.K.

    I didn't write it for her; and I didn't write it for "religious" people who care more about, uh, posing stuff than an authentic relationship with Him/His that would disrupt their, uh, "religion" scarcely/occasionally/coincidentally related to Him.

    I wrote it to distinguish posers from authentics and encourage everyone/anyone to experience the real Jesus who loves so lavishly, graciously, and unconditionally.

    I wrote it for people who have not been reached by the conventional/religious/Jezebeled/posing/pathetic/polluted/nauseating-to-Jesus church that's scarcely/occasionally/coincidentally related to Him.

    Or something like that.

    Actually, as Bill so masterfully explains in one of the better reviews archived by www.bnnsradio.com, the book has more to it than its author can grasp.

    A recent review from a Presbyterian "bishop" (aka Executive/General Presbyter) in Kentucky comes to mind: "Just finished I Just Wanna Ride (FTW)...Several observations...I wish it didn't, at least to some degree, condemn me as a poser...poop...I realized I don't like to read/hear/consider the word ___ no matter what it might cause me to consider...poop...I'm not sure whether the biker's journey is a metaphor for the Christian's or vice versa...I'm going to buy a copy for my daughter-in-law (Presbyterian minister/Army chaplain/HD owner) and son (clergy kid and Kawasaki owner)...I'll probably buy a copy for my other son (Jeep fancier) and daughter-in-law...Will ask my wife to struggle through the book - ___ or no ___...I'm not sure whether I should say 'good work' or not...poop."

    Excellent!

    That's why I wrote it.

    Inspired/Indigested?

    Selah.

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    After six decades, I'm still trying to...

    God knows I have regrets.

    I haven't always been a good-or-even-mediocre-more-often-awful son, brother, husband, dad, friend, pastor, presbyter, or...

    I've tried/failed/tried/failed/tried/failed/tried...

    I'm still trying/failing/trying/failing/trying/failing/trying...

    And while it always helps to remember that cycle is exactly why Jesus came/remains/reigns - to bridge the gaps - I have regrets.

    No doubts.

    It's more than the conditioned Calvinist in me.

    It's a Romans 8:thing.

    For anyone who gets it/Him - and I'm just scratching the surface of it/Him - it's/He's all about redemption.

    Restoration of relationships with Him and His.

    My regrets are overshadowed by no doubts about His redemptive purposes for me/you/us.

    That's why I still...

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    Though I've poured my heart into it to encourage people to get in touch with the real not religiously created Jesus who's so lavishly, graciously, and unconditionally loving, some won't like/get I Just Wanna Ride (FTW).

    Though I don't pretend/expect to have it/Him all together in my life or ministry and need to confess and repent and depend upon His mercy as much as anybody else despite being paid to be holy, some, even those closest to me, will pretend/expect...

    Though I've been around a while now, I know I'm just scratching...

    And, I guess, that causes some around me along with me to itch...

    Simply, I'm not satisfied with what I've done or what I'm doing.

    I'm at peace about it because I know He knows I'm...

    But I want more!

    I want to be more faithful to Him/His.

    I want to love Him/His to...

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    Why this birthday confession?

    While I don't know everything - again, just scratching the surface - I have learned we never arrive until we, uh, arrive if you know what I mean.

    And it's O.K.

    That's a big part of His message in Jesus.

    Nobody gets it/Him completely right...now.

    He saves us from that delusion/damnation.

    Part of my call is to admit it for myself to free others to...

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    Well, that's whatever you judge it/me to be.

    It's a lot/nothing to think/pray about.

    More or less, it's my birthday confession.

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    BTW, I'm heading out for a few days after Sunday's service for book stuff; so no new KDs for a few days.

    What a ride!

    Looking forward to the next...

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Blessings and Love!

Really, Newt?

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    I can't imagine electing a President whose first name is Newt.

    Oh, uh, yeah, you're right.

    If we can elect a guy whose name sounds like a...

    Maybe there's hope for Hucklebooey.

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    Really, Newt?

    While I still think the Mormon's gonna win to lose in November, Newt makes Bubba look like a monk with the gift of celibacy.

    It didn't play in SC.

    Florida?

    I don't know about Florida.

    They're as bad at countin' votes as Iowa.

    Anybody remember the Bush "win" over Bore, uh, Gore?

    Geez.

    And if white women were the overwhelming demographic that elected the incumbent, the early polls show they really, really, really don't like Barbie-hair-do's hubbie.

    Sorry.

    Gotta confess that one quickly.

    Really, that spray net must be super glue strength.

    Don't get me wrong.

    The ABC interview with the other one was more frightening than thinking I could wake up as Pelosi's roomie.

    Soooooooo much anger.

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    O.K., enough messing around.

    The "issue" seems to be if Newt has really changed his ways and been converted to something that most Americans don't practice much more anyway but expect from their leaders in a posing kinda way.

    You know.

    Fidelity.

    We don't seem to mind incompetence.

    We've had at least two of 'em in a row now.

    Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear Newt is real intelligent and that he can slice and dice BBPBHO in a reincarnation of the Douglas-Lincoln debates; but, again, he's so dissed by the demographic that elected the incumbent that I can see him winnin' debates and losin' the election anyway.

    Really, how smart is he when he can't seem to figure out that he and sweater-vested Rick should cut a deal to insure the Mormon doesn't get the nod?

    They're gonna keep splitin' votes until one has the humility to...

    Humility?

    Foggetta 'bout it!

    Back to the "issue" with Newt, does his conversion to marital fidelity seem, uh, real?

    Sure.

    Or maybe he's just gettin' too old to play around anymore.

    I don't know.

    But let's say he's authentic about his faith now.

    If so, people who share the same kinda faith like, uh, you know, Christians are supposed to forgive and kinda forget.

    On the other hand, with 33,800 Christian denominations to prove Christians aren't really into their Founder's thing on that, I'm not expectin' much.

    But, then again, SC seems to have...

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    If the Giants can bring back memories of 2008, then maybe Newt can bring back memories of what's possible through Jesus.

    Forgiveness.

    Restoration.

    I'm not saying I'm gonna vote for Newt; but I am saying people who give him another chance get my vote.

    More important, they get His.

    It's the only, uh, Christian thing to do.

    Look it up.

    Matthew 6:14-15.

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Blessings and Love!

Supreme Court

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    Back in October while in Montana with Eugene and my covenant brothers, I was kinda stunned in a serendipitous kinda way to learn part of his daily devotions often begin with prayers led by John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer (1949).

    Me too!

    Always dating when I first open a book, I started, uh, using Baillie a month before my ordination back in April 1977.

    Yeah, I know Baillie has done a lot more for him than me by reputation; but it was still kinda fun to learn...

    As a Christian in that increasingly decreasingly small part of Christendom called the PCUSA, this laud caught my attention not too long ago: "I praise Thee that Thou hast caused me to be born in an age and in a land which have known His name."

    True, I was born in an age and in a land that...

    Today, uh, not so sure.

    Any connection between Biblical Christianity and my "religious" franchise that seems so increasingly decreasingly determined to distance itself from Him along with America that seems even more increasingly decreasingly determined to distance itself from Him seems so increasingly decreasingly coincidental.

    Or something like that.

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    Michael, my friend who manages Rain Dance Radio via www.live365.com/index.live, sent an interesting quote to me that kinda resonates with the preceding: "Someone walked into my old church and asked if it was religious cult?  We replied, 'No, if this were a cult, there would be far more people here.'"

    Ouch.

    Kinda makes me think of...

    Nope, not goin' there.

    Jesus does weed 'em out before packin' 'em in.

    Read the New Testament sometime for more on that.

    And if you really wanna catch His drift(s) about religion gone wild and clergy gone apostate, check out Eugene's paraphrase/translation called The Message.

    Do it the quick way.

    Read the direct quotes of Jesus.

    If Eugene had a red-letter edition, we could really save some time.

    Moretheless, read what Jesus said about "religion" juxtaposed to a "relationship" with Him and how He felt about clergy and...

    Obviously, lots of pewsitters and pulpiteers don't wanna go there.

    Haven't.

    It's hard to be authentic to Jesus when you're posing "religions" only coincidentally related to Him.

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    That's a preface to saying America is going down the toilet quicker than poop through a goose; and I'm not sensing anyone in the White House or who wanna get into it get it/Him.

    Politically, economically, socially, and even religiously, America is in deepening do-do.

    If you can't see that, you've got some real perception problems; meaning you're the kinda Doris Dayite who thinks the elephant in the room is only a mouse with glandular challenges.

    Geez.

    Really, how many insults to God will He take before He's had it with our religious franchises and even country itself?

    The Message: "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness...You can't hide behind a religious mask forever...Don't be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies.  True, they can kill you, but then what can they do?...Stand up for Me...and the Son of Man will stand up for you...But if you pretend you don't know Me, do you think I'll defend you before God's angels?...If you're knowingly attacking God Himself, taking aim at the Holy Spirit, that won't be overlooked" (Luke 12).

    Uh, oh.

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    It's happening.

    Go back to the elephant in the room metaphor.

    Selah.

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    Illustration of what's coming.

    Did you catch our weenie Supreme Court's decision not to look at what's going down in Forsyth County, North Carolina?

    Essentially, the folks down there have a law that prohibits anybody from public prayers "from including references to Jesus Christ, or any other sectarian deity, as part of their prayers."

    O.K., I'll admit I'm not real keen on school teachers leading prayers for my kids 'cause never know if she/he/it's a Christian, Mormon, Moonie, Muslim, New Ager, witch, or whatever.

    But, c'mon, if you're gonna invite a religious dude/dudette to pray at your art show, Little League game, graduation, or something else, you gotta expect 'em to have the integrity to pray in public like they prayer in private or you won't be able to trust anything they say/pray/whatever.

    Hmm.

    Maybe that's why so many mainline clergy are...

    Or, uh, just forget about it.

    Yeah, just forget about it.

    If you're not gonna honor Him, then, well, uh, you better watch out, you better not pout, you better not cry, I'm tellin' you why, ___ is comin' to...He knows if you've been...

    Let me put it another way; and I may be wrong on this which I know will provoke folks to write and tell me so.

    I think it's better to ignore Him in our public prayers than insult Him like they wanna do in Forsyth County.

    BTW, our weenie Supreme Court decided not to review a lower court's decision to continue banning "sectarian" public prayers in favor of, I guess, prayers to someone somewhere somehow about something.

    I guess they don't know/care about the, uh, real Supreme Court; and if I have to explain that to...

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    Truth is only the ignorantly "religious" but not true to their faith in a "religiously" pluralistic country that really doesn't give a damn about God anymore increasingly decreasingly in practice over theory don't know the God of Judaism and Christianity is different from the gods of Islam, Mormonism, et.al. with no apologies to Joel Osteen.

    Besides, really, who is gonna stop ya from praying in public to your...?

    Moreover, if I'm invited to pray in public and someone tells me to be dishonest to who I am in reference to who He is and not pray in His name, you can forget about it.  I ain't doin' it.  I can't get His warning out of my noodle: "Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns Me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven" (Matthew 10).

    Whoa.

    BTW, how do "Christian" critics of Tebow feel about that/Him?

    Sorry.

    Uh, not really.

    Salt.

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    Here's my prediction.

    Uh, it's not really my prediction.

    I'm just predicting what's been proclaimed more than predicted.

    With secularism and anti-Biblical Judaism and Christianity increasingly decreasingly ruling contemporary America in every branch of government, the yeast of Forsyth County is gonna spread, infect, and mix into...

    Let me put it simply.

    Over and over and over again, the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament warn, in effect. "Get back to God or it's gonna get a lot worse than it is right now!"

    Gulp.

    Help us, Jesus!

    Yeah, that's it/Him.

    That's how we can begin to turn around this...

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Blessings and Love!

Endorsements for President and CE Director

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    This edition includes KD's endorsement for President of the United States of America.

    Before that, I just endorsed my wife to become our church's next Director of Christian Education.

    Gulp.

    All of the details are available in First's Family Undershepherd Script (39) via www.belvpresbyterian.org.

    I've been getting e-mails all week from members and friends who keep saying how great that/she is...

    Geez.

    Nobody ever writes to say how great...

    I guess that ruins any chance for me to leave; or as a suitor representing a pastor search committee wrote upon hearing about it, "Seems like an affirmation of your belief that the Lord has called you to stay there indefinitely."

    I don't know.

    I've heard from three pastor search committees in less than a week.

    Am I getting mixed messages or what?

    Please don't get me wrong.

    I'm not flattered.

    I figure some people who've left our church since I came have recommended me elsewhere so they can come back to the open arms of folks who will say they're glad I'm gone along with presbytery members who wish the same along with...

    Et tu, wifey?

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    Really, go to Script 39 and read about it.

    I'm gonna live it.

    I've been asked how I'm gonna handle being her boss and husband...[Which order?]...at the same time.

    I dunno.

    Never been there or done that before.

    She's been a stay-at-home-mom with our boys foruhuhuhever.

    Certainly, she'll be better at what she'll do than what I do; which goes without saying no matter what the pastor search committees have been duped to think.

    And, no, I do not have an updated PIF (resume) on file with anyone and you can check that out if you're one of the many who don't believe me via www.pcusa.org.

    I'm serious about my call on the corner of Lincoln and Main in Belvidere, Illinois even if _______ (fill in the blank from the plethora of possibilities) isn't/aren't/weren't/current.

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    Getting back to my wife, she'll be great for the church; as the countless e-mails/calls confirming that without ever mentioning, uh, moi...

    But, really, how will I relate to her as...?

    Again, I'm not sure.

    I guess one advantage is I can make out with a staff member and not get into trouble.

    It's been suggested that there's some kinda "conflict of interest" in the call.

    That's ___!

    Please.

    That's insulting to me in so many ways that I won't/can't even count/list 'em.

    On the other hand, I'm used to insults.

    It's a vocational hazard.

    Be that as some people will always think regardless of the truth, I've always been tougher on folks hired during my watch rather than inherited upon arrival.

    While I was fortunate to inherit a great staff at First and hadn't entertained changes and praised God for the stability of our staff with no changes over the past seven years, I am convinced my wife will do His best to build upon the best of the past entrusted to her.

    Even if I'm part of the deal.

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    So why am I telling this to you?

    Not sure about that either.

    Maybe it's because I've been reminded of His always gracious yet often mysteriously unexpected providence.

    He has His ways of surprising us.

    He's always up to something fresh and new requiring us to stretch our proverbial wineskins to make room for His, uh, fresh and new...

    My wife wasn't even on my radar for the job.

    Then God...

    Confessionally, at first, I was selfishly sinful and scoffed it off because I didn't want anyone to think I was up to something that would rekindle recently exorcised distrust, suspicion, and cynicism.

    Then God...

    I did everything possible to make it difficult for her call to be confirmed by requiring unanimity of the search/transition team, session, and...

    Then God...

    Maybe I'm telling you about this because, maybe like me, you need to be reminded every now and then that He's always up to something gracious yet often mysteriously unexpected in His providence.

    Read Romans 8:28.

    Even if, uh, "they" keep her and get rid of me, it'll all be part of His plan.

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    As far as KD's endorsement for the big house goes, I'm not for the incumbent secularist who's killing the country along with the selfish partisans on both sides of the aisle or any of the pachydermian insurgents who may scare me even more than the incumbent in enough ways not to garner this coveted endorsement.

    Ergo, I offer two candidates - one who is non-declared while the other is pseudo-declared - for your consideration: Robert J. Kopp (my dad) or Stephen Colbert.

    You can write in their names (primary and general elections) to exercise your displeasure with the sorry sucker selections being offered to us.

    My vote will be determined by one factor.

    If Stephen Colbert is convinced by KDers to pimp my book on his show or website, my dad will have to remain retired.

    So write to Stephen Colbert and help ignite the KD revolution to take back America from the Democrats, Republicans, and the rest of the...

    It could be the start of something as gracious and mysteriously unexpected as my wife having me as her...

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Blessings and Love!

Learning from TT and the Packers

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    While I'm wrong about many things, I've learned some things over time.

    Don't get into tinkling contests with skunks.

    Trying to be rational with the irrational is illogical.

    Those two lessons have helped when dealing with "Christians" like me who embarrass Jesus every now and then by being so irascible, irregular, and irreconcilable.

    While we shouldn't blame Jesus for some Christians who need some more Jesus in their lives, "they" do.

    Most people who say they'd become Christians if it weren't for "Christians" aren't really serious; just rationalizing their infidelities.

    Yet, as Mark Twain said, "The church is always trying to get other people to reform.  It might not be a bad idea to reform itself a little by way of example."

    And as His heart ached along with the hearts of His to see the "Christian" attack on TT, another Twainism comes to mind: "It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart;

the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you."

    Sad.

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    My dad is a mid-octogenarian; and I'm so upset with him because he's so right about so much.

    I think he'd make a great President.

    God knows he wouldn't/couldn't be any worse than any of 'em currently in the run.

    And here's one of the things from him that's really helped me to incarnate our Lord's counsel to "shake off the dust" when dealing with the aforementioned: "If people don't want me around, I don't come around.  I don't play those games."

    He's taught a lot to me about differentiating authenticity from posing.

    There's such a big lie polluting too many churches.

    "You can't tell if someone is a Christian!"

    That's a lie hatched in hell.

    Calvinists, despite their OCD with double predestination, talk about showing the signs/proof/evidence of salvation.

    Lutherans, despite their OCD with grace apart from obedience, like to quote their sub-founder: "Good works don't make a person good; but a good person does good works."

    They got it from Paul (e.g., Galatians 5:6; 16ff.).

    They got it from Jesus (e.g., Matthew 5-7).

    Geez.

    Where in the hell did that lie originate.

    Oh, yeah, uh, again,...hell.

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    I can't get those "Christians" attacking TT out of my mind.

    Actually, I can't get "Christians" out of my mind who think God really cares about who wins "games" when there's so many more important matters like keeping posers in "their" churches and joining authentics in His Church.

    Yeah, we want the posers converted to authenticity; but anyone who knows anything about the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23; 36-43) knows the condition of the soil has a lot to do with the germination of the seed.

    The always excellent/efficacious Gospel seed doesn't always hit paydirt/hearts.

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    To the next somewhat related point.

    I'm a Giants fan; and though I thought the Packers were on their way to the second of three consecutive Super Bowls, I kept thinking about 2008 as the game approached.

    But, confessionally, I am taking little delight in Sunday's superficial-to-what's-really-important "win" because of the overwhelming/overarching-to-what's-really-important "loss" that the Packers experienced in the tragic death of a coach's son just days before kick-off.

    I can't imagine "playing a game" when someone so close to the "team" suffered so much.

    It showed.

    The Packers did not play like the Packers played all year; except for that aberration with the Chiefs.

    The Packers were lifeless and listless and didn't look like they were into the, uh, game.

    That's because it's hard to "play a game" when in the midst of something of much greater consequence.

    Yeah, the Giants advance; but the Packers did not lose.

    Their priorities would not allow them to "play a game" to the best of their athletic prowess because their hearts were aching so much.

    No one can convince me that the Packers weren't the best team in all of 2011.

    Really, I'd have some real questions about the condition of their hearts if they had played to the best of their athletic prowess; just as I have growing concerns about the "Christian" attack on TT for getting caught in prayer while not being so concerned about...

    Well, I wrote enough about that in previous editions.

@#$%

    "Christians" can be as worldly as anyone else when it comes to shooting their wounded.

    That's a big part of what's happened to TT at "their" infidelity's hand.

    That's a big part of the criticism apart from the reality of what's really important that's being directed at the Packers for Sunday's dismal, uh, performance.

    Yeah, I'm a Giants fan; but I take no pleasure in Sunday's results.

    Yeah, I would have rooted for the Giants over the Broncos if...; but I'm so bummed out by the "Christian" attack on TT.

    Maybe it's because I'm sometimes targeted by "Christians" who feel the need to hurt me to assuage their...

    Maybe it's because I'm often witness to "Christians" who feel the need to hurt others to assuage their...

    Maybe that's why I'm increasingly relentless in, as one of my former homiletics professors prescribed for the pulpit/teaching/caring, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

    Maybe that's why I'm increasingly, uh, salty to those who must be stung to see their self-righteous arrogance that...

    Maybe that's why I'm increasingly, uh, salving to those who've been stung by the pathetically pathological transferences of...

    Maybe that's why I spend so much time thanking Jesus for saving me despite me; because one of the most horrifying things about me is knowing I can be seduced into mimicking "them" more than Him and being so much more like "them" than Him.

    Let me put it another way.

    Experiences over the years.

    I had to tell one elder to confess, repent, and be restored or leave office because he didn't really believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

    I had to tell another elder to confess, repent, and be restored or leave office because he hated everybody for everything but Christ's sake.

    I had to tell another pastor to man up and enflesh reconciliation or lose all credibility for posing it in the pulpit.

    I had to tell myself to...

    Realities like that make me so glad that Jesus is my/our Savior and Lord.

    Realities like that make me so glad to know He loves/saves me/us in spite of who I/we am/are and what I/we do eternally more than because of who I/we am/are and what I/we do.

    Realities like that make me realize part of blasphemy against His Holy Spirit is committed by me/us when I/we fail to see "their" hypocrisies reflected in me/us; or as someone once said to me, "The difference between you and me is I know I'm a hypocrite."

    Enough rambling.

    TT is so much less hypocritical than the hypocrites who attack him; for, at least, he bows in honor to Him no matter who's watching.

    The Packers aren't hypocritical in losing to the Giants; for, at least, their aching hearts wouldn't allow them to forget a grieving brother on the "team" to "win" a game.

    I thank the Lord for what I/we can learn from TT and the Packers.

    Life isn't a game.

@#$%

    Yesterday was great!

    Today has been awful!

    I just got a call from a pastor search committee asking if I'm interested in leaving Belvidere.

    I said, "You called on a good day to ask; but, no, while interested because I'm on the receiving end of some darts, I'm called to stay for good - or, at least, the duration."

    They called after I prayed about wanting to quit.

    TT and the Packers were in my mind/spirit.

@#$%

Blessings and Love!