"GO THE DISTANCE; EASE HIS PAIN!"

"Go the distance; ease his pain!"

What are men willing to do?

A forced fast can be a spiritual experience...trust me, I enjoy a good Italian sausage sandwich or 3 scoops of Blue Bell Moolenium Crunch...but this time the doc said..."no food; no liquids" and in order to get my undivided attention...my forced fast lasted 3 days...

So, after laying in a hospital bed for 5 days I had the time to think and ponder over many things. Things to be thankful for. Things that are left undone. Things to be adjusted. Things to be renewed. Things that I thought were important and things that now have greater sense of urgency than ever before....The writer of Ecclesiastes was true to his heart when he wrote, "there is a time and place for just about everything."

Part of my forced fast included a re-look at one of my favorite movies, "Field of Dreams."I like baseball flicks and I still miss playing catch with my dad...but this is a movie of unresolved pieces of men's lives and goals not ever attained. And in this movie, we find 3 strangers (Ray Consella, Terrance Mann and Archie aka DOC or MOONLIGHT Graham) whose paths cross and each one has something to offer the other. The field was built; they went the distanced. They tried to ease each other's pain. And as a result, each of their lives get blessed. It is not an easy movie for me to watch but with each sitting I find myself looking ahead again and not backward.

So for me, it's time to ask, "what are men willing to do once they realize life has limitations and life is short and life is uncertain?" Will our answers cause us to balk? Walk? Bolt? Buck up? Carry on? Dig in? A man of faith will respond in a different way than a man with no faith at all or as Paul Tillich once said, "a man will show his ultimate concern (i.e. a man's God) by what is most important to him." ( My paraphrase!) Normally we can discern this by checking his debit card purchases and how he spends his time. More to come about that...and so this November, as we are on the heels of Martin Luther's birthday and baptism day ( NOV 10 & 11, respectively) and as we think about being a bit more thankful I share this reminder in the middle of this message....so keep reading...

To all the KING'S Men...
+ K now Christ!
+ I nvite others to join God's team!
+ N urture your faith through prayer, worship & daily Bible reading!
+ G ive your time & money supporting God's work in your church!'
+ ' ( ' = a sign of "possession" and it's about "belonging"---who we are and whose we are!)
+ S peak well of your pastor and the men in your life!

KING'S men...that's who we are!

Or think of it this way... "one man at a time...no man left behind..."

And if that doesn't strike you...try the ELCA's Lutheran Men in Mission "vision" statement...

"That every man grow in his relationship with Jesus Christ
through an effective men‘s ministry in every congregation."

KING'S Men...I pray that we all sense God's Holy Spirit leading us to be just that...

And lately, I've started asking the young men and older men at New Life Lutheran Church a simple question which evokes an immediate answer or a look of amusement...
"How's your D.A.W.G." ---your.....Daily Appointment With God... Get one if you don't have one!

The work we do is not rocket science. It's harder and it's life-long...so don't be discouraged... there's work to be done...

I have a classmate and colleague, The Rev. Dr. Johan A.A. Bergh who wrote this brief reflection...

I hope it stirs you as much as it has me...

"It takes some getting used to.
It’s not easy living in your own skin realizing that all your foibles are not irreversible and
all your fabulousness is not irresistible.
It’s not easy, in other words, coming to your senses to realize your failures cannot kill you
and your successes cannot save you.
You are saved by grace through faith.
This takes some getting used to.
Living your life out in Christ is not a matter of improving your prowess in being like Christ,
it’s rather a matter of getting used to the fact that at your baptism you were given the
promise that there just is no improving you! On both fronts: when God looks at you….
you are the worst and you are the best all at the same time, for Jesus sake, not your own.
To be totally cut down and then totally rebuilt all at one time….at baptism……well, this
takes some getting used to. It doesn’t call for you to improve on it. It calls for you to get
used to it.
Sanctification (the state of being holy) is simply (!) a matter of getting used to Justification
(the state of being saved).
You can’t improve on your salvation.
You can get used to it."

It's my prayer that all the men we know can get used to it...

I was sharing an Internet note with some of my old college friends who to this day cannot believe, "Gigee" He's still a pastor?" in which I reminded them that it's this GRACE thing that keeps me connected to this thing called CHURCH...for had God not grabbed ahold of me and said, "don't let go," I would have self-destructed decades ago...Truth be told, God's grace hasn't let go of me...or you...

Why? Because God sent his son into the world...to ease our pain...to go the distance...we built a field of unholy dreams...but he came anyway...and he promises to return and until then I hope that you will be a follower of this one called Jesus so that you will go the distance and ease the pain of the men around you...or as Sean Connery once said, "What are you prepared to do?" But that is from another movie.... and we shouldn't be surprised, then, at the blessing that comes our way...

One man at a time; no man left behind,

Brian