Category Archives: Guest Posts

by | May 31, 2013 · 8:17 pm

Unpopular Me

I Have Followers

I don’t know where all my new followers are coming from, but it does amaze me. Is there some point in a blogger’s life where things just start to take off on their own? Seriously, it wasn’t long ago that I was trying to reach the 100-follower mark. Now I am getting several followers every day!

The amount of followers amazes me, but so does the type of people who are following. For example, it doesn’t shock me to see fellow believers subscribe to my blog, but what is the deal with all the Muslim, pagan, and atheist followers? Andrew Marburger must has a man-crush on me (ha!), but what about everyone else? What have I done to cause them to click here?

Seriously, I would love to hear from you. Why did you subscribe? Was it just to get me to visit your website, or are you legitimately interested in what this crazy Baptist preacher has to say? Was it Mr. Monkey that brought you here? I really want to know.

But I Will Follow

Regardless, I would like to make one thing absolutely clear – I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and for that I make no apology. I hope everything I write ultimately reflects that fact.

Many times people in the public eye are hesitant to take a stand or draw a line in the sand for fear of public opinion. And, if the truth be known, thanks to my critics, sometimes I have cowered. But this should not be. I should always speak with love and respect to all who may disagree with me, but I should never shy away from biblical truths, even if they are currently politically incorrect.

crossSo, I am glad to have a few followers, and I would love to have more, but I would gladly see them all go away before I deny my Lord and Savior. Jesus said (Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23) that anyone who would be his servant must “take up his cross” and follow.

I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.

Though no one join me, still I will follow;
Though no one join me, still I will follow;
Though no one join me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.

Sadhu Sundar Singh – Indian Christian missionary

Crosses are not fun, or popular … neither are the ones who carry them.

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by | May 8, 2013 · 6:00 am

Guest Gospels

Guest Bloggers

While I was away for a couple of weeks finishing my seminary work, several guest bloggers covered for me. And let me tell you, I sure do appreciate what they did.

I have only been a guest contributor a couple of times, but each time there were multiple thoughts racing through my head. “What do I write?” “Will the regular readers unsubscribe?” “Will I be sued for character defamation?” “How much of my post will be edited?” “Will mean people come looking for me?”

Blogger’s Block

Have you ever had “blogger’s block?” Why is it so hard to come up with something to write? It’s probably because we are supposed to stick with the theme of the blog we’re writing for, not go crazy with our own agendas.

For example, if a cat lover invites you to be a guest writer, don’t go on about your love affair with dogs (literally or figuratively). If you’re invited to submit a guest post on the blog of a home-schooling mom, don’t promote the virtues of government-controlled day care and socialistic public education.

In other words, do your best to mirror the overall message of the blog you’re writing for, or you’ll surely get edited, if not deleted.

Guest Gospels

Have you ever heard it said, “You are the only gospel many people will read?” It means others are always watching how Christians act…always listening to what they say. Our lives, then, are either a testimony to the life-changing presence of the Spirit within us, or a bad post written in the name of Jesus.

Therefore, being a Christian is a little like being a guest blogger, isn’t it? We are sorta like “guest gospels.”

When a guest blogger writes a post, he or she essentially does so in the name of the host. So, the question is this: do our lives mirror the theme of the Grand Blog? Is our Host pleased with what we post each day?

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

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by | April 27, 2013 · 2:08 pm

Football Crazy

(Guest blog by David Welford)

My seventeen-year old daughter Beth is a football (soccer) player. Having three older brothers probably prompted Beth’s interest in football, but by the time she was ten we were being told by her coaches that she had a natural talent for the game. When the time came to leave primary school she was presented with a cup by the head-teacher, who observed that every break when he looked out of the window he would always see Beth playing football with the boys. He also commented that she was a better player than any of the boys!

Footie 02Beth eventually joined a girl’s team. They became the most successful female football team of their age group in our county. The highlight for me was watching them play in three cup finals in a row at the ground of Hereford United Football Club. I can honestly say that this was some of the best football I have ever seen. The things I respect most, apart from the skill of the players, include their incredible commitment both to training and playing, and their determination to win. Girls don’t dive and claim they have been fouled like the boys. They play hard and even when injured resist advice from the coach to come off the pitch. The only problem is that as they get older some lose interest distracted by the likes of boyfriends, and worldly pleasures away from the football pitch.

Edgar Street copyWatching my daughter play a county game the other week made me think about the cost to the girls of being there. The years of regular training, occasional injuries, the travelling to matches, and the disappointment at games lost. This has to be balanced against the elation of games won, and of receiving medals as champions. There are definite parallels with the Christian life. There is always a cost to following Jesus Christ, which is far greater in some countries than it is in North America or most of Europe. Regardless of the cost commitment is vital. There may be disappointments and setbacks during the journey but there is a prize waiting for those who persevere to the end.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-14 NIV)

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by | April 21, 2013 · 8:53 pm

Yokey Dokey

(Guest post by Nick Welford)

What do you think of most during a day? What thoughts capture your mind when you are otherwise unoccupied? Whatever it is there’s a good chance that is what you are yoked to, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Matthew 11: 28-30 ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’

I love the imagery that Jesus conjures here. A yoke (as pictured) is a device that holds two or more oxen together while they pull their plough. The interesting thing is that an older more experienced Ox would be yoked to a young rookie. When the youngest got a bit carried away and tried to speed off and finish the job more quickly, the older Ox would pull him back in line, keeping the plough straight. When the young Ox got tired, the strength and experience of the old Ox would keep him on track. Why was this so important? Because one day the young Ox would become an old Ox himself, and on that day, when he’d learned all there was to know about ploughing a field, he would be yoked to a young rookie Ox.

In Jesus day a yoke was also another name of an interpretation of the scriptures. One Rabbi might read the Old Testament and conclude that sacrifice was the most important thing, his yoke would be sacrifice, another Rabbi might conclude love was the main message, and his yoke would be love. What is interesting is that Jesus claims His yoke is easy, but isn’t this the same Jesus that bids daily take up our crosses? That tells us to gain life we must lose ours? Hardly seems like the easiest of yokes does it? How can Jesus justify calling His yoke easy?

The key, I think, comes when we compare Jesus yoke to all the other yokes around Him. All the other yokes will let you down, none of the other yokes can cope with you! If you yoke yourself to a teaching or a theory what happens when you get headstrong? When you make a mistake? An ideal cannot forgive you, it cannot pick you up, dust you off and walk the road with you. In short words cannot teach you to plough. Yoke yourself to Jesus though, and he will teach you how to live.

In our day and age we may not yoke ourselves to Rabbi’s teachings, but the world provides plenty of other ideals to attract our devotion. Consumerism, individualism, money, sex, power. All of these and more bid for our loyalty, and yoke ourselves we do. But when we stumble and fall these things have no compassion, no pity. They cannot love us, or provide for us. All they can do is spit in our faces and laugh at us, and we take it all, thinking that is all there is to life. Yoke ourselves to Jesus though, and He will pick us up every time we fall, He will give us rest from the constant demands of the things we use to yoke ourselves to. Yoke ourselves to Jesus and He will teach us to be more like Him, so we can show others too.

 

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by | April 21, 2013 · 2:02 am

Mad World

(Guest Post by David Welford)

When I was born I joined a special club. It is not a club I had any choice in joining, but it has an exclusive membership conferred on those who join through the occupation of one, or even both, of their parents. You see my father was a preacher. Actually my father still is a preacher. He still has Rev. in front of his name, and at eighty-two years of age he is still preaching in a small Methodist circuit in South Devon in the United Kingdom. At the time of my birth Dad was in his very first church, and I was the first of four preacher’s kids (PKs) born to my parents.

The first time I was aware of being a PK was when I started school. One of the older girls who attended church decided to take me under her wing. As time went on various comments by friends made me aware that there was something different about me. Something I didn’t understand at the time. When I started secondary school I soon identified the problem. It was my father’s occupation. But why would the fact that my father was a preacher make me some kind of pariah at school? I could understand why teacher’s kids and police officer’s kids were selected for special treatment, but what had preachers ever done to cause their offspring to be singled out?

A comment on a previous blog that referred to life as a PK made me sit up. Heather Mertens said; “I’m not a PK but just being His kid makes me feel like the world doesn’t get it.” If we are His kid, then the world is going to treat us the way that many PKs get treated at school. Being His kid makes us different and the world sees it and hates it. The world hates the fact that His kids have been changed by the experience of sitting at His feet, and the world will do all it can to drag us away from Him. The battle never ends. The pressure is relentless. The world just doesn’t get why we follow Him and want to be part of His family instead of indulging in everything that it, the world, has to offer. I couldn’t choose not to be a preacher’s kid when I was growing up, but I could choose to walk away from God and back into the arms of the world. But why would I when God has made me so aware of how special I am to Him?

Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Psalm 84:10 NIV

http://youtu.be/v52Igdotisk

(Guest Post by David Welford)

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by | April 20, 2013 · 8:06 am

A Book With No Title

(Guest Post by Jessie Clemence)

I am stumped. Just plain stumped. I need a title for a book proposal I’m putting together, and I have nothing. If the proposal is accepted the book will be on Christian marriages, more specifically, how to set ourselves aside to find Christ’s best for our marriages in every situation. While that sounds kind of stuffy and serious, I assure you that it’s not. My primary spiritual gift is ridiculousness, and the book will be full of it. But I’m having a heck of a time finding a title for the thing. 

My friends on Facebook have been useless. Hysterical, but useless. For example, my friend Shannon suggested titling the book Did You Even Move the Milk Before Asking Me Where the Juice Is? or, No Honey, I am Okay, I just Fell in The Toilet. Kim suggested From Dinner and a Movie to Folding Tighty-Whities: My Life As a Wife. These are all excellent titles, but I don’t think they’re going to fly with the publishing team.

My personal favorite came from my own husband: Seriously, We’ve Been Married 15 Years: I’m UP HERE. So there’s a little peek into our marriage that you probably didn’t want, but there it is. Let’s move along.

You see my trouble, don’t you? Anyone who has been married for more than twenty minutes knows that marriage is hard. It requires compromises. It requires sacrifices. It’s a daily opportunity to get over ourselves for the good of another person, much like parenting. And for me, that has been possible because of the sacrifices Christ made for us. I sacrifice because He sacrificed. I love because He loved. 

But how do I get that into a fun title? Any suggestions out there?

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by | April 19, 2013 · 12:01 am

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Growing up in a Christian home was not something I considered advantageous at the time. In hindsight, the benefits were many, but as a child I resented the imposition of church and faith on my life by my parents. I also hated the fact that my father was a preacher. You have to have been a preacher’s kid (PK) to understand the special bond between PKs!

Being a PK often provides a wonderful insight into the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the church. Seeing the effect of so-called Christians on my father in one church made me feel like I didn’t want to be one. In fact, I wanted to smash their faces. I might not have respected my father much at the time (I was a teenager) but mess with my family and you mess with me!

At Spring Harvest (an annual Christian event in the UK) this year I listened to a young woman called Miriam Swaffield speak powerfully about the passion of Jesus as He took ‘a don’t mess with my family’ attitude when He turned over the tables in the Temple. She imagined Jesus saying; “This is My Dad’s house. That’s My family. Nobody hurts My family.”

Miriam compared the misuse of the Temple Courts with the church, stating; “When I bad mouth the church I am committing self-harm, because I am the church.” You could have heard a pin drop as everyone present stopped to think about the times that they had bad-mouthed the church and fellow believers. Then Miriam asked about tables in our lives and gave a challenge:

“What tables are you going to turn over?”

She also asked; “What stops you from being consumed with passion for Jesus?”

So … what tables are you going to turn over in your life, and what stops you from being consumed with passion for Jesus?

Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. (Psalm 69:9 NLT)

(Guest post contributed by David Welford)

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