Dadofmykids Podcast #4 - Boycot-Not

On this episode:

• “3 of 7” (The Star Trek Voyager character is “7 of 9”, Dummy!)
• NFL: to watch or not to watch.
• Phil. 4:8 “Think on these things”

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Go and Tell John

When I was in high school, I was a singer. I had the privilege of singing in the TN All-State Choir. I met a fellow student one year, in Nashville, at the All-State Choir event. He struck me as a little awkward - very awkward, indeed. I wondered how this odd fellow managed to qualify for such an elite group. Nonetheless, my group of friends and I treated him kindly.

On the first day of rehearsals, my awkward friend took his seat at the piano. He was our accompanist! And we soon learned, he was brilliant - maybe even genius! The director even noted publicly his added value to the choir.

The only song I truly remember performing was an acapella number called "Go and Tell John" by Larry L Fleming. I found this recording of the George Fox University Concert Choir on YouTube:

 

Luke 7:21-23

At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the Gospel preached to them. "Blessed is he who does not take offence at Me."

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Day 15 of #40Days - Legacy

“Have pity on me, O Lord, because I am in distress.

My eyes, my soul, and my body waste away from grief.”  

Ps. 31:9 (God’s Word Translation) 

Papaw and his namesake Georgia Rose.

Last week, I was sitting at the funeral of my wife’s grandfather.  Everybody always called him Papaw.  I knew him for over 23 years.  There were a lot of facts that I knew about Papaw.  He was a retired utility foreman and preacher.  I heard him preach twice, I think.  He loved to study the Bible and listening to J Vernon McGee on the radio.  I have listened to Dr. McGee a few times, knowing that Papaw was such a loyal listener.  My wife, Jill, speaks fondly of days spent with him.

One of Papaw's life long preacher friends delivered the message at the funeral.  That’s when I realized I didn’t know Papaw nearly as well as I thought.  I won’t try to retell the story of which I am so vaguely aware.  However, I will tell you that Papaw was a faithful man of God.  He led many people to faith in our Lord Jesus.  He set an example of passion for Christ that is simply inspiring.  Now, I think I understand why so many who loved him are grieving.

He left us a legacy.  It is a legacy of faith, hope and love.

I heard this verse today (Ps. 31:9).  The word “grief” caught my attention.  It reminded me of all we have experienced in the last few years.  It made me want to dig a little deeper, too.

About half way through Psalm Chapter 31, the despair takes a sudden and dramatic turn:

I trust you, O Lord.
I said, “You are my God.”
My future is in your hands.
Rescue me from my enemies, from those who persecute me.
Smile on me.  Vs 14-16

Trust the Lord.  Give the future to Him.  May He smile on us.  The thought of God smiling on me brings me such peace.  I hope it does the same for you.

God bless,
Dadofmykids

 Post #15 of 40 Days.  Learn more here.

This post was originally on Canvas Rhapsody Blog.

Day 14 of #40Days - Paradise Lost

She knew somehow that no one in the class read the assignment.  That's probably why she dropped a pop-quiz on us.

The reading assignment, given the day before by our Senior English teacher, was Milton's Paradise Lost.  I don't remember if it was a condensed version, or perhaps one of the twelve books, or even the whole thing.  I wouldn't put the whole thing past Ms. J.  She was known for being a hard-nose teacher.  And she seemed a little angry, too.

"Put your books away and take out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil," she said, just after the bell rang.

Most of the class gasped, knowing what was coming.  Ms. J. passed out the quiz.  No talking or looking around would be tolerated.  We knew that from previous tests.  While we quietly answered multiple choice questions, she step out of the class for a few minutes.  Still, not a word was spoken.  We knew better.

I thought it was odd, having not read the poem at all, that the questions seemed to have a Biblical theme.  Being the Holy Roller of the school, I recognized much of the material.  But I had no idea what the answers were.  So, I answered as if the questions were based on the Bible, not on this fictitious poem.

"Alright.  Pass your papers forward."  Then she collected them all.

Everybody moaned.  We knew this was going to be bad.

The next day, Ms. J. handed out our graded papers.  Out of the students sitting around me, I was the only one with a passing grade.  In fact, my score was quite high.  But she was still in a bad mood.

"Somebody cheated," she said.  "I know who it is, but I am not going to say his name.  It just seems like if a person is going to go around this school preaching at the rest of us, at least he would be honest on a test.  When I stepped out of the room yesterday, this student obviously opened his book and got the answers."

As she carried on, I knew she was talking about me.  How could she say these things?  She described me to a tee.  I knew it, and everyone else in the room knew it, too.

"I didn't cheat," I whispered to a neighbor, who didn't seem to hear me, although she was looking right at me. I was mad, offended, and confused.  We didn't have WWJD bracelets then.  So I didn't know what to do.

When class was dismissed, I waited till all the other students left.  Then I approached her desk where she kept her nose buried in some papers.  

"What do you want?" she said tersely.

"I didn't cheat on that test."

"I didn't say you did."

"Yes, ma'am.  You did.  Even though you didn't say my name, you described me.  Everybody knew who you meant."  I continued, "I admit I didn't read the assignment.  I don't know anything about Paradise Lost.  But I know my Bible, and that's how I answered the questions - as if it were a Sunday School test.  I didn't open any books when you were out of the room.  You shouldn't make false accusations."

She had nothing else to say.  Neither did I.

Psalm 119:42

Then I will have an answer for everyone who insults me for trusting your word.

God bless,

Dadofmykids

That's day #14 of 40 Days.

Day 13 of #40Days - "This is bigger than us."

A podcast episode of Daily Audio Bible, included the story of Esther.  Esther was the beautiful Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus.  You can read the story for yourself in the Bible here.

It moved me on several levels.  So I wanted to share it with you.  First, Esther was adopted by her cousin, Mordecai, after her parents died.  This is a great example of how important adoption can be.  It was Mordecai who advised Esther that this may be the time for which she was created.  If he hadn't adopted her, it's likely they wouldn't have had the relationship where he could say that to her.  Adoption can lead to some pretty cool things.

Secondly, Esther found herself with a decision.  Should she risk her life with hopes of saving her people from genocide, or be silent?  Although we North American Christians don't usually face life or death decisions, we are like Esther in that we are created for a moment in time.

It's cool that we can't usually see times before they arrive.  It's all of a sudden when you're faced with a decision.  Kinda like the day when our social worker called and said, "I know you have your hands full already, but Tucker has a new baby brother.  We have to ask you if you want him."

Adoption Day.

Well, we actually paused to think about that decision.  I mean, we immediately wanted to keep Riley and Tucker together.  But since Jill was 8 1/2 months along with Tilley's pregnancy, and we already had Daniel and Tucker, could we handle it?  And would it have been a blessing to another family if they could have this baby boy, rather than us?

We were made for moments like that.

So be ready.  You probably won't see it coming.  But you will be like Esther, faced with a potentially life changing decision.  Prepare yourself with faith.  Go ahead and determine now that you will trust God.  He can handle it, whether you can or not.

I was nervous.  Picking up baby Riley at the hospital, when Jilly was about to pop with baby Tilley in her belly, was a step of faith.  We were saying to God, "This is bigger than us."

That was 1997.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, 

but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

Romans 8:15

God bless,
Dadofmykids

This is # 13 of The Forty Day Project.  Learn more here.

Day 6 of #40Days - Guilt by Association

My mom and my brothers all told me I shouldn't play with Bubba.  "He's bad news," they said.

But I wanted to prove that I wouldn't be influenced by Bubba.  In fact, I thought, I might be a good influence on him.

Bubba and I rode our bikes all over North Shore subdivision.  His grandma lived just outside the boundary of my permissible travels, across Lynch Drive.  He wanted to go visit her, so I went along.  She seemed nice enough to me, a ten year old boy who'd rather be outside playing.  As we left, Bubba seemed in a hurry.  He had gone in his grandma's coins and taken several of them.

Back at my house, we inventoried the stash.  They were mostly old collectible coins.  Silver dollars.  Half dollars.  He told me she'd given them to him.  I knew he was lying because I was there.  There'd been no mention of money or coins.  But I went along, after telling him he should return them.  We went to the nearby drive-in and bought ice cream.  The lady questioned why we were spending such coins, but we insisted she take them.

My ability to influence Bubba was not as great as I thought.

On another occasion, Bubba's bike was broken or something.  He rode on back of mine while I pedaled.  No big deal.  But when we passed Gary's house, Bubba jumped off.  Gary had left his motorcycle bicycle in his yard.  It was a sweet bike.  It had a gas tank, throttle and hand brakes - even made motorcycle sounds.  Bubba got on Gary's bike and pedaled as fast as he could.  The whole time, I yelled at him, telling him he couldn't take it.

But I followed him anyway.

When we got to the woods, where no one could see, Bubba stopped and celebrated.  My continued pleading to return the bike was ignored.  Now, he explained, we needed to change the bike's appearance, so it couldn't be recognized.  Bubba tore off all the fancy motorcycle accessories.  All that was left was a plain bike.  It was really sad.

That's when I realized my mom and my brothers were right.  I left Bubba.

It wasn't long till the cops showed up at my house.  I had been seen with Bubba, so I was guilty by association.  When I told them what happened, they went looking for him.

Poor Gary.  He was heartbroken.

Although I haven't given this much detail before, I have told this story to my kids in hopes they could learn from my experience.  I've told it or referred to it many times.  Nowadays, all I have to say is "Bubba" for them to know what I'm saying.


"He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed." Proverbs 13:20

That's Day 6 of The Forty Day Project.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Day 3 of #40Days: Footloose

I am not a Footloose virgin any more.

In 1984, many of you saw a movie that became a cultural icon of the 80's.  But I didn't see it.  In fact, the only movies I saw in those years, were likely on TV.  No way would I have been seen buying a movie ticket or sitting in a theater.

It was against my religion.  Kinda like in the movie Footloose, where dancing was outlawed.

Honestly, I thought the men's fashion of the day, pink shirts and jazz oxford shoes, was sin and corruption creeping into the Church.  Really.  That's what I thought.

What is this?  27 years later?  And now, I feel just fine watching that movie.  But it was the first time I'd seen it.  I just watched it with my Jilly.

The story was about religious oppression in a small town.  After a fatal teenage car wreck, the town counsel, including the hell-fire and brim-stone preacher, outlawed dancing, among other things like alcohol.  But, like me, the preacher was shown how wrong he was.

Compassion won.

In my teen years, I became rooted in doctrine that said that almost everything young people like to do is sin.  The Bible does in fact teach against drunkenness, fornication, hatred and other things.  My church took that to extremes like the preacher in Footloose.

As I look back on my high school days, when I carried a Bible to school every day and was more interested in putting down evil than I was in lifting up people, I wonder if I did more harm than good.  I've heard from some of my former classmates.  Most of them remember me as a positive influence, they say. 

I remember myself as a judgemental person.  Too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.  But I have changed.

Look up.  God is more interested in seeing us live life to the fullest than he is in forbidding us from things we enjoy.  That doesn't give us a free ticket to abandon prudence.  But it should leave us spiritually Footloose.

God bless,
Dadofmykids.

PS.  This is post #3 of 40.  Learn more here.

"I would to God you'd just BE Apostolic."

It was Super Sunday, the one time each quarter that all the Sunday school classes came together for a youth service. I led worship at the piano. Bro. Gino preached.

This day would become a turning point for me. Jilly, my wife, was already praying for a change. I was unsure.

Bro. Gino called out a young man who had taken a "stand for the faith". The young man had refused to wear basketball shorts on his college team. He wore warm up pants as a statement of his commitment to the Apostolic faith.  Gino pointed to him as a good example. For those who compromised by wearing shorts or in any other way falling short of the standards of the faith, he exclaimed, "I would to God you'd just BE Apostolic."

I felt as if I was squirming in my seat because I'd been wearing swimming trunks the day before.  At that time, The Brasfield Nation had a boat and a camper on the lake. Naturally, we were outfitted in appropriate attire when swimming, boating and camping.  We did that most weekends, weather permitting.  I thought about my children who were listening to this sermon.

Pride played a part in my nervousness, too.  I had finally reached a level of respect and position at First Apostolic Church.  It seemed like it had taken many years to obtain the titles of Children's Pastor, Substitute Choir Director and other musical opportunities.  Was I ready to give up the prestige for the freedom to wear shorts at the lake?

But it was way more than shorts. There was the exclusive doctrine. Apostolics preach that only those who believe and live by the Apostolic doctrine are true Christian believers. That doctrine was wearing thin with me, too. Each time he said "BE Apostolic", I wanted say, "BE Christian!" Shouldn't the focus be on Christ?  Jilly says it very well: "Be passionate, free-thinking disciples of Christ."

That was the last Sunday for me in the Apostolic church.

Gino, if you're reading this post, I want to thank you for boldly and plainly preaching the Apostolic message that day. You showed me just how far it is from the Gospel preached by Christ and his disciples in the Bible. You gave Jill and me the final push we needed to leave the Apostolic church and further develop our relationships with Christ. We have been set free. I sincerely thank you.

God bless,
Dadofmykids

PS.  To my friends who still live the Apostolic way, I love you all.  I know the doctrine, even taught it to some of you and your children.  The doctrine is flawed.  However, this doesn't mean that we can't be friends.  This post is not an invitation to debate.

God is into emails, too.

I posted a question about an article I wrote over on the SE Laser Blog. Many of my friends replied, evenly split on the appropriateness of the article. Then, this verse, from a daily Bible verse site, comes to my email:

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:1-5 (New International Version)

This verse didn't answer my specific question, but it sure spoke to me about my search for an answer.

It's cool that God is into emails, too. He knew what would be going on today.

BTW. I am going to delete that questionable article.

God Bless,

Dadofmykids