New & Improved Big Buts Site

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If you haven’t already, you’ll have to check out the new and improved version of my Big Buts site. The revision has been made in coordination with the release of my book–

Big Buts of the Bible: A Revealing Look at Jesus Christ.

The book will be available everywhere in November.

What’s new? The site will feature regular excerpts from the book, posts on other big buts found in the Bible, some tongue-in-cheek conjunction fun, study aids and tools, all aimed at helping  you get more out of your Bible reading experience.

There’s also new follow and social bookmarking options so you can easily show friends and loved ones some big buts, too. Spread the love. Links to follow on Twitter, like on Facebook, read in a reader of your choice, or subscribe–it’s all there. You can have buts coming at you down any and every media avenue. This new site means business.

So bookmark the site or subscribe. I look forward to sharing the journey with you. And tell others…

Big Buts of the Bible: A Revealing Look at Jesus Christ–THIS NOVEMBER!

Time Capsules

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I’m not sure if it is because I’m a preacher or because I’m a novelist. Do I love the historical ties to my faith or is it a thirst for the story? Old bibles have always been a treasure trove to me.

This gem I discovered in a dusty old used–ah hem–antique bookstore in Searsport, Maine. It’s antique, alright. It was on a shelf right next to a stack of plastic-wrapped Playboy Magazines from the 1950s. I’ll spare you the storekeeper’s response when I commented on the odd layout of his inventory.

This bible was given to Ruth Lillian Reaviel on July 4th, 1927 by Daddy and Mama. I made some quick observations: First and middle name coupled with the affectionate forms Daddy and Mama–this bible was likely given to a child. How old? I wondered. Teen? Pre-teen? Thumbing thru the book’s pages I came across a torn newspaper clip announcing the engagement of Ruth L. Reaviel to George Barr. The masthead of the paper was not intact, but I found a date on the back–1943. More clues. I’m guessing that sixteen years between the bible’s dedication page and the engagement, Ruth was pre-teen when she got it. Finally in the back of the book I found two handwritten pages of family history notes–names, places and dates. The dates span the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s, so someone was actively writing in this bible some thirty years after it was first inscribed.

When I got back to my computer I hit pay dirt with my first search. Ruth L. (Reaviel) Barr just passed away a couple years ago. The obituary declared her birthdate July 4th, 1917–her parents gave her the bible on her tenth birthday. The article also declared that her beloved husband George had preceded her in death only a couple years earlier. They both lived into their nineties, their marriage lasted more than sixty years. Finally, the paper listed some living relatives. I’ve begun searching for them in hopes to return this bible to family. How did it wind up in the antique bookstore in the first place? Estate sale, perhaps. Perhaps no one wanted it–in which case it will become part of my growing collection.

Is it the historical faith tie? Is it that Daddy and Mama wanted their little girl to have the word in her hands at such a young age? Is it that Ruth appears to have cherished the word through many of the important seasons of her life? Honestly, how many things that you got when you were ten could you still put your hands on eighty years later? Or is it that story element that draws me? Who were these people? What did that ninety years of life and love look like? What stories could this bible tell for all its years of being present in this family? Perhaps I’ll learn more if I discover a living relative who would appreciate having this treasure. Until then I’ll be content to be a very small part of the story–for I am the one who uncovered this family heirloom… right next to the antique porn.

Otjitakoo

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During my recent trip to Namibia–my twelfth trip to the southwestern African nation–my host pointed to a couple of hills on the horizon and remarked, “That’s Otjitakoo–it’s the Herero word for ‘a woman’s large backside.’”

In other words, those hills are called ‘Big Butt.’ You know I had to take a picture and post it here. You can read more of our trip to Namibia by clicking on the team blog, here.

Interactive Sermon 2005-2012

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Image“Thousands of posts and more than a quarter-of-a-million site visitors and then he up and stopped!” That’s what they’ll say of my six and half years of interacting via Interactive Sermon. I’ve ended my blogging life.

Sort of. I’ve moved it to a micro-blogging and web-presence life.

Blogging was the new medium when I started. For a preacher and for a writer it was a vital outlet for… words. We use those. A lot. And a blog was a place where I could put words and have others see, read and interact with them.

At this point in my journey the micro-blogging venues are more appealing, more effective, and more efficient. So this is my life sans the blog. And it feels pretty good. Sure, there’s that ‘walked out of the house and realized you forgot to put on your pants’ sort of feeling. This was, after all, the first morning in 2372 days that I haven’t awakened thinking about a potential blog post. It will take some getting used to.

I’ll not make the site disappear for a while. And with all those posts, I’ll keep an archive here. Who knows what will become of it.

But welcome to my website. This is where I reside as a writer–online home to my fiction and non-fiction, abstract thoughts and other whatchamacallit. Oh, and please take this opportunity to follow me on Twitter and friend me on Facebook. There I pontificate in 140 characters. Don’t you wish my Sunday sermons were as short and to the point?

But What About God?

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I’d suggest that the Bible’s very first sentence—the one that begins with the word Genesis—should prompt a big but in our thinking: But what about God?

The text begins: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Okay, but who created God? Who is he? Where did he come from? The manner in which the book begins assumes God’s presence in this setting. God is introduced as if the reader already knows him, and in a way that suggests he existed before the beginnings of everything we can register with our senses—those things we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch.

In our legal system there is an objection that is voiced, “Assumes facts not in evidence.” When a lawyer states that objection he is arguing that the opposing counsel has misled the judge or jury by allowing them to believe something had been established earlier that was not, in fact, specifically testified to—in other words, there is no evidence in the record to support what you’ve just said. In reading the Bible’s first words, this presents one of the larger obstacles for some folks—there doesn’t appear to be any facts in evidence as to the origin of God.

The Bible, throughout, speaks of God as being eternal, having been from everlasting, and having acted before time began. The Psalms record that Moses prayed: Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. The Psalmist later attests—with a big but no less—that man’s days are numbered, but from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him. Everlasting—implied in that word is that God always was, and that he is, and that he will always be.

Back to the courtroom—when the objection “Assumes facts not in evidence” is raised, the judge might instruct a lawyer to substantiate the basis for his statement. Genesis unfolds like that. Offering no initial explanation for the existence of God, the writer proceeds immediately to creation’s beginnings—as if creation itself will testify that God, or some manner of intelligent being, was in place already. As the writer of the book of Romans concluded: Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. All of the systems and order that can be apprehended by our senses—seen, heard, smelled, tasted and touched—testify clearly that this was no accident. These things came into being by design, with intent and purpose. The Genesis account invites us to stay tuned as this story unfolds.

Big But on Love

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The manuscript of Big Buts of the Bible: Gospel of Matthew is finished. Here’s another excerpt, this from chapter 5:

You have heard it said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy’. But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…  That’s a hard teaching. I’ve had more than a few conversations with struggling married couples over the years where one or the other spouse tells me they aren’t feeling love anymore. I use this text to demonstrate love isn’t a feeling.

We’ve come to think of love as something we’re passive to—it comes upon us. We fall in love—sort of like falling in a ditch. Just happened. We talk about feeling butterflies in our stomach. That’s not love. That’s gas! It’ll pass—pun intended. But Jesus makes it clear, love is an action. You don’t get warm-fuzzies where an enemy is concerned. It has to be a decision.

The rest of the statement that Jesus gave tells us of the importance of this matter: …that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. People who knew my father tell me that they see and hear a lot of him in me. I suppose I did pick up a few of his features. I know that I picked up a bit of his temperament and some of his humor and vocabulary. Every now and again a phrase will come out of my mouth directed at my kids—a “Because I said so!”—and it is like déjà vu, I remember my dad saying that. Jesus’ point is that when we take up this manner of love, it is a dead give-away as to who our Father is. It so resembles Him that others will recognize it. God loves His enemies and cares for them. He causes His light to shine and rains provision on them. This manner of love is so very different from the norm. It stands apart.

Historical Characters

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The following is an excerpt from Ghost Dance.

Goyahkla arrived from the southwest. Little was known of the Apache warrior. His legend here—the man who would come to be known as the worst Indian ever to have lived to white settlers—was still in its infancy. It was full-grown, however, in Mexico. Just a few years earlier his mother, his wife and children were slaughtered by Mexican soldiers. He had undertaken a very personal campaign of revenge. He attacked with such ferocity that his victims were heard crying out to Saint Jerome to spare their lives, “Jeronimo!” That plea so frequently associated with him, he became known as Geronimo.

He was a thick man, perhaps only 5 foot 7 inches tall. He looked other men in the eye, but he never smiled. His face appeared frozen in a menacing scowl. Accompanying him was a very small band of warriors, a rag-tag group that looked to have included boys in their teens. For much of the gathering he remained silent. He was quite a contrast from the other Apache warrior in attendance, the man the whites knew as Cochise.

Kuuchish was some twenty years older than Goyahkla but it wasn’t evident in his appearance. He stood closer to 6 foot tall and carried an absolutely chiseled frame. His raven black hair ran the length of his torso. He spoke often, and he spoke forcefully. He was very animated. Wild waving of his arms and terse facial expressions emphatically punctuated his phrases. He was furious with whites for their many lies—lies that had, in successive years, led to the hanging of his brother and the murder of his father-in-law, the respected Chief Mangas Coloradas.

He spoke in unadulterated vitriol. “When I was young I walked this country end to end. The Apache lived in peace. After many winters I walked again. I found a new people who speak many words but who speak out of both sides of their mouths. Their lies led to the death of many Apache. They have taken much from me. I will not sleep until I will make their losses greater than mine. I will bring the grave up to meet their lies! I will bring the sky down upon their heads!”

Ghost Dance – a HISTORICAL NATIVE AMERICAN / RELIGIOUS THRILLER (Fall 2012)