hitting jesus in the nose

Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you. (2 Timothy 1:13-14)

I was probably six or so. It was the Church of Christ in Freeport, Texas. My mother was teaching Bible class and was blessed with my presence.

She was teaching about Jesus and how he is everywhere. As little children, we were trying to figure out several things simultaneously: how he was everywhere, why it mattered to us or anybody else for that matter, when we would be through, when lunch was, what we would have, what the girl across from me was doing.

You know. Vital theological stuff.

But, of course, there was a variable in the equation. Me. I have always had a problem with keeping my mouth closed anyway. So when she said he was everywhere, I said, Is he here in this room. She replied, yes. Is he here near us? Yes. Is he here beside me? Yes.

So I reached over to where Jesus would be if he were there and I hit the imaginary Jesus in the nose, while making a POOF! sound. You know the sound they make in westerns when they hit each other. The other children laughed.

She was so excited for my theological breakthrough. And she rewarded me later with a spanking.

The point? The point is that she was trying her best to teach me what Jesus was and who he was to the best of her knowledge. Now the fact that I was a smart mouth little twerp didn’t deter her. She kept on.

My mother was, and is still, a good woman. She had her flaws and her problems, yes. As do we all. But here she was, a young woman of maybe 24 or 25 trying to teach a bunch of little children something that even learned theologians do not fully understand.

And she did a good job, I think. She instilled within me a love for God that lasted through my stupid years, and keeps me today.

That pattern of sound teaching is one that many do not have. They had to get it themselves or they do without it. But I had a godly mother who tried her best to instill it within me, within my heart, within my soul.

That is a strong pattern. And in that pattern is power, Holy Spirit power, the kind that you cannot find anywhere else: the love of a godly mother for her child.

My wife was that kind of woman and her mother too. I pray that my children can be.

And I thank God for my mother.

Ruby is her name, by the way. Ruby Lorena Cliver. And she lives in Tyler, TX.

cataract surgery

Ella had her cataract surgery this week and two things occurred to me.

First is the speed with which a surgical procedure was done that only a few years ago was a major procedure.

She went in at 7:30 and was out at 9:15. They chopped on her eye and put in a new lens and all that stuff and it took less than 2 hours. Astonishing. And she can already see a lot better than before.

In the old days, you would be flat on your back for a week at least and then have to wear those coke bottle bottom glasses. Ella’s dad had one of the newer style (in the 70’s, at least) that wrapped around a little. But you knew that those people had had cataract surgery.

Not now. She isn’t supposed to lift anything heavy and can’t bend over or stuff like that for a couple of weeks. But still, amazing.

The second thing was a wheelchair I used to carry her to the Omega Surgical Center (impressive, isn’t it?). It was an uncomfortable piece of junk that had, of all things, a brake on the handle like the ones on newer lawnmowers.

You know, the one that you always have to wire or duct tape closed so you can mow without all that hassle.

The wheelchair was not only ignorant and stupid looking, it was also uncomfortable, hard to get into and out of, and very inconvenient. We have come to know wheelchairs in the past few years, and this one was dumb.

It is not as if wheelchairs go out of control and people smash into walls and run over others’ feet, causing amputations and such.

It was a foolish and useless safety device that somebody paid a fat lot of money for.

As I tried to push her in it, it made it hard to get through some of the doors since you had to hold the handle closed. I thought about our “safety-conscious” world.

People are scared to death of everything. And do you know why?

Because God is not in their lives. Without God in your life, you are scared of everything and you will buy anything you think will keep you safe.

And of course, there are people to sell the stuff.

With God, there is confidence, and a spirit not of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).

She has such beautiful eyes. I am grateful to the doctors and the technology.

light charismatic

Back when we were in the Disciples of Christ, we were beginning to feel the drawing of the Spirit in our lives. We were with a denomination that didn’t believe in the active operation of the Holy Spirit so we didn’t really understand it.

I told Ella that I would like to find a church to pastor that was light charismatic. Charismatic to me was more of a style than a substance, so we wanted to pastor a church that lifted their hands when they sang and who sang contemporary songs and such, but who were not (to our minds) wackos. They were happy and excited.

When the Holy Spirit came into contact with us and we were baptized in the Spirit, we realized how foolish that was. One cannot be “light charismatic”. You are either working under the moving of the Spirit or you are not.

I have known churches that have trumpeted on their webpages the proud fact that they were  non-charismatic. What they mean is that they are standard and aren’t Pentecostal.

But many times, what it means is that the Spirit is not alive in their services. In fact, the one thing they are best at, when it comes to the Spirit of God, is quenching the Spirit, or putting out the Spirit’s fire (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

You cannot be light charismatic. In the same way, you cannot be a light Christian.

Jesus said, He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. (Matthew 12:29-31).

You either are a Christian or not. You either have the Spirit of God within you or you don’t.

You may not speak with tongues, or heal people, or prophecy, but if you are living as God would have you live, you have the Spirit of God within you. Being baptized in the Spirit is not the same as having the Spirit within you. You get the Spirit when you believe in God (Acts 2:38).

Take your Christianity seriously and live for him. Show his Spirit in your lives.