Random Thoughts

Wow! It's been a little while since I've posted anything here at Out of My Hat. I'd say it was because I've been busy, but that isn't completely true. I just haven't felt like taking the time to write something worthwhile. I'm not saying that this is anything that is really special--in fact, it will just be some random thoughts that I have yet to formulate into a post that might someday make sense.

My ministry year is coming to a close as far as revivals and magic shows. I'll be in Seligman MO tomorrow morning, Kansas City on Monday and Tuesday for the Missouri Baptist Convention and Shady Grove MO on November 1st. I also have a magic show at a senior adult community on Oct. 30th. It has been a busy year and I am greatly encouraged by the opportunities that I've had this year. I've learned some things about people, churches, myself and about God.

I'm not sure, but I think that God laughs at me on a regular basis. He surprises me and He keeps me humble. There are times when I feel like I've preached a strong message and see no response and other times when I feel that things went so poorly...and people come to trust Jesus as their Savior. Some churches really surprise me with their generosity and God has used others to keep me humble and remind me that it's not about the money. It's not about me, either. It always has to be about Him. It has to be about His great love for us and about the Redemption that is available only through His Son, Jesus.

I'm starting to realize that He has given me a real gift when it comes to working with kids. I don't know why. I'm really not all that fond of the little buggers. I get the feeling that a summer schedule full of kid's camps is in my future--retirement is not that far away. I have never marketed to the Baptists Associations for summer camps and this year I did three as camp pastor, one for a single night and turned two down due to scheduling conflicts. I was asked to preach at more revivals this year than in the past and continue to be invited to Associational Evangelism Conferences.

This air traffic gig is really starting to get in the way of my personal life and personal ministry!

On to other thoughts...

I'm trying to lose some weight (again). Two different ways and two different weights. The first is from the realization that we carry around a lot of unnecessary garbage in the way of guilt, anger, hate, frustrations with others, etc., etc. I'm doing my best to set all of that aside. While it hasn't done much to reduce my waistline or my actual weight, it has helped my spirit to seem lighter and we really don't need heavy spirits or heavy bodies.

The healthy sibling of the family is lamenting his own weight gain and physical condition and made a personal commitment of 28 days to eat better and exercise. I decided to join him (along with our younger sister) and have done well in the first week with the eating part. I knew that the exercise thing wasn't really going to happen for me but have decided to increase my activity level by not using the elevator at work. For reference--the tower cab is on the 7th floor, the break room on the 6th, the NATCA office the 5th and the radar room is on the 4th floor. With twenty stair steps between floors it makes it 120 stairs to the tower cab. I've been making it a point to go outside or to the base building on my breaks and have made four trips up and down the stairs each day last week except for once when I left early to give platelets at the Red Cross. I don't know if I've lost any weight yet but will check tomorrow morning. Guess I'd better take care tonight as we go out for dinner with friends.

I'm starting to feel more driven to writing but so far, that's all. I have yet to actually write anything much less submit it for publication. Perhaps in 2010.

I still need to work on new magic effects and expand the types of venues where I perform. I think that will increase my options when I retire and besides--it's fun.

Okay. That's it for now. I'll try to better in the coming days. Thanks for stopping by.

John <><
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Ministry Blues

I'm a little bit down these days. I know that "Revivals" are supposed to elevate--revive--our spirits, but that hasn't been the case in the past few weeks. I've become depressed at the state of our churches and am wondering why we even bother with doing "church" the way that we are in the 21st century.

Our churches are more like clubs, We even have memberships! We haven't made them exclusive (not officially) and generally make membership simple (and meaningless) to attain, but we do gather in our safe little holy huddles and maintain a cloistered division between us and the communities that we live in.

We have set aside the command to make disciples and have contracted that duty to our vocational clergy. If the church isn't sharing the Gospel, it must be their fault. That's what we are paying them for. Unfortunately, according to the Bible, the job of the pastor/teacher/evangelist is to equip the followers of Jesus to share the Gospel with the world around us. I guess that we are not doing a very good job.

In fact, we seem to have complicated the Christian lifestyle beyond what we can manage on a day to day basis. We have program after program on sharing our faith. We move from the latest and greatest program to the new and improved latest and greatest program. When something seems to be working well for a period of time, we get tired of it and want something new--something different. Teaching programs has replaced teaching the commands of our Lord. We are very busy at doing nothing that has an eternal impact--but at least we're very busy. And while we work at our programs, people are going to hell.

It's not supposed to be this hard. The Jews had 613 Laws that they were to follow. Some were "do" laws. Some were "do not" laws. Jesus made it simple. When asked which of the laws was the greatest, Jesus said that the greatest law is to love God with everything that we have (Deut 6-5). Then He gave them a bonus--the second greatest law: Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18). He said that the other 611 laws (as well as everything from the Prophets) are based on these two.

Jesus didn't leave us with a program to share our faith, He left us with a command to share our faith--no Share Jesus Without Fear; no FAITH; no Drawing the Net; no Monday night visitation programs--just a simple command to make disciples. Go make disciples--students. Teach them to obey the things that I've taught you. Don't worry, I'll be with you. (Matt 28:19-20)

Could it really be that...simple?

I challenge you (again). Tell somebody, "God loves you. Jesus died for you."
Do it today.

John <><

Blogging from the Southwest

Yes, I know that it has been well over a week since I've posted. For a good part of that, I was just too busy. But other than that, I've just been in a posting doldrum kind of state. Oh there is certainly plenty to blog about, but I'm trying to keep things uplifting and positive.

So...no mention here of the dismal way that the Cardinals finished out their last few games and just looking forward to the post-season play that begins this week. I know that they will be great with all pitchers feeling strong and everybody doing their part in the field and at the plate. Go Cardinals!

Chris and I are wrapping up a quick weekend getaway to Las Vegas. We arrived Friday afternoon and will be leaving early tomorrow morning. Today (10/4) is Chris' birthday.

Friday night we saw the Criss Angel show BeLIEve! It is one of the areas Cirque du Soleil productions and lived up to the mediocre reviews that it has received. Not much Cirque in the production and unfortunately, not much magic, either. If you're planning a trip to Vegas and want to see a magic show, Lance Burton's show at the Monte Carlo is good and Mac King has a great afternoon show at Harrah's. There are others that I haven't seen but would recommend trying them before the Mindfreak show at the Luxor. As for the Cirque du Soleil shows, this doesn't really qualify as a true Cirque production...go see one of the others.

It's funny how you can travel half way across the country and run into people that you never run into at home. Such was the case Friday night when we ran into our eye doctor and his wife at the Criss Angel show. Their seats were closer to the front but off to the side. He said that they could see much of the behind the scene stuff that the audience is not supposed to see. This is a bad deal for magic. I mean--we all know that there are trap doors, cables, wire's, mirrors, yada, yada... but nobody is supposed to see that.

Years ago, when I was working at one of Kirby Van Burch's magic stores, I had the privilege of watching several of his shows from backstage. I always told people that it was a made for television quality production...every night. Kirby took great care to block out any seats that might provide an audience member with glimpses due to bad angles. I would have thought that the Criss Angel producers would have done the same. Though the show was good entertainment, I felt let down from both the perspective of a magic show and a Cirque production.

Saturday we didn't have any plans and just enjoyed a leisurely day in Vegas.
Sunday we spent the day at the Grand Canyon. It was a cool day and very windy. They said the temperature at the west rim was about 55 degrees (F) and the winds were around 50 mph. They canceled the helicopter rides and there were no aircraft flying around the canyon due to the winds. It also made getting close to the edge a bit more exciting. All in all, it was a good day.

One thing that we did different on this trip to Vegas was staying in a hotel off of the strip. We're staying at The Residence Inn less than a mile from the strip and they have shuttles that go back and forth from The Mandalay Bay every 30 minutes. Since we are not gamblers, this worked out well for us. We have a much bigger room, breakfast, quieter atmosphere and still have easy access to the strip and airport.

Well it's an early flight in the morning so I'll wrap this up. I'm off work tomorrow (10/5), work Tuesday and Wednesday, then I'm off to New Hope in Holden MO for a Thursday through Sunday revival. I'll be back in Springfield for a Saturday morning American Christian Writer's meeting then to Holden for the evening service. Gonna be a great week! Hope that you have a great week, too!

John <><

Remember When Conservatives Were...Conservative?

I know that it really irks some people that I would call myself a "conservative." This is because we have very different ideas of what "political conservatism" really is. Certainly, there are many that are old enough to remember the conservatism of the 60's and 70's, but many of today's conservatives are too young to know what real conservatism is. Today's conservative is more defined around a political party and is absolutely intolerant of other ideas. There is no middle ground for today's political conservative. Political parties have taken on a battle stance with a winner-take-all mentality and it has caused great swings in the make up and control of the ruling bodies in our country.

I remember when a "conservative" wasn't defined by party; when there were conservative Democrats (there still are) and conservative Republicans(?). Conservatives were for fiscal accountability, moral sensibility and social responsibility. Unfortunately, today neither party has representatives nor platforms that reflect this type of conservatism. Everything has moved to the extremes--radical right and liberal left. The extremes are so far apart that one blogger refers to the middle as a vast wasteland. A conservative Democrat is seen so far right of the far left that he is abandoned by his own party. A conservative (by the standards of the '70's) Republican is seen too far to the left of the radical right and they are also abandoned by the party. Yesterday's conservative has become today's moderate and is (for all practical purposes) an independent in a two party system.

I believe that the vast majority of Americans find themselves somewhere in the middle without a voice in Congress.

The book The Death of Conservatism is now on my list of books to read. I don't know much about the author, Sam Tanenhaus, but sense that he is farther to left than I am and perhaps gives a much more liberal slant to this topic than I have. However the topic (as well as this interview) intrigue me. I believe that the conservatives of the '60's and '70's no longer exist as conservatives. The values of those conservatives have been hijacked and morphed into unrecognizable ideologies of a radical movement. When you have 30 minutes, visit the link and watch the interview (thanks, Mike).

My other title for this post was Here I Am, Stuck in the Middle With You.

John <><

Putting Our Past Behind Us

I had a great weekend! I spent Saturday afternoon at Perche Baptist Church, just a little bit north of Columbia MO. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to visit with my friend, Pastor Cole.

Cole is a great guy, but he pretty much stinks at "washers." Washers is a game that is similar to horse shoes, but much more portable. There are different variations of the game and Cole used the excuse that he was used to a different style pit. If I had been throwing as badly as he was, I would have faked an injury or used a similar excuse, too!

I hope that everybody had a great time. I know that I did.

I drove back to Springfield to meet Hannah and her boyfriend at Buffalo Wild Wings for UFC 103. The fights were just starting when I arrived. I enjoyed some good food, fight night and got to pay for their date, too!

Sunday morning I was up and on the road for Bakersfield to wrap up the Revival meetings at the First Baptist Church. It's always hard to gauge how congregations respond to the urging of the Holy Spirit. I do believe that many made genuine commitments to examine their Christian walks and to make the necessary changes to become more like Jesus and to tell the story of God's great love.

All-in-all, I put 667.5 miles on the car in the two days--1,113.6 for the week (Sunday-Sunday).

But that was last week's glory and there is much to do ahead of me.

This will be a similar week. I'll be just a few miles farther down the road from Bakersfield at Bethel Baptist Church in West Plains MO for a Wed-Sunday Revival. Because of work, I'll have to make the 200+ mile round trip at least three times and will probably make it four. Such is the way of things. I am looking forward to my time there and to seeing a former coworker. I am hoping to find that he is enjoying his retirement immensely and highly recommends it to anybody that is eligible! (2 yrs, 3 mos, 15 days)

I hope that the week will find you enjoying God's great love. If you find yourself in need of some encouragement or prayer, feel free to contact me by comment, e-mail or phone (info in my profile).

Remember--God loves you and Jesus died for you!

John <><

On Health Care Reform

I haven't weighed in on the Health Reform debate too much...for a number of reasons.

I definitely believe that our system needs to be reformed. #37 in the world ranking for health care is simply unacceptable.

I am NOT in favor of one mega-bill that is going to fix all of our health care problems and can't understand why the "smart" people think that this is the best way to address the problem. (Perhaps it is because they see "problem" when, in fact, they should see many "problems")

I think that several smaller bills, each focused on one area the system, would be easier to write, read, pass and enforce.

I think that Americans, in general, need to change our attitudes toward good health. We need to look to more healthy lifestyles and preventative care rather than looking to the medical/pharmaceutical industry to fix us once we've messed up our own bodies by our poor living habits. I know that you can't put that into a bill, but maybe some incentives to live healthier lives could find a way into a reform bill.

I read this CNN News article the other day and find that 45,000 deaths in the USA that are contributed to people not having insurance and fearing the huge medical bills is appalling.

I cringe when I hear people suggest that decent health care is a privilege and not a right. Apparently, some people think that you should have wealth, status or make some contribution to society before you deserve health care. (funny that they are often the same people that fear the non-existent "death panels" that would determine your worth to society)

I wish I knew the answer. I wish that Congress knew the answer. The one thing that I think we all know is that there has to be some change. It really is time to set aside the politics and work towards a solution. People should not have to choose between bankruptcy and medical attention.

Sorry for the rant...

John <><

Work Related

The run-off election for the president of the National Air Traffic Controller's Association (NATCA) and the Central Region vice-president is over. I have to say that I am very disappointed in the results for our national president. I wish Paul Rinaldi the best but will have to do some real mental gymnastics to overcome my fears that we are in for more of the mediocre (at best) leadership that we've experienced for the past few years. Sorry, Ruth. I know that you must be disappointed and yet I also know that you are all NATCA. Thank you for your service to the membership.

As for the Central Region...congratulations to Kevin Peterson and condolences to Andy Heifner. This was really a no lose situation for our region. Both of these guys are excellent and I'm sure that they will both continue to serve in their own ways. Kevin--let me know how I can help.

The next big item...Contract Ratification. Soon we'll know if the membership voted to ratify the proposed contract. Thanks to the team for their work. I know that the arbitrated parts are disappointing to us and I'm still trying to figure out how the arbitrators got from from their scathing comments of the FAA to using the imposed work rules as a base in their arbitration decision. I think that we'll see a great number of grievances as we enter back into some oversight of management and get away from the management style of there are no rules except the ones we make up. I also think that Kevin will be right in his element as he deals with these issues and represents us at the regional level. I hope that the FAA will get back to working with NATCA on system modernization so that systems will actually work when we try to bring them online.

In spite of its shortfalls, I submitted my vote to ratify the proposed contract. If you're a NATCA member, I hope that you will also vote for it.

John <><

An Oxymoron?

I want to preface this post by saying that it is primarily directed to my Christian brothers and sisters. Feel free to read it or skip it as you please. Just remember that I'm making the assumption that I am writing to fellow followers of Jesus.

Oxymorons are those strange combinations of contradictory words that we often use.

Things like: That tastes awfully good or She's pretty ugly.
There are the standard jokes like: Military intelligence or happily married.
Some have become so common that we no longer think of them as oxymorons--virtual reality or the unbiased opinion.

We often fail to recognize them in our daily conversations (unless you're a linguistic sort of guy like Bilbo). Here's one that I keep running into--it's one that most people wouldn't consider to be an oxymoron. (Okay, so I may be the only one that does and my wife thinks I'm silly for mentioning it.)

Christian World View.

You also see it as Christian Worldview.

Don't get me wrong here. I recognize that Christians should see the world from a different perspective, but I see a Christian view of our world as a better option. A Christian view and a World view are opposites.

The Christian World View seems to focus on setting Christians apart as the High and Mighty, self-righteous, defenders of all that is Holy authority on Earth. The Christian World View tells how we should view the economy, the morality, the philosophies, the media, virtually every aspect of our world--from a biblical perspective. I find this very complicated and have a hard time with other people telling me how I should think about all of these different issues. I don't need somebody to tell me why the world is wrong based on a Scripture text.

I think that I can simplify the whole matter for all of you Christians that are struggling to figure it all out.

I think that it is much simpler to view the world as...lost. We shouldn't be surprised that an ungodly world acts in ungodly ways. The Bible says that we are like travelers in a foreign land. That this land is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven.

When I look at the task of changing the laws and practices of this world to reflect a Biblical perspective, I am overwhelmed. It seems like an impossible task. I think that it is enough of a challenge for me to find just one person to disciple in the teachings of my Savior Jesus. If that one person would learn to make personal decisions based on the teachings of the Bible rather than on the laws of man I would count it as a victory.

If each one of us would find a person--just one person--to disciple in the coming months, wouldn't that have a greater impact than all of the videos and articles on Christian World Views that are directed at Christians and do nothing to address the lostness of the unbelievers? Isn't that the command that Jesus gave us? "...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

It seem as if the world has had a far greater influence on the Church than the Church has had on the world. We've adapted to the world by drawing up our own laws of how we are to act (and judge one another according to those laws) rather than following the grace and mercy of our Father in heaven and the teachings of His Son, Jesus. We've become an organization rather than the Bride of Christ.

Changing the laws of our world will not change the hearts of the people living around us. Only God can change their hearts. Shouldn't our purpose be to bring the love of God and the Good News of Salvation to the world around us.

Jesus looked on the world with compassion. He saw fields ready for harvest but there were too few workers. Aren't we supposed to be looking with His eyes?

Yesterday, I challenged the members of the First Baptist Church of Bakersfield MO to tell at least one person that God loves them and Jesus died for them. I made it easy. I gave them this out. I told them that all they have to do is say, "The preacher at our church Sunday said that we have tell at least one person 'God loves you and Jesus died for you' and I picked you."

Are you up for that challenge? If you are a non-Christian and still reading, I want you to know--God loves you and Jesus died for you. For the Christian reader, you have the same easy out that I gave to the church in Bakersfield--just say, "I read this blog and the guy challenged us to tell at least one person 'God loves you and Jesus died for you' and I picked you."

Make the world a better place--tell somebody about Jesus!

John <><

Who Am I (again)?

I got to thinking this week about the person of John that different people see in different settings. I wrote about this some time ago--hence the "again" part in the title. As much as we might try to be the same person on a consistent basis, we are different in each setting.

To the people that I work with, I'm John-the air traffic controller. They know about other aspects of my life, but I'm primarily a controller in their eyes. To the many churches that invite me as an evangelist, I'm...well...an evangelist. Some know that I have a full time job, some don't. To the kids, I'm primarily a magician and a story teller. Overall, I've always thought that my personality is pretty consistent from one area of life to another.

Recently, I've started to wonder about that. I've noticed a difference in people when they are able to hide behind a degree of anonymity. For example: One day this past week, as I was driving on one of the many rural highways in southwest Missouri, a car pulled out in front of me. The highway speed limit is 55 mph. There was one truck close behind me and then nothing behind him. Now, I didn't have to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting this senior gentleman with the handicap license plates, but I did have to brake to the point of dropping (quickly) to about 30 mph to avoid rear ending him. While honking the horn and loudly voicing my displeasure at his disruption of my nice cruise home, he simply looked at me in his rear view mirror and held up his hands and shrugged his shoulders as he slowly inched his way up to about 50 mph on the two lane highway with just enough traffic and just enough hills to keep me from passing him.

I'm not sure if his gesture was and act of contrition or if he was taunting me. In any case, I eventually calmed down and had to kind of laugh at myself. If this had happened coming out of our church parking lot and was one of our senior adults, I would have stopped if necessary and waved to them as I allowed them to go on their way. Why shouldn't I allow the same gracious behavior to this gentleman that I don't know. Or why would I allow this stranger to anger me so easily. Is it as simple as he doesn't know me; I don't have to actually confront him; and so I am going to allow myself to be rude and hateful?

I'm thinking that if I would have hit the guy, I probably would have made sure that he was all right and NOT blown up about him pulling out in front of me. Sometimes, personal confrontation has a way of tempering my emotions. I've noticed that I am much more likely to be rude over the phone than in person. If people know me, I'm more likely to try to be the person that they know (you know, the gentle spirit, kind and loving guy, etc.) rather than the ugly guy that lurks beneath.

Perhaps, that is part of the problem that we have in our society today. It is easy to be anonymous. We isolate ourselves in our cars. We text instead of talk. We read and comment via the internet. We send unwelcome e-mailings to the masses. And we forget that good manners and not-so-common courtesy is for all occasions--not just when we are face to face.

There are many that read this blog that I know and that know me. There are many more that I will never meet outside of this virtual blog world. I know that some of you are atheists and some are not. You come from different faiths--Evangelicals, Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, and others. Some are politically active--as conservatives, liberals and moderates--and some are not. Some of you have few choices when it comes to politics as you come from many different countries and political systems. Some of you are very young and trying to make your way in the work world. Some of you are retired. The point is--we are all different. And being different (or having differences) is no reason to be rude to each other.

When I come to my senses after an episode like the one with the driver pulling out in front of me, the first thought that I always have is, "I wonder if I'll ever run into that person at a church where I've been asked to preach?"

It's a disturbing thought. It puts me in a place that gives me an ineffective testimony. Rudeness never inspires dialogue. Do you think that this old man would ever pay attention to anything I have to say should he recognize me as the guy that was yelling at him on the highway?

I know that some people are easier to love than others. I'm probably not one of the easiest...but God loves me, just the same. And He loves you, too. And He calls on me to love you.

So, if I try to be more lovable (that's to make it easier for you and the people that are around me), would you agree to trying to be more lovable for the people that are around you? I have a feeling that a little respect, some good manners and some common courtesy would go a long ways toward making our little corner of the world a better place.

A long time ago, I received this comment on one of my posts. The first part quotes something I wrote followed by the comment:

"Whatever your political affiliation may be, we must remember to pray for those that set policy and practice for our country. The Bible tells us that all authority on Earth is given by heaven."

We *must*? I am an atheist. Are you one of those who believes that the only moral authority is that which comes from the Bible? If so, we have no starting point from which to discuss.

I responded with another post. My virtual atheist rarely posts comments anymore, so I don't know if he still reads or not. He doesn't post on his blog often and hasn't had a feed to subscribe so I only check in on him on occasion. I just added him to my Google Follower, so I should be notified when he posts. In any case, we became virtual friends for a while and even shared a couple of e-mails back and forth. For some reason (and I'm really not sure why) this is a guy that I think I'll get to meet someday. My first instinct was to respond with a wise crack like "God doesn't believe in atheists." I'm glad that I didn't...and I hope that he still reads from time to time.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in 1 Corinthians, chapter 9. Paul writes:

¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

In between the insignificant posts on what goes on in the head of John, I want to return to telling you that God loves you and sent His Son, Jesus to die for you. I won't pretend to be Paul, becoming all things to all men. But I will try to keep the dialogue open so that we can discuss heaven and hell and how I believe that you can get into one and stay out of the other. With all of my heart, I believe that the only way to heaven is to trust your eternal soul to Jesus.

As always, we can discuss your questions privately or publicly, via email or comments, or you can call me or send a text message.

Still struggling to be more like Him,

John <><

We're Number 37!

John <><