Is Anybody Out There?

After a conversation with a friend recently, I started wondering about God. Not that I'm questioning the existence of God, rather wondering how to answer others that may wonder about the existence of God. And if there is a God, does He hear our prayers and really care about us or are we as insignificant to Him as an ant hill built in a crack in the sidewalk?

I'm not going to get into a deep theological debate on the existence of God, but it is incredibly interesting that virtually all civilizations have looked to a greater being to worship and to credit for both fortune and misfortune. If it seems to be bred into man to look for a God, who put that common thought/desire into our make up?

I know that there are many out there that claim to be "atheist"--believing that no God exists. I usually just say that it's okay--God doesn't believe in atheists either! At best, many would consider the evidence of a God, a Supreme Being, a Creator, to be circumstantial. Of course, conclusive evidence would require no faith. And faith is a major element of any of the beliefs in a God.

I refuse to believe that this existence is just an exercise in futility. That at its end, we just die and it's all over. What a waste. I think that the desire to be a part of something greater than ourselves is placed in us by the God that created us. The the testimony of the Earth and everything in it points us to a Designer, a Creator, a God.
It is my hope and prayer that you will find the need to discover God and all that He has to offer. His desire is for you to know Him as He knows you.

John

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him?"
A Psalm of David

Grand and Glorious Day

Wow! What an amazing day! I have to tell you that I really enjoy my home church of Hopedale Baptist Church in Ozark, MO. I can't think of a place that I'd rather be on any given Sunday. I love just seeing the people that come on a regular basis, meeting the newcomers, and wondering what great blessing God has in store for us. We have been having baptisms pretty regularly as of late and had a man accept Jesus as his Savior today. Our Sunday school attendance has grown from around 200 at the beginning of the year to 283 this morning.
We are seeing new faces every week and having opportunities to minister to needs.

I believe that the greatest asset that we have as a church is an incredible belief in the power of prayer. Part of me wants to say that our greatest asset is our Pastor, but even he would admit that he wouldn't be the pastor/preacher that he is without the unceasing prayers of our family of believers.

This Sunday evening we had an additional blessing of the gospel group Poet Voices leading in worship. Greg Crowe has been here on several occasions and is always a welcome guest. The group also includes Phil Cross and Mark Lanier, both excellent singer/songwriters. Also a guest at church tonight was award winning songwriter, Gary Paxton and his wife Vicky. When you add in our own Mabe family (Branson's Baldknobbers) and their guests, we were full up with musical talent. It really was a great night of praise and worship.

If you get a chance go to http://poetvoices.com to check them out and do google search on Gary Paxton. If you get a chance to hear them, don't pass it up.

I hope that your day was as grand as mine.

John

Growing Up

Is it just my imagination, or are kids growing up faster today? It seems to me that they are faced with and exposed to so many more of life's challenges at much younger ages.
Yesterday I went to a small church's back-to-school event held at the public park. While they (Solid Rock Church) provided games, food, drinks, and back to school stuff, I got to put on a magic show and tell the neighborhood about Jesus. The town has a number of adult bookstores and a casino and is economically depressed. You wouldn't exactly call this fertile soil when it comes to planting seeds--more like throwing seeds on the rocky pathway. But the church is preparing the soil and planting where they can.

The thing I notice most about these kinds of audiences is that many of the kids have lost their sense of wonder. They are already skeptical about life in general. They are the ones that "know how you did that" and miss out on the fun of the show. For most adults, we are willing to set aside reality for the time being and enjoy the moment, the magic. I think a part of us yearns for the days when the world was a wonder. It is my hope and prayer that these youngsters will have a time in their lives when they can enjoy the wonder of childhood, the wonder of life.

Thanks to Rachel Wild for sending this poem that expresses those thoughts. Rachel is a wonderful magician/lecturer/vendor from England and I have seen her on numerous occasions at the Midwest Magic Jubilee.

John

MAGIC WORDS

Magic and mystery
Music and mirth
Wizards and witches
Heaven and earth

Fairy tales and folklore
Wishes and dreams
Each day an adventure
Or so childhood seems

Then one day we grow up
The magic starts to fade
No time for story telling
Sunshine turns to shade

Hold tight to the magic
Take it with you every day
Then you’ll never lose that feeling
That your childhood’s here to stay.

Rachel Wild

Time for some magic!

Well I just got back from the 50th Anniversary Midwest Magic Jubilee in St. Louis. It was a fantastic event filled with great lectures, great performers, great vendors and great times.

I started the weekend by taking in the Thursday afternoon Cardinal game(they won!)and then headed to the Airport Hilton for the weekend. I saw some old friends and met some new ones. I even managed a little time away from the convention to have dinner with some friends in the area and also managed a daily drive to Ted Drewe's.

I have to say that my favorite part of the weekend is the close-up show that is put on by the professionals. These guys are the best. Whit Haydn and Jay Sankey were great, both in their lectures and their performances. And if you are a card handler, you have just got to take the Jimmy "Cards" Molinari advanced workshop. I went to it last year and you just can't believe your eyes. I wish I lived closer to St. Louis so that I could hang out with Mr. Molinari and pick up some of those moves!

The contests were fun to watch and all of the participants should be congratulated for their work. For those that might be wondering, I've toyed with the idea of entering one of the contests but don't really fit well into either of the catagories. The "Stand-up" or "Parlor" style doesn't really belong with the stage magic and definitely isn't close-up. Of the two, it would fit best with the stage magic but without any of what we (magicians) would consider to be stage illusions.

In the end, I was challenged to think like a spectator instead of a magician (Jay Sankey) and picked up a few new ideas that I'm sure will help my show.

Props to Terry Richison, Steve Zuehlke and all the staff.

John

Cowboy Up

I just finished reading a new book by Dr. Joseph Ransom. The Healing City: A Cowboy Christmas Story is set in the town of Ronan, Montana, where Dr. Joseph was born.

In his book, Dr. Joseph reminds us that the cowboy spirit is alive and well. It is what is right in America. The characteristics of honesty, integrity and hard work are more than principles from the West--they are principles from the Word.

If Jesus had been born in a barn in Montana, His stories may have been of the Good Cowboy instead of the Good Shepherd. It's an interesting thought with similarities and great differences, as well: The Good Shepherd is entirely responsible for the flock. He is responsible for their care, their protection, their food and drink. In spite of His great responsibility, it is considered to be the lowliest of jobs.
The Good Cowboy, likewise, is responsible for the herd. He works hard at what ever needs to be done. While he may prefer to do his work from the saddle, he knows that much of the work must be done with his boots firmly on the ground; mending fences, cutting bulls, nursing calves, and putting up hay for the long winters. While the work is hard physical labor, the job--the profession of Cowboy, is the ultimate of all jobs. It embodies all of the characteristics of A Good Man. A Cowboy is honest, courageous, loyal and hardworking. He is a man's man. He is chivalrous--always the gentleman, kind to children and defender of those in need.

I don't for a moment believe that Jesus thought that the job of shepherd was a lowly job. It may have been a servant's job or the job given to the youngest in the family, but Jesus was kind of big on that whole thing of elevating the humble, the least being the greatest, the last being the first. Jesus may have had more success at getting us off of our pews and into the pastures if He could have used the Good Cowboy theme. Think of it--a horse in every stable and beans in every pot! Rounding up mavericks to increase the herd!

When it comes right down to it, it probably doesn't matter if we're a shepherd or a cowboy. It was never about us. It was always about them--the lost, the ones that need to know Jesus. We either have a servant’s heart or we don't. We're either going to work for the Kingdom or we're not. Whatever He's called you to do--it's time to Cowboy up!

“What is important to remember is this: one Christmas long ago a stranger arrived in Ronan, Montana. His love touched everyone he knew. No, he didn’t change the world. But he changed his world. He changed Ronan and he changed me.”
From the Epilogue of The Healing City.

John

All is well

Well the 2nd week of August ends well and a new week begins. Church this morning was awesome! Four people were baptized. This afternoon was our church picnic and a great time to hang out with some of my favorite people in the world. This week I'll be at the Midwest Magic Jubilee in St. Louis and sampling some of Ted Drewe's finest!

I've been thinking a bit about the last post--Just Kidding Around, and wondering why we get "called" into certain areas of ministry. Pastor Terry's Wednesday night bible study was on Gideon. Now there was an unlikely deliverer for Israel. Least in a family of the lowest clan in the smallest tribe of Israel. Mighty Warrior, indeed! But those are the kinds of choices God made throughout the bible. Jacob was a deceiver and God chose to call him as the Father of the Chosen Race. Moses was slow of speech and God chose him to be His spokesperson before Pharoah. Ehud, the lefthanded deliverer, is one of my favorite stories. There's the mighty King David that fell to man's lust and tried to cover it up with murder. There's the unwilling messenger, Jonah and many other unlikely choices.

Even the twelve of Jesus were nothing special. Peter and John, the cream of the crop, stood before the Council in Acts 4 and were perceived as ordinary, uneducated men. So what is God up to with making such poor choices. He obviously uses something other than pedigree, ability or a fancy resume to qualify us as candidates for jobs in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The bible tells us that He chooses the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise; the weak things to put to shame the mighty; the lowly things, things that are despised by the world, He chooses--so that no flesh should glory in His presence. Maybe it's not about choosing somebody that can do the job as much as it is about choosing somebody that can only get the job done with His help.

If you think that God is calling you to a ministry that you know that you can't do, you may be right. He may be calling you to a ministry that you can only do through Him. He gets the glory, all of the glory. We are just willing servants. Servants don't get glorified, their Master gets praised for work of His servants.

Live well, serve God.
John

"Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me...the passages which trouble me most are those that I do understand."--Mark Twain

Just Kidding Around

We all have our pet peeves. You know, those things that irritate us more than anything else. They may or may not be rational. Usually they are small, insignificant things to most other people and yet they really get on our nerves. Take for instance; express check-out lanes. If you're going to go through the trouble of having a sign made that says, "20 items or less," and you're going to make it so that people with just a few items don't have to check-out with the people that have a cart load of stuff, why doesn't anyone enforce the "20 items or less" rule? I think that at 20 items, the register should just shut off. "Sorry, sir, you'll have to go to the end of the line if you want these other four items."

I really don't have many of these "pet peeves" but I do have a couple of them. Kids are another one--not my kids, other people's kids. I hate being around kids. I don't have the patience for it. They talk too much, too loud, too often. Most of them have poor manners and even if that's not their fault, I still don't want to deal with it--or them! Most of those moments in life that I'm really not proud of, are dealing with children or childish adults.

Those of you that know me are probably scratching your heads and thinking, "Wait a minute, don't you work with kids? Most of your ministry is to kids, isn't it?"

Well that's just a part of God's warped (pardon the irreverence) sense of humor. It was a cosmic conversation that went something like this:

In a moment of spiritual humility and servitude;

John: God, I'm ready for a personal area of ministry.
God: Great, John. What are you willing to do for me?
John: What ever you would have me do, God.
God: Really?
John: Really.
God: I'd like for you to work with kids. I think that they'd really like that
magic stuff you do.
John: Kids?
God: Sure, why not? You like telling stories, they like hearing stories.
John: But, God...
God: Yes, John.
John: I don't even like kids.
God: I like kids. I'm crazy about them. Don't you remember that stuff I put
in the bible about them. Jesus wanted them to come to Him, remember?
John: I remember. "...unless you come as a child, you shall not enter into the kingdom"
God: How about this one; "Whoever receives a child in my name, receives me."
John: Did I mention that I don't really like kids?
God: I love them, John. And I'm asking you to love them, too.
John: Isn't there anything else?
God: Be faithful in the "little" things first, John. There will be more later.
John: Was that a pun, God?
God: Yes.
John: Funny.

Anyways, here I am in children's ministry--and having a pretty good time at it. As much as hate to admit it, there have been some incredible blessings. Maybe you're having a similar struggle with God. Maybe He's asking you to serve in an area that is well outside of your comfort zone. Trust me, I know where you're coming from. Just don't let it get to the point that some of God's servants did. Remember Moses? "... and the anger of God was kindled against Moses" Or how about Jonah?

And He's right. More things--bigger things, have come my way. At some point I guess we just have to trust Him.

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them." Isaiah 11:6

John

Condemned by theThe Law

It’s hard to believe that more than a week has passed since my last post. It’s been a busy few days with “shows” (actually, I prefer ministry events) at a children’s camp and three VBS Family Nights. There were several life changing decisions made. Praise to God for His great love.

Foremost on my heart in recent days has been an encounter with the mother of a girl struggling with how unworthy we are of His love. I believe that this story of spiritual battle begins in the physical world of young girls turning into young women and young boys to young men—an age when they no longer want to be thought of as kids and haven’t quite made to the world of grown-ups. An age when our bodies are changing and our minds are desperately trying to keep up. An age when we struggle to break free from the cocoon of our childhood and yet childhood itself clings onto us. An age when you no longer want to be a “girl or boy” and you’re not yet a woman or man. An age when we’re trying to find out who we really are. Adolescence has to be the worst age for everybody.

To this young lady’s (that’s perhaps the best way to describe her) credit, her struggle shows that her spiritual maturity is far beyond that of most of us “older” believers. Many of us never get to the point of self examination (criticism) when it comes to how we live against the standard of the Law. Too often our comparison is how we live compared to everyone else. Unfortunately, neither of these is a good standard by which to judge ourselves. The latter allows us to compare ourselves to a standard that offers no hope and is of no eternal value. The former (the Law) is too critical and only serves to condemn us and make us feel guilty and unworthy. So where can we turn if one standard is too low and the other too high?

Perhaps the best place to begin is to use the same standard that we will be judged by when we are judged by God—and even then, we have a choice. We can choose to be judged by the Law, or we can choose to be judged through the Blood of Jesus. As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans (chapter 7) the Law condemns. Even the great evangelist, Paul, struggled with sin. He said that he doesn’t do the things that he knows he should do and does the things that he knows he shouldn’t do. If Paul falls short of the Law and the penalty is death, then can there be hope for us?

The answer, of course, is Yes. There is hope. Paul begins chapter 8 by telling us that there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk according to the Spirit. He says that the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death.

So…does that mean that we are free to do as we please? To live as if there is no law? Of course not. We are being made holy by the Spirit. We are to strive to be more like Jesus. Will we fail? We will have failures, but as we continue to grow, the failures will become fewer. Will we ever be perfect? Probably not in this life. Paul teaches that the Law serves to remind us of our need for a Savior—someone to deliver us from the Law. Jesus.

It will be exciting to watch this young lady grow up. I can’t help but wonder what God has planned for her that He would choose to teach her this lesson at such a young age. We can’t do this alone. We have to rely on Him. When we are weak, He is strong.

James writes that we should find joy in the struggle, for it is in the struggle that we are being made perfect (holy, like Jesus).

“…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jesus of Nazareth.

John

The Art of Deceit

If there is one thing that I've learned from performing magic, it's that we are very easily deceived. I think that maybe it's because we really want to believe in magic. One of my favorite types of magic is mentalism. Unfortunately, mentalism kind of creeps out the more fundamental churches. It's as if somehow this branch of deceit makes them think that the performer must be tapping into some occultic powers to read minds. In reality, it's no different than anything else I do. It only appears as if I'm forcing your choice or reading your mind.

The lesson that one must believe is that we are easily deceived. Often times it's as simple as me telling you what I'm about to do; appearing to do exactly what I said I would do; and coming up with an entirely different result than what you were expecting. If you didn't know that I was talking about magic you might think that I had just been elected to public office.

The methods of deceit don't very greatly from one venue to the next--a little bit more sophisticated, but the same general idea. Gain their trust by being believable, then little by little lead them astray. If you stay with them, assure them that's it's okay, everyone is doing it, you could march them right to the very gates of Hell. My simple effects are nothing compared to the Father of Lies. We must be diligent to examine what we are being taught by men and told by politicians--or entertainers, against the Truth of the Word of God.

Left on our own, we are bound to be lead astray. Even the most skeptical can be "fooled". We have learned to take advantage of their skeptism.

Be strong and of good courage...

John

Fool me once...

We all heard it before, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Too many times as I've watched magicians, it seems that the object of the magician has been to "fool" the audience. From the saying above, it's safe to say that nobody likes to be fooled. What we like is to be entertained, to be amazed, even puzzled--but not fooled. It really doesn't matter if you are performing for one friend or for an audience of many, it's the wonder of magic that makes your effect--well, magical.

Notice that I said your effect, not your trick. I hate (strongly dislike) the word trick as it applies to magic. Even as a "gospel illusionist," many of my fellow colleagues refer to their effects as mere tricks. Maybe it's to keep others from thinking that we have some mystic powers or believing that the magic is real. The "magic" is entertaining. It's fun. That's all. It isn't demonic. It isn't forbidden. It's fun. And, if done well, it's effective.

When I was growing up, we listened to music. Today's kids, watch music. They get virtually all of their information through visual input. Internet, video games, DVD's, movies, streaming video links, music videos, you name it. They are the toughest audiences for a magician because they see everything. A magician has to get into their heads to make an effect seem magical. You can't do that with a mere trick. It takes work, much more than the physical manipulation. It takes some understanding of the human mind and study of how people react to given stimuli. "Magic" gets their attention. And it follows a pattern of logic that if you perform your magic well, you are a credible source of information. It may be flawed logic, but it's how people think. If you're lousy at your craft, why would people believe what you say about anything else? How many athletes, actors or celebrities spout their views on politics or the environment effectively because of their fame in an unrelated field? Corporate/tradeshow magicians understand that if they are going to be succussful at getting the corporate message across, they have to be great at the magic part. Why in the world would a gospelmagician feel any different? Our message is far more important that a company slogan.

When the magic is done well, the Message is more than life changing--it's Life, eternal life. When it's done poorly, we're saying, "Here's Jesus. Take Him or leave Him. It doesn't really matter to me."

John