Dogged-Moxie Wave of Courage

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

It was a simple thing—procedural, really. With a five point lead, the San Antonio Spurs seemed poised to end the NBA Finals and subsequently be crowned 2013 NBA Champions. So the crew was notified to prepare for the celebration. Yellow tape was brought out to keep fans from the court, where the new champions would receive their accolades. A stage was brought from the tunnel and readied to be heaved to the center of the floor. And the Heat players looked on during a timeout. They saw the tape, they saw the stage—a gavel tightening in the judge’s hand.

“It was getting me [ticked] off,” said Chris Bosh, Miami Heat center, in reference to the yellow tape, and its apparent declaration of the opponent’s coming victory.

Anger. Agitation. Alarm. Whatever it was that image caused for the other Heat players was made evident in the remaining 28 seconds of regulation and five-minute overtime. “We grabbed onto something we didn’t want to give up,” Bosh continued, speaking about the riveting comeback or Spurs collapse, depending upon one’s vantage.

And while the tape and the stage didn’t cause the Heat to win—a fool notion, indeed—surely it did awaken something; it would be foolish to think it did not. It enlivened a sense of determination through magnifying a depth of shame: they had, after all, allowed this seemingly impending elimination to happen there on their own home floor; they had allowed defeat to creep upon them and encircle them, as represented in that yellow tape. And knowing that even though they might lose anyway, the team resolved to fight on despite and finish hard, come what may.

That is all fine and well. But it is also sports. In a year we won’t remember much about it, and in ten years, it will have entirely faded from the memory of all but a few. But the power of a moment of resolve—a dogged-moxie wave of courage—well that is worth clinging to, learning from, and emulating in the world outside the arena.

And, of course, here I am not speaking of basketball any more or less than I am of Churchill standing firm against Hitler, or the men dying bravely at the Alamo, or those who stormed the beach at Normandy, or the elementary school student who stood up to the schoolyard bully, or any such blissful moment of rugged determination. Whether referencing a great, noble feat or the more tame winning of a seemingly lost game, these moments are the marks of a life of gusto, of passion, of courage, however great or small.

So the question hits hard: What is my yellow tape? What do I see creeping in on the edges of my world, my dreams, and refuse to tolerate? What thing fills me with a core-gripping, righteous anger that inspires action to stand, to fight, to pray bravely against?

And perhaps harder still, what if my life is void of yellow tape?

What if I look into the black heart of sex trafficking or the devastation of poverty or the plight of orphans or the Gospel-less people groups or my unsaved neighbors, and my heart sits still, fat, and fleshy?

May we all be reminded of Christ’s example, be softened to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and be mindful of God’s provision as we look at a world full of yellow tape, and, in His power, seek to stand up and do something, both great and small, about it . . . Even if that begins with looking out and seeing the tape in the first place.

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The Beasts of the Field

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

By: Judith Hargett

And there it was.  I had been expecting it all spring and had been keeping a cautious eye peeled for its appearance so as not to be caught off guard.  And yet, I was.  I stood up from my task of weeding the flower bed and came eye to eye with my dreaded enemy, the snake!  He/she (henceforth, “it”) was wrapped through the branches of the evergreen bush like a garland in a Christmas tree.  It looked me squarely in the eye and hissed, sticking out its tongue as an exclamation point of snakelike aggravation.  I jumped and let out a screech.  I may have spoken; really it is hard to say what dire utterances may have come from my mouth. Whatever I said left no impression on my audience though: It hissed again, just in case I hadn’t gotten the message.

Wasn’t I supposed to have dominion over this creature?   For it says in Genesis 1:26: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”  This definitely was a creeping thing.

“Well,” I reasoned.  “Dominion can take various paths.”

My path led straight to my husband, who was conveniently mowing nearby.

He stopped the mower and walked over to see what the crisis was.  Declaring the snake harmless, he shook it out of the bush into the flowerbed.  “Hey,” I protested.  “I was weeding that flower bed!”  I immediately determined the weeding was finished.  Pulling off my gloves, I headed for the safety of the kitchen.  (By the way, anytime I mention harmless and snake in the same sentence there is a general outcry against the possibility of peaceful coexistence between those two words.)

With this experience fresh in my mind, I read with interest a scripture from my devotional a few days later.  Jesus is talking to his disciples, trying to prepare them for the time of persecution that’s coming.  He says, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)  Hmm.  Wise as serpents?  (Some translations say “shrewd as serpents.”)  What does that mean?  Does a serpent have an admirable character trait?  Is there something I can learn from it?  After all, God cursed the very cunning serpent that tempted Eve (Gen 3:14) making it “crawl on its belly” the rest of its life.  I’d better check out some commentaries.  Uh huh, OK… yes, I can see that.  A serpent will typically try to avoid danger.   They’re very wary.  They may give a warning when sensing danger and they usually try to slip away from the threat if possible.  That is indeed wise. We can apply those principles when we go out into the “midst of wolves” ourselves.

Now.  What about these other beasts of the field who pass through our yard?  The furry, four-legged ones–some even wearing masks, who steal the suet cakes, trample our flowers, eat the remaining flowers, raid the blue birds’ mealworms and tunnel holes all through the yard?  They certainly are not wise like the serpent, else they would recognize the danger they are in and flee from our, uh, relocation efforts.  Well, there is that verse in Proverbs that admonishes us to care for our animals: “A righteous man regards the life of his animal…” (12:10), so we know God expects us to treat animals under our dominion with kindness.

I have tried to accept the snake as a creature that serves a purpose.  After all, they help keep the mice and vole population under control and that’s a very good thing.  But, if they sneak up on me, there’s no telling what my reaction might be.  Really, I’m not telling.

Our guest post today was from Judith Hargett. She is a member of Cape Bible Chapel, and a devoted wife and (obviously) gardener. If you are a regular attendee, member, or Chapel missionary and would have interest in guest-posting on the Chapel blog, please contact matt@capebiblechapel.org. 

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A Steady Father

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

Last week, I worked a soccer camp. My group was comprised of girls from 2nd to 7th grade who were there to improve their soccer skills or because their mother had made them come. The attitudes, like the very ages and subsequent sizes, were wide-ranging indeed.

And we had a good time, these girls and I. We ran and kicked and laughed–at least some of us ran and kicked and laughed: those non-pubescent among us.

I recall one girl–one of the smallest of our group–not because of her incessant silence but how she chose to break it. She was a little, blond thing, no more than eight or nine years old, and she was quiet. She didn’t seem particularly unhappy, just quiet and meek. Early on, it was apparent that she would not be talking to me.

And then she did.

It was my final day of camp and I got a tug on the back of my shirt. I turned to see this little girl, smiling wide-eyed up at me, and then she spoke the only words I will ever hear her say:

“My dad works at Dairy Queen.”

And then she scampered off happily. She just had to tell someone; she was that proud.

Fatherhood has been on a steady decline, but that has not made it matter any less. No, if anything, the contrary is true: fatherhood is a valued commodity. And it was this value, this treasure of a thing, which prompted this little girl’s words. She loved her dad. She was proud of him. And, I suspect, she loved ice cream too, but not enough to speak of it. No, her thoughts, her words, the only ones she chose to share, were centered on her father.

Now I’m not predictably going to say that there is a piece of that little girl in all of us because that is a cliche and also it is so very, very strange. But I will say this, the impact our earthly father made on us–or perhaps the one he failed to make–lies somewhere within all of us. It affects how we share, how we love, and even how we view the Father above.

And perhaps that is part of the trouble. Sure, it works well for those of us with ice-cream-making-dads whom we love and cherish because they loved and cherished us. We then connect God with a sense of paternal relationship and we get all excited about Heaven for more than just the cool treats that may be there. But for others of us, those whose fathers left us or hit us or neglected us or worse, well for us we hear Heavenly Father and run at the thought of it.

I read a story last night about a man who joined a cult. Let me pause here to say: Don’t join cults. This man’s cult was weird, as cults tend to be. They intricately broke down musical pieces of Bach and used them for disgraceful acts of “worship.” So it boiled down to Bach music and a bunch of stomach-churning sexual and violent activities. Like I said, weird stuff.

Anyway, Jesus found the man. He broke out of the cult, and decided he needed to join other believers and so he began attending a church. One Sunday, the organist began hammering out a Bach piece, and the man lost it.  All the old memories came flooding back, and fearful, he fled–literally sprinted from the service. God is into this too! he thought, surmising that this Christianity thing was really no different than the cult had been–it just had taken longer to get into the sinister stuff.

The problem with the man was simple: his view of God didn’t originate with God, at least not in that moment. He saw God through the lens of experience–namely, through Bach and the cult Bach had been misused by. And this is precisely the thing that many without healthy, loving fathers do. Dad was a jerk, so God, as a father, must be sort of a jerk.

 

Fathers are important for us all. Some of us want to go up and tell strangers where our dad works, and others of us don’t even know our dad’s name. But whatever your view of dad is, it does not affect God. Sure, it may affect your view of God. But, if not taken from the bible, that is a mostly made up thing, isn’t it? No, I’m talking about who God really is. If my dad hits me, that violent wrong-doing does not make God a violent wrong-doer, just as every organist who plays a chord of Bach is not trying to set the mood to “crazy.”

Long and short, our experiences can affect our view of God, but they cannot change who God is. He is loving and good and all-knowing and sovereign. He is a father and He is the Father–one that we should want to go tug on a stranger’s shirt and talk about, even if it is all we ever get to say.

 

Access Cape Bible Chapel’s Father’s Day message–“Daddying for Dummies”–at http://www.capebiblechapel.org

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The Secret Remains

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:6-12)

We live in a land of forgetful fathers. Turn on a nearby television and the picture of a father–one taken from the reality portrayed in our world–is one of haphazard, dopey, forgetfulness. He is late for dinner; he misses commitments; he undermines Mom; he is forever the jester. The biblical seriousness of fatherhood is often as absent as the very fathers themselves.

But just because something has been tainted does not make it forever lost. There are many  dads out there striving to do right by their spouse and children. There are those who have committed to being better than the examples set before them. There are fathers out there striving to change the future by raising it, yet to do that with any measure of hope, one must look to the past.

This passage in Deuteronomy is a call to parents. It is an old text–just as truth itself is an aged thing–and it is full of relevance.

There is always a secret to everything growing up. “Wanna know the secret?” I recall adults telling me, as a child, after performing a magic trick or hitting a baseball or making, well, just about anything. There was always a secret and once known–whether it was how one “pulled” a quarter from an ear or how to keep an eye on the ball–success at said thing was a possibility unforgettable: once I knew the secret to a trick or some skill, I couldn’t unlearn it.  I knew the secret.

And here, in Deuteronomy, God gives the secret. “Psst,” He says, “This is the secret!” And–the big reveal–the secret is, in fact, Himself. He’s, all at once, the magic and the magician! And the power of truth and of knowledge originates in Him and comes to us through His words.

How we raise our kids matters greatly. Andy Stanley says, “The most important thing about you likely is not something you do. It is someone you raise.”

So are you following the secret? Are you making much of the words God has given? Are you continually pouring truth into the cups of your children’s lives, so that even when they are alone or away or all grown up, the saturating lessons remain? Do they have the unforgettable secret written upon their heart?

This weekend we will dedicate the message in our three services to raising up the next generation. We will focus on the way we forget and the incessant reminder of Scripture to remember. We need fathers more than ever, on Father’s Day and each day thereafter.

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A Look at Murder

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

It isn’t that often that one shows up to church and hears a message entirely devoted to murder. I mean, shouldn’t we just leave those messages to the, you know, murderers? Save it for the prison ministry or something; I don’t need it.

But it is an important topic, and, once really looked into, it becomes apparent that we lack understanding in this area.

We began our time together inspecting what “Thou shall not murder” does not mean. Here are those considerations:

-Killing animals

-Capital punishment

-Going to war

-Self-defense

-Accidental killing

There are provisions made in the bible for each of these scenarios.

So what that leaves us with are the sinful acts of murder exhibited in the following:

-Homicide

-Suicide

-Euthanasia

-Abortion

-Anger

This is an interesting, seldom-preached topic, and we hope you will listen to the message and reflect on all that God is commanding when He says, “Thou shall not commit murder.”

You can access the message here: http://www.capebiblechapel.org/media.php?pageID=5

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The Depths of Love or Lack Thereof

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

We remember thinking ourselves brilliant, that I know for sure. There we were, a band of misfit 17 year-olds, with a sure-fire plan to turn our Fourth of July party into a pool party, without actually having a pool. No, we reasoned, a real pool was unnecessary, and a small collection of baby pools would be sufficient in convincing our female invitees to wear swimsuits to the event. We were hormonal fools, that I know, indeed, for sure.

And then the day of the party came, all Star-Spangled splendor. And hot. Very hot. The temperature that day was 104 degrees, yet somehow if felt even hotter. The air was dead, and as we played sand volleyball and other makeshift games, I recall the sorry state of the baby pools on the hill. They were filled with tepid hot dog water, complete with floating grass and sand and other debris. Sitting in one was disgusting at best, and it was a far cry from the refreshing thing we had imagined.

About a month after that, I had soccer tryouts, and at the 3 pm practice, the day was reminiscent of that Fourth of July. It was scorched-earth hot, and wisely, our soccer coach determined it was too hot to practice. “No, instead we will run to the park,” he informed us matter-of-factly.

A two-mile run wasn’t the direct answer to any of our prayers, but then he sweetened the deal–or at least sprayed it off. “Once we get there,” he went on, “we’ll go swimming. I reserved the City Pool and we can escape the heat and do some team bonding.”

We ran. And ran. Two miles wasn’t far, of course, for us specimens of athleticism. But leave it to the sun to wear down even the most stalwart of Greek gods. We groped for the park like slugs, the pool a gem-glimmer mirage atop the hill.

Cotton-mouthed and cramping, we entered the front gate with energy renewed. And then we sprinted. All of us. We dove, gainered, flopped, and flipped into the deepest section of that deep, blue water. It was deep and cold and utterly refreshing. It was peace and joy and chlorine-red-eye-burning perfection.

What I remember is that no one ran toward the baby pool-depth kiddie pool. No one tip-toed timidly to the water to make sure the temperature was to his liking. No, we dove deep, deep, and deeper.

This weekend we spoke about love. So often it would seem we are content with the shallow-end when it comes to loving others. Give us a baby pool; it is better than nothing.

Yet then you read something like Philippians 1:1-11 and you wonder. You shake your head and scrunch your brows: How can Paul love like this? Who are these people who cause the Apostle to gush “with the affection of Christ Jesus”?

I wonder if I were to visualize the love I give and the love I dive into as a pool, what it would look like? Would it be an ocean of a thing like God’s? Would it be deep and wide and refreshing like Paul’s? Or would I be sitting alone on a hill in a baby pool, hot and smelly and wondering where all the other people had got to?

It is a question worth pondering. And perhaps it is a dive worth taking.

You can access the 9 AM message at the Chapel Website: http://www.capebiblechapel.org/media.php?pageID=5

And may we all dive deeper into love–a provision of God Himself–this week.

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Diving Deeper into Love

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

This weekend we will consider “love.” But we won’t be defining what it is or narrowing our definitions with, “You can’t love this or that!” as so often is the case with these sorts of talks.

No, what we will be looking at is not restricting the term “love” but rather performing the action of “love” in a heartfelt way. How deep is your own love for others? Where does this love originate? What is at the center of it?

We’ll dig in this weekend into ten depth-providing attributes of love, and then seek the core truth that resides at the heart of this deeper love.

We hope you can attend one of our three services or check out the message on Monday at http://www.capebiblechapel.org.

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The Gardener

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

By: Judith Hargett

“Be careful where you plant these, Jude,” Mom cautioned me.  “They will take over.”  She suggested a pot would be the best place for the lemon plant she had sent from her garden.  She also advised digging up my canna and iris bulbs at the end of each season and replanting them in the spring.

My mother is a lifelong gardener.  Her soil is so rich I am convinced she could plant a Popsicle stick and soon find little limbs sprouting from it.  Dad was also good at growing plants.  He began farming when he returned from the War.  My parents did not, however, always share a love of the same flora. If a plant did not have a useful purpose,  Dad considered it a nuisance–just additional work for him when he was mowing.   A lifelong war sprang up between Mom’s flowers and Dad’s lawn mower.  There were no winners in this battle.  The casualties were many–cut down while they were still green behind their petals.

Unwisely, I did not take my mother’s advice. I do not have her green thumb.  My strategy was if a plant survived, it was a keeper.  I installed the lemon plant in one of our flower beds where it promptly spread like chiggers heading for a tender spot.  And I did not dig up my bulbs.  The cannas and irises doubled in number and took over their beds.   We soon had lots of foliage but few blooms.  Clearly, some serious pruning was needed.  The Lord addresses this very thing in John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Well, I know.  These verses require a lot of explaining, and I am not gifted in the delivery of something so complicated.  I think, without being too simplistic, I can draw the following reasoning from these verses and apply it to believers. Not only do we need to prune our gardens so they will bear fruit, we need to prune our lives of the idols that prevent us from bearing fruit for the Kingdom.  We prune, or clean, our branches from worldly things by staying faithfully in His Word.  We must tend our schedules so there is time for the most important things.  Otherwise, a lot gets done poorly.  That’s no easy task.  You discard one thing and immediately something springs up to take its place.

For example,  my sister was walking around our house one day when she suddenly reached down and yanked a vine up by its roots.  I looked at her aghast, closing my mouth quickly before the hateful little words hanging from the tip of my tongue–like so many school children anxious to tattle–could leap into action.  I had been carefully training that vine to grow into a lovely pattern.  She warned that it would soon take over everything if I didn’t act now to control it.  She was right.  A piece of it had already migrated to the canna bed where it is currently wrapping tightly around the stalks.  Now, the cannas are already getting tall enough that I’m concerned about reaching my hand under them for fear of encountering hidden poison ivy or, worse, a snake!

Thus, a reminder. Start pruning all things at an early age, when they can still be molded in the way they should go, and snakes of all forms can be avoided.  Oh.  And listen to your mother and maybe your sister . . . but not always the sister.

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Memorial Day Weekend Multiple Service Options

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

With Memorial Day Weekend upon us, you are likely looking forward to spending time with family, having a long weekend, and, generally, just relaxing and welcoming in the summer, as we pay tribute to those who have sacrificed for our Nation.

And it is on these weekends, when family plans alter the routine schedule, that having Multiple Services can hopefully make your life a bit less hectic while providing you the opportunity to assemble together in worship.

Our service times this weekend will be at 5 pm on Saturday, and on Sunday at 9 am and 10:30 am.

We hope to see you this weekend as we take a glimpse at a seldom-studied parable of Jesus. It should be a great time of learning and refreshment.

Have a blessed Memorial Day!

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Planting a Tree, Part 2

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Cape Bible Chapel

Dan Greene, Senior Pastor at Cape Bible Chapel, shares his recent tree planting experience and the seven reflections it brought to mind. Part 1 was posted on Monday and can be found here: http://wp.me/p31Xhb-26. 

4. You can only do what you can do

I dug the hole, prepared the soil, set the tree, backfilled the hole, staked off the tree, and watered it; all that remained was the waiting. I have no control over what happens next, for only God can grow a tree.

We had prayed and planned and planted and watered in Christopher’s life. Truly, it was 1 Corinthians 3:6 lived out: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.”

About three months ago, my wife called me at the office in the middle of the afternoon. I’ll never forget that strained moment, for she was crying so hard she couldn’t get a coherent word out. I braced myself for her to gather enough control to say whatever tragedy had befallen us, and I prepared myself to comfort and reassure despite whatever impending doom was uttered. But the words wouldn’t come, so I raced home to have her reveal, still weeping, “Christopher called and said he found God!”

After about an hour long phone conversation with Christopher, I was convinced that, more accurately, God had indeed found Christopher! Now I got to join my wife in the crying! These big joyful sobs that meant one thing: The tree had taken root! We had nothing to do with that part, for only God can grow a tree. And indeed, it is a thing to behold.

5. It’s always messy

Planting a tree gets you muddy—your pants, your shirt, your hands. As I’m writing this, it is impossible to ignore my hand gripping the pen—the dirt still taking refuge beneath my fingernails. Whatever I do, I can’t seem to wash it out. Planting trees is messy. That’s part of why I like it.

Unsurprisingly, Christopher admitted several addiction problems. He was open and honest about them, and excited to be free from them. I share a similar background and he knew that from my testimony. So we got real honest about our dirt. Our mess. It wasn’t pretty, but that is what makes it so beautiful, when Jesus sets us free from it. And in order to plant spiritual trees, you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. It is rarely done in suit and tie or stiletto heels. It is messy. It is beautiful.

6. Expect big things

When I picked the spot for my mom’s Weeping Cherry, I anticipated the space it would need when it matured. You might say I was looking at it through the eyes of faith because I expected big things.

When Christopher called to tell us he was saved, I have to be honest, my first thought was, “I hope this is real.” And my ensuing thoughts weren’t a lot more ambitious: “I hope he hangs in there” and “Here we go . . .” But now that the initial shock and excitement has settled in, I have chosen to take on a different perspective. I’m making space for what Christopher is going to be as he matures. You see that is what trees do—they grow. Lisa and I are praying and anticipating the many ways that Christopher is going to be used by God to influence and impact others. We’re expecting big things!

7. Enjoy the view

Do you know what I did after planting the trees in my mom’s yard? Even though I was beat and filthy, desperately needing a shower and supper, I sat there on the lawn. I just sat there gazing at those trees. Then I got up and inspected them; I wanted to see them from every angle. I was admiring the work, the product, the process . . . all of it. Even now, I still find myself occasionally creating a “detour” in order to go back and revisit the trees.

We still pray for Christopher every night. Now the prayer has a different element added in, this joyous element of praise and thanksgiving. And we will soon see him for the first time since he was spiritually planted. He is going to spend a few days on the beach with us in Tampa. We can’t wait to just sit and marvel at the view. We may even find time to look out at the ocean and shoreline, but the majority of our gaping will be at our son, this new creation in Christ!

 

Those are some lessons I’ve garnered from planting trees. But there is one more, and it is one I love. When I plant a tree, it is always one at a time.  Dig one hole and backfill one hole. I stake one tree and plan for one tree’s growth. If I were to view a hundred acre plot of land and be told to fill it, the task would be daunting. But still, I would start with one tree. I would repeat these steps for each tree. Who knows the forests God has in mind to use you to plant? But no matter what He has planned, it all starts with one tree.

So, with that in mind, do you want to plant a tree? Do want to work hard upfront, then sit back and marvel at the way God will work? Perhaps if we all get started on the planting, someday soon we won’t be able to see the forest for all the trees.

When it comes to planting trees, really, there isn’t anything else quite like it.

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