ANOTHER PART OF MY LIFE...

Starting in mid-August and now for the last seven years lasting till about the first week in December my Friday nights are full and fulfilled. I talk on the radio about high school football.

When I watch a game (not on the air), I'm a surprisingly quiet fan. I don't say a lot, but what a thrill to talk about the game when describing it to someone else.

One Sunday at church at Granny White about 8 years ago my friend Andy Lane talked to me about some broadcasting of high school football games that I had done in Hamilton, AL and how there was talk about starting a program for the Lipscomb High School team. Little did I know 1. how little I knew and 2. what all was ahead for me.

We met a few months later, Baryon Binkley, Jonathan Seamon and myself at the Captain D's in Melrose. I was to learn that Bayron knew most everything there was to know about producing, selling and the history of radio in Middle Tennessee. And I met Jonathan who is literally a legend in broadcasting (he's in the NAIA Hall of Fame as a broadcaster). A golden voice, a genuinely friendliness and a work ethic that wouldn't stop. I'd learn that my new broadcast buddies were men of excellence.

We've been picked up by other stations over the years, we are live on the Internet and in an "in house" FM station. The last seven seasons of broadcasting has seen the program grow and expand larger than we ever imagined. We've broadcast 98 games and been to the state championship four of the last five seasons...surely some sort of high school football broadcasting record. We've seen coaches who are training young men to be real men. We've seen parents who care more about how their children behave than how they preform.

We got to enjoy being dads on the air as in the '02 season four of us had sons on that State Championship team.

But, perhaps most of all, we've had fun! It's been a ball (and a blessing. It was through that program that I first got to know and grew to love Scott T.). The many one liners, the mess-ups and mistakes, the meals and the friendships. I've grown to love these guys, Jonathan, Bayron, Craig, Burt, and Peter. Each added something special and each game seemed to get better. I think I could write a book on each of them, but then I don't need 5 lawsuits slapped on me :)!

We'll be on AM 900 Saturday at noon to broadcast, live, our 99th game. It will be a state championship game. And, very possibly, will be our last game.

Too those guys, I'll miss what I do with my Friday nights...and thanks for letting an outsider, be an insider. Just...thanks.

Silver and gold...and

Mind if I preach a little on a Friday – after all as the great sermon attributed to an old black preacher by Tony Campolo said: “It’s Friday, but Sunday's coming”?
I heard a preacher recently answering what advice he’d give to a young man who has decided to preach. He used 2 Timothy 2 and began reading in verse 20. He emphasized the stuff at the end of this great bit of inspiration: “…Therefore if anyone cleanses …prepared for every good work….Flee youthful lusts…pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart… avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient…” What great (obviously) advice, but what struck me were the first few words of this text.
“…in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay…Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”
Wow! I may never be gold or silver but I can be wood or at least a lump of clay. A lump of clay: but a lump of clay in the great house of our Father and a lump of clay sanctified and useful for the Master! So many of us lament of our lack of skill and talent and ability – what God wants is not ability but availability. He has all the ability in the world what He needs (yes, God needs) is people, who He gave the right to choice, to choose to allow Him to use them.
There may not be much you can do, but there is nothing that He cannot do through you! Wow. A piece of wood or a lump of clay willing to be used. I know some gold – and, yes, there have been times I’ve wished I was that golden preacher, that five tool player,, that evangelist who could evangelize, that pulpiteer who could pontificate, that wordsmith who could wow – but I’m no Willlard, Jim Bill, Ira, Gus, BBB, Thomas, Jerry, Marlin or N.B., I’m just me. But, I can be me, used by Him. And you can be you, too. I want nothing more!!!
God uses ordinary people to do extra-ordinary things. God use me...


THAT GREAT TEXT IN SOME OTHER TRANSLATIONS:
“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (ESV)

In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for his purpose. (NLT)

In a large house there are not only things made of gold and silver, but also things made of wood and clay. Some things are used for special purposes, and others are made for ordinary jobs. All who make themselves clean from evil will be used for special purposes. They will be made holy, useful to the Master, ready to do any good work. (NCV)

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. (NIV)

In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing. (The Message)

REPORTS...NEWS...AND UPDATES:

So I figure there are people just sitting by their computer this morning waiting for the news...for the update of Sunday at SM. :)

Just to relieve you I'll give you a report. It was an awesome day.

We had right at 250 present Sunday morning - we filled the our "new" building up on the first day. Everyone worked very, very hard and it was all good. Things looked great and things worked great. It was more and better than we could have anticipated. The meal was good, PowerPoint worked well overall, the lighting was good, the singing was heavenly, the fellowship sweet! So many did so much - thank you, thank you, thank you. And may the Lord reward you (He thinks up much better rewards than I do).

My cousin Jonathan Jenkins who preaches in Atlanta surprised me by stopping in. He was on his way to speak in behalf of http://www.digitalbiblestudy.com/ a great site for Bible study!

Sunday night we had 138 present. That was our previous high Sunday morning crowd! So, of course, all numbers for Sunday were new record highs!

I got to be with Dad, Melanie, Missie, Andrew, Jeff's kids (Melanie says say "Jeff's children), Blake and Drake at the big deal that Roebuck Parkway gave dad for his 40th anniversary. It was sweet and special, but also sad cause I kept thinking...this is the kind of event mom would have loved. She would have loved dad being honored and recognized - not for herself, but for him. She glowed in the recognition of those who she loved.

I've found myself thinking of that so much lately. I miss having someone who was just proud of me like she was. Melanie is awesome, Missie is great, but nothing can take the place of mom. She would have been proud of our crowd yesterday and thought it was all because of me...she would have been proud that I am quoted on the back of a book and thought that it was the best quote on the back of a book she'd ever read, she would have been proud...and she would have said so. Sorry to be melancholy for a moment...but I miss her terribly, still.

Now on to the future: Saturday morning I speak in Lebanon, TN at a lecture program there. I speak at 9:00 and then run back to Nashville to board a plane that is to take off at 10:46 to West Palm. I will arrive there at 3:52 and then am to speak at 4:30 there. One of these crazy, but doable things that I seem to get myself into :). So far, the Lord has seen me through them all - how else can I explain it. I just want to be used by Him in every way He will.

Pray for me as I do for so many of you.