The Recording Session

Everyone back home was excited. I landed a recording contract and was soon to record at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville. I really did not understand the magnitude of all that was happening to me and to be quite honest, I was overwhelmed. It didn't take Bob Tubert long to line up the studio for my session. I was in the studio within two weeks after the signing of my contract. I didn't rehearse with any of the studio musicians. I didn't understand how the session was going to work. When the day finally came, I realized that we were on the clock. I was to record about 10 songs in 8 hours. Tubert was very conscious of this time limit. He booked eight hours and we had to get it done. The studio musicians were incredibly talented but none of them read music. They had a numbering system for guitar chord progressions and rhythms. The musicians would gather around me and I would do one of my songs from the beginning to the end. They would write down a listing numbers and then take their place in the studio. We all put on our head phones and I would play and sing the song again and one by one they would enter in and the sound track was created in a matter of minutes. They would ask me if I liked or disliked certain things. They wanted me to direct them and I was reluctant to tell them anything but Tubert encouraged me to get involved because this was costing him money and so I begrudgingly obliged.

These musicians were ultra professional and had recorded with Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson just to name a few. The piano player was blind. His name was "Piggy" and he had played on Hee Haw several times. I was adapting fairly well until I looked into the sound room where they were doing the recording and I saw Kris Kristofferson sitting on one of the tables in blue jean cut-offs and nothing else. He was bare chested, barefoot and bushy haired. That was intimidating. I had no idea that any one of any significance would be there. I later found out that the artists did this all the time. They were always looking for songwriters and just loved being around the newest happening on the music scene. It just happened to be me that day.

I managed to get eight of the songs recorded. One song was called, "No time to Cry". It was a blues rock song that I had written and it had a soul grinding kind of blues beat. The musicians loved it and had the lights turned off and lit some candles for atmosphere. That was wild and it really got me more into the session.

The biggest joy of the day was when we recorded a song called "A Dedication". This was a song dedicated to my mom and dad. It was a promise to them that I would make something of myself. The lyrics were full of promises to them. "I won't be a doctor. I won't be a king but I'll be known around the world for the songs that I Sing." The ending was long and repetitive much like Hey Jude and to my astonishment the people in the sound room walked out into the studio and gathered around me and sang the chorus over and over with me. It was a happening and I took full advantage of it and started whaling at the end. It felt like I was in another world. The music got louder and louder and the momentum of the song was increasing and then after a 3 minute ending the song finally began to fade. I was exhausted and I broke down in tears at the end. I was spent and so was the eight hours. It was over.

I went back home that night and was actually glad to see old Vera. It seemed normal. What I experienced that day was anything but normal. Something wasn't right within me. I began to pray to this God that I had not yet met. I ask Him to explain what was going on inside of me. I should have been happy and ecstatic but I wasn't. I kind of felt used and I didn't know why.

Next up.... I walked away from it all

Just where are you coming from?

Has anybody ever ask you that question. Just where are you coming from man? I actually feel very hesitant to spew out all of my discoveries and views of church to all of you because many of you don't know where I am coming from. That's why I have decided to let you know first where I have been so that you can see how I arrived at where I am today. I encourage you to read the posts in "My Story". I have a menu bar on the right side of the cover page that will take you there. I encourage you to start from the beginning and stay with me.

The story has a powerful and significant beginning because it was faith found outside the walls of traditional church. You will see the beauty of what I experienced in the Lord in those early years. I came to the Lord as a young man with absolutely no experience with church life in America. God in all His mercy came to me in my hour of need and rescued me. The story is unique because I grew up without any real understanding of Christianity and then experienced a powerful encounter with the Lord. I was involved with many others in leading scores of young people to Christ. I saw miraculous conversions and powerful moves of the Holy Spirit.

I later tried to merge my new life in Christ into the system of traditional church. I thought that I could learn something from brothers and sisters who traveled a different way. The results of that experience is what has caused me to think so deeply on this matter of church. I have journeyed for 35 years and so I have enough history now to draw some of my own conclusions.
Please stay with me. Check in when possible and follow along with the posts in "My Story". It's my hope that you will enjoy the story and benefit from my journey.

I pray that all who read this would be touched by His Spirit and that I remain transparent and truthful to His Glory and Honor.

The Miracle on Music Row

My Story continued.....

I really bottomed out after that desparate night at Vera's. There was a kind of calm that followed the storm. I started to accept my surroundings. I enjoyed coming home every night after work. I would often stare out at the big oak trees in Vera's back yard. It was peaceful. I stopped the drinking and began started writing all kinds of new songs. The creative juices really started to flow. There was something different going on inside of me and I really didn't know why. My songs trended toward deeper things. I wrote a song called "Living' and Dying". It adressed the turbulent time that I was living in better than any song that I had written before. I became engrossed in my lyrical content. I was always very good at creating melody but the lyrics were often shallow. I was very busy writing and planning. I loved the folks I worked with at the Bonanza. They were all rooting for me. They became my friends.

One very hot Thursday I set out to make my rounds on Music Row once again. Music Row is the hub of Nashville's Music center. All the major recording companies and publishing houses were located in this area. My experience so far was not that good. Walking in cold turkey into some of these places was very intimidating. Most of the time nobody would offer to even listen to the tapes that I carried with me. A few companies did. They would listen to the first 20 seconds or so of the song. If it didn't grab their attention, they would turn it off and send you packin'.

It was about 100 degrees on this particular Thursday when I found myself at the RCA building. The door was slightly ajar and I took a peak in and what I saw was beautiful in more ways than one. I saw a water cooler and a beautiful blonde receptionist sitting side by side. It was so hot outside and I just wanted to go in just to get cooled off. I always carried my guitar and tapes with me because I wanted to be prepared for anything, then I heard a voice. It was the receptionist. She said, "Come on in and cool off". I thanked her and walked into her office. She worked for a very famous pianist named Floyd Kramer. Her name was Donna and she asked me what I was doing in town and I proceeded to tell her that I was chasing a dream much like everybody else. She ask me if she could to listen to my tapes. I immediately handed them over and while she was listening I hit the water cooler pretty hard. She listened to about three songs all the way through, turned the tape recorder off and said these words. "These are very good songs but you are talking to the wrong people down here. Most of this town is country. You are Rock'n Roll. I'm sending you to Bob Tubert."

I was astonished. I didn't know who Bob Tubert was and I was literally overwhelmed by her interest. She made a phone call right there and arranged an appointment for me that afternoon. She proceeded to tell me that Bob Tubert was a producer for a lot of the country stars but also produced rock groups like Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs. I knew that band and I knew that they had several hit singles including a song called "Wooly Boolly". Donna gave me a big hug and wished me luck and I was on my way to the biggest interview of my life.

I walked into Mr Tubert's office and he was expecting me. That was so very cool. He knew my name and acted like he had known me all of my life. We talked a bit and then he listened to my songs. He played one after another. He would only listen to parts of them but he just kept on fast forwarding and probably listened to a dozen of them. He looked me in the eyes and asked, "Are you pickin the guitar on all these songs?" I said, "Yes Sir". He asked again, "Did you write these songs yourself or was their a co-writer?" I said, "They are all mine."

He then said, "If you give me a couple of weeks, I think that I can get you a recording deal". I literally did not know how to respond. I was shaking inside and I started to weep. Tubert said," Davey, I can't promise you anything but I will try. I like your music and it seems like you have a story to tell. That is a powerful combination". Mr Tubert gave me his card, duplicated my tapes, which was kind of scary but I had to trust him a this point.

It took Mr Tubert about a week and I signed a recording contract with Mega Records. They just released a song by Sammy Smith that was a big hit. She recorded Kris Kristofferson's song, "Help me make it through the Night". Mega records wanted to use me to bring back the 50's sound to Rock'n Roll. It was a whirlwind experience and I was literally the talk of the town. I had people that I never met before coming up to me and congratulating me. I didn't really expect all of this. It was so very difficult for anyone to get any kind of recording deal in Nashville. Some folks had been down there for years and never came close. It was a miracle of sorts.

I went home that night and fell on my knees again. Only this time, I expressed my gratitude to the Lord even though I didn't know who He was, I felt that He was behind this somehow.

Next up.....

The Recording Session

Clergy and Laity-A Disastrous Concept

I have watched the hierarchy of the church over the years and it has frustrated me to the point that I’ve had to walk away several times. My departures were like mental health breaks but my heart always wanted to see things change. The church seems completely oblivious to this deep-seeded problem. The hierarchy system that exists seems to have been birthed by the concept of Clergy and Laity. I have seen the discouragement and apathy that has resulted from this. The clergy are defined as the professionals and the laity are the common people. The professionals are hired to do the real work of the ministry and the laity are there to assist them at a lower level. That might have been the original concept but the reality of this separation is that we have put the majority of the church to sleep and handed the ministry over to a few. We have converted the majority of God’s flock into apathetic spectators. They watch the preacher preach. They watch the choir sing. They watch the teacher teach. They watch the Pastor pray. They watch. They listen, and then they go home. We try to get people to do more but they refuse because the church has convinced them that the ministry doesn’t belong to them. Their best efforts only qualify them as “lay ministers”. They didn’t go to seminary or Bible school and so they are not qualified. The church has sown this concept and we are reaping the horrendous results . You will not find this concept of clergy and laity anywhere in the Bible.

We often talk about the loss of the un-born child through abortion. It is heart breaking enough to think about the deaths of the unborn let alone the fact that we will never get to see what affect they would have had on the course of history. The same thing can be said about the church with the concept of the clergy and laity. This concept has aborted much of the flow of life in the Body of Christ. People have been put to sleep and the traditional church is slowly dying because of it.

Here’s when it all began according to Church Historian Charles Jacobs:

EARLY CHURCH HISTORY

So when did this unbiblical distinction between clergymen and lay persons come about? Church historian Charles Jacobs, in The Story of the Church, writes: "In the beginning most of the work of the congregation was done by people who had no official position. It was voluntary service, freely rendered. By the middle of the third century, it was done by the professional clergy. Between clergymen and laity there was a sharp distinction. The clergy, too, were divided into higher and lower grades. In the higher grades were bishops, presbyters and deacons; in the lower grade sub-deacons, lectors, exorcists, acolytes and janitors. All of them were inducted into office by some form of ordination, and the idea of local organization had gone so far that in some churches even the grave diggers were ordained. Thus the work of the Church was passing out of the hands of the many into those of the few, and these few were coming to be regarded as belonging to a higher class.

My Story-Nashville, Here I Come!

It was the summer of 1970. I wasn't quite 22 years and I found myself all alone in Nashville, Tennessee. I left everyone behind that I knew and Loved. My family, my girl, my old band and friends were all back home in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. I went to Nashville like so many other young men looking for a break in the music world. I had already done some recording in New York with my old band but never had I ever tried to make it on my own. I had already written over 400 songs and I did the recordings on a reel to reel tape recorder using an old Sears Silvertone guitar amplifier. It was kind of crude but that's all I had.

I arrived by bus. I had no job or place to stay when I arrived and I had very little money. I didn't sleep anywhere the first night. I just kept walking around Nashville trying to find a job. The very next day I landed a job at a Bonanza steakhouse. I was so incredibly excited. It happened so fast. The manager of the steakhouse just happened to be a very benevolent soul. He not only gave me job, he found me a place to stay. He took me on a short bus ride to 1245 Beechnut Street. We walked into this big old southern home and he introduced me to an elderly lady named Vera. She had a second floor available for $10.00 a week. She always wanted that room rented to a young male because she was afraid of burglars and vandals. That was kind of scary to me but I needed a place to stay and so I moved in with Vera.

I worked 6 days a week at the Bonanza. Thursday was my off day. Every Thursday I would take a bus down to Music Row to try and peddle my songs. I only had that one day and so I had to be very efficient with my time. Staying in that sleeping room was so depressing. I tried writing songs and letters to make the time go by. I was 22 years old and walked away from every meaningful relationship that I had. I was lonely and deeply discouraged and guilt ridden because I felt like I disappointed my parents by not finishing college. Things seemed to be closing in on me. I felt very insecure for the first time in my life. I started bringing home a six pack of beer every night. The alcohol began to drive me deeper into despair.

One night I brought a fifth of whiskey home with me. That was more than I could take. I drank almost half of that bottle and became stone drunk and then all of the sudden the strangest of things happened. I fell on my knees in deep despair and I began crying out to God at the top of my voice. I woke Vera up. I was desparate for help. I began to curse God. I never really ask God for much of anything before that. I didn't know anything about Him. I thought that only people in church had a handle on the God thing. I pleaded with Him and begged Him to help me make it in music. Amidst my drunken stooper I found my self in this imaginary conversation with a God that I had never talked to before.

The next morning, I woke up and found myself lying on the floor right beside the bed. I dismissed the whole evening as nothing but alcohol induced babel and promised myself never to drink like that again. I may have dismissed that evening entirely but the other party in my conversation decided to do something about my request. Almighty God heard my cry and the next eighteen months of my life were about to change dramatically. A series of events began to unravel and the results of these events remain with me even to this day.

Next up.....

The Miracle on Music Row

The Merging of Generations

For the first time in a very long time, I am an encouraged with what I see happening outside the walls of traditional church. I have been reading books and articles recently about the Emergent Village or the Emerging Church. I have to admit that I began my investigation of this movement with a lot of reservation and I don't know why. I'm a sixties dude and so I should be able to blend in with any counter culture movement but for some reason I dug in my heels a bit. The more I read the more I become fascinated with what I see as a merging of the generations of Baby Boomers, X and some of the Y into the early stages of spiritual unity. I see the Boomers and X-Y's coming together for very different reasons.

Many of the Baby Boomers experienced a wonderful spiritual renewal in the early 70's known as the Charismatic Movement. This movement was represented accross the board from almost every denomination and was marked by a powerful move of the Holy Spirit. It was quite eccumenical in that you could attend large conferences like the one at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh with Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and many other denominations all coming together to worship. It was an amazing time.

Many of these Boomers have lost their way since then. They have been trapped in tradition along with others. Many of these Boomers are now leaving the traditional church in order to "keep their faith". Many were guilt ridden because of their feelings but finally came to grip with what they really wanted and they have begun to leave. These folks want to find their way back to their first love. They want Jesus, they want His Spirit, and they want community not tradition.

Generation X and Y on the other hand do not have any interest in the traditional church for very different reasons. In my reading I have learned that these young people do not want to be preached at or talked down to. They seem to view the traditional church as very un-natural and political. The great thing about these younger generations is that they are genuinely interested in learning more about Jesus. They have a high regard for his place in history and are very curious about who He really is in the scheme of things. These folks are looking outside the traditional church to "find their faith".

So here we have it, the Boomers, X's and Y's are looking either to keep their faith or find their faith outside those walls and they are merging together.

The American Church will have a hard time coping with this because it is set on doing what it has always done. It's very difficult for the church to see our country as post-Christian. It's true. The Biblical literacy is way down. The terminology that we used to use in the 50's and 60's is no longer understood. We must become a mission. It's no longer "Go to Church". It's Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That's the mission!

What's My Story?

I woke up this morning with a keen sense that the Lord was moving on my heart. It felt like heaviness at first but as time moved on it turned out to be more like a sense of reality. A moment of sobriety, if you will. Some of you reading this are my family. Some of you are dear friends and some of you don't even know me. I want to be very clear to all of you about why I am journaling on this blog. I do love to write. I was a songwriter in the late 60's and early 70's in both New York City and Nashville but that's not the reason that I am on this journey with you. I have a remarkable story that just won't go away. I haved lived with it for 35 years. Even if I try to bury it, it always returns. It's eternal. It will always exist. I was 24 years old when it began and I cherish it with my life.

You see, since my childhood I've had a longing for something. I didn't know what it was at the time. According to my sister who is eight years older, I was a little boy with a bundle of God-given talent. I was a good athelete and had a wonderful singing voice for as long as I can remember. The part that was missing was guidance. My Mom and Dad never really did much of that for me. I love them both for all the struggles that they went through but they were not able to give me much guidance. I never attended church as a child and the Easter stories that I would watch on TV as a child used to make me cry. I would ask my mom and dad all the time, "Why are they killing Jesus?" Why mom? Why dad? They never answered. I was so saddened by the images of Jesus dying on the cross.

I want you to know about the story that developed over the years and how the Lord came to me and rescued me. It wasn't in a church building. It wasn't at a Bible study. It wasn't on a retreat. It wasn't at any evangelistic crusade. It was so loving, so powerful and so real that most things that I see in church pale in comparison. I have tried to understand traditional church life since then. I thought that I could learn something from the system that exists and I did. I learned that my beginnings in the Lord were what Jesus wanted me to keep all along. I am grieved that so many put so much effort into things of no consequence.

The thing that I cherish the most is that Jesus gave me a story. He gave me a lifetime story. That's what He wants to give all of us. He wants us to have a story about a glorious and wonderful relationship with Him. Many folks will never know the joy of having their own Gospel story. That's sad. God has one for each of us and so I implore you not to seek after the man made substitutes that exist but cry out to Him. Call on Him and watch what happens. Your story will begin to develop too. It's the beauty of life. It's Jesus!

The Rising and the Setting of the Sun

Have you ever compared life to the rising and the setting of the sun. Sometimes I look at nature and see the parallels of human life. God's masterful hand on creation has a personal touch as well as it's natural beauty. When you look at a whole day from sun up to sun down you can see a story and a picture develop. Some days start out sunny and end up stormy. Some are stormy in the middle. Some are sunny all day and some are rainy all day. No matter what the weather is their is a variety of joys and sorrows taking place in nature every day. What a striking parallel it is to the life of man.

Our life has a rising and a setting and the older you get the easier it is to compare it to the daily 24 hour trek of the sun. It really seems that fast. Some of us wander through aimlessly, never considering those age old questions of why we are here and where we are going when we leave here and yet we all know that there is a setting to our life on the horizon. It's a mystery to many folks and yet it's too deep to delve into because we know the answers require some serious soul searching. There has to be something to this though. There is something very deep going on in mankind as well as nature. Who's hand is on this thing? We need to know and not let our lives waste away in ignorance.

It doesn't have to be that way. At the end we cannot plead ignorance.

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Beatles to the Bible - Eleanor Rigby

These four young lads saw it right

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been.
Lives in a dream. Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door

Who is it for? All the lonely people, where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people Where do they all belong ?

Father Mckenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear. No one comes near.
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there.

What does he care? All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people Where do they all belong?

Eleanor rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came.
Father Mckenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved.

All the lonely people Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people Where do they all belong?

The lyrics pretty much say it all. Jesus sees this loneliness. He sees the emptiness. He did something about it and He wants us to do the same.

Jesus spent some time in lonely places because He knew His mission from the Father and He knew that day was not far off.

Luke 5:16

Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Matthew 11:28

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Fixing our Eyes

I have great admiration for all my brothers and sisters in Christ that have given their life in service to Him. It is with that understanding that I am writing this blog. I want us to enjoy the journey together and to travel along with a clear conscience and not attack our brethren. It is the fruit of the labor that we are inspecting and not the laborer.

The Bible is very clear to me about the kind of church that Jesus will call His bride and so it appears to me that something cataclysmic has to change. I can foresee a major upheaval and reconfiguration. I say that only because the Church that we are looking at right now is severely fragmented.

Ephesians 5:25-32 is a powerful message about the church. It ends with verse 32 saying “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

Verses 25, 26 say this, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

If we look at the present day church and compare it to the church that Paul is describing in Ephesians, it would be easy to conclude that Jesus will not be returning anytime soon. Do not be fooled by what you are seeing.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

This passage in Corinthians is a wonderful lesson that is chock full of spiritual insight. We cannot look at what we see and get discouraged because what we are seeing is not going to last anyway. The church in its present state is certainly flawed but if we will ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our faith, we will begin to see things more clearly. We will begin to see things as God sees them and then we will slowly begin to understand that this present assembly that we commonly refer to as the church is not what it appears to be.

THE START BY COMMANDMENTS

Life has a way of presenting each of us with a litany of problems and so we have to start somewhere when they come.

Try some of these!

Whenever you find yourself discouraged and cannot find your way out of your despair:

Start by calling a friend in Christ. The Lord may use his friendship as a divine appointment for your life.

Whenever you find yourself angry and ready to lash out and you are looking for self-control:

Start by finding a private place away from people and call upon the Holy Spirit to bring peace to your soul.

When you find yourself being tempted into sin and you are desperate to find a way to resist:

Start by memorizing scripture and using it in those weak moments.

When you succumb to living a life of isolation and cannot break away from your own self-imposed prison:

Start by asking God to empower you with His grace so that you can share the pain in your soul with someone in Christ

When you have been hurt deeply by someone close and you are reeling from the pain:

Start by seeking God for His healing balm and then go find refuge in the fellowship of a brother or sister in Christ.

When you cannot make a critical decision and find yourself scrambling for the answer:

Start by seeking a multitude of counselors that can see your blind spots and speak the truth in love

When you find yourself in a dry place and you thirst for a refreshing of your soul:

Start by worshipping God and praising Him in the midst of your despair and He will embrace you and lift you up

Whenever a storm comes into your life and you are looking for shelter away from its pending doom:

Start by calling on the name of the Lord with all your heart and He will give you peace in the midst of your conflict

Whenever you have sinned against another and you want reconciled to the one offended:

Start by asking for their forgiveness and require in your heart no other expectation from the one you have sinned against.

When the law of sin wars against your soul and you have forgotten how to live in grace:

Start by remembering the great price that was paid to give you that grace and that will enable you to forget about yourself and trust in Him.

Most of our problems come from people and a lot of the solutions also come through people. The Lord does not want us to live a life of isolation. He wants us in community with brothers and sisters in Christ.

Not Necessarily the Church

I know that you have probably played that game, “Pass the Message”. Everyone sits in a big circle. One person gently whispers a message into the next person’s ear. By the time it gets all the way around the circle and back to the original messenger the story is completely different. I have this uneasy feeling that the pass the message game has played immeasurable havoc on the Church for the last 2000 years.

When I read about the church in the Bible and then look at the present day version, I see a major disconnect. It appears that the original message and the original structure have been so severely altered that in some parts of America you cannot distinguish the church from any other secular institution. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see this problem. The world has changed the church because much of the church has fallen asleep and the whole earthly flock has lost its way.

I propose that we go on a journey together. Let’s examine church life. We see the problems but few of us attempt to question the church because it is such a valued and revered institution. This is a very complex issue and not to be taken lightly. The attitude of the heart will play a vital role in our journey. A blatant attack on the church should not be our aim. We just need to find some answers. We have to make sure that we are asking the right questions. These questions may upset some of the current ecclesiastical opinion but that’s okay. The intent is to get to the bottom of some of the prevailing problems in the church and hopefully as we travel along together we will gain some helpful insight.

There are many aspects of church today that we readily accept as normal because we have never examined their origins. Sunday school and the concept of clergy and laity are two examples of the many popular traditions in the church that are basically man-made in origin. They are morally acceptable and well intended but not necessarily God-appointed. We will take a closer in-depth examination of these two traditions and others later on. The present Church has evolved from a massive combination of traditions, trends, and ideas over a 2000 year history. It is not easy to wade through the ruble to find the original foundation that we read about in the Bible. I have concluded after 34 years of my own journey that what we are seeing on Sunday morning is Not Necessarily the Church. I urge you to examine some of the facts with me, do your own research and come to your own conclusion.

Thursday Morning with the Three Amigos

Every Thursday morning I meet with a couple of guys at 6:00 AM. It's like the three Amigos. We get saddled up for this great adventure into the wild wild east. It has be east because of our Pennsylvania locale and so off we go on about a three hour journey. Nothing is really planned or organized but their is a strong desire to be together and get our cards out on the table so to speak. This kind of inter-action can become volatile at times but the gathering is necessary for all of us. These relationships are a kind of a life line that we need because in and of ourselves we feel somewhat incomplete without the other.

I remember in the days of my youth how easy it was to spend time with friends. We had all the time in the world it seemed. Those days are long gone and have been replaced by many of the responsibilities that come with living in our American culture. I remember a phrase that surfaced a decade ago that said, " time is the currency of the 90's". Everybody wished they had more of it. Time to do what? That is the question.

It has become very obvious to me that God created us to have community. Community is not church attendance. Community is not a Bible study or a seminar.

Community is a relatively unknown commodity for many. The church as we know it has lost much of its identity because the individual believers don't know who they really are. Our own identity in the Body of Christ is never really developed on our own. Our identity is incomplete without others. Our God made us that way. All the parts work together for the good of the whole.

The word "community" has old roots, going back to the Indo-European base mei, meaning "change" or "exchange." Apparently this joined with another root, kom, meaning "with," to produce an Indo-European word kommein: shared by all.

Meetings have replaced community. We are often left wanting and unfulfilled and even bored. We don't need more meetings. We need a chance to have real communion with one another. The three amigos can do that. Three hundred amigos in one place at the same time would surely struggle to have real community. Think about your life. Is there any real community taking place? I know that I can fill my time very easily and yet still have no real community. One of my biggest fears has been that I would become so busy with life's responsibilities that I would grow old without any friends.

I have the three amigos right now and sometimes we behave like the three stooges but that's okay. We are in community.

Jesus, lead us into real community. Bring those of us together who resist. Free us from ourselves and reveal to us the beauty of your original purpose for our lives.

The Ball Field

I didn’t want to pray. I didn’t want to be with anyone. I just wanted peace. One morning on the way to work I decided to pull off the road and park beside the old ball field. I looked out over the field and began to reminisce over the days when I used to coach my son’s baseball team. It seemed like yesterday but it was more like 10 years ago. I found myself stopping at the ball field every morning for a little quiet time. I would stop and have a daily conversation with myself. I loved it. I did this consistently for over a month.

One day my conversation drifted to include someone else. I began to share my sense of loss and discontentment with the Lord. I continued to go to the ball field and my conversations with the Lord became more and more intimate each day. I started bringing my Bible and began reading from the book of Psalms. I soon found myself in deep fellowship with my Lord. I did nothing to deserve this attention from Him. He came to me and met me where I was at the time. He met me at the ball field.

That experience gave me a new heart felt appreciation for His words in Matthew 11:29-31.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

The Lord is there and waiting. He really is.

When I speak - Nobody Listens!

Rodney Dangerfield made a career of getting “no respect”. He died as the most famous non-person ever. How many times have you been Rodney in reality? I hate to admit the number of times that I have honestly felt ignored or basically just tolerated. Have you ever been the one in a group conversation whose comments always seemed to be in the way of those who really had something to say? It used to happen to me all the time. I have often felt that my input was nothing more than an after thought in some discussions. There is a reason for that I suppose. Some of it has to do with confidence. Some of the slight we receive from others might be justified but there just has to be some moment in time where each and every one of us has a real chance to be heard.

Men are accused of this all the time by their wives. I have to admit that I plead guilty. I am still not totally able to comprehend why a woman does not want you to fix her problem. She just wants you to patiently listen while she explains it all to you. The solution is not necessary. My wife seems very relieved after I listen to her. She has no other expectation. That’s fine for her but I am fit to be tied to be without a solution after hearing all the details of some apparent injustice.

There is a rationale behind the woman’s need to be heard. The need for someone to listen to us is universal. Listening is all about love. Listening has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with others. Even if I fix somebody’s problem, they will find another one. The problems do not go away. A quick fix is no solution for someone who wants to be heard. In fact, my solution may not work anyway because I haven’t listened in the first place.

The best thing about true friendship is our sincere desire to be there for each other. You want to help your friend. You are a dumping ground for all that ails him and he appreciates it and you don’t mind. He does the same for you. Jesus spoke these words, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Listening is a part of the laying down. The whole world is full of people who need to be heard when they speak. The therapy for our own life is almost always found when we forget about ourselves and concentrate on others. I wonder what the world would be like if we just started listening. I know of only one negative. It would have ruined the career of Rodney Dangerfield.

I Stubbed My Toe!

I have listened to many sermons about the Body of Christ. Many preachers like to use the human body and it's many parts to describe the functioning of the spiritual Body of Christ.

Romans 12:4
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function

This verse is used often to encourage us to work in unity. The nose can't say to the ear, I don't need you because the body needs both. It would be no fun walking around with a good sniffer but at the same time not be able to hear a dang thing.

Having said that, I stubbed my big toe about 6 weeks ago and actually broke it. If any of you folks think that you might be the big toe in the Body of Christ then I feel sorry for you because you can be hurt very easily. Wear shoes as much as possible.

Later

God is Love! Go to Church!



After thinking about the Beatle song from yesterday and how beautiful love is described in the song "In My Life", I began to think about God and His love. I know that God loves because he heard my cry as a young man and came to me. He changed my life forever and I will never be the same. The beauty of my meeting with the Lord was that He came to me and rescued me outside the walls of a church building. In fact, I had never attended church anywhere before that time.

The love of God was so personal and so beautiful to me that I had a difficult time trying to figure out what the traditional church was doing. Now I understand the story about Peter and John standing before the Sanhedrin with a lot more clarity. The Sanhedrin were religious men gripped by the law forbidding Peter and John to do miracles in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:18-20

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

I really relate to Peter and John here. This wasn't about doctrine. This wasn't a Sunday morning sermon. This wasn't a prayer meeting or a bible study. This wasn't about some man made organized effort created only to satisfy our religious nature. No, this was about what they had seen and heard. You see, this was the real God touching real people. This is why sunday mornings at traditional church settings were always a bit difficult for me because I didn't come to the Lord that way. God seemed so distant when I attended church after my conversion. I now know why. This appears to be an untended failure of the American Church. I can clearly see after 30 years of participation that God is Love and Go to Church do not necessarily work in harmony. I have concluded that what we all see on Sunday morning inside a local church building may not necessarily be the church at all and so my prayer is that God help us all.

So much for now

Davey

"In My Life" is one of my favorite Beatle songs. The lyrics are so beautiful. The first line is so reflective.

In My Life

John Lennon-Paul McCartney

There are places I'll remember. All my life though some have changed.Some forever not for better. Some have gone and some remain.

All these places have their moments. With lovers and friends I still can recall.Some are dead and some are living. In my life I've loved them all.

But of all these friends and lovers. There is no one compares with you.
And these mem'ries lose their meaning. When I think of love as something new.

Though I know I'll never lose affection. For people and things that went before.
I know I'll often stop and think about them. In my life I love you more.

Though I know I'll never lose affection. For people and things that went before.
I know I'll often stop and think about them. In my life I love you more.

In my life I love you more.

When you read these lyrics you can sense a passion for life. Lennon and McCartney speak of a deep sense of gratitude for the special places and people that were a part of their life. John and Paul also go on to put those places and people in perspective. They go on to say, "In My Life I Love You More". A person loved like that is truly loved and cherished above all others, all places and all things. Oh, to love and to be loved that way.

Davey Buhl