Notes from the Narrow Road: Observations from a pilgrim traveling along The Way

Here's a little bit of this and that... If you haven't read Dale Pogue's blog entry for today (June 17), be sure to give it peek. You can find it at www.dalepogue.com . I know many of us have been praying for Dale during the past several days as he has recovered from his heart attack and subsequent heart cath. First Charles Fake moved to Houston, then Walter Knight passed away, then Dale gave everybody a scare - all the ministers I have looked forward to getting to know are endangered, it seems. I told Allen Ray and Gaines they needed to get physicals ASAP and discuss the results with me. I don't want any more surprises. VBS here at First Baptist was truly wonderful. I can't say enough how blessed I am by all that God has done here in our church. Thanks to Gayle and Margo and all the adult and youth leaders who worked so hard to see the Lord do something special in our children. We are still trying to survey all the "damage," but here are some things we kn...

We are in the midst of our VBS and so far I have been truly amazed at the whole enterprise. The other night we had 201 children present and 50 workers, and they are all working towards raising an offering for South Texas Children's Home of about $3,500, which they will reach, of course, with the help of some generous donors. This will then result in some heads getting shaved and me having to hula dance on Friday night (I feel a cold coming on!). We have handled our professions of faith differently this year with the hope of making certain the children are making real decisions for Christ. Right now there are four new Christians as a result of our VBS , and we have more to talk to tonight. I have been truly impressed by our leaders and all our workers. They went all out in decorating and preparation. And this has been true in every church I have served in - God has been faithful in raising up leaders who understand the importance of VBS and give it the attention and passion it de...

Over the past month I have watched all the Indiana Jones movies again, and recently Kim and I went to see the new one, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull . I was so very excited to see it, as I have already written about. I tried not to be be distracted by the mixed reviews of the movie and to view it with fresh eyes and take it on its own terms. Well...I loved it! It was not a great movie, by any stretch of the imagination. Nor was it even a great "Indiana Jones" movie. I used to think Raiders of the Lost Ark was the best, but now that I am a father, I prefer The Last Crusade to the others; it has more humor and warmth, and the relationship between father and son provides an emotional anchor to the narrative. And while I enjoyed "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on TV, the young men who played Young Indy never got it right, in my opinion, not like River Phoenix did in the opening minutes of The Last Crusade ("Everybody is lost but me!"). I thin...

I have really enjoyed hearing from some of you about your favorite music and why it means so much to you. Isn't it interesting the way some songs connect with us in surprising ways, and that connection lasts a lifetime? I also enjoyed hearing how the Lord has ministered to so many of us through music. Allow me to say one more thing about music, and then we'll move on (I want to comment on Indiana Jones, and going back to school, plus some other things we'll get to over the next week or so). My best advice about music is to pay attention to what you are listening to, and know why you are listening, or why you like it. This goes for all music - Christian, secular, instrumental, whatever. I have worked hard to find out as much as I can about the people writing and performing the music I listen to, all music. I have a fairly informed opinion about what I like and why, and what I don't like, and can give reasons. No one should lesson to music or the radio (including ta...