Clean Hands?

Greetings from N. Wintzell! Last week was a good week around the church, and I look forward to see what the next week holds. If any of you out there grew up in a country church, you know that last night was an important time in the life of our church, as well as many others. January 30th was the fifth Sunday of the month and fifth Sundays mean Sunday night singin'. We had two special guests on tap for our singing last night, but unfortunately both fell through at the last minute. So, at the zero hour we made plans to fill in with some of our own talent and I prepared a brief devotion to go along with the music.

In preparing for the devotion, I visited one of my favorite passages from the Psalms.

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
5He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Selah

Psalm 24:3-6

As I've shared on here several times before, my first real job was working for my Dad over at Landry Boatworks. If you've ever worked on or around boats, you know that it can be dirty work. I hate trying to anything with dirty hands. Through the course of the day, as my hands got dirtier, I would do what came naturally to me: I'd wipe my hands off on the most convenient spot. Within a few hours of being on the job, I'd be completely filthy, whether my particular job was that dirty or not, because I had wiped my filthy hands all over my shirt and blue jeans to try to get them clean. While it removed some of the grime from my hands, the overall effect wasn't too pleasing. In fact, the harder I worked at cleaning myself up, the worse shape I got in. No matter how hard I tried, I just got dirtier.

I discovered along the way, that the only way to really get clean was to go wash my hands. I needed some outside intervention. The reality was that it was impossible for me to have clean hands without some help. My efforts to wipe them clean only made the situation worse.

I'm convinced that many of us are going through our spiritual lives with the same problem. We carry with us the guilt of sin and rebellion and rather than choosing to clean our hands we try to wipe them off on our pants. The baggage grows heavier and we find ourselves spiritually, physically, and emotionally broken down by the weight that we are carrying, and no matter what we do, the situation only grows worse. Some try to ease the pain through substance abuse, intimacy, or even isolation. Some try to absolve themselves through church participation or volunteerism. But at the end of the day, they never find peace.

How can a man stand before God with clean hands? Is it through perfect sinlessness? None of us could achieve that. I believe that we find the answer in God's call to confession. As we admit our failures to God, our hands are cleaned and we receive the freedom to walk in fellowship with Him. Folks, God's a forgiving God and His desire is for His children to walk in the light of that grace. He doesn't want a bunch of servants walking around with filthy hands. John reminds us:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

Here on N. Wintzell, I'm resolved to be a man of clean hands.

Welcome Home!

Welcome home, indeed.

Lest you think that the picture is somehow mistaken, it is related to this blog post.

I like going to Disney World. A lot. A lot more than most any other grown man I know would willingly admit. I've been there a few times. OK, maybe more than a few times. When I was a kid, we went there on vacation. A lot. Every year, my parents would try to get us to broaden our horizons and my sister and I would beg for another trip to the World.

Since I've made the transition from son to husband and father, the affliction has only grown worse. Walt Disney World has a strong pull on me that fills me with a sense of nostalgia for attractions long extinct and trips long past. When I'm there, it's 1986 all over again and I have just won a lighted 15th anniversary visor. Sadly, my Google image search for this visor failed to bring you a visual. The World is not only a place that connects me to my roots, but it's a place that I enjoy sharing with my wife and children. I'll never forget taking Maggie on her second trip in 2008, the first one where she was really aware of what was going on. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom, and as we began our trip down Main Street, U.S.A. I knelt down beside her and pointed to Cinderella Castle across the Plaza. As she caught sight of it, she put her arm around my neck, gasped, and told me, "Daddy, it's beautiful." No squeal of delight or dance of joy, just an awe-filled sense of wonder at what she was seeing: a fairy-tale land come to life.

At my core, I'm an EPCOT Center geek. You see that silver golf ball and I see Buckminster Fuller's geodesic sphere realized in its fullest form. Inside, the history of human communication is unfolded in a narrative inspired by Ray Bradbury. While the park has changed quite a bit since its heyday in the 80's, its still my favorite. My fandom runs deep. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet (thanks Al!) I found out there were others like me. Through podcasts, forums, and blogs, we share our fandom. We have our own language where we talk about ADR's, touring plans, and Tonga Toast. We distinguish EPCOT Center from Epcot. We participate in endless debates about the relative quality of current attractions versus their earlier incarnations, but at the end of the day, we share a common love.

In case you needed some quality 80's cheese today

I think the genius of what the resort offers can be summed up in the phrase I hear every time I check into a WDW resort. As I walk up to the counter and begin the check-in process, the person behind the desk will inevitably tell me the same thing they always do, "Welcome home, Mr. Landry". It's not my home, but it conveys to those of us who love it a sense of belonging and longing that can only be called homesickness.

When I'm not in WDW, it's usually not far from my thoughts. I have an app on my phone, just in case I need to know what the wait is for Space Mountain today. I read blogs and forums, and listen to podcasts about my favorite vacation destination. I'm always scheming how I can get back down there. It is present in my thoughts at all times and often dictates the decisions that I make in my daily life. In fact, it affects every decision of my life!

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. But when I think about the love that I have for my home away from home, I'm reminded of the desire that I should have as a believer for the homeland that I'll be going to soon. Faithful Abraham lived with that homeland in mind:

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11:13-16

What my life look like if heaven were at the forefront of my life and its daily activities? I have a homeland that I look forward to going to, but I forget about it sometimes. In my current Sunday night series, we've spent a lot of time talking about heaven, and I'd venture that in the past few months I've spent more time looking at heaven than in the rest of my ministry combined. Unfortunately, I too often live and act as though this earth is all that there is. What about you? Where do you call home? Are you ready to go there? Do you live as though you are planning on going there? Is your aim heavenward? I'm reminded of this quote from C.S. Lewis:

Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth thrown in. Aim at Earth and you get neither.

What are you aiming for?

Found!

Well, after several weeks on radio silence here on N. Wintzell, I've emerged from hiding to update the blog. Actually, I haven't been hiding, I've just been incredibly busy. In the wake of the holidays, I spent most of my free time preparing for a seminar that kept me in New Orleans most of last week.

If you're like me, you often question why you do what you do. Several times over the past few weeks when I found myself up late working on another book review or paper, I wondered why in the world I was back in school. My 20's are in their death throes now. I'm married with 3 preschoolers. I've started a new ministry and now I was making preparations to travel to New Orleans to sit in 24 hours of class.

On the way home from the seminar, I had no doubt I was doing the right thing. I was challenged by the books that we read and I gained insight from my instructors that I'm sure will be helpful in my ministry, but the greatest joy that came out of my class was the relationships built with my classmates. I came away from the experience encouraged, challenged, and looking forward to the next seminar. The Proverbs remind us "As iron sharpens iron, so let one man sharpen another" and I experienced that through the fellowship I enjoyed with these brothers in ministry.

So, now after a week of playing catch-up, I hope to be able to update the blog more regularly in the weeks ahead. So far, my new year is off to a good start, and I hope yours is as well. If you're looking for a church home, come by and check us out at First Baptist, Bayou La Batre, conveniently located at 13500 N. Wintzell. On Sunday mornings we're looking at some things we can do to make 2011 as good a year as possible, so come out and be our guest this Sunday at 11am!