Who Dat?

I can't believe the day has finally arrived! The day I've been waiting for since I was just a little boy: The Saints are going to the Super Bowl! No more jokes about Hell freezing over and signs of the Apocalypse! The boys in black and gold are for real!

You have to realize, this has been forty-three years in the making and I've witnessed it all: The early days with Archie Manning that had moments of greatness, but just never could quite get us there. (Isn't it ironic that the Saints first Super Bowl appearance will be against Archie's son Payton? No sentimental feelings here - drive him in the dirt!)

Then there were the long, embarrassing years of sack-wearing misery as the home team lost game after game. In the eighties; Ricky Jackson, Bobby Hebert and the boys gave us a glimmer of hope - getting us into the post season, but still - No Super Bowl. The Benson Boogie would always end a few yards short of the big game! We began to think the team was cursed. We began to think that the New Orleans French Quarter voodoo stood in the way of any hope of victory!

Then it happened: Katrina washed the curse on down the Mississippi River and fate brought us the likes of Sean Payton, Reggie Bush, Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Jeremy Shockey, Darren Sharper and so many more!

Last night, I screamed myself hoarse as our New Orleans Saints won a hard-fought battle in the Louisiana Super Dome against Brett Farve and The Minnesota Vikings, advancing to Miami to play in Super Bowl XLIV!

The days of watching through the eye-holes of our brown paper bags as those dynasties emerge in Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Francisco and New England while our beloved Saints remain the laughing stock of the NFL are officially over! Perhaps we are watching the emergence of a new dynasty right here in New Orleans? Who dat?

A Greater Tragedy Than Haiti

What could be more tragic than the Haitian earthquake? What if I told you that the disaster I refer to had more than fifty MILLION victims? What if I told you they were ALL children? Imagine that I told you the disaster could have been avoided all together but people chose to let it happen. Suppose that I told you that the same politicians and celebrities who are so compassionately speaking out for the victims of Haiti are actually in favor of the calamity I refer to. They actually passed laws to permit it. The disaster? Abortion. Since Roe verses Wade in 1973 there have been over 50 million babies aborted. What makes the loss of life in Haiti more grievous than the loss of these innocent children? Where are the relief efforts? Where is the compassion? Where are the telethons raising money to end the suffering? We dare question God's character and how he could allow what's happened in Haiti? I suspect God has a few questions of His own. How could we let abortion happen? There's no doubt that God's heart breaks over the human suffering in Haiti. His heart also breaks over the selfish butchery taking place in abortion mills across America and around the world - A greater tragedy than even something as horrible as what's happened in Haiti.

Earthquakes and Tendinitis

I read early Wednesday morning about the earthquake in Haiti. At that time, no one was reporting the severity of the disaster. I went through my entire day oblivious to the tens of thousands of lives (some estimate over 100,000) that were lost. I never offered a prayer. I could not feel their pain.

I led worship Wednesday night at Crossroads, still having no idea of the magnitude of the death and destruction that had occurred on that Caribbean island. No prayers were offered for Haiti at our service. I left right after worship because I have tendinitis in the heel of my foot and it was giving me a lot of discomfort. When I got home and turned on the t.v. and begin to see the pictures and hear the reports of all the devastation, I forgot all about my tendinitis and I began to grieve. I grieve over the horrific loss these people have experienced and I grieve that I could be so unaware, so disconnected from such human suffering.

The pain in my heel affects my entire body, that's the way the human body works. It's supposed to work that way in the body of Christ as well. When one rejoices we all rejoice, when one weeps we all weep with him. This weekend at Crossroads we will pray for Haiti. This week we will send financial support. Today I weep with those who are weeping.

The Surprise Face

Well my little girl is an adult! Friday, Robin turned eighteen. I remember when she was a baby, Her mother and I would make big surprise faces at her with our eyebrows lifted and our mouths in the shape of an "O" and she would mimic it. She quickly learned that making that face on cue would get laughs and it soon became a regular routine. My hope then was that her life would be one of great adventures. One that would keep a pleasant version of that surprise face on her countenance throughout her lifetime. God hasn't disappointed. She has an adventurous spirit and finds the miracles even in the most mundane aspects of life. She is a dreamer and already has some real concrete ideas about what she wants to do with her life. She will graduate in May and, God willing she will start Master's Commission in September. I think there are a lot more surprise faces to come. God will open doors and bring blessing, use her in ways she never dreamed possible and it will happen: The eyebrows will go up, the mouth with open in the shape of a great big "O" and we will all have a good laugh. It's one of the things I love about God the most: He is the Lord of the surprise face! Happy birthday Robin!

Homesick

In 2004, Donna and I went with the Juniors and Seniors of our church to Breckenridge, CO for a ski retreat. I remember being on top of the mountain, mad at myself because it took me 42 years to get there! I promised myself, God willing, I would be back to the Rockies every year for the rest of my life! For the past five years I've kept that promise. The very next year we brought the kids and a few friends from Lafayette to Steamboat Springs and we've been back every year since. Until now.

Robin is a senior this year, and for her family senior trip she wants to go to New York. We already have the trip booked. Now don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to our trip to New York. I'm thankful we have the opportunity to go somewhere as a family we've never been before. But no Colorado? No Steamboat? No snow skiing? I'm grieving! Seriously - I think about it EVERY day! I keep looking for angles that would allow me to get at least a couple of days in on the slopes!

You see Steamboat is that home-away-from-home for me. All year long I look forward to returning there and taking in all the sights, sounds and experiences. There's an anticipation about it that thrills me.

I was thinking about it this morning and all the sudden it hit me: I should feel this way about Heaven. I should have this anticipation and feel this grief over being separated from my true home-away-from-home. If I'm going to be honest, I don't have that homesick feeling for Heaven like I should. The only way I'll recapture that desire is to steal away moments on 'the slopes' as it were through worship. The more we're with God, the more we want to be with Him. In this case, absence does not make the heart fonder. So I'm gonna jump on the lift. I'm going up on the mountain. I'm going to catch a glimpse of home.

By the way, our youth pastor Shawn came to me last week and told me he'd like to take our Juniors and Seniors on a ski trip in March. I immediately volunteered to be a chaperone!