Theologian Dallas Willard wrote, “I’m practicing the discipline of not having to have the last word.” It’s a discipline I definitely need (just ask my husband), and I can’t help but wonder how much better off our country would be if everyone did likewise.

Recently we have watched unspeakable carnage as thug-protestors chose to get the last word under the pretense of seeking justice for the death of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin. Buildings and vehicles were set on fire and stores looted as angry mobs defied curfew orders and stood nose-to-nose with officers attempting to seek order. Post offices, banks, book stores, CNN’s headquarters and a church were among the targeted areas. My girlfriend in San Francisco shared that protestors took over a freeway in nearby Oakland where some used baseball bats on windows of the stopped cars… their way of getting the last word, I guess.

I’m sure that we all have questioned the hatred in Chauvin’s act. How was he so determined to get the final say that he callously dismissed the desperate last words of Floyd, calling out for his mother? But Chauvin’s behavior is not the only one I find alarming. How could someone stand by and video an officer kneeling on a man’s neck and not intervene?

And then there are the violent rioters. Is it possible that they believe that answering hate with the “last word” of more hate is a justifiable action? Will the new Samsung television they just stole from Target improve racial tensions? Will the desecration of a monument to the victims of Armenian genocide (itself dedicated to fight racism) in Colorado help others recognize with more clarity the horror of Floyd’s death? Does the destruction of 580 pair of eyeglasses in a privately-owned optometry shop bring resolution to the injustice done to blacks? How does spray painting city buses or tossing fireworks into a jailhouse prevent further vitriol? Are we now filled with more compassion for the arsonists as we watch the newscasts of burned police cars, paid for by our taxpayer dollars?

The point is this: Do these violent rioters not know that their “last word” has done nothing to help reduce racism in our country?

How tragic, that instead of creating unspeakable carnage, they don’t follow the example set by the Des Moines, Iowa, protestors. According to the USA Today newspaper, following a tense situation, they knelt and then asked for police officers to do likewise, saying that they would obey the curfew and leave the area if the officers took a knee. “At the urging of a pastor from the community, senior Des Moines police officers Irvin Franklin and Jack Kamerick knelt and said a prayer.” Other officers as well as a group in riot gear agreed to the protestor’s request.

The “show of peaceful solidarity” proved that the “last word” can be one of unity and not division, and practicing it, like Willard suggests, just might be the answer we all are seeking.

The Bottom Line

Don’t be deceived by lies

We can learn a lot from horses. Have you heard someone say, “He’s got plenty of common horse sense”? If so, you know they’ve given that individual a compliment. Horses are herd animals, which means they always stick together. And there’s always a leader in the herd.

As believers in the Body of Christ (the Church), we need each other. We should stick together to help carry one another’s burdens. And we should follow Jesus and do everything He did. “I [Jesus] tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He does only what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does (John 5:19).

The same God that created the horse also created the human. I can see definite similarities in the way a horse and rider relate and the way God and His children relate. A horse and rider must learn to trust each other, and the horse must learn to yield to his master’s commands. We believers need to trust God and yield our will to His. “Not everyone who calls out to Me, ’Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). Jesus is our example, leader, and trainer and we need to be like Jesus. We should want His thoughts to be our thoughts, and His ways to become our ways.

When a trainer is teaching a horse a certain behavior, he applies and holds pressure to the horse until the animal responds with the appropriate behavior. Have you ever had God apply pressure to you in order to get you to do something? I have. When I yielded to what God was asking me to do, I obtained His peace.

Receiving peace from God when we obey Him changes us from glory to glory. When we like something we want more of it. Since trusting, yielding, and pleasing God results in peace, we should learn to obey Him right away — just like a horse yields to the rider because he wants release (or peace) from the pressure.

Sometimes we get confused and don’t realize where the pressure is coming from. The pressure may seem to be a result of our sin, stubborn pride, or foolish mistakes. This uncomfortable pressure may come to us in the form of depression, anger, anxiety, or guilt.

The devil is a master deceiver who whispers lies to us to try to keep us from seeing the truth. He wants us to focus on the problem instead of trusting Jesus our Savior. Christ Jesus has more than enough grace available for every need. He will help us be victorious even in our most-difficult situations. Absolutely nothing is impossible with God.

The Bottom Line: If you have pressure in your life, use common horse sense. Trust your all-wise and loving Heavenly Father and do what He wants you to do.

Pastor Jimmy Tucker

Diamond Community Church

Beginning in 2016, Lewis Miller and his floral elves began an ingenious project in New York City. Loading buckets of flowers into a van, they began to secretly create arrangements designed “to make people smile.” And just like that, with their pop-up installations, “Floral Flash Art” was born.

According to Miller, “Our goal is to create a positive, emotional response through flowers…If you can just stop, pause and just have one second of joy, that’s amazing because that’s one of the things that’s so lacking and it’s hard.”

Once a month, Miller’s workers begin around 5:45 A.M. and complete their task before sunrise. Their arrangements are found in trash cans and near monuments, subway stations, construction equipment, statues, and street corner hot dog carts. Passersby are encouraged to take a flower to brighten someone else’s day, and when the arrangements are removed, they are taken to local care facilities.

Lewis’s love for flowers began at the age of seven when he would create (and recreate) designs using the same flowers. As a teen, his first job was to pick weeds at a local golf course where the lone female member, a 70-year old lady, took a liking to the young man and asked if he would be able to create floral arrangements for her home. He was eager to try, and before long, he was designing for her frequent parties. The word spread.

And that’s the part of the story I love. It took one person to give a weed-picker a chance, and now that weed-picker has evolved into a world-renowned florist who is giving back. One elderly lady saw potential. Was it that Lewis didn’t complain? That he was clean-cut? Diligent? Punctual? Cared about the grounds? Whistled while he worked? I have no idea, but this golfer looked beyond the lowly position and saw something she liked.

I’ve been there. When Carol Kent asked me to speak with her agency, I had no credentials like her other speakers. I had authored no book, held no PhD, and had very little background in public speaking. Yet, she gave me a chance, and it was life-changing. Of course, we all know that the ultimate one who saw potential was Jesus. Not one of his disciples had impressive credentials, yet he groomed them to grow into a bold, brave group of believers whose impact continues to impact the world.

We might not have the talent of Lewis Miller, but we all are capable of turning a weed-picker into a smile-bloomer with words of encouragement, and I’m thinking that today would be a great day to start.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

I will never forget when Jefferson spoke to me for the first time. It was my first day of active duty. I was supposed to go to Fort Benning in Georgia for Army Basic Training, but there was a clerical error and instead, I was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky.

I was bused to Fort Knox with a group of recruits. As soon as we stepped off the bus, we were escorted by screaming Drill Sergeants to a large warehouse building. We were told to take off our civilian clothes and put them in a bag. As we stood there in our underwear, a corporal came by and handed us a uniform.

After we dressed, we were marched to get a haircut from barbers whose only cutting tools were electric shavers. We left the barbershop hairless as an egg and marched to our barracks. One of our sergeants yelled, “All you maggots stink! Get in the showers now!” After an ice-cold shower, we were herded into a small room with instructions to sit and wait.

We were sitting on a cold tile floor, dressed in the same uniform, our heads bald, our bodies blue from an icy shower, and afraid to move a muscle without being told to do so.

It was then, Jefferson spoke. He was sitting on the floor beside me when he nudged me and asked, “Who did you used to be?” His question made me laugh and we became lifelong friends.

When Jefferson asked, “Who did you used to be?” he was asking, “Who were you in your life before the army?” Army life is designed to break down your individuality and build you up as part of a team. When I enlisted in the army, I began a training process to become a soldier.

It’s the same in the Lord’s army. When I gave my life to Christ, I began a training process to become a Christian. Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” The Lord’s life was one of self-denial and suffering, which is difficult to follow. But to be His disciple, we too are called to put aside selfish desires and pick up spiritual burdens every day – serving others first instead of ourselves, for example – as we closely follow Him.

The point is: Like an army recruit, Jesus calls us to put away who we used to be and follow Him. The task is great, but it’s eternally rewarding. When you lose your life for Christ, you start really living.

Do you need a new you? Are you willing to take up your cross and follow the Lord in self-denial? Let Jesus recruit you into His army. Put your faith in Christ and follow Him as Lord. Who knows? Perhaps someone will notice the change in you and ask, “Who did you used to be?”

James Collins is the pastor of Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. For more information on his ministry, go to the website www.fortscottfsbc.com.

“The world needs more tackle boxes and less Xboxes.” The clever meme made me think of how life used to be. You know, when people sat on their front porches every evening, swatting mosquitoes and wiping their sweaty faces with weary handkerchiefs. Where they rocked in squeaky swings, visited with the parade of families out for an evening stroll, sipped on their iced tea, discussed the latest happenings and talked to their kids about their dreams and plans for tomorrow.

No invitation necessary.

And yes, I realize that younger readers have no idea what I’m talking about. Sad.

Nightly, men gathered on the steps, listening to their favorite baseball team on the radio, whooping and hollering when Stan Musial rounded the bases or Bob Feller struck out the side. No one considered hiding away in dark living rooms while Netflix or Prime TV became their life-line of relationship and entertainment. Who would waste their time on that when there were fireflies outside, beckoning to be placed in jars or turned into engagement rings? When fresh hop-scotch box lines were blurred by the footsteps of giggly girls, and young boys played stickball under the streetlight, no coaching allowed?

Car doors were unlocked, keys in the ignition, no club to lock the steering wheel in place, no alarm that shook the neighbor’s house if someone neared the car. Yards had no fences. There was no need for warning signs that houses were being monitored, no cameras attached to doorbells and garage eaves.

During the day, window drapes were open, inviting. Mothers prepared family meals, often taking extras to an ailing neighbor or elderly church member. They cleaned and sewed, spanked the front porch welcome mat and brewed fresh, sweet tea, waiting for the evening pattern to repeat itself.

Hospitality was key to civility and friendship. Everything shouted an invitation to join in. Be a part of our family. Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

No more. The last two generations have moved towards privacy, and now, with Covid-19, they are realizing a new kind of isolation. Yet, the more isolated we become, the more insulated we become. Look around and you’ll see few front porches. Most home “socializing” has turned to the fenced-in back yard where the BBQ and patio and cornhole make it clear that people are to stay out unless invited in.

And yet, I find it ironic that today many are barking at the unfairness of being forced to stay away from other people. “Our rights are being violated”…you know, the rights to hang with people in close proximity, the “rights” that we discarded when we adopted the mantra “Mi casa es mi casa,” built homes with no front porches, closed our shades and self-isolated. Because that’s the way we wanted it. But now, we protesteth much.

So, I have to wonder, once the restrictions are lifted, will we open up our homes and engage in others’ lives? Ummm, probably not. Instead, we will return to our bubbles where we will meet in restaurants instead of our homes (after all, guests are soooo stressful), where we will spend little (if any) of our lives engaging with our neighbors. How many witnessing opportunities are lost because of our selfishness?

Dr. Rosaria Butterfield has written a best-selling book, The Gospel Comes with a Housekey,” challenging us to practice radical, ordinary, biblical hospitality as we use our homes to make strangers into neighbors, and neighbors into the family of God. This book is not for the excuse-makers. It is for those who want to see others come to know Christ.

So now, if you will excuse me, I need to brew some sweet tea, shake out my welcome mat and sweep my deck. Feel free to drop by. No invitation necessary.

The Bottom Line

Have you ever been guilty of disobedience? Did your parents or a teacher ever tell you to do something and you didn’t do it? Maybe you just didn’t want to do it or thought you had more important things to do.

Disobedience to those who have God-given authority over us is a serious thing. “So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished” (Romans 13:2) This is a really bad situation because it’s actually disobedience to God. In fact, disobedience to God is the definition of sin. Sin is the root cause of all the pain, suffering, and death in the world. “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). But physical death will not be the end of it — there is still hell to pay in eternity. We need to realize how serious disobedience (sin) is.

Since everyone has sinned and is under the curse of sin, God tells us in the Bible how He sent Jesus to die as a sacrifice for sin. We can be forgiven of our sins if we will trust what Jesus did and submit to His authority. It’s a wonderful experience to be out from under the curse and burden of sin and death! We will still die physically, but go to a heavenly home in eternity.

What does God want us to do after we are free from the curse of sin? He wants us to live a life of obedience to His voice and do what He teaches us through the Bible. Did you know that obedience is the highest form of worship we can give God? He doesn’t care as much for our praise songs as He does for our obedience. Partial obedience is not obedience at all (read the account of King Saul in 1 Samuel 15). God knows we’re not able to obey Him using our own willpower. We’re too weak and our old habits are too strong for us to break. So He promised to give us His Holy Spirit to live in our spirits to help us. If we’ll cooperate with Him, together with the Holy Spirit, we can be obedient to God.

The longer we live in obedience the more we understand God and how to walk with Him. We learn His priorities, how to hear His voice, how to pray and understand His Word. You will learn that His first priority is not our comfort. He is not our genie in a bottle. We are His servants in His kingdom. We’re to be doers of His commands to accomplish His will on earth. With that perspective, we see that many of our prayers are selfish, so we shouldn’t wonder why they’re not answered. “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure” (James 4:3). 

When we’re confronted with the truth, there are two ways we can respond. We can become angry and reject it, or we can become humble and repent. Repentance will raise us to a higher level of godly character.

The Bottom Line: Make obedience your highest worship to God every day.

Pastor Jimmy Tucker

Diamond Community Church

On The Go

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15

Lois is a secretary. She was recently laid off. She worked for a business that shut down because the government said it was “nonessential.” Because she lost her job, she can barely make ends meet. Her husband left her. She has a son in rebellion. Her life is spinning out of control. She cries out for help. We don’t hear.

Stan works in a local factory. Even though he has a job and is surrounded by people, he feels alone. The mask that his employer requires him to wear makes him feel even more isolated. He longs for a friend. We are deaf to his cries.

Ed owns a gas station in town. His wife died last month. Because of COVID-19, the family couldn’t even have a funeral. Ed has struggled with depression since his wife passed away. His eyes echo his loneliness, but we don’t see. He misses her listening ear. If only there were someone who would talk to him, but our ears are closed.

Hattie lives in a local assisted care facility. She has lived through so much in her eighty-five years, but she has never seen anything like what is happening in the world today. For the past two months, she has felt like a prisoner. Hattie has been locked away in her room. Even her meals are brought to her. The only people she sees are the nurses and orderlies that come by two or three times a day. At first, a few family members and some friends from church called to check on her, but those calls have stopped. Secretly, Hattie longs for death, but we don’t care.

We saw our neighbor, Lois, sitting on her porch across the street, but we didn’t say, “Hello.” We saw Stan at work, but because of “social distancing,” we didn’t even speak. We filled up the car at Ed’s gas station, but we were in too much of a hurry to chat. Hattie is our grandmother, but who has time to call. We had to hurry home to have the “perfect” ending to our self-centered day. So, we kick back in our chair with a bag of Doritos and binge-watch “Tiger King” on Netflix as we pat ourselves on the back for “staying home and staying safe.”

Jesus told us to, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to everyone.” However, we are in such a hurry to “go,” that we miss the very ones whom God brings into our path. All around us there are hurting people who are longing for a “cup of cold water” in Jesus name.

You see, this world has a problem that is much worse than the coronavirus. This world has a sickness called sin. Sin has a one-hundred-percent mortality rate. Each of us has this disease and it is killing us. However, there is a cure. God was “socially isolated” in heaven where there was no sickness, but He came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus entered a pandemic – a sin-sick world. He was crucified and died on an old rugged cross. His dead body was buried, but three days and nights later, Jesus rose from the dead. And the cure for sin-sickness is the gospel – the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The point is: If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are to “go” and share the gospel, but you don’t have to be a missionary overseas. Open your eyes to the people God has put in your path. Speak to your neighbor. Be a friend to that guy at work. Pay attention to the man behind the counter. Call your grandma.

You could be the person God uses to change a life, forever.

James Collins is the pastor of Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. For more information on his ministry, go to the website www.fortscottfsbc.com.

A Catholic priest and a Methodist pastor from two local churches are standing by the side of the road, feverishly pounding a handmade sign into the ground with a large rock. The sign reads: “The End is Near! Turn Yourself Around Now Before It’s Too Late!”

As a car speeds past them, the driver yells, “Leave us alone, you religious nuts!”

From the curve they hear screeching tires and a big splash. The pastor turns to the priest and asks, “Do you think the sign should just say ‘Bridge Out’?”

Have you ever met a person who has a knack for complicating things? The other day, as some of us were visiting-while-distancing on our deck, a woodpecker began thumping away on a nearby tree. “Jon” was the first to locate the intruder. “He’s right there,” pointing to where he spotted the bird. None of us could follow his finger’s guide. “Right there. Go up to the first branch. Then it splits a little and goes a different direction. Follow that aways and then go right. To the left of that is the bird, hiding behind the leaves.”

T.M.I. Now it was my turn. I simply followed the sound of the pecking…and put on my teacher hat. “Follow the trunk to the height of our deck. Where the first branch splits to the left, follow it about five feet…” Specifics.

You get what I’m saying if you ever have tried to learn a new card game when the explainer cannot start at the beginning or dumb it down. My frustrations are in high gear whenever we play games with a certain, unnamed family member named Dave who has a tendency to assume that we get what he is saying. Although I’ve played the game 100 times, even I am confused. Most times, our kids or grandkids or friends will turn to me and ask for an interpretation…a dumbed-down interpretation. (I do not take that personally.)

Recently, I’ve been asked to give my opinion on a doomsday video that is circulating, prompting people to question if we are in End Times, and last night a friend forwarded an email in which a leading doctor proposed the Covid-19 is a conspiracy to depopulate the world. Both were way above my retired paygrade, so I forwarded them to brilliant friends who could “dumb them down” for me and give me their take on what they heard.

I quickly learned that some people are incapable of simple explanations. There was one, however, whose brilliance did not deter her from speaking at my level. (No comments necessary.) Line by line, she presented facts opposing what the reader had presented. Analysis such as “a sweeping generalization without one shred of evidence” or “If truth is subjective then each group has their own truth,” etc. were specific to the writer’s critique. Perfect! I copied and pasted her response to my doubting friend…who answered, “So what if truth is subjective?” Round and round we go.

After several days of watching videos, seeking experts’ opinions and attempting to explain the fallacies in what I was seeing/reading, I knew it was time for something drastic. The “bridge is out” story gave me my answer. People needed to “turn themselves around before it’s too late.” Period. I would do what I do best, dumb down my answer and share this: “I want to focus only on Jesus, and every minute I spend analyzing end-of-the-world theories is one less minute I have to think about him.”

Actually, that’s not dumbing it down at all. That might be the smartest thing I’ve said in my entire life.

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15

My mother died on Mother’s Day. I was only a child when she died. It’s been over forty years now, but I still miss her. I suppose that as long as I am on this earth, I always will.

When I think back on that time, which I inevitably do every year around Mother’s Day, one thing sticks out in my mind. I remember on the day my mother died, family members came to our home and divided up her things. Everybody wanted a family heirloom following Momma’s death. Since I was just a child, I was left out. Nothing of my mother’s was given to me. There was, however, one item that I really wanted – Momma’s cookie jar.

The cookie jar was nothing special. It wasn’t an antique. It wasn’t valuable. But, like a treasure chest, so many of my most precious childhood memories were locked away inside the cookie jar. Momma always kept my favorite treats inside – Nutter Butters, Nilla Wafers, Nabisco Famous Cookies, Keebler Cremes, and my all-time favorite – Momma’s Homemade Snickerdoodles. We didn’t have much money and times were tough when I was a kid, but there were always delicious goodies in Momma’s cookie jar.

I watched as an aunt walked out the door with the cookie jar. I thought, “That should be mine. I hate her for taking it.” As time passed, those feelings grew, and I resented her. So, I avoided my aunt. One of the few family ties in my life was broken over a cookie jar.

Years later, I was in the kitchen with my wife, Amanda. She said, “I want to get a cookie jar for the kitchen counter.” When she said that, I told her about Momma’s cookie jar and what it meant to me. Amanda lovingly asked, “Why don’t we try to find one just like it?” I thought that was a great idea. So, we logged on to eBay and ordered a cookie jar identical to Momma’s.

A few months went by and my cousin came to visit. She noticed the cookie jar and asked about it. I said, “It’s a replacement for the one Momma had when I was growing up.” I didn’t know it, but my cousin had the original at her house. Not long after, she gave it to me.

The Lord Jesus Christ once said, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15). For years, I refused to forgive a relative for something as silly as a cookie jar. Besides, my aunt didn’t even know that I wanted it in the first place. Looking back now, I realize how childish I was to be so angry and upset. Too many years were wasted being out of fellowship with God and family. Too many years were wasted living in a state of bitterness and unforgiveness.

How many “cookie jars” are there in our lives? How many things, as insignificant as a ceramic cookie jar, in light of eternity, separate us from fellowship with God? How much does a lack of forgiveness keep us from fellowship with other people?

The point is: Let go of your “cookie jar.” I can tell you it’s not worth hanging on to. Forgive and find forgiveness.

It’s what your mom would want you to do.

James Collins is the senior pastor of First Southern Baptist Church. Sunday Service starts tomorrow at 11 am. For more information, go www.fortscottfsbc.com.