Wimbledon, the most impressive of all tennis tournaments, is over, and I am sad. For two weeks, Dave and I record the matches so we can watch them together when he gets home from work. Seeing English nobility in the “Royal Box” is thrilling, and everywhere the camera pans, there is no shortage of excellence, including the ball-boys and ball-girls. These are no ordinary ball retrievers.

Over 700 teens apply, and after a written test, 250 are selected and train for five months to perfect their skills of tossing, catching, and rolling the tennis balls as well as learn how to “present” the towel to the sweaty athlete. They scurry like jackrabbits to nab errant balls and return to their assigned position where they stand like robots. Perfection is expected.

The code of professionalism extends to everyone. This year, Serena Williams (the best female tennis player ever!) was fined $10,000 for damaging the grass practice court when she frustratedly threw her racquet to the ground. Three players were fined when the umpire found their coaches giving advice during the match. Bernard Tomic was fined his entire $56,000 prize money when the umpire determined he had not “tried hard enough.” (If fans are going to pay big bucks to watch this level of tennis, they deserve to get their money’s worth.)

This year, Dave and I were especially excited when Saturday’s women’s final round involved Serena Williams (U.S.A.) and Simona Halep (Romania), two of my favorites. I watched the match live that morning but recorded it for Dave who would pick up Chinese food on the way home from the ballpark and we would view it together. (I would need to gag myself not to disclose who won.) It didn’t matter. As Dave left the locker room, one of the other coaches shared the news: “Hey, Roachie, could you believe Serena got crushed?”

So much for our Wimbledon picnic. Dave opted not to watch the game.

Sunday would make up for it. Roger Federer would take on Novak Djokovic (whom I rooted against because he rudely rolled his eyes at one of the ball handlers). Once again, I DVR’d the event, joining the almost-ten million fans who watched on their televisions. Following church, Dave and I would hold our Wimbledon picnic and watch Roger win. I was on the edge of my chair the entire time. Four hours into it, they were tied when Dave’s phone buzzed and he blurted out, “This can’t be right. This lists the years Djokovic has won Wimbledon, and 2019 is listed. How would they know?” I stared at him. In shock. “Because England is five hours ahead of us. That’s why we record it,” I reminded him.

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Dave just did to me what the other coach had done to him. My day was ruined. The suspense was gone. I now knew the ending. Dave immediately moved to the kitchen so I could sulk alone…which I did well, thank you very much. But then something changed. I found myself relaxing. The “highs” of Federer’s aces and “lows” of his errors were gone because I knew the results.

For most things, life doesn’t work like that…which probably is a good thing. None of us know how our day/week/month/life will turn out. All we have is this moment…except, that is, where the Bible is concerned. From the beginning to the end, we are given the full picture of how life plays out. God created. Satan interfered. Jesus saved and will return again to open Heaven’s doors for all who make him Lord.

Granted, there are earthly, daily, unpredictable issues for all of us (like people who disclose tennis results prematurely), but we can relax and not get too concerned about our “highs” and “lows” when we know the outcome of what really matters. Jesus wins. Satan loses. And we all know that in eternity’s case, the stakes are much higher than those of a tennis tournament.

Proverbs 10:21 The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense.

We sat at circular tables, approximately 50 of us in all, each with a leader assigned to steer discussions and keep us from rambling. These groups are designed to indoctrinate us in the beliefs of the church Dave and I attend here in Florida so we can be plugged in as volunteers. Every weekend of each month a new “Journeys” group starts, four in total. In April I attended week one and two but was not here the last two weeks of the month. That meant I took the week-three class in May at which time I continued with a new group of people.

Our assignment after week two was to go online and take a test to determine our top three spiritual gifts which we would reveal to our tablemates. That third meeting we were allotted 10 minutes in which to share our findings, a countdown clock visible from where we sat. Sheila, our leader, started with me and asked (1) what I found out, (2) if I was surprised by my results, and (3) if I agreed or disagreed. My answer time: 30 seconds (yes, even I am shocked).

The woman to my right was next. She had not taken the test because her life was “a mess” and she didn’t “have any free time to work on it.” For two minutes, she shared some of the details of her messy life. Sheila was empathetic but encouraged this woman to please take the test. It would be helpful for her to know in what areas God had prepared her.

Bob spoke up. He thought it foolish to ask us to do anything on line because some people might not have a computer. He, of course, did, but did not take the test because he was protesting. Couldn’t Sheila just give him a hard copy? No, she couldn’t, she explained, because the questions were computerized so as to reveal our top three gifts. She was not equipped to determine the results.

Bob thought that was “ridiculous.” After all, he knew his gifts; his “main ones” were compassion and listening. (Surprise!) Sheila shared that sometimes we might think we know what our gifts are but that our ideas aren’t necessarily God’s and Bob might be pleasantly surprised by what he found out if he took the test. Unnecessary, he said. He “knew” his gifts. (Bob’s time: 5 minutes)

I’m not sure what happened next except Bob’s neck veins started to bulge. He turned and whispered something to “messy-life woman” and stared at his notes, fuming. Sheila moved on to the next couple who actually had taken the test and were excited about their results. Hospitality was #1 on their list, and since they love having people into their home, they considered this verification. (Time: 2 minutes)

That’s when Bob erupted, slammed his study guide down, grabbed his things and stormed out of the room, disrupting the class and loudly expressing his disagreement with the volunteer at the door. I stared at Sheila, looking for a response. Nothing. Not even an eyebrow-raise. Impressive. She smoothly moved on to the next two people at our table and was told–yet again–that they had “forgotten” about the test (which actually was fortunate since we now were out of time).

When class was over, I stayed to tell Sheila how much I respected the way she had handled our group, especially Bob. She had “represented Christ in such a loving way while still holding Bob accountable.” Too, she had not gotten upset with those who did not do their homework. Leading, I thought, had to be one of her gifts.

“Oh, you have nooooooo idea,” she answered. “I was biting on my tongue the entire time to keep from saying something I would later regret.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well,” I told her, “Maybe that’s the best spiritual gift of all.”

The Bottom Line

Jimmy Tucker

One Lump or Two?

The phrase “one lump or two” usually refers to how many cubes of sugar you want in your coffee. But in Ecclesiastes 7:9 The Message reads, “Don’t be quick to fly off the handle. Anger boomerangs. You can spot a fool by the lumps on his head.” This verse strikes me as funny, but uncontrolled anger is no laughing matter. Relationships have been destroyed, lives have been lost, and individuals have left the church as a result of anger. The Bible teaches us to control ourselves by being slow to anger and quick to forgive.

Anger has been around since Adam and Eve. When their sons Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to the Lord, God respected Abel’s offering of a lamb, but not Cain’s offering of produce from his crops. Cain became jealous of Abel and his anger led him to murder his own brother.

God teaches us to rule over our attitudes, emotions, and actions. “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper — it only leads to harm” (Psalm 37:8 NLT). Choose to humble yourself and forgive — we should know how to do this if we’ve been disciplined and taught these things from childhood. If you don’t have the discipline of self-control, your attitude will take you down a path of misery and prevent you from enjoying God’s blessings.

Believers are supposed to live peaceful and quiet lives that are full of love for one another; if we don‘t, then we‘re no different from the world. When we gather into the church to worship, we are to be “… free from anger and controversy” (1 Timothy 2:8 NLT). The only way to do that is to forgive perceived offenses quickly: “…do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26 NLT). If you hold a grudge, you cut off your fellowship with God and the person you think offended you. If there’s an undercurrent of anger in your attitude, you need to get rid of it like a gunnysack full of rattlesnakes because it’s just as deadly to your spirit.

Just one act of anger by Moses, the leader of God’s people, cost him dearly. Instead of trusting Moses and God to take care of them until they reached the promised land, the Israelites were complaining. Because Moses was angry with the people, he disobeyed God’s instructions to speak to the rock to get water. Instead, Moses struck the rock and because of his disobedience, God did not allow him to enter the promised land.

The Bottom Line: Don’t let pride and anger put a lump on your head.

Pastor Jimmy Tucker

(620) 223-1483

Diamond Community Church

10:45 a.m. Worship

I’ve never given much thought to turtles. Granted, I might think about them when I stop my car to help them reach the other side of the road, and I think of them when I see one smashed on the highway…which I seriously do not understand. I mean, how hard is it to avoid a turtle? Just move your steering wheel a teensy tiny bit, Turtle Torturer. It’s not like it’s an elephant, for goodness sakes.

Montana, my granddaughter, visited Dave and me in Florida last week. Yesterday we visited a “turtle sanctuary” where wounded turtles are treated. From the tiny ones (you know, the ones we purchase and stick in a cantaloupe-size fish bowl and then dump when they become a nuisance) to gigantic 300+ pound ones (there typically because they have been hit by boat propellers or have swallowed large hooks when accidentally nabbed by pier fishermen), they all were being treated in the sanctuary hospital and were on individual plans to heal.

I learned much from our tour guide and was in awe of how God’s design of these reptiles took so many details into account. For starters, pregnant female sea turtles return to beaches where they themselves hatched years before (sort of like a sandy trip down memory lane). The trip is laborious as they seek a nesting spot in the sand high above the sea level mark. (Freshwater turtles like we have in the Midwest will choose moist soil.) Using her back flippers, the mother sea turtle spends one-to-three hours laying up to 100 eggs in a tunnel she created nearly 18-inches below the sand surface. She then drags herself back to the ocean, never to see her babies again. (I think that’s very, very sad.)

We learned how the hatchlings use a temporary tooth to break from their eggs and how they move as a group at night to the ocean (for sea turtles) or leaf litter (for freshwater turtles) which helps the little critters avoid waiting predators. We were told that years ago, when people began to study sea turtles, they noticed that hatchlings would emerge from the sand at night; attracted to light, they would move the wrong direction (“disorientation”) toward street and home lights. None survived unless rescued. (I also think that is very, very sad.)

Now, to protect these animals, laws regulate that during hatching season here in Florida, all street lights and parking lot lights must be turned off. Homes recently built near hatching areas are required to install “turtle protection” windows (tinted to reduce light projection). Because of those changes, baby turtles rely on the reflection of the moon and stars on the water (God’s design). No longer are they fooled by fake light.

We Christians know what that’s like. Sometimes we become “disoriented” and follow one who masquerades as light: Satan (2 Cor. 11:14). You know, the one who works overtime to make us believe we are okay right where we are because we marched down an aisle and asked Jesus into our heart, so grace will cover our sins. But read Jesus’ words found in Matthew 7:21: Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” Oops! Sounds like there’s a little more to this, doesn’t it? So, what is God’s will? Simple (well, writing and speaking about it is, but doing it? Lord, light our way). We are to love. We are to see all people as Jesus sees them. Only by relying on Him is that possible. He makes that clear in John 8:12: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Unlike turtles (of whom only 1/10,000 survive—another sad thing and hopefully one turtle torturers will remember), God wants us all to spend eternity with Him. It’s our choice as to which light we will follow.

In 2002, when Richard Rodriguez was captaining a commercial flight, his lead flight attendant informed him that a soldier’s remains were in the cargo area. Rodriguez asked to meet the soldier’s escort. The captain later wrote of his experience. A perfectly dressed, young, army sergeant entered the cockpit and said, “My soldier is on his way back to Virginia.” After telling the escort that he had the toughest job in the military, Rodriguez and his co-pilot stood to shake his hand before the escort returned to his seat. About 30 minutes into the flight, the lead flight attendant called to say that the father, mother, wife and two-year old daughter were also on the plane. The family was upset because they were unable to see the container that their loved one was in before they took off. They were going to have to wait four hours for the connecting flight home to Virginia. The father of the soldier shared that knowing his son was below him in the cargo compartment was difficult and asked if it would be possible to be outside by the cargo door to watch him being taken off the airplane. Captain Rodriguez listened to the plea of the flight attendant and responded, “I’m on it.” He immediately contacted the air dispatcher, and two hours later, received this text: “Captain, sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. There is policy on this now, and I had to check on a few things. Upon your arrival a dedicated escort team will meet the aircraft. The team will escort the family to the ramp and plane side. A van will be used to load the remains with a secondary van for the family. The family will be taken to their departure area and escorted into the terminal, where the remains can be seen on the ramp. It is a private area for the family only. When the connecting aircraft arrives, the family will be escorted onto the ramp and plane side to watch the remains being loaded for the final leg home. Captain, most of us here in flight control are veterans. Please pass our condolences on to the family. Thanks.” Rodriguez wrote that after landing, when they checked in with the ramp controller, they were told that all traffic was being held for them and a team was in place to meet the plane. The captain recognized there was only one problem: when the seat belt sign went off, all the passengers would stand and prevent the family from exiting. Rodriguez asked permission to stop short of the gate to make an announcement. Upon receiving approval, this is what he said: “Ladies and gentleman, this is your Captain speaking. I have stopped short of our gate to make a special announcement. We have a passenger on board who deserves our honor and respect. Also on board are his father, mother, wife and daughter. Your entire flight crew is asking for all passengers to remain in their seats to allow the family to exit the aircraft first. Thank you.” When the family got up and gathered their things, a passenger slowly started to clap. Moments later, more passengers joined in, and soon the entire aircraft was clapping. Words of “God Bless You,” “I’m sorry,” “thank you,” “be proud,” were uttered to the family as they made their way down the aisle and out of the airplane. They were escorted down to the ramp to finally be with their loved one. Rodriguez concluded with this: “Many of the passengers disembarking thanked me for the announcement I had made. They were just words, I told them; I could say them over and over again, but nothing I say will bring back that brave soldier.” For the courageous men and women who fight for our freedom–too many times losing their lives in the process–thank you. May we remember them and their families this Fourth of July and every day.

The Bottom Line by Jimmy Tucker

I recently watched the movie “Charlotte’s Web” with my granddaughters. The story begins with the birth of a litter of pigs, and one of them was a runt. When the farmer’s daughter saw the little runty pig, she fell in love with him and promised to provide the special attention he needed to survive. She was true to her word and the little pig thrived on her affection and became famous. It didn’t matter that he started as a runt. It’s not how you start in life, but how you finish. Is it possible for your life story to end well? “…with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 NLT).

In Judges 6 and 7, we learn about a man named Gideon. The Israelites had committed sins and forgotten God, so He handed them over to the Midianites who treated them cruelly. When the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites came in and destroyed them, so Israel was reduced to starvation. Finally, the Israelites prayed to God for help. Then one day the Angel of the Lord came to Gideon and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” (Judges 6:12 NLT). Gideon felt like the runt of the litter, but God called him a mighty hero.

God had a plan that wasn’t based on Gideon’s feelings. The Lord told him to “Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I AM sending you!“ Based on the facts, Gideon replied, “My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!“ The Lord replied, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you’re fighting against one man” (Judges 6:14-16 NLT). Your feelings and the bare facts do not faze our Great Creator God. He’ll use you to accomplish His will IF you’ll cooperate with Him.

After Gideon was fully convinced and truly believed that God would help him, he went into action. God gave him an unusual battle plan with specific instructions. Gideon did exactly what God told him to do. God’s Spirit gave him courage and total victory over the enemy.

The meaning of the Hebrew name Gideon is “Great Warrior.” The fact that his parents named him Gideon was no coincidence. Before this child was ever conceived, God knew that he would be a mighty warrior and rescue God’s people from their enemies.

When God needed a man to replace King Saul, he sent the prophet Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint the next king of Israel. Seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel, but God had not chosen any of them. Finally, Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” He found out that there was one more son, David, the youngest, out in the fields watching the sheep and goats. David’s own father hadn’t even called for him to be in the lineup! But God knew all about David and had chosen him over his older brothers. The Lord told Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height…The Lord doesn‘t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart“ (1 Samuel 16:7 NLT).

The Bottom Line: If you feel like you’re the runt of the litter or the butt of jokes, God’s not laughing; He’s wanting to work through you!

Run to the Finish

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:1-2

“Are you sure that you are well enough to run?” Coach Tracy asked. “Yes,” Holland replied. “I feel great. I’m ready to run.”

Those words were spoken by Coach Jim Tracy and his sixteen-year-old star athlete, Holland Reynolds, back in the fall of 2010. Holland was one of the top cross-country runners in the United States. She ran cross-country in California for San Francisco University High School. Her cross-country team was running to win the state championship for Coach Tracy. He had Lou Gehrig’s disease – ALS. The girls on his cross-country team wanted to win a state title for their beloved coach. They didn’t know how much longer he had to live.

That fall day, Holland was the last runner – the three-mile runner to close out the race. The track meet was the last competition of the season. The team already had enough points to win the state title. Holland did not have to place first, second, or third. She only had to finish. If Holland finished the race, they would win the state title. She wanted desperately to win for her school and her coach.

Holland was a skilled athlete. Normally, she knew how to hydrate her body. However, she had been sick with the flu the week before. She was dehydrated, but she decided to run anyway.

Holland later recalled the race that day in an ESPN interview. She said, “At the two and a half-mile mark, my legs got rubbery.” At that point, she started staggering. She fell 10-feet from the finish line.

One of the officials ran out to help her. He later said he thought she was dead. If he would have touched her, she would have been disqualified – and her team would have lost the state title. However, right before the official touched her, Holland got up on all fours. With every ounce of strength left to her, she crawled over the finish line. She collapsed, and the paramedics came to help her.

After she was stabilized, Holland was loaded in the back of an ambulance. A television reporter climbed up in the ambulance to interview her.

“Holland, do you remember falling?” the reporter asked.

“No. I just remember finishing.” Holland said.

“Do you remember crawling?”

“No. I just remember finishing.”

“What was your motivation? Do you remember anything?”

“All I remember was seeing my head coach on the other side of the line. He was encouraging me to finish the race. I just crawled to him, and we won the state title.”

In the Christian race of life, we are not running to win – we have already won. We are just running to finish. Jesus has already finished the race, and He is standing on the other side.

The point is: Jesus didn’t fail in what He came to do. He said on the cross, “It is finished.” Since Jesus finished for you, shouldn’t you run for Him? Don’t run for your church, your pastor, or to please people. Run to finish the race for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hit the tape with a blaze of glory. Look to Jesus and finish the race.

James Collins is the Pastor at Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. For more information about First Southern, call (620) 223-2986, go to the website www.fortscottfsbc.com, like us on Facebook, or view past sermons on YouTube.

The transgender issue has created a new set of challenges, as politicians, religious leaders and school administrators scratch their befuddled heads over what needs to be done. As soon as one mole is whacked (i.e., the use of public restrooms), another rears its non-gendered head and decisions have to be made. The most recent mole involves Mix Steel, as “they” wish to be called.

Stay with me.

Mix Vica Steel, formerly Mr. Vince Busenbark, a science teacher at Allis Elementary School in Wisconsin, received permission from his principal to show a video of him “coming out” (transitioning from male to female) to every K-5th-grade child. Only after children came home from school upset did parents learn about this incident.

In the video, Busenbark reads to the children They Call Me Fix, a book which includes dialogue like this: “BOY or GIRL? Are you a boy or a girl? How can you be both? Some days I am both. Some days I am neither. Most days I am everything in between.” At the video’s conclusion, Busenbark said, “And now, let me introduce myself anew. I am going to take my wife, Stella Steel’s, last name, and I am going to use not mister, not miss, but ‘mix.’ So, you can call me ‘Mix Steel.’ And for my pronouns, you can call me ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘their.’”

“They” then suggested that people who disagree with “their” transgenderism are motivated by “fear” and “hate” and depicted those folks as ghostlike, scary people. On Busenbark’s Facebook page, “they” said the purpose of showing every student the video was so that “all [the children] can know who I am and who I am becoming.”

Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty law firm, claims the teacher violated district policy and the constitutional prohibition against schools enforcing any kind of “orthodoxy.” “It is outrageous that school administrators would allow a male science teacher to expose children to propaganda that promotes confusion about basic biology and to instruct students to address him by a false name, title and pronouns,” Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said. Liberty Counsel is demanding all public records be made available so they can find out why parents were not alerted and refers to this as “inappropriate activism in the classroom.” In an interview, Staver’s question “How do you unring that bell?” was, in my opinion, well-founded.

Immediately, an article appeared defending Mix Steel’s video and claiming that since no sex-ed was involved, no parental reply was necessary. “I happen to think that the teacher showed excellent judgment in her explanation. It reflects the real-life struggle of trans folks… Furthermore, the kids are learning a valuable lesson about tolerance and diversity which applies to the child with a physical deformity or the student with a learning disability or the kid with mixed-race parents or the kid with gay parents.”

Ummm, seriously? Comparing disabled children who did not choose that path to someone who opted to transgender is preposterous. Also, disabled people, mixed-race or gay parents do not have days in which they are “in between.” Nor do they show personal videos, claiming those who have issues with them are motivated by fear and hate. Could one not say the same of Mix Steel who offers those who disagree no respect? Where is “their” concern for the rights of malleable children when “they” force the children to call “them” by a neutered name? (Trust me, I’m driving myself nuts here.)

In response, one involved parent wrote on Facebook, “I’ve had to sit down with my kids and explain that what they heard is flat-out wrong and incorrect. We will be kind to others, but we WILL NOT be involved in adult games of make-believe. Shame on those that support this!” Pay attention, Readers. It’s just a matter of time before our communities are going to have to choose which mole we want to whack.