Life Lessons...The Rest of The Story

It is an honor to be a guest blogger here at The Circus. Because of FaceBook, the last several weeks have found me reliving old memories and reconsidering who I am today because of those people and circumstances from my past. I have enjoyed connecting with Angela again and remembering our friendship. As she mentioned in her earlier post, the two of us spent hours discussing life and religion. No doubt there were others who observed our debates and arguments and wondered why we didn't just go our separate ways. But unknown to outsiders, Angela and I had shared a lifetime, from first through twelfth grades, and to simply stop being friends was not an option. I don't know about Angela, but I NEEDED those debates...I LIVED for those arguments about religion and life. Unlike other friends with whom I would disagree, I knew that Angela would always be my friend. I really made her mad some times (and she pulled my strings, too), but we were true friends with a connection and arguing was a part of that. Yes, she grew up in The Church of Christ. True, I was a Baptist...but preparing to debate theologies that we only had a remote stake in at the time was setting the stage for who we would become as adults...and parents.

Immediately after high school graduation, I lost track of Angela. We had grown up only a few blocks away from each other, but once the ink on my diploma dried, I was out of Abilene for good...or so I thought. It took some time to really figure out what I was supposed to do with my life, but once I surrendered to preach, everything else fell into place. Again, arguing the finer points of Baptist theology on a yellow school bus did more to prepare me for my future ministry than I could ever imagine. Ironically, it took FaceBook and one simple "friend request" to remind me of that.

I have lived in Los Angeles for the last thirteen years, where I serve as pastor of Bible Baptist Church of Gardena. I am also a professor at Pacific Baptist College. As I stand before my people and students, I am desperately aware of the challenge before me. I have been called to take the very Word of God and deliver it as clearly as I am able to people who are continually searching for Truth. My responsibility extends to future generations who will take what I have taught them, and Lord willing, share that Truth with others...perhaps on a global scale. But for me, it began all those years ago on a school bus full of rowdy kids and a frazzled driver desperately wanting the day to end. The truth can be told now...most days, I didn't care anything about Baptist theology. I was fourteen years old. But I DID want to win the argument! And as a result, I became grounded in my faith because my friend had to be just as right as me. God works in mysterious ways.

These days, I still have to be right. I am very concerned with theology. Even more, I find myself wanting to clear away "the fuzzy edges" of religious talk. While people want to feel good about life and themselves, all too often what they need is the Truth of the Bible. I am keenly aware that the Word of God must be presented in a distinct manner, and even more, it must be lived out in my life. I know what I believe about salvation. I have a clear understanding where baptism fits into doctrine. I can even discuss the finer points of Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism and Premillenialism and the Rapture of the Church. But like the Apostle Paul, if I do all that and have not love, then I am simply so much noise in an already noisy world.

I believe my friend Angela and I will spend eternity in Heaven together. Not because she was baptized. Not because we are good people. I believe we will spend eternity in Heaven because Jesus Christ is our Savior. He died for our sins...and I asked Him to forgive me of mine. As far as I know, Angela has done the same. The rest we can debate all we want. And when we get to Heaven, she will find out that I was right all along.