Praying for Parkersburg

Last year, a tornado ripped through the community of Parkersburg and 4 other towns, devastating hundreds of lives in an instant. Today, a different type of tornado ripped through Parkersburg when a disturbed former student walked into the weight room this morning and gunned down beloved football coach, Ed Thomas. (Here's a Google News link)

I learned via email about this sad incident from my friend Andy (who attended Aplington-Parkersburg High School himself) asking for prayer for Ed, his family, the gunman, the gunman's family, those who witnessed the shooting, and the entire town.

Andy's brother, Aaron Kampman, linebacker for the Green Bay Packers and former Aplington-Parkersburg star under Coach Thomas, has released this press release (which I am posting here so that people can see it in its entirety in case the media decides to truncate it):

Coach Thomas was very special to me and many other young men from the Aplington-Parkersburg communities. His legacy for many will be identified with his tremendous success as a football coach. However, I believe his largest legacy comes not in how many football games he won or lost but in the fact that he was a committed follower of Jesus Christ. He lived his life trying to exemplify this faith and convey those values to those under his influence. His faith in Christ pervaded everything that he did and that is why in the midst of the heartache we all feel there is comfort in knowing he is with his Savior.

Please pray for Ed's family and the entire town as they deal with yet another emotional blow. I never had the chance to meet Coach Thomas, but it's clear how much he mattered to the community. He chose to stay and serve his community, when I'm sure he had multiple opportunities to go coach at "bigger" places, so I admire the servant leadership attitude he carried in life based on this thought.

One last thought: it is inspires me to know that Ed wasn't like most Americans who say they are "Christian" because of their family's church affiliation, but that he genuinely lived his life with Christ at the center. May Coach Thomas' legacy inspire more to live life as he did - with Christ at the center - loving, leading, and serving those around.

Photo from http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/132201/edthomas.jpg

What's your "rather than"?

I'm reading through the Bible this year (which I think I've said on this blog before, but I don't want to take the time to make sure), and right now I'm in the Psalms. I'm actually a few days ahead (I'm supposed to read 3 1/2 pages each day, but I usually stretch it to at least 4), so I got to read Psalm 116-119 today. There were TONS of verses that really hit me today, especially in 119, but I want to highlight one verse:

Give me a desire for your rules, rather than for wealth gained unjustly. (vs. 36, NET Bible)

While the whole of Psalm 119 seems to echo this sentiment, the "wealth gained unjustly" jumped out at me. Not because I struggle with gaining worldly wealth through disingenuous means. Rather it stood out BECAUSE I don't struggle with that. My weak areas are very different than that.

And that's when it hit me. Perhaps the author was envious of the wealth he saw others have, and he longed for the riches of this world, so much that he was tempted to find ways of attaining it, even if those methods were slightly unethical. And so the author had to express to God his desire to live "for your rules" rather than the area of weakness and temptation in his life.

What's your "rather than"? Perhaps it is money like the author of Psalm 119. Perhaps it is leisure activities. Perhaps it is personal advancement in your career. Perhaps it is food, or sex, or drink, or any number of things that can be good on the surface, but they creep into your character and thinking, becoming an idol - something that replaces God as the one you long for and give your worship towards.

As I prayed about my "rather than", I realized I seem to regularly need to give God these areas of my life. Some days I don't feel the need to say this prayer because God truly is first in my heart, mind, and affections. But other days, to be honest, God doesn't just slip to 2nd on the list - he often becomes 4th or 5th. And that's when I need to fall before the Cross of Christ yet again - not for my salvation, but for my continued sanctification - to allow the grace that saved me from my sins to continue to work that same purpose out in my life.

So not only do I encourage you to identify your "rather than", but to daily submit that area of temptation and weakness to the Father, humbly relying on the power of His Holy Spirit (the one who began a good work in you) to perfect his work in you until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6).

By the way, as I just reread through my post before publishing it, I realized that this probably all sounds quite strange to someone who doesn't have a relationship with Jesus and thinks the cross is just something talked about at Easter time as some event in history. So if you aren't a follow of Christ, realize that this post probably isn't going to connect with you (I dropped a LOT of Christianese in this post - something I try to not do too much). But if you find yourself longing to understand what I am talking about, please contact me - I'd love to talk with you about Jesus and what it means to live in grace.