Bedside Reading

At my bedside right now, there is a recent copy of Field and Stream magazine, John Burke's book No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come As You Are Culture in the Church, and The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook Collection by Paula Deen. What does this say about me?

The Best Hike Ever

Last Thursday morning, while we were at Shepherd of the Ozarks, our entire family went hiking on the New Beginnings Trail. The trail is a contemplative and meditative prayer walk. Each of the stations along the way tell the message of the good news of Jesus Christ.

The first station tells about how God, as Creator, created the world and everything in it, including human beings, for his pleasure and to exist in relationship with Him. The second station tells about how humans rebelled against God and how every one of us makes the same choice to live our lives our way without regard for God. The Bible calls this sin and says there are destructive consequences in our lives as a result. The third station tells about how human beings try different ways to remedy the negative consequences of our sin, but all our attempts are in the end insufficient to bring us back to God and the lives we were made for. The fourth station is labeled "The Cross" and it tells about how God payed the price for our sins by sacrificing the life of His Son on the cross and how that sacrifice is the bridge to a restored relationship between us and God.

Just up the mountain from this sign, there is a large cross in a clearing in the woods. As we were reading the sign, we noticed that my middle daughter, Katie, had wandered off. We thought she wasn't listening. But she climbed up the mountain to the cross and laid at the foot of the cross a bouquet of flowers she had been gathering. She then hugged the cross, and as we were about to walk on, she said, "Does anybody want to pray?"

I said, "That would be a great idea, Katie. Would you like to lead us?"

She said, "Yes," and had the rest of us climb up to the cross to hold hands with her. She prayed and thanked God for giving the life of His Son to pay the price for our sins and told God how much she loved Him. After she got through, we were getting ready to move on when I noticed that Katie continued to cling to the cross with a sad look on her face.

I have been talking to Katie for about a year now about what it means to put your trust in Jesus as the Leader of your life and the Forgiver of your sins. So, I asked Katie, "Do you think you are ready to put your trust in Jesus." She said, "I want to, but I don't know if I can." So, right there at the foot of the cross, I talked to my little girl one more time about what it means to follow Jesus and led her in a prayer to receive God's gift of eternal life. Sitting on the ground with her, it was me, the cross, and my little girl.

Man, that's the greatest joy in all the world of being a parent. That was definitely the best hike ever!

Shepherd of the Ozarks

In the week following Brick's memorial service, LaRissa and the kids and I got out of town for some much needed restoration, mourning time, and rejuvenation. We went to this awesome place called The Shepherd of the Ozarks. It was a beautiful setting with an incredible staff and perfect, rustic accomodations with modern conveniences (short of phones or internet, thank God).

There were several trails to hike. Some were meditative like the A.C.T.S. Prayer Trail or the New Beginnings Trail. Along the course of the trails there were scripture verses to contemplate and scenic overlooks to spend time in prayer. Other trails, like the Jake Falls Trail or the Lost Silver Mine Trail, were just scenic, fairly easy hiking trails.

If you are looking for a great place to get away with your family, SOTO is a wonderful place. There is a petting zoo, horseback rides, paintball course, frisbee golf course, playground, and tubing and swimming in Big Creek. It was the perfect getaway for our family.

Thinking of You

In the week after Brick's death, I was beginning to feel crushed beneath the weight of my own grief, coupled with carrying the grief of others, trying to come up with the right words to say to honor Brick, and dealing with some other pretty big ministry situations. I went to our mailbox to get the mail, and on the way I just said a quick prayer just saying, "God, I really need to hear from you right now." When I got the mail, there was a letter from my grandmother, and across the seal on the envelope was a sticker that said, "Thinking of you." Right then, it was like God said, "That's from me. I'm thinking of you. I care about you, and it matters to me what you are going through right now."

How awesome is it that the God of the universe is thinking of us. "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable!" Psalm 139:17.

So Long, Friend

On Saturday, March 10, about 400 people gathered in the Pottsboro High School Auditorium to say "so long" to our friend, Brick James.

The following is the text of what I said at that memorial celebration:

Funeral for Brick James

One of Brick’s responsibilities at Hagerman was each Sunday he led our welcome time and our prayer time. And he was always late getting to the podium because he was busy giving out hugs to people who needed them. A little over six years ago, I began serving as pastor at Hagerman, and I very quickly developed a close friendship with Brick. And I realized right away how blessed and privileged I was to have Brick on my staff and just to know him and spend time with him and to learn from him. Brick was a good, good man and a dear friend, and I will miss him incredibly. Not long after I came to Hagerman, we were talking in the office, and somehow the subject of our ages came up. I was 28 at the time. And Brick said, “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe that my pastor is young enough to be my son!” Well, over the next several years, Brick really was like a spiritual father to me. One day, we were talking in his office, and Brick was wrestling with exactly what his role needed to be as a staff member, because he was kind of the utility guy. Whatever needed doing, he was the go to man. And I told him that his most important role was he was like Paul and I was like Timothy. He was so often the teacher, and I was the student.
One of the things that I will really miss about Brick is that he was an awesome teacher. He had incredible insights into God’s word, and he always had a unique way of communicating God’s truths. One of the last opportunities I had to hear Brick teach was back in November, we had a meeting for the ministry leaders in our church, and Brick taught them about some insights he had gained from the book of Joshua. And he was so excited as he told them about the hopes and dreams he had for our church. And he talked about how the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, and how the leaders had to have courage and step into the water in faith. And he talked about how the people had to consecrate themselves to be ready for what God was going to do. And he talked to us about how God stopped the waters and the people saw God do another incredible miracle to allow them to enter the Promised Land.
But, here’s what I’m getting to. After the Israelites had all passed over on dry land, Joshua was to appoint one man from each of the tribes of Israel to go into the dry river bed and gather large stones to bring to the bank and set up as a memorial. “And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, ‘In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, “What do these stones mean?” tell them, “Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.” For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.’” What was the purpose of the stones? They were set up as a reminder to the people for generations to come that God had done something incredible there, that the people had seen the hand of God at work. And that’s what I think today is about. It’s about remembering how we have seen the hand of God at work through the life of Brick James.
Now, if I’ve counted right, you’ve heard from ten men so far today, either in person or by letter or video, ten men who have each set up a stone of what Brick did in their lives, of how they saw the hand of God at work through Brick.
And now, I’m the eleventh man. Now, I could spend the rest of the day today setting up stones to honor what God showed me through Brick’s life, but there are four really important ones that I want you to remember.
First, Brick was a friend. Prov. 18:24: “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” That’s the kind of friend Brick was. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard from over the last month who have told me, “Brick James was my best friend in the world.”
Many of you here today represent people who were touched by Brick’s friendship. Brick was a friend because he genuinely cared. Brick was the kind of friend who was there through thick and thin, through good and bad. I remember Sept. 11, 2001, sitting in my office with Brick and Tim, watching television footage of the collapse of the twin towers and us just crying together. And one of the things I really remember from 9/11 was the bravery and the sacrifice of the New York City firemen and police officers who ran in when everybody else was running out. That’s the kind of friend that Brick was. In situations when your life was crashing in around you, in circumstances where other people were running away, Brick was always the guy running in, always the one helping to carry you out when you didn’t feel like you could go on. There was a point in my life when my world was collapsing, and if it hadn’t been for Brick, I would not have made it.
Brick was an encourager. He just always knew when you needed a hug or an encouraging word or a note. Even as I watched Brick in the hospital, people would come in, and he wound up being the one encouraging them. I have a stack of notes in my desk that Brick wrote to me. And the other day, I was looking through them, and I came across this one. Read it. I looked on the front, and there are tear stains from where Brick was crying for me as he prayed for me. He was a friend.
The second thing I want you to remember about Brick is that he was faithful. 1 Cor. 4:2: “The one thing required of servants is that they be faithful…” Brick was faithful. You could always depend on Brick. Brick was an incredible servant. I’ve seen him washing dishes, painting walls, making meals, getting on the floor and rolling around with kids, holding the hand of someone who was dying, decorating for Vacation Bible School, counseling with clients until late in the night, not giving up on people when most others would have given up. He was a faithful servant. I always knew I could depend on Brick. Several years ago, when Brick had his first brain surgery, he had the surgery on a Tuesday, and he was in church worshiping God on Sunday morning. He was faithful.
He was a faithful husband. He loved Dorothy and he was always thinking about how he could show Dorothy how much he loved her. And so many of us have learned about what it means to be a faithful spouse from Brick. This last October, we did a marriage retreat that Brick led, right before his last surgery. And he planned it and worked out the agenda for what we were going to do. But Brick wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to go, but he knew that it meant a lot to Dorothy and that she really wanted to go. So he came. And I think that those of us who went will always treasure that weekend because of what we learned, not by Brick’s words, but by his faithfulness.
Brick was a faithful father. He loved his girls, and he was so proud of you. Again, I learned a lot about how to be a good parent by watching Brick. I remember Brick telling us about one time the girls were fighting in the car, so he took a paper bag and stuck it over his head. The girls asked what he was doing, and he said, “Y’all are making bad air. And I don’t want to breathe your air. So, I’m going to breathe my own nice air in this bag.” He was a great dad, and you girls are such evidence of that.
He was a friend. He was faithful. Then, the third thing I want you to remember about Brick is that he was a fighter. 2 Tim. 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Brick was a fighter. I remember several years ago that Brick and his friend Joe went on a trip to his mother’s cabin in upstate New York. They left their cooler on the back porch and a bear got it. Well, Brick grabbed a stick and took off after the bear yelling at it. I mean, you’ve heard the saying, “He’s so tough, he’d go into a bear fight with a stick!” Well, Brick did. And the bear dropped the cooler and ran off. I think that is so perfect an illustration of the way Brick faced life. He was a fighter. Since the first moment I knew Brick, he had cancer. But cancer never defined who he was. Most of the time you forgot that he had cancer. I never believed that cancer was going to get Brick, because he fought it so hard. I have never seen anyone face cancer with as much courage as Brick did, even to the very end. He never gave up; he never quit; he never lost hope.
But it wasn’t just cancer that Brick fought. Brick fought for his clients. The Bible says that Satan is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And so many of you who came to Brick for counseling were people that Satan had hurt. And Brick went to battle for you. He went to battle to save marriages. He went to battle to save lives. He went to battle to save emotions. He went to battle to save your kids. You know, I think, when Brick James went into battle that Satan trembled. Because so many people that Satan was trying to destroy, Brick rescued.
He was a fighter. And finally, I want you to remember that he was a man of faith. Brick believed in the power of God to do great things, to transform people’s lives, to work miracles. In the Bible, in the book of Luke, it tells us this story of all these people bringing all their sick and hurting friends and family members to Jesus. And I love Lk. 4:40: “No matter what their diseases were, the touch of His hand healed everyone.” No matter what their diseases were, the touch of His hand healed everyone. I know that Brick believed that verse with all his heart. The solution for the human condition is Jesus Christ. The solution to our hurts and pains and struggles and anxieties and disfunctions and guilt and disease is Jesus Christ.
You see, the Bible teaches that we are all broken people. That everyone of us, at one point or another in our lives, decide that we are going to live our lives our way, and we don’t care who we have to hurt or what we have to do. We don’t care what God or anybody else says. All of us make the choice to live for our selves and to rebel against God. The Bible calls that rebellion sin. The Bible teaches that all of us have sinned. And the Bible says that there are consequences for our sins, things like broken marriages and broken homes, domestic violence, addictions to drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography, food, things like guilt, depression, anxiety, thoughts of unworthiness, of being unloved. Or maybe just a confusion about who you are and where you belong and what the meaning of life is all about. The Bible says that there are consequences for our sins, and the ultimate consequence is death. Now, when the Bible talks about death as the consequence of our sins, its not just talking about physical death. It’s talking about eternal death as the punishment for our sins.
But there is an answer, there is a way that sinful human beings can be made right with God. Remember, no matter what their diseases were the touch of his hand healed everyone. The solution to whatever your issues are is Jesus Christ. You see, the most important verse in the Bible that you need to know is John 3:16. It says, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins so that we could have a relationship with God. That is what Brick believed with all his heart. And that is why Brick is in heaven today.
Last Sunday morning, Brick breathed his last breath here on earth. And I love what Rachel said in the e-mail she sent out. The last week of his life, Brick couldn’t really see. The very first thing he saw was the face of Jesus waiting to receive him. Brick couldn’t hear. And the very first thing he heard was the sound of angels crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” and the voice of Jesus saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Brick couldn’t really speak. And the first words out of his mouth were, “Thank you and I love you.” Brick’s had lost feeling in parts of his face, and the very first thing he felt was “the touch of his hand healed everyone.”
Would you like to know the Jesus that Brick is now with? It’s as simple as ABC. Admit you are a sinner and ask God to forgive you of your sins. Believe that Jesus died in your place to pay the price for your sins. Confess Jesus as the leader of your life.

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

Saturday afternoon at about 1 o’clock, I got a call from Brick’s youngest daughter asking me to come to their house. Brick’s breathing had changed, and the family had called hospice to bring oxygen. Brick’s breathing was labored and shallow, and this continued to worsen throughout the day. I went to see Brick, but had to leave to perform a wedding ceremony that afternoon (such a surreal juxtaposition of life and death). I returned that night to see Brick and went home at about 10 o’clock. At 1:15 a.m., Brick’s oldest daughter called to tell me that he had passed away. He went peacefully and without much pain.

There will be a memorial service Saturday, March 10, at 10 a.m. in the Pottsboro High School Auditorium.

Thank you, God, for such an awesome, incredible friend and for giving him grace and peace as he faced death.

Well done, Brick.

Update on Brick

Not much new to report here, but I know many of you have been checking the site to find out what is going on. Brick's condition continues to worsen slightly each day. He is confined to bed and seems to be experiencing some pain, though that is being managed well with medication. Continue to pray for him and his family.

Restaurant Review

One of my regular readers threatened to take away my man card for my review of a Mediterranean restaurant in Addison. So, I offer this review of Deno's Fried Pies as penance.

Deno's is located in Denison, TX, and is one of my favorite places to go as an occasional treat. It is occasional because one of the key ingredients that makes Deno's pies so wonderful is grease. The crusts on the pies are about as flaky as any you will find on a fried pie (a result of plenty of grease in the dough), and they are deep fried, giving a wonderfully crisp outer crust.

Of course, the thing that draws me to Deno's are their dessert pies. They come in an assortment of flavors: apricot, apple, cherry, peach, pineapple, blackberry, chocolate, coconut, vanilla, lemon, apricot cream, apple cream, cherry cream, peach cream, pineapple cream, and blackberry cream. Of the flavors I have tried, apricot has been my favorite by far, although the cherry is very good also. The chocolate seems like it is a little rich to me, combining the chocolate filling with the already rich crust. Coconut is my favorite type of pie ordinarily, but for some reason it didn't work for me in a fried pie.

Deno's also offers frozen custards blended with their fried pie flavorings. You can also get an assortment of breakfast (bacon, egg, and cheese; sausage, egg, and cheese; etc.) and dinner pies including flavors like Tex-Mex, Polish sausage and potato, or chicken and vegetable, to name a few. I have not tried any of these pies, so I can't give a review of them.

If you are expecting bakery or donut store prices at Deno's, you will be a little surprised. Think more along the lines of cafe prices, more than a donut store, less than Starbucks. By the way, Deno's also offers a good variety of hot drinks. Click here to see Deno's full menu.

Pie, grease, crust. How can you go wrong?