Fellow Chaplain

Chaplain (Col) Art Moore.
Idaho Air National Guard

Col. Joseph (Art) Moore was recently on deployment in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa where he passed away. He has been a part of the 124th Wing of the Idaho Air National Guard out of Gowen Field where he began as a Chaplin and was eventually promoted to State Commanding Chaplain for the JFHQ Army and Air National Guard.

His family shared this statement with the public... "Art loved the military, loved working with the people and loved traveling as part of his military duties. Being a minister to service members was dear to his heart, and he was available to help anybody at any time."


Pastor Paul and I travelled to Boise on Wednesday for Art's funeral. It was extremely well attended by many members of the Army and Air Guard from Gowen as well as throughout the state.




Art sat down with my on at least two occasions to talk about what I should expect while serving as a military Chaplain. One of his biggest concerns he had for me was that my church would be supportive and he even offered to come down and take an evening service to explain in detail what I would be doing in addition to encouraging our church to support me in this effort.





I assured Art that although he was invited to come down at any time, I was confident and continue to be that our church is in great support of the ministry I do through the Idaho Army National Guard.





Art loved to talk about fishing, just about anytime, but one of his other favorites was to take you to lunch. I recall having lunch with Art at Rocky's Diner in Boise while in uniform and in the company of several other ranking brass; I was nervous, but he really made an effort to make me feel included.





Art, you will be sorely missed, but we'll see you when we get to the other side.





-John

Made In Idaho

Have you seen these labels on products that say "Made In Idaho"? I run into them from time to time and I suppose it's a good idea to support our fellow Idahoans in their ventures, but I have to tell you that I didn't actually know any of these "Idahoans" personally until a few years ago.


Shari and I have some dear friends that live in Boise who actually have one of these "Made In Idaho" products that is one of their cherished family recipes. It's called "Harry's Teri". We have tried this yummy Teriyaki Sauce and it is just that-- YUMMY!

Ken and Pam Dillman have been our friends ever since I worked with Pam as a Family Assistance Counselor at Cloverdale Funeral Home in Boise. It was not long after knowing Pam that I discovered that her and Ken are fellow believers.

We were over to their home for dinner one night the first time we tasted it and our whole family was blown away. Although I know that it can be found on specialty shops as well as online, I don't understand why this stuff isn't on every store shelf across the country.

We've since ordered and eaten our way through several bottles as well as given some away as gifts. So the next time you have a hankerin' to put something mildly sweet and spicy on your chicken, burgers, or shrimp, check out their website: http://www.harrysteri.com/ .

Sorry to sound like an advertisement, but we really do like this stuff and Ken and Pam are about the sweetest family you'll meet on the planet, plus, I have recently been thinking about placing another order, so maybe at the next church potluck we'll have some on hand.

-John M

Thomas: "Before and After"

Have you seen one of those “Before and After” ads for some type of dieting product in a magazine or on TV? They’re everywhere. The ads really work their magic on our emotions and desire to be different and better. I admit I have found myself wondering about taking those ‘magic diet pills’ if I could just become one of those Before and After miracle-models. Wake-up John, snap out of it!

In the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Disciples were together in a room presumably, hiding because they were afraid of the Jews. After Jesus’ resurrection He appeared to them and came in with them in spite of the doors being locked. When Jesus came in, He said ‘Peace be unto you’.

The Disciples were so glad to see Him and as they looked at his hands and side, obviously they were gazing at the evidence of the cross and his death and the proof that He was again alive. He assured them and said another time, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

In verse 24 thru 26 the passage says that Thomas was not with them when Jesus showed up on that occasion. Later, the other Disciples evidently told Thomas and his reaction was true to his nature- he said I don’t believe it. Unless I can see Him for myself, and see where the nails were in his body, I won’t believe it was Jesus.

Over a week later (8 days) Thomas was in the same room with the other Disciples with the doors once again locked. Jesus again came into the room, except this time Thomas was there. Jesus came up to Thomas and said: “Reach your finger here, and look and my hands; and reach your hands here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God.”

A couple of things happened here. First, Thomas was invited to examine Jesus, and second, Thomas was led to worship Jesus. Thomas’ response of proclaiming that Jesus was His God was because he had examined him up close and personal and finding the evidence he was looking for, he did what was natural, he proclaimed that Jesus was God, and even more than that, Thomas accepted Jesus as his God.

We are invited to do the same; to examine the Christ. We can study Him by reading His Word and let Him prove to us who He is. As we make this incredible discovery, we will do what only comes natural -we worship Him. There is only one difference between us and Thomas; our conclusions must be based on faith.

Have you noticed lately that our church “order of service’ includes essentially three main sections: First, we come in rejoicing in a ‘Call to Worship’ of one or two songs, scripture reading, offering and prayer which leads secondly to Pastor Paul sharing from the Word, an examination of "The Word" (Jesus) -‘The Sermon’. Finally, we then move into a time of response to that discovery -'Worship'. This makes so much sense Biblically. Our corporate worship is a response to Jesus’ revealing to us. It’s natural!

No doubt when we are face to face with Him, in His presence in Heaven, we will fall before Him in ultimate unrestricted unabashed worship. Oh, that will be Glory.

Hmmm?

One reaction may be to say that ‘when I see him I will worship Him, until then I will be like Thomas and bide my time’. The Word’s response to us is “Blessed is he who believes and yet has not seen.”

Unfortunately, never again on this side of Glory will there be an opportunity to examine Jesus like Thomas did. We just will not have that afforded to us. Yet we are still faced with the same choice as Thomas -making Him our God. The act of worship for us, as it was for Thomas, is exactly the same. It’s our response to what has been revealed to us.

What’s been revealed to you? How has He proved Himself to you? How about naming off a few ways right now…. God is my Jehovah Jireh -my provider, He is my Jehovah Rapha -my healer, and I can create a list a mile long under just those two names. He is worthy of my worship and so I will be unashamed to call Him, as Thomas did, ‘my Lord and my God’. Examine Him for yourself……

-John

SURPRISE!!!!!

This past weekend was some kind of weekend for Shari.

She attended the Beth Moore conference in Boise with the Acteen girls and after arriving home to what she no doubt hoped would be a relaxing rest of her weekend, we had something else in mind.

After several "near-miss" run-in's with Shari in the parking lot of the church, when she arrived to drop of girls from the conference; a crew inside, busily worked to prepare a surprise- she finally drove off. Whew!

What she did not know was that for the past couple of months we had been preparing the surprise party of her life. She was about to turn 40 and we just couldn't pass up on the opportunity to remind her.

After a few well designed "stories" we got Shari to the church. As she walked in to yells of surprise I have no doubt once again that she truly appreciated this humiliation from the bottom of her heart.

Today is actually Shari's birthday; May 20th. I called her just a moment ago and asked to go to the bathroom mirror and take a deep look at that 40 year old looking back. Ha ha!

I Love You Shari and Happy Birthday!

-John

Back To School

Yesterday was my first day back to class. I am taking two classes once again; I think I would be crazy to take any more than that at this point in my life.

For those of you who are new to my BLOG, I have been taking online classes through the Distance Learning Program of Liberty Baptist Seminary. I am doing this to finish my educational requirement for the Chaplaincy in the National Guard.

I am taking History of Baptists and Systematic Theology II. As always, the professors have introduced themselves and basically tried to put the fire under our tails from the start of classes.

In no time at all I will be walking around with dark rings under my eyes and dragging my feet, but that's ok, I should be back to normal in another 8 weeks.

I have no doubt that my BLOG entries will reflect what I am studying, and you may even catch a debate or two from me regarding Calvinism and Arminianism. This is a huge part of Baptist history so if I step on a toe or two along the way, please accept my humblest apologies in advance. However, you have my permission to challenge my thinking along the way via the "comment" button - and you can even do it as "anonymous" if you would like.

Have You ever wondered what T.U.L.I.P stands for? We may may just find out together.

Blessings,

-John

Truly Blonde Moment

This past weekend several of our youth participated in what looks like it may become an annual event for our students. The fasted for 30 hours.

The students were a part of the "National 30-Hour Famine". I am very proud of these students as you can imagine since they allowed themselves to literally go without food from Noon on Friday thru 6:00pm on Saturday evening.

In addition to this the students participated in a work project at a church in our association raking leaves, pulling weeds, and hauling branches. They did great!

This is where my blonde moment kicks in:

When we arrived at the church in Gooding, the doors were locked so I reached for my key chain and told the students that the key I use for Eastside was a Universal Baptist Church Key, and that it would work on any Baptist church.

I put the key in the lock and presto it worked perfectly! The thing I didn't tell them was that Larry Kelley, the pastor of the Gooding church had loaned me his key the day before.

My agreement with Larry was I would leave his key on his desk in his Church office in Gooding when we were done.

Later that afternoon when we arrived back in Twin Falls, I reached into my pocket for my keys and reminded the students once again that I was about to use the Universal Baptist Church Key to open the church........

Oops! It didn't work.... I had accidentally left my Eastside Baptist Key in Gooding and kept Larry's key as my own.

Then came the obvious call from the students: "What happened to your Baptist key?"

I felt about 2 inches tall. Amidst plenty of laughing, I confessed to my ruse. We stood around wondering how we would get into the church... we tried several doors, but no luck.. So we did what anyone else would do in a similar situation: We went to Pastor Paul's house to borrow his key.

-John

To Cuss or Not To Cuss

During one of recent youth Bible studies, one of our students brought up a good question regarding profanity.

I know that most of us have made some kind of decision as to whether we let the occasional curse word fly from our lips, and what qualifies as a cuss word, so what I would like to do is share some what I shared this past Wednesday evening in Youth and Adult Bible study.

First of all, I think it's important to lay out the law so to speak:

What is profanity?

Without going to George Carlin and his attempt to define what words are off limits, I believe that if all of us were honest with ourselves, we would all agree what qualifies as a "Bad-Word".

Most kids don't have a problem knowing the difference. When I was a kid on the playground and we heard one of "those" words, someone would usually say "I'm gonna tell, you said a baaad word."

The Bible does not have a list of taboo words. You can't go to the book of whatever and see "...thou shalt not say the following words..." it's just not there.

In the first place the list would be changing all the time. Not necessarily words coming off the list, but new ones coming on all the time.

Secondly we would also have to admit that cussing has much less to do with letters than linguistics. In other words, the meaning and intent of the words we use is the the crux. But don't let that take us off the hook, because we are indeed judged by the use of our words, whether they have ill intent or not. Try using a foul word in a casual manner the next time you are in for a job interview and see if how far that flies.

I would agree that there is really no need for graphic language at anytime and by anyone whether you are a believer or not, but for the sake of our discussion today, lets narrow our field to believers only.

I found a very useful list of six reasons why not to cuss by Daryl Wingerd. See what you think.

1. Many curse words are descriptions of immoral acts.... Whatever the original meanings of these words...vulgar meanings are undoubtedly connected with them now. Remember that Paul tells Christians to dwell on things that are honorable, pure, lovely, and excellent. Philippians 4:8
2. Christians who use foul language...[fail to] set themselves apart from unbelievers who say the same things. Your speech leaves them no reason to believe that you are any different from anyone else.
3. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, saying, "Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the Church of God." (1 Cor. 10:32) He was not referring to the offense of the Gospel or an offense taken by....certain Christian beliefs or practices.
4. Many movies receive an "R" rating because of foul language, meaning that even unbelievers recognize that cussing is inappropriate , at least for children. [It is] shameful when Christians claim as a personal liberty that which even our pagan society recognizes as offensive.
5. We should always err on the side of caution rather than appealing to our personal liberty. James 3: 6,8 says that the tongue is a "restless evil and full of deadly poison," that which cannot be tamed and which "defiles the body". Proverbs 10:19 says "Where there are many words, sin is not lacking." [Christians should have a] default setting [when it comes to their mouths]
6. One would hope that Christians who claim the liberty to cuss in public, among their families, or even in the presence of other believers, would at least find such language unthinkable in the presence of Jesus Christ. The fact is, however, if you would not cuss in His presence, then you cannot with a clean conscience at all because Jesus said, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20 (taken form the list of "Six Reasons Why NOT!" by Daryl Wingerd.)

So what are your thoughts? Do you think it's ok under certain circumstances for believers to cuss?

I have to say I was so impressed by all the comments I received this past Wednesday during our Bible Study. Many of our students and adults have a solid understanding of why and why not, and their comments were based on the Word of God.

-John M