Today I want to tell you how thankful I am for the drug problem I had as a child. No, it wasn't the kind of drugs you are thinking about. My mom drug me to church every week.
The church building isn't there anymore. It was knocked down by a tornado that hit downtown Fort Worth several years ago and I really miss that church building. Now don't get me wrong, Jesus isn't in a building and the church is so much more that a building. The church is the people who go to and from the building every week. See when people see us they should see Christ in us not in a building. But that building was a very special one to me.
I have said this publicly but I will say it again, Thank you mom for dragging me kicking, screaming and sometimes cussing to church with you every week. If it wasn't for that, I would hate to think about where I would be today.
So let me tell you a little more about this drug problem. When I was around 5 years old, we started attending Calvary Cathedral in downtown Fort Worth. The church started out as a Baptist church that Pastor Bob Nichols bought. At the age of 5, church was fine but as I got a little older it really cramped my style. Because of where we lived and just our normal schedule, I did not make many friends at the church when I was young. (I think I would have made several good friends if I was more friendly myself but that's beside the point.)
The other problem was something I considered much more critical. Now you have to understand that this was before the days of VCRs and DVRs so I couldn't record anything from TV. Why is this important you ask? Because the Dallas Cowboys played at noon and I was a big fan back then. I hated that I had to go to church and miss part of the game. By the time we got out of church, the 1st Quarter was always over and I didn't like that. As I got to high school, I would stay out late and be tired and thus again I didn't want to go to church. I cussed my mother out more than once (No, not to her face. I wasn't that stupid) for dragging me to that church. I even decided that I wouldn't stay in the services while I was there. Now the church building was pretty big and it had two stories so I decided to hide in the rooms upstairs until the service was over. This worked out pretty well for several months until the mom of one of my few friends followed me up to my "secret" room.
Needless to say, my mom found out and I got drug out of the room and back down to the service. I can tell you she was a very unhappy camper when she found us that day. Now my mom is a little lady but she sure looked like a giant that day. If David had seen her instead of Goliath he might have reconsidered. If Goliath had seen her he would have ran instead of running his mouth. So back down to the service we went. After a certain amount of time, I finally decided I would outsmart her again. I didn't want to be there and while she could drag me there as long as I lived under her roof, she couldn't make me listen to a word Pastor Bob was saying. If anyone from Calvary reads this, let me say how thankful I am for a true man of God like Bob Nichols. I have nothing but the highest respect and admiration for him.
So if you were looking out from the pulpit, I was sitting in the very back row on the far right hand side of the sanctuary. Now our sanctuary was round so the isle we sat on had only three seats. If you took one of them you did so at your own peril because my brother and I owned them. There was a strategic reason that I picked these seats. You could not see my facial expression from the pulpit, there was no one directly behind me, you would have to turn around to look at me if you were in front of me and lastly, if I put my bible on the arm rest of the chair, put my elbow on the bible, and leaned my face on my hand, my head would stay upright and you couldn't see my eyes if you sat to my right.
Why was this important? Because it allowed me to sleep through every service without getting caught. Or at least no one woke me up if they knew I was asleep (I am sure that people knew because I snored like a chain saw at a logger's championship). So I slept back there and my mom kept dragging us to church. But there was something that really bothered me. At the end of every service, Pastor Bob would start his closing prayer by saying, "Father, we've heard the word of God today...." Only I hadn't heard the word so I wouldn't pray that part of the prayer because it would be a lie. So one day, I decided to stay awake and listen to what he said. This went on for several more years and Pastor Bob taught me a lot. Thanks to a mother who wouldn't stop bringing her son to church.
But here's the interesting part. There were many things that I wanted to do with my time back then. Church wasn't in the top 100. I wanted to play outside, hang out with my friends, watch football, etc. But when the major crises came in my life, when I needed help with my weight, when I was going through my divorce, at every point where I struggled, I never once cried out to the Dallas Cowboys, to my friends or to any other thing that would have taken my time. I cried out to the One that I learned about all those times mother drug me to church. I cried out to God. Never once quoted a Cowboy rushing stat when I needed financial help. I qouted the word of God and God saw me through my difficulty. I never once found comfort in any church substitute. I found comfort by going back to the place where my mother drug me week in and week out all those years.
That's another Opinion of the Minion
The church building isn't there anymore. It was knocked down by a tornado that hit downtown Fort Worth several years ago and I really miss that church building. Now don't get me wrong, Jesus isn't in a building and the church is so much more that a building. The church is the people who go to and from the building every week. See when people see us they should see Christ in us not in a building. But that building was a very special one to me.
I have said this publicly but I will say it again, Thank you mom for dragging me kicking, screaming and sometimes cussing to church with you every week. If it wasn't for that, I would hate to think about where I would be today.
So let me tell you a little more about this drug problem. When I was around 5 years old, we started attending Calvary Cathedral in downtown Fort Worth. The church started out as a Baptist church that Pastor Bob Nichols bought. At the age of 5, church was fine but as I got a little older it really cramped my style. Because of where we lived and just our normal schedule, I did not make many friends at the church when I was young. (I think I would have made several good friends if I was more friendly myself but that's beside the point.)
The other problem was something I considered much more critical. Now you have to understand that this was before the days of VCRs and DVRs so I couldn't record anything from TV. Why is this important you ask? Because the Dallas Cowboys played at noon and I was a big fan back then. I hated that I had to go to church and miss part of the game. By the time we got out of church, the 1st Quarter was always over and I didn't like that. As I got to high school, I would stay out late and be tired and thus again I didn't want to go to church. I cussed my mother out more than once (No, not to her face. I wasn't that stupid) for dragging me to that church. I even decided that I wouldn't stay in the services while I was there. Now the church building was pretty big and it had two stories so I decided to hide in the rooms upstairs until the service was over. This worked out pretty well for several months until the mom of one of my few friends followed me up to my "secret" room.
Needless to say, my mom found out and I got drug out of the room and back down to the service. I can tell you she was a very unhappy camper when she found us that day. Now my mom is a little lady but she sure looked like a giant that day. If David had seen her instead of Goliath he might have reconsidered. If Goliath had seen her he would have ran instead of running his mouth. So back down to the service we went. After a certain amount of time, I finally decided I would outsmart her again. I didn't want to be there and while she could drag me there as long as I lived under her roof, she couldn't make me listen to a word Pastor Bob was saying. If anyone from Calvary reads this, let me say how thankful I am for a true man of God like Bob Nichols. I have nothing but the highest respect and admiration for him.
So if you were looking out from the pulpit, I was sitting in the very back row on the far right hand side of the sanctuary. Now our sanctuary was round so the isle we sat on had only three seats. If you took one of them you did so at your own peril because my brother and I owned them. There was a strategic reason that I picked these seats. You could not see my facial expression from the pulpit, there was no one directly behind me, you would have to turn around to look at me if you were in front of me and lastly, if I put my bible on the arm rest of the chair, put my elbow on the bible, and leaned my face on my hand, my head would stay upright and you couldn't see my eyes if you sat to my right.
Why was this important? Because it allowed me to sleep through every service without getting caught. Or at least no one woke me up if they knew I was asleep (I am sure that people knew because I snored like a chain saw at a logger's championship). So I slept back there and my mom kept dragging us to church. But there was something that really bothered me. At the end of every service, Pastor Bob would start his closing prayer by saying, "Father, we've heard the word of God today...." Only I hadn't heard the word so I wouldn't pray that part of the prayer because it would be a lie. So one day, I decided to stay awake and listen to what he said. This went on for several more years and Pastor Bob taught me a lot. Thanks to a mother who wouldn't stop bringing her son to church.
But here's the interesting part. There were many things that I wanted to do with my time back then. Church wasn't in the top 100. I wanted to play outside, hang out with my friends, watch football, etc. But when the major crises came in my life, when I needed help with my weight, when I was going through my divorce, at every point where I struggled, I never once cried out to the Dallas Cowboys, to my friends or to any other thing that would have taken my time. I cried out to the One that I learned about all those times mother drug me to church. I cried out to God. Never once quoted a Cowboy rushing stat when I needed financial help. I qouted the word of God and God saw me through my difficulty. I never once found comfort in any church substitute. I found comfort by going back to the place where my mother drug me week in and week out all those years.
That's another Opinion of the Minion
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