Legacy Church Blog

Slug Bug

It’s one of the most unique cars ever designed: the original slug bug- the Volkswagen. I should know; I had a 1972 VW Beetle when I was 17 years old. It was a stick shift with the air-cooled engine in the back, trunk in the front, and felt on the floor. The vinyl upholstery, baked in the west Texas sun, produced a smell that no car I’ve ever had could duplicate. It was yellow, riddled with minor dings and irregularities in the body. That, by no means, discouraged me from polishing it, so that every wrinkle in the steel was accentuated by a glossy sheen. I loved it. It was my freedom; it made me feel like a man. At that age I was starting to love things that made me feel like that, and hating things that didn’t. That is probably why I was beginning to hate Monday nights- scout meeting nights.

I was a proud member of The Boy Scouts Of America-had been since I was a wee cub scout. Olive green pants, red scarf, khaki shirt, merit badges and all. And, as if that wasn’t already feeling a little weird for me to wear at age 17, my overly pocketed scouting pants were getting too short, which revealed my thick wooly scouting socks. We had meetings every Monday night at 7:00 P.M. I was growing weary of being a boy scout, and was rapidly being influenced by the new friends I was making at the high school I had recently begun attending. I started there after I moved in with my dad, who taught math at the school, and I felt I was outgrowing scouting. My dad disagreed. He, like many wise fathers, wanted me to finish what I started. After all, I was getting very close to finishing up the requirements that would earn myself the honor of Eagle Scout. But, going to meetings and holding up three fingers, while reciting the scouting pledge, was grating on my too cool teenage nerves.

One night my friends called and invited me to play hooky from my scout meeting. Here was the plan: I, and the rest of them, would go out to one of their houses to hang out; then I would drive home at the time the meeting would normally be over. My dad would be none the wiser. The house was out of town a few miles down some dirt roads, surrounded by cotton fields; no one would spot me skipping the meeting. The scheme seemed fool proof, and my tempters assured me that I would not get caught. I went for it.

Things did not go quite as planned, though. (I know! I was shocked too.) Along the way, we got distracted by a large, low area of red dirt where water used to collect and sit. It was nestled between cotton fields. It had dried up, and was now calling to us, beckoning us to some good ole fashioned teenage fun. I drove my friends straight out into it to do some doughnuts, but to my sudden consternation, as we sped into it, we found ourselves tire deep in red, farm mud. The car had quickly sunk clear down to the chassis, but not, of course, until we had sputtered all the way to dead center of the dry “pond”. One of my friends called his uncle who owned a tow truck to get us out. He took his sweet time getting out there and assaulted us with a brow beating, peppered with cuss words that were drawn out through a stubbly, country accent. My alibi was shot. By the time I got the VW washed and drove up to my house, I was inexcusably and undeniably much later than my scouting meeting had ended.  My dad had gotten worried and called the meeting location; I had been caught.

Had it all been worth deceiving my dad? Had it been worth the discipline I received for my disobedience? The truth is, my dad would have taken us out to a dry lake to do doughnuts, if I had asked.  He was the one who taught me to drive that standard shift Beetle out on a dirt road, anyway. But even if he hadn’t, he would have had a good reason.   He did what was good for me. He was a good dad. I was blessed. Yes, but, I wasn’t satisfied with that. I didn’t like my dad’s rule, so I rebelled, and, as it turned out, it was much more trouble than fun (though some of it was actually exhilarating), and punishment ensued.  

This Psalm helps me comprehend it a little more:

Psalm 19:9-11English Standard Version (ESV)9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules[a] of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Great Psalm! One problem: We have not followed God’s rules. Does that mean, then, that this Psalm is useless, that it is bad news? No! Jesus did two things with the law. He took the punishment for our failure to keep it, AND he obeyed it for us. We have failed over and over again, but through Christ, we can begin again today living under God’s loving rule.  We can begin again tomorrow, obeying God’s good commands. “In keeping them is great reward.” Jesus kept them! Now, He leads us to His great reward, and, get this, He IS our great reward. Our encounter with Jesus is an encounter with His Father:

John 14:10English Standard Version (ESV)

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Some of us have not had the blessing of a good father here on Earth, but we can, through Jesus, by His Spirit, experience and enjoy The Good Father who is in Heaven!

Do you remember Sunday school?

I know not everyone experienced it, but I did, and I have vivid memories of it. I remember the flannel board doubling first as the back- drop of stiff cutout Bible characters and then, second as a sort of Velcro-like adhesive, only much warmer and cozier. I remember the smell of the potluck dinner we would have after the service wafting down from the fellowship hall and into our classroom.  I always hoped there would be fried chicken. It would be my reward for enduring to the end. If you were ever there, then you remember the kid in class who always got the right answer, because her answer was always Jesus, God, the Bible, or John 3:16. That was, of course, unless the question was about the cause of evil in the world or about sin. Then, the answer was the devil.

So when Chris, our COM leader, gave us a set of questions to answer in our monthly meeting, I was intrigued. Could I answer them without resorting to trite, stock, Sunday school-isms? Could I answer them in a way that would stir my fervor for the Gospel and my faith in Jesus? There were five questions: Who is God? What has He done? Who are we? What do we do? How do we do it in our unique context/ contexts? (I paraphrased the wording but tried to stay true to the meaning) Chase, one of our elders, rightly pointed out that the knowledge of God is a great mountain; we could “climb all our lives and never get to the top.” So, I will just start here at the trailhead by sharing my ponderings on the first question this time. Here goes:

Question 1: Who is God?

• I know He’s one God, but also three: The Father, Spirit, and Son. Honestly, this is so hard for me to swallow, though. I think about it pretty often, and it’s a faith builder every time I rediscover, then believe God’s Word about this truth; then I fall in love with it all over again. I know that sounds like a sappy Journey song, but it’s true, and the root of that truth grows a little deeper in me each time. The cool thing about it, I heard a good preacher say, is that it helps us better understand the very often quoted, very often misunderstood, claim that God is Love. How? Ok, the Father has loved the Son forever and the Spirit has loved the Father and the Son has loved…well they’ve all loved each other forever and will, for all eternity. God is the first family. The picture of perfect community.

• What about the fact that He exists eternally? I can actually imagine someone existing eternally in the future. What boggles my finite mind, though, is that He has always been! He was never made. Never imagined by anyone. He’s not the product of anything or any being. He is utterly other than us. He’s not just holy (set apart). He’s Holy, Holy, Holy! It’s so difficult to grasp, but it is a must-believe. Without that piece of who God is, we are doomed. He is I Am. We are, well dead, until he blows His breath into our dead spirit nostrils. You have to have breath to blow breath. He had that breath first: His Spirit. He did it when he created the first man, and he does it every time he brings another dead, non-breathing spirit to life- to His life.

• God created everything. I get that. I make things too. But I run into a wall in my understanding when I contemplate the astounding truth that He made it all out of nothing. Absolutely nothing! I don’t do that. I have a hard time making something out of what He gave me to work with. I feel like a kid fumbling with finger paint sometimes- figuratively and literally. (I’m an art teacher) Oh, and let’s not forget that Jesus was there as well. The Spirit too. They were all there! Yeah, I know Jesus was born as a man, but He has always existed and always will. That makes Him God. I’m glad about that, because without that integral truth, we are left hopeless. How could a regular fallen man have done any eternal work toward reconciliation to the God with whom we made enemies? It is impossible for man, yet possible for God. Praise Him! He not only created everything, but He is recreating us. He is the true artist, and the best teacher.

I could go on and on (I know that surprises some of you), but I’ll pause here. My aim was to stir up some food for thought on God. I hope your curiosity was rekindled about what God says about Himself, and I hope your desire to explore the amazing truths about God was enlivened a bit. I’m still chewing on these few I shared with you here. I will be mauling over the other four, well, forever.

Thanks for asking them Chris; it was a healthy exercise. I’m more excited about the Gospel, and I am spurred on to more fervently seek out the soul nourishing wisdom of God. However, even more importantly, I am getting hungrier for the very one who calls Himself the Bread of Life, our glorious Lord, Jesus Christ.

Kevin