Brain Clogged Up By a Rhino?

So I thought that I would update the site and add some fresh flavor rather than just a malfunctioning ankle. Basically, the purpose of this post is to say- I am dumb, but God is great.

This last week was the "Kingdom of the Son" (safari themed) vacation bible school at our church. I was asked to teach the fourth grade class which included going with the class to games, snacks, singing and crafts.

For those of you who remember VBS as a boring experience with all the livelihood of a daycare center during naptime, that is not the way it happens at our church. The saturday before a group of people get together and with only butcher paper and tempera paint transform the church into a scene from whatever the theme is that year for VBS. During the week it is pedal to the metal, with the helpers going 150% to simply keep us with these kids for five days.

It was in that "gung-ho" spirit that I set out. Now, the teachers are all responsible to decorate their individual classrooms and add their particular flair to the ambiance. For the fourth grade class (officially dubbed as "The Rhinos") I decided that the space in the room would be particularly well served by a life-size paper machet replica of a Rhinocerous. I had been to the zoo a couple of weeks before and had pictures from which to work. I went out and bought chicken wire and all the necessary materials, how hard could it be? Right?

Well, to make a long story short, ummm....during the Saturday transformation of the church into an African Savannah the favorite comment of folks entering my room was "Are you guys the elephants?"

The picture above is of me and Ronaldo the Rhino. Ronaldo was the result of a lot of work, time, frustration and very little planning on my part. It was one of those things where I had lofty dreams and aspirations of a quick project that would look great and all the fourth graders would think would be awesome. Hardly. Honestly, thinking back, I have no idea what I was thinking. I have not one speck of artistic ability, had three days to complete the project and had only done paper machet once back in the second grade or something. But I was stubbornly determined to make myself a Rhino and the more that I worked on it, the less likely I became to cut my losses and do something productive.

When I look back on this experience, I think of the passage in Luke 14 where Jesus warns the people who are fickle followers of him to count the cost of becoming his disciple. Surely if I had looked objectively at the costs of time and money for this project in comparison to the benefits for eternity, I would have seen in a minute that it was not worth it. But that was the point, I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it because of my own pride. I wanted to do the Rhino so that it would be this great thing and all of the fourth graders would feel special and priviledged to call themselves a Rhino.

What I have learned now is not to waste time with things that do not really matter. (Yeah, I think the kids appreciated the rhino and the decorations, but nobody got saved in our class because Ronaldo shared the gospel with them.) I don't think that it was until about halfway through the day on Saturday that I realized that Ronaldo didn't make any difference in regard to eternity, but the teaching of God's Word that would happen in the classroom did.

I praise the Lord that he uses the foolish people and things of the world to work for his eternal purposes. VBS did turn out really well. The truth of God was proclaimed to over 150 kids. 3 of the kids in my class made professions of faith which I hope and pray were genuine and will be lasting. Who would think that God could use me, a man who had Rhino on the brain leading up to VBS, to proclaim the gospel that 3 fourth graders would hear and place their trust in and hopefully be transformed by for the rest of their lives?

Praise the Lord!

UPDATES ON THE ANKLE!

Quite colorful, eh?

I knew all of you would be concerned to see how the ankle is doing...

A little slice of humble pie

God Humbles Those Who Walk in Pride

Some would say that Saturday mornings are a time for sleep, a time for washing the car or just relaxation in general. Whenever I am home in the summer, however; they are usually a time for basketball. For many years men at my church here in San Antonio have gathered to play basketball, since the days we would play in the parking lot long before we built the gym. Things have changed since those old days ( you no longer have to adjust your shot for the wind), but the Saturday morning tradition remains the same.
My younger brother Ben and I decided that we would take up that tradition and made numerous phone calls inviting people to come and play. The morning came and six showed up. We decided to play three on three halfcourt, it was all we could do. The teams were me and an older father from the school and his freshman, 4 and 1/2 foot tall son against Ben (6'3'') Tyler Sultze (6'0'') and another man from our church, Tom Longhway (6'2''). I thought "oh well, we'll be slaughtered but it will be fun to play." So we did, my team called ourselves the Spurs and we labeled the other team the Pistons. True to form, the Spurs took the first three games. (Even though the other team had the height, we shot the threes well and they couldn't make their layups). Then a shooting drought developed for the Spurs and the Pistons took the next three games straight. This forced a decisive game seven.
Now, my basketball playing ability is something that I have taken more too much pride in for a long time. Ever since I can remember, I really enjoyed playing basketball. When I was a kid, my idea of relaxing was going outside and shooting, over and over again. I got pretty good in high school and was a state all-star, but not good enough to play in college (though I immersed myself in intramurals). In college I think I began to realize just how sinfully I treated basketball and how in many ways I had made my basketball image an idol in my heart. After realizing this, many things changed and I began to think and act differently on the court (for instance, I would pass) and just about the game in general.
Then we came to game seven. I remember thinking at the beginning that I was going to take over, be unstoppable, and single-handedly carry my team to victory. And I did. I made four three pointers as well as a few other buckets and we won. (For those of you wondering how the finals will turn out, Spurs in seven.) I was satsified after that game that "I could still bring it" and my thoughts were filled with pride and the fact that I was "the best on the court." So I said to the guys that we should play one more game "just for fun."
We played and then on the last shot I went up, took the shot and when I came down, I rolled my right ankle, spraining it very badly. Thankfully Tom, who I took the shot over, is a physical therapist and I starting receiving instant treatment. I heard later from Tom's wife that Tom had remarked at home that it was a "really bad sprain."

Thinking about this at home afterwards was so good because revealed my sin of pride to me. He showed me that I had put Him on the bench for game seven and that I was going to be the star. When I think about it, I think of Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel who one day he lifted up his eyes to behold Babylon and said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" That very moment God drove him from the city and for a long period of time he ate grass like a cow and his hair was like eagle's feathers and his nails like birds claws. At the end of that time his reason returned to him and he said, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, for all his works are right and his ways just, and He is able to humble all those who walk in pride."

I praise the Lord that he humbled me on that Saturday morning and he did not let me continue even for an hour in my state of pride. I would encourage you to think about the way that you think. It may not be basketball for you, but what do you take pride in? Is it the Lord? The Bible says "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." Realize too that if you are walking in pride, God can and will humble you.

The Fam...Bruce, Ben, Berta, Bobby, Christa and Me.

The Whole Family

Finding Family

So here is the deal. My family has been bitten by the blog bug. My little brother has a blog, my sister-in-law has a blog, my older brother has a band website that what has been recently added to?- a blog. My dad comes home from work today and one of the first things he asks is if any of us have visited http://cuttingitstraight.blogspot.com to see the new post that he created today. He also noted with some degree of satisfaction that he already had a comment. Blog and the Blakey family go so hand-in-hand today that I am tempted to go to baxterblog.blogspot.com to see if it does, in fact, exist.
And so today I finally succumb to the overwhelming tide of blogness that has swept over this family like the waves over the seaweed and sand castles that I used to build on the beach as a child.

This past week my family was in California for the memorial service of my late grandmother, Peggy Blakey. All of my dad's six bothers and sisters were there as well as 9 of the 11 grandchildren. As we came together, I realized that there were people there that I had never met and others whom I had not seen in over ten years. And all were a part of our extended family.

Our extended family has its quirks, as every family does, and while we all share the same last name, or personalities and lives are anything but the same. For instance, there is my Uncle Ken, the brilliant businessman who never is at a loss for words and my Uncle Don, who is quiet and brief even with he writes birthday cards. My Uncle Scott lives a simple yet meaningful life where mostly everyday runs in the same format and then there is my Uncle Ernie, who we are never really sure which continent he is on.

I had an extended conversation with Uncle Ernie in the backyard one night and the rest of the family was convinced he was recruiting me for the CIA. However, I was finding out more about what, in fact, he really does. Uncle Ernie, in my mind, may be one of the most brilliant business marketers that I have ever heard of. In graduate school over 20 years ago, he sold the idea for a few thousand dollars to blend a bookstore with a coffee shop and right now the Barnes and Noble in Valencia is nearly an exact replica of the sketch that he drew 20 years ago. When faced with the task of how to help boost airline sales, he came up with an idea of passengers earning miles on trips that could be used towards future flights which we now call the frequent flyer program. He has done work with companies such as Porshe, Jeep and Nissan and all of this I had only heard second hand until I asked him.

As I look back on my thoughts of Uncle Ernie before the trip, I remember thinking that he was probably more reserved around us because he wanted to be. After talking to him, I realized that he had held back only because nobody had really asked him.

Right now I am preparing to teach in a number of contexts, whether it be the college/career sunday school class at our church, Sunday night Children's Bible Hour or the Vacation Bible School coming in two weeks. For all of these, I need wisdom.

James 1:5-8 says, "If any among you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, for that man ought not expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

I have realized that I so often will talk about God's wisdom with others or will read what God has taught other people. How often, though, do I ask the Lord to give me wisdom and believe that He will from His Word?

I received business wisdom and insight from Uncle Ernie that night as we hit whiffle balls in the backyard, how much more will I gain and be impressed by if I ask that of the Lord?