As most folks in this area already know, the sports rivalry between Fulton and Austin-East can be pretty intense at times. During my senior year of high school the football rivalry was pretty much non-existent and yet to come, but basketball was another story altogether. Either gym would be hot, loud, and rockin’ with folks ready to see some up and down high school basketball. Our team that year was expected to be pretty competitive with A-E but they clearly had the advantage, namely in an all-star named Elston Turner, who went on to play for Ole Miss and in the NBA. However, a couple of weeks before the A-E game at Fulton, the Falcons received a transfer student in the 6 foot 7 inch frame of Terry Schoffield. He clearly had the Road-runner’s attention when pre-game warm-ups started. You see, not only was Terry 6’7”, he could play... well. In fact he turned the expectations for that game and the rest of the season, for that matter, on its ear. Needless to say, Fulton won a close game and sent the Road-runners home with a loss, a rare occurrance that year.Why do I share that story? Because Schoffield almost single-handedly turned a likely loss around into something that had potential, that had hope. He was the “equalizer” in an equation that tipped pretty heavily in Austin-East’s favor.Grace is a lot like that. It tips the scales in favor of hope, in favor of reconciliation, in favor of redemption. It softens the harsh, brings healing to the wounded, and relentlessly pursues the one gone astray. It’s the equalizer, the “balancer” to the the often harsh realities that the truth inevitably presents. It helps us find a mid-line to lives that are out of balance, that are skewed in an unhealthy direction. Jesus probably looked like Terry Schoffield to the diminutive Zacchaeus. But what He had to offer him was just as shocking... grace. Listen to the message of Grace!

The last message of our series the Johns.

What You Believe Matters - “The Johns”I’ve been driving one Jeep product or another for almost 25 years and there’s a reason for that. It’s because what I have experienced, and consequently believe, about their durability. I’ve also been playing Taylor guitars for almost that long because of what I believe about their quality and their craftsmanship. This is not necessarily a Jeep or Taylor endorsement (well I guess it probably is when you stop and think about it) just an illustration of what I believe, based on what I’ve experienced. You probably have a brand loyalty or two for similar reasons. The point? We make decisions about products, food, people, most things in fact, because of what we believe to be true about them. Our beliefs, our values, our convictions lead us either toward or away from something or someone in various ways every day. You probably take the route you take to work or to the grocery store because of what you believe about it being quicker, shorter or safer than another perfectly good way to go that is honestly neither right nor wrong, just different.Most of us come to these beliefs, positions, priorities in one or both of two ways; Either we’ve arrived there because someone we have a good deal of trust for has told us it’s the way to go, or we’ve tried other avenues ourselves and found this or that to be the best result, based on our experience. Either way, we will likely hold on to those beliefs until something convincingly and overwhelmingly shows us otherwise.What we believe about life, about people, about matters of faith is vitally important, far more important than cars or guitars. Why? Because eternity could hang in the balance, either for someone we care about or for us. So how can we be sure we’re believing the right stuff?

Essential #8 - Live What You Know - “The Johns”The recently deceased former Senator Howard Baker sat on the Watergate Hearings Committee in 1973 and, clad in his black horn-rimmed glasses, asked the now infamous question of White House Counsel John Dean, “what did the President know, and when did he know it?” As others squirmed in their seats waiting for an answer, Baker sat calmly waiting on a reply that honestly didn’t satisfy him and never really answered the question. The question that was never asked, but should have been, was “what did the president do with what he knew?” because that’s the question that would have better revealed whether or not there was an attempt to cover up the Watergate break-in, which we learned was the case.Similarly, several months ago I watched Hallerin Hill interview a local corporate president about the key to his business success on his TV show “Anything Is Possible”. In one of the guest’s responses to that question he said, “I don’t care how much a potential employee knows, I care more about what they can do with what they know.”In the spiritual realm, many of us suffer from “paralysis by analysis” because we think that what we don’t know about God is far more important than what we do know about Him. Consequently, many stay on spiritual autopilot for most of their lives, genuinely believing that the one gem, that one nugget, that one undiscovered truth is the very thing keeping them from being all God has planned for them to be. Here’s the thing though, our God is not into spiritual intimidation, but our enemy certainly is. And he’s good at it, and often successful at it. John says the key to getting over that hump is living what we already know, rather than worrying about what we don’t and our time on Sunday will examine exactly how to do that.

Essential #6 - Love Is.... - “The Johns”There’s a local Jeweler here in town that advertises on the radio in the way of its owner coming up with what I’m sure he thinks are creative and catchy short snippets/scenarios that are geared toward men. He will use phrases like “that warm fuzzy feeling” or “that twinkle in her eye” in what usually ends up being a corny attempt to describe love, both the love she’ll feel and the love she’ll give after receiving that diamond neckless or those martini stud diamond earrings. In fact, if you pay close attention to advertising in general the word love is thrown around quite a bit in an attempt to get the listener/viewer/consumer to think that the love void in their life can be filled with this incredible product, a ride in that car or a visit to that majestic getaway.As I’ve often said before, love is used to describe how we feel about everything from a well-cooked steak to a designer purse or a nice pair of shoes. The thing is, no thing in and of itself will ever bring us love. They might serve as expressions or reflections of our love to someone but that about as far as a thing can go. Try and explain that to the consumer-driven culture we live in and you’ll get one of those “which turnip truck did you just fall off of?” looks from your friends.In addressing the essentials of the faith, John taught us in 1st John, chapter 3 the things that love does. Here in chapter 4, he describes for us in pretty specific detail what exactly Love Is. Want a hint? It’s not tied to a piece of jewelry, a car, a getaway, food or new pair of shoes. In fact it’s not tied to a thing at all. It’s not even tied to an experience of any kind. But it is definitely meant for us to know and follow after.

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