DEEP // WIDE // LIGHT

"Though he (God) slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face."                                                          -Job (from Job 13:15) If you have been a believer in Christ very long, you have been there -- that place of pain. It is perhaps most difficult to love God in that moment. You often wonder if he still loves you at all. After all, if he loved you, would he not take that pain away? As bad as your pain is, Job almost certainly had greater pain than yours. All of his belongings were taken from him. He went from rich to poor in an instant. All of his 10 children died. He went from a large family to a small one in an instant. Incredibly painful sores broke out all over his body. He went from healthy to painfully sick in an instant. All of this pain seemed to pour upon him so very quickly. He sat in anguish...

A tribute to God and to Liam Isaac Mooneyham (April 8, 2008 – June 17, 2014) I delivered this talk in a shorter form at Liam’s funeral, Monday, June 23, 2014, at First Baptist Church ofJennings, Louisiana . What you read here is an edited form. Aaron Tucker, Philadelphia, Mississippi email: rev [dot] tucker [at] gmail [dot] com Why? Why is Liam’s six year old grin no longer here? Why were we wearing bright colors at his funeral? Why? I tremble at the thought of trying to devise a simple answer that will meet our satisfaction. If I had a simple answer, it would not satisfy us in our pain. No. Our pain is too deep for simple. And in our search for an answer, we find that the answer is not, in fact, simple at all. The Mooneyham’s know why. They know why Liam is no longer here, and they know why we wore bright colors and released balloons at his service. They want you to know why. The answer is in four parts. And the answer comes straight from God’s Words to us...

My life? It is no book. My life is but a sentence. And only one, at that. The massive tome of God’s Story Will tell of some who were present During climactic actions and dramatic pauses… But you? And I? One sentence. How will it read? What is the grand narrative? My sentence began With a joyous capital letter. May it end with not the uncertainty of a question, Nor the finality of a period, But with the jubilation of an exclamation!

“It hurts, God. Please make it stop.”   Have you said those words? I know I have. If you have been thinking through theological matters for very long at all, you have probably considered the metaphor that God is chiseling away at you, an ordinary stone, until you become the work of art he sees in you. We tend not to like this metaphor. Being chiseled is an act of pain, and we do NOT like pain!  I came across a poem in the devotional book StreamsIn The Desert, on the day of September 1 . This poem is a request to God for him to not stop chiseling, but to finish his work.  In the still air the music lies unheard; In the rough marble beauty hides unseen; To make the music and the beauty needs The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen. Great Master, touch us with Your skillful hands; Let not the music that is in us die! Great Sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let,  Hidden and lost, Your form within us lie! I want to have sufficient fai...

Why are we doing all of this? What good is it doing? We here at First Baptist understand the priority of the Great Commission, having come from the very mouth of our Savior and our Lord ( Matthew 28:18-20 ). But I have been thinking a lot lately about how much of our efforts seem to yield so little results. We spend dollars and hours living for Christ and spreading His word. In youth ministry, this includes three different times each week when we teach from the word (Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday evening) and special events, often several per month. In children’s ministry, this includes the same three corresponding teachings, along with special events. The entire church also worships together in two main worship services each week. On top, we add evangelism such as Good News Club and Vacation Bible School and Upward and Kids Camp and Youth Camp and Disciple-Now . And more foundational than all of this is the word being planted by the parents at home and at church!...

“There is no such thing as a perfect parent.”  Whew! That felt good to get off my chest. Our children and students mean the world to us. As we parent them, their entire future feels at stake. It feels like life or death sometimes, does it not? I have good news for you.  You will NOT do it right.  I know, I know… you are wondering how this is good news. But the Bible gives us almost no examples of perfect parents (I am not convinced that Mary and Joseph count, either!). Adam and Eve, after having the distinction of being the first on earth to disobey God, raised a son who would murder his brother. Isaac’s son, Jacob, swindled his brother for the inheritance and fooled dad into giving him the family blessing. This same Jacob would love one of his sons more than the others, leading to jealousy and the sale of his son into slavery. King David’s sin led to the death of one of his children. King Solomon’s family fell apart completely, leading to the divi...

(This talk was delivered to a children's art show audience on July 22, 2013. The children were instructed to put up their hands to form binoculars around their eyes every time I said, "look.") LOOK! “In thebeginning God created…” And so the best-selling book of all time begins. Out of nothingness, God speaks, and things begin. First, He created light and darkness. Second, He created sky and earth. Third, He created dry land between seas and plants and trees, and he looked . He saw that it was good. Fourth, He created sun and moon and stars, and he looked . He saw that it was good. Fifth, He created fish of all shapes in the oceans and birds of all colors in the sky, and he looked . He saw that it was good. Sixth, He created animals of shapes and sizes and noises, and he looked . He saw that it was good. He also said, “Let’s make people of all shapes and sizes and noises.” So He “created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself...