She nods in my direction as I enter the Foxboro Sports Tavern in Naples, Florida.  The senior waitress by a couple of decades, she says I can sit wherever I like.  I am a regular over the last week, but this is the first time she is my server.  She provides excellent service and I tip her appropriately.  

The next day we are on first name basis, “Dan” and “Peggy.”  She leads me to my normal seat and asks which games I want to see.  I tell her my three choices and she conveys my request to the remote control “controller.”  When she returns to my table with my drink, she smiles and asks a never before asked question:  “Are you a bookie?” 

I doubt many people in Kentucky do not know what a bookie is, but let me remind you.  A “bookie” is someone who facilitates gambling, commonly on sporting events, by setting odds, accepting and placing bets, and paying out winnings on behalf of other people.  “Bookie” is a slang term for “bookmaker.”  Bookies do not usually make their money by placing bets themselves, but by charging a transaction fee on their customers’ bets known as a “vigorish,” or “the vig” also call the “juice, cut or take.”  Bookies may also lend money to bettors.  

I smile, say no, but thinking back, her response makes sense.  “I see you in here every day, you watch several games and you are always on your computer.  I thought you might be a bookie!”  Then, I simply say, “No, actually I am a minister.”  Pregnant pause, then she says, “Wow, that is great.  I am very spiritual too.”  

Peggy and I become friends, speaking every time I come to eat.  I know her story of alcoholism and 10 years of sobriety.  I know her story of infertility until the year before her husband dies.  I meet her only child, a son. 

My journey back to Kentucky allows for several hours of “thinking” time and this whole idea of “betting” lingers.  Honestly, I am a kind of “spiritual bookie.”  I routinely assist folks in placing bets on the investment of their lives in Christ.  No wonder I was attracted to a “bet” which took place on March 16, 2007.  

For the first time in its 23-year history, there was a 3-way tie on the game show, Jeopardy.  Mathematicians calculate the odds of this occurrence to be one in 25 million. What a mathematical calculation cannot gauge is the graciousness and generosity of Scott Weiss.  

In the ‘Final Jeopardy’ round, the second and third place players both have $8,000.  Scott had over $12,000.  The players make their bids before they even hear the question they need to answer.  If you see the replay, Scott’s face shows the excitement and calculation of a possible three-way tie. 

Often on Jeopardy, the winner makes a bet on that final question that leads to a victory of one dollar.  It is, after all, a competition.  Scott bet exactly enough money so if the other two players bet their entire $8,000 and got the question right, all three players would have a total of $16,000.  That is exactly what happens. Scott forfeits his victory so that all three players can be winners.  It is a moment of pure joy made possible by an act of generosity and graciousness.

All this “betting” talk causes me to remember the ultimate wager Christ placed on our lives.  The longer I live, the more I like the “bet” I have placed on Christ being the center of my life.  How about you?

It is 1990 and tennis star Andre Agassi with his trademark flowing dirty blond, lion-mane mullet, cuts a commercial for the Canon EOS Rebel camera with the hollow tagline, “Image is Everything.”  The spot features Andre riding in a Jeep, smoothing back his hair and generally looking like the essence of California cool.

The problem with the vain bravado of Agassi’s comments is revealed in his 2009 autobiography, Open.  Agassi admits he starts losing his hair at age 17, and is actually wearing a wig during the commercial.  He even says wearing his wig cost him the 1990 French Open.  Andre worries his hairpiece will fall off in the middle of the match, so he plays stiff and gets beat.

To his credit, Andre later recognizes the folly of his “Image is Everything” commercial, shaves off his hair and makes his image about what happens on the tennis court.  What he didn’t know, however, is that his signature line, “Image is Everything,” would become the collective chant for the first two decades of the 21st century.  How else do you explain Paris Hilton, the Kardashians and the embarrassing cast of Jersey Shore and seemingly endless parade of mindless programing masquerading as reality TV? 

When did being a celebrity skip over having even a measure of talent?  When did being ONLY attractive or ONLY rich qualify you to be famous for being famous?  Today I am told it is only about the “bling.”

So, you don’t know about “bling?”  Well, that is why I am here.  Bling is a slang term popularized in hip hop culture, referring to flashing, elaborate jewelry and ornamented accessories that are carried, worn or installed, such as cell phones and tooth caps.  (I am checking into that “tooth cap” thing while I am down in Florida!)

Case in point: A number of cottage industries have surfaced with the culture’s obsession with fame.  There are actually real businesses, which give you the celebrity treatment even if you do not have any celebrity credibility whatsoever.  You may not be a real celebrity, but you can play one in your own mind.  Image can be everything, but only if you are willing to pay for it.

You may not be able to own the runway at the Oscars, but you can borrow a designer dress from a company called Rent the Runway for about $75; just don’t forget to order it in two sizes in case you, um, misjudge the fit.  The owners of Rent the Runway say their business has tripled in a year.

Need some bling to go with that dress?  Jewelry company Adorn will rent you a $24,000 diamond necklace for $260 and a pair of $8,250 earrings like Princess Kate wore at her wedding for just $160 (yes, but there is a security deposit).  Avelle will rent you a Louis Vuitton handbag (retail price $1,680) for just $60 a week.

Of course, none of that will matter if no one’s looking.  Image, after all, is a visual medium.  Why not head out on the town in style in a Bentley, Maserati or Rolls Royce rented from Gotham Dream Cars?  A Rolls Royce Phantom convertible will cost you $1,950 a day, which is chump change compared to its retail price of $427,000.

And since the whole “Image is Everything” mantra was started by a camera commercial, what does a fake celebrity need more than a pack of fake paparazzi?  Turns out you can rent them, too.  Celeb 4 A Day was founded in 2007 by photographer Tania Roberts and operates in four celebrity-rich cities in the United States.: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin and New York.  In L.A., $499 will buy you four personal paparazzi to follow your every move and shout questions at you for 30 minutes. You can upgrade to the “Megastar” package, however, and get a two-hour experience that includes six personal paparazzi, one bodyguard, a publicist and a limousine.

So, where am I going with this?  Yesterday I saw an example on the beach where “Image is Everything” took a beating.  OK, I know what you are thinking, but stay with me on this.  I was enjoying the beach, reading a book and taking my periodic ocean dips to cool off when 4 bikini-clad young ladies blocked my view to the beach.  I was really upset. 🙂 

All their frolicking around with a volleyball was quite annoying, but I took solace in my book.    Then it happens.  Waving and motioning with great joy, they look right at me.  Having been in this situation many times, I do not respond immediately.  Within seconds, I am so very grateful for my delayed response.  From behind me comes one of their friends, and from the look on their faces, she is special to them. 

As she joins them on the beach I smile with relief and gratitude.  Relief because I did not make a fool of myself, gratitude because “Image is Everything” just took a beating.  The appearance of the newly arrived friend is startling and blatant in comparison to her 4 friends.  Honestly, she is twice the size of each of the girls. 

As I watch them gather around their friend and even move their towels to be close to her, I smile and thank God that 4 bikini-clad young ladies do not swallow the lie that “Image is Everything.”  Mark it well, what matters to God is not the image we create, but his own image in us.  God rips through the appearances and disguises we wear, and looks deep into our hearts. 

I remember an encounter Jesus had with the Pharisees about this subject:  “When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: ‘You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what’s behind the appearance. What society sees and calls monumental, God sees through and calls monstrous” (Luke 16:14-16).

In a world where we too often choose our friends on their appearance and even how their appearance mirrors our own, I am grateful for 4 young ladies who have a friend that does neither.  I believe God smiles right along with me.

My mind is on simplicity.  The beach and reading about Charles A. Lindberg’s explanation of what it means to live in the core versus living on the periphery of life will do that to you. 

In his autobiography, Autobiography of Values, he says, “the tempo of modern civilization has a centrifugal force that carries us outward from the core of life toward ever-expanding peripheries. We should return frequently to the core, and to basic values … to natural surroundings, to simplicity and to contemplation.  Long ago, I resolved to so arrange my life that I could move back and forth between periphery and core.”

Lindberg developed the ability to sense immediately when he was living on the periphery or in the core. “I knew when I felt the sense of ‘core,’ when the balance of body, mind and sense was reached, when there was no element of pressure, hurry or distraction.  I was related to my surroundings yet independent of them in an extraordinary way.  The simple was always present; I found it was only through simplicity that I could immerse myself in time until I realized that time offers a release from tempo.”

I write this on my first full day of “living on the periphery so I can get back to my core!”  No wonder I sought some words on simplicity.  Leadership guru, John C. Maxwell identifies two myths about simplicity. 

First, he says, we often associate simplicity with a lack of depth or shortage of intelligence.  Conversely, we ascribe intelligence to people who communicate using big words or hard-to-grasp concepts.  The issues we face in life can be complex, with all sorts of intricacies, but as leaders and communicators, our job is to bring clarity to a subject, reducing rather than adding to its complexity.  Simplicity is a skill, and it is a necessary one if you want to connect with people when you communicate.

A second myth about simplicity, Maxwell says, is that simplicity is easy.  He writes, “To us, simplicity means taking shortcuts and denying the complex reality of life.  However, in a society flooded with information, simplicity has never been more difficult to achieve.  Nor has it ever been as important.”

All this sounds like something I wrote in my journal a long time ago:  “Sometimes going back is the quickest way to go on.”  If we go back to “the core,” a place to gain perspective, life simplifies and we face “the periphery” with clarity and strength.  Simple never sounded so good!

Mother’s Day is always a sentimental time for me.  I was fortunate to have a mother who tried her best to love me “extra” since Dad died when I was six.  I think she did a good job. 

I thought of my mother’s sacrifice and commitment when I read a story in the book, The Wisdom of the Psyche, by Professor Ann Belford.  She tells the story of the Harlem woman discovered by the press who for forty years has been taking into her home the infants of drug-addicted prostitutes and raising them as her own.  She is now in her eighties and very well known in Harlem. 

Incredible to the mind, women come and leave their babies on her doorstep.  The babies they bring are addicted.  She does not treat them with drugs, which is the usual medical way with children.  She said in one interview: “I love them back into being.”

That means holding the infants and walking up and down with them, singing and talking to them as they suffer withdrawal from the drugs.  If the babies recover, and the mothers have kicked their own habits, she gives the babies back to their mothers. 

As if that wasn’t enough, she has added to her family babies afflicted with AIDS. Love loves and that is what Mom’s do best.  

Thanks be to God and the mothers he inspires.

The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born on this date (May 2) when sightings make local news, although accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland’s Loch Ness date back to 1,500 years.  The newspaper Inverness Courier told the account of a local couple who claimed to have seen “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface.”  The newspaper editor used the word “monster” in the story and it immediately became a media phenomenon, with London newspapers sending correspondents to Scotland and a circus offering a 20,000-pound sterling reward for capture of the beast. 

As I read about this story I found myself looking for an “interest angle” and discovered it along with other facts.  Loch Ness, located in Scottish Highland, has the largest volume of water in Great Britain; the body of water reaches a depth of nearly 800 feet and a length of about 23 miles.  Scholars of the Loch Ness Monster find a dozen references to “Nessie” in Scottish history, dating back to around A.D. 500, when local Picts (the name given to mysterious race of people who occupied the northern regions of Scotland as early as the fourth century A.D.)  carved a strange aquatic creature into standing stones near Loch Ness. 

The earliest written reference to a monster in Loch Ness is a 7^th-century biography of Saint Columba, the Irish missionary who introduced Christianity to Scotland.  In 565, according to the biographer, Columba was on his way to visit the king of the northern Picts near Inverness when he stopped at Loch Ness to confront a beast about to attack another man, Columba intervened, invoking the name of God and commanding the creature to “go back with all speed.”  The monster retreated and never killed another person.

Legends aside, Saint Columba, like all of us, had to face his doubts and fears and in this case, found the best possible results.  Simple, right?  Hardly.  Doubts and fears in legend and life tests even the strongest. 

My conversation this week with a friend whose faith I always considered strong startled me.  We had met about a “non-faith” issue, but when faith surfaced he honestly stated he was in a “radical doubt” phase of his life.   As we talked, I began to see the puzzle pieces of his doubt.  Seminary trained, he had left the “professional” ministry decades ago, but had remained faithful and committed to the local church.  Life, however, etched shadows of suspicion and before he realized, his doubt shifted from marginal to major. 

As we parted, agreeing to meet again to talk about faith issues, I found myself remembering another doubter by the name of Thomas.  Personally, I have always admired Thomas’ honesty both in his journey as well as his destination. 

Dorothy Sayers, in her book, The Man Born to Be King, said it best:  “It is unexpected, but extraordinarily convincing, that the one absolutely unequivocal statement in the whole gospel of the Divinity of Jesus should come from Doubting Thomas.  It is the only place where the word God is used … without qualification of any kind, and in the most unambiguous form of words …. And this must be said — not ecstatically, or with a cry of astonishment — but with flat conviction, as of one acknowledging irrefragable evidence: ‘2 + 2 = 4,’ ‘That is the sun in the sky,’ ‘You are my Lord and my God!’”

No, I don’t believe in Loch Ness monsters, but I do believe in the honest, confession of seekers with radical doubt.  Every day I live I wrestle with some level of doubt and certainty.  Certainty wins more often than not, but I believe it is my honest journey with doubt that allows me to face the faithless monsters of my life with that determined declaration:  “go back with all speed.”

I just saw my first “Prom” pictures in the newspaper and my advice to those in junior high would be—start saving your money or be very kind to your parents!  I read where this “Night of Nights” now costs an average of $1,000 per person.  It is no longer a night, but a weekend of activities planned for “feeling grown- up.”  And for most teens, it turns out that being grown-up translates into spending big money, splurging on luxuries and pampering yourself.  For a night, you can be a fairy princess and prince. 

Like the Prom, high school dating remains a rite of passage for teenagers, but it comes with a cost.  Teenagers (or more likely, their parents) spend more than $100 billion each year on everything from hamburgers and DVD rentals on an average weekend to hairdressers and Humvee rentals for prom weekend.  The moral to this observation is a simple one—growing up is a costly endeavor. 

Jesus knew this.  To Jesus, being grown up apparently meant denying yourself, taking up your cross and following him.  It meant spending your life serving others and being the person God created you to be.  

Now before I lose you with all this hard sounding, sacrificial stuff let me try to explain.  Life and growing up is all about determining what is important and then giving yourself to it as completely and as lovingly as you possibly can.  Jesus knew that when he said, “What good will it be for a man if he gain the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?  Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”  (Matthew 16: 26) 

Translated into real life this means that what we are inside is more important than who we are on the outside.  The riches of the soul are worth more than the wealth of the world.  When we learn that, we have learned all there is to know.  

So, let’s review this “growing up is a costly endeavor” observation:

The decision to follow Jesus:  EXPENSIVE.  Could run into years of self-denial and even death.  Abundant life blessed with the Creator who treasures us, the Christ who saves us and the Spirit who sustains us:  PRICELESS.

My hope for you today is that you will grow up from the inside out.  And while it is expensive, it is also priceless!  

The problem with the test is this: the test turns out to be only as accurate as our self-descriptions.  If I represent myself as being more honest or moral than I really am, the test will give me the profile I wish for myself. 

Remember last week’s message on authenticity where we asked the question, “Why am I afraid to tell you who I am?”  Years ago, John Powell wrote a perceptive book titled, Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am?  His answer was sadly simple:  because I’m afraid you won’t like me if I do. 

This means that each day we are tempted to project what psychologists call our “idealized self”—the person we wish we were.  Then we try to become that person, or at least convince ourselves that we can and in that case, self-disclosing tests such as the Moral DNA will tell us what we want to hear.

According to Jim Denison, three problems result: 

·      One: our attempts to fool others are seldom successful and the mask inevitably slips. 

·      Two: what impresses one person doesn’t necessarily work for another, so we’re forced to create a closet full of masks and the constant role-playing becomes psychologically draining and eventually fails. 

·      Three: the only Judge whose opinion matters isn’t fooled by our deceptions, no matter how cleverly we execute them.



 So, what are we to do?  In the Christian classic, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis suggests we give up thinking about ourselves at all, focusing instead on our Father and our neighbor.   If we do, we will feel “the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life.”  When we abandon “the false self” with all its “posing and posturing,” this moment of freedom and relief “is like a drink of cold water to a man in the desert.”

Do you need a moment of freedom and relief?  Do you long to put away your mask and listen to the only Judge that matters?  For this, Jesus came and lived and died and lived again.  Really he did.  Just ask Him.  Just trust Him.  Just believe Him.

As I write this, I realize that this Friday is St. Patrick’s Day and we are about mid-way in that strange (at least to Baptists), but spiritually important time, called Lent.  So, just what do they have in common?  First, we will do a quick overview of Patrick.

Patrick is recognized as a patron saint of Ireland although he was not born there.  His given name was not Patrick, but Maewyn or Succat.  Born in A.D. 385, he was a Roman Catholic who by his own admission, until age sixteen was covetous, licentious, materialistic and generally heathen.  He sounds pretty 21^st century to me!

At age sixteen, he was carried off by Irish marauders and sold as a slave.  For six years, he toiled as a sheepherder.  During this period of slavery and solitude, he felt an increasing awareness of God.  He escaped slavery and studied for twelve years at a monastery in Gaul where he was instilled with the desire to convert pagans to Christianity.

Two things about the rest of his life are significant.  First, he hoped to be the first bishop to Ireland.  His superiors, however, felt he lacked the finesse and scholarship needed for the position.  His persistence ultimately prevailed and he became the second bishop to Ireland for thirty years.

 Second, his imposing presence and winning personality aided him in winning many converts to the Christian faith.  At least a dozen times he was arrested became his evangelistic zeal aggravated the Celtic Druid priests.

         Lent is specifically a 40-day period of spiritual renewal and preparation for Easter.  The word itself means “spring” so it is not surprising that someone called it “spring break for the souls.”  We are often encouraged to give up something during this period as a way of re-focusing our spiritual energies on the reality of Christ’s resurrection.  One person frames it this way: 

“It offers a time for naming and turning away from

·      those patterns of life that come between us and God,

·      those choices that distance us from the divine presence,

·      those things that we put in the place of God in our lives.”

Both of these calendar markers remind and call us to live in and through the power of Christ’s resurrection, the ultimate Easter event.  Are you ready … because ready or not, here it comes!