As with every issue, there are extremes.  Some believing we should (A) ingest no television/movies/music unless they are made by Christians, for Christians.  Others say that Christians can (B) watch practically anything they want, because Romans 8:1 clears us from condemnation.  I have good friends in both camps.

My issue with the former (A) is that most Christian movies are terrible, and I’m not willing to take one for the team just to be entertained.  The same is true, I think to a lesser extent, with Christian music.  Some is good, some is really bad, and the wise believer will not blindly trust that everything under a Christian label is good/safe/biblical.

For example, the Christian world rejoiced when Facing the Giants came out on the big screen, with many churches holding an evening service at their local theater to watch it together.  I didn’t see it until it came out on DVD, but with everyone so excited about it, we just went ahead and bought it.  At the end I was totally bummed and wanted my money back, because the Joel Osteen-ish message (get your life right and God will obviously love you more because you’ll keep your job, your finances will bounce back, someone will give you a truck, your barren wife will have children….and most importantly your football team will win state championships…) was just more than I could stomach.

As for the latter (B), for me, it comes down to Phil 4:8 and Col 3:2-3.  We are instructed to set our minds on things above, on things that are pure and lovely and holy.  I’m discerning in what I watch, so if something surprises me I don’t feel doomed and sin-infected as if a sick demon sneezed on me (Romans 8:1 has relieved me from that fear, praise God).  Yet at the same time, Romans 6:1 encourages me not to make a mockery of God’s grace.  Thankfully I live with a wife, 3 kids, a dog and some chickens, so I’m not too hard up for entertainment.

Most Christians would much prefer every decision to be black and white, right and wrong.  Trying to make everything fall into our checklist is legalism.  There is always a tension, so we must trust and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, and grant grace to fellow believers who hold to different convictions.  I do have lines I won’t cross, obviously, but at the same time I don’t feel the need to limit myself to PG.  Were that the case, I would have to close my Bible, at least the Old Testament anyway.

If you’re like me, you may have childhood memories of some sweaty preacher yelling at people to repent, like he’d smack you if you didn’t.  Then there would be an altar call and perhaps a couple of the well known sinners might kneel to “repent”.  It became unspoken knowledge that only drunks and cheats and druggies and the like needed to repent, and that if you did something dirty, God himself was waiting in line to smack you too.  Fearing the almighty smackdown, you would be a lot better off if you got it over with and repented, whatever that meant.  I was pretty sure it meant you were supposed to feel some measure of guilt and try harder.

Concerning this subject, there have been a couple 2×4′s to the skull since those early days.  One was the time that I realized that I was not a good guy, and would never be good enough to be able to consistently fool myself, much less God or anyone else.  The only thing separating me from the drunk was the opportunity and good parents, all of which must be attributed to God’s grace.  The second shot to the skull was when Romans 2:4 hit me in a fresh way; that it was God’s kindness that leads to repentance (Chris Tomlin may have helped with that realization a little as well).  God wasn’t ready to smack me, he was extending kindness and friendship.

God is perfectly able to display his anger, so I think that for the most part, you and I are better suited to display his kindness by extending grace and friendship to others.

the professionals – Our signs said we started at 7:30AM, and these people were there at 7AM. They probably had maps in their cars and were running the circle of sales. Better get there early or all the good stuff will be gone!

the addicts – I didn’t expect this one, but there are people who are actually addicted to yardsales. One lady had a handful of pocket change and was trying to talk Audra down from the $1 price listed for a pair of really nice shoes. She said, “This is all I have left. I tried to sleep in this morning so I wouldn’t go to the sales but I just couldn’t sleep, I had to get up. I’m addicted.” She wasn’t trying to put on a show, she was for real.

the browsers – They don’t need anything at all, they’re just checking it out. Usually a retired couple spending their Saturday morning together. One old man had a D.A.R.E. ballcap in one hand and a quarter in another and said “Well, this was about all I could find today.”

the flea marketers – Many people were looking for stuff that they could turn around and sell again. Usually they wanted tools…like I would part from any of my tools…

the thrifty nickels – Maybe you have the Thrifty Nickel Classifieds in your area? Well thrifty nickel just seemed to be an appropriate and catchy title for these people. There are 2 subcategories of thrifty nickels, there are those who are because they have to be and those who are because they want to be. Those that have to be are out there because they can’t afford much. Many of them drove old Kias. Those that want to be have money and many of them drove pretty nice trucks and suvs, but the reason they drive such is because they are a thrifty nickel. I applaud both of these for getting the most for their money.

1:5 And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

1:6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.

1:7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

The surprise came at the end of v. 6.  I understand that God promised to protect Israel if they followed him, so I can understand why Nehemiah confesses that Israel has sinned.  What surprises me is what he did next, confess also that he and his father’s house have sinned, acted very corruptly and broken the commandments.  This is in reference to the poor condition of his countrymen in Jerusalem…but he had never lived in Jerusalem and his people had been taken captive before he and his father were even born…

By praying this way, rather than say it was merely the sin of his ancestors that led to their current situation, he was sharing the guilt of his people.

I’m not certain that he is saying he shares responsibility for the original defeat and captivity that occurred 141 years prior, but he is indeed saying that he and his family do have unconfessed sin that is hindering he and his people from living under God’s protection.  He could easily separate himself from the rest and place the blame on his ancestors or the people still living in the city, but instead he joins them in their guilt.

Although I’ve read this before, it has hit me in a new and sobering way.  I must be honest in that I do not know completely what to do with this on a personal level.  This much I do have figured out – When I look at the condition that our Nation is in and my heart is at times stirred with frustration and even anger, and when I look at God’s people and the condition that most churches are in and my heart is at times stirred with frustration and even anger…I should probably pause to first allow myself to be moved with conviction, and then see what sin I may be harboring before I jump to conclusion or action.

To top it off, one of the men is known for being an excellent cook and he charters several trips each year with this boat, but rarely ever touches a rod. He just loves going out with his friends and family and he cooks almost the entire time. For dinner Monday night, we had a roast with carrots and potatoes that had been in a crock pot all day, and there was also roasted chicken and barbecue ribs. Everything started off perfectly and we had a great weather forecast with light winds and seas of 1-2 feet. However the further we rode, the choppier it got.

The first night and half of the first day turned out to be very rough, with seas reaching 6-8 feet and some even as high as 10 feet. Compounding the problem was the fact that we were running with a very strong tide but against a very strong wind, which stacked the waves very steep. This meant we were smashing into a wall, launching straight up, then crashing down hard….over and over and over… There were at least 2 times that we all believed the entire boat launched completely out of the water, which is quite a feat for a fully loaded 55″ fishing boat! It was pretty much impossible to sleep because you had to hold on so tightly to your bunk for fear of flying out, so that first night was pretty miserable. Thankfully it got better by mid-morning on Tuesday and by that evening we had great weather the rest of the trip.

We were heading to an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana that had been a hot spot on Sunday, being surrounded by “bluewater” and full of tuna. I have been offshore fishing several times and have seen beautiful blue water, but I didn’t realize there was a very distinct “bluewater” that we were looking for. We rode all night on Monday and finally reached the oil rig by early Tuesday afternoon. Due to the storm and strong tides we rode through, when we reached the rig, the bluewater was gone and had been replaced by green/blue water. Along with the bluewater, the tuna were gone as well. Deciding the tide and weather must have pushed everything to the south, we began to head in that direction and hope (while I prayed pretty hard) that we would find what we were looking for.

The further south we rode the nicer the water became, but by the time we shut down for the night it still wasn’t what we were looking for and we only had a wahoo and a mahi mahi (dolphin) in the fish box. Things weren’t looking very well. On the menu for that evening was chicken that was fried there on the boat, and of course all the trimmings like green beans, bread and sweet tea. We also had home made chocolate ice cream that was churned right on the boat. That night we didn’t drive, but being in 80,000 feet of water we couldn’t anchor up either, so we just shut down and drifted. The captain showed me how he could set an alarm on his radar that would sound if anything came within 3 miles of the boat, which was pretty cool. We all appreciated a good night’s rest.

When we woke up Wednesday morning everyone was instantly excited, for in the night somehow, the “bluewater” had found us. Again I’ve seen very beautiful blue water on offshore trips before, but this was the first time I got to appreciate the distinct difference between that and the bluewater that we had been searching for. It was cobalt blue, such a striking blue that to me it almost appeared to be solid, or like something you could pull out and hold in your hands, yet later when we got into the fish I found that you actually had very good visibility down into the water. I keep a mental list I call the “Truly Beautiful Things”, which are things I’ve seen that gripped me and made me pause and thank God, and this goes on the list as one of the “truly beautiful things” I’ve been blessed to see.

Although we did find the bluewater, unfortunately we never did find the tuna, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t catch fish. In addition to bluewater, we were also looking for grass lines in the water. These are dense patches where different water plants have clumped together, and they can sometimes stretch for a few miles. If you find these, you find the bait fish, and that means you find the sport fish. The storm had blown the grass lines all apart, but eventually we found a couple patches on Wednesday afternoon and ended up with several mahi mahi by simply backing the boat up to the grass and casting with light tackle. One guy even caught a couple on a fly rod which was pretty impressive!

I had always heard that the dolphin (mahi) were very beautiful when they were first caught, but I was simply stuck by how vivid and brilliant their colors were, and the fact that they can change color in an instant. We could see them swimming behind the boat, some with blue bills and some with green. From what I could see their bodies were usually blue on top and yellow on bottom, but as soon as they were on the hook they instantly changed to green/yellow. If the fish was hurt from fighting or was large and needed to be clubbed once in the boat, the color would quickly fade to nearly white, as you can see in one picture. It was absolutely fascinating and beautiful to me.

Wednesday evening we moved closer to shore and anchored up for the night, everyone feeling better about having fish in the boat and amazing filet mignon in their stomach. The next morning we stopped at a few snapper holes on the way back in to fill the fish box since we didn’t get any tuna. That was just regular bottom fishing but was still a great time, and it was also the only time I did any fishing personally. On the way in our chef fried up a couple of the snapper, which is a perfect example of why I can never eat seafood at restaurants anymore….I’ve grown too accustomed to eating fish that were swimming just a couple hours before!

I’ll wrap this up with a quick summary. I ate very well. I enjoyed feeling like a speck of dust in an enormous sandbox (on a boat in the middle of the Gulf). I added a couple sights to my “Truly Beautiful Things” list. I got to pull in a handful of big snapper. I enjoyed my friends and had a few deep conversations about Christ. All in all it was an incredible experience for me that I’ll never forget.

1. my directions to the airport in Pensacola
2. directions to get out of there for Audra after she drops me off
3. flight documents for Pensacola
4. flight documents for Atlanta
5. directions from the airport in Durham to my hotel
6. directions from my hotel to the Durham Performing Arts Center
7. maps of the city around the DPAC
8. maps of the parking around the DPAC
9. flight documents for Durham to ATL
10. flight documents from ATL to Pensacola
11. a schedule of events for the conference.

I’m ready to roll.