Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that eldest Son Matt is an occasional contributor. Yesterday I posted his recent experience with a homeless man named Brett. At the end Matt posed some questions. In the interest of brevity (I know I am long-worded) I am taking one question at a time. Here is the first round and my response to one of his questions. What will it take to shed off layers and layers of protective amour that guard my heart everyday? Hey Matt, When your Mom and I were dating three decades ago there was a popular book called Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am. The book was written by John Powell and he suggested that we are afraid that people will not like us if they know what we are really like, so we often assume poses to avoid being honest with them and ourselves. He identified different poses we assume to avoid showing who
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Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that eldest Son Matt is an occasional contributor. I have threatened to cut him off from this site because his thoughts often get better responses than the Old Man receives. Recently Matt wrote to me about a very personal experience and he posed some questions. He has given me permission to allow you to “eavesdrop” and even contribute to our dialogue. I think you will see why I am filled with the good kind of pride when I see how God is working in Matt’s life. His Mom did a heckuva job. And she has also done an awesome job with the younger Sons. We are blessed with three kind, Godly men. Here is Matt’s letter. I will respond tomorrow. Dad, A decade into the most formative years in my life, 18-28, there are far more questions than answers. I know that you already know this.and might tell me that it will never change. You will tell me
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I did not respond right away to the allegations against Pastor Ted Haggard. I waited to see if the charges were proved to be partly or wholly true. And then I waited to see how Ted Haggard responded. Regular readers of these ramblings know that I believe strongly in everyone’s personal responsibility and accountability when we publically proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. It is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. And I do not take lightly any rebukes that I offer to others who have fallen short in their journey. I believe that every follower of Jesus should not only love the Lord with all of their hearts but should also seek to follow the credo of  primum non nocere, “first, do no harm”. My heart is broken when a very public Christian falls. My heart is broken because it does do harm. I hear the mocking comments and sneers. I cringe at the glee that some
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Today I sat through an annual corporate seminar for a broadcast network. The seminar concluded with a long presentation on diversity, sexual harrassment, and creating a non-hostile workplace atmosphere. I understand and support the need for such a program. But I have to admit that somewhere around the forty-five minute mark I started thinking that the Apostle Paul could have accomplished this seminar in about…oh…2 minutes. Two passages pretty much would have covered everything that had been laid out in painstaking and lengthy detail. Here is my fantasy Human Resources seminar with Paul. “Hi, my name is Paul from Tarsus. I was asked to stand in for the HR director. First of all, here is a little policy I wrote for the Ephesians. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather
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There are some days that I really wonder if it is worth the time invested in these humble ramblings. And then you get what my wife calls “postcards” from God. Today was one of those days that I woke up and wondered if it was worth it. I had decided to take today off from blogging. Maybe several days. Then I received a postcard from God. He sent it through a young lady named Hannah. She sent me an email in response to my post yesterday about My Christmas Gift List. Mr. Burchett, Mommy read your blog to us this morning.  We have been sponsoring a 10 year old boy in Mozambique since August through World Vision.  We are learning more and more every day about the ministry of World Vision.  Mommy is reading to us stories out of the World Vision magazine.  This morning as mommy was reading to us about the things we could be praying for, I got even
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When I was a kid the holidays seemed to politely wait their turn in line. Thanksgiving would take the baton from Halloween and then pass it along to Christmas.  Now the Holidays clamor for attention like a spoiled child at the mall. I have been receiving Christmas catalogs for weeks and the stores are already filled with Christmas displays. By the way, you will note that I am a proud user of the term Christmas for the December 25th event that is known on the federal calendar as Christmas Day.  That was a bonus mini-rant. No charge. So as I bought Halloween candy today I thought about what I want for Christmas this year. I started with a list of things I really, really want. Everything at the Bose store A high definition television The latest version of my Trio phone  (I don’t have the Windows version for heaven’s sake!) Several pounds of books Dozens of DVD’s Then I listed everything I really, really
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Halloween is one of my least favorite times of the year. Don’t worry.  I am not going to launch into a tirade about how Christians need to protest this pagan holiday. I dislike Halloween because it is one of the times each year when I want to take my evangelical name tag off and hide it for a few days. One of the reasons I want to go incognito is the proliferation of Christian Halloween Hell Houses or Judgment Houses. Yes, in another sad attempt to mirror the popular culture we have taken the bad idea of the haunted house and made it into the infinitely worse idea of the Hell House. These actual descriptions are taken from a popular version of this odd approach to evangelism. What is the Hell House concept? It is series of vignettes that show the results of sin in wretched excess. The idea is literally to frighten you so much that you will make a decision to embrace Christianity. I call it 
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