Even though I did not grow up in church, I joined a Southern Baptist church in junior high. Not long afterwards, I got involved in the Jesus and Charismatic movements. Even though I have learned much from those environments, I do remember hearing some profound things said by Baptist pastors.
My first pastor was Howard Boyd, who was a truck driver that became a preacher. He once said, "It doesn't matter how many times you have been through the Bible - what matters is how many times the Bible has been through you."
What did he mean by this?
At the time, another Baptist pastor was getting some attention for having memorized the entire Bible. This prompted a discussion among the youth at the church as to how he could do that, and all the time involved. Several said they hadn't even read through Bible even once. That's when Pastor Boyd said what he did.
What he meant was that no matter how many times you have read the Bible cover-to-cover, what does matter is how many times the Bible has exposed something in you that needs to be dealt with.
Several years later, even though I was Spirit-filled, I attended another Baptist church because I believed that was where God wanted me. Pastor Gary Cook once talked about wisdom and morality. He said that as a young man, he made decisions based only on right and wrong, but things wouldn't go well afterwards. Then he started making decisions on what was the wisest thing to do in the situation, and he got better results. He didn't have to worry about the morality of his decisions either, for a wise decision will always be morally right.
Hmm, something to gnaw on...
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Why Amateur Radio: A Lesson For Believers
During this morning's 10 AM service, towards the end of the worship, I wasn't thinking about ham radio, but a thought about ham radio popped into my mind. Then the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the spiritual significance of that thought.
This afternoon, I wrote a short piece for a ham radio bulletin that I produce, and then included it in a post on my general blog, Random Contact. The piece is entitled "Why Amateur Radio?" Here is that post:
This is an excerpt from the TRO Signal Bulletin for 02 SEP 12:
As ham radio leaders are fond of reminding us, amateur radio is a hobby. Most people that become hams do so because they enjoy doing things with radios. Ham radio offers many opportunities to have fun, as well as chances for education, personal development, and fellowship. But why should the government continue to allow ham radio to exist?
Much of what we do can be, and is, done by professional technicians and engineers. If anyone wants to work with radios, they can go to school to get the training or education they need.
Most of the professionals design, build, and maintain the communications systems used by the military, law enforcement, fire service, emergency medical, emergency management and other government agencies, as well as the broadcast industries that keep the general public informed. Don't forget those that work to keep both the landline and cellular phone systems going. These systems do work most of the time, and nowdays, we see more and more interoperability incorporated into these systems. In light of how well these system perform most of the time, someone might question the need for amateur radio.
But what often happens to these systems in major emergencies and disasters? They fail, due to damage to the equipment, loss of power, or they become overloaded by the amount of traffic they have to handle immediately.
When this happens, the professionals concentrate their efforts on restoring and repairing these systems. But vital messages still need to be passed. The professionals don't have the time to handle this traffic. What is obviously needed is a backup system already in place or easily deployable. Amateur radio is that system. That's why, "When All Else Fails...."
Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator, recognized this at a recent conference, where he said, "But when you need Amateur Radio, you really need them."
For more about this conference and Fugate's remarks, go to this website:
The TRO Signal Bulletin is a text-only publication that I produce on behalf of the Tulsa Repeater Organization, and I send it out over the club's WA5LVT Yahoogroup. It focuses on ham radio events and activities in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. To receive the Bulletin, you can sign up at the WA5LVT Yahoogroup here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WA5LVT/
"When All Else Fails...." refers to a catchphrase developed by the ARRL (American Radio Relay League), "When all else fails, Amateur Radio." This emphasizes the fact that government and non-government responding agencies often have to rely on ham radio when normal communication systems go down during earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Hams are able to do this because they take the time to gain knowledge of radio systems, they have their own equipment, they maintain their own equipment, and they develop and maintain their communications skills.
But what is the spiritual significance of this?
Think of the fivefold ministries as the equivalent of the professionals spoken of in this article. That's how religion often depicts them anyway.
Now equate natural and man-made disasters with spiritual warfare and/or opportunities for ministry, especially attacks on the whole Body of Christ. During these times, the "professionals" might not be available to help people with their needs. Someone needs to be able to fill that gap! Who will that be?
As hams step in with their own equipment, their own technical knowledge, and their own skills to fill a very important need in a critical situation when the professionals are not available, so must believers take the time to pursue their own relationships with the Father, to develop their own faith and character, so that when the fivefold ministries aren't available, they will be able to meet the needs presented to them! This applies whether the needs are the believer's own needs, or the needs of others.
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