Help! They're kidnapping me!!!!

As they carried me to the back of the ambulance, I kept screaming, "They're kidnapping me!" I thought the people there to help me were there to do me harm. My wife and daughter could do nothing, but stand and watch. It wasn't until the last mile that I finally came to my senses and was able to answer their questions.

It is an odd feeling to wake half way to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. That happened to me last December. It was the week after finals. I had spent the last four weeks staying up late and waking early to finish papers and study for tests. I was trying my best to be a college student at twice their age.

There are many times in life where help looks like an evil thing. We all deal with those times differently. A young child thinks that mommy and daddy are mean, when they are trying to keep hiim from eatting all of the M & M's. The teen thinks her parents are evil when they tell her not to stay out all night. The college student thinks the policeman is evil when he is pulled over for a DUI. We as adults think God is evil when he stops us from doing something we think is enjoyable, like drinking and smoking.

Good things can look evil from the wrong side of the event. Looking back we see that it was a good thing that these people stepped in when they did. We later find out that God is good by seeing what we were kept from doing.

And then there was one… less

For the past few years, my friends and my family have lost something very important. First, my best friend growing up lost it. Then my brother called and said he too had lost it. But I guess for him it was a little easier. It only took three months for him to lose what he held so close, while my friend lost his over a period of a year. Well, maybe he lost his many years ago without being aware.

This week yet another friend lost it. She called my wife and told her it was time. She was not going to make a huge deal about it, mostly because of her daughter. She was going to move in with mom as soon as she made it official.

For us, we are trying hard to keep it close, but I can see how it is easy to lose it. Of my wife’s five closest friends at work, she was one of two who had it. In one month, she will be the only one left.
I love my wife, but sometimes that is not enough. Why am I bringing that up now in the middle of my story? Well, it all has to do with what all these wonderful, caring, and loving people have lost, their marriage. Sometimes it was their fault. Others times, it was their spouses. To be truthful, they and their spouses were all at fault.

Eighteen years ago, I thought we would never have that problem. My parents were married until death. Both sets of my grandparents were married until death. Now it seems that everyone I know has lost or at least cannot remember why it was so important to find it in the first place.

I pray that my wife and I can remember and grow that special thing that we have. At least, I hope we still have it.

Bloggers start your engines

The name of this blog has changed since it beginnings. I settled on "Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy."

There is a story behind the latest name. It goes back to a sermon I heard many years ago at Promise Keepers. Dr. Howard Hendricks preached that we need one of each in our lives. He talked about how Paul is the teacher, leader, and spiritual head of the group. Barnabas is the one who needs to be mentored. Timothy is the one who needs to be trained up.

For years, I have thought of myself as Timothy, and only Timothy. There is the rub. I am currently enrolled in divinity school. I have been a children's minister for two years, and a deacon for three. When do I become someone more than Timothy?

As I am taught more and more, I have found that life is more than living the life you have because of your name. In the Bible, Abram became Abraham and Jacob became Israel. Even Peter became Petros.

We no longer are named after our lot in life. I have always thought of myself as a young christian who had a lot in common with the biblical Timothy.

I have a good friend who's name is Stephen Paul. In college, he would sign his name St. Paul. I assumed the role of young Timothy.

What I now take from Dr. Hendricks' sermon is much more than which one of the three are you? It is which one of the three are you working with to become the better christian? Also, which one are you during different periods and different events in your life. To be the best christian, you need to be each type of these men continually, and work with each type of these men. We are to be trained while training, mentored while mentoring, and lead while leading.