“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5 NIV).

The year our eldest turned three years old we decided the boy needed a dog. We had read that golden retrievers were good with kids, so we checked the classifieds and found that a breeder in Roanoke, Virginia was selling puppies.

The mother dog had ten puppies and we bought a little female and took her home.

“What shall we name her?” My wife asked.

My son, Stephen had several ideas, most of them involving Smurf or Masters of the Universe names. But after a family discussion we settled on the name, “Sheeba.”

When filling out the AKC registration papers, we noticed that Sheeba had quite a lineage, all of them with royal names. Since we were living in Moneta, Virginia at the time, we named her “Lady Sheeba of Moneta.”

Sheeba was a cute puppy, but she had some aggravating habits as she grew. She loved to chew on shoes. When we moved into the city with her, she would escape from our backyard and cruise the neighborhood in search of shoes. We often found random sneakers, house shoes and other footwear in our backyard after one of Sheeba’s tours.

I told her, “Sheeba, if you’re going to keep stealing shoes, at least steal a matching pair, so we can get some use out of them.”

She just sat and stared at me as if she understood, offering her paw for a handshake. Apparently, she had no concept of the real use of shoes. She thought shoes were for chewing, not wearing. Sure, Sheeba was a shoe thief. But she followed a kind of ethic, never leaving her victim’s completely shoeless.

As much as Sheeba loved to chew on things, she would never chew on us. She was the most gentle dog I’ve ever known. She had a huge, deep growl and bark, but no bite.

When my daughter Erin came along, Sheeba welcomed her into the family. When Erin started walking, she would lean against Sheeba for support. With her little dimpled, chubby hands she would push and prod Sheeba’s face and head. Sheeba would look at me with a kind of exasperated look, but never respond to Erin’s pokes with anything but gentle tolerance.

Erin loved to pull Sheeba’s tail which was something even she couldn’t tolerate for long. But rather than snapping at Erin’s hand, Sheeba would take her own tail into her mouth and gently pull it from Erin’s grasp. Once free, she would bolt away for a brief respite from our toddler’s attentions.

In our culture today, we don’t place a high value on gentleness. We see at as weakness. But gentleness is not weakness. It is strength under control. It’s not that Sheeba didn’t have teeth to bite, she just chose to use them on old shoes instead of us.

The gentleness of God is often displayed in His creation. Sometimes in a golden retriever. Sometimes in His people when we are yielded to His Spirit.

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23 NIV)

This past weekend was our second time participating in the Wilson Whirlygig Festival. I’m so proud of our faithful WCC servants who worked hard to make our booth a success.

Sonny Allen, our Director of Contribution, and the one in charge of WCC’s Whirlygig booth, was unbelievable in his commitment, leadership, and enthusiasm for this project. Sonny you are the man!

But as Sonny himself would tell you, he didn’t do it alone. He put together a great team. One of his key players and according to him, his “right hand,” was Abby Propst. Abby brought a great attention to detail and even performed as spokesperson for the event in our in-house video promo produced by George Bryant. Amanda Manuel was another key player on the team, bringing her “eye” for how our booth should look. She designed the signage and layout. Marsha Morris and Mike McKinley were also important members of the team helping with getting inventory together and setting up.

It took 50+ volunteers to man our 30 foot space all day Saturday and Sunday. We sold cotton candy and raffle tickets, raising $1124.00 to give to the Hope Station (a local ministry to the hungry and homeless). We also did free “hair-painting.” These colorful hairdos were like our free advertising as they walked along the street.

We were told that people were asking, “Where did you get your hair?”

“Down at the WCC booth and it’s free!” They’d respond.

The line at our booth got so long on Saturday, that we had to assign a couple of our volunteers to crowd control.

On Sunday afternoon our own worship band led by Stephen Combs performed. Stephen introduced our band and invited listeners to head down to our booth. Stephen and Stedfast did a wonderful job. It was like having church in the streets as the sounds of worship music echoed down Nash Street.

Why did we do this event and what did we accomplish? You may ask. It’s because we want people in Wilson to know that we are Christ followers that love this city, that we are authentic and friendly, and that we want to serve them in any way we can. Our desire in doing events like Whirlygig is bridge-building.

We want to “Build a bridge of trust that will bear the weight of truth.”

I think we were faithful to be bridge-builders this past weekend. I’m thankful to God for the faithful servants at WCC!

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12 NIV).

Have you noticed how course and sarcastic our culture has become? We’re convinced that we have to be thick-skinned and savvy to survive these days.

Or do we? Is it possible that there is a different kind of clothing that we can wear in this rough culture of ours?

Remember when you were younger and sarcasm made no sense (For some, it still doesn’t.)? Most of us figured out the humor of sarcasm when we were in middle school. This, after we had endured several raucous occasions where everyone laughed but us, only to realize the laugh was on us. Children don’t understand satire. They’re too kind.

And speaking of children and kindness, is that where we lost ours? Did we outgrow kindness like a piece of kid’s clothing?

Kindness is an underrated trait these days, but the Bible says that it’s one of the marks of the fruit of the Spirit. Perhaps kindness is one of the traits that Jesus so admired in the children he welcomed on his lap. He appreciated their simple faith and kind manner.

Kindness and manners go together you know. At least, that’s what my mother taught me. When a clerk at a store showed poor customer service or a person was gruff with a child, she would whisper under her breath, “Now, that was ill-mannered. I guess she never learned better.”

You can tell a lot about a person in the way they treat a child, or the way they treat someone who is childlike (as in the least of these). If they are rough and haughty, they have not put on kindness. They do not possess the fruit of the Spirit.

Kindness may have been relegated to the kid’s clothing section these days, but I think we should look and see if we can’t find it in our size again.

“But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed” (Habakkuk 2:3 NLT).

Ever wonder how the human invention of the clock has affected us? God’s creation gave us a broad sense of time, with the sun, moon, and heavens moving like large hands on a celestial clock. But these were days and nights, months and seasons, not minutes and seconds. God gave us time, but we invented the clock.

I suppose the clock seduces us into thinking that we have more time because we can subdivide it into smaller and smaller segments. We get the idea that we can “manage” our minutes and “budget” our time for maximum effectiveness. However, this subdivision of time into micro-second intervals doesn’t add one moment to our lives. It only slices it into smaller slivers.

In today’s One Year Bible reading, Jeremiah was asked for a word from the Lord by a remnant of the Jews that were planning to escape to Egypt.

The Scripture says, “Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 42:7 NIV).

Ten days! Not ten hours, not ten minutes, not ten seconds, but ten days later God answered Jeremiah’s prayer for wisdom. We see this ten day pattern again in the book of Acts when the disciples waited and prayed in an upper room after Christ’s ascension. On the tenth day the Holy Spirit fell on them and empowered them to carry out Christ’s commission.

Ten days of waiting patiently on God to speak? Hmmm… let me check my schedule. No. Sorry. I don’t have the time. I’m on the clock, you know.

“…Let each one go home in peace” (1 Kings 22:17 NIV).

Nearly every Sunday after church our family has lunch at our house. All of our children are grown and married, but they all gather to eat at our table on Sundays. I assumed our grocery bill would go down after the kids left home… it hasn’t. They went out and multiplied and returned in greater numbers.

I lovingly refer to them as the “holy horde.” They descend upon our house like locusts every weekend and do not leave until the cupboards are bare.

But Robin and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We want our house to be a place of hospitality and peace for our growing family. We love being together. We love the happy chaos of a house filled with the smells of home cooking and the sounds of love and laughter.

There is a kind of peace that settles over me at these Sunday lunches at home. As we sit crowded around our dining room table, I have few words left (After preaching at two services every Sunday morning, I’m out of words). But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying all the loud conversation that bounces around our table (Have you seen a family where everyone talks at the same time?). I don’t know if it’s the fatigue from a great effort on Sunday mornings or the fullness of having just eaten my wife’s cooking, but a feeling of peace and satisfaction comes over me that is hard to describe.

The Hebrew word for “peace” is “shalom.” In Israel and in other Middle Eastern countries the word is used as a greeting and for saying goodbye. They say, “Shalom” as a kind of blessing on the hearer. The word has several layers of meaning. It certainly means to be free from warfare or worry. It may also include the state of mind that is at rest and is experiencing complete contentment. This kind of peace is only experienced as a gift from God.

This past Sunday when everyone at our table was talking, only two were silent… me and my grandson, Nathaniel. I had already talked enough and Nate hasn’t even started talking yet.

We kept our peace at the end of the table.

We’re having a great time together at Catalyst 09 in Atlanta, Georgia. Nine of us WCCers joined about 12,000 other Christian leaders for a couple of days of leadership level encouragement.

Today, we heard from Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, Coach Tony Dungy, Francis Chan… It’s like drinking from a fire hydrant. We didn’t get back to the hotel until nearly 11 PM and now I’m too tired to blog much.

Our WCC team is full of vigor though. We do conferences just like we do church… first ones there and the last ones to leave. Tonight, we walked like a mile to stand in line and eat at Wendys and then rushed back so we wouldn’t miss anything. Not one complaint.

What a great team and a great conference.

“A certain moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. “When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” (Luke 7:41-43 NASB).

When my daughter was young we had a bedtime ritual that involved a competition of declaring who loved the most.

“Good night Erin. I love you.” I’d say, beginning the nightly ritual.

“Good night Daddy, I love you MORE!” She’d say, while leaning over my recliner to kiss my offered cheek.

“No, I love you the MOST!” I’d reply, quickly turning my face towards her, surprising her into kissing me on the lips (she still holds onto my face when she kisses me on the cheek to avoid this surprising possibility).

“No Daddy. I love you the MOSTEST! She’d exclaim. “I love you this much!” She’d quickly add, while extending her arms outward as far as she could reach.

Jesus once told a story about the one who would love God most. He said that the one who was “forgiven most” would love most.

According to Jesus, our capacity for love is measured by our receptivity for and awareness of God’s forgiveness. When we recognize our own great need for forgiveness and receive the gift of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for our sin, we become recipients of his great love. Receiving this great forgiveness opens our hearts to God’s love for us, and through us to others.

So, who loves most?

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13 NIV).

“You look just like your dad.” The cashier at the Sears & Roebuck in downtown Bristol said to me, while pointing at my father.

I was five years old. I was visiting the Sears where my dad worked as a department manager.

“You have big, brown eyes just like his.” She continued, as she waved at us as we passed.

“Thank you.” I said, sticking my chest out and walking hand and hand with my dad through the store (According to man-code, it’s still OK to hold hands with your dad at age five).

My mother used to say that my father “marked me.” And I guess he did. I still have his brown eyes, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed that my mother “marked me” pretty good too.

Are you “marked” by anyone?

This coming Sunday we’re launching a new series entitled: “9 Marks of Authentic Christians.” We’ll be looking at the “fruit of the Spirit” found in Galatians 5. The word “fruit” is singular, but there are nine traits or marks of this fruit.

Authentic Christianity is often defined by the following “B” words: believe, belong, behave, and become. Many disagree on the order of these and on which should come first. They’re all important, but perhaps the one that has contributed most to the accusation of “Christians being hypocrites” has come from one that is often lacking. This one has to do with character. It has to do with becoming like Christ.

You can say that you believe and belong. You can even follow the Christian rules and behave religiously. But you can’t fake the character thing. You either have your Father’s character, or you don’t. You’re either marked by the Spirit of God… or you’re not.

Love, joy, peace… these are the marks of a life filled with the Spirit of God and marked by His character.

While I’m glad that my parents marked me, I’m more hopeful that I’ll grow to become more like Jesus. I want to be marked by Him.