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 If you were God, would you give up on Adam?  He breaks your rules, blows the one chance humans have to always make right choices, fathers a murderer, and other than living a long time, doesn’t do much else with his life.
If you were God, would you give up on Jacob?  He cheats and schemes his brother out of his inheritance, lies to his Dad, fathers children with four different women, favors one child over another, and seems to always be bargaining with God.  The legacy he passed on to his children seemed to be one of chaos – they were always up to their necks in trouble with each other or the law.
If you were God, would you give up Moses?  Sure he puts his murderous past behind him, but he can only get a job working for his father-in-law.  He certainly doesn’t raise his hand when God tells him he is the man for a mission, and he keeps the arguing up when God wants to wipe out the troublesome Israelites (I wonder if he ever regretted that decision?).  Even with all of God’s power behind him, he couldn’t persuade Pharaoh to quit while he was ahead.  He didn’t even get to make it to the finish line because he finally reached a breaking point with those hard-headed people he was trying to lead.
If you were God, would you give up on David?  He composed some nice songs, and had a good run as a warrior, but as an administrator, he was terrible.  He played favorites too and it almost cost him his kingdom when the favored son persuaded everyone the old man wasn’t really the leader for the future.  His moral failure was big news - a love triangle that had all the makings of a great TV movie – adultery, pregnancy, intrigue, murder, and a dramatic confrontation by his favorite preacher.
The list can get a lot longer.  But here’s what I learn from this Biblical sampler – God doesn’t give up people because they fail.
If you were God, would you give up on you?  Could it be that God believes in you, loves you, pushes you even more than you do yourself?  Could that be the real message of Jesus dying on a cross for you?
There’s one more lesson – I’m glad you aren’t God.  Aren’t you?

I was listening to NPR today and heard both Obama and McCain tell campaign crowds that their economic problems were not their fault.

I know economics is complicated - and I have the grades to prove it!  But think through this for a minute:

You borrowed money you couldn’t pay back - but it’s not your fault.

You put things on credit cards and paid them off with a home equity loan because you didn’t have cash - but it’s not your fault.

You bought into the “I gotta have it now” way of American thinking - and so you bought somenthing new just because it was new.  As a result, you have a lot of junk, a lot of debt - but it’s not your fault.

Whose fault is it?

Where does personal responsibility kick in?

It’s easier to be miserable.  I can complain about how unfair my boss is, about how mean my spouse is, about how ungrateful my children are, about how my parents failed me.  I get to be the victim.  Whatever goes wrong in my life is not my fault.  I get to blame everyone else – It’s McDonald’s fault that the coffee is too hot and spilled on me – I’ll sue!
 

It’s easier to be miserable.  I don’t have to do anything.  I can be passive and helpless.  I have to exert the energy required to be frustrated, but I don’t have to exert energy to change myself or my circumstances.  I substitute vicarious experiences – I watch HGTV and Oprah but never get off the couch to do my own self-improvement.
 

It’s easier to be miserable.  I don’t have to make decisions.  I get the satisfaction of never being wrong.  I don’t have face a sharp pain of making a mistake, just the dull ache of misery.  Then when someone else makes a decision for me, I can criticize them for being stupid and not seeing what I see.
 

It’s easier to be miserable.  I can blame those in charge for my predicament.  I can criticize the decision makers, be an arm-chair quarterback, and then throw up my hands and declare in righteous satisfaction, “But you can’t fight the system.” 
 

It’s easier to be miserable.  If I can find just one person who will pet me and tell me I’m right and everyone else is wrong, just one person who will get in my pit of dysfunction with me so we can justify how bad this world is, then I’ll be okay.  Misery does love company.
 

It’s easier to be miserable.  Ultimately, I can blame God for everything.  If He can do anything, why doesn’t He do everything for me?  Why doesn’t He take away all my temptations, why doesn’t He fix my kids, why doesn’t He make my marriage better, why doesn’t He stop the hurricanes and the bill collectors and my spouse from having an affair?
 

It’s easier to be miserable –isn’t it?  Or is there a price tag that I don’t see – a price tag of a wasted life, a life shriveled by self-absorption.  There is no grace in misery, no intimacy, no forgiveness, no peace.  And that price tag gets larger the longer I choose misery.
 

Maybe it’s not such a good idea to be miserable after all.
 

Barack Obama’s mother and father divorced when he was two.  When his mother re-married, he went to live in Indonesia with his new blended family.  He has been married to Michelle for sixteen years and they have two daughters.  If he is elected, how do you think it will impact his family?
 

John McCain divorced his first wife, the marriage no doubt having suffered during the time he was a POW.  He married Cindy, who is a Baptist and a beer distributor (an interesting combination).  They have three children together, adopted a child from Bangladesh, three children from his first marriage and four grandchildren.  If he is elected, how do you think it will impact his family?
 

Joe Biden lost his first wife and child in a car accident after he had been elected to the Senate.  He had to step up as a single parent to care for his two sons.  In 1977, he married Jill and they had a daughter together.  As a family they have gone through two brain aneurysms, two attempts to run for the presidency, and all the stress and strain of a blended family.  If he is elected, how do you think it will impact his family?
 

Sarah Palin eloped with her high school boyfriend and has five children, including a son who is going to Iraq, a daughter who is 17 and pregnant and talking about marrying the 17 year old father, and a baby that has Down’s syndrome.  If she is elected, how do you think it will impact her family?
 

Once there was a family that started out pretty well, but then the wife messed up.  She got her husband involved in some shady business and they lost their home and their future.  On top of that, their boys didn’t get along.  Finally one killed the other and then he hit the road.  The last boy, born after all the trouble seemed to be more stable – maybe Mom and Dad had learned to parents by then.  I wonder if Adam or Eve could be elected to office, given their family?
 

This Sunday we start a new message series about that old first family – the family of Adam and Eve. The truth is there is no perfect family – not even the first one, whether we’re talking about the one in the garden or the one in the White House.  So join us Sunday as we look at lessons from the First Family.  The Bible has things to teach us that help in White House and in your house.

Like most of the rest of the world, I have marveled this past week at the exploits of Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics – eight gold medals, seven world records.  It has been an amazing feat.  But Michael Phelps didn’t do it alone.
 

Three of his gold medals came because he was one of four swimmers in a relay race.  Granted, he swam brilliantly in those races, but without his teammates giving their best, his medal count is reduced by 40%.
 

Bob Bowman, his coach, has poured his life into Michael since he was eleven years old.  He guides his training, keeps the athlete on track, and joins with Michael in setting the goals for training and competing.  Where would Michael be without a great coach?
 

Michael has a support team of massage therapists, nutritionists, managers, trainers, and statisticians.  In addition to these directly related to swimming, there is a whole team of engineers and scientists who developed the new LZR swimsuit that slims the swimmers as they move through the water (I wonder if I could get one of those?).  Imagine Michael’s life if he tried to all those tasks himself?
 

Then there is his family – his two sisters who were swimmers and his mother, a middle school principal, who pushed him toward swimming as a way to help him burn his excess energy and focus him as he fought ADHD.  They were there to cheer, encourage, and support him as he made history.  Do you think their presence helped him?
 

The point is obvious – we celebrate the success of the individual, but it takes a team of people who invest time, expertise, and emotional energy into a person.  Success is made by a team.
 

So why do Christians feel like they have do everything on their own?  Why do we resist community?  Why do we think groups are for other people, but not for us?
 

The story of you means you share the journey with a group of people who care for you and invest you – and you care for them and invest in them.
 

So find your team, find your group, find the circle of people who will help you succeed in your story.
 

Don’t miss this weekend – as the story of you continues.

This past week I was with 42 students and adults from our church at World Changers in Brunswick, Georgia.  We joined with some 20 other churches to serve in the name of Christ.  I was assigned to a great crew that did a re-roof for an elderly lady named Miss Willie.  Here’s what I learned:
 

• When you work together, you can get it done.  I was on a great team with students from Sumter; Saluda, SC; Knoxville, TN; Lumberton, NC; and Chicago, IL.  Not one was a slacker.  Some had more skill than others, and some needed a few more breaks, but all worked hard.  By the end of the week, we had torn off the old shingles and tar paper, and put on a new roof.
  
• Every team needs good leadership and coaching.  Our crew chief was a young man, Trey Elam, who plays baseball for East Carolina.  He had a gracious, low-key manner.  He told what to do, gave us help when we needed it, and then set the example.  We also had a construction supervisor, Vern, who coached us on the tough points of roofing – like what to do when the roof caved in! (It wasn’t me.  Honest.)
  
• Hospitality goes a long way.  We had a great host church – Pine Haven Baptist Church in Brunswick.  We attended Sunday morning worship with them and then were treated to best of Baptist cooking.  They fed us lunch every day – and really put some thought into what sweaty roofers might like to eat.  Looking forward to lunch kept us moving.  Offering bread in the name of Jesus is a great kindness.
  
• There is value in repetition.  I started out hitting my thumb with the hammer about once every half hour.  By the end of the week, I was hitting my thumb about once a day.  I wonder if there is a lesson in that as we follow Jesus?  Repetition builds consistency.
  
• Service opens doors to talk about Jesus.  People did stop and ask what we were doing.  Our ground crew was able to explain that we there to serve because we loved Jesus.  Service buys credibility.
  
• Christianity has a future.  I read often that Christianity is declining in the United States.  It is true that church attendance has dropped.  But the students I worked with gave me great hope for the future.  They were committed to Christ and eager to serve. 
  
• It was great just be a Christian.  Let me explain:  in Sumter, I’m the pastor of ADBC.  I love my job and I love this church.  But last week, nobody really knew I was a pastor, nobody really knew about our church, and nobody really cared.  What mattered was I was there to serve in the name of Jesus.  Sometimes you have to step away from your daily environment to remember who you really are in Christ.
  

Get out of your comfort zone.  See if God can teach you anything by serving Him.

I attended a meeting this week with some key community leaders to resolve what seemed to be a minor issue.  You know the kind I’m talking about:  an obstacle unforeseen has come up and now must be overcome.  Everyone wanted to do the right thing.  Some legal hurdles had to be dealt with.  Let’s meet, share perspectives, make decisions, and get on to more productive parts of life.  Right?

Not so fast. 

• Though I arrived three minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin, someone’s urgency had kicked in, and I walked into a meeting where the tension was already thick.  The lesson?  Never let urgency trump the agreed upon covenant of a starting time.
• A person with information had been selected to chair the meeting by default.  He shared his information and then threw open the discussion.  The result?  Chaos.  The lesson?  Every meeting needs a leader.
• There was much posturing on display.  Positions were being staked out.  Territory was being defended.  Muscle was being flexed.  I later joked to one participant that it was one of the few times in my life that I was reasonably sure that I had one of the smallest egos in the room.  The lesson?  If you are defensive, you cannot understand.  If you do not understand, you cannot reach agreement.
• The discussion was dominated by three people:  The assertive entrepeneur, the self-made man, and the young turk.  I admit I am accustomed to speaking up and people listening (or at least pretending to).  I would start to speak and would be over riden by the dominating personalities.  To truly be heard, I would have had to stand on the table, shout, and possibly take off my clothes.  I chose not to - the issue on the table was not one of life or death or eternal signficance.  The lesson?  Don’t tie your self worth to winning or participating in every fight.
• The end result of the meeting was what we all already knew - we needed a legal opinion to guide us to a proper procedure.  Why didn’t we have that opinion in hand before the meeting?  Because no one took charge to have the meeting before the meeting - where a clear win is defined and someone or some group strategizes about what is needed to get that win.  The lesson?  Have the meeting before the meeting, or the conversation before the conversation.  What are we really trying to accomplish here?

Bottom line - we accomplished what we needed to, but only after much bruising of spirits, force mis-applied, and relationships damaged.  It was all un-necessary.

How much better would business, marriage, friendship, and church be if we listened?  If we understood? 

Did you ever think about how much effort and time God spends listening to people (it’s called prayer)?  Did you ever think about how much effort and time God spends understanding us (Jesus coming to earth and the daily presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives)? 

Do you think we can learn anything from God?

My sister, Clemie Jo, and my sister-in-law, Jo came to visit this last weekend.  I was grateful they were able to make the trip, my sister’s first to Sumter.  We had a chance to show her the town and they were able to come to worship before they had to make the return trip.
 

Clemie Jo had the opportunity to meet several of my friends.  Then we had to hear what we have heard our whole lives:  “You two look just alike!”  A couple people put a twist on it:   “Now we know what Clay would like as a woman!”  Even though Clemie Jo and I are eleven years apart in age, people have always remarked about our strong resemblance.  Her children and mine could pass for siblings. 
 

What do you say to remarks like that?  There is an old Southern expression, “Blood will tell.”  It originally referred to bloodlines in horses, cattle, and dogs, but quickly was applied to humans.  My sister and I bear out the truth of that expression – our gene pool may not be wide (did I mention the intermarriage of several cousins?) but it is deep.
 

There is another pattern imprinted on us all – the pattern of Adam.  When theologians talk about original sin, they are trying to describe this human proclivity to do the wrong thing.  We see people self-destruct and wonder “why?”  Original sin.
 

Some people justify themselves by thinking, “I’m not perfect, but I’ve never done anything really bad.”  Have you ever heard about people who are good in the worst way?  Good behavior can be wrapped up in a critical, judgmental, withdrawn heart.
 

Original sin is why everyone needs grace.  When you are humble before God, admitting fault and flaw, God spreads His grace over you with a thickness that melts away sin and sadness.
 

It is the blood of Jesus that brings this grace.  His sacrifice overcomes the twisted flaws of your gene pool and mine.  If we receive His grace, everything can be changed.
 

It really comes down to this question:  whose blood will tell – yours?  Or His?