Wade Poe

We associate things with other things.  It's sometimes intentional, sometimes accidental or as a consequence of how a situation unfolded. When I was growing up, the only time I was around pretty flowers that had a lot of aroma was in a funeral home or at a church building, during a funeral.  Flowers meant death or burying someone.  Flowers were associated with sorrow, uncomfortable clothing, awkward ceremonies, talk of heaven or hell, etc. Later in life, when it was time to go on a date with girls, there were times when people suggested that you get them flowers for special days or occasions.  So I'd go to the local florist and get whatever was suggested and, as you might imagine, the smell and the sight of flowers was still around death. When our first baby was still in the womb, we had a lot of plans for life.  We had a name for her and a room being decorated.  Something happened and her life ended before it began.  And there were lots of flowers. ...

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  "Honor your father and mother" - which is the first commandment with a promise - "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."  Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. This short passage in Ephesians 6 comes in the middle of Paul talking about what it looks like to live in submission to one another out of reverence for Christ - in other words, "if you're amazed and have deep respect for what Jesus did for you, live this way with each other". A lot of young people continue on in the faith of their parents, some because they have went through the "crisis of faith/do I really believe this?" moment or moments and they actually do "own" the same faith that their parents raised them in - they "do it" because they too believe it (or at least they say they do). And th...

In the weeks after leaving a long-term job, I guess it's normal to get asked a lot about how you're adjusting to, coping with, or transitioning to the next thing.  You know, "How are you doing now? Like, are you okay?  For real?" I get that and am grateful for the few from "back then" that ask.  And yes, doing well.  And no, no regrets really.  The freedom from not "doing church" like that is hard to describe.  The free interaction with God without the need for an emcee-led group is astounding. Also, the relatively low level of interaction with most people "from there" since leaving there has reminded me that my core collection of people, while overlapping some in that group, had essentially moved on and/or I'd moved on. People are busy, they have their own things to do. You get a sense of how critical or important you are by the amount of "reaching out" you get from people.  Now I kinda know the lay of the land better.  And...

"God isn't opposed to effort, he's opposed to merit" "It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God" One of the big doubts or questions I had growing up was, "How far is too far?".  In other words, how far away from God would he let you wander before he let you go and you were lost? The other side of the coin was, "How much is enough?".  I'd hear my mom say this a lot - "I don't know that I'll ever be able to do enough to make it into Heaven", she'd say.   Both questions start off with the assumption that God is like us in that he has his limits and that when and if we "try them", he has a point at which he will toss us back like a underweight fish in a bass tournament. Out of that assumption comes postures like, "Better safe than sorry".  And from that point of view, every belief and decision about faith gets tighter and more fearful - always afraid of "angering our lo...

I remember an old episode of King of the Hill where Hank and family go to Japan (or Korea?) and, because they assume every Asian person lives in a small, cramped house, when they get to their hotel, they spend their entire vacation time living in a very small lobby/sitting room and never opened the door to their lavish, well appointed hotel. They only find out about it when their ride comes to pick them up to go home and the driver opens the door and they see what they missed out on. Sometimes, looking back, I feel that kind of dynamic was a formative part of my religious experience. It was the way my tribe handled truth and what was/is important.   My tribe had/have a very focused idea of what's important and nothing else was worth mentioning or looking into because it might distract you from "the truth".   "Stay in this room - this is all there is." We'd normally skip over "the feel good" parts of the Bible and go straight to the hard truths abou...

It really is a good question.  If all sin, past, present, and future have already been forgiven for the world, why not just keep on sinning?  For that matter, why not sin some more so that increase the amount of grace that exists and so people can see we're forgiven and okay with God? Years ago, one of my favorite speakers (back when I was really into speakers/preachers), told the story of one of his kids who was really into candy.  I don't remember the details, but basically his son dug into the trash to eat some really old candy they'd thrown away from a couple years back. When he found his son eating the nasty, old, trash covered candy and encouraged him to stop so he could eat better things including new, clean candy, his son said something to the effect of, "But I pulled all the hair and stuff off of it.  It's okay." God wants us to stop eating out of the trash.  He wants to teach us what is trash and what's good.  And that can be a process and take ...

Your host has made a very nice meal for you and company, and you boldly proclaim, "I think you forgot to put the ketchup out!" And you stand up and go get it from the fridge.  This was a scene I watched unfold back in my late teens when staying with some lovely people who'd hosted us in their home in Switzerland. My friend wasn't a fan of their food a lot of times and hadn't yet learned about etiquette. Our hosts were very gracious and, over time, helped my friend come to appreciate their hospitality and generosity.  By the time we left, he was horrified that he'd not realized what he was doing and was very apologetic. What did he do?  He took food our hosts had lovingly prepared just for us from their ethic/cultural background and, without having tasted it, wanted to put ketchup on it like he did in his own home growing up.  He did what he was used to and comfortable with without any awareness of what he was doing. _____________________________________ In He...

The one who isn't taking notes and isn't taking anything personally… In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes about love.  It's not the generic, one-size-fits-all kind of love - I love my wife, I love Jesus, I love tacos, etc.  Instead it's the kind of love that is and does some specific things and doesn't do some specific things.  Read it for yourself below. Love is patient,  love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,  it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. It has been said often that Paul is describing  love AND God.  Or God's love.  However you want to say it.  Paul is saying that this is the kind of love God has for us and it's the kind of love you can and should have toward  each other . We can...

Jesus is called The Great Physician because of all the healing he did for people's bodies and for the ultimate cure he provided for sin for all of us. He used miracles of healing to get people's attention so they'd hear the message about the Kingdom that was coming and had arrived. Every person he healed and every person he raised from the dead died again. None of what he did for people's bodies was permanent - none of them are walking around today. But the lasting cure, the unending healing was for sin - he provided the cure, the last sacrifice, the only possible thing that would take care of the rift between God and humanity.  That was and is permanent. It's all gone. Past, present, and future. Sure, there are still scars and there are still consequences we experience because of our own sin and because of others' sin, but they don't keep us from God. Because sin has been dealt with, God's Spirit never has to leave us - ever.  It's not as if we tell...

Jesus' story is often retrofitted by Christians today to look cool, sound cool, and be cool so that people will like him and want to fit in with him. It's just how we do business. Like any other group in culture, we want to look good and be popular, so we accentuate the positives.   But Jesus wasn't "cool" just because we want him to be - if we're talking about him in his own context. He was born under questionable circumstances - his mom pregnant with him before dad married her. They scattered from Israel to Egypt when he was still very young so as to avoid a religious/military death squad. When they came back, Jesus scared his parents to death when he stayed behind in a trip to Jerusalem and didn't bother telling them. And as he grew, he worked with his "dad" as a stone mason and woodworker - essentially a subcontractor in today's words. As he got older and the time was right, he went out to the river and his somewhat crazy "cousin...

"I don't object to the concept of a deity, but I'm baffled by the notion of one that takes attendance." The quote from the character, Amy, from The Big Bang Theory has a good point. I've only watched an episode or two, but that line struck me. We know from scripture that God, the Creator, made us, walks along side us, interacts with us, died for us, lives in us, etc.  From the Old Testament to the New, that's the story.  We're not a side project that he put together for kicks and checks in on occasionally to see how it's going. Understanding a bigger picture about someone can help make sense of the smaller pictures we get about them.  Sure, we sometimes assemble a lot of smaller pictures so we can make a larger picture, like we're detectives in a story, trying to solve complex problem from a few clues - I get that idea as well. But we don't have to do that from scratch with God.  We actually do have this thing called scripture and it does actua...