Wade Poe

"Your momma's so fat when she gets on the scale it says 'to be continued'." There was a time in culture when people could tease with each other, but even then it could get out of hand quickly, depending on the people and the situation - sometimes resulting in violence and even death. We reached a fine point when the "yo momma" joke was its own growing genre, much like the dead baby jokes and other "dark comedy" stylings, of which I am a huge fan. I love listening to Daniel Tosh and Anthony Jeselnik and other similar stand up comedians who border a little on the dark, but I fully and 100% know that it's an acquired taste and when to keep it to myself when I'm around people who don't know it is satire and how not to take it personally.  Not everyone gets that. Culture around us has joined in with another "What color is the dress?" moment with the Olympic ceremony opening, the Trump near-assassination, and the Biden-Harris ha...

Yay! The 100th day/100th post of the deconstruction/rebuilding time (not including weekends :)! So many thoughts of things to think about or share, but none of them cooked thoroughly enough to serve yet. I've looked forward to this week and this day for the last month or so, kind of as a wrap up to a first formal stage since quitting work as a full-time minister back on the last day of January.  A six month reprieve in which to catch my breath and get reoriented to a new path.  Grateful for it. And grateful for my wife who made it possible on that last Tuesday in January when she said, "Why don't you just quit?  Just go ahead and quit immediately, right now.".  If it were not for her courage and support, none of this would have been possible.  Still scary starting over, but such a huge relief. __________ I occasionally get people who ask family members, "How is Wade doing, really?" in such a way that they think and/or have heard from someone I'm not doi...

Here's some scripture that jumped out at me from Colossians 2 that reoriented how I saw and thought about church and religious rules, etc. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.  Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.  They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:   “Do not handle! ...

People are awful, terrible, and stupid.   I am. You are. Probably your mom is. Trump, Biden, and Harris are. Definitely some of the people from my past are. Likely some I'll meet in the future are. We just are. From someone's point of view, from someone's way of doing things, or from someone's ideas about the way things ought to be, you are completely and totally terrible and awful. We all are. In Romans, Paul says it like this, "We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". And we fall way short of each other's glory too, all the time.  It's only when we see that we can understand love and grace. __________ It's not logic or law that compels us to follow God.  Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but it's not what keeps us going when we're writhing in pain, worry, and despair.  It's just the beginning, not the whole path. It gets our attention so we'll hear that fear isn't the end of things, certainly not wi...

When our kids were growing up and we coached their first soccer teams, one of the big challenges as a coach was to get the kids on the team to focus on playing the game rather than to look at the butterfly they'd end up chasing or counting the petals on a flower or comparing who was taller. They gotta learn sometime, I guess, but I felt like we were pushing kids a little early to do things they weren't ready for. Play? Yes. Competition and team play?  I don't know. Maybe some were ready, but most would just kick each other in the shins trying to get the ball - even kicking their teammates! We completely ignored the wonder some kids were still enjoying with just being outside and discovering nature and other people they'd just met and said, essentially, that it wasn't a good thing, and that they needed to focus on conformity and acquiring this abstract skill most hadn't any interest in. __________ I think it's really important to live in a society where we kn...

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind  and straining toward what is ahead... Rewiring your brain can be tricky.   Trying to see if you're making progress toward a new direction requires having or creating a new reference group and set of standards by which you can judge success or "a win". If you constantly go back to the place you're leaving in order to check and see if you're doing good, you're not going anywhere.  It's kind of like this old joke you've probably heard: The foreman gives the guy a paint brush and a fat bucket of paint and tells the new hire where to paint/begin painting  the stripes in the road and off the guy goes. End of the first day the newbie comes back and tells the foreman he did 10 miles. "Outstanding!" The foreman says.  On the s econd day newbie comes back to the shop at the end of the day and tells the foreman he's done 4 miles. 'Hmm. Not as impressive.' The foreman thinks. End of the third day...

Since we have been justified through faith, we  have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. We have been justified. We have peace with God. We now stand in grace. __________ That's pretty much it.  That's where we are and where we're going. We are free to gather with other believers to encourage each other to remember this truth. We can experience "growth" in life by learning and sharing with others - information about God, whatever our spiritual  gift or talent might be - we can collaborate and it shows God to the world even more. There is no urgency to get things done in an hour or two per week, God is always with us and his Spirit is in us, guiding if were listening, and interceding for us even when we're not. __________ What about "church services" and singing and giving and sermons and communion and all that? Sure, those things happen with people - we have...

"The places you are not in and the people you are not currently with are almost always romanticized. Remember that before you wish your life away." Recently me and our youngest talked about wishing you were somewhere else or able to relive a certain time or event in life because, at least in your mind, "those were the good old days" . As the conversation went along, we discussed how we actually felt, what was actually going on, and why it was we held those times and places as "the good old days" in our minds. In reality, when we actually going through those times in those places, we did NOT necessarily feel at the moment that they were good times. It was/is only in retrospect that we see that relative to other times in life that we realize some of those earlier times were better than not - "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" . At the time you are going through things you might not think they are that impressive or that b...

What it means to "fall away" or "drift away" from God used to mean something completely different to me than it does now.   In the past, you'd be accused of "backsliding" or "falling away" or drifting away from God by a church leader or fellow church member if you "skipped church" enough times (usually once was enough) or were thought to be engaging in any kind of behavior or attitude that someone didn't approve of or that was associated with bad things or sin. This kind of language was leaned on heavily at times, especially during "worship services" - "You might find yourself feeling further and further away from God and you know, today is the time to turn that around and make things right.  All you need to do is step out in that aisle and come down front and ask God to forgive you, etc." For one thing, feelings have nothing to do with where you stand with God.  Whether it was out of good motives or bad, pe...

What I wish more church people knew and believed. 1.  God saved you by grace.  It's a done deal.  Nothing you do, good or bad, made that happen or changes anything going forward.  He loves you as much right now as he will 10,000 years from now.  Your behavior doesn't change his heart for you or your place with him. 2.  Your feelings are easily manipulated and sometimes you'll "feel saved" or "feel close to God" or vice versa.  Feelings do not change how God sees you.  That kind of language is from religious environments and isn't something from God.  We walk by faith, not by feelings because feelings can lie to us. 3.  God is with you each and every moment of life and there's nothing more special about Sunday in terms of his being close to you, walking with you, or anything like that.  His Spirit lives within you and, since sin is no longer counted against us anymore, his Spirit never leaves you. 4.  "Worship services" or churc...

Approaching six months since walking away from a church job. We've visited a few Sunday morning worship services, well two actually, now that I think about it, for actual "in person" visits. We've watched or listened to some online and I've been a guest speaker at enough that we've not made the rounds as much as we originally thought we might and I'm more okay with that than I ever thought I'd be. I still meet with a group of guys once a week and we still host spiritual conversations in our home, less so now with the summer schedule and traveling, but still we make it a point to be with people. We keep in touch with people via text and time over coffee or lunch. And that's all working out pretty good so far.  Yes, we still know God, probably "better" than before since our time with him is constant and isn't centered on a regular awkward social dance with people, but is actually with him directly. While it has been and still is an adju...