Monday, July 30, 2012

Henry the Preacher-Volume 1, Number 3


A big "Thank You" goes out to my friend, Greg York for the base idea behind this one.  I don't know exactly what he had in mind, but to me this is a play on how the "itching ears" of some congregations leads to a revolving door of ministers who haven't scratched those ears just right in what they've preached.

Regards,
Mike DeCamp

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Two Days in September

Dear readers,
I wrote the following on September 21, 2002...the day after tornados ripped through central Indiana damaging one friend's house and destroying another's.  I lost this little piece of verse for several years because I forgot where I wrote it down, but I found it today as I skimmed through an old journal.  I hope you appreciate the sentiment.

Two Days in September

Imagine two days in mid-September
Forty-eight hours of unbroken time

The first delivers the terror of shattered glass and splintered trees
Blackened skies and the winds of destruction

The second refreshes hope with bright sun and blue skies
Singing birds and the gentle tinkle of a wind chime

Amidst both is the power of God
The Hope of mankind
Those who trust in Him may walk with confidence
Regardless the day

Saturday, July 14, 2012

A Muncie Boyhood-Church or Sleeping In?



As a boy in Muncie, I didn’t go to church.  Sunday was just a day to sleep in.  My dad read his Bible a great deal, but otherwise spiritual things were unknown in our family.  I liked my dad’s Bible.  It had some nice pictures of Old Testament characters and of Jesus holding some lambs.  However, the extent of my early scriptural training evolved out of the annual viewing of “The Ten Commandments,” “The Robe,” or “Ben Hur.”
Obviously, there were a lot of churches of all sizes in Muncie back in my youth.  St. Mary’s Catholic Church.  The High Street Methodist.  I think Glad Tidings was getting things going.  There were a multitude of smaller Baptist and Pentecostal churches.  Even so, the only head-bowing we did was to put our heads on our pillows.  I heard the words “Jesus Christ” and “God” but they were usually connected with other less respectable words and spoken with some anger.
I did visit a church for a couple of months with my mom after my brother died.  I think Parsons Mortuary arranged for a local minister for the service and my mom started going there for a while after the funeral.  I can’t remember the name of the place, but only that it was located near downtown somewhere just south and west of the corner of Wysor and Madison.  My strongest memory of the place was that each Sunday some of the kids in my class were picked to light some candles in the main service and everyone got excited about maybe being picked.  I did get to do it once…I felt very special that week.  Soon, however, we fell back into old habits and Sundays became the day to sleep again.
My sister took me to church once.  I think it was the Latter Day Saints church when it was out on Wheeling Avenue.  She was mortified though, when my little niece wrote a word she had seen scribbled on a wall by her house on the chalkboard…a word that is four letters long and starts with “F.” 
We never went back.
Sometime before my brother's death in 1969, we got some new neighbors.  It could have been a little before then, or it could have been shortly after, but a new family bought the duplex next door and moved in.  I made friends with the two boys, and my mom and dad became friendly with the man and woman.  Emma, the young mother was a Christian and took her boys to church every Sunday.  When Vacation Bible School at the Fairlawn Church of Christ rolled around, Emma took the opportunity to bring me along.  This was the beginning of my involvement with church; an involvement that has now spanned over forty years.
This is Emma and her kids (Rex, Roy, and Ronda) in the picture below.  Her simple act of being a good Christian neighbor changed the course of my life and had tremendous influence on many aspect of my family.
After my brother died, my mother was distraught for many years, and Emma did what she could to be a good neighbor and help. Mom spent several stays at Ball Memorial Hospital.  During one of those stays, Emma arranged for her minister, a guy named Ron Miller, to visit her.  Ron became a sort of counselor for my mother leading to more hospital visits and several phone calls.  Eventually, they conspired to sic the youth minister, Mike Runcie on me.  The conversation in my memory went something like this:
Youth Minister:  “Mike, you should ride the church bus to church on Sundays.”
Me:  “I sleep in on Sundays.”
Youth Minister:  “If you ride the bus and come to church, in the summers we go to Kings Island, Cincinnati Reds games, and then we go to camp for a week.”
Me:  “What time will you pick me up?”
Basically, he had me at Reds games.  I wasn’t going to get to go to those places any other way.  Church on Sundays seemed like a reasonable trade off.  I became a “JOYbus” kid.  The JOY stood for: Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last.
By high school I had my nephew and my niece riding along with me most weeks, and I was paying attention.  I did have one experience in my earliest years that pointed me toward God when at about the age of three, my dad told me that the most important thing I could ever do is love God.  That stuck with me.  So, on those Sundays as I sat on the hard wooden pews inside the little brick building at 13th and Monroe listening to either Ron Miller or Billy Harris preaching about Jesus, salvation, and baptism…I was paying attention.  On October 11, 1976, that youth minister that bribed me to ride the JOYbus baptized me and I became a member of the Fairlawn Church of Christ.
Frankly, I’ve got to tell you that this changed the whole course of my life.
I was a pudgy, self-conscious, insecure young guy coming from a family where both of my brothers had been in serious trouble; one spent time in prison and the other committed suicide.  My mom had retreated to her bedroom after my brother’s death and had medicated herself heavily to ease the anguish.  It was my dad and me at home, and we weren’t on the same page a lot.  I was at a fork in the road.  I could follow my neighborhood friends down the course of the alcohol, sleeping around, and for some….drugs.  Or, I could pursue this church thing.
I chose the latter.
A few months after the baptism, I began to devote myself to the youth group and became a church boy.  Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday night youth group, and Wednesday night class.  Plus, the summer activities:  Camp Indogan, Reds games, Kings Island, youth rallies and conferences, etc.
I grew up over the next few years.  I dated a cute girl named Toni.  I slimmed down.  I made new friends.  And, I gained a sense of self-respect that helped me to eventually overcome my insecurities.  I even learned to do a little public speaking…which has come in quite handy in my career in industrial sales.  It wasn’t quick and it wasn’t easy, but the love I received at church and the challenge of being more for God drove me to push through my personal obstacles.
I suppose I can trace most of the best things in my life back to that little congregation on Monroe Street.  I met my wife there.  I learned to push beyond myself there.  I gained personal strength there.  I grew the roots of my faith there.
And, I learned that sleeping in on Sundays isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Some related links:
My Muncie Boyhood story that discusses my brother's death...
My post about how my dad instilled my initial seed of faith...

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Spanking and Chicken

It's been a while since I've commented on societal ills or public policy new stories.  In fact, it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything new on here.  I suppose I just haven't had anything to say, and when you don't have anything useful or interesting to say...it's just best to be quiet.  However, in the last couple of days, I've run across a couple of ABC News stories that have kind of stirred some thoughts.

First, there's the subject of spanking.  Take a gander at this video clip from Good Morning America:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/parenting-techniques-spank-spank-16716075

I think our world is going a bit wacko on this whole subject...and, for the most part it is because some folks have abused the tool of spanking...resulting in abused children...and thus....wham.....all spanking is evil.  I'm not buying what they are selling.

I suppose there are reasonable arguments on both sides of this issue...but, I am coming down on the side of being in favor of spanking....assuming the parent is following a few reasonable guidelines...such as:

A.  Never spank out of anger--NEVER!
B.  Be under control.
C.  Explain the "whats" and the "whys" to the child so that they understand.
D.  Always...always...always...reinforce the child with positive comments of love and by showing loads of affection.
E.  Refer back to rule A.

Personally, I think way more "mood disorders" are caused by verbal abuse, neglect, manipulation, and negativity than could ever be caused by spanking...even spanking done poorly.  Beyond that, a lack of even what sometimes may seem as harsh punishment can leave a child with the impression that there just aren't consequences for bad behavior.  Folks, the world is a rough place.  The sooner a child learns that there are consequences and sometimes painful consequences for their actions, the better.

As to the guy in the video who smacked the boy on the rear with his belt during a game of catch, well, I'd refer him back to my first rule...but, beyond that, I think it's pretty presumptive for all the country to judge him based on the video shot by a nosy neighbor through his window blinds.  My guess is that there is a completely different story behind that situation rather than the accusation that he smacked him for dropping the ball.  It seems to me that folks are doing a lot of assuming.

One last thought on that subject before I move on to chicken...bad, abusive spanking results in one of two things.  First, it leads to more bad spanking as those kids grow up and think that is the way to do it.  Bad actions lead to worse actions.  Secondly, it leads to the counter-balance of parents that lump all spanking into that one category and call it abuse.

Young parents need to be taught how to spank appropriately.

Now, on to chicken....take a look at this story:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/11/superbug-dangers-in-chicken-linked-to-8-million-at-risk-women/

I bet those Chick-fil-a cows are hating this story 'cause I'm headed back to beef.  My wife feeds me chicken all the time...to the point (bock) that I'm starting to (bock) grow feathers under my arms.  (Bock, bock.)  All I need is a real good excuse to start demanding more red meat on my plate!  Moooooove over wings...I'm goin' back to the burger!  Cow-a-bunga!

Of course, I'll probably be eating just as much or more chicken from now on despite that story...'cause no matter how much this rooster crows, my sweet, beautiful hen runs my kitchen....and she loves her chicken.

That's it for now.  In the words of Kanye..."Omelet you finish" whatever else you were doing.  Time for me to scramble.  Keep the sunny side up.