Someone asked the question in a bible class recently that made for a lot of interesting discussion. The question was, “What if Jesus showed up for our church services tonight … what would he do or say?”  Here were a few things people answered….

• “He’d lead us in powerful worship.”
• “He would preach.”
• “He’d tell the children to quit running in the auditorium after church.”
• “He’d straighten a lot of people out.”

My reply was, “I think if Jesus showed up in town one Sunday evening, I’m not sure he’d even come to church.” I could tell that made a few people uncomfortable.  I finished, “Instead, he’d probably go hang out with some people in the community that need him much worse than we do.”

Everyone’s view of Jesus was a little different, but mine made a few uncomfortable. I went on to say, “In fact, I think if Jesus really did show up one night for church, I can imagine him chasing kids though the auditorium. I can see him washing someone’s dirty feet in the drinking fountains. I could see him allowing someone to clean up in the baptistry water. I can see him feeding the homeless out of the refrigerator in the fellowship hall. And I can hear him saying, ‘“Let’s go outside and sing under the stars.” ‘And at some point in all the commotion, I can see a deacon running up to Jesus scolding him, ‘“Jesus! What are you doing? Were you born in a barn?”’ And Jesus would reply, ‘“Yes, actually I was!”’

That’s just how I see Jesus.

So I’m curious … if Jesus showed up at your church, what do you think he’d do or say?

Nothing is more frustrating than getting a rock in my shoe when I’m running. Okay, maybe crazy rabid dogs are worse, but rocks in my shoe are a close second. Rocks are like uninvited guests that show up and ruin your whole party.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about getting a rock in my shoe while running…

• No matter what size the rock, it always feels like a HUGE boulder.
• I can’t focus on anything else as long as that rock is in there driving me nuts.
• You can try and ignore it, but the only thing to do is stop and remove the rock from your shoe.

I got to thinking as I ran this morning, while trying to ignore the rock in my shoe, the sin in my life should be a lot like rocks in my shoes. Here’s how…

• Sin should frustrate me. If it doesn’t bother me, something is wrong… BIG time wrong.
• Sin should feel like a boulder, even when it’s small.
• It should drive me nuts that it’s a part of my life.
• I should refuse to ignore it and strive to remove it from my life.

I want to please my Father with every ounce of my being, because He is SO good to me. I don’t know about you, but sadly, sometimes I seem more concerned about the rocks in my shoes than I am the sin in my life.

Do you ever feel this way?

“Adultery is a brainless act and self-destructive … and a reputation ruined for good.” Proverbs 6:32 (Message)

For some time now, there has been a new online service promoting, “Life is Short, Have an Affair.” It REALLY burns me that they make it sound like an affair is the thing to do and nobody ever gets hurt. Sadly, too many people buy into their message hook-line-and-sinker.

My friends Duane & Kristina have a great little blog called “Our Marriage Restored.” The thing I love about Duane & Kristina, is after an affair threatened to tear their marriage apart, they chose instead to make it work. Their blog takes you through their amazing journey to restoring their marriage. Today, when so many people are giving up on marriage, they chose to work through their problems, and they share their story on their blog.

Here’s one of Kristina’s posts from a few weeks back that was excellent….

Let me tell you from personal experience ….  There are NO GOOD REASONS to have an affair!  Here are 10 Reasons NOT to have an affair.

1.  It’s wrong! (I’m pretty sure you know that already….)  It does not matter where you are from or what your “religion” is, most people and modern societies agree: INFIDELITY IS WRONG!  Remember those vows… You will be breaking them!  It’s also a sin against God and you really DON’T WANT TO GO THERE!

2. Your spouse doesn’t deserve it! You married him/ her because you loved them.  Just because you might not “feel” close to them, does not mean you can have an affair!  If you have marriage problems, an affair DOES NOT HELP PROBLEMS GO AWAY! Instead, you’re just adding more junk into an already struggling relationship.  If you feel like your marriage is falling apart, seek out a well-respected Christian counselor.

3. The excitement you might initially feel will end! After the excitement fades, you become exhausted trying to juggle two different lives and hiding secrets.

4. You will lose the respect of your friends, family and co-workers! It will take  a LONG time to rebuild trust & respect.

5. It will hurt your children! Make no mistake about it, they WILL be deeply affected by your selfishness.

6. It will cost you more money that you would ever be willing to spend! It all adds up fast! You spend money trying to “hide” your affair. Besides you buy new clothes, nights-out where you would not typically go, money spent to “show the world” everything is “okay”.  Then to add up the counseling fees, lawyer fees, time lost at work, etc.   My affair cost us thousands of dollars.  We are still recouping from it!  Let me tell you… it is hard!

7. It destroys your happiness! You might hear in your head if you have an affair you will be happy.  Don’t listen, it’s a LIE!  Really it makes you miserable…..  Secrets, lies, etc.  Losing your family, losing respect… need I go on?

Read the rest of this post (8 – 10) here.

Our marriage was restored by the grace & mercy of God.  It was NOT EASY.  It required more work than I ever thought I could ever imagine. We had to BOTH choose to make it work!  It took loads of forgiveness from Duane.. and MILLIONS of tears from both of us!  We still cry about it & although I know I have been forgiven… I will never forget what troubles my selfishness caused for our family & marriage!

————–

• Can you think of any other reasons NOT to have an affair?
• How have you seen affairs effect people?

About 5 miles west of Childress is a prison that houses 1200 men.  National statistics say, “85% of those sitting in prison today grew up in a fatherless home,” that just goes to show you the powerful roll fathers play in the lives of their children.

God has blessed me with four incredible boys. As their father I want to be proactive in raising them. They are one of the biggest ministries in my life right now. I’d rather fail as a minister, a missionary or a businessman, than fail at fatherhood.

I was thinking this weekend about how much I enjoy being a dad and how much I enjoy hearing my boys say certain things to me. It wasn’t long until I had a list of things I love to hear my children say.  So here are the top 10 things I love to hear my children say…

10. Glad you’re home Dad.

9. Wanna do something?

8. Can I take out the trash for you? (I don’t hear this one very often)

7. Can I ask you something?

6. Can you help me?

5. I missed you.

4. You are a good dad.

3. Thanks, Dad.

2. I love you, Dad.

1. Do you wanna have a catch? (I still cannot watch this video without getting choked up!)

What do you like to hear your kids say to you?

I picked up Cooper (2nd grade) from school on Friday. He was unusually quiet.

ME: “What’s wrong?”

COOPER: “Nothing,” he said, but not convincingly.

More silence.

COOPER: “When is Parker moving away to go to college?”

ME: “It will be a few more weeks.”

Big tears began to well-up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks.

ME: “You okay, buddy?”

COOPER: “Yeah, I’m going to miss Parker,” as he wipes tears from his eyes.

ME: “But he’ll come back often, and it’ll be like he’s not even gone.”

COOPER: “I know, but I’m still going to miss him.”

ME: “Me too, Coop, me too.”

Sometimes being part of a family hurts.

Here’s a few things I’d like to run by you… GIVE AWAY: When I do giveaways I use Random.org to generate the random number so I’m not the one that makes the picks. I’m still laughing about who was picked for the $25 Barnes and Noble winner….it’s Laci.  She said something nice about me on her [...]

I was born on a Sunday morning and the following Sunday, my mom took me to church. As hard as I try, I can’t ever remember not going to church. That’s probably because I always have. I was raised in a family that never missed. And I do mean never. If the doors were open and the lights [...]

I hate being late. In fact, I detest it. I actually like being places at least 10 minutes early, but oh boy, was I running late last Tuesday to my bible class. I knew in about 3 minutes I’d have a room full of women chanting, “Where’ve you been. You’re late!”  I’d been out running [...]

I am so excited!  I’m like a kid at Christmas. It took me a long time to come around, but now I’m officially on WordPress. It was tough to teach this old dog new tricks. I thought if Blogger was good enough for Paul and Silas, it had to be good enough for me. There’s [...]

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: It’s official, I’m closing down my blog … and opening a new one. This is the last day of the “old” blog, and tomorrow (possibly tonight) you will see an all new and improved treymorgan.net. My friend, Peter Pollock has built me a new, more user friendly blog in the Word Press format. [...]

I’ve learned to never question the number of shoes a woman has. I’ve learned that weekly dates are essential for my marriage to stay healthy. I’ve learned that there is a “right” way to put toilet paper on the holder. I’ve learned that pursuing my wife is something that I should NEVER stop doing in [...]

This past December, a group of us met at the dump in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for a banquet. Sounds crazy doesn’t it … for who has a banquet at a dump? Instead of serving food from the back of a pickup, we rented chairs and tables that were covered in white tablecloths. Instead of the people [...]

MY FAITH WAS TOO SMALL: Wow! What an incredible day yesterday’s Dump Day was. I’m more than a little blown-away by the events that took place yesterday, and I’m still trying to process the amazing things that happened. In one day we raised just over $25,000 for the people of the Tegucigalpa, Honduras dump. I [...]

UPDATE at 6:07 p.m. CST – Bread For A Hungry World has offered to match up to $25,000 is we reach $25,000. We’re currently at $19,000. Let’s keep giving!!! Welcome to Dump Day 2010 I’m excited about today, because today we’re going to put others needs above our own. Today we’re going to do one [...]

DUMP DAY: We’ll kickoff Dump Day tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. (CST). Stop by tomorrow and make a pledge of any amount. Just leave a comment (anonymous or sign in, doesn’t matter) and say, “I’m pledging to send $______ amount.” Then we can keep a running tally of where we are on a total for [...]

Dump Day starts Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. What is “Dump Day?” Click here to read a little more. Stop by here and make a pledge to feed the hungry people of the Tegucigalpa, Honduras Dump. More info on Dump Day and the 30 Hour Fast in the morning (Tuesday morning). This is Sisia. Best [...]

Warrior Dash was a crowded event and a great time. They encouraged everyone to come in costume. I quickly spotted some celebrity runners … like Leonidas from 300. Captain Jack Sparrow? There was “Waldo.” Momma and Papa Smurf We had a great group from Childress head to Forney, Texas for Warrior Dash. Here’s our group [...]

Here’s what we’ll be doing tomorrow!!! A really BIG group from Childress is headed to Forney, Texas tomorrow for Warrior Dash, Texas. Two of my sons, Parker & Connor, are running Warrior Dash with me. Warrior Dash is 3.5 mile race that will take us through rivers, up muddy hills, over giant hay bales, through [...]

I’d like you to meet Sisia. Best guess is that she’s about 18-months-old. This picture was taken yesterday at the dump when Marc & Terri Tindall were there feeding. You should know that because of the 2009 “Dump Day, she got to eat yesterday! Thank you. (If you get a chance, click on the picture [...]

DUMP DAY: Next Wednesday (May 5th) is Dump Day. Thanks for doing such a good job spreading the word. I think more people are going to be involved in giving to hungry people this year than even last year. If you’re a little unsure what “Dump Day” is, you can read all about it here. [...]

Does this story say anything about what we are becoming … Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, a Guatemalan immigrant, was the kind of person people in New York ignored. He was dirty and homeless, but it didn’t mean Tale-Yax wasn’t human. It seems, actually, he was a pretty good guy. When a woman was attacked by a [...]

I hate cancer. Cancer has stolen my friends and my family and twice it’s tried to kill me. I’ve battled it (read about it here and here) and both times it has challenged me to my core. Once you’ve heard the doctor’s words, “You have cancer,” there’s never another normal doctor visit again. You always [...]

I’d love your help today on brainstorming for an upcoming series of lessons I’m doing called, “What Parenting has Taught me about my God.” Since I’ve become a parent, I’ve learned SO much about my Heavenly Father and what he thinks of me. Just from how I deal with my children, tells me so much [...]

When Cooper was little, we removed the ladder from the bunk-beds so he wouldn’t climb on the top bunk and fall off. I can still remember the day Cooper finally learned to climb up to the bunk bed without the ladder. I walked by the room and there he sat on the top-bunk with an [...]

I’ve been hanging out this past week in Oklahoma with some really nice folks. I had a great time, but it was sure good to see this sign … signifying that I was only 30 minutes from home.

Gospel Meetings … do they still work? I’m enjoying a 5 day Gospel Meeting (Revival) at the Highland Church of Christ in Tecumseh, Oklahoma. Two nights of the meeting are down and three still to go. Most churches don’t have Gospel Meetings anymore because they don’t feel like it’s effective or attendance just isn’t what [...]

I think it’s amazing that over 30 have “signed up” for the 30 hour Dump Day fast on May 5th. I know there are a lot from my congregation that have told me, “I’m in.” A BIG thanks to those who are helping me get the word out by email, blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Tell [...]

Can you imagine being so poor and so hungry that you’d take up residence at your local dump and dig through the disgusting trash to find yourself something to eat? Can you imagine feeding your children scraps of molded rotting garbage, just so they can live? Can you imagine your children picking the little bites [...]

Are you up for a 30 hour fast? Today 25,000 children under the age of 5 will die from a lack of food and from poverty. Sadly, that shouldn’t be. How long could you go without food? Could you last 30 hours without food? There are some of us (my children) who can’t go a [...]

There are a lot of natural born enemies in this world. For example, snowplows are the natural born enemy of school children, holiday foods are the natural born enemy of your waistline, cats are the natural born enemies of mice AND dogs & cars are the natural born enemies of runners. Lately the dogs and [...]

Last week I wrote a short post called, “Are Christians too Anti-homosexual, Political and Judgmental?” …because according to the world, we are! I was overwhelmed by the opinions that were given in the comment section on that post. To sum up the majority of opinions, I’d say we all agree that the church, and Christianity [...]

Today is officially the start of baseball season, and I’d like to take a moment to wish everyone a happy start to the 2010 baseball season. Even though I’m not a Red Sox fan, I still enjoyed last night’s game and seeing the Boston Red Sox come from behind to beat the New York Yankees [...]

It’s not buildings, budgets or bottom lines. It’s not about sermons or stained glass. It IS about a sacrifice and a Savior. It IS about hope, victory and the future. It IS an empty tomb! “What I received I passed on to you. And it is the most important of all. Here is what it [...]

I’ve lost plenty of sleep over David Kinnaman’s book, “unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity … and Why it matters.” The book deals with a new generation of young people who see Christianity and the church as only anti-homosexual, sheltered, too political and judgmental. Where has this new generation got these ideas? [...]

I love playing Mario Kart on the Wii, but I have a problem, I can’t seem to ever beat my 14 year old son. Yes, I know that 14 year olds are in their video-game-prime, but I don’t like losing to him EVERY TIME! I thought about grounding him for winning, but Lea quickly nixed [...]