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Celebrity Influencers

Celebrity news has surpassed the old-fashioned soap opera, although some of us still remember Luke and Laura. With the Grammys behind us and the Super Bowl and Oscars headed our way, who can avoid hearing about the misadventures, drama, controversies, loves and losses of the headliners of entertainment, sports, and politics today? What do you know of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? Who was snubbed by the award givers?  Whose tweet set off a firestorm of applause and outrage this week? There is so much celebrity news you may not know the answer to that last question? 

  He sent out a perfectly gentle and caring question to his followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. Then his innocent and sheltered world was unexpectedly rocked like an earthquake in Oklahoma. I am speaking, of course, of Elmo. I assumed a Muppet’s life was fairly simple like any TV personality: sitting in a make-up chair, rehearsing lines, hitting the mark when the director says “Action,” sleeping on a shelf the rest of the time.  I did not realize Elmo was also a celebrity influencer. I should have known better because we are all influencers. Elmo asked his followers: Elmo is checking in! How is everybody doing? The responses came in overwhelming numbers—10’s of thousands followed by 100’s of thousands, soon a million and a half people shared how hard things were. Because of this Elmo was invited to talk about mental health on the Today Show. Comedian Larry David, listening off stage was enraged, charged over to Elmo, and began to strangle the Muppet saying he could not listen to this any longer. David offered a reluctant apology. Elmo accepted the apology, but later David publicly retracted his apology to Elmo.  The next day Elmo tweeted: Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you. 

We should all have a friend like Elmo. No matter who you are, you are an influencer. Someone is looking at you and maybe thinking, so that’s how I am supposed to… act as an adult; talk when I’m mad; treat elderly people…  The questions always become then, how am I doing in my own soul today? How am I influencing others? 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. You are a Christian influencer. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Gen Z Love

The future is with us right now.  Today is the future, most likely even tomorrow. But tomorrow is not here yet. There is one thing about the future I always hope to see—a new awakening of the Church in America. A sweeping wind of the Spirit, a revival of the church writ large, is always found in generational repentance and humility before God.  And it is always led by young people. Every world-shaking, soul-wrenching Great Awakening over the last 600 years has been born out of the tender hearts of teenagers and young adults. The elders are the faithful prayerful. They are also the encouragers and disciplers of children and teens. The rising generation among us is Generation Z (Gen Z).  It is a generation like no other in US history.

Gen X: Born 1965-1980

Millennials: Born 1981-1996

Gen Z: Born 1997-2012 

Gen Z’ers are the first generation to be totally immersed in digital technology. The i-Phone was released in 2007.  Covid disrupted their education and brought social isolation. They feel death and sickness is always near.  Generally, they are mostly urban and suburban, following social influencers like ducklings from fad to fad and scam to scam. They long to do things irl (in real life). They would rather shop in a store than online. Yet Snapchat, Whisper and TikTok is where they retreat with their friends. Gen Z’ers have dealt with continuous economic setbacks (the great recession of 2008-2009 and Covid.) Their focus is on economic security and materialism. Gen Z’ers long for good mental health. They want authentic experiences, truthful relationships, and less violence and meanness. I asked an 18-year-old waitress recently what she was thinking about these days. She told me she was terrified of AI. She said she was always stressed out, and she did not understand the world anymore. Religious faith had no place in her life. She just wanted to go skiing in Colorado with her boyfriend.

What does a stressed out, materialistic, digitized future look like? A whole lot like today. How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone teaching them? (Romans 10:14)

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Love them to Jesus. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Our daughter Dayna introduced me to a series of books a few years ago that have captured my imagination and tickled my funny bone. The books are literate but not stuffy, Christian but slightly irreverent. They are written from the perspective of a motherless little girl, harassed by her older sisters, fascinated with chemistry (poisons are her specialty), who regularly chooses to wedge her way into murder mysteries. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first in a series of ten novels following eleven-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce in post-war England. 

The Canadian author Alan Bradley began writing this, his first novel, in 2007 when he was 69. In 1994 Alan Bradley took an early retirement as director of television engineering for a university to begin his writing career. He wrote short stories and articles for magazines and published a couple of non-fiction books. His success came after a little girl he later named Flavia “took over” a story he was trying to write one spring day in 2007. Born in 1938, Mr. Bradley published the tenth book in his series in 2019. According to Variety Magazine, the movie version of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie starring British actors Martin Freeman (Sherlock) and young Isle Gie (The Sandman) went into production last spring.

“There are choices in life which you are aware, even as you make them, cannot be undone; choices after which, once made, things will never be the same. There is that moment when you can still walk away, but if you do, you will never know what might have been.” –Alan Bradley, The Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, 2015.

Advertisers want us to choose their products. Our families, friends and co-workers want us to go along with their choices. Politicians want us to choose them. We are faced with choices about everything, in every area of our lives, every day. Some choices are bigger than others. How do you choose? Day by day we decide, or we let someone else decide for us, how we will live today. Proverbs 3:6 declares: In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Invite God into your decisions. 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Choose wisely. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Walk Like a Penguin

Penguins are fascinating. They are all from the southern hemisphere—all 18 different kinds of penguins. Most live in Antarctica, South America, Southern Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. One group lives up in the Galapagos Islands. Most of us remember the award-winning film, The March of the Penguins, narrated by Morgan Freeman. Those were Emperor Penguins, but the life cycles and dangers are universal to all. The important thing to remember about penguins is not that they do not live anywhere near the Arctic Circle, but that they know how to walk on snow, ice, glaciers, and icebergs. We do not. They also know how to hop out of water onto said iceberg with bare feet. We should not even try. On my trip to Antarctica, we observed Adalie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguin colonies from a respectful distance of a few yards, although a few crossed the path right in front of me while hiking one day.  It amazed me to see how agile and skilled they are in and out of the ocean. 

One lesson that I learned from the penguins was how to walk on frozen water. Even with their short legs, penguins can slip and slide, but they mostly do that for fun—sliding headfirst, like a small missile into the sea. We, with our longer legs, are top heavy. (I’m speaking for myself, of course.) This means our slips and slides are not as much fun, especially that first bounce. Penguins teach us to keep our center of gravity low and beneath us. This means taking small steps, shifting your weight slightly side to side as you walk. Humans tend to walk shifting our weight forward, while waiting for the other leg to catch up with us and go forward even further. It does not take much to get ahead of ourselves. Add a little ice or mud, and we fall. Walking like a penguin might keep you safer in this frigid weather.

When it comes to walking through life, walk in the ways of Jesus. May I suggest a little spiritual exercise to help stretch us for our Christian walk today? First Corinthians 13 is known to us as the Love Chapter in the Bible. (There are other love chapters in the Bible, by the way.) Read chapter 13, substituting the name of Jesus every time the word love or it is used. This is how we live the Christian walk each day.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Walk like a Christian. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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When Were You Hungry?

When were you last hungry?  It has been observed that some people will get up from their holiday meal with the announcement, I am so full I could burst. Yet not ten minutes later they are spotted rummaging through the turkey carcass or picking up another bite of dessert. Then there are teenagers who periodically emerge from their caves growling for something else to eat. Imagine being the single parent of three children, working one or two minimum wage jobs, trying to keep everyone clothed and fed, plus cover rent and utilities; or a disabled vet living on the street; or a senior couple trying to make it until the end of the month. These are some of our church neighbors. 

Our People’s Pantry ministry has not missed a single week of sharing bags of groceries each Wednesday night for ten years straight—no matter the storms, Covid, the heat or the cold. Today a group of volunteers unloaded 1,792 pounds of commodities from the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This included dozens of bags of frozen chicken thighs and drumsticks, canned goods, and bottled juices. This, combined with donations of goods, and the purchase of supplemental items will last us about a month. All of this ministry is under the direction of Lori Dryer with her husband David and Terri Qualls at her side.

Here is a summary report for 2023:

Total Families served: 393

Total Individuals served: 948

Total Grocery Meals provided: 11,376

These numbers reflect a 15 percent increase in the number of people served over 2022.   We provide good quality food, an opportunity for conversations and prayer. Diep Vo and Terri Qualls oversee our Clothes Closet ministry, which is available each week for those who have additional needs. We also provide personal hygiene kits, can openers, and other necessities. We invite our neighbors inside for a light hot meal prepared by Russell Ford, Ben Shepard, and Patty Hickman. The People’s Pantry is open each Wednesday evening from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed around 4:00 p.m. to help us set up. Thank you for your on-going prayers, food and clothing contributions, and financial support.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Live faithfully. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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