Worshiping Jesus Creates Unity

I heard Ravi Zacherias tell a beautiful story a that occurred many years ago. During the cold war, one of the team members of the Billy Graham Crusade was in Romania. It was a cold, blistery snowy day and he was bundled up, trying to keep warm as he was walking down the street. But one Romanian walked by with his hands in his pockets and he was whistling a tune. He wondered how that fellow could whistle in the cold. Then he paused and listened. He was whistling an old hymn “The great physician now is here, the sympathizing Jesus.” He said, “I ran after him and I asked ‘Do you know Christ?’” The fellow shrugged his shoulders because he did not speak English. He didn’t know what to do. Then he decided to whistle the hymn. And the fellow’s eyes lit up. His face just beamed. He whistled the melody with him. They hugged one another. Pointed towards heaven and walked away together whistling. Two worlds were bridged by the mystery of worship. That’s what Jesus does for us. Worshiping Jesus creates unity. Just the tune of a hymn about Jesus can cause you to wrap your arms around a total stranger because you know that they are in the family of God.

Garbage for Grace

We have more garbage cans than anybody in our neighborhood. When I drag the garbage cans out for pick up, everybody else has one or two cans. But we have five or six. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because there are more people living in our house. Maybe all my neighbors have trash compactors. Maybe their garbage cans are bigger and better than mine. But we have more garbage than anybody else. Every Wednesday all my garbage cans are full. I feel a little self-conscious about it. I sometimes help the men who pick up my garbage. I help them lift the cans and dump it in the truck. One morning I bought them donuts. I thought I should give them something. All I give them is garbage – and lots of it! So I gave them donuts and they accepted them. Sin is like garbage. Everybody has garbage. I have more than others. There was a time when my life was so trashed. I had so much garbage piled up I couldn’t see. Shame. Guilt. It overwhelmed me. But I couldn’t stay out of the garbage. I threw my addiction (my bottles) in the garbage and made vows and promises that I did not keep. I could not stop. At night, I went back to the garbage. Literally! This brought more guilt. More shame. But I couldn’t quit. Then I hurt myself. I hurt others really bad. It woke me up. I came to my senses and cried out “Lord, help me! Save me!” He did. He took my garbage away. Jesus Christ is my garbage man. As I say that I cringe. I almost deleted it. It sounds so irreverent. But it’s true. All I had to give Jesus was garbage – and lots of it! He took it away and told me to stay out of the garbage. Jesus told me to “get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (James 1:21). So, by his grace, I accepted his word and he saved me. But I still have garbage in my life. More than anybody else I know. I try to stay out of it. I keep giving it to Jesus and he keeps taking it away. He picks it up every day so that it doesn’t pile up. I feel self-conscious about it. I sometimes try to help him but he always tells me that he has to take care of it. I can’t help him. He has to do all the work. He takes my garbage and I take his grace. I try to give him things to show how grateful I am but my gifts are equivalent to donuts. He doesn’t need my gifts but he accepts them anyway. What an exchange! Garbage for grace. Jesus takes my garbage and I take his grace. He takes my guilt and shame and credits me with his righteousness. Lord, Thank you for saving me. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for your grace and love. Help me to stay out of the garbage. In Jesus name, Amen!

Three Recent Speaking Engagements

On Monday December 11 I provided training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for counselors at The Counseling Center in Portsmouth Ohio. On December 12 I spoke for Pat Chambers at a holiday luncheon at St Mary's Hospital. On December 18 I provide consultation focused on the clinical application of CBT for Kindred Spirits near Lucasville Ohio. I thank God for these opportunities to speak at other places. The people are great and I love it!

Allen Meadows in the Christian Chronicle

The Christian Chronicle featured the story about Allen Meadows and his friends from the 1971 Young Thundering Herd. Bobby Ross Jr. writes ... "On a recent Sunday, the Young Thundering Herd came to church. In town to see a premiere of the new Warner Bros. movie We Are Marshall, more than 30 players and coaches from the 1971 Marshall University football team received a heroes’ welcome at the Norway Avenue church in Huntington, W.Va.“Your story is going to be told all over the world, and millions of people will be inspired,” minister Jeff Garrett told the special guests in a sermon titled “The Hall of Faith."

You can read the rest of the article by clicking on this link - http://www.christianchronicle.org/

We are Marshall - The 1971 Young Thundering Herd Came to Norway Ave Church

Allen and Jeanie Meadows invited the 1971 Young Thundering Herd football players to our church on Sunday (December 10). It was fantastic! At 8:30 Allen led a memorial service in the cemetery across the street from our church building. Several people spoke at the memorial service including Head Coach Jack Lengyel and quarterback Reggie Oliver spoke. At 9:30 we had for coffee and refreshments for the team, church and community. This was followed by a worship assembly. Our assembly was filled with the presence of God in a unique way. The Holy Spirit moved us and Jesus Christ was praised. I preached a sermon from Hebrews 11 called “The Hall of Faith.” You can download the podcast of the service from itunes – just type in “Norway Avenue Church of Christ” and click on the free subscription. The Young Thundering Herd received two standing ovations during our assembly. They signed autographs afterwards. The community came, school administrators from Marshall came, we had to shuttle people from other parking lots (the bank and HIMG because our lot was packed). Newspaper reporters and television reporters were present. It was a great weekend. I thank God and give him praise! I thank Allen and Jeanie for there hard work and making it possible.

1971 Young Thundering Herd at Norway Ave This Sunday

The 1971 Young Thundering Herd football team will be at our church this Sunday. Allen and Jeanie Meadows contacted the players and they responded. They are coming to our church this Sunday - a total of 47 with family members. We're so excited! We are having a breakfast for so that the community can meet the real stars - the original players who rebuilt the Marshall University Football Program. This is two days before the premier. After the social at 9:30 we are having a worship service and I will be preaching "The Hall of Faith" from Hebrews 11. I pray that everything goes great and that Christ is glorified.

I killed a 4 point buck in WV

I killed a 4 point buck yesterday in Mason County WV. I hunted with Bob Mays Sr. – my brother-in-law’s dad. It reminded me of hunting with my father. Dad taught me how to hunt when I was a little boy. We spent a lot of time in the woods together. I can remember hunting with him like it was yesterday. One time dad and I went to Mason County and we both killed a deer the same day. We tracked dad’s deer for 3 hours. We loaded our deer in his pickup and drove to Bob’s house. I took a video of Dad – we still have it somewhere. I'm going to look for it so I can watch it again. It was a great hunt and it was on the same farm (Bob's farm) that I was hunting on yesterday. As I walked the trails I remembered walking with dad. Those are great memories. Dad was such a good man. He loved mom, Jeanie, Susan and me. He loved Allen, Bob, Kim and all of his grandchildren. He loved us all and we are grateful for him. Dad died November 23, 2000. He’s been in heaven six years (earth time). We will see him again when Jesus takes us to heaven. Hunting with Bob Sr. makes me think of dad. Bob Sr. is such a good Christian man and I enjoy spending time with him. We are going to hunt on 4-mile in Ohio next Monday.

Headed for Seattle Washington

I'm headed for Seattle Washington to meet with Jim Henderson, author of "aka lost". I had originally planned to see him at a workshop in Holland MI but the seminar was cancel. Fred Peatros is Jim's friend. Fred wrote Jim and asked him to meet with me. Thank you Fred!

Speaking at the Pike County Recovery Council

Last Friday I did another training for the counselors at the Pike County Recovery Council. This was my sixth training in Pike County Ohio. I am teaching counselors how to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to treat addiction, mood disorders and a variety of emotional and behavioral problems in outpatient treatment. The counselors are doing great work, applying the principles of CBT. We are doing a year-long outcome study of treatment effectiveness using three standardized measures. I love working with them.

By the grace of God I now have four years of sobriety.

By the grace of God I now have four years of sobriety. My sobriety date is October 19, 2002. I thank God for saving my life. I am so thankful that Kim stayed with me. She loved me when I was unlovable. She stayed with me and I am so thankful and I love her. We have three wonderful daughters that are happy and healthy. I’m so thankful for them. I love them. I thank God for my mom and Jeanie and Susan and all my family. I so thankful to be serving as a minister at Norway Avenue. The Christians at Norway Avenue are wonderful. I thought I had totally disqualified myself but God’s grace covered me and people forgave me. God has opened many doors for me. If you could have seen me four years ago you wouldn’t believe it. God did a miracle in my life and I give him praise. God saved me. I thank God for AA and my sponsors and all my friends in AA. I am most thankful for my Lord Jesus Christ.

You Can’t Grill It Until You Kill It

I love to hunt. I grew up in the WV hills. When I was a kid I played in the mountains and creeks. Swinging on grape vines, riding down trees, building a cabin, and damming up a stream. Fishing in the summer time, hunting in the fall, me and family we all had a ball, in the country (I may put that to music some day). I learned to hunt when I was a boy. It's stayed with me. I love to be in the woods. It was my day off and I stayed in the woods all day. Well, I did come out to eat lunch but I went right back. I killed a deer today. I killed another deer two days ago (last Saturday). I killed one in September on a land damage permit. God gave me three deer and it's only the first two weeks of 2006 deer season. I thank God for the thrill of the hunt and the meat. I eat what I kill. Tonight I grilled deer tenderloins and deer hamburger. I read the two scriptures below with fresh eyes this evening. Genesis 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. Acts 11:6 I [Peter] looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts … 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.' As Ted Nugent says "You can't grill it until you kill it."

Dreams

I dreamed about deer hunting last night. It was so vivid and real. I was hunting that big buck I've been hunting for two years. I saw him in my dream last night. I’ve seen him twice while awake (in real life). He is huge, a monster moose of a deer. And now I’m dreaming about that buck. I can’t get out in the woods to hunt him because of my schedule. So I’m dreaming about hunting him. Weird, isn't it. In the Bible God spoke to people in dreams. God spoke to Abimelech, Jacob, Joseph, Gideon’s friend, Samuel, Solomon, Daniel, and Joseph in dreams. God can still speak to people in dreams but I don’t believe my dream is a message from God. It’s simply my desire to hunt deer. I think about it a lot. My feeder and bow are in my garage. Three hundred pounds of corn are in my trunk. I just can’t find the time to get out in the woods. So I think about it while I’m working and even while I’m sleeping. We dream every night. It’s one of five stages of sleep. We don’t always remember our dreams but we always dream (if we sleep well). I believe dreams are an attempt to resolve some thing i.e., a problem, a thought, a desire, a preoccupation. We think about it even when we are unconscious. That’s probably what happened to me last night. I’m preoccupied with a sport that I can’t enjoy right now. So I just think about it. This cooler weather makes me want to rub my head against a tree or something. I want to hunt and until I actually get out in the woods I’ll dream about it.

Worshiping God Under the Stars

I like to think about the size of the universe when I look up at the stars. It is so large that scientist have to measure space by the speed of light. The ruler of measurement is one light second. Light travels 186,000 miles per second. It’s 1.3 light seconds to the moon. It’s 500 light seconds to our sun. When you move beyond the sun to other stars you need a bigger ruler called a light year. A light year is 32 million times longer than a light second. It takes 10 light hours get from one side of our solar system to the other. There are about 100 billion stars in our galaxy (the Milky Way) and it takes 100,000 light years to get from one side of our galaxy to the other. That’s just our galaxy. Over 2 million galaxies have been counted and scientist estimate that there could be as many as 100 million galaxies. When I look up at the stars and think about the size of God’s creation I feel like singing with David - "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Dr. David Olson Performed Additional Analysis with My Dissertation Data

It was such a surprise when I received an email from Dr. David Olson telling me that he had done additional analysis with my dissertation data. Dr. Olson, from the University of Minnesota has authored 100s of publications, including four marital satisfaction inventories that have been used by millions of couples. He’s like a guru in the marriage and family field and he used my research. I thank God for this. It came out of the blue – like a gift from heaven. Olson used the same data I used for my dissertation and did a comparison of the four groups on couple typology. It is unreal how similar the percentages are in each type across the four groups. He is featuring it in the PREPARE/ENRICH Newsletter since they are coming out with the Empowering Couples book in Spanish. You can read a short summary at this address - http://image.exacttarget.com/members/3362/hispanic_study.pdf - Or I pasted the summary below. _________________________

Hispanic and Caucasian Couples have Similar Couple Types Jeffery Garrett & David Olson (2006)

Although it is often assumed that couples from different ethnic groups will have unique patterns of marriage, this study found considerable similarity in the ENRICH couple types across four ethnic combinations (both Hispanic, both Caucasian, Male Hispanic—Female Caucasian, Male Caucasian—Female Hispanic) of married couples. The results indicate that the four groups had very similar numbers of couples in each of the five ENRICH types. These findings are based on ENRICH data used in a dissertation by Jeffery Garrett (2004) who found no significant differences between the four groups of couples on the major ENRICH scales (i.e. marital satisfaction, communication, conflict resolution). Using a national sample of 868 married couples who took ENRICH, these four groups of married couples were compared on the ENRICH Couple typology. The average age of the males was about 35 and females was 33 and they were married an average of 9 years. The individuals were second or third generation Hispanics. As illustrated in Figure I (see http://image.exacttarget.com/members/3362/hispanic_study.pdf), there are no significant differences in the percentage of the four groups of couples in any of the five couple types. About 20-25% of the couples were Vitalized, 5-10% were Harmonious, 10-15% were Traditional, 20-30% were Conflicted and about 25-35% were Devitalized. The only difference (not statistically significant) was that there were slightly more Hispanic couples that were Traditional and Devitalized, and fewer that were Conflicted than the other ethnic groups. This study clearly demonstrates the ENRICH Couple typology is relevant to Hispanic couples where one or both are Hispanic. It also demonstrates there is no significant differences between the Caucasian and Hispanic ethnic groups using this couple typology. These findings are similar to a study by Bill Allen and David Olson (2001) that found no significant difference between African American couples and Caucasian couples on the ENRICH couple typology. In summary, the current and earlier studies demonstrate that the five couple types based on ENRICH are valid for use with Hispanic, African American and Caucasian marriages. This is a powerful and important finding since it says that marriages across ethnic groups are not that different in terms of their underlying patterns. References: Allen, W.D. & Olson, D.H. (2001) Five types of African American Marriages based on ENRICH. Journal of Marital & Family Therapy. 27, 3, 301-314. Garrett, J. (2004) The Marital Satisfaction of Hispanic-White Interracial Couples. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Counselor Education, Ohio University. Garrett, J. & Olson, D.H. (2006) ENRICH Couple Typology and Hispanic and Caucasian Married Couples. Unpublished manuscript. Minneapolis, MN: Life Innovations.

Back home with our girls

The Greenbrier was great and it's good to be back home. I love my girls. They are so precious and dear to me. Kim and I had a great time. I was happy with my presentation and I thank God for the opportunity. I also thank Pat Chambers - she's great!

From the Greenbrier

Kim is sleeping. I am rehearsing i.e., preparing for my talk in the morning. We had dinner with Pat, two sisters, the president and president elect of the auxiliary, a volunteer and her son (who was a graduate of Bob Jones University) and the CEO of St Mary’s and his wife. Pat is wonderful. Her personality is perfect for her job as director. We had a pleasant evening at the table with 11 people. It was a 3 course dinner plus dissert. We thank Pat for the treat. This was a special night for Kim and me. I pray I do a good job in the morning. I have to get back to rehearsing it.

Headed to the Greenbrier Hotel

Kim and I will leave in the morning for the Greenbrier Hotel. My friend Pat Chambers invited be to speak to the Directors of Volunteer Services for hospitals in WV. It’s a special treat for Kim and I and I pray I do a good job speaking.

A Prayer for My Classmates

I emailed this prayer to my classmates and posted it on our blog. I thought I would share it. _____________________________ Classmates, I hope you don't mind me saying a little prayer for our class. I just feel like praying for everyone. So here is my prayer .... Father, Thank you for the wonderful time we had at the reunion. Thank you for our friendships that last forever. We seldom get to see each other but when we get together it’s like we were never apart. We feel just as close and connected as we did when we were teenagers. We truly love and care for each other and it is so great. We realize all of this comes from you. So thank you God. Thank you for taking care of us. Thank you for blessing our families. Thank you for our parents and brothers and sisters. Thank you for our children. It means so much to see our friends’ families. We realize that everything good comes from you and we thank you Lord. It was great to learn about all the wonderful things our classmates are doing in their community. We are homemakers and dentil hygienists and coalminers and construction workers and electricians and computer technicians and communication specialists and teachers and school administrators and real estate agents and car dealership owners and restaurant managers and office administrators and secretaries and truck drivers and businesswomen and businessmen and computer programmers and on and on. Our classmates are gifted and talented. They are making the world a better place. We are spread out from California to Virginia and from Indiana to Florida. Our class is making a positive difference in the world. Thank you for blessing our friends with all of these abilities and the contribution they are making. We know all these good things come from you. Thank you Lord! We are sadden because we have lost some of our friends to death. Please bless and comfort their families. Thank you for the time we had with them. Now, after thanking you for all of these things, we want to ask you to bless us more. Please keep us and our families healthy and safe. Cover us with your protection. Send strong angels to guard our children. Help us to trust Jesus Christ, your Son, and bless us with faith to believe you, hope for the future, and love. Help us to love you and to love others as you love us. Bless us financially and materially, but most of all bless us spiritually so that we are close to you. Bless us in everyway and we will give you all the glory and thanks. Lord, in five years, bring us all back together again for another reunion. The older we get the more important it becomes. Until then, we will remember our 25th Year Reunion. We will remember the smiles, the laughter, the hugs, the music, the dancing, the stories – we will remember it all and give you thanks for allowing us to grow up together and to be friends. So bring us all back together in five years. And then one day, take us all home to be with you. Please forgive all our sins and take everyone of us to the big reunion you have planned for us in heaven. In Jesus Name, Amen! Jeff

Long Time No See

I've been absent from this blog because I have been working on four other blogs. Two for my students at Marshall (which would probably bore you to tears) and two for my high school reunion. My high school reunion was wonderful! I loved it! If you you would like to see a slide show of my reunion (my daughter Amber helped me with this slide show on myspace. Amber is great with this stuff!) just click this link and turn up the music - http://www.myspace.com/scott_high_1981

Tristate Chinese School

My friends, Berlin and Fountane Fang, began the Tristate Chinese School which meets in our church building. It is growing! Berlin and Fountain (and their children Faith and Frank) are an amazing family. They shine so bright because they are full of Christ. Watch this video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6v2X2xvm-Q