Shhhh! I have a confession
Anybody that knows my father knows that he is, well, uh, different. He has a great sense of humor and you never know what will come out of his mouth or when it will come out. One of his favorite ongoing jokes is that one day he is going to write the final book of the Bible entitled "The Gospel According to Dr. Bubba'. It will have verses like, "It is not a lie if everybody knows you are lying" and "Where two or three are gathered together, take up an offering" and "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Obviously by those verses you can tell it is all a joke and none of his "truths" are really true except for a few like "Women's logic has nothing to do with logic." After almost 22 years of marriage I can see some truth in that. For instance, why do we have towels hanging in the bathroom but are not allowed to dry our hands on them?
One of Dr. Bubba's so called truths that has a little truth to it has been on my mind this morning. It goes like this, "Confession is good for the soul but bad for the reputation." Now the reason this has been on my mind is because while searching through some old pictures last night looking for some pictures to place in my daughter's 8th grade annual my wife come across a picture from my past, from my way back past. Back before there were camera phones, digital phones and internet. To my knowledge there was only a few photos like this that ever existed and I had assumed all had been lost over the years. I had forgotten that I received a reprint of one of those photos almost ten years ago. Then there it was in my wife's hand. The room was filled with giggles as I looked at this horrifying
pictures. You see, in my teen years I enjoyed doing something that not many people do. At times I miss it but I remind myself it is from my past. But now my past has caught up with me. Now, I know your asking why I would want to risk my reputation and confess this now. I have seen enough TV and movies to know that when someone, my wife, has incriminating photos, like she had last night, only one thing can happen, blackmail. I know my wife and daughter very well. I can see them turning this photo into trips to shopping trips and meals at Outback. Especially my daughter. Again from TV and movies I saw the only way to beat blackmail is to get it out in the open so here goes.
It started when I was 11 or 12 years old at of all places youth camp, Caswell. Way back then the format for Caswell was different than today. Instead of small group Bible study you could take an elective class. You were not getting out of Bible study but instead you were learning a ministry and getting Bible study. A person my father went to school with was teaching one of those elective class, Mark McMasters. So on his advice I took....Clowning. Not only did I take it but I enjoyed it. I came up with my clown name, BoBo the Hobo. Over the next 10 years or so I found many opportunities to clown. One year at Caswell they had a clowning trio come lead and I got to take more clowning and go on stage as Bobo. My mother used Bobo to promote VBS and other things. I did a few Fall Festivals before retiring my clown shoes. I never learned to make animal balloons or do many tricks because I found it was funnier to the people if I couldn't do them. I learned from Mark some of the falls and how to use some Mime in a routine but mostly I learned to minister through clowning.
The verse Mark used that year as our theme verse was I Corinthians 4:10 and that may be the only verse I remember from my 10 or 12 trips to Caswell as a youth and as a leader.
I Corinthians 4:10 (KJV) "We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ..."
This verse really hit me in the heart. As a PK (Preacher's Kid) I was very sensitive about church. I was afraid if I talked about it too much people would label me a religious nut but if I didn't talk about it enough people may assume I was one of those worldly PK's just waiting to escape their father's iron grip. The theory that PK's were wild came from Footloose before that we were thought to be goody goodies but that is a thought for another blog another day. My so called problem was church was a huge part of my life. It wasn't all because I was made to go either. I enjoyed it. I loved God. I wanted to do what was right because I was a Christian. I wanted to talk about church, God and everything that goes with God but I was afraid of what others thought of me. Especially those I just met. So when Mark spoke about how it was ok to be thought of as a fool for Christ by the world because they didn't understand the things we were doing and their opinion didn't matter anyway it spoke to my heart. It helped me be ok with being who I was, a child of God. It was a lesson I had to relearn over and over but it was always this verse that reminded me that what God thinks of me is more important than what others think of me.
So Christians, it is ok if the world thinks we are fools for believing in God and trusting in His word. It is ok if they think we are crazy for wanting to live by God's standards and not theirs. It is ok if our opinion isn't politically correct or popular. We live to serve God not the world. We live to please God not the world. After all we are to be the salt and the light and that is different than the dark world. So we are to stand out and yes we are to be considered fools by the world. After all, many thought Jesus to be a fool too while He was on the cross but three days later the empty tomb proved otherwise. So go get you clown on for Jesus. Oh yea, here is a picture to make you laugh as you go.
One of Dr. Bubba's so called truths that has a little truth to it has been on my mind this morning. It goes like this, "Confession is good for the soul but bad for the reputation." Now the reason this has been on my mind is because while searching through some old pictures last night looking for some pictures to place in my daughter's 8th grade annual my wife come across a picture from my past, from my way back past. Back before there were camera phones, digital phones and internet. To my knowledge there was only a few photos like this that ever existed and I had assumed all had been lost over the years. I had forgotten that I received a reprint of one of those photos almost ten years ago. Then there it was in my wife's hand. The room was filled with giggles as I looked at this horrifying
It started when I was 11 or 12 years old at of all places youth camp, Caswell. Way back then the format for Caswell was different than today. Instead of small group Bible study you could take an elective class. You were not getting out of Bible study but instead you were learning a ministry and getting Bible study. A person my father went to school with was teaching one of those elective class, Mark McMasters. So on his advice I took....Clowning. Not only did I take it but I enjoyed it. I came up with my clown name, BoBo the Hobo. Over the next 10 years or so I found many opportunities to clown. One year at Caswell they had a clowning trio come lead and I got to take more clowning and go on stage as Bobo. My mother used Bobo to promote VBS and other things. I did a few Fall Festivals before retiring my clown shoes. I never learned to make animal balloons or do many tricks because I found it was funnier to the people if I couldn't do them. I learned from Mark some of the falls and how to use some Mime in a routine but mostly I learned to minister through clowning.
The verse Mark used that year as our theme verse was I Corinthians 4:10 and that may be the only verse I remember from my 10 or 12 trips to Caswell as a youth and as a leader.
I Corinthians 4:10 (KJV) "We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ..."
This verse really hit me in the heart. As a PK (Preacher's Kid) I was very sensitive about church. I was afraid if I talked about it too much people would label me a religious nut but if I didn't talk about it enough people may assume I was one of those worldly PK's just waiting to escape their father's iron grip. The theory that PK's were wild came from Footloose before that we were thought to be goody goodies but that is a thought for another blog another day. My so called problem was church was a huge part of my life. It wasn't all because I was made to go either. I enjoyed it. I loved God. I wanted to do what was right because I was a Christian. I wanted to talk about church, God and everything that goes with God but I was afraid of what others thought of me. Especially those I just met. So when Mark spoke about how it was ok to be thought of as a fool for Christ by the world because they didn't understand the things we were doing and their opinion didn't matter anyway it spoke to my heart. It helped me be ok with being who I was, a child of God. It was a lesson I had to relearn over and over but it was always this verse that reminded me that what God thinks of me is more important than what others think of me.
So Christians, it is ok if the world thinks we are fools for believing in God and trusting in His word. It is ok if they think we are crazy for wanting to live by God's standards and not theirs. It is ok if our opinion isn't politically correct or popular. We live to serve God not the world. We live to please God not the world. After all we are to be the salt and the light and that is different than the dark world. So we are to stand out and yes we are to be considered fools by the world. After all, many thought Jesus to be a fool too while He was on the cross but three days later the empty tomb proved otherwise. So go get you clown on for Jesus. Oh yea, here is a picture to make you laugh as you go.
Parting Thought: Life is short so smile while you still have teeth.
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