Wild Strawberries and 7-11 Songs

As you look back on your life it’s funny the things you remember. And it’s strange how your mind pairs them together. Recently, two things from my childhood came together at the same time—wild strawberries and a “7-11 song.”

I pretty much grew up attending church services and meetings. Dad was a pastor. The first church I can remember was the Mt. Zion Southern Baptist Church in Kilbourne, Illinois. Well, more precisely, Mt. Zion was out in the country near Kilbourne. It was the traditional country church building, I think. It even had a cemetery close by. As summer is just around the corner I was recently reminded of the wild strawberries behind the church. (I wonder if they still grow there?)

In the mid-50’s parents weren’t so concerned about the safety of their children. After the worship service I could run free outside the church building. And, when they were producing, my first stop would be the wild strawberry patch. I’m sure they were not as sweet as the home grown or store variety. But for a five year old boy the thing about those strawberries was that I could eat as many as I wanted. Since Dad was the pastor we were usually the last to leave, and that gave me a lot of time in the strawberry patch.

There were other “sweet” things about my preschool experiences in church. Sunday School classes for the children were in the basement. We had wires stretched across the basement with curtains that slid along those wires to make the classrooms. If you didn’t like what was going on in your classroom you could always listen to what was happening in the one on the other side of the curtain.

So what do I remember about preschool Sunday School? Uh, not a lot. But I do remember feeling loved and I remember “Do Lord.” Oh how I loved to sing “Do Lord.” When I thought about it the other day I burst out in song. And it dawned on me. “Do Lord” was a “7-11 song.”

For you who don’t know what a “7-11 song” is, it refers to songs where you sing the same phrase over and over again—like seven words eleven times.” I’m not going to attach an audio file with me singing it. You don’t need that pain. But, when I was five years-old I loved singing that chorus and had no idea that Johnny Cash recorded it. I just liked the song and knew I wanted to go to “glory land” one day.

Wild strawberries and a “7-11 song.” Those were sweet days for a five year-old boy. You know what? It would be a pretty sweet day for this old guy today. Oh, and here are the lyrics for “Do Lord.”

"Do Lord"

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
Way beyond the blue.

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
Way beyond the blue.

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

Asking the Wrong Questions

Let's see. I've served in eight different ministry positions. I've been interviewed for several others in churches or Christian organizations. Recently I had the opportunity to reflect on the process of being interviewed. I've been reading a book by Gregory Frizzell, Seeking God to Seek A Pastor. Dr. Frizzell makes the point that search committees often start with the wrong questions. They never seem to ask about the pastor's personal spiritual qualifications.

So, as I reflected I realized that I've not once been asked about my personal time in prayer and Bible study. I've been asked to tell when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and about God's call on my life for vocational ministry. I've been asked to discuss the growth in my last ministry position. I've been asked all the regular questions, but I'm convinced I've not been asked the important questions. In short, there have been no probing questions about my daily relationship with the Lord. I guess those doing the interview have assumed that I had a good daily relationship with the Lord because I was in vocational ministry.

I've come to the conclusion that this is a faulty assumption. Depending upon which survey you read the average pastor spends, on average, someplace between fifteen minutes and thirty minutes in prayer each day. How can one who will be the spiritual leader of a church do so without spending time with the Lord?

We have a host of writers telling us the most important thing in the church is leadership. They take a passing stab at the importance of spiritual leadership and then move on to talk about leadership qualities that could easily be divorced from spiritual leadership. Two of the greatest leaders mentioned in the Bible are Moses and David. Yet, neither of them read the latest John Maxwell book on leadership or one of Thom Rainer's contributions to leadership. They simply spent time with God and allowed Him to direct them.

Maybe that's why the church is struggling so much today. Without leaders who spend vast amounts of time alone with God how will they provide the spiritual leadership necessary to lead our Lord's church?

It's time we stop asking the wrong questions and start answering the right questions about those who would lead our churches and Christian organizations. Tell me about your private time with the Lord each day? What has the Lord said personally to you today? How much time do you spend in personal Bible study and prayer?

How would you answer those questions?

Clutter

We've got family coming to visit and I thought it would be a good idea to clean up my home office a little. As I looked around I saw my 2007 tax file laying in the floor. It's been several weeks since I had my taxes figured and that should have been filed. Over a year ago I bought a new Smartphone. I still see my old one laying on the desk. I attended a meeting in January and I have a paper on my desk that needs to be added to the computer file I started while there. I could go on, but you get the picture. There is a lot of clutter in my office and I need to take a serious stab at taking care of it.

As I looked around I was reminded that our lives often get cluttered. It doesn't happen all at once. Like my office, it's a piece here and an event there. Instead of dealing with it at the moment we put it off until later. Then, one day we look around and marvel how cluttered our lives have become. And then we understand why we've had difficulty hearing from God lately.

There's a parable in the Bible that reminds one of the need to deal with clutter. Jesus told the parable of the soils and one of the soils he talked about was the soil that was covered with thorns. There the seed could not produce an adequate crop because it was choked. (See Luke 4:1-20)

In the explanation of the soils Jesus explained that the seed in the thorn-choked soil represented the word of God in the lives of people who are cluttered with the things of this world. The word never adequately grows in their lives.

As I thought about my office I also thought about my life. I found some clutter there that needs to be cleaned up. I'm trying to take care of that because I want God's word to take root and produce a good harvest in my life. I hope that's your desire, too.

Just Do It!

Just Do It! That seems to be the advice for a lot of things in life. When you contemplate a certain action there finally comes a time when you have to make a decision. Friends or family may advise: Just do it!

That's not to say one doesn't (or shouldn't) give thought to an action before one does it. However, it does imply that, sooner or later, action needs to take place. Let's face it, a lot of times we know what needs to be done. We just procrastinate. We have all kinds of clever games we play to keep from doing it, whatever "it" may be. We tell ourselves we have higher priorities, but that's not always true. We tell ourselves action is not really that important, but you and I both know it is. We say someone else will do it, but we know we are the ones who should really do it. Well, you get the idea.

Here's the thing. I think we do this too often in our relationship with God. Here's a classic example. As believers, we know that we should spend time in Bible study. I'm not talking about devotions, here. I'm talking about serious time in God's Word. Our relationship with our Father has already shown us it's the right thing to do. However, we play clever games. We tell ourselves we have other priorities right now, but we'll get to it seriously a little later. We may try to fool ourselves by saying that it's the pastor's or Bible study leader's job to lead us in Bible study. What excuse do you use?

Yet, despite all of that, we know Bible study is important. We understand that it's important to our relationship with God. We even understand that, as an act of obedience, we should "study to show ourselves approved." So finally, we understand. It's time to "just do it."

Be forewarned, though. It's addictive. If you once start to spend serious time with God in His Word you'll meet Him on every page in every word. And one day you'll realize that one of the great joys in your Christian experience -- in all of your life -- is your daily time with your Father. And you'll crave more time with Him each day.