Herman's Hermits And Renewed Childlikeness

At the beginning of this year I renewed a decision I made a couple of years ago. The decision was to embrace whatever childlikeness I can find in myself. Not childishness, but childlikeness. I grew up way too early. Married at nineteen, becoming a senior pastor the same year, having four children by the time I was the time I was 28 years old. I’ve never regretted any of it for a moment, but I do have a credit due when it comes to playful times. So now I’m cashing in – and enjoying it now that I’m in my fifties.

When do we outgrow our childlike hearts? I don’t believe we ever should. Who said that maturity means we can’t laugh loudly and sing hard and be made to feel good by the simplest things? Whoever said it should be sent back to kindergarten and taught to be childlike again.

So, in keeping with my commitment to trust God to grow my heart back down to the size of a child’s heart, Melanie and I did something fun this weekend. We went into a time machine. Well, it wasn’t exactly that, but it felt like it to me. We went to Busch Gardens to see my all-time-favorite group from the sixties – Herman’s Hermits.

I thought Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits were the greatest when I was a child. I liked “The British Invasion” in general, but nothing compared to these guys. At the age of ten, I received my first album (Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter) and I was hooked. To hear Peter Noone in person this weekend was really exciting for this middle aged man who hasn’t sung rock ‘n roll songs so loudly, clapped so hard or felt so much like an adolescent in a lot of years. Peter is a great entertainer with a wonderful sense of humor. He seems like an all-around nice guy.

The photos above are Peter Noone with me, Peter and Melanie, and Herman (Peter Noone) in concert. The top photo is him signing two albums he recorded that I’ve kept since I was a ten year old boy. I also gave him a copy of one of my books in the hopes that he might read it. I wrote on the inside cover: “It was great to hear you in person and to meet you. Who were The Beatles anyway? Herman’s Hermits rule!” I hope he’ll read the book.

When is the last time you did a childlike thing? I highly recommend it. I’m serious about things when it’s time to be serious. Sometimes, though, a man just needs to be a kid again – and I was one this weekend – and I loved it.

This video was recorded in 1964, the year I got my first Herman’s Hermits record for Christmas. I know some of you younger ones will think it’s corny, but some of you my age, who can already see the boundaries of Geezer-Land ahead may appreciate it. It sure makes me feel like “I’m into something good” again.

Wow, Talk About A Big God!

I've been reading a book by Thomas Dubay called The Evidential Power of Beauty, that has stirred my imagination and caused me to revel in the bigness of the God we serve. Having recently recorded teachings from the book of Job, where God reminds Job of all He has created (Job 38-39), this information was particularly encouraging in understanding more about how big the God is who manges the details of our lives.

Did you know these things:

Our earth is a little over 8000 miles in diameter.
Over a million earths would fit into our sun.
Our home galaxy, The Milky Way, has 2 or 3 billion stars like our sun. (Actually, our sun is a small star compared to many.)
It would take a jet 100,000 million years to make the trip around our galaxy once.
It would take that same jet 5.5 million years to travel one-way to Alpha Centauri, the other nearest neighbor we have in this galaxy.
Our known universe is 12-15 lightyears to its edges. (Remember that light travels at 186,000 miles per second and a lightyear is the distance light can travel in a year.)
Scientists have recently discovered the largest galaxy thus far known. Abell 2029 is sixty times the size of our own and possesses more than 100 trillion stars. It is a billion light-years from us.

Someone has estimated that there are about 10,000 grains in a handful of sand. There are more stars in our universe than grains of sand on all the beaches of the world.

The Hubble Telescope suggests that there are more than 50 billion galaxies in the universe with each having 2-4 billion stars.

Astonomer Chet Raymo wrote that it would take 10,000 boxes of salt to have as many grains as there are stars in the Andromeda Galaxy. Rembember, this is one of 50 billion galaxies.

The largest star discovered thus far is Betelgeuse, which is about 500 times the size of our sun. (Remember that over a million earths would fit into our sun.)

My brain spins thinking of all this, does yours? The psalmist said, "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?" (Psalm 8:3-4) I suppose his brain would have exploded if he had had the benefit of the Hubble Telescope.

Wow, what a big God we serve! And to think, he knows and cares about you and me individually. It's mind-boggling.

Check out this link and look at where you live: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html

Ministry in Atlanta

This past week has been a busy one. Last weekend I was in Atlanta, where I spoke on Friday to the members of the Association of Exchanged Life. It was enjoyable to be with these colleagues and friends in ministry. I spoke on the topics "Mighty Men on Mission" and "Guardians of Grace," both taken from the book of 1 Chronicles.

Then on Sunday I spoke at the Marietta Church of God to an excited and receptive congregation. Three of my children spent the night with me on Saturday night and went to church with me on Sunday. It was a fun time together with my kids. They are such an encouragement to me. I was also able to visit with my grandchildren, which of course is a highlight in life for any grandparent.

I'll be limping along, playing the role of a pathetic bachelor, this week. Melanie is with our youngest daughter, Amber, in the Bahamas right now. The company Amber works with sends their people on a trip once a year and they can take a friend. This year they were sent to Freeport and Amber asked Melanie to go with her. They are coming back today and Melanie will spend the week in Atlanta visiting with our children and grandchildren. She will come home on Friday. I say I'm playing the role of a "pathetic bachelor" because I don't do well without Melanie. Having been married since I was 19, I'll be the first to admit that my wife has totally spoiled me. For instance, she left dinners in tuperware bowls for me to heat up and eat this week. Otherwise, it would be fast food every day. Like I said, I'm pathetic without her. I know it.

I'll be working this week on a small group workbook I'm developing. Its format will be a lot like The Grace Walk Experience. The focus will be on intimacy with God. My working title is Journey Into Intimacy. I hope to finish it and make it available in the spring.