One of my favorite and most fun times of the year is the evening of my birthday.  It's on the 20th of December, a few days before Christmas when all the lights are up throughout Albany.  After a phenomenal meal consisting of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green peas, and a coconut cream pie with coffee; we all cram into the van and begin our journey critiquing the current year's lights.   It's an absolute blast!

Being able to act silly and laugh uncontrollably with friends and loved ones is a great joy in life.  Think about it!   There is such emotional health in having those with whom you can be totally free.  I've always imagined Jesus walking down the road with his arms around the shoulders of two of His disciples, while the twelve joked around, teasing one another without mercy.  Sometimes laughing so hard, they are bending over with tears in their eyes, unable to breathe.  I am sure mealtimes were not always solemn events, but times of great hilarity, a joyous time among friends.  

Be honest, how many of you have recently laughed so hard your insides ached?  You cried out, "No more, I can't handle it!"  Those are some of the richest times in my life.  Years ago, while in Virginia, Judy and I were going through a very difficult time.  Our pastor was visiting, and we shared with him some of the anguish we were experiencing, a very painful time for both of us.  He made a simple statement, "Just laugh at it!"  An amazing thing happened the moment he said it.  I began to laugh uncontrollably.  People were all around, but it didn't matter, I couldn't stop laughing!  I leaned against the wall holding my belly, literally trying to catch my breath.  By this time, Judy was also laughing uncontrollably.   Later that night while in bed, we were still laughing, yet the painful situation had not changed.

There are times when the Holy Spirit initiates such laughter.  Great belly-laughs don't always indicate it's a God moment, but when it's of Him, there is genuine release and healing.  He can also initiate times of crying, even wailing with such depth that we can sense a real cleansing in our soul.  It is God producing an inward healing that gives us hope, fresh belief that He is indeed in control.  I've experienced both, and I love the laughter more, probably because I needed it more.  Whether it's hanging out with friends or a God-ordained moment, it's one of the healthiest activities for our physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.  If a "cheerful heart can be good medicine," how much more benefit a heart of pure, unadulterated, falling down laughter?

With the joy of the season, there may also be a lot of pressure, worries, and even sadness.   I pray each of us have God encounters, however they come, that will produce what we all need----LAUGHTER!  Not just this time of the year but throughout the year.  Everybody say, "May it be so!"

It’s amazing what lodges in the deep fabric of your life as you live out what is called the, “the senior years.”  When I listen to some of my oldies music, I can tell exactly where I was and what I was doing when each song became popular.  I also remember so clearly throwing to third base for an error instead of first in a little league game, which would have been the third out of the inning.  I remember being passionately in love with Benona Brown in junior high school in Little Rock, but paralyzed to do anything but gawk.  And yes, her name was Benona.

One of my horrifying moments as a nine year old was during a Sunday school skit when all I had to say was, “My name is Butch, I’m really a louse; I scatter my clothes and books all over the house.”  I ended up saying something like, “My name is clothes all over the house.” It was an ultra moment of embarrassment for me, which is why it’s still lodged in my memory.   Even so, I can enjoy the good memories today, and laugh at many of the awkward, embarrassing, wanting to hide-in-a closet memories of the past.  My Sunday school memory is simply a good story today.

But some memories impacting our lives today rob us of a joyful, productive, victorious salvation.  I’ve indicated more than once how shame governed much, if not most of my adult life.  Hating my alcoholic mom, hating my parents getting a divorce when I was seven, hating being tossed back and forth between families in which to live, hating each time I had to start over in a new school, hating being poor throughout my high school years, allowed shame to easily embed itself within me.

When Jesus was so powerfully revealed to me in 1967 much of that shame was leveled.  I literally felt I was a new person and my life took on a whole new realm of freedom I had never experienced since my earliest memories.  I instantly had a love for my mom instead of having loathed her.  Months later after that momentous encounter, I received more inner healing by a gifted woman at a Christian camp in Georgia.  Shame has been reckoned with, though each day brings new tests and challenges.  Singing, “Oh Victory in Jesus,” is not just a nice little chorus---it’s the reality of breakthrough for any believer!

Today, there is help available for anyone who is willing to open up his life for the Holy Spirit’s precision work.  God’s Spirit will respond to a desperate heart’s cry, and often uses someone within the Body of Christ to minister a deliverance of freedom.  The key is a desire to be free no matter what!  Men are particularly stubborn when it comes to opening their lives to the Spirit’s work.  This is foolish and reveals how pride is the wall of separation from either genuine healing or continued self-inflicted misery.  One of the core values at WellSpring is freedom for each follower of Jesus.  Put another way, “Bondage Sucks!” 

Paul gives us a big clue when he says, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.”  Grasping the reality of this goes a long way in our becoming the freest people on the face of the earth.

In my opinion, one of the greatest obstacles the Church has had to deal with over the years is an “either/or” mentality.  This is manifested in various ways, but particularly when it comes to feelings or experiences.  Let me say right off that I would not have been a Christian over forty years ago if the Spirit of God had not dramatically filled my eyes with the most brilliant light you could imagine.  I knew in a millisecond that Jesus was real.  In fact, when I caught my breath, all I could say was, “He’s real!”  “He’s real!”   A week later when the Holy Spirit came upon me and I began to speak in tongues, there was an overwhelming sense of God’s presence and a peace that drew me ever closer to the One who had apprehended me the previous week.  Many times I have sensed the manifest presence of God and have known the refreshing that comes with such an encounter.  Such encounters have never lessened my intimacy with God; they have fueled an increase for more.

So, do I love such moments in my journey of faith?  You betcha!  Is my faith solely built on experiences and feelings?  No, but I wouldn’t want to miss out on those encounters for anything in this world.   Was Paul ashamed of being caught up in the third heaven?   Did Peter apologize for going into a trance where he received amazing revelation concerning Gentiles being introduced to the same Savior as Peter and his band of brothers and sisters?  We can’t say, “Come Holy Spirit and have your way,” then restrict what He can and can’t do. 

From Genesis to Revelation, almost every page is filled with supernatural demonstrations of God’s Kingdom invading ours, with countless feelings and experiences threaded throughout.  Yet there has always been this very vocal outcry that decries such manifestations as dangerous and for believers to stay clear of getting caught up in emotions and experiences. 

Being grounded in God’s word is essential.  Anything that cannot be held up to the standard of His word should be suspect, but the problem is not with the non-negotiable truths of our faith, it’s with those who make judgments born out of preferences and interpretations.   When something makes us afraid or takes away our control we tend to ignore it, or stand against it.   Many if not most of the major denominations began out of revival, out of unexplained manifestations that denoted God’s Kingdom invading ours.  Believer’s going to excess that’s beyond God’s intentions in any revival period is a given, but throwing out the power the church desperately needs to demonstrate the reality of God’s Kingdom on earth is foolish.

Why not embrace both - the sound biblical doctrines of the Christian faith with the awesome raw power to demonstrate what we profess?  

The truth is, who is more in the flesh, the one who swings on the chandelier in “Jesus’ Name,” or the one who hides comfortably behind theological studies and purity of doctrine?  Why can there not be both - sound biblical doctrine along with thrilling demonstrations of God power and presence on the earth.   A passionate love for the One who gave us a new life and a wholehearted pursuit of His Kingdom ought to take care of the “either/or” problem.  Don’t caution me about experiences and feeling, and I won’t caution you about clarifying true theological content.

I didn't despair at all in turning seventy.  It was far less traumatic than when I turned thirty.  I guess when you reach a prominent senior age, you’re pretty much resigned to settle in and embrace each and every day granted.  However, my gratitude level has leaped amazingly high with the awareness that I am enjoying life as never before!   I can only declare with as much gusto as possible, “The best days are before me and Judy.”

Following the One who broke into my life over forty years ago has been one thrill after another.  I had an extreme makeover when Jesus revealed Himself to me on that wondrous day, and the journey He set me on has been a “fasten your seatbelt ride” of breathtaking proportions.  When I asked Judy to marry me over thirty-eight years ago, she buckled up the seatbelt also, and together we’ve lived out our dreams with an occasional nightmare popping up now and then. 

Society makes it clear that the older you become, the less relevant you become.  The common collective thinking is that at a certain age, you are to gracefully exit stage right and allow the younger, more dynamic members in the various spheres of life to lead the way.  That mindset has some merit as long as the senior community is fully incorporated with society’s move forward.  The whole concept of retirement has been a horrible solution for older folks.  How do you retire from life?   How do you retire from dreams and destiny?  What if Noah had quit working on the ark? What if Abraham had scoffed at having a son at such an old age?  What if Samuel in his later years had missed out on anointing David as king?  What if John had been too settled to write one of the most amazing books in all of scripture?

I love the Church and how the Spirit of God pulls every believer, young and old, into the tapestry of His grand design.  The zeal of the Lord is not just for the younger generation; it is for all followers of Jesus who have put their hands to the plow.  Retire?  Baloney!  For every senior in the church who withdraws from the most exciting adventure ever planned from the beginning of time – shame on you!

I want to be among those whom Ern Baxter used to say would sit around the campfire in heaven swapping stories.  What if the most remarkable event in your life is set for tomorrow?  What if the finest chapter in your life will be written tomorrow?  What if you will be used tomorrow to change a life that will change the world?  Bailing out on knowing more of God and His love, on extending the Kingdom of God in power, and mentoring the ones who need it, is not an option for us seniors.   

To be honest, I do miss the ability of leaping over tall buildings in a single bound when I was younger.  Physical prowess, quicker reflexes, and a swift and sure memory have lagged a bit, but a deepening awareness of life, and the sorting out of what is of consequence and what is fluff levels the field.  I am so grateful that God saw fit to call me forth from the tomb I was imprisoned in back in 1967, and that He continues to call me forth into the ever-increasing cliff dwelling experiences of my life today.   My life has been good, it’s good today, and it’s gonna be good tomorrow.  Meanwhile, Judy and I will stay “buckled-up” till we’re done.