First Baptist Church of La Plata

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

Isn’t it interesting that one of the most used rebuttals or disagreements that so many people use to debate Christianity is whether Jesus is the only way to have eternal life in heaven?  I was just glancing over some of the notes that Thomas Aguinas made on this passage of scripture in his Summa Theologiae works and was reminded of some of the comments that Dr. R. C. Sproul made himself concerning this passage of scripture in a number of different Table Talk programs.  All of those works are very intriguing to me but way over my head if I don’t really sit down, read or listen to them, and allow myself to really think about what is being expressed.  What brought me to this passage of scripture was much closer to me personally.  I was reading one of my daughter’s Facebook entries where she was recounting her experiences when she was still living at home as a child.  I too remember those days because I believe beyond any shadow of a doubt that was a pivotal time in my life.

The year was 1993.  I had asked my children to stay with their mother down south since my ship had changed home ports and I knew my time at the new home port was going to be too short to ask for housing assistance.  During that stay with their mother, my eldest daughter told me in a phone call that they wanted to stay with her.  I used those comments as a perfect excuse to go out, get drunk, and eventually get arrested for a Driving While Intoxicated (DWI).  The judge was very gracious to me and told me that if I served 48 hours in jail and attended a rehab course that the charge would be expunged from my record.  I did my time in jail but was expelled from the rehab course in my final weeks because of a “broken promise” to my counselor during one of my weekend outings.  As a side note, I found it interesting that I saw my counselor going into an “Adult” bookstore as I was driving out of town.  I followed him in there to confront his own morality and choice of expelling me but quickly turned around because of my own weakness to the environment.  We never did talk again.

Fast forward to March of ’94.  For the first time in my military career, I received no less than seven sets of orders to this area (different commands), without a single one being cancelled.  That, too, is a very moving issue but I’ll recount that at a later time.  I moved into an apartment and immediately sought out a church that I could get my family – myself and my children, involved.  As seemed to be the standard during this period of my life, I found a church almost immediately that had a very active youth program as well as a Pastor that delivered a very “down-to-earth” type of sermon.  In retrospect, I believe that was about all I could handle at that time.  I decided early on to make this our church home.  Fast forward again to July of 94 when I had my children (14, 11, and 9 years old at this time) flown back out here from their mother’s place.

November ’94.  I had come home from work and as usual needed to stop at the store just around the corner from our apartment to get some groceries.  As I started to drive home, I was pulled over by a policeman for expired license plates.  When he ran my driver’s license, he detected that it had been suspended.  I told him of my previous encounter and that it had been promised to be removed.  The officer told me that he was going to have to impound my vehicle and I could resolve this in court.  He offered to carry me and my groceries back to the apartment in his squard car; I told him I needed to walk.  I knew that I had to have some time to think; this was the day before Thanksgiving.  My boss had earlier in the day invited the four of us to their house; I knew I was going to have to explain this to her and my children.  Though I had already told my boss of the DWI charge, the prison time, and the rehab requirement – I really had not recounted the fact that I had been “kicked out.”  As I walked across the apartment complex parking lot toward our apartment, I thought long and hard about how I was going to explain all of this to her and my children.  I opted to tell the whole truth first to my children – making no excuses for my choices, and then to tell the complete story truthfully – again without blaming anyone or without excuses, to my boss.  This turned out to be the best, most memorable Thanksgivings and Christmases I have ever had.  It’s truly amazing that even my children remember this particular Christmas so easily.  I believe that is because of the way that they saw the Church respond.  The reason, to me, it is so easy to remember is even easier to understand.

Each Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ – that is why the holiday has the name it does.  If you look at the word and understand that the portion of the word “mas” comes from the Latin word “body” then you can see that it is the celebration of “Christ’s Body.”  Will you look at the focal passage of scripture again where Jesus Christ Himself said that he is the Truth?  What I have discovered in life is that when I am truthful (allowing Christ to fill me with His presence), I have been blessed beyond my wildest imaginations.  If only you knew me, you would know just how vivid my imagination can be!  I digress … being filled with the Spirit of God and able to face my fears, my angers, my disappointment, my discouragements, my short-comings truly does make all things possible.  Am I always content?  Nope.  Unfortunately, my mind still wars with my heart at times.

I invite you, as we enter this wonderful season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, to come join us.  I love the way Mark Lowry shares his message, “I’m just one beggar showing another where the food is.”  This season really is about so much more than getting together with family and having a huge meal (though that is certainly a lot of fun and very rewarding).  It is so much more than getting a lot of gifts or maybe a really big gift.  Like everything in this world, gifts have a tendency to get old, worn out, broken, or just plain lose their luster.  We offer One gift that never does get old it only gets newer; it makes us brighter.

If you want any more information about our Church or want me to know any more about myself, please feel free to email or call me at 301.643.1604.