Once in a blue moon, a blogster (like yours truly) ought to take a chance and unload. I suppose that’s what I did in the recent “Rush Limbaugh” article, although at the time I thought of it as just a typical expression of where my mind was that day. Judging by some of the reactions I’ve gotten, though, you would have thought I had a death wish to have done something so risky and insane.

I really do not mind that the blog was controversial. In fact, I completely expected that. It’s absolutely fine for people to disagree with it. I do not feel like I have to defend it or argue. But one of the surprises I’ve had in several of the responses that came to me and some arriving at the editorial offices of our state paper (The Baptist Message in Alexandria, LA) is to learn that many conservatives absolutely hate (despise, abhor, cannot stand) Newsweek.

Now, anyone who read the article noticed that I did not actually quote Newsweek (which would have been all right if I had; I happen to like the magazine). I quoted a CONSERVATIVE leader who was asked by that magazine to write his own assessment of Rush Limbaugh’s role in the country and in the conservative movement. That’s important. I was not quoting Newsweek. I was quoting the conservative leader whose article happened to have been published in that newsweekly.

But some people either do not read or do not care, one or the other. In making a passing reference to Newsweek, I happened to press their button and they spilled out their hatred for that magazine, in the process coupling me with the object of their disgust.

It was a ‘red flag’ moment.

Webster gives as one of many definitions of “red flag” something that provokes an angry or hostile reaction.

Jesus had His red flag moments. So did the Apostle Paul. This little Limbaugh episode gives me an opportunity to point them out.

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The only constant, they say, is change.

I sometimes tell pastors, “There are only three Baptists in the entire world who enjoy change — and none of them are members of your church!”

And yet, change we must. Everything around us is morphing at a pace we can hardly track.

Churches would do well to note what is happening on the international missionary front.

An article from the president of one of our denomination’s mission boards just arrived. International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin is informing Southern Baptists, his constituents, of impending changes in the way the missionaries who serve with and under him will be doing missions.

I was a member of the board of trustees of the IMB (when it was called the Foreign Mission Board) thirty years ago. The board itself was birthed in 1845 when Baptists in this country divided for a multitude of reasons. Over the decades, the leaders had changed their methodology numerous times. During my four year tenure from 1976 to 1980, I saw them go through another radical change.

During the quarter-century the board was led by former China missionary Baker James Cauthen — that would be 1954-1979 — the emphasis was on career missionaries going oversees to devote their lives to one mission field. But the times were a-changing in the 1970s. People in our churches wanted to be involved in hands-on missions and not just pay others to travel across the world and do it for them.

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Number 12–Rick Warren is determined to help New Orleans.

The first installment on the several-year commitment his Saddleback Church is making toward the churches and pastors of this city is a “New Orleans Purpose-Driven Church Conference,” scheduled for Saturday, May 2 (from 8 am to 4:30 pm) at Celebration Church, 2701 Transcontinental Drive, Metairie, LA. All pastors and every church leader (lay or staff) is invited, of all denominations. To register, go to http://www.purposedrivenchurch.com/NewOrleans or call 800-723-3532.

Speakers and teachers for that day-long event will be Bryan Crute of Destiny Metropolitan Church in Atlanta, Gerald Sharon, the North American Director of the Purpose Driven Network, Gonzalo Rodriguez, pastor of Good Shepherd Baptist Hispanic Church of Metairie, and Dennis Watson, pastor of Celebration.

Gerald Sharon emphasizes that while the name says “New Orleans,” everyone from anywhere may attend by registering in advance.

Number 11 — Jesus promised His disciples only three things:

They would be absurdly happy, entirely fearless, and always in trouble.

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“And David arose and went…to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by The Name, the very Name of the Lord of Hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.” (II Samuel 6:2)

You don’t have to read far in the Bible, particularly the portion we call the Old Testament, to observe that the writers seem to be bending over backward not to actually speak the Name of God.

In Psalm 20, for example, we read this blessing: “May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high.”

That reads like they have left a blank for God’s actual name, under which they penned in tiny letters: “You know, the Name of the God of Jacob.”

We could use some of that. We desperately need more reverence for the name of God today.

I read the other day that the Catholic Church has announced it will no longer be referring to God by the name “Yahweh.” That, to the best of our knowledge, is the proper way of spelling and pronouncing the YHVH or YHWH which is found in the Hebrew Bible everywhere the name of God is given. Not to belabor a point you probably know from having read it countless times, but the Jews would not pronounce that name, and so gradually lost the vowels that accompanied those four consonants. Instead of pronouncing the proper name (YHVH), Jewish worshipers would say “Adonai,” meaning “The Lord.”

The Hebrew for “The Name” is “Ha-Shem.” A common expression was “Baruch Ha-Shem.” Blessed be the Name.

When the King James translators came along in the early 1600s they took the vowels from Adonai and stuck them under YHVH and gave us Jehovah (or something close to it). But that name was just an invention on their part.

In the 1960s when I would try to dialogue with members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, they would insist how absolutely necessary it is that a church carry the proper name for God (that being “Jehovah,” of course). A dozen years later, by the time their leaders had learned their mistake, they changed their tune. Then, when we would “dialogue,” they would say, “It doesn’t really matter; it’s the spirit of the thing that counts.” Uh huh.

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Nick Vujicic has no arms or legs but has come to terms with his lot in life and he delivers an inspirational speech to these school kids that they will probably never forget.

Margaret and I were talking about my upcoming retirement from this position with our association. I said, “What do you want me to do when I retire?” She said, “Clean out the garage.”

And then? “The attic,” she said.

My wife has learned to lower her expectations concerning tasks around the house by her spouse of nearly 47 years.

The other day, our oldest son Neil was over. He’s being ordained as a deacon in our church on Sunday night, April 5 — we’re all excited; if ever a man had a servant heart, he does — and he said, “I decided that being ordained deserves a new suit, so I’m going to treat myself.” After suggesting a good men’s store, I said, “I’ll give you some financial help on that suit if you will help me clean out the garage.”

Sneaky, huh.

This morning, Friday (Neil works 4 ten-hour days at Northrop-Grumman’s local shipyards, so he has long weekends for himself), he arrived early with his pickup truck. He and I tease about a bumper sticker I once saw on an F-150 like his: “Yes, it’s my truck and no, I will not help you move.” But with family, it’s different.

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I once asked Ruth Bell Graham for her favorite Bible verse. She laughed, “It keeps changing!” Then she wrote, “Proverbs 8:19-31” and signed it for me. It hangs on my wall, alongside the signature of her husband who had written “Billy Graham” under “Psalm 16:11.”

I sympathize with Mrs. Graham. The Bible is so rich, so teeming with great stories (think of the sagas of Joseph in Genesis and David in I and II Samuel) and tiny insights (like Matthew 13:52 and Psalm 18:35), that we keep making these discoveries of people and lessons and stories we overlooked the previous times we’ve made this journey through God’s Word.

Take the story in II Kings 8:1-6. I have no idea how many times I’ve read the Bible through or the number of times I’ve studied and taught this portion of Israel’s history. But one day last week, this little event rose up and slapped me in the face; I’ve not been able to get it out of my mind since.

That, incidentally, is one way the Holy Spirit calls my attention to a wonderful truth: the story or scripture or quotation will not go away. (Like the Sonny and Cher song “I’ve Got You, Babe” in the movie “Groundhog Day,” it keeps coming back. Okay, bad illustration!)

The Lord is sending us a message.

The king of Israel (that would be the Northern Kingdom, not Judah) has Gehazi, the veteran servant of the Prophet Elisha, regaling him with stories of Elisha’s past. Apparently nothing much was going on in the country at the time, today’s news was slow, and the king was enjoying some down time.

Gehazi was glad to tell how God had used his master over a ministry of many years.

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Want to see faith at its starkest? Take a look at Free Mission Baptist Church.

Now, it’s not much to look at, just a single rectangular brick building that might seat a hundred people. The front door opens to a cozy worship center and in the back, behind the pulpit, a few classrooms sit. Freddie Arnold says the church is prettier on the inside than the outside. But that’s not the amazing thing about this church structure.

What’s incredible about Free Mission is that it has been rebuilt and where that happened.

Free Mission Baptist Church is located on Egania Street smack dab in the heart of the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, the most severely ruined section of New Orleans as a result of Katrina’s floodwaters. This, the lowest part of the city, lies along the east side of the Industrial Canal on your way from downtown New Orleans to St. Bernard Parish. The levee broke just a few blocks west of Free Mission Church and floodwaters swamped the church as they did everything else in their path. The rushing torrent lifted homes off their foundations, jumbled them on top of one another, set houses down on boats and cars, and collapsed older homes. Most of the people who had stayed behind to ride out the storm were drowned inside their houses.

For months after Katrina, tourists drove up and down the narrow streets of the Lower Ninth, aghast at what they were seeing—a neighborhood in tatters. For more than a year, dead bodies were still being taken from collapsed houses.

Today, the Lower Ninth is mostly vacant lots, many with weeds knee-deep. Here and there a house has been rebuilt and a few homes are marked for restoration, but nothing has been done yet.

In the heart of all that, Pastor Johnny Jones and his small congregation have rebuilt their church. With money from the insurance and some volunteer help, the building was gutted and restored. The dedication of this structure has been set for this Sunday afternoon, March 22, at 2 pm.

Only faith goes into the Lower 9th Ward and rebuilds a church before the population returns.

When the people come home, Free Mission will be here, waiting.

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An article in the March 16, 2009, issue of a popular newsweekly (I’d say “Newsweek” but don’t want to send some of my friends into a frenzy of righteous indignation! Ha) bemoans the recent passing of financial experts, due to the economic mess our country — and the entire world — is experiencing.

“One of the not inconsiderable side effects of the current economic meltdown is the demise of the economic expert, if experts they truly ever were.” — Joseph Epstein

I remember hearing a fellow say a couple of years back, “America is the only country in the world where a fellow drives downtown in a Cadillac to take financial advice from a guy who rode the bus to work that morning.”

No more. After one loses his shirt — or, in the case of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, a few billions — he learns not to trust the experts and authorities, no matter how firm their promises, reliable their sources, and sweeping their confidence.

After reading two or three books recently on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s early days in the White House, I don’t recall who said this, but one feature of FDR’s presidency was his complete distrust of experts. He would listen to them, put little stock in what they advised, then would go with his gut, as they say. Often that meant doing the opposite of what the experts counseled.

One writer said Roosevelt acquired that skepticism as a result of his polio. When he did everything the medical experts ordered, he grew weaker and weaker. Finally, taking matters into his own hands and trusting his instincts in matters of his mobility and conditioning, he ended up having a productive political career, against all expectations of his medical experts.

This is the place where we should drop in some humorous definitions for experts. Since all I know are ancient and stale, excuse me for passing. (If you know a good, recent one, leave it as a “comment” at the conclusion.)

Louis Rukeyser was the original “expert” on television’s Wall Street Week, from a generation ago. For some reason, back then he pretty much had the field to himself. These days, the channels giving financial news and advice are as numerous as the sports stations.

Speaking before a chamber of commerce meeting in Jackson, Mississippi, Rukeyser made a point I’ve never forgotten. If you write a book predicting that the economy is going to keep growing and the Dow Jones Average climbing, no one will buy it. People figure, if everything is going to be fine, my investments will come out all right and I don’t need the book.

However, he said, write a book on the coming disaster, telling how the bottom is going to drop out, and your book will sell like snow-cones on a sultry summer day in New Orleans. The reason for this, Rukeyser explained, is if the economy is going to tank, the investor will want to plan for it and find ways to protect himself.

That’s why bad-news prognosticators in financial matters proliferate, and good news prophets are dismissed as na