I Hear a Symphony, Leadership Series Part II

This is the second in a series of blogs talking about leadership and in particular church leadership. This blog deals with how leaders should empower the membership of the church. 

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Joseph Martin at his home.  He is one of the premier church music composers in America today.  My wife, Carla, Michael Slaughter, Music Minister of Fitzhugh Baptist Church, and his wife Rachel accompanied me.  We were in for a real treat.  Heather Sorenson was recording an album at Joseph's home that week. 

We sat and listened as Heather played the piano.  Joseph and a recording engineer were with us listening to her play a song.  She would play the same section of that song many times.  Each time, Joseph would critique her performance.  One time he said he could hear her thumb too heavy on a key or another, she lifted her foot off the pedal too slow.  He even said she missed playing a B note one time.  To my untrained ear, each performance was beautiful and sounded the same.  To the trained ear, Joseph heard each little nuance.  I was amazed and asked him why it mattered so much, that I thought that it was all beautiful.  He replied that once a recording is done, it is forever. 

You see, Joseph is a perfectionist.  He has conducted an orchestra at Carnegie Hall.  He will soon perform at the Lincoln Center.  Joseph knows how to blend all types of instruments together and come out with a beautiful noise. 

That made me think about a church and how the leaders of the church are something like a conductor in a symphony.  You see, all members of a symphony know how to play their particular instrument, but it takes a conductor to bring it all together.

The different members of a church congregation all have different talents.  It takes leadership in the church to let the members use their talents in concert with the other members of the church to work effectively for God.  When the leaders are not empowering the membership, talents are wasted.  Many people are never even given the opportunity to use their talents. 

Many many organizations including churches get into the same rut.  We have all heard the same cliche over and over.  Eighty per cent of the work gets done by twenty per cent of the people.  Most of the time its those twenty per cent that tell you that they are doing all the work.  My contention is when twenty per cent are doing all the work, there is a serious void of leadership in that organization.  Frequently that twenty per cent don't want any help, even when it's offered.  They get pretty comfortable with the idea that they are indispensable to the organization. 

Now don't get me wrong, they are very important to the organization.  Equally important is that other eighty per cent.  They need to be brought into doing God's work.  They don't need to be Sunday Pew Sitters.  These people are missing out on real blessing. 

A friend of mine, Rick Carson of the Vertroue Foundation is a great leader.  I will never forget what he shared with me.  He said that he is always looking for his replacement.  He understands that he will not be there forever.  My pastor shared the same idea with me this last week.  That's real leadership.  When a person is thinking more about his followers than he is himself,  it shows.  And people will follow that person.  That's how Jesus treated his flock. 

I mentioned in a earlier blog that a church is either moving forward or backwards that there is no neutral.  It is up to the leaders of a church to keep that church in forward gear.  The only way for the leaders of a church to keep it in forward gear is to empower the members of the congregation to use their talents effectively for God.  That church will thrive and it's members will demonstrate great love for God and a huge desire to do his work.  They will be a true family. 

This type of leader gets down in the trenches with his followers.  He encourages them, challenges them and instructs them in the ways of the Lord.  He is a spiritual leader, yet he will get his hands dirty.  He is almost always there to demonstrate to others his dedication to the Lord and shows the members first hand how hard he will work for the Lord.  But, he always gives credit to God and seeks none for himself.  As we always have heard there is no i in team.  The leader is a team player and shows it by his actions.  I pray for leadership in our churches. 

Diana Ross and the Supremes first recorded, "I hear a Symphony".  I wanted to let you hear it when recorded by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  Hope you enjoy it. 

Everybody's Talking at Me. Leadership series Part 1.

I am starting a series of blogs talking about leadership and in particular church leadership.  God has put this on my heart and I feel obliged to at least put the thought out there for your consideration.  I have  used several sources for this post.   The title of that blog is Lead, Follow and Get out of the Way.  I encourge you to read it.

I am attempting to take the main points that apply to leaders in that post and apply them to church leaders.  The first and probably most important trait of a leader is the ability to listen.

Leaders listen. Listening is not waiting for your turn to speak. Listening is an active engagement with the person you are talking with. Leadership grows out of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your colleagues, their fears and triumphs, what motivates them and what turns them off. There’s a trick psychologists recommend, where you try to summarize what your conversation partner just told you and what you understood them to be saying, like this: “So the police officer gave you the ticket anyway, and you feel that was unfair?” This gives your partner a chance to correct you if you’re wrong or confirm that you more or less got what they were saying — plus it helps you to learn and not just respond

I think it’s important to go to the bible and just see what The Bible says of a flock of sheep. about listening. 

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 11:15).

What is the intent of this verse? How does this apply to leaders in our church?

Many times I have heard that the leaders of a church are like the shepherds of a flock.

Well, this is a fairly good analogy except for one point.  Human beings have feelings and have the process of thought.  They were made in God’s image.  So really, you shouldn’t treat humans like sheep.  This happens fairly often in our churches. 

The even deeper problem lies in the fact that you can let someone talk all day.  They can talk till they are blue in the face.  But, is anybody listening to them.  Listening is a conscious thought.  Don’t tell me that you haven’t sat in a Sunday sermon and quit listening to the pastor somewhere during the sermon.  Maybe you don’t agree with him or maybe you are thinking about what you have planned for the afternoon.  The end result is that you quit listening. 

You know, I have often heard that listening is an art.  I think there is something to that idea.  Too often we have our own preconceived ideas about what someone is telling us.  We often speak before we know what is being said.  When a person fails to listen to you and you have told them several times how you feel about a subject, they are diminished in your eyes. You are may have been wrong, but you will never know, because the person didn't listen to you.

Just take that to the church.  If the leaders don’t listen to the people, they began to get discouraged and they began to leave, or maybe even worse, stay and complain and cause trouble in God’s house.  Even worse yet, they sit in the pew and say nothing and contribute nothing to the spirit of the church and cause newcomers to wonder what is wrong? 

Let’s go to the Bible for some more instruction.

"He who answers before listening--that is his folly and his shame." (Proverbs 18:13).
We should be quick to listen and slow to speak. (James 1:19).

Acts 14:23

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

²³They had the disciples in each church choose spiritual leaders,^[a] and with prayer and fasting they entrusted the leaders to the Lord in whom they believed.

The congregation chooses their leaders.  I don’t know so much about fasting anymore, but I do know that it is done with lots of prayers.  Read this verse carefully, “they entrusted the leaders to the Lord in whom they believed”. 

 

This is where one’s interpretation of the Bible gets tricky.  You have to remember that not everyone is a Bible scholar, (this includes me), not many have gone to seminary, few get intense Bible training and lots of people just go to church on Sunday and listen to the sermon.  Even more don’t go to the church, but claim to believe and trust in the Bible.  And the one thing that I have heard all my life, is that your interpretation of the Bible is between you and God.

Many people take the Bible literally, some are Biblical historians and take it in context of the times of Jesus, Some believe in Biblical myths.  It gets very confusing to people because most can’t defend themselves when confronted with someone that is a Bible scholar. 

So now back to Act 14:23.  What does that last sentence mean?  If you pray about it, it means what God tells you it means.  But my interpretation is a follows:

The disciples believed not only in the Lord but the leaders that they felt the Lord sent to them.

Many people may say that it is just the Lord that the disciples believed in and that’s their right.  I just add the leaders to whom the disciples believed in. 

I want to insert another line from the link that I found about leadership:

It follows then that leadership is not a trait of individuals. Leadership theorist James MacGregor Burns describes leadership as a collective process, a characteristic of the relationship between individuals rather than a property of individuals themselves.

The old saying is that “leaders are born not made.  Vince Lombardi said, “Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”

Who is right?  Well there are probably both types.  Leaders have followers.  Why do people follow someone?  There are many ingredients, but one of the most important is listening. 

Please pray about this and the future blogs that I write about leadership.  These are just my thoughts. I am going to close here, but as almost always, I need some music. Please enjoy the following.

Most of you remember the song, "Everybody's talking to Me", by Harry Nillson. The most important line in that song is the first line. "Everybody's talking to me, I can't hear a word their saying". Quite frankly that's the problem

Only the Lonely

Our music is rapt with great songs about the number one and how lonely a number it is. 

One is the Loneliest Number by Three Dog Night.

Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison

Lonesome 77203  by Hawkshaw Hawkins

Oh Lonesome Me by Don Gibson

Lonesome, On’ery and Mean  by Waylon Jennings

And the list goes on and on.  One thing that we are afraid of, whether we admit it or not, is being lonely.  One of the reasons that suicide rates soar during the holidays is the fear of being alone.  Alcoholism and drug abuse is a common thread among loners. 

Genesis 2:18. 
“It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable to him.”

God knew that it was not good for man to be alone.  Man has gone to great lengths to make sure that he is not alone.  The current riptide of Social Media makes sure we are not alone.  People carry that mobile phone with them everywhere to make sure that they can be found.  The radio in the car is not enough company for us anymore, so we talk on the phone while we drive or even worse text. 

So why do so many people that need to have company all the time, want to keep God in their heart.  I hear it all the time, I don’t need to go to church, I know God and my relationship is personal.  That’s about the only thing that people keep personal, just check out Facebook and people tell their innermost feelings. 

Jesus told us to go make disciples in all nations and tell the Good News, yet all we tell people about is about the new restaurant that we found.

That’s a sad commentary.  I don’t know if it is society, the government or something else that has cause Christians to be put into a box.  Like a box of cereal that we only take out on Sundays, put a little in the bowl and put the box back until next Sunday. 

I know many churches are moving away from Sunday night services, because people just don’t show up.  It’s hard to compete with a Super Bowl.  I can’t believe that I just said that, but’s it true. 

We miss out on so many blessing because we keep Jesus in our pocket.  I have found that church is the place that I can go and not be lonely, be with believers, and find the courage to step out on faith and try to do God’s work.  It’s a joyful place, a place to find comfort and a place where all are welcome. 

My church does something that I love.  Before the pastor delivers the sermon, we stop and welcome everybody and shake hands and hug our fellow members.  Feels like a family. 

I would encourage you to find a church family and stay there.  Don’t keep Jesus in your heart, share him.  Do what he has commanded and share the Good News.

What are you Praying for?

Have you ever sat down and thought about how powerful prayer is?  I mean really thought about it.  In our silly little short lives we have such a hard time doing just the simplest of things.  It’s always I’m gonna do it myself without even thinking about turning some task over to God.

Before I get started here, I want to say that I ain’t even close to being what I’d call a good Christian, but I am trying.  I was baptized almost 44 years ago and I haven’t gotten much closer to God than I was on that day.  That’s a long time to be treading water.  Back then, I really thought that God was calling me to the ministry, but somewhere along the way, I quit listening to God.  Oh, I have had stretches of what you might call faithfulness, but looking back, it was all about me.  I really wasn’t listening to God.

After a really rough last year, God finally got me attention.  I was near the bottom and God lifted me up.  Since then, I have enjoyed just trying to listen to God.  Which brings me back to prayer.

My wife and I were trying to leave our home last week and go to the coast for a few days of relaxation.  Our goal was to leave on a Wednesday.  It was raining real hard so we put it off till Thursday.  We got busy with some chores at home and decided to leave on Friday.  That gave me the opportunity to go to a men’s prayer breakfast at my church before we left.

The message was about a new foundation that some men had formed to help live kidney donors with the expenses involved in donating a kidney.  I truly believe that these men are on a mission for God.  Please check out the Vertroue Foundation.  After the breakfast, I sat and talked to these men and told them that I might know some people that could help them.  I looked up and told Rick Carson (founding member of  Vertroue) that I wasn’t even supposed to be at this breakfast, because I had other plans.  He looked me square in the eye and said “you were supposed to be here, we have been praying for people to come forward and find people that can help us”.    I am telling you it gave me a cold chill.  God was at work and I didn’t even know it. 

Another incident at the breakfast also demonstrated the power of prayer.  One of our regular guys at the breakfast told us about his friend that was sick and our group praying for him.  This man had learned that he had stage 4 cancer.  He was an agnostic.  But our member kept lifting him up in prayer and we always prayed for him.  Well, last week the lastest report on his cancer came back and the scan showed no trace of cancer.  The doctor was amazed.  The man is now wanting to know more about Jesus.  Miracle?  Not really.  Power prayer?  I would say so.  There is no other explanation.

This morning I was going to go to church with my wife down here at the coast.  It was a 10 a.m. service and I just didn’t get ready in time.  So I stayed at our little cabin and watched some preachers on TV.  Both sermons were on prayer.  They weren’t about your “bless this  meat, let’s eat” type prayer.  They were talking about down on your knees asking for real powerful actions. 

The first preacher was talking about answered prayer and said.  It’s not magical, it’s not hocus-pocus, it’s about focused prayer.  You might ask, “What is focused prayer”?  Keep reading, we’ll get to it.  Just remember that answered prayer is not really a miracle.  We even said it at our breakfast when we learned about the man that was cancer free.  Someone said, “It’s a miracle”.  It wasn’t a miracle, it was God hearing focused prayer and answering it.  When we don’t have an explanation for something, we just make something up to express it.  That’s how simple we really are.  That doesn’t mean that we ought to trivialize what has happened, we just need to learn to recognize just how powerful prayer is.  And thank God for the answered prayer.  He is showing us how to turn our lives over to him, we just need to listen every day and look for him and chances for us to give praise and glory  to his work.
The next preacher that I listened to was Joel Osteen.  Now sometimes I think he is a little to much into self-promotion but he was right on today.  I learned that I need to pray about my thoughts about Joel’s ministry.  God was there this morning.  I just need to be humble.

He was talking about prayer this morning.  Read the next part carefully and think about it.  He said too often we just pray “get by” prayers.  For example, "Lord help me make enough money to feed my family”.  “Lord, help me get well”.  “Lord, help me pass this class in school, or help me find a job”. 

We have all prayed these prayers in one way or another.  Joel said that we are praying small prayers.  We aren’t praying  big prayers.  Why, because we were taught these small prayers.  It takes someone with vision to pray big prayers.  And this person with vision is walking with the Lord and is not afraid to pray big prayers and believe that God will not only hear the prayer but answer the prayer.

I have heard it all my life that God answers prayer in his own time.  We just accept that because that is what we have been taught.  Have you ever thought that maybe your prayer isn’t being answered because  that God is not sure that you really want his answer, or even believe that he can answer a prayer.  Think about it.  Remember the saying; "Be careful what you ask for, because you might just get it".  I have participated in many prayers, when we just pray for comfort for a terminally ill person.  We don’t even pray the big prayer for healing.  For some reason it always makes my think about that mustard seed.  When Jesus asked the two blind men what they wanted, they asked for the big thing.  They asked for their sight.  Do you remember what happened?  Jesus blessed them and they could see.

They call it a miracle in the bible, but really it was just focused prayer by a true believer.  I grew up watching preachers healing people on TV.  It was every Sunday morning.  They screamed and hollered and people just danced around.  It was fascinating, but it felt like more self-promotion of the preacher to me.  I do know that I have witnessed a lot of answered prayer this last year.  I know it’s real.  I know it's very real.  But I do know that I have been guilty of praying small prayers.  Joel Osteen said; “If you can do something on your own” and you are praying about it, it’s a small prayer”.  Lot of truth to that. 

Joel said to ask for something big when you pray.  Don’t just thank God because you have enough to get by, ask for more so you can use it for God’s glory.  If you really give it to God, you always get back way more than you gave.  Be bold, stretch your faith.  

Please read the 81^st Psalm after you read this.  Quoting Psalm 81:10.  God was talking to the Israelites.  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.  Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”.  This is a great video.  Just over 7 minutes long.  Put together by a young lady.  Very moving.  Psalm 81 is the focal verse. 

Pretty good message.  Give all of yourself to God and he will fill you up.  Ask for big prayers and stand back.  Watch it happen!
My last post I was talking about vision for my church.  Remember my church is almost 100 years old.  We have been praying and just wanting to get 100 people there on any given Sunday.  Our community is much larger than that.  That’s like begging for a penny.  Small Stuff.  And yet, that’s one of our goals and it isn’t even written down.  We just talk about it.  How about baptizing one soul a month.  Sounds like a big number compared to what we have been doing, but that’s not even a drop in the bucket.  

Churches need to pray big prayers for their people and their church.  And then we need to get down on our knees and truly ask God how we can help.  Like Kris Kristofferson’s song, “Why me Lord” sung by the  Gaither Vocal Band.  Follow the lyrics along as you listen to the song.  It might be a good idea to stop and say a prayer before you listen to it. 

Wasn’t that beautiful.  Did you read the words along with the song.  “What have I done to deserve even one of the pleasues I’ve known”.  We need to ask ourselves that question every day.  Now don’t forget, we are human and was are going to make mistakes and we are going to sin.  That is man.  But remember that we are conditioned to think and act in a natural way.  We need to remember that God is supernatural and all things are possible through him.  That’s not just a saying, that is God’s word. 

I need to close here, I am getting long in the tooth, but just remember.  Pray big prayers. 
I found another video that I would like for you to watch.  Clap your hands and sing along.  There's Power in the Blood.  God Bless.

We gotta find a new name for Stewardship.

My preacher has been preaching about stewardship the last couple of weeks.  Gives a lot of people the Heebie-jeebies when the preacher gets on this subject.  It's about money and about your service to the church.  Well just so you understand.  Only people my age (late 50's) and older know what Heebie-jeebies is, and the same goes for stewardship. 
Young adults have a hard time with this word.  Lots of "with it" churches uses the words like soul prints or your personal calling.  They understand these terms, but stewardship sounds like the work of a bunch of stodgy old deacons.  Therein lies the problem.

While we were on the subject of stewardship, my church began talking about their vision.  Now I just want to say here that this church will celebrate it 100th birthday in 2014.  Kind of long in the tooth to just now be talking about a vision.  In reality, the neighborhood has grown tremendously.  So, I think my church needs to talk about it's vision. Just got to add that this isn't the first time, my church has looked for a vision.

The problem is when you start talking about vision it always turns to tangible things, like new buildings and such.  I hear people say, we just can't attract people to an old church, when so many new churches have popped up around us.  Whoa, need to stop right there.  Granted, I don't want to go to a run down building either, but our vision can't be based on tangible objects. 

Jesus wrote down the vision for the church in "The Great Commission". Quoting from Wikipedia,
some version of the great commission appears in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and in the Book of Acts, which is the second part of Luke-Acts. Details vary from book to book, see Gospel harmony for the attempts to harmonize them. In Matthew, Jesus directs the disciples to baptize people of all nations in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, similar to the Trinitarian formula of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In Luke, Jesus tells the disciples to preach repentance and forgiveness, and promises that they will have divine power. In John, Jesus says the disciples will have the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive sins and to withhold forgiveness.^[2] In Acts, Jesus promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit will inspire them.

I have to confess, I have only been back to my church for a year now.  Was out in the world for a number of years.  My church is one of my greatest joys.  Stewardship and visions go hand in hand.  They have to be found together. 

We have all heard the argument that I don't have to go to church to pray to Jesus.  I know Jesus is in my heart and that is all that I need.  I cannot disagree with that statement, yet that person in my opinion will always feel like something is lacking.  You find a lot of people in the church that just come to church and don't participate in anything else.  That's OK too, but I feel that person is going to be prone to drift away from the church.  You know that "any old reason" excuse.  I can speak from personal experience here.

You see the great thing about church is that it allows all the members to contribute their talents.  We all have different talents and no talent is greater or less than any other talent, if they are used for Jesus.  Not everybody is going out to be missionaries or lead crusades. Lots of people work behind the scenes and may for example,  just pick up the church grounds.  Remember the church is the house of the Lord.  This person that picks up the grounds is just as great in God's eyes as the person that preaches to large congregations.  Everyone matters to Jesus.

So, if you worship at home or just go to church and then go home, you are missing out on a blessing. 
People at church are people too and sometimes they do or say things for the wrong reason.  It happens. But I believe that the people in a church that really contribute to that church don't do it for the wrong reasons.  They do it because they feel that God has led them to this work. 

Just to tie this all up.  When you walk with the Lord and you do it over and over again, the path just gets deeper and better.  Jesus is there with you and will carry you on this path when you can't walk it yourself.  You will find the people in your church in that path with you.  Believers walking with Jesus.  I am telling you it don't get any better than that.  I remember as a small child a path that led to my grandmother's house from my house.  It was only about 50 yards long.  My mom would let me go by myself, but told me to stay on the path.  It wasn't a straight path but I felt safe on that path.  And I know now that my mom watched me all the way.  That's how Jesus walks with you.  That's why I have committed myself to my church.  I get the blessing and it's worth it.  And I get to walk with true believers. 

One more thought... If you follow the words of Jesus and go out and tell others about him.  Good things will happen.  A church will grow and maybe need a new building someday to house all the new believers.  The most important thing is to pray and plan. 

God Bless You
Fitzhugh Fits Me, Does it Fit You
Fitzhugh Baptist Church
Mike

PS.  Anybody that knows me knows that I talk a lot.  Can't help it.  I found this video about another church somewhere in this country.  It's a great video, and I challenge my church and all other churches to try and be like this church.  This should be the goal of all churches. Please watch this video and pray.

King James and I

The English language can be a big problem for a lot of Christians.  Yep, that’s right.  But of course I am talking about King James English.  All the Bibles that I grew up with were translated into King James English.  I dare say that many a problem has arisen because of someone’s interpretation of a verse in the King James Bible. 

I was reading in Hebrews today.  Chapter 2, verses 5-8.  I am just going to quote verse 5 here: “For unto the angels hath he not put into subjection the world to come, whereof we speak”.  You got me, I didn’t have any idea what that meant and I graduated from college.  The NIV Bible says: “It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking”.  That’s a little better. 

I just don’t know which of the other translations are accurate.  There is always some controversy over the translation from Hebrew to English or Greek to English.  King James is always the one that I go back to. 

And you know, I think a lot of Christians have this problem.  It’s probably part of the reason why we have so many different protestant denominations.  Two old guys got in an argument over the meaning of some verse and pretty soon they started a new church. 

I like to read the Bible taking into consideration the time and place of the verse.  What was going on at that time?  Why did the New Testament writers need to bring up a subject.  Taking verses out of context and then using King James English can lead to problems in my book. 

I think I could read 3 chapters a day in the King James Bible and not understand over half of what I read.  This is true confession time.  So how do Christians overcome the challenges of King James English? 

I am going to start sounding like a broken record here, but I only know of one way to learn the Bible, regardless of the translation.  Go to church, Sunday school and pray.  By talking and praying with other Christians is the only way that I know of that will really help me grow in my Christian life.  I can’t sit at home and grow because I need someone to explain to me verses like Hebrews, Chapter 2, and verse 5. 

Cowboy poetry

Got this in an email.  Thought that it was appropriate.  Good reminder why you should pray regularly. 

Jake, the rancher, went one day

To fix a distant fence.
The wind was cold and gusty
And the clouds rolled gray and dense.

As he pounded the last staples in
And gathered tools to go,
The temperature had fallen,
The wind and snow began to blow.

When he finally reached his pickup,
He felt a heavy heart.
From the sound of that ignition
He knew it wouldn't start.

So Jake did what most of us
Would do if we had been there.
He humbly bowed his balding head
And sent aloft a prayer.

As he turned the key for the last time,
He softly cursed his luck
They found him three days later,
Frozen stiff in that old truck.

Now Jake had been around in life
And done his share of roaming.
But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked --
It looked just like Wyoming !

Of all the saints in Heaven,
His favorite was St. Peter ...

So they sat and talked a minute or two,
Or maybe it was three.
Nobody was keeping' score --
In Heaven, time is free.

“I've always heard,” Jake said to Pete ,
“that God will answer prayer,
But one time I asked for help,
Well, he just plain wasn't there.

Does God answer prayers of some,
And ignore the prayers of others?
That don't seem exactly square --
I know all men are brothers.

Or does he randomly reply,
Without good rhyme or reason?
Maybe, it's the time of day,
The weather or the season.

Now I ain't trying to act smart,
It's just the way I feel.
And I was wondering', could you tell me
What the heck's the deal?”

Peter listened very patiently
And when Jake was done,
There were smiles of recognition,
And he said, “So, you're the one!”

“That day your truck, it wouldn't start,
And you sent your prayer a flying,
You gave us all a real bad time,
With hundreds of us trying.

A thousand angels rushed,
To check the status of your file,
But you know, Jake , we hadn't heard
From you in quite a long while.

And though all prayers are answered,
And God ain't got no quota,
He didn't recognize your voice,
And started a truck in Minnesota.”

BETTER KEEP IN TOUCH