Vera-Cruise

Last week I was pounding my keyboard about the importance of rejecting racial prejustice. I am sure I managed to hack off some people by merely mentioning race and pegging the cringe meters of a few of my limp wristed coherts in ministry. They can all get over themselves and don't even bother trying to call me. At the time you are reading this I will be suffering for Jesus on a cruise to Jamaica and the Grand Cayman.

Once a year my wife and I do a marriage retreat with several good friends of ours where we take off to sandy beaches and distant shorelines. We farm the kids out and try realy hard to forget about everything. well- we don't really have to try that hard.

Through the years Leanna and I have been to Cozumel, Belize, Cancun, Progresso, Veracruz, the Caymans and Jamaica on 7 different trips. Progresso is a septic tank and you shouldn't even bother getting off of the boat but Veracruz is a detour I hope all of you have the privilege of seeing.

Several years ago Hurricane Wilma was tearing up the Gulf of mexico with my boat steaming right across the middle of it. Everybody on board was sea sick and it was something akin to being in a car wreck for ten solid hours. While cozumel was being blown off the map our ship got diverted to an unscheduled stop at Veracruz, Mexico.

Out of all the places I have been on a cruise Vera-cruise has been at the top of my favorite by far. The city is just beautiful and they have a trolly system that makes a circuit through the whole town. if you don't get off you end up at the same place you started so you don't have to worry about getting lost. The people were wonderful and friendly. It was just really neat.

Lunch with a Queen

We also ate at a lovely little restaurant on a cobble stoned street next to an ancient mission first established by Cortez himself. While we were sitting there, an extremely old lady hobbled up and asked us if she could have the bread on our table. I told her no and my wife looked at me really surprised. before she turned away I jumped up and pulled out a chair for her to sit at our table and said “Benvenidos”. Leanna handed her a menu and that Lady lit up like a Christmas tree. We spent the entire after noon talking and laughing and eating and loving on each other. She would pull on my fat cheek like I was a little boy and kiss me . My wife thought she was hilarious and our conversation lasted for a very long time. She went on and on.

I wish I could tell you what we talked about but I cant because I don’t speak spanish and that old lady didn't speak a word of english. It didn't matter.

Dinner with The King

In the book of revelation Jesus promises that if anyone will hear his voice and open the door he will come in and sit down to eat with us like family. I love God’s priority on family and fellowship. If you do have to miss veracruz, I really am sorry but there is no reason for you to miss the table with Jesus. He’s not knocking at your door with his hand, he’s knocking with His voice. He’s calling you by name and He doesnt just want you to be His servant, He wants you to be family.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me Revelation 3:20

www.troybrewer.com www.freshfromthebrewer.com

...They are preciouse in His sight

In 1991, a very intoxicated Rodney King drove two friends down the 210 freeway in Los Angeles. He was clocked speeding by the California Highway Patrol and fearing his probation for robbery would be revoked, he refused to stop, leading officers on a high-speed chase, eventually hitting 115 miles per hour.

He was caught by several L.A.P.D. squad cars, a struggle ensued, and some of the officers quickly decided that King was resisting arrest. Even though Sergeant Stacey Koon fired two shots from a taser into King, they still failed to subdue him. From that point the officers mobbed King and began to beat him mercilessly with their batons.

Standing nearby was George Holiday filming the whole terrible beating on video tape sending shock waves around the world and firing up an already suspicious Los Angeles African American community. When they saw the video, most assumed it was nothing more than racial profiling and unchecked abuse by the police. Another blatant example of racial injustice, they said.

A year later the four officers accused in the beating were acquitted of wrong doing in Simi Valley, and for some very ugly and hateful people it was a powder keg excuse to burn their city and go on a racist killing spree themselves. What followed on April 29, 1992, was the worst single episode of urban unrest in American history. 53 people were violently murdered and over $1 billion, with a B, in damage was done to Los Angeles.

Lets be friends

I remember a sober Rodney King, to his credit, standing up during the riots and saying anything he could, to stop the violence. “Cant we just all get along?” he said to the camera.

I also remembering answering his question verbally to a blind and dumb television set. “No, Rodney we cant.” And it had nothing to do with race.

Most people of every race cant get along with a guy who robs, drives drunk, picks up transvestite prostitutes and is arrested multiple times for beating up his wife and daughter. We cant get along with a guy who wins nearly four million dollars in his law suit against the police, and still gets arrested atleast 9 times more in several states after becoming a millionaire.

I want to get along with Rodney King but when you live a life and make decisions that endanger the public I tend to think we would all get along better with Rodney in a prison somewhere.

Though I do not have the privilege of being in the same race it does not make a me a racist if we cant get along because of behavior or the content of one’s character. Thats not to say there is not a racist issue in America there always has been. It is a spirit from hell that is manifest in every tone of skin where people are willing to cooperate with it.

The face of America is changing and if we are going to get along it is not going to be because of race, it is going to be because of shared values and respect for each other. God help us as a country to get past the curse of racism.

Let’s be Family

The church is world-famous for not getting along through the years. Even though the body of Christ transcends all racial and cultural barriers, the house of God has been riddled with domestic violence from the very beginning.

The book of Acts records Peter as a Jew who had a very real racist problem with gentiles and had to have a visit from Jesus himself. Turns out that Jesus is the cure for racism.

For those of us who claim to have our lives changed through the Power of the lord Jesus Christ, there is no room for racial hatred or even tension. There is not a black part of Heaven and a white part. There is no reservation or China town or barrio. There’s just God and His family. Let it be said of you and me as Christians, we stand with Justice, equality and a love for God and other people that make us different from every other people group on the planet.

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. Revelation 7:9-10

Troy Brewer Pastors Open Door Ministries and can be found at Troybrewer.com

The Critic Gets Critisized

This weeks’ cup of Jehovah java comes with the idea of what it takes to get a fight started and it doesn’t take much. These days it’s either war or rumors of war, just as Jesus said it would be, so sit back and let this highly caffeinated Christian say a word about the intent of the confessions in these columns.

My Dad’s Bigger Than Yours

When William Wallace was headed out onto the battlefield field, his friend asked him where he was going? “I’m going to pick a fight,” he replied. He didn’t come there to look at the enemy, he came there to actually engage and accomplish something. He was the real deal and so should we be.

I am not here to pick a fight but I am here to be the real deal. Since my “ideal” doesn’t go along with that of others, sometimes I can peg a person’s “cringe meter.” That’s not what I want to do, but just like coffee, a strong dose has its side effects.

My column is read by a lot of people in a bunch of different cities, these days including the hometown flagship here in Joshua, Texas. Because I am out there giving my opinions and views, I run the risk of ruffling the feathers of good and bad people alike.

All God’s Fault

It’s by design that I stir up trouble and rave on coffee…God’s design. My name really is Brewer and brother Webster defines a “brewer” as one that brews or a troublemaker.

I don’t like confrontation and friction but I have found that you are going to get a lot of it when you go against the grain and dare to be different; in other words authentic, genuine and real.

Post Cards from Hell

For about a year now, I have begun to acquire a steady pouring of written response to what I write. Some of it, encouragement and appreciation but a lot of it is what I fondly call “hate mail.” There is not a week that goes by that I don’t get something from one camp or the other and I really enjoy reading both.

Some of my hate mail comes from sources you would imagine, such as people that have an absolute agenda against anything Christian. I have had two actual death threats in the past 4 years that are related to the “Fresh from the Brewer” and amazingly, both of them were from women. My Christian response is, “no weapon formed against me shall prosper.” My Texan response is that there are some tough females at Open Door Ministries, and they will beat you down like a red headed stepchild.

The Art of War

Other such mail is from church folk that get their religious drawers in a wad because there is not a stained glass attached to my column. Others are from ministerial armchair quarterbacks that have no relevant ministry of their own, nor the guts to actually apply action to their faith so they make a ministry out of trying to tear down others. They call themselves “Watchers on the Wall.” I call them Humpty Dumpy wannabe's.

Playing It Safe

I believe that the way of Jesus Christ is as Erwin McManus puts it, a barbaric and dangerous way. I think when God calls us he calls us to go out on a limb into risky, hazardous and vulnerable places. When we play it safe, we give up relevance and I am authentically afraid of spinning my wheels. I am not the lobster in the tank that just wants to blend. The passion within me wants to color outside of the lines to make a significant difference. I don’t want to bury my coin as Jesus illustrated, I want to use it for all it is worth and to me that means not trying to be like everybody else.

So in trying to be funny and interesting to read for Christians and non-Christians alike, I run the risk of being called “an uneducated idiot not fit for print.” In encouraging people to give their lives and hearts to Jesus Christ, I risk being called, “a typical right wing evangelical that preys on the stupid with the fairy tale notion of everlasting life.” In not being churchy and using pop culture, I risk being called, “another pathetic example of worldliness in modern Christianity.”

I have been called all of those things and much worse, but for me, it’s proof that I am following the Lord into “all the world.” Its barbaric, it’s powerful, it’s authentic and real but it is not safe, easy or religious foo-foo. We just have to be thick skinned enough to boldly be who God has called us to be long enough for God to get good mileage out of His investment in us.

So in the words of John the Revelator, I end this column like he summed up the bible, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.” I really mean that for those that love me, and those that don’t. To my critics and writers of hate mail, the words of the prophet Flo from Mel’s dinner come to mind when I say, “Kiss my grits.” Ha! And that to me is funny.

Contact: The Brewer welcomes your input at FFTB@OpenDoorMinistries.org or by phone at 817-297-6911. Please visit us online at www.OpenDoorMinistries.org

FREEDOM FIGHTER

That’s 70’s show

7^th grade at Joshua middle school was a great year for me. Back in 79 it was principled by the very man its named after now. Mr Loflin ran the school, Coach Nichols ruled the roost but a man named Dub Crocker tought the Texas history class.

It was a very political class for seventh graders because Mr Crocker, was all fired up about the mess America was in at the time. Before I finished 7^th grade I understood what an interest rate was and I knew that it was at 24% for house mortgages and that I should be outraged over that. That same year, I learned where Panama was and I knew that president Carter had given it away and that I should have been upset. “Teddy rosevelt was rolling in his grave,” I learned. Though I had never heard of Iran before the 7^th grade I knew that we had hostages there and our American embassy was taken over because everybody knew we were a bunch of “Pushovers” that wouldn’t do anything.

What did that have to with Texas History? Well, Mr Crocker saw the world in terms of how it effected Texas. He was a Texan and that’s the way most of us see things.

Gone to Texas

Out of all the things I learned in that incredible year, there is one thing that he introduced me to that started a life long fascination and passion that continues today. I had heard about the Alamo before 7^th grade but not like he taught it. We actually studied the 13 day siege and the three warriors that some would revere as the trinity itself. Travis, Bowie and the coon- skined cap wearing “Lion of the West” Davey Crocket.

You don’t have to be black to revere Martin Luther King Jr as an amazingly great man and you don’t have to be Catholic to love Mother Theresa as an awesome woman. Just like that, you don’t have to be Texan to love Travis and the guys at the Alamo.

Freedom Fighter

I have read more than a dozen books on the subject and actually visited the shrine of Texas at least thirty times. In my mind Crocket is still on those adobe walls firing against all odds and Houston is still on his white horse in full gallop towards Santa Anna’s tent. Call me a sap but I love the romantic notion of freedom fighting.

On March 3, 1836 William Barret Travis frantically scribbled a few lines wile under cannon siege.

“Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I may make for him a splendid fortune; but if the country be lost and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his country.”

Travis loved freedom and the letter to David Ayers is the last known letter written by Travis before the fall of the Alamo on the morning of March 6. Travis died at his post in hand to hand combat on the cannon platform at the northeast corner of the fortress. He was 26 years old.

Houston, Travis, Austin, Crocket, Sequin, Bowie and Bonham set a standard for all of Texas that followed them. A tradition and heritage of Freedom, guts and rugged individualism.

God and Texas

It is the nature of people to conform to the image of what makes them tick. It is a biblical principle and a matter of fact that God made us to take on the characteristics of the things we love. Whether its Heavy metal, the military or Nascar, if you look at something long enough-you start to look like it.

Because of this principle, I have noticed that while not all revolutionaries are Godly people, all Godly people are revolutionaries in one way or another. A true characteristic of the love of God is to hate bondage and oppression.

Nearly 2000 years before Travis fell at the Alamo, Jesus Christ was lifted on the cross.

He hated the oppression and bondage of sin so much that he was willing to die to overcome it. He loved humanity and wanted us to be set free so bad that he was willing to give his own life on our behalf. He didn’t die for nothing, he died and rose again so that you and I could have a real shot at true freedom.

God Almighty is not your warden, He is your deliverer and as the bible says, he whom the Son sets free is free in deed. In Galatians 5:1 Paul declares “It is for Freedom Christ has set us free. God loves to scrap for your freedom friend, so take advantage of it. It is the Brewer’s humble opinion that only though Christ will you find the freedom to forgive, to have joy, to have peace, to love God and to pursue a life of passion that really makes a difference. Freedom isn’t for wimps but it’s offered to everybody.