Almost Nearly but Not Quite Hardly

A couple of years ago, I was in London England for some teaching and band gigs. One of the great things about going to London is the opportunity to dive head first into their train and subway system to get around town.

For a guy from Joshua Texas, it’s still a thrill to try and navigate through their multi-level, underground, concrete cave system. I wouldn’t want to do it every day but its fun every now and then.

So I’m running to get to the door before it closes and within ten feet, it shuts all the way and a moment later, takes off while I am still standing on the dock. An old man who had also failed to catch the subway poked me with his cane and said something rather brilliant. “The thing about trains”, he said in a heavy British accent, “is if you only miss it by a second -you still miss it.” He tipped his hat and walked away while I tried to process what he said.

Yes there are lots of things in life where almost doesn’t count at all.

So several years later, last week in fact, I find myself in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Truckee, California and I was thinking about what that old man had said.

Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades

Just west of Truckee is a beautiful lake known today as Donner Lake and just beside it is a mountain and a pass with the same name of Donner. I was stomping around out there knowing this was the place where the famous Donner party camped out through the winter of 1846-47.

In case you don’t know it, the Donner party was a group of pioneers that got stuck there in bad weather for six months. The disaster of the Donner party rocked our nation the way the Hindenburg crash and Mount Saint Helens would later on.

Basically what happened is they rested for five days near present day Reno before attempting to summit and by the time they went to go over the pass, it was impossible. The snows had come early that year and a record 26 feet of snow fell upon those pioneers as they scrambled for pitiful shelter. Four months later most were dead and some had resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.

I stood on the very spot where several of those families had camped out. It broke my heart because when you look west you can actually see the pass, the last hill they had to get over before reaching California. For six months they looked up and saw nothing but snow. Oh If they had just gotten there a little bit earlier.

Some say they missed it by only one day. Others argue two or three days but as the old man told me in England, “If you only miss the train by a second, you still miss it.”

The Near Miss

The dictionary’s definition of almost looks like this: Adverb: very nearly; all but. I don’t think there are very many things more frustrating than almost. The Brewer hates almost. This week’s confession of a highly caffeinated Christian comes brewing with a warning label. Be very careful of almost. Do not settle for almost when you can have the real thing.

Sometimes we church leaders will settle for the general ballpark of something and the end result is a disaster like the Donner party. As much as I love having a great band for praise and worship, which we do in our church, musical talent can not be substituted for real worship of the Lord. As much as I love doing huge food outreaches, handing out food without loving the people you’re handing it too is only a near miss. As much as I love the Bible, knowing the 31,171 versus without knowing the heart of the one who wrote it is close but no cigar.

Almost-Christianity is not Christianity at all. If you miss Jesus by a little bit, you still have missed him all together, and that is not party at all.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

The Brewer on site of one of the cabins near Donner Pass California

Contact the Brewer @ www.OpenDoorMinistries.org

Thoughts on "The Book."

In 1986 I completely dedicated my life to Christ. I was so blown away that God would want anything to do with a guy like me that I signed up for the full ride. I dedicated my life’s work to furthering the Gospel, advancing the Kingdom and generally trying to be useful somehow. Consequently, I became a Bible thumper.

Now I wasn’t always like that. There was a day when the Bible looked more like a Chinese tech manual than anything actually worth reading. Stephen King had taught me how to read giant novels. I’ve been blessed with a good reading aptitude so I didn’t think reading the bible would be any problem. It wasn’t that easy.

Carrying My Security Bible
Volunteering for an outreach ministry in Dallas, a friend suggested that reading the Bible could “save my life”. I had no idea what he was talking about. Less than a week later I went to a James Roberson convention in downtown Dallas and survived an attempted robbery in the parking lot by slamming my King James up side the head of the perpetrator.

I was only 19. Sitting in the nosebleed section of the Dallas Convention Center I looked at my bible and thought, “This thing really CAN save your life”.

I started taking it with me everywhere I went. I struggled through the “thee’s” and “thou’s”. I learned to focus on the red letters. I began to comb through the Commentary and Biblical history books. Slowly, the light began to come on.

It’s not the black ink on the white pages. Its not the actual book itself but rather what the book testifies of. I am amazed at what happens when “the book” gets into the hands of the average Joe.

This book combined with the power of the Holy Spirit, changes lives, families, lifestyles, society, nations and entire generations.

There Goes The Neighborhood
The Bible transformed the entire world when the early Christians startled the pagan world of Rome by their unselfish love and caring for the poor, the sick and the hopeless. The Romans didn’t know what to do with this bunch, so they tried to snuff them out.

Despite the overwhelming wealth of the Roman Empire, Historians have not found one single example that these societies had a single hospital, housing for the poor, orphanage, or old folks home. There were not even universities for the masses. This great example of worldly civilization didn’t give a rip about the betterment of others until people with the book showed up.

The Egyptian empire, the Babylonian empire and the Syrian empire were the same way. Nations never had any of these things until the Bible got into the hands of common people.

The Greeks and the Spartans prided themselves on the being the “light of advancing wisdom and higher thought.” These same people threw infants off of cliffs for having birthmarks.

The idea of taking on the cause of the betterment of ordinary people didn’t show up until the idea of equality showed up. The value of life and the cause of the helpless are Biblical principles. The dark ages and the atrocities of that time didn’t end until the common European had access the Bible in his common language. Hundreds of thousands died during the 1500’s so the average Joe could get his hands on the book.

Say Uncle
One person that stood up for his faith and conscience during that terrible time was my ancestral Uncle, Robert Farrar. We recently discovered that his family was an important part of the modern Brewer bunch. He was a Bishop of St David’s and Protestant martyr that was burned at the stake in London in 1555. He wanted people to have access to what was written about in the book.

Ironically, somebody was quoting the Bible wile they set him on fire. I know that some of the meanest people on earth have thumped their bibles while living hate-filled lives. I also know this; people that study the Bible either allow it to change them and they become world changers, or they remain the same and use the Bible to somehow support their evil agenda.

Loving the Author
This tells me that the book is not enough. There have been and still are today, people that love that book but do not love the Lord the book is testifying of. There are people that love to study the track but do not care a bit about the foot that actually made the track.

The Bible is awesome because Jesus is awesome. As soon as we get away from that, we get into big trouble.

“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given man. All the good from the Savior of the world, is communicated through the book.”
Abraham Lincoln