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March 2004 Table of Contents
From the Editor
By Gary Morris
 "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth." Isaiah 43.19
Welcome to spring! Welcome to newness of life, and hopefully, warmth! It has been a long winter here in L.A. (Lower Alabama) I'm ready for the heat! My toes have basically been in a comatose state since October.
But I am fired up about this issue! I don't think I have been more excited than I am about this edition! And reasonably so, as we announce several new things, one of which is our contest with Allen Asbury, Shure, Inc., Word Music and Doxology Records! You will read all about it inside, but you have to register online, at www.jjonline.com. Log on, warm up and gear up! The Grand Prize is an unbelievable combination of Allen Asbury in concert at your church, copies of Somebody's Praying Me Through for your choir along with accompaniment DVD, artist CD's from Doxology Records, and a free microphone system from Shure, Inc.!
There are many NEW things about this issue: New ideas, new technology, and new writers...certainly, new music, and a new conference location! I hope you will take the time to read it all.
When Wayne Bartley contacted me about his church's drive-thru Gospel presentation, I was fairly excited. But when I listened to the CD (the same presentation as they give out to each vehicle as a listening guide while driving through the presentation) and read the article, I became ecstatic! And so it is with great pleasure and excitement we present it as the Cover Story.
There is also a Special Feature drama article by Kim Messer, intriguingly entitled Too Much Reality. I urge you to read this piece, especially if you utilize drama in any way in your worship services. It is a good exhortation!
Speaking of reality-one day you wake up and reality smacks you in the face. It happened to me one day, a few weeks ago. I had heard a great line from a song, which had the words "embracing reality" in it. The point being made in the song was that, sooner or later, we all have a "reality" check of some sort.
As I talked with the Lord one morning in a quiet moment, I remember saying something like, "Lord, I really don't feel like I am forty-two years old. I actually feel a lot younger." I guess comparatively speaking, you can say forty-two is young, or you might not, comparatively speaking. Forty-two may seem ancient to you. I asked the Lord if time is really speeding by as it seems to be. "Is time really as valuable as we think, and is there a way to really know?" It was a question that really does not beg for an answer; it was more of a fleeting, rhetorical thought.
I didn't think much more about it as I began the morning rituals in the pre-work mode, then on to the office and the magazine, and so forth.
That is, until I arrived here at the office, and something caught my attention as I walked through the front of the building. There it was.on top of the rest of the trash in a wastebasket...a CLOCK! I guess it had seen better days, no longer kept time, and lost its value. What a reminder! In my mind, I was instantly taken back to those moments spent in quiet conversation with God just a few hours before. It was as if He was saying, "Yes, my Son, time really is valuable, fleeting and extraordinary, no matter how young or old you feel. So, what are you going to do with it?"
Embrace the reality, try to maximize each moment, and press on!
And this very day I found myself again being reminded, by another early morning rendezvous with reality. Five-year-old Matthew, my earlybird son who has rarely ever slept past 5am, came into the den this morning as usual. And as usual, I said to him, "go get your Bible storybook from the bookshelf and we'll have our Bible study." Well, little sleepyhead was still in "Pillowland" and came walking back to me with a cup full of markers instead.
I looked at him and said, "Bible storybook, son?"
He looked at the cup with one eye sort of open and the other sort of closed. Then with a solemn look and in a sleepy little voice, he said, "Dad, I'm gettin' old!"
I said, "I know son, believe me, I know."
Silently, I remembered...the clock's in the garbage can.
Gary
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