I Ripped This Off My Friend Robert Pooley

The New Samaritan
By Robert Pooley


I will never forget when it dawned on me that I was too busy saving the world to actually see the world. It was around 13 years ago. The culmination of this huge revelation happened as I was driving home one night with my wife and young daughter in the car.

There was a slight rain outside and I was so tired and looking forward to settling in after a long day. That’s when I saw him. We had just hit a busy intersection and there was a guy with an older BMW pushing the car and trying to steer at the same time. I’m ashamed to tell you that my first thought was something along the lines of, “Wow… poor guy… that really stinks. Hope it all works out for him.”

You have to understand, I am not the most mechanically inclined person. So the thought of pulling the car over and help this guy with his car never entered my mind. Oddly enough I had just finished reading Steve Sjogren’s book, “Conspiracy of Kindness.”

As I started to pass by the car, I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit saying, “You need to stop and help this guy.” My immediate response was, “No Lord, that’s not you speaking. I mean, you wired me… you know that I’m terrible at this sort of thing. Besides I have my wife and daughter in the car… and it’s raining.” Once again and firmer, “You need to help this guy.”

So I pulled over and got out and helped him push the car off to the shoulder. He was a casually dressed guy with longer hair. He seemed to be in about his mid thirties. He looked at me and muttered a weak thanks and then slid under the car. “I know what’s wrong,” he said, “Happens all the time I can fix it.”

So I watched kind of helplessly, and tried to figure out why I was the one who was supposed to stop and help this guy. Under the car he was tinkering and cussing, and getting frustrated. At one point he made kind of a yelp and I asked, “Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes,” he replied, “You can stop standing on my hair.”

So far my first attempt at noticing people and showing the kindness and love of Christ was not working so well.

“Can you get my flashlight out of the glove compartment?” he asked.

As I reached into to get the flashlight I was struck by the strong smell of alcohol. I grabbed the flashlight and bent down to hand it to him and when I did I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

He puttered around and then asked me to hold the flashlight for him for a second while he tried to fix a part under his car. More than once he had to ask me not to shine the light in his eyes.

From my perspective, we were off to a horrible start. As I held the flashlight I found myself beginning to pray for this man. I could see he was frustrated. It seemed he had a quite a bit to drink, and I thought, “This guy doesn’t need to be driving.” I began to pray that his car would not start. At least for now. And it didn’t.

“Can I give you a ride someplace?” I asked.

He looked at me a little puzzled and said, “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Well,” he said, “I am staying at a little motel about five miles down the road. If you could take me there, I could come back in the morning and fix the car.”

So my wife jumped into the back with our daughter and we loaded our guest in the car and started to the hotel. As we were passing a fast food restaurant I asked him if we would like a cup of coffee. He said that would be great and so we pulled in to the drive-thru and I bought him a cup. When he offered me money for the coffee, I refused.

He looked at me very strangely and said, “Why are you doing this?”

“Why am I buying you a cup of coffee?”

“No, everything. Why are you helping me?”

I smiled my best Steve Sjogren smile and said, “I’m just trying to show you the love of Christ in a practical way. If Jesus were physically here right now, and if He saw you in need, He would be stopping to help you. That’s what I’m doing.”

That’s when he started to cry. As we drove the five miles to his motel, he opened up and told me his story. He was a surveyor, and about a month earlier he had walked out of his marriage, left his wife and two young daughters and had hit the road. He found himself in Florida and found some temporary surveying work. He said he would work all day and then drink all night. He would then sleep a couple of hours and do it all over again. This was his life.

When we pulled into the motel parking lot, he asked me to wait while he got something out of his room. He came back with a picture of his wife and daughters. As he showed me the picture, I told him, “You don’t have to live like this.”

He looked at me and his whole body demonstrated openness. We sat and talked for a while and I told him the story of the One who loved him so much and invited him to begin a relationship with Him. We prayed together and I welcomed him as a new brother in the kingdom of God. I gave him my phone numbers at work and at home and told him that if he would call me the following morning, I would pick him up and take him out to his car and help him get it working.

We said our goodbyes, and I headed home. The next day I thought about him all through the day, but there was no call. When I got home, there was a message from him on the answering machine. He said, “I just wanted to call you and thank you for all you said and did for me last night. I went out this morning and got the car started and wanted to call and tell you that I am going back to my home and to my wife and daughters and I’m going to tell them all that happened. I’m going to start all over. Thanks.”

You see, I am like most people. I see, but I don’t really see. Sometimes I am so busy doing what I think is the work of God that I am not even aware of the people around me. Normally I would’ve seen the man with the stalled car, but I would have made excuses why I wasn’t the one to help him.

I have learned that every day has opportunities. The bible tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. So every day I look for opportunities to show someone the kindness of the Lord. For me, it’s not a gimmick, or a fad, it’s a lifestyle of serving the people that Christ died to save. And everyone can do that. We just have to open our eyes and see, open our ears and listen, and open our hearts to serve.

If you do that everyday, then little by little you will love the people of your community into a relationship with Jesus Christ. And how cool is that?


Robert is the lead pastor of Coast Community Church in Gulf Breeze, FL, which he helped plant 11 years ago.

Punch Robert on the right under Fellow Travelers, Then travel to Serve, An online zine and read Robert's article.

Come Walk With Me

The Liberty Tree

As I take up my pen, after two weeks of silence, I am encouraged. I have seen much and suffered much. Both have increased my platform with vision and character.

I am again working outdoors in the heat (100+) hence, my silence. The last two weekends, I have been learning the craft and art of grafting Japanese Maples. Such poetry, a feast to the eyes and heart...and the symmetry; these trees are a tribute to the philosophy of Zen. Worked and crafted into unparalleled beauty and art.

In America's East, we are awed by the huge White Oaks that stand in open fields. Their massive presence inspires our psyche to stand up, stand out and above all else...
To stand strong, secure, and firmly rooted in our individual accomplishments like the Liberty Tree. For us, The Freedom Oak symbolizes our life's toil for truth, justice and especially, freedom for ALL.

In America's West, we have the wild and ancient forest of Sequoia and Redwood. They teach us to stand side by side with giants. Only then will we see the ages roll by us and still stand tall. The oldest is over 2,200 years old and the tallest is 379 ft. tall (that's 115.5 m). They are the true Fangorn forests of this Earth. They speak from ages gone by; of cherishing what we have, conserving what we do, and cleaning up as we go. They expand our soul with the vastness of the American West in its raw, unspoiled beauty and grandeur. They tell us that we truly are only stewards of what we have been given.

We shape our world, and we create places of refuge, rest and Re-Creation. Happy 4th.

Cultures and A Bride

I lay down to sleep on Solomon's Island. As I was drifting off with thoughts and feelings flowing by, One stuck. "If Jesus was alive right now, And was here with you, What kind of church would he build? Oh yea, And he's only got you to start with?" I sat straight up in bed.

This week, I've seen a lot of Christian expressions or church cultures. Did I mean to say "church cultures?" Yes I did.

There he was, walking toward me with a blissful expression. His eyes sparkled in the way when someone is fully awake. He looked out of a Harry Potter movie. Slowly flowing through the airport. Draped with full robes and topped with a deep dark blue hood/cap. The full cap was covered with small golden stars or cross-like stars. His beard was long and white and divided in the middle. Below his beard hung a large orthodox cross. He looked ancient and fully present at the same time.

I love the diversity of Christian expression in every culture. I think it might be because I don't have a vested interest to defend, support or promote those cultures.
Boy do they vary, from Roman Catholic to Assemblies of God, Greek Orthodox to Mennonite, Anglican to Non-Denominational, Baptist to Holiness, Amish to the Theater Churches, Hillsong, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard and the beat goes on. Each "culture" seems to claim, "I Am It, The Real Deal, and those others, well, they're false or inferior."

Hey Guys, We're all going in the same direction. As a friend of mine once put it, "We're just choosing different buses."

The point is just this. If Jesus was alive right here, right now, standing before you, What kind of church would he build? And He's only got you to start with?

God Gets It. Why Can't We?

I just visited some "christian" sites that reminded me of all the crap I've been through as a Christian. The long fights, the drawn out warfare, the church splits, over Stupid Stuff. Let me make it clear. There Are No Worship Wars!!! There are those who worship God and those who don't. Period. Get Over It. Get A Life. A life with God would help. Music Style DOES NOT Matter one tiny bit.

It's the heart of the worshiper that matters. Are you doing horizontal worship with your buddies, encouraging and enjoying each others sound? That's a beginning. But as long as the worship stays horizontal, you'll end up worshiping each other. Look at this picture. If your don't move vertically inside, you'll end up worshiping this art work.

Authentic, Real, Genuine Worship, God Worship, only happens when we engage our focus, our being, our all, Vertical into the Presence of God. On through the temporary nonsense that tangles up our soul.

Jesus himself said that "true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth." So if the truth is not setting you free...Stop, and change directions. You are focusing horizontally.

My point is this: Let's quit all this nonsense about worship style, hymns, tradition, or hard rock, etc, etc... Grow Up! Get over your little spiritual tan trum. You're acting like a baby. Let's worship God.

For me personally, I love liturgical style, and I love to rock and roll. But most of all I can't wait to enter God's presence. God gets it. Now will we???

Uganda 2009

A good friend and ole singing buddy of mine, Fr John Wallace took a group from Florida State and others to Uganda. Check out the video. Look into the eyes and see. Be Blessed and feel.

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún book trailer

I was walking through Barnes and Noble and there it was, with no posh media splash, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by JRR Tolkien.

If you have been over @ Roger's, The Oxford Inklings, you will know there was a group before the Inklings. Before the Inklings, before the Hobbit, Tolkien led a group on Northern Mythology where they spoke the Original Old Norse and read the Icelantic sagas to each other. Late into the night, around their coal fire, they walked in the cold expanse of the north, hence the groups name, the Coalbiters. CS Lewis when he came to Oxford, was introduced into this group by Tolkien. He later wrote his brother Warnie of his excitement, to finally be among kindred souls. The year was 1927.

During the late 20's and early 30's, Tolkien retold the Norse legend of Sigrud and the fall of the Niflungs. This epic poem is an alliterative verse form of Skaldic poetry in the style of the Elder Edda.

This is a must for all Tolkienites. Tell us what you think of it.

Learning To Fly

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr RCAF

With Compliments to Keith Savoy

Sea Fever

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Masefield (1878-1967).
(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)

The Gospel According To Tolkien

Visions of the Kingdom in Middle Earth

With St. Thomas Aquinas and the Christian theological tradition, Tolkien sees the universe both as intrinsically hierarchical and intrinsically good. Some created beings are nobler than others, but all are good: wizards, high-elves, dwarves, hobbits. A hobbit is not a failed or faulty creation because he is not an elf or a man, and Tolkien’s wiser characters know this. Even lowly inanimate things are good: the hobbits’ love of eating and drinking together is not despicable but healthy. Cakes, ale, and pipeweed are even magical, in their own way. Indeed, as Wood points out, one of the chief virtues of fantasy is its power to make us see the ordinary things of the world, and the world itself, as new, strange, and wonderful.

For Tolkien, as for St. Augustine, evil is not a positive reality, but a falling-away from the reality the creator planned for the creature. He speaks of evil as a marring of what was made, and as a shadow. All beings have been created good, even Sauron and his orcs. They fall away from their intended goodness by rejecting what their maker intended for them. In the Silmarillion, the demonic Melkor first sins by inventing his own dissonance instead of singing the part God gave him in the angelic harmony. Rejecting one’s own created nature is the original sin. Lesser beings also sin by trying to re-create themselves. Part of why the Ring tempts mortals so strongly is its promise to let them escape the physical mortality God has intended for them. The sinner seeks a more independent existence, but he ends up losing his individuality. The Ring-wraiths fade to shadows and puppets of Sauron. Gollum falls so far that he loses his true name and even his nature, scarcely remaining a hobbit.

Tolkien’s heroes use ancient weapons against evil: they strive for and often exemplify the cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. In this, Tolkien is no more Christian than all the philosophers who have followed Plato in praising these virtues, or than the pagans whose folklore he himself studied. However, in Tolkien’s world, these natural virtues take on a Christian character. Here a simple-minded hobbit can make a wiser choice than a sophisticated aristocrat of Gondor because of his humility. Justice is tempered with a mercy that a pagan would not comprehend. Again and again, Gollum is spared his just punishment because of pity. At first the hobbits are as shocked by this pity as pagans would be, but in the end it saves the quest when Gollum de-stroys the Ring.

Courage, too, becomes Christian in this story. The quest to destroy the Ring has almost no chance of success, but the fellowship does not set out in pagan fatalism. Rather, they have an almost Christian hope in what is not seen. Hope is what makes some characters persevere more courageously than others: it is what makes Gandalf a better general than Denethor, and Sam more constant than Frodo.

Article: by Anna Mathie

http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=273&var_recherche=tolkien

Special Thanks to: Roger@Oxford Inklings: http://oxfordinklings.blogspot.com/

Flash Point Green

When it rains, I miss home. The mountains have always been my home. I was born back in the Blue Ridge Mountains .

Have you ever been on the side of a mountain climbing, with nothing above you, and nothing below you, just rock and space? Have you ever smelled the deep forest moss, beside a gurgling stream as the late afternoon sun shafts through the tall hemlocks? Or breathed in the fresh bracing mountain air? And a lazy evening campfire...

Is it wanderlust, or is it something deeper...a need to explore? To leave behind the illusions of modern life and walk fully engaged, and fully awake...authentic, creative engagement.

I'm fully convinced of progressive awakening...awakening more and more to God, and more and more to life. God is NEVER finished with us in this life. Yes, I am convinced that in this life, we will never stop awakening, no matter how many mountains we have to go around. God's going to have his way. And we will never stop having the opportunity of applying what we've experienced on the way.

Oh, What is flash point green? It's at sunrise, just before the sun rises over the ocean...the sun breaks with a flash of green. It is a very rare and wonderful gift, to those who seek.