Tony Boes

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Whispers and Cigarettes

April 27, 2015 by Tony Leave a Comment

cigarette

Virginia Slims

I have vivid memories of hazy, summer afternoons at home. I can hear the drone of window A.C. units mixed with the muffled chatter of radios and television sets. I see, smell, and feel the smoke. Gray tendrils slip from the end of my mother’s Virginia Slim and creep into every corner of the room. Although I cannot feel it burning in my chest, I know in theory that it injures me.

I would give almost anything to have another afternoon with my Mother, even if she was smoking. My love for her always overrode my disdain for her bad habits, but I know those habits put her in the ground long before I was ready to see her buried.

Now that I am no longer accustomed to the daily haze of second-hand smoke, I can barely stand catching a whiff of the stuff. My nose burns and itches; my lungs become tight. I am physically offended, even though I’m not really bothered emotionally. While I was once desensitized, now I am immediately aware of its toxic nature.

The fight against second-hand smoke has largely been won. While church buildings were once one of the few places you could go to escape the haze, cigarettes have now been thoroughly demonized and pushed out of the public square. All government facilities, nearly all businesses, and the large majority of American homes are now smoke-free.

It would be great if we could say that the air we breathe is no longer harmful.Continue Reading

Cheering for Church Fights

June 10, 2014 by Tony Leave a Comment

church-fight

“Let’s Take This Outside”

When the Bus Ministry Leader asked the Head Deacon if he wanted to “take the vote out into the parking lot” at the church’s monthly business meeting, any illusions that I was attending a peaceful country church were shattered. Before this exchange, all I knew of our church centered around the preaching of the Gospel, and the care for the less fortunate. In a few short moments, the veneer of health and unity was stripped away and the deep, sinful dysfunction of the church was made evident.

Men I had thought cared only for the spread of the gospel, showed themselves to be most interested in the wielding of influence and power. It was my first church fight. I was a new Christian and barely 13 years old.

By God’s grace that business meeting was not the end of my walk with Christ, but I was damaged. It shaped the way I see relationships in the church, and has influenced my convictions on how the church should be governed (hint: preteens have no business in business meetings). Since then I’ve seen and heard even worse–shameful divisions that have no place in the household of God.

My father, who was baptized shortly after me, has a saying: “Baptists only love two things: fightin’ and eatin’.”  He spoke plainly from experience. I can’t say that I blame him.

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Tony serves Missouri Baptists as webmaster, and is a part of a Karis Church planting team in Jefferson City, MO. He is blessed daily by his wife, Brianna, and two children. Read More…

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