DRIVING ALERT

            Oldest grandson, Graham, celebrated his fifteenth birthday June 22^nd. As all other children of this generation, the first order of business was to secure his learner’s permit which will allow him to legally drive the roadways in Alabama. In our day there was no such thing as a learner’s permit. And today’s kids find it amazing that I was eighteen and a high school graduate when I finally got a driver’s license. (Big family and one automobile.)

            I rejoice in seeing Graham mature and move into more liberties and responsibilities. But I am also quite concerned with this new step. Traffic accidents are the leading cause of teen age deaths. Seven teens ages 16 to 19 die every day from motor vehicle injuries.

            I trust Graham completely. He is responsible, he does not use drugs or alcohol and, I think, he has enough sense to not let his smart phone distract him. But your experience and my experience teach us that the roadways are treacherous. We can’t control what other drivers do and there are plenty out there who are not responsible.

 So I will pray an umbrella of divine protection for him, as I have always prayed, but particularly now when he is behind the wheel. And we have the biblical promise, “He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:11)  As I write this I remember an old rhyme from the “Burma Shave” signs along the highways: “The angels who guard you while you drive usually retire at fifty five.” I guess in this day of the interstates we need to revise it to “seventy five.”

Grace and peace.

DON'T BLAME GOD

Over the past few weeks Oklahoma has been a true “tornado alley.” Wildfires are ravaging Colorado. Floods have inundated homes and businesses. Multiple storms have buffeted various areas causing loss of life and unimaginable destruction. One reporting service counts seventy five natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, sinkholes, avalanches, landslides, drought, floods, etc.) in our country in the first five months of the year, not including those this month or the many which have occurred around the world.

How are we to reconcile such disasters with God? One’s theology shapes his understanding of natural disasters. Some believe that God in His sovereignty causes everything that happens. God is in control of everything and sends disasters. Others believe that God in His sovereignty is in control of everything but allows or permits things to happen that He does not approve. He uses such events in ways that add to His glory. He blesses some within the storm. But He does not cause the storm.

Before any creation, God had complete foreknowledge of all things that would happen in human history. Yet he gave Adam and Eve free will, knowing they would use it to sin. And knowing that through them sin would enter all mankind and even infect the natural order of things. But He also foreknew that he would redeem mankind and the whole natural order. Paul summarizes this expectation in Romans 8:21-22; “the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

We certainly need to pray that God will end the drought or divert the storm. He can certainly do so. But He did not cause them. 

Grace and peace. 

WHAT A CHRISTIAN FATHER WANTS

Around the breakfast table we old preachers were sharing the circumstances and impact of our call into the ministry. Mentioned by more than one of us was the concern of our fathers that we would not have the material rewards and riches they wished for us. Mine was one of them. Raising five children in the midst of the great depression, he fretted over having enough food on the table or enough resources for other needs. Indeed he was in debt his entire adult life and was still in debt at his death. His desire for his children was for them to have more than he had. Indeed, the only question he raised when I revealed my call into the ministry concerned material needs.

Of course, going in, we budding preachers knew our theme could be that of a 1940’s movie and 1950’s TV comedy “You’ll Never Get Rich.” But we had confidence our Lord through His churches, would take care of us.

As a father, I am grateful that our children are doing well vocationally and materially. Indeed, they are earning more than their preacher daddy ever earned (even adjusted for inflation). But a father’s concern for his children should involve much more than material prosperity. First priority is for them to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Such a relationship will help them to “set (their) affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2). The words penned by George Beverly Shea (who died recently at age 104) capture that relationship. “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I’d rather be His than have riches untold.”

Happy is the father whose children belong to Jesus. 

Grace and peace. 

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

I have this account on Facebook, the social networking system available on the internet. I seldom post anything on Facebook. If I do, most often it will be a blog. I do keep up with what others have posted, particularly our children, but also friends from over the years, many of them from churches I have served as pastor.

A couple of weeks ago I was inundated with Facebook greetings wishing me a happy birthday and responding to pictures my girls had posted on their sites. So many greetings were sent that I can’t begin to respond to each one.

Each one was received with gladness but some were special. At rare times I wonder if my 55 years of ministry has accomplished anything, has fulfilled the calling I have in the Lord. Messages thanking me for the impact I had on that person’s life remind me of the numerous youth I’ve been privileged to lead in their formative years, of the

many instances I have been able to walk with someone through troubled times, of times I was able to help get a marriage back on track, times God used me to lead someone into a relationship with Christ, or helped them move closer to Christ. And these memories lead to others where we helped churches make some significant decisions.

            I thank all of you, my friends, for remembering me and helping me to remember. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3-4) 

Grace and peace. 

 

 

 

MEMORIAL DAY

             As I grow older I become ever more aware that memory is fleeting. Our grandson was working on a school project which examined the impact of World War II on those who lived through it. Both Liz and I were children during that war. I was six when it began and ten when it ended. We dug into our memories for ways the war impacted us. We thought of things we haven’t thought of in years. And the more we thought, the more memories popped up. But it is amazing how much we cannot remember. This is evident also when we look at pictures from thirty, forty or fifty years ago. Looking at those pictures, we recapture memories that left us in the intervening years. And some pictured events we still cannot remember.

            Some memories stay with us better than others. These are the precious memories about which the gospel song speaks. “Precious memories, how they linger, how they every flood my soul.”

            But to help preserve memories we erect memorials. And for that purpose we observe Memorial Day, a day begun to honor and remember those killed in the civil war, but which now encompasses all those who have gone from our midst. It became “Decoration Day” for many rural cemeteries.

 In Proverbs (10:7) Solomon says “The memory of the righteous is blessed.” I would paraphrase that to say it is a blessing to us when we remember those who have departed. 

Grace and peace. 

Mel

MONDAY'S CHILD

             I eat breakfast with a group of old(er) ministers every Thursday morning at a local Cracker Barrel. As most of you know, all the Cracker Barrel restaurants have antiques or replicas of antiques on the walls. One morning I noticed on the wall a calendar from the year 1935 and it was open to the months of March, April and May. Having been born in May of 1935 I looked for the 20^th (my birth date) and saw that it fell on a Monday.

            “Monday’s Child” is a song or rhyme that dates back more than 200 years. It starts “Monday’s child is fair of face.” Now that’s nice. But it is up to others to decide if this Monday child is fair of face. I’d rather be like Tuesday’s Child who is “full of grace.” One definition of “grace” in the dictionary is “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration and/or sanctification.” Such grace is reflected in character and lifestyle.

What is inside a person is more important than what is on the outside. In our society, which makes much to do over looks, we need to remember, “the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”(1 Samuel 16:7)

             If you are not familiar with the rhyme it is;

“Monday’s child is fair of face,

 Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

 Wednesday’s child is full of woe,

 Thursday’s child has far to go,

 Friday’s child is loving and giving,

 Saturday’s child works hard for a living,

 But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

 Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.”

Of course, this ancient rhyme has nothing to do with reality. 

Grace and peace. 

Hello Again

     It has been four months since my last post. For thirty days I was in South Africa with my son-in-law Todd Heifner and my grandson Deason. When I arrived back home in the middle of February it took a month to get things back together. And it is so easy to put off something not required like a blog. But I hope now to be a regular blogger.
    It was a treat to spend a month on mission and traveling with two really neat guys. I was blown away by the vastness of the country and its beauty. South Africa is full of prairies, rolling hills, mountains, rivers and beaches. South Africa has become a modern nation with large cities and a strong economy. But also poverty is everywhere, in the cities and out in the countryside.
     Our mission was to some of the poorest people I have encountered, although I understand that conditions are worse in some other slums around the world. Most of these people are locked into poverty with little hope of escaping it. But despite the conditions in which they live, the children were like children elsewhere. The were full of life and laughed easily. Working with them was a joy.
     Bolstered also was my admiration for missionaries who leave the comforts of the U.S. to work in some of the most difficult situations. These, and those that came before them, are the reason that Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world. May God bless them and their work.

Grace and Peace