ANNIVERSARY GIFT

                Previously I mentioned a gift for our fifty-fifth anniversary. Liz hates to fly over the ocean. But she has conceded that she would cross one more time for a trip to the British Isles. We had been to London once but London was all we saw. As I began thinking about this milestone fifty-fifth anniversary it occurred to me that such a trip would be just the thing for our celebration. Several months ago I began plotting and getting reservations for the trip. So I surprised her with an eleven day tour of Britain; i.e. England, Scotland, North Ireland, Ireland and Wales. The trip is scheduled for August 7-17.

                I predicted to our children her first question would be, “How are you paying for this?” So I explained to her that I started the process months ago by selling my little truck. I hadn’t been using it much since we moved into the Oaks on Parkwood.  I sold my guns, neither of which had been fired in over three decades. Then I began to squirrel away from our budget a little here and a little there until I had the expense covered.

                Neither of us has a “bucket list,” but I suspect, considering our ages and the cost of travel, this will be the last major trip we will undertake. I am grateful to the Lord for our current health and the resources to accomplish it. I am grateful to the Lord that together we have been able to see much of His beautiful world. We have traveled together to Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Italy, London, Israel twice, Hawaii, Alaska now the whole of the British Isles. We have also been in all fifty states of our country.

                With the seraphim in the temple vision of Isaiah I can declare, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

 

Grace and peace.

"SAKES ALIVE"

An earlier version of this blog somehow disappeared.

              Last week Liz and I celebrated our Fifty-Fifth wedding anniversary. We recognize in doing so we are greatly blessed. Many of our friends and contemporaries are not so blessed because one or the other of these couples has died. Also, a few have experienced the trauma of divorce. God has blessed us with life and love. It’s awesome to realize we have been together so long. (We dated five years before we married, so we’ve actually “been together” sixty years.)

                I wrote a short verse for the occasion to accompany a gift. It goes as follows:

 

                “Sakes alive! Sakes alive!"

Here we are at fifty-five!

Fifty five? Yes fifty-five!

What causes a marriage so long to survive?

First, enough health for US to last so long.

Second, a love that is unusually strong.

A love that sees in each the best

And then ignores all the rest.

We rejoice today in what we’ve been given,

And trust it will last ‘til we get to heaven.”

                (i.e. ‘til death do us part.)

 More about the gift later. Liz certainly didn’t expect I t.

                So rejoice with us and pray for us. Pray that God will continue to give us good health and that we will remain in the center of God’s will. Kit and Julie received many good wishes for us on their posts for our anniversary, and we received many cards and phone calls. Thank you all who communicated.

And remember; love endures, is kind, never fails, does not envy, is not proud, behaves, doesn’t claim its rights, isn’t easily provoked, assumes the best, rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, “love never fails.”

 (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

 

Grace and peace.

A RARE HAPPENING

            Fifty-four years ago I had the privilege of presiding at the wedding of my brother, Bill, and his bride, Evelyn Connell. Then twenty-four years later I was given the privilege of presiding at the wedding of their daughter, Peggy, and her fiancé, Donnie Helms. And now, two generations later I was invited by Bill’s granddaughter, Katie Helms, to officiate at her marriage to Andrew Gilliam (May31^st). I have officiated at the marriages of couples and their child, two generations. This is the first time I have conducted weddings for three generations. Words cannot express how pleased I am to be a part of each of these weddings. I rejoice in the strong Christian families each has produced.

            Bill was present to give away his daughter at her wedding, and I regret he will not be present for the wedding of his granddaughter. He died an early death in the summer of 1999. But wait a minute…he will be present. Having written last week about John MacArthur’s book “The Glory of Heaven,” I reflect that no one really knows what heaven is really like. Many ideas have been suggested by a multitude of people. But one thing of which I am sure is that those people who are there are aware of what is happening on earth. Having described the faith of the Old Testament believers now in heaven, the writer of Hebrews declares “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” Heaven is full of witnesses. One of these is my brother Bill who will certainly witness the wedding of his granddaughter. And I am also convinced that another “Bill” Deason will be a witness, Katie’s great grandfather whom she never knew.

Being surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, “let us run with endurance the race which is set before us, looking unto Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

 

HEAVEN IS

             In his latest book, “The Glory of Heaven,” John McArthur challenges the growing number of first hand reports by people who have died and then been brought back to life, and described a trip into heaven or another world. His main thesis is that these stories do not harmonize with the Bible, our source of divine truth. He is especially hard on “Heaven is For Real,” published in 2010 and a best seller since. The story, told by Todd Burpo, is of Colton, his three year old son’s visit to heaven while undergoing surgery for a ruptured appendix.  McArthur rejects outright Colton’s descriptions of buddy-buddy paling around with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. Much of what Colton describes sounds to McArthur like scenes from some of the Bible picture books read to Colton since his birth.

            To McArthur most of the life after life or heavenly visits are focused on the individual involved, almost wholly leaving out the presence, majesty and glory of God as described in scripture. He is also troubled by the universalism taught in some of them.

            Although I have not been as critical as McArthur, I must agree with his observances. Still these experiences related by others have been a real blessing to me and an affirmation that something good is out there beyond this life. Paul claims in a visit to the highest heaven that he saw things which cannot be described with words. (2 Corinthians 12:1-6) Here lately describing in words seems to be no problem.

            But we do not claim testimonies of people who supposedly have been there and come back for our hope of heaven. Rather we claim the promise of Jesus who told us “I go and prepare a place for you… I will come again and receive you unto Myself;” (John 14:2-3)
 

Grace and peace.

SNAKES ON CAMPUS ?

              “Snakes on Campus!” I did a double take at the news account of snakes on the campus of Samford University. In the Bible the devil is portrayed as a serpent, a snake, in the Genesis account. Condemning the scribes and Pharisees, false teachers and hypocrites, Jesus calls them snakes and vipers. (Matthew 23:33) We call a shady, conniving or evil person a snake. A snake on campus conjures up the image of a false teacher, a professor who leads students astray.

                But the news article referred to real flesh and blood snakes, Copperheads, which have bitten two students this academic year. Now that is a serious problem. The administration assures us they are doing all they can to rid the campus of such creatures, but that the efforts are only partially effective because the campus is so wooded and ivy covered. In the meantime they warn students and others to be watchful and alert to such a danger.

                Of Samford I am confident there are fewer two legged snakes on its campus than on most state schools. Not that Samford is heaven on earth, or as Grady Nutt referred to Mississippi College as being “ten miles from the nearest known sin.” But as news sources report one in five coeds on state campuses being raped, mostly at drunken orgies, I once again thank God for Samford and similar Christian Universities. Being a graduate and familiar with the bible and theology professors, although I disagree with them on some points, I am confident there are no snakes teaching the Bible, and I have no knowledge of heresy being taught in any other disciplines.

                But even as we need to be watchful for snakes on campus we need even more to be aware of that other snake. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Peter 5:8)

 (Note: My computer was out of service for several weeks. Glad to be back.)

Grace and peace.

SELF DRIVING AUTO

               I am impressed by advances made in automobile technology. I now have “On star” in my vehicle, a system through which I can receive step by step directions to my selected destination. It will also alert emergency responders if I have an accident and inform them of my location. It will also call whom I wish in an emergency situation. It is also equipped with hands free phone calling, if I choose to use it.          

On TV I’ve seen autos which parallel park themselves. The driver takes his hands off the steering wheel and allows the car to do its thing. Already they have produced a car which is completely automatic, it drives itself. You just tell it where you want to go and it takes you there. It should be on the market within this decade. Wow! Read the paper while you commute. No more accidents and no more speeding tickets. You see, humans, who are prone to errors and mistakes are removed from the process

            To bad we can’t come up with autopilots for humans themselves. Program them to follow God’s will and they could keep us on track. Wait. For Christians there is already something like that. Paul urges us, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) But to walk in the Spirit would take away our free will. Too many times we want to do our will rather than God’s.

            Walk in the Spirit. He will keep you on track.

FACING DEATH

            On television we watched as Malaysian Airlines informed families of those on Flight MH370 that all lives were lost. Some fell down, shouted aloud, and responded with other outward signs of inconsolable grief. I was not surprised but was troubled by it. Of course, I don’t know how I would react if I believed I would never see my loved one again in life or in death, if I believed they would return to earth reincarnated into a person, animal or thing I would not recognize. Of course different societies or cultures have different ways of confronting grief.

            But I have in person seen this kind of reaction. Being a pastor in a small community (Reform, AL) I was at times called by personnel at our small hospital to come and be with a family who had no pastor of their own. I remember one vivid scene when the patient passed away and the family acted the same as the Chinese. They swooned, hollered aloud, beat on furniture and engaged in all sorts of expressions. Nothing I could say was of comfort to them. They were inconsolable.

            As the family was carrying on, an attending nurse observed to me, “It makes so much difference when people have faith and when they don’t.” I am sure she had seen it often.

            When people have faith, accept that in Jesus we have everlasting life, that we who believe in Jesus will see each other after physical death in the place he has prepared for us; facing the death of a loved one is so much easier. We remember the words of Jesus, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he is dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

            I add the question that Jesus asked,”do you believe this?”

 

Grace and Peace