Time:

Something To Think About Time:

I'm at one of those points in life where I'm going through the transition from "I have plenty of time." to, "I'm not going to get everything done."  I've been there before.  I know that minutes and hours are the same today as they were a short time ago.  Why do I have the sensation that they are flying by faster? Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses.  He had forty or fifty more years to work with us than most of us have, yet he prayed,"Teach us to number our days."  I don't think the wise leader of Israel had in mind knowing how many days and minutes he would have.  That is certainly information that is not available to you or me.  Even predicting when folk with terminal diseases will die is an inexact science.  The fact is none of us know how much time we have.  We number something because it is precious.  Time certainly is that.  It is the stuff of life.  So let's join with Moses, and the Psalmist who recorded his prayer.   Lord teach me to number my days. May I consider what I'm doing with them. May I ask what good will be left behind when my day is gone. I want to use my time that is fleeting to invest in eternity, which is forever. Thank You, Lord, for this time.  Help me to make the most of it. AMEN It's Something to Think About.

What Breaks Your Heart?

Something To Think About What's In Your Heart?

The joke is told about a man who was in a terrible car wreck.  He had been thrown clear of the auto and was standing, somewhat dazed, on the side of the road.  He was looking mournfully at his new automobile, now just a poke of twisted, smoldering metal and plastic. "Oh my Beemer, my beautiful Beemer . . ." he moaned as a motorist stopped to help.   "Was anyone else in the car?" the good Samaritan asked. "No, but look at my car, my brand new BMW. . ." The rescuer, finding out that no one else was hurt began to take stock of the driver.  To his horror he noticed that the man's left arm had been severed between the elbow and the wrist.  He stood cradling the stump and mourned the loss of his luxury sedan. The passer-by could finally stand the irony no longer. "Shut up about your stupid car.  Look at your arm." Turning his gaze from the ruined auto to the remains of his left arm the accident victim didn't miss a beat.  "Oh, my Rolex, my beautiful gold Rolex . . ." I've seen scenes, not unlike that, played out.  In a time of great tragedy or crisis the fact that the most important thing to a person was, indeed, just a thing became clear.  More often I've observed the syndrome being played out over time.  I've been in houses that looked ready for a photo-shoot for Better Homes and Gardens,  where children lived, lonely and ignored.   I've known men who worked so hard at making a good living that they had no time or energy for building a worthwhile life.  Perhaps it could be said about our society that . . .  never have so many had so much and enjoyed it so little. We are like the prosperous farmer in Jesus Story.  We see our stuff as the end, rather than the means to--and often not even the chief means to--an end.  Jesus didn't leave on our own in drawing the moral from His parable.  He introduced his story this way, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”  And finished it with, "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Accounting is not one of my favorite things to do.  Some of my number-crunching friends will sometimes come at me with their spread-sheets and charts.  I'll ask them, is it a :) or a :(? This man's balance sheet resulted in a big, red frowny face. What about you? Is there anything in your life that feeds your soul? Are you doing anything that will still be important in Eternity? Are you focusing on what really matters? I hope you will find it to be . . . Something to Think About.

The Cost of Love

Something To Think About The Cost of Love:

(Warning:  Grandpa bragging:) In case you haven't figured out, most of the time the picture at the top of STTA is of one, or more, of my grandkids.  The picture today is of the oldest of that youngest generation of Merrells.  Christopher is a musician, and like many artists he brings a passion to life that is refreshing and challenging.  He loves the Lord, and cares deeply about others.  He recently wrote, I think the hardest part of my job is not the work itself but working with guys for 6 months or so, building a friendship with them then watching them leave only to do the same thing all over again with a new guy. . . . always watching people come and go. Christopher is a thinker.  He has observed and figured out something that I didn't grasp until I was a good bit older than him.  You can't love for free.  Love always involves an investment.  The rewards of love are often such that we don't notice that.  Having a good friend, and enjoying those around us is enjoyable, but we live in a world where people move away, move on, and go in directions that break our hearts. Chris, as his friends know him, works in an industry that is populated by short-termers.  He has been in the company for several years, most of his coworkers stay with a job no longer than a few months.  As is often the case with this kind of short-term, somewhat seasonal employment, those who work at the trade are hardly pillars of the community.  Young as he is, Christopher is often the the most mature, by far, man on the job.  He considers himself a missionary.  He wants to make a difference in the lives of those around him. . . .make the most of your time with people. Even the ones that get on your last nerve. . .  Love people through their mess. . . .   That kind of love is costly.  People will disappoint you, even hurt you.  Those in whose life you make a difference will likely go on to other places--places out of your orb.  They tend to make this move just about the time that they get healthy enough that they could give you some return on your investment.  It hurts to see them go.  After getting burned a few times the tendency is to wrap yourself in insulation.  Just do your job.  If you get too involved it will lead to pain.  Christopher reminds us to love them anyhow.  The model of love that we need to keep in mind is that of our Lord Jesus Christ.    “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, NASB95)   There are people all around you today.  Some of them are the kind of folk it will take effort to love.  Love them anyway. Thanks Christopher for giving Papa, and I hope some others, Something to Think About.

A Place to Study:

Something To Think About A Place to Study:

(Bio-warning:  All STTAs are autobiographical, me being the "auto."  This one is more so.  So if you aren't interested in reading some thoughts from an old preacher, mostly about being an old preacher, then you might want to look up something else to read.) I remember when, as a twenty three year old new pastor I first set up shop in the little, maybe eight by ten feet, room designated as the "Pastor's Study."  Over the next couple of years one of the guys in the church gave me an old desk, which we refinished.  Another helped me build some shelves.  A desk chair and maybe one more seat were obtained.  I can remember some of the significant discoveries, discussions, and  breakthroughs that took place in that little room.  I proudly--in the right sense, I hope--referred to that little space off the right end of the platform in our little building, as "my study."  About eight years into my time here at Covington Bible Church, we built a new building, still not big, but much less small than where we were.  I was very grateful that as folk worked on the drawings for out new facility they wanted to make sure that sufficient space was set aside for the Pastor's Study.  In the downstairs of our building all the floors were bare concrete when we moved in, all but my study, which was covered with carpet.  It had a lot of red in it.  It was my study.  The refinished desk was moved in.  A nice easy-chair was put in one corner.  Eventually some fish took up residence there.  Again, I was privileged to hang out in that room while significant events, matters of eternal import, took place.  A few years ago I undertook a major remodeling project.  Most of the cherry lumber that was used for shelves and cabinetry was from trees my Father-in-law, the man who was my pastor in my youth, had cut down.  The old, now way outdated, carpet was replaced with laminate flooring, and the fish had a custom-made place for their little tropical world.  A bit later my wife helped me put together a one-of-a-kind table.  When I built the shelves, and laid the floor, I did the arithmetic, not just calculating length and width, but time.  I knew that I was building a space for someone who would come after me.  A little over six months ago, I packed up my books and stuff, and moved out.  Most of my things are still boxed up.  Thankfully, over the last decade or so, more and more of my "books" are digital.  What used to take up feet of shelf space now is stored on a hard drive I can hold in my hand.   Part of the time, now, I work from home.  When I'm at Covington Bible I work out of a very adequate space that doubles as a classroom.  I'm doing some work on the room.  I'd like to leave it better than I found it. My where-I-sit-to-work migration isn't finished, though.  In preparation for thenext phase of ministry that Kathy and I are undertaking, I recently purchased a piece of luggage.  I confess it was the label Samsonite put on the piece that first caught my attention--"Mobile Office." As I look back over the places where I have been privileged to sit down and study God's word, prepare lessons, and messages, and meet with people in need, I am very thankful.  What has taken place is far more important than where it took place.  In a short time I'll pack up again.  Since most of my stuff is still in boxes from the last move, it won't take long.  I'll pray for the next person--likely someone a lot like that dark-haired kid who moved into that little eight by ten room more than four decades ago.  I'll put my computer in my mobile office and we'll roll on. A friend of mine would say, "It's all good."  And it is.  Beyond doubt,GOD IS GOOD. It's STTA. I was recently privileged to share a message at a sister church, where some friends of mine faithfully study and minister, one of them has been my colleague and friend for forty years.  I was there for a day this congregation had set aside to show their appreciation to their pastors.  I can almost guarantee that you have never heard a message preached from the passage I chose to use in honoring these men for their faithfulness.  If that piques your interest click here.

Sin's Consequences:

Something To Think About Sin's Consequences:

A good bit of pastoral life involves hanging around--simply being with people.  I did that this morning.  In addition to the lovely people with whom I spent several hours, someone, or really something, else was with us. Nothing exciting was happening, in fact our time passed in much the same way it would have had we been watching paint dry--old oil-base, wet-for-hours paint.  As I thought about it, it seemed rather perverse that events of such great importance were unfolding as we waited, and yet our experience was so mundane.  The clear, yet unspoken reality that hung all around us, and was hanging-out with us, was that sin had been let loose, and the consequences of that sin--or those sins--could not be--indeed, should not be stopped.  We were there in quiet vigil waiting for the dreaded other shoe to drop, not knowing precisely how bad its fall would be. James talks about sin's life-cycle.   Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. (James 1:14–15, NLT)  Someone had already died, their life horribly ended because a temptation had become an all-consuming craving.  The decision had already been made that another life, young and full of promise would never again be lived outside a prison.  We were gathered in a place where we didn't quite feel welcome, but where we had an official right to be, to get what news we could about the beginnings of another phase of the unfolding of this evil.  Will sin, in particular this sin, claim yet another life?  All around us were those playing their part--a judge, lawyers, witnesses, advisers, clerks, bailiffs, guards, prospective jurors, reporters, even janitors--each summoned by some authority to come and fulfill their role.  Then there was the family of the victim, and members of the family of the man on trial--in a sense, victims as well.  Some of us were there because we thought it the right thing to do.  I sure there are more than a hundred of us.  We had received the summons.  In a sense it was a summons from evil.  God has so ordered his universe that evil is like gravity.  It has a force that appears to be all its own.  Once evil is set in motion it calls far and wide.  That summons cost me a morning of my life.  The sentence already handed down from sin's gruesome bench to some who are involved, is "Your life will never be the same.  You will bear this mark." Pandora's box, version one billion, seventeen has been opened, and the imps let loose on humanity, even what we consider to be innocent humanity, have yet to be counted, and their mischief is ongoing, and will continue, in some cases forever.  Like watching the clock I watched evil unfold this morning.  I couldn't actually see it move, but its results are plain, and undeniable.  It's not pretty. It's STTA. A great deal of the story of the Bible has to do with sin and it's consequences, but the story of God's word is bracketed by paradise lost because of sin, and paradise regained because of Christ's victory over sin.  On Easter of 2014, I shared God's Story In His Own Words all in one message.  Click the link to listen or watch. You will find information about stopping the consequences of sin in your life, here.

Holding the hand of life's victims:

Something To Think About, Holding someone's hand when life beats them up:

I was privileged to be the guest speaker at a church that was honoring some friends of mine for Pastor Appreciation Day.  Getting ready to share there, I got out a file folder I've kept over the years.  l am a lousy record keeper, but when I receive something that encourages me I put it in that folder, if I remember to do it.  I keep it so sometimes when I'm low I can be encouraged with some recycled expressions of love. Several years ago I was with someone who had severely injured themself in a fall.  The Dr. was sewing up their hand.  I held the other one, while the physician did his work.  A couple of weeks later I got a card from that parishioner, thanking me.  I put that card in the file-folder.  I mentioned it in my message.  I pointed out that part of the Job Description for pastors is "Holding the hands of folks whom Life has beaten up."  I got another card today.  I'll put it in my folder as soon as I'm finished with this.   One of my pastor friends who was present for my sermon said, "I loved 'Pastors hold people's hands when life beats them up.'  So glad we have each other's hands for this journey."  Me, too, Brother.  Another pastor friend, my son, posted on his Facebook page today, "Just cannot express how important it is for pastors to make time to encourage other pastors. Thankful for ____ & for eggs&coffee." Fellow pastors, if we are doing what we ought to do, as in serving under the chief Shepherd, we aren't in competition, we are all working for the same goal.  lt can be lonely, let's be sure to encourage one another, whenever we can. It's STTA.

A World Full Of Scammers

Something To Think About, Full Mouth, Empty Pockets:

I Just read in the paper and heard on the radio about a scammer who convinced a bunch of really smart people that he was going to give a huge pile of money to his Alma Mater.  It turns out that the whole thing was " pure fantasy . . . [the perpetrator] . . . was no more than a “breathtakingly persuasive liar” who took more than $800,000 from his friends to spend on luxury cars, a vacation in Las Vegas and dinners at Ruth’s Chris Steak House"  (Roanoke Times, 10/14).   The story caught my attention, because I had recently heard about another example of huge promises, great expectations, but no substance just a few days before.  Both stories reminded me of a disaster that a relative of mine narrowly avoided.  It's a fairly common syndrome.  Our world is filled with folk who have great needs and desires.  To one degree or another we are all there.  Even folk who have few personal wants tend to care deeply about institutions and movements that have great needs.  Then there are those who have a "need" to be the hero, the one who will fill the gap and provide the big bucks.  The problem is the benfactors in the three incidents to which I refer, and who knows how many more examples, have no bucks at all.  What they do have is a remarkable ability to lie convincingly.  If we were to set up an assembly of the duped, just from the three incidents in this STTA, it would include very well educated professionals, school administrators, church leaders, business owners, professional fund-raisers, people who know how to balance a checkbook, and even some who run the banks that hold the accounts.  In one of the cases I mention, even the man's wife was taken in. It is not a new scenario. Jesus spoke of a group of people who said, "I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!"  Yet the truth was, they were "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17, NLT).   I can easily see the Church of Laodicea offering a matching-fund-challenge to the local Red Cross, while accountants were pulling together the numbers that would force them into bankruptcy. In some perverse way the whole idea goes back to the father of lies.  In the Garden of Eden he came offering what he really couldn't give, and what Eve really didn't need but came to desperately want. In between Genesis and Revelation we see Israel persuaded to trade the glory of God for the shame of idols, the nations of the world worshiping and serving the things created rather than the creator, representatives of the nation of Israel rejecting their King and instead swearing allegiance to Caesar, and those who follow "shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. . . clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain . . . trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots" (Jude 12, NLT). My first temptation when I read the article this morning was to feel smug and look down my nose at those who were taken in, but after I thought a bit, I realize that I'm taken in all the time.  There just isn't a reporter keeping track of my foolish sin.   It's STTA. This is a dangerous world.  You'll find hope here.

Headline: Drugs Kill More Than Autos

Something To Think About, Troubling Numbers:

Just about any time Kathy and I travel we go past a wreck.  We are thankful when we see the occupants of the wrecked auto standing, dazed, off the side of the road.  It means they are probably OK.  I went by a wreck the other day--little SUV upside-down with the roof crushed--and had one of those "knot in the stomach" moments.  I didn't see how anyone could have gotten out of that one alive.  We are all familiar with traffic accidents and their accompanying fatalities.  It is a part of modern life.   Most of us are a bit more insulated from deaths related to drugs.  The latest statistics in my state, however, show that more died from heroin and opioid use than from vehicle crashes in 2014 (here).  I'm not sure how the dead are sorted in the accounting that led to this grim conclusion, but I suspect it's even worse than that.  I just read an article about the jail here in my little mountain community.  It is filled to over capacity.  Most of the inmates are there, in one way or another, because of drugs.  One of the recent residents at our little prison on Main Street just pleaded guilty to a murder committed in a robbery.  The proceeds of the theft were used to buy drugs.  I'm not sure how that man's death is counted in such surveys.  Another inmate has been charged with capital murder.  Again the crime is drug related.  If he is executed does his death go in the drug-death column?    What about the babies who don't make it because their moms poison them with the drugs they take during pregnancy, or the suicides of those who find life hopeless, because they or a loved one are horribly addicted? I live in a quiet little town.  Twice, I've had property that belongs to me broken into.  Both times it was police who bashed in a door to arrest someone on drug related charges.  On both occasions concern to preserve life motivated the violent entry. Maybe my view is skewed, but I don't think by that much.  We can't just ignore what is going on around us.  This may not be much, but here are a couple of things we can do: In recent years it has become very popular for clergy and other Christian leaders to publicly drink alcohol and even encourage its use.  As leaders in the church we need to make absolutely sure that we model a clear example of responsible behavior.  I sometimes wonder whether our elevation of personal freedom has kept us from seeing broader responsibility. There are ministries that are doing the terribly hard work of reaching out to addicts.  Their work is often messy.  It is frequently unrewarding.  We should encourage these brave, hearty souls. We ought to reach out with love and compassion to those who are addicted and those who are hurt by the addiction of loved ones.  Most of us aren't trained counselors and we don't have a network of professionals at our disposal, but, if we know the Lord, we do have the word of God, the hope of the Gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit on our side.  My experience is that we will often fail, but we will sometimes succeed.  We have to try! So, if you get in your car or truck today, buckle up.  And, before the day is over, stop and ask the Lord,    Lord there are hopeless and, apart from You, hopelessly addicted people out there. How can I make a difference?" Amen.   It's STTA. You'll find hope here.

Faithfulness:

Something To Think About, Faithfulness:

Faithfulness has to be an ever present reality. 1 Corinthians 4:2 is perhaps the preeminent passage of scripture in the Bible about being a steward.  What is required is faithfulness.     “In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.” I think the Apostle Paul had a story the Lord Jesus had told in mind when he wrote this.    ““Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. “Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. “Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. “Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.” (Luke 12:35–38, NASB95)    Being faithful/trustworthy part of the time won't get the job done.  "It is required" is a present-tense concept.  When is it not required?  Never. The revealing moment is when one is found.  When will that be?  We don't know. If you are young, start now being trustworthy.  The Lord has given you abilities, resources and gifts.  Use them faithfully. If you are in the middle of life, continue on.  Sometimes it will be slog on, faithfully.  Show yourself to be trustworthy concerning the tasks the Lord has given you. If you are old, know that you can't quit.  Finish well.  Though you may have been faithful in earlier years, you don't want to be found less than trustworthy, now. It's STTA. You'll find some guidelines for preparation here.

Being Prepared Joaquin, the Byrds, & a Philosopher King:

Something To Think About, Being Prepared Joaquin, the Byrds, & a Philosopher King:

As I write, Hurricane Joaquin is churning away out in the Atlantic, southeast of here.  The predictions of what is going to happen are less than exact.  Here is a map of possible tracks the Hurricane could take, from  earlier this week.  I just heard a news report on the storm that  included the word "likely" many times.  Apparently the latest projection indicates that the storm will stay out in the ocean. In spite of the uncertainty, massive preparations have been made for Joaquin's consequences.  Huge machines have been piling up sand berms in New York and New Jersey, some friends of ours moved disaster relief equipment to a strategic location, football games were rescheduled and played early, and, of course, parking lots were jammed as folk stocked up on bread and milk.  I even charged my cellphone in anticipation of a possible power outage.  I'm resting now from my preparations. Keeping in mind what could happen, and the fact that by the time we know for sure what will happen it's too late to do anything about it, prudent foresight is wise. The Bible, almost universal religious instinct, and the restlessness in our own hearts warns that there is something on the other side of death.  We should be prepared.  I've done a lot in the past couple of years to stave off the effects of aging, and delay the appointment that I most certainly have with death.  Just an hour ago I took my cholesterol med.  To live as if I am going to live forever in the state in which I now exist, is foolish, perhaps arrogant. In more than four decades of pastoring, I've done quite a few funerals.  I make it a practice to ask the family if there is any particular scripture they want me to include in the funeral service.  The two most often given answers are "The twenty-third Psalm," and "That passage about their being a time for everything."  I've always figured that folk were thinking more of the Byrds than Solomon.  The Sixties rock band was making a plea for peace.  Solomon was observing that nothing in this life really satisfies.  Even the Byrd's version includes the first, all-encompassing couplet, "A time to be born, and a time to die."  The wise king goes on to point out,  He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Far from being something we can be all mellow about, the Bible's philosopher's view of the times leads to a troubling conclusion.  It is part of the reason that he finds life to be "vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecc. 1:14).  It supports the final conclusion of the book.  "Fear God, and keep His commandments"  (12:13).   Death is coming.  That is sure.  There is something beyond.  The evidence is strong.  It is wise to be prepared. It's STTA. You'll find some guidelines for preparation here.