I'm Thankful

Something To Think About Thankful on Thanksgiving Morning:

(Autobiographical warning:  If you have no interest in what's going on in my life, you probably ought to go on to something else.  I think there is something worth thinking about here, but it is heavily laced with thoughts about what is going on at this stage of my life.) I'm starting to write this while I'm eating breakfast on Thanksgiving morning.  It'll be another sixteen hours before my family, gathered at my older son's house rises and pours a bowl of cereal--Pilgrim Flakes--or fries an egg on Thanksgiving morning.  I can't avoid a certain level of cognitive jet-lag.  I've been here in Guam long enough that I'm sleeping at night and staying awake in the daytime, just fine, but I haven't gotten to the point where I can look at my watch without calculating the time back home and the time where Kathy is.   Here, where I am, it is thanksgiving.  There is turkey in the oven, and dessert on the table.  In a few hours I'll gather with a marvelous multi-ethnic family, for a thanksgiving feast.  It is good. On this Thanksgiving morning I want to use this space to publicly offer thanks. THANKSGIVING 2015.  I'm thankful for:  A truly hopeful life.  I use that word "hope" in the way it is used throughout the New Testament, often linked with faith and love.  I have seen a lot of despair.  I've seen beautiful people become gnarled caricatures of themselves.  The brutality of life on this globe twisted them into bitter, old (whatever their age) creatures devoid of joy.  Some found life so unbearable that they chose to end it prematurely, others took no direct action, but just quit.  I am thankful that I still find life filled with joy.  I take pleasure in God's gifts.  I enjoy the people God has brought into my life.  I find life meaningful because of the promises of God, and because His hand is guiding this world to the conclusion He has ordained. I'm thankful for hope. My family.  My lovely wife, my two sons and their families are all together at my older son's home.  I have a family who love the Lord.  They are involved in significant ministry.  My sons and their wives are bringing up my grandchildren in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  I have a grandson who is already on his own.  He is a man of God. I'm thankful for family. A healthy body.  I have liked Data, the android character on Star Trek, Next Generation, for a long time.  It seems that with the passage of years I become more like him.  My latest "cybernetic implant" is a set of hearing aids.  Day before yesterday I walked three miles, at a good clip,  I am planning to go hiking with kids the age of my grandkids in a few hours.  My new knee works well.  Some of my friends are debilitated with chronic pain.  Others won't be able to enjoy their Thanksgiving dinner.  Various ailments have robbed them of the joy in common tasks.  My Lord made this world a beautiful place.  In spite of the ravages of sin it retains much of its wonder.  I'm thankful for seeing the sky, feeling the breeze, being able to walk the earth, and enjoy its wonders.  I'm glad that at this point in life I still have a measure of health that allows me to ask, What's next? I'm thankful for my health. The new venture that, by God's grace, Kathy and I are embarking on.  For more than forty-two years it has been my privilege to be pastor at the Covington Bible Church.  With my church's blessing I'm now embarking on something new.  If you don't know, and you care to look, you can find out about thishere.  I'm thankful, especially at this point in my life, to have work with eternal significance that I can do My wife.  I know I already mentioned family, but I want to recognize Kathy's unique place in my life.  She is a blessing in so many ways.  She is a woman of God.  I have been privileged to see her become a capable teacher, and leader.  She is a talented musician.  Her live is suffused with a kindness that makes Kathy a blessing to all who know her, and I get to be first in line.  To paraphrase some of Solomon's words:   Kathy is a fountain of blessing for me.        I continue to rejoice in the wife of my youth. . . . I am still captivated by her love.   (Proverbs 5:18–19).           I'm thankful for Kathy. For partners in ministry.  My new status as "missionary" gives me opportunity to experience a whole new realm of thankfulness.  Over the past few months, Kathy and I have often found ourselves awed and humbled by those who have joined the team that is being assembled to raise up a new generation of leaders in Micronesia and beyond.  (Again, if you are curious, I direct youhere. I'm thankful for partners in ministry I could go on, but you have things to do to get ready for your own Thanksgiving.  I hope my thoughts will serve to prime the pump of your "thanksgiving-ator." Lord willing, this Sunday, I'll share a message from Psalm 107, ". . . give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,  For His lovingkindness is everlasting."  The whole Psalm is a great encouragement to gratitude. May your Thanksgiving be filled with thanks.   It's Something to Think About.   Find out about how God in Jesus Christ gave us what the Apostle Paul Called the unspeakable gift.  It is a gift that merits the most profound thanks. Find out about it here. My church,Covington Bible Church, is putting on a event that remembers, and celebrates the great event in when the Son of God came here.  I hope you'll attend out Live Nativity.

Good News in a Shoebox

Something To Think About Sharing at a Time of Thanksgiving:

For a number of years Covington Bible Church has partnered with Samaritan's Purse in their annual Operation Christmas Child project.  We just sent almost 1500 shoebox gifts on their way to places where need to hear about the Good News of Christ's coming.  Even though the Relay Stations, like the one our volunteers ran at CBC, are closed now, through the wonders of the cyber-world, you can still participate online. We Citizens of the United States will eat too much this Thanksgiving.  We'll watch more football than any human being should, and we'll shop too much on Black Friday.  All of that leads up to another Holiday of excess, which ironically commemorates the coming of One Who became poor so that others could be rich. The folk at Samaritan's Purse are leading the way in doing something that all of God's people, who live in places where Christmas is celebrated, ought to as we enter Advent.  Here is a great opportunity to point people to the meaning of this great event that celebrate.  Let's make the most of it.  I thank the CBC OCC crew for leading the way.   It's Something to Think About.

TIME

Something To Think About Time:

Just about every day when I look at social media or talk to those around me, I'll hear about something significant that has to do with the passage of time.  I just read about the birthday of a young lady.  We have been blessed to have her around for ten years.  I clearly remember when I prayed for her to be born in good health.  The network computers regularly remind me that it is some friend's birthday, or anniversary.  Holidays, and special times of remembrance remind us to look back X number of years ago.  What happened back then?  What have I learned?  Have I used the passage of time wisely? Moses prayed,    “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NIV) Let's allow ourselves to be infected with an "When this--then that." virus. When we  see an announcement about a birthday, an anniversary, or a memorial of a significant event, let's ask, "What am I doing with the time the Lord has given me?"     It's Something to Think About.

Where?

Something To Think About Where:

You've had the experience.  Especially when you are spending the night in a strange room.  You awake disoriented.  The question rises,accompanied by the bitter taste of fear.  Where am I?  It's an important question.  If you don't answer it quickly enough, or if you give yourself the wrong response your big toe will pay the price when it hits the corner of the dresser that isn't there in the place where you thought you were.  From Alice in Wonder Land to theTruman Show people have explored this idea of location.  It involves not only where I am in God's universe, but where I am in the world of my mind. Right now I'm in a region of the world that will be my home, Lord willing, for about about a third of the year.  I'm watching palm trees blow in the breeze--a breeze that will soon become a gale, here, where I am.  Here, things that would merit a slight, "Oh, I should pray about that." where I generally live take on far greater importance. Like John Donne, and Thornton Wilder before me I am coming to answer the question, "Where am I?" in much broader terms than I used to.  I'm not an Island.  Though I live in a tiny spot in God's world, my address is not limited to a fifty-foot wide spot on Carpenter Drive.  I am part of the City of Covington, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the nation known as the USA.  I am a citizen of the world and beyond that I exist in the mind of God.  (Here) As is true with so many things in my life at this time I am struggling for balance. I am somewhere.  Wherever that is, I need to ask the question:  "What can I do right here to make a positive impact.?"  I should strive to make my place better.  I should be salt and light. I may not be where I can be of the most use.  My ancestors found within their hearts an urge--maybe it was motivated by fear, or a desire to do better--to cross the Atlantic and settle in the "New World."  My Father, and many in his generation reversed that journey to deal with a threat that was global in it's implications.  My world is better because they did. Where am I? Where do I need to be? We need wisdom. In the midst of my musings I find great comfort in a profound Theological truth expressed in very simple terms:     "He's got the whole world in His hands."   I find great challenge in the reality that there is no person, anywhere on this globe who shouldn't hear the truth of John 3:16. Lord, I am here.  May I be fully engaged, and make a difference on this spot. It's a big world.  Give me the right concern for those for whom You gave Your Son. I pray that I will hear the beat of Your heart for this world where I am. Amen   It's Something to Think About.   Find out about how the message of Christ's love is able to change all people here. My church,Covington Bible Church, is putting on a event that remembers, and celebrates the great event in when the Son of God came here.  I hope you'll attend out Live Nativity.

We Are All Pretty Much The Same:

Something To Think About People are the same:

I'm writing this from the other side of the world. I ate breakfast at the same table with a young lady who essentially speaks no English.  I speak no Japanese.  I was eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. I couldn't begin to tell you what was in her bowl, but it smelled good.  I'm a six foot senior citizen. She is a young lady who barely reaches five feet. Yesterday I met with a Korean guy from Texas, who is running a school in the Federated States of Micronesia, which is named after a place named after city in Japan.  A guy from another nation was part of the meeting.  He is a one-man multicultural movement. Every time I come out here, I have a Dorothy moment--other than the fact that we have hills, I figure small-town Virginia isn't that different from Kansas.  Clearly I'm not there, now. I'm working to learn to be more aware of, and sensitive to, the cultural differences that exist between different people groups.  A nutritionist might analyze the two breakfasts on the table this morning and declare one better than another, but by the measurement I'm using they are equal.  I might like one better than the other, but that is something different, isn't it.  There I sat with my coffee, and she with her tea, me with my cereal and she with her noodles, both of us doing the same thing. People all over the world eat.  At the most basic level we are the same. After breakfast I attended a prayer meeting.  Oddly back in Virginia, where it still isn't Thursday morning, I generally meet with a group of Pastors on Thursday mornings.  The conversation around the table was not significantly different than the talk I've been part of for decades.  A group of guys, concerned to share God's word and minister to people, aware that we can only do so by the power of God. I could go on and share experiences that demonstrate the oneness of the human race.  Instead, let me point to two powerful pieces of Biblical testimony: The Bible is unequivocally clear that there is but one Savior.  Jesus Christ is not subdivided, or duplicated based on skin-color, language, or geography.  Peter boldly proclaimed, "there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."  (Acts 4:12).  Paul speaks of "one God and one Mediator."  Both are speaking of God's unique Son, Jesus Christ.  He came to seek and to save the Lost (Luke 19:10).  According to Romans 3:23 that includes us all. While the Bible has been, and is being translated into thousands of languages around the globe, there is but one Word of God..As Paul tells us his protoge' Timothy it is able to "give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15).  It is this message of salvation that Jesus commanded be shared with all the world (Matthew 28:19-20).  Seldom can it be said that one size fits all, but one Bible points all people to one Savior, because all of us are the same. It's Something to Think About.   Find out about how the message of Christ's love is able to change all people here.

We Are All Pretty Much The Same:

Something To Think About People are the same:

I'm writing this from the other side of the world. I ate breakfast at the same table with a young lady who essentially speaks no English.  I speak no Japanese.  I was eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. I couldn't begin to tell you what was in her bowl, but it smelled good.  I'm a six foot senior citizen. She is a young lady who barely reaches five feet. Yesterday I met with a Korean guy from Texas, who is running a school in the Federated States of Micronesia, which is named after a place named after city in Japan.  A guy from another nation was part of the meeting.  He is a one-man multicultural movement. Every time I come out here, I have a Dorothy moment--other than the fact that we have hills, I figure small-town Virginia isn't that different from Kansas.  Clearly I'm not there, now. I'm working to learn to be more aware of, and sensitive to, the cultural differences that exist between different people groups.  A nutritionist might analyze the two breakfasts on the table this morning and declare one better than another, but by the measurement I'm using they are equal.  I might like one better than the other, but that is something different, isn't it.  There I sat with my coffee, and she with her tea, me with my cereal and she with her noodles, both of us doing the same thing. People all over the world eat.  At the most basic level we are the same. After breakfast I attended a prayer meeting.  Oddly back in Virginia, where it still isn't Thursday morning, I generally meet with a group of Pastors on Thursday mornings.  The conversation around the table was not significantly different than the talk I've been part of for decades.  A group of guys, concerned to share God's word and minister to people, aware that we can only do so by the power of God. I could go on and share experiences that demonstrate the oneness of the human race.  Instead, let me point to two powerful pieces of Biblical testimony: The Bible is unequivocally clear that there is but one Savior.  Jesus Christ is not subdivided, or duplicated based on skin-color, language, or geography.  Peter boldly proclaimed, "there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."  (Acts 4:12).  Paul speaks of "one God and one Mediator."  Both are speaking of God's unique Son, Jesus Christ.  He came to seek and to save the Lost (Luke 19:10).  According to Romans 3:23 that includes us all. While the Bible has been, and is being translated into thousands of languages around the globe, there is but one Word of God..As Paul tells us his protoge' Timothy it is able to "give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15).  It is this message of salvation that Jesus commanded be shared with all the world (Matthew 28:19-20).  Seldom can it be said that one size fits all, but one Bible points all people to one Savior, because all of us are the same. It's Something to Think About.   Find out about how the message of Christ's love is able to change all people here.

Unlucky?

Something To Think About Making one's own Luck:

A new friend of mine acquainted me with the different way Colgate University alumni see Friday the 13th.  For them it is Colgate Day.  Here is the school tradition on 13 from a CU website. The university was originally founded as The Baptist Education Society of the State of New York by 13 men who each offered $13 and 13 prayers. The society's original constitution contained 13 articles. Our address is 13 Oak Drive, and we are located in the zip code 13346 (the first two digits are 13, and the last three digits add up to 13!). There is certainly no triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) here -- in fact we've embraced it as Colgate's lucky number! So, that is why we've adopted the most notorious 13 – Friday the 13th – as a celebration of Colgate. Every Colgate Day students, faculty, staff, alumni, and families around the world don their Colgate regalia and celebrate the university and its community.     I like their style.  As one sage observed about sporting events, "I've observed that those who work the hardest tend to be the luckiest."  I used to tell my son before a track meet, "I don't believe in luck.  Run hard."  People often say the words, "Good luck," to me.  I've heard it a lot lately as I am beginning a new chapter in my life.  I know that it is a wish on their part; they want the best for me, so I try to receive the words graciously.  As I used to tell my son, though, I don't believe in luck, certainly not Luck.  Life is lived out in the intersection of my work and God's plan.  So I trust God and try to work hard.   Friday the 13th is simply the day between Thursday the 12th and Saturday the 14th.  I suggest that we follow the lead of Colgate.  Let's do our best to make a good day of it.   It's Something to Think About.   Find out about Christ's power to redeem here.

Thinking about prayer lists:

Something To Think About Prayer Lists:

A bit of a warning, today's STTA is a bit more Theologically oriented than general.  I hope you'll read it and think about it, but you have been warned.   An old story tells about an un-churched man attending a small church prayer meeting.  As frequently is the case, this meeting involved more talking about what to pray about than it did actual praying.  After the faithful shared lists of prayer requests, and gave reports of answers to prayer, and other reasons for thanks, the newcomer announced, "Sure sounds like gossip to me." Yep.  I've been in that kind of "prayer meeting."  I've probably been the guilty party on more than one occasion. One of the modern concepts about prayer that is taken for absolute truth is the need for specificity in prayer.  "How will I know what to pray for, if you don't tell me?" is a question/rebuke that is often heard from prayer-warriors.  In response, folk who are very aware of the need for prayer--and in this regard there are two kinds of folk:  those who are aware that they need prayer and those who have an equal need but don't think about it--say things like, "Please pray specifically. . . ." It would be great if this started a profitable conversation about prayer.  I know I need to learn a great deal more about prayer.  Even more, I just need to learn to pray more.  And, I'm more aware than I ever have been of my need for prayer to be offered on my behalf.   I'm wondering, for instance, if our insistence on specificity in prayer has more to do with our addiction to instant information than it does with what the Bible teaches about prayer.  I've been reading about, and praying for a missionary friend who is in a dangerous, difficult place.  I was glad to see, this morning, that last night was uneventful.  I prayed accordingly.  As I read accounts from a couple of sources about my friend's situation I was reminded of some accounts of long-ago missionary service.  Some of those missionaries in the islands of the vast stretches of the Pacific would give a letter to a ship captain in hopes that it would eventually reach a church or a loved one.  Letters would contain news of sickness. Often the ailing person was dead and long buried, or miraculously cured, by the time the letter reached its destination.  Wasprayer a viable practice in that time--and historically, that is most of the time--before specific information could be swapped in what amounts to real time? When Jesus taught us to pray, He only implied specificity.  "Give us this day our daily bread." wouldn't pass muster with many prayer list makers (and one of my tasks today is to edit the prayer list for tomorrow's meeting).  "Do you need (want) white, whole-wheat, or rye?  Anybody in your family gluten-intolerant?  How many loaves would you think you need?"  That instruction about asking in prayer for daily bread is an invitation to make our needs known to our heavenly Father.  It is reinforced, by the Apostle Paul's words in Philippians 4:6, ". . . let your requests be made known."  Still, based on the prayers in the Bible that I do read, I don't imagine Jesus staying up all night or the Apostle Paul "praying always"  going through long lists that included things like Peter's bunion, or Timothy, weak stomach and all, staying well through the Sunday School picnic at Ephesus. Jesus prayed that His followers be kept in the name of God, that Christ's joy would be made full in them, for protection from the evil one, that they would be made holy by the truth, and that they would be united (see here).  When the Apostle Paul prayed for the Christians at Ephesus, he asked that God, "from his glorious, unlimited resources . . . will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. [that] . . . Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. [that their] roots will grow down into God’s love and [that they be kept] strong. . . . And . . . have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is, [and that they] . . . be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:16–19).  The fact is not only am I ignorant of what you need, and therefore what I ought to pray about, but so are you. I wonder.  In my quest for specific prayer requests am I in danger of specifically missing what the Lord says I ought to request?   It's Something to Think About. Find out about Christ's power to redeem here.

A Good-Looking Friend in Heaven

Something To Think About A Friend in Heaven:

When I get to heaven I'm going to keep my eye out for someone.  I figure he'll be about six-foot-four, with shoulders so broad that the first question you'll ask will be, "I wonder how much he can bench?" Impressive as his frame is, though, it will be nothing compared to his smile and the utter joy and deep gratitude that will sparkle forth from his smile and eyes.  Knowing Burton, he'll greet me before I have a chance to say anything to him. Even though I'm preparing myself, I figure I'll be awed by the voice.  I'm guessing it will be so rich, melodious, strong, and compelling, that one could be spellbound, listening to him read the New York phone book. I don't know Burton really well.  He is a kinda-sorta relative of Kathy's. On occasion he used to visit Kathy's folks.  At least once he was a guest in my home.  When I was a young teen I remember attending Bible Camp with Burton.  He was really too old to be a camper, but the powers-that-were graciously let him join in.  Burton's body wasn't shaped quite right.  He looked like maybe he had emigrated from middle earth--the last representative of a race of ancient dwarves.  His hands were stubby, and, as I remember, he didn't have all ten fingers. When he walked his misshapen feet, and joints that didn't work quite right gave him a gait that made him walk like an old man all his life.  I always had to listen carefully to Burton, to tell what he was saying.  It always seemed that he needed to clear his throat.  His enthusiasm for getting his words out sometimes outran his ability to articulate. So, when I get to heaven why will I be looking for a man with Hollywood leading-man looks and voice, when the last time I saw him he was a gnarled five-footer with cartoon character diction? It's because, though I didn't know Burton real well, I knew him well enough to see the beauty of who he really was shine through.  Burton prayed for people.  No, I mean he really prayed for people and ministries, I was among them.  He cared enough to carry on a fairly extensive correspondence with a number of relatives and friends.  He had to work hard to write or type, but he did so with far greater faithfulness than most of us who have hands that work as they should. Long before it was common for churches to record their services, Burton--I think because of his compassion for shut-ins and his enormous respect for the power of the Word of God--started recording the services at his church and sending the tapes to people.  He had trained his stubby fingers, how ever many there were, to play the piano.  He sang with enthusiasm. In short, Burton was a man who loved his Lord and served Him to the best of his ability.   I think heaven is a place where those who are redeemed by the great sacrifice of our savior will be fully redeemed.  I heard various stories about why Burton was born with the deformities that he carried all his earthly life.  All the explanations in one way or another have sin at the root.  Either something was directly done to Burton when he was being formed in his mother's womb, or his was one of those inexplicable consequences of sin in general.  Romans 8 gives the glorious account of the ravages of sin being undone by the power of our redeeming Savior.  We presently live in a world in which we, like the rest of creation, groan.  We are eternal, image-of-God creatures trapped in a marked-by-sin, time-bound existence.  We long to be set free. I received news that last night, Burton was set free.  The beauty that is the wonder of who he is, is no longer hidden and marred by sin. That's why I'll be looking for a tall, handsome gentleman, with kind ways, and a melodious voice. Welcome home, Burton. It's Something to Think About. Find out about Christ's power to redeem here.

Looking Good--Cars & People:

Something To Think About Hypocrisy:

My first car was Volkswagen, a 62 bug.  No one thought of emissions testing back in the day.  We burned leaded fuel, and exhaust simply went out the tail-pipe--in the case of my bug two tiny exhausts.   It's been over fifty years since my simple little rag-topped beetle came off the assembly line.  Somewhere along the line we realized that all that stuff we were putting out in the atmosphere wasn't good for us, and other living things.  A whole new technology was born.  How can we burn petroleum to make cars go, without spewing out so much poison that we stop people from going?  I'm sure the engineers in Wofsburg were not the only ones who asked another question, they just got caught with their hands on the keyboard.  "How can we make it look like our automobile gives off less pollution than it really does?"  I understand that some neighbors of mine are due congratulations for catching the car-makers in their scam (here). Nostalgia causes me to have a bit of pain.  These folk, or "Volk," made my first car.  I expected more from them.  Though I can say with total honesty that I have never cheated on an emissions test--I don't have any idea how--I have often been guilty of the same prevarication as the Volkswagen engineers.  I observe that something in my life is wrong.  When I compare my life with the standards that God has given I see that I don't measure up.  I begin to takes stock of what it would take for me to change, to actually be better, and I soon realize that this will be hard.  It will take discipline and involve sacrifice.  At this point engineers and old preachers like me are faced with a temptation.   Being good is hard. Is there a way I can just look good, and get by? The guys and gals at VW got caught.  That's not the worse thing that could happen.  The worse thing is getting by.  Then we settle for just looking good, without really being good. But, wait.  Really I always get caught.  The Lord not only sees what I look like, He sees who I am.   It's Something to Think About. You can find out how to actually change here.