My Prayer Partner

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

I am reminded of David’s writings in the Psalms where he stated that if he goes into the heavens, God is there.  If he travels into the depths of the sea, his Father is with him.  He rehearsed all the places he could go and discovered again for the very first time that God is everywhere.  Since I am a Child of God, the promise of the Scripture is that God lives IN me.  He chooses to “tabernacle” or dwell in me.  I celebrate again that he decided to live in me.  I hear Him say to me again and again, “I love you and care for you today”.

He woke me up again this morning.  We get to journey every where today together.  He likes that and I do as well.  I have no idea what we will do.  I have an idea or two of where I plan to go today but the confidence I have is that HE goes with me or better yet, I go with HIM.

We get to talking about things.   There are days when I can carry on a good conversation with the Father.  There are days (and there have been several of them in the past two or three weeks) where I find myself at a loss of “what” to say and I simply discover that it is not in what “I” say for HE is praying for me.  He understands my heart.  He understands the whole picture of my life and is able to utter the things of my heart to God.  I trust in that!

While I wait before God in prayer, I discover how little I know about the whole of what Iam praying.  I need a prayer partner.  As Stafford Hebert used to say in his Cajun tongue, “Talk about…” a  prayer partner.  I have one!  He journeys through every aspect of my life.  He is the one that walks along side me and guides me through every part of what I am supposed to be doing, thinking, saying – leading me in all of the day ministry of my current assignment.  I am depending on His guidance as I walk into each conversation and opportunity.  Jesus was so kind to send us the Holy Spirit.

Good morning, Prayer Partner!  Let’s get this day started!  I am ready.  Let’s go!

It’s my life verse for goodness sake…

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Dad was in the sign business.  Mom was able to be a stay at home mom.  Dad and his partner Don lead a very successful non-union sign shop in the Atlanta area.  He made custom made plastic lighted signs.  I used to work for him.  I enjoyed working for him.  It gave me enormous freedom for my schedule, and I guess he could keep up with me that way.

I was fortunate to be raised and reared in a local church.  I used to sit by “Ma” Brown.  She was the mother of a school principal and a missionary to Liberia and my care giver at church.  She was the one that would call the house and remind all of us that the Billy Graham Crusade was on, and we needed to stop what we were doing and watch Billy preach.  Mrs. Brown was an older lady whose hearing loss was aided by a hearing aid and the receiver for that thing had this long cord to it and two ear pieces.  She would sit on the second row in church while my mom and dad sang in the choir and make me listen to the sermon each week.  I remember sitting by her in church watching and listening to the man (the one that would eventually lead me to faith in Christ, L. Howard Gordon) preach and hearing God say inside me that one of these days I would be preaching one of these days.  That impression happened in my life before I gave my life to Christ when I was 11 years old.   It is amazing what you remember as you look back over your life and how all this stuff got started.  You can trace the hand of God in it all.

I was 17 before I got a grip on a specific direction for all of this.  I had worked on the Youth Committee at church and was involved at church in working with the Youth, but I had still never considered any other life direction other than working in my dad’s sign shop until his friend Buddy Crowder asked me to do a summer intern job with him in West Cobb County.  He was starting a mission church there, and he wanted to know if I would help him knock on doors and invite people in that area to be a part of that church.  Buddy is with the Lord now, but he was the one that God used to kick start this 35+ year ministry.  I went to school at Truett-McConnell College because Karen Aaron invited me to ride with her to look at the college she attended…the rest is history.  It has always amazed me that as part of this process God allowed me to marry a preacher’s daughter.  Nancy has been a vital part in God’s leadership of my life.

I started out knowing absolutely nothing about this formal ministry I have as my current assignment from God.  For 36 years now I have watched God guide me through this whole process.  Our family was connected deeply to the church.  Mom and dad were Christians and highly committed the work of the local church.  Dad worked with the youth.  Mom was involved in children’s ministry for years.  We had great Christian friends like the Bell’s with whom our family traveled around the USA camping.  We have attended different churches all over this country while we were gone.  Jesse’s son Don was instrumental in getting me involved as a Boy Scout and this group helped to develop my character.  Pam Windham and Ray Allen join “Ma” Brown as three of the teachers in my own life that impacted me through Sunday School and Missions in Church.  George and Beverly Broom impacted my life and were a part of God’s guidance in allowing me to be prepared to be involved in this thing we call “ministry”.  I learned all that I knew about church music through the leadership of George and Beverly Broom.  I started out doing youth ministry.  However, it was this training in church music in the local church(not in seminary or in major conference) that opened more doors for me in the early stages of ministry than any other.  Thanks, Georg and Beverly and may God be praised for your faithfulness.   It is amazing how God uses people to lead and guide us toward His goals for our lives. God connected me with mentors like Buddy Crowder, L. Howard Gordon, Stafford Hebert, Bud Holland, David Corkern, Billy Deason, and a host of other people who in the past have been a part of God’s “…directing my path”.  Ken Smith, Ken Sandifer, W. L. Collins, Daniel Inabinet, my staff and a great group of friends are being used in the present as instruments to help guide my life.  He does what he says. For a moment, this morning I am humbled and grateful for being able to be influenced by such a great group of men and women.

I know as I write this that some of you that read this blog have no concept who all these people are.  Buddy, Howard, Billy, Ray. and Ma Brown are in heaven.  I just got back from Jacksonville, FL being involved in the funeral of my “father in the ministry”, Stafford Hebert.  In some way the reward of their life is increased every time I lead someone to the Lord and follow God in this current assignment.  God was honored in it all.  I have seen many lives change.  My journey with the Lord is amazing for He has changed me and equipped me to be a part of  His work in this time in history.  I pause to thank Him again this morning.

It is the testimony of my life that if I trust in the Lord with all of my heart, acknowledge him in all of my ways, and do not lean to my own understanding, I can say with confidence that He DOES direct your paths.  I have never been able to get away from these two verses.  It was an honor to travel down memory lane with the Father this morning and to be reassured of the direction this current assignment is taking.  I am so thankful to God.

It’s a gift!

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I merit hell.  I have earned my way there.  I earned it – death.  I read today in the paper about a group of people who ripped a great group of investors off.  Millions and millions of other people’s money and their investments are now history.  A handful of people earned anywhere from 5 years in prison to 25 years in prison for their corruption.  They are to sentence the last of the crooks, the paper said just in case any of us are staying up late watching.  They earned it.  The police turned it.  The judge burned ‘em.  Now let the fun begin.

God stepped in and gave me a gift.  Heaven!  Unhindered friendships!  Beauty like none other!  A life filled with adventure!  Worshiping Jesus!  A home!  No Sickness nor infirmities!  No more death!  No more sorrow!  No more rip offs by investor schemers!  Wages of sin vs. Gift of God!  Sinners merit hell!  Saints do not merit heaven!  It is a gift.  Our gift!  Given to us by a gracious God whose love is unmatched in eternity.  I have a gift.

His gift.  He bought it and wrapped it.  His shed blood secured it and it became mine by faith as I became a believer in Christ.  He wrapped it just for me and preserves it for me as I await the day that my faith becomes sight.

It’s a gift.

Sidebar:  Smith sent our group a quote I rehearse again for my own benefit in remembering.  I share it with you this morning

“It is foolish and wrong
to mourn the men who have died.
Rather we should thank God
that such men lived.”
General George S. Patton (1885-1945)

I choose to remember today!  My father served in the Marines during WWII.  I signed up for the draft for the Vietnam war but was not called.  I would have been proud to serve my country.  I remember families who will rehearse a tough time in their lives as we reflect on the freedom that is ours because of their ultimate sacrifice.  May God bless our country and comfort those who grieve today.

You think 136th Psalm has something to do with “his love enduring forever”?

Am I that hardheaded?  Yep!  I am!  And I can hear A. Pruitt saying in church this morning, “Amen!”  That’s right sports fans this old weird preacher is mighty slow in getting hold of some truths. His love for me blows me away!

His love really does endure forever.  That phrase is said so many different ways in the scriptures, but on this cool Sunday morning God wanted to help me see his blessing on my life.  He pulls me up close this morning and while I was traveling with Him through a story about Solomon and the temple he built for God, He interrupts me with something so obvious that I needed to stop and praise him about.  His love does endure. His love endures forever for me.  His love endures forever for my wife and family.  His love endures for ever and that has effected the way we do ministry at Southside Baptist Church.  His love endures forever for the world and that is what drives me to tell folk about the love God has for them.

I got caught up in that phrase being a blessing from God to me this morning.  I will take liberty with the text (imagine that) and let it say His Love Endures Forever For Jim Crooks.  I hear my heavenly Father pass that blessing to me today.

His love does.  There are so many in my experiences that have had conditional love.  I will love you IF you do this or that.  I will love you WHEN you get this or that done.  He says to Jim Crooks this morning, “Crooks, I choose as an act of my will to love you, period.  There are no conditions on my love.”  I guess what catches me off guard with that is that I know me better than you know me.  He knows me so much better and HIS love never fails me.  He loves me forever.

I enjoy the thought of his LOVE endures forever.  I am so glad that he did not say that he LIKED me.  I know he likes me.  I am still here.  I still get to enjoy the anointing of preaching each week and watching God work in mighty ways.  He could have taken me out of here by now.  But it is so much more than LIKE – It is LOVE…His love endures forever.

Endures – It has hung in there through all of what I threw at it in 53 years of inconsistent living for the Lord.  I wish I could have said that I had it all together and ever since the time I was ordained as a minister of the Gospel that I have never blown it nor said a wrong word.  I wish I could say that but I would be lying so bad.  What comforts my heart is that there are so many of my friends that can say the same thing.  There is none righteous no not one!  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God!  How many more do I need to say in order to put “Enduring Forever” in perspective.

Forever – In the Hebrew “Forever” is an interesting word.  In the Hebrew it means “forever”  Forever is forever.  It never stops.

I worship a God today whose love never stops.  It did not say his wrath endures forever.  He did not say that his anger endures forever.  What he said was- over and over and over again – His love endures forever.

Justified FREELY…by his grace!

²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

There will always be a connection between works and grace.  I won’t even begin to start that conversation except to say that my works demonstrate the grace within.  I think this morning the reason this verse struck me is that I want to celebrate that we are justified before God because of the grace provided by Christ.  Nothing in my hand I bring…simply to the cross I cling are the words of Rock of Ages that old song.  The song might be old but the truth is so right.

This morning I wanted to hear God say to me that I was His Child.  I didn’t get the name by being rewarded because I am a good person, a good daddy, a good husband, a good preacher or anything like that.  I got the name as a gift from God who loved me enough to allow his Son to purchase that for me on the cross.  I am humbled again.  I got to hear Him tell me that I am forgiven again.  I hear him say that my guilt is gone.  I am rejoicing that his grace is truly freeing!  I am justified before God by his grace.

I hear him say again as he blesses me that I am justified.  The account is clear.  There are no remaining prices to be paid on my part.  “Paid in Full” is written across my account…written in the Blood of Jesus.  Thank You Father.

Now I can serve afresh today not because I have to but because I want to.  When the Lover of the Universe loves you like that you cannot help but join him as you journey together through this day!  I get excited thinking about what lies ahead.

Let’s go!

It is NEW every morning!

¹ Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.

I have a friend.  (I know that surprises some of you who know me, but I do have a friend – several of them.)  In a conversation with Ken Smith I was asking him what he did devotionally to keep his heart fresh and his inner man fed spiritually.  He has a mentor – a friend – who lives in Georgia.  They meet every Wednesday evening over the phone and spend some extended time together during the year.  Ken has asked his friend to be a part of his life in keeping him accountable for his spiritual walk with God.  It has proven to be a very powerful part of his continued discipline as a disciple of Christ.

On one occasion his mentor asked him to get a note book – a non-expensive notebook and on the cover of it I believe he told him to write “What I Saw God Do Today!”  We have talked about how he processed writing in that book and how his journey with God was heightened by it.  He told me, “Crooks, it is amazing what you see, once you start looking!”  It is true.  When you set your heart and mind to looking for the hand of God, you see Him at work all over the place.  It is amazing.

Sing to the Lord a NEW song… the freshness of that song should be as fresh as the last several hours.  I know as I have been reading David’s writings you can see him talk about deliverance and how God was in that.  At one point he rejoices in the hand of God as seen in creation.  He can see it in the wars and delights in the provision of God as he protects and gives rest to his life.  David knew that God has done great things for him.

Yesterday I saw Jim Nutter walking down the hall at Southland Nursing Home.  His rehab processes were working as was his smile.  I rejoiced at God’s healing.  I was sitting by Ed Russell around lunch time and as we sat there I was captivated by the beautiful day we were enjoying.   I watched God control a conversation later that day with a friend.  The content of that discussion was difficult but God’s grace was so evident.  I watched the hand of God guide in several situations yesterday that only God could have orchestrated.  I celebrated with a family at a funeral home regarding deliverance from heart disease and how God was with them as they worked through grief and sorrow yet trusting God, and then drove across town to celebrate a birthday with a man who wanted to surprise his dear wife.

Lord, I sing praises to your name.  You have done great things for us.  You have taken care of my own family.  You meet Nancy and I at every point of our need and take care of our family  and for that I am grateful.  It is NEW every morning.

Give me eyes to see today so that my heart might rejoice…

Get Your Praise On!

¹² Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous,
and praise his holy name.

Yesterday in our Senior Adult Bible Study we were discussing intercessory prayer.  Paul was sharing with the Philippian believers his love for them and the pure delight of praying for them.  What blew me away was the context Paul was in as he was “praising” the Lord Jesus.  Lydia, that wealthy seller of purple, was saved along with her whole family while Paul was in Philippi.  The Church started in her house.  You know Paul was excited about that.  There was a demon possessed slave girl who experienced deliverance in Philippi.  Her money hungry owners were deliriously angry because the loss of revenue.  She was free.  Paul was excited about that.  On the flip side the owners of the delivered slave girl tried to instigate a riot against Paul and Silas.  They were illegally arrested, beaten and imprisoned.

IF I were sitting in Rome between guards writing to some of my friends in Philippi, what memory would dominate my own mind?  Would he have said, “I hope those folk would see just how they treated me.  They arrested me and had me beaten.  I will never go back to that sorry city again.  I hope that they all rot in hell for all I care!”  His response was not negative crictical stuff.  In the Bible God recorded his response, “I thank my God for all my rememberance of you…”  As my friends say, “He got his Praise On!”

Stand with me sometimes in the portico of our church and watch people leave a worship experience.  Stand at the altar and watch the response of folk in the church house to what they see each week.  We have a great crowd of people.  Songs were sung that glorified our Father, folk demonstrated the change that Christ made in their lives, the Word of God was preached, people were saved and lives were changed.  You would think that after seeing all that you could not get the folk to calm down from shouting hallelujah, Glory to God.  Praising God for all that they saw would be standard fare.  I wish I could ignore people who leave the worship service whose main truth garnered while seated there was whether I had combed my hair back or off to the side, whether the air was too cold or the atmosphere in the church was too hot, the music was too loud, and when is the preacher going to learn that we can’t be first in line at the restaurants if we get out ten minutes later than usual, someone didn’t get the Sunday School order right, the usher didn’t give me a bulletin, there are no hand towels in the ladies restroom (as if there was some communist plot to keep that from happening)…and all that kind of thing are just a few of the things I have heard from people who gather at church to “Praise God”  or “Worship God”.

This blog is not a bully pulpit for me to vent out what I heard last Sunday.  I am proud to say to you that I don’t  hear as much of that as I used to hear.  I am saying that what struck me today was the verse “… ¹² Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.”  I want to change my own praise life.  Watching God work and praising Him for what I see privately in prayer before God and publicly as I testify to the glory of God, is a wonderful cure for selfishness.  When the center of my world is JIM then everything that challenges that gives me a chance to gripe and complain.  When the center of my world is JESUS and I start praising HIM, my life changes.  I start thinking about what he is doing in the lives of other people and I can pray for them.

I praise His holy name this morning.  What does come out of my mouth gives credence to the condition of my own heart!

“…in my house…”

² I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.

“…in my house…”  A place where very few see and know.  It is my refuge from the rest of the world.  There are demands outside the doors of my house.  There is a phone on the inside with an answering machine which protects my time with my family.  I have a quiet place.  There are quiet places inside my quiet place.  There is our bedroom where a door can be locked and Nancy and I can enjoy each other away from the scanning eyes of my own children.  “…in my house…”

“…in my house…” finds places where I have to live out my faith in front of people that know me best and worst.  They see all sides of me.  Witnessing the inconsistencies of my life is painful but to accept me as I am growing by those that love me most is exhilerating.

“…in my house…” doesn’t stretch the issue to much to suggest that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and what goes on in the rooms of my heart and mind are critical places where my whole life is affected by what goes on in the inner sanctum of my own mind and heart.  I am reminded that what happens in the mind can get to the heart and it can become a habit if not carefully watched and tended.

“…in my house…” is a place where no one sees and no one knows.  And that could be dangerous.  There is value in having accountable eyes that see and know and love me enough to confront.  There are the inner sanctums in my house.  My study outside is a place I can close the shades and no one sees and no one knows…except God.  I am keenly reminded this morning that He sees and He knows.  I am thrilled that He is here.  I want Him here.  Depending on His presence with me is vital to the start and success of every day.

Today, I commit myself to watch not only my public life where people get to see and know.  They get to see the “preacher” and make up their minds about my life and my Lord by the way I live, talk, move, care and do life in front of them.  But I want to walk with integrity where people never see and know.

Guard over my heart and mind, Father.  There is a lot at stake here!

Stand Firm…

¹³But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you^[b] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. ¹⁴He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings^[c] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

Stand firm and hold to the teachings…

To start with I made a mistake and read the paper this morning while making coffee.  The lead article, page 1, top reviewed our president’s speech to the graduating class of Notre Dame.  His commencement speech and the unbelievable act of a Catholic University like Notre Dame to give this president an honorary degree while supporting abortion took my breath.  He looks so smooth as he asks us to “open our minds”.  In fairness he did not ask me to change my mind.  He simply opened the door for those who have had traditional roots regarding issues like abortion to begin to dialogue about our differences.  I find that to be the very first step of deception.  It was the enemy the devil who asked Eve to open up her mind and consider talking about an issue that has plagued the world ever since.  Open your mind indeed!  Let’s begin to talk.  Healthy dialogue is good for us.  Having friends on both sides of the issue who will not throw rocks at one another just because we differ in certain areas can be powerful in learning to find ways to help.  Opening our minds to “hear” and “understand” each other is vital.  Hanging your brain at the door along side your long standing convictions as you enter that dialogue can be very dangerous.

But then, I am reminded this morning that the Bible is my guide for faith and practice.  I am to stand firm and hold to it’s teachings. I am waiting until we are tested as a “Christian” nation to put our belief in God and our faith in the teachings of Scripture aside and adopt a more “open minded” and all inclusive set of beliefs.  Days of a changing conscience are here.  Staying neutral as a Christian and not mixing it up politically is no longer an option.  We must take a stand and hold to our teachings.  I am concerned.

I know some of you will always flinch when a preacher mentions the president in light that is not so balanced.  It is not about him.  I am flinching because if we do not stand firm and hold to the teachings passed on to you whether by word of mouth or by letter…we will fall for any thing.  We now have governmental leadership that that has the potential to  allow a destructive wave of compromise to destroy us from within.

I am praying that my own stance sets the pattern for others to follow!  Thank you God for the reminder today!

Side bar:  Clabo, I applaud your attempt to heighten the awarness among complacent Christians of the topics that are on the American and World political table.  I appreciate your emails.

Speak, for I am listening!

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

⁷ for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸ do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the desert,

Psalm 95 was my chapter in the Bible that spoke to me today.  I chose these verses because I have the joy of worshiping God today at Southside Baptist Church.  As we all gather for worship, I have the task to 1. Remind myself that He alone is God.  2.  Remind myself that I am not.  It gives me a chance to put my week past in perspective and to set aright the week ahead.  I guess that the man who has sese is he who learns those two facts and operates accordingly.

The Lord is…that should be my focus.  I am reminded that He is in charge.  He is my Shephard.  I love the lyric of the song the Ruppes sing which includes the line that reminds me that I do not need to see the path I simply need to hear the Shepherd’s voice.  He is the one that loves me beyond my understanding.  He forgives and cleanses.  He makes a way for me today to worship as well as lead in worship.

He asks me not to harden my heart toward him.  I will not.  I open my heart to the one who is the Lover of my soul.  He longs to speak to me.  Against the backdrop of all that I “do” today, I pray that I will not miss (as Smith says…) the sound of sandaled feet walking around my heart today.  I know, because I do this all the time, that I will hear a thousand things today from a lot of different people.  I will interact with people and some of it will be heartbreak and struggle.  It is part of my current assignment here at Southside.  I pray that I never get too busy to listen and care for the sheep under my care.  However, I am here to listen to the voice of the Shepherd of my life.

Father in heaven, I open my heart to you.  Speak for I am listening.

Let me hasten to remind myself of the many people who have been praying for me as I have traveled this past week.

I arrived safely at Jason and Jenn’s house on Monday evening late.  We enjoyed a meal together and it was not long before I had the chance to go to sleep.  My exhaustion escaped as I went to bed early.  The tradition in Maryland is to have to separate visitations – 2-4 and 7-9.  This made for an unsually long day as we sat and ministered from 1 – 9:30 p.m.   We were up early for at 10 a.m. funeral and then a two hour trip to Rock Hall, MD where we buried Mr. Jack next to the love of his life, his wife.  God was gracious and his help to us all was evident.  I enjoyed a meal on “Pop Pop” as the family gathered again at Watermans for a meal together.  It would have made him proud to see us all enjoying a meal he provided.  I am glad to be a part of the Grauer Family.  Jason and Jenn were gracious hosts as they provided for my needs during the time of her grandfather’s funeral.  I continue to pray for Ellen, Craig, Anne, Scott and Mark as they struggle with adjusting their lives in the days ahead.  God has been gracious to the family.

While standing in the funeral home at the Grauer funeral, my phone rang and a very familiar voice from Shannon Hebert greeted me.  The news was bitter sweet.  Stafford Hebert was unconscious and it looked like he would not be alive long.  Two hours later the call i came telling me of Stafford’s death.  He was 91 almost 92 years old.  He was 60 when we first met and it blew me away that someone in the latter part of their ministry would spend time mentoring young men like myself but he poured his life into me for 6 years.  There were many who got their start in the ministry under Stafford’s ministry.  “Preacher” as I enjoyed calling him, licensed me and ordained me and it was from the Midland Park Baptist Church I launched my formal ministry.  Jason Allen was so gracious to accompany me to Jacksonville, FL for the funeral.  We arrived to find a very feeble framed body of my friend placed there in front of us with his Bible laying open across his hands.  I preach from the one he gave me as a gift for my ordination.  What a blessing to see him giving witness to the Word of God’s power.  His dear wife was so weak and feeble.  “Honey” is a precious woman.  I pray for them today.  The uniqueness of the day was that Stafford preached his own funeral.  For those of you who have heard me preach my funeral sermon and I use the word DEATH to outline it, Preacher is the one I first heard use the outline.  He preached his own funeral.  Five or six years ago, his son Shannon asked him to sit down and record his own funeral message.  He preached that sermon.  D – Delivered  E – Eternity  A – Accepted  T – Triumphant  H – Home.  I cannot tell you how many times I heard him use that sermon while I worked with him at Midland Park Baptist Church.  To hear his voice once again comforting his wife, his family, and those of us gathered there was very sureal.  Again, I will be praying for Elaine, Ted and Shannon as they adjust to the days ahead as they minister to their mother.  Honey is almost 93.  They were married almost 74 years.  He was the love of her life.

I am looking forward to being with my own church family today!

Mourning Turned into Dancing…

¹¹ You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
¹² that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

I am sitting at the kitchen table at my son’s house in Abingdon, Maryland preparing for a great day.  My current assignment today is to walk with God and with a family as we journey through a funeral service for John Jolly Grauer.  It will be an interesting experience for this old Baptistcostal preacher.  My roots run deep in the Southern Baptist church experience.  I have been an evangelical baptist preacher for 35+ years.  Today my experience broadens.  Mr. Grauer comes from Lutheran roots.  His mother was a staunch Lutheran who warned his children when they began to date to marry good Lutheran folk.  They all married Catholic spouses.  So, today, I will share the moment with family whose “faith” life has Lutheran, Catholic, and Baptist experiences.  I look forward to what God will do in the next six or seven hours as we share a day together.  It has been my experience that you learn more about life through dealing with death than any other time.  Watching God work has been one of the joys of my life.  He will doit again today.  He will turn our mourning into dancing.  Our faith allows us to do that today.

Heaven is a richer place today.  My “father in the ministry” Stafford Hebert, more commonly known as “Preacher”, died yesterday.  He has talked about going to heaven all of his life and as a matter of fact he taught me to love preaching funerals because of the hope we have in light of the gospel but he also taught me to share the joy of going to heaven.  My mourning has turned into dancing once again as I celebrate this morning his home going.  He has been talking seriously about going for the last year.  Every time I would talk to him on the phone he would refer to his closeness to glory.  He would talk about me being at the funeral.  He preached about it, talked to others one on one about it, he prayed to God about going and was excited to get there I am certain.

One day he carried a young boy fishing with him.  He had a funeral to do and got back early so he could officiate at a funeral.  The little boy was sitting on the step with his shirt off, no shoes on, and dealing with smelling like fishin’ trip when Preacher asked him if he wanted to go to the funeral with him.  The little boy said he would stay home.  Preacher told him he would like going and if he went he would want to go to heaven after he heard him preach on heaven.  I don’t think the little boy went but I can tell you that every bone in Stafford Hebert’s body wanted every body he met to go to heaven with him.

Heaven is a wonderful place.
It’s filled with glory and grace.
And I’m gonna see my Savior’s face.
Heaven is a wonderful place.

I am traveling to Florence tomorrow.  I am hopefully planning to attend a funeral on Friday.  My heart is heavy.  I mourn.  I think God gives us the grace to grieve with those who mourn.  But my faith causes me to dance.  God tells the truth.  Today I fly above the whole situation and look down on what I see and discover that God’s Word is true…Christ’s sacrifice provided us fogiveness and freedom from guilt…the Holy Spirit will definitely guide us today.  For that I say “Glory”!

¹¹ You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,  ¹² that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.  O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

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The Lord Liveth and Blessed be the Rock!

⁴⁷ “The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!

What a person trusts in reveals a great deal about that person!  I was reading David’s story this morning.  It is fun to walk through his life.  He ran for public office and it seems that nothing has changed for we know more than we need to know sometimes about this public official.  God allows us to walk through David’s life like no other person I have seen.  You get to see the good and the bad.

Here he is in the midst of the battle.  People are trying to kill him.  Some actually get to the point where they almost are close enough to kill him and “bingo” God protects the king.  His relationship with the Lord is so real and vital to every part of his life.  His declaration in the scripture, ⁴⁷ “The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!  May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!” comes right from David’s heart and out of his confidence in God.

The Lord does live.  He is not dead.  He is involved in everything we do.  Today I get to minister to a family who is hurting in Maryland who are trying to adjust to the death of a dad, grandfather, friend, and relative.  God knows exactly what they are going through.  He is our Rock.  He is the God of our salvation.  We have nothing to fear – even death.  Children of God are blessed people.  Our God is strong.  He is not distant.  He is here and accounted for…never asleep or off duty.  I am so thankful.  Knowing me…he probably has an army of angels watching over this preacher.

Today I celebrate the greatness and presence of God in my life.  I do not have to be afraid of Him for He is my Father.  He is alive and well and fully engaged in the work we share together in today.  Whether it is sitting her drinking my Starbucks thinking about God or whether it is out doing whatever he calls me to do…he lives.  Blessed be the Rock!  And may the God of my salvation be exalted!

I “can” walk in His life-giving light!

¹³ For you have rescued me from death;
you have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
in your life-giving light.

The boy was hunting him down like a dog and it seems that Absolom’s arrogance finally got the best of him.  Young people think that they can jump buildings with a single bound, catch bullets in their teeth and stop racing trains with their hands.  David loved Absolom.  Most of us love our sons.  The interesting part of how the Father’s love flowed through the father is evidenced in the way he continued to love his son even though Absolom was trying to kill David and take the throne for his own.

I am assuming that one must watch out.  At the right time and place, there is a limb low enough, a mule riding fast enough and a boy whose hair demonstrated his pride discover as he hung above heaven and earth that God’s way of dealing with us may be a bit different than we imagine.  The limb caught his hair.  His heart caught one spear after another.  His body found the bottom of a pit a long way from home.  What started deceptively ended ugly!  It usually does.  Someone always ends up getting hurt…in this case it was the son’s life and the dad’s heart…both broken!

The phrase that caught me this morning especially in light of the story was the phrase David declared when he said that “I will trust in you” .  I hear that ringing in my heart.  David declared that he could walk in the LIGHT GIVING LIGHT of God’s presence.  I know that to be true in my own life even though our stories are so different.  He is our protector and guide.  My task today is to follow him.

Sidebar:  Mother’s Day will have a new dynamic to it this morning.  I will have the joy of talking “to” my mother in a little while.  53+ years ago she gave birth to a little boy named Jim and two years later my brother John entered the world.  Both of us are blessed to be secure men who are honored to be husbands and fathers all because of a risk my mom took in bringing us into the world.   I am thankful for mom.  She bears a vital role in the work that I do as a husband, father, and pastor.  I am grateful.

I also have the joy of talking “about” Nancy’s mom.  This is our first Mother’s Day experience with her on “Glory’s Side” of this life.  We have been thankful for the grace that has seen the family through as they deal with Betty’s home going.  Heaven is richer and far more precious when you make a deposit there.  I am keenly aware of the impact of both of these beautiful women in my own life.

I also remember Jenn Crooks.  Jason’s wife’s grandfather died yesterday in a nursing home in Maryland.  “Pop” Grauer was a quiet man smitten with Alzhiemers.  He had been sick and had been hospitalized yet well enough to return to the nursing home.  I am certain that this family is doing their best to adjust to a difficult day.  I will be leaving this week to preach his funeral.  I seek the prayers of those of you who read this as I share in my extended family’s journey this week.

My Father is bigger than your father!

7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

One of the benefits of being a Child of God is that the God of the Child watches over us.  His eye is always on us.  We are consumed in the everlasting love of God.  He never lets us go.  This morning I was watching Ebbie love on his granddaughter.  His love for that child is unbelievable.  The child was so comfortable in his arms and was so lost in his care that no fear was present.   Observing the trust and love that was so blended for my eyes to see was a powerful moment for me.

David’s son was trying to overthrow his father.  David ran to his Father.

I guess you could say that MY Father is bigger than your father!

A Psalm from the heart of God’s Child!

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Grace is helping me to get close.  There is a longing in my own heart as I get older to come to the place where I can allow grace to allow me to fellowship and enjoy intimacy with God on a different level.  There is nothing in the world wrong with a healthy fear of God.  He is holy!  There is no denying that truth.  However, he IS now near.  Christ made that possible.  Last time I read the passage it says that it is Christ that lives IN me.  Pretty darn close if you want to know the truth.  He calls me His Child.  He considers me beloved.  Even though I am not perfect and still have a lot of growing ahead of me, I am still pleasing in His sight.  I do not have to be distant.  It seems to me as I read this passage that David always ended up where he started – in the presence of God.  He was no stranger to God.  He was close!  If anyone knew how awesome and holy God was, it was David.  I sit in wonder at how close the two of them were.  I long for that and am getting there!

Front porch close!  Close enough to talk, get intimate about everything in life, learn to have deep affection for each other – that kind of close.  The kind of close that keeps a deep respect for God yet runs fear off the property.  It is a relationship absent of arrogance and self.  It is a relationship that depends on my ability to be open, broken, contrite, repentant.  It is the kind of relationship folk who loves each other deeply have when they sit on the front porch and talk and reason together about life.

Alright, maybe the illustration is different, but it is how I see it this morning.  Traveling with David in the dangerous areas of his life is a gift from God.  I can relate to not being where I should be and being where I shouldn’t be.  It is a struggle to keep your mind always focused on Spritual things and not on the flesh.  The scary part is you cannot do life alone.  The top dog of Israel had all the power he needed to pull off this deceptive and wrong act with Bathesheba, but I am reminded that he still has to report in to the King who see and knows all.  A lot of stuff “hung in the balance” in the balance” on one stupid decision.

Psalm 51 reminds me of the joy of being real with God.  How kind is God to open up David’s Journal and let me peer down into his soul as he works in his life?  No wonder David was precious to God!  Hey, so am I!  I am precious to Him this morning.  He enjoys sitting on my porch and sharing life with me as well.  I can be open with him.  I have failed him.  Our conversations are not based on His willingness to talk to me, but on my attitude.  Arrogance and self-centered pride blocks my hearing.  However,The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

God, let’s you and I pull up a chair here and have ourselves a good talk!  The day is still young!

To you then through you –

³⁶“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[b] 38}This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[c] 40}All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

This is one of those difficult mornings to read a selected passages of Scripture. Several passages jump out at me.  Stories teach such lessons.  I would have loved to have been able to be with David and watch this particular battle work its way out.  It is obvious that the other kings did not know WHO they were messing with when they were messing with God’s selected and annointed one.

God reminded me again that no matter who is in charge of  anything, until the Lord God of  Heaven is in place to rule, there will never be complete peace.  War and fighting, power that postures, people who plunder for their own gain, folk that do ugly things to other people have existed for years and somehow I figure that this will change the more civilized we get.  We still war.  We still disagree and cause church splits.  We still sit at tables and run down other people and plot for this and that idea’s success.  We are a never changing bunch.  No matter who is king down here – president included – God of Heaven and Earth, the God of all the Heavenly Armies is still in charge.  He has never yeilded his control to anyone.

He also reminded me that His plan always works.  No matter what opposition you are facing, God is at work.  He keeps copious notes and never forgets.  Some mornings I sit and laugh when I get to travel with David in some of his war runs.  His leaders are extremely skilled and prepared for fighting.  They do what the King says to do.  They are under the leadership of the Lord God in Heaven and they succeed.

Some do trust in horses and chariots – we trust in the Name of the Lord our God.  I guess getting the “who is in charge around here” thing straight is vital to the success of any organization.  I am reminded that in our church, the prerequisites of being a member of this church is to be 1. Saved and then 2. Baptized by immersion.  We can get lost in the details but I find it interesting that the “saved” requirement should settle forever the “who is in charge around here deal”.  Why is it we forget that so often?

But the one that rang my bell was the one that says if you love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind then the natural next step would be to love other people the way God is in love with you.  He gives it to you so He can give it through you.

God, even thought my voice is very raspy and allergies are rampant, may you help me remember that I am called your Beloved and you are well pleased with me as your Child.  I stand in that on the basis of the cross of Christ and no other reason.  I am learning to remove fear from my own heart and allow you to be my loving heavenly Father and receive that love deep in my own heart so I will be filled with you and discover that you are comfortable living in my life.  I am blown away at your love for me.  Help me love people the way you love me and may they feel that love.  I get excited about traveling through this day with you.  Honored is an understatement.  Blessed is better!  Help me to love you and others.

Interesting things happen when you do life with Jesus!

The Fig Tree Withers

¹⁸Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

²⁰When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Alright, I’ll admit it’s Monday.  Monday and Preachers are not usually friends.  I have many friends who take Monday off and rest.  I don’t because I refuse to feel this bad on my day off.  I have had one cup of coffee and am beginning to think clearer.  I follow a process developed by a Hawaiian pastor, Rev. Wayne Codeiro who wrote Divine Mentor.  He constantly says that his best friends are in the Bible.  Moses, David, Paul, and of course Jesus are just a few of them.  When you read the Bible consistently you get a chance to meet those characters and to become familiar with God speaking to your heart each day as you meet Him through the lives of these men and women.  I find it to be one of the most exciting things that I do every day!

This morning’s passage in Matthew allowed me to walk with Jesus, some disciples, and a few Pharisees and Scribes and it struck me as odd.  It has always been one of those stories that I wish I could have seen first hand.  He is standing by a fig tree.  It had all the outward trappings of being a fruitful fig tree.  It looked like a fig tree.  It smelled like a fig tree.  Everyone with them knew it WAS a fig tree.  But one thing was missing.  It wasn’t bearing fruit like a fig tree should.  Fig trees were associated with God’s promise of prosperity and were used by Jesus to illustrate Israel.  He looked at the Pharisees and Scribes and noticed that they had all of the outward trappings of being real and religious and pious.  He noticed that they looked like a real, religious and pious person.  He noticed that they smelled like a real, religious and pious person.  But the “fruit” of their lives was not evident.  Then to see Jesus speak to the fig tree and watch it wither immediately must have blown the minds of those around them.  Used to be filled with potential and ripe with opportunity.  At the voice of Jesus it was rendered useless.  Wow!

I am almost certain that the fig tree represented Israel.  What potential the nation had.  What opportunity was theirs as the people of God.  However, this morning I felt him speak to my own heart.  I celebrate the Grace of God!  Remembering my position before the Father on the basis of what His Son did on Calvary is primary.  Furthermore, it is healthy to grasp the responsibility that is mine as a Child of God.  I am thankful I am a child of God.  There is not one single doubt about that.  He is my Father.  He calls me His child.  I am thrilled.  I have an inner longing that desires to be “real”.  I am not the least bit interested in having all the right kind of outward trappings that make me “look” right without being right.  I want to walk honest today before God.  I want to be open and real with Him and others and enjoy life as God would intend me to have as I journey with Jesus today in all aspects of my life.

I guess I was involved in this story to the point that if Jesus walked by me, what would he see?  If he walked by the church I pastor, what would he see?  I think I can answer the question in a positive way, however, I hear God on this Monday say to my heart that He is pleased as he see  my life producing what it should produce.  I enjoy walking with the Father for he always gives me something to think about and to deal with every day!

Somehow, Jesus connected the faith that we say we have with doing something and saying something.

I am going to follow Him today.  Interesting things happen when you walk with Jesus!

It Ain’t My Property!

¹³“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

I don’t know what I would have done.  I wonder how “I” would have reacted if I heard about a job that started early in the morning and I began to work for a certain fee.  I work hard all day long only to notice that there are some men who show up at the last hour and get the same amount as I.  As I rub my sore muscles and wipe the sweat from my eye would my focus be on ME, on those getting paid as much as I did for one hour or work as I did for a day’s work, or on the LANDOWNER.  I think I know me better that I would like to admit and I am almost certain that I would be focused on ME.  Look what I did.  Look how much I have worked.  Look at the amount I have accomplished and if you are going to pass the goodies around my dear land owner then just bring it on to little oh productive me.  Yes, sir!  I am your go to man.  I.  I.  I.  I.  I.

I could be glad I have a job.  Until I showed up at this other man’s property I didn’t have one.  Until I found a man with some resources I could not have eaten this evening either.  I did shake on the amount the job would bring.  I did tell the man that I had the gifts and talents to do the job.  And thank God I have a job!

I could be glad that I was not the only one blessed.  There were many of us.  Men like me who have families to feed and bills to pay and I join a great group of folk who had no place to God and now WE have been blessed by the landowner to have something to do and some money coming in.  Wow!

I could be unbelievable thankful that the landowner is not  a stingy pig.  I am glad that he is generous.  He is generous with his compassion.  He is generous with his money.  Many people have been blessed by his generosity.  I could be thankful that He is so generous that he would give to those at the last minute of work the same amount that I have gotten for the entire day.  Now they can enjoy the blessing of being full as well.  They can pay the bills just like I can because they have been blessed by His generosity.

I guess the same options are open to me today.  Today I will go to church and worship.  The attention could be on ME and the wonderful things that I have done.  My focus could be on others and I could spend my entire morning obsessing on the comparrisons between what I have done, who I am, and my giftedness and all the other people there.  Or, I could spend the time worshipping the Landowner.  I have life because of Him.  I have a job because of Him.  I will be in a room of people who will be enjoying the same blessings as I.  I don’t deserve the job.  I have been called a child of my Father and today I come to worship HIM.

Father, I struggle with my own selfish nature and self-centered perspectives.  They are so prevalent.  However, I am thankful that I am your child.  I am thankful that many people have been blessed to be your children and a part of your great work on this earth.  I am thankful that I enjoy the benefits of being your child.  I come to worship You today.  May you give me new eyes to see as you see, new compassion to feel as you feel, and a heart that rejoices at your presence and great work.