Remembering - and Moving Forward

 

In 1972, our country’s most popular song was “American Pie,” the Living Bible became the most popular nonfiction book, the Waltons premiered on CBS, NASA introduced the Space Shuttle Program, and one Monday evening in September, I took my first breath. This fall I hit the half-century mark, and I’m proudly wearing the “Vintage 1972” accompanying t-shirt and cap.

Turning a milestone age brings reflection. The world has changed tremendously in half a century. In some ways for good and in many ways for bad.

If I could speak to my eighteen-year-old self, here are a few words I’d give:

+Life is seasonal. Many relationships, blessings, and hardships will come and go. Enjoy them while they last. Know the bad things will eventually change. Most friendships are seasonal, not long term.

+Take a deep dive at knowing yourself. You will help the most people, be the most fulfilled, and receive the greatest benefits when you stay true to the gifts, talents, and passions God has given you.

+Spend little time worrying over what other people think. Don’t live by other people’s expectations.

+Discipline and persistence, not talent, are the keys to long-term success.

+Develop multiple streams of income. Don’t put all your financial eggs in one basket.

+Take more risks. Don’t play it safe all the time.

+God is utterly faithful, and His Word is eternally true.

+Get video or tape recordings of your grandparents and other older special people in your life telling their stories. You will miss them tremendously when they are gone.

+Society is going to reject truth, love evil, believe lies, and embrace absurdity. Don’t expect to be at home in Zion, but remember biblical heroes like Jeremiah, Daniel, and Old Testament Joseph.

+The little things will often mean more in the long-run than the things that get the most attention.

+Buy a lot of stock in Dell, Netflix, Redbox, and Amazon when they go public. I know the names are weird, but trust me.

+True love and its rewards are worth the wait. Be patient.

Dan Miller’s writings and podcasts have been great encouragement to me. He shares a helpful framework for every decade of life:

Learning (20s) – trying lots of things and making new decisions

Experimenting (30s) – sorting out your interests and eliminating

Mastering (40s) – focusing on your interest and developing skills and expertise

Reaping (50s) – and creating systems to keep you moving forward

Guiding (60s) – mentoring others and leveraging your life message

Leaving a legacy (70s) – preparing for when you are no longer here

Maximizing your zone of genius (80s): spending 75% of your time doing what you do best

Our society glamorizes youth. Classic wisdom, however, honors age, for with age should come wisdom and understanding.

Grandma Moses finished her first for-sale painting at age 76 years, which ultimately sold for $1.2 million. She spent the next 25 years painting.

Colonel Sanders franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken at age 62.

Laura Ingalls Wilder first published the first Little House book at age 65.

At age 52, Ray Crock purchased McDonald’s.

Ronald Reagan did not hold public office until his 50s.

Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence at age 70.

Peter Roget oversaw every update of Roget’s Thesaurus until his death at age 90.

Miller writes, “If you plant corn, it will mature in 180 days. If you plant bamboo, it will mature in five years. If you plant walnut trees, they will mature in forty years. My recommendation, be doing all three in every stage of life. Be doing things that will give you a return in six months, in five years and in forty years.”

That’s good advice. I wrote the following prayer as a reflection on my 50^th birthday. I hope it encourages someone:

Help me hold on to those things that reflect my true self, not driven by other voices, but Yours.

Help me listen to my calling – vocal – vocation – innately from within – congruent with the materials entrusted to me by my Creator.

Help me hold loosely the expectations of others, so I can pursue the best things, expanding on my unique abilities and passions, thus serving the greatest good where my deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.

Help me look back only for wisdom and thanksgiving. Keep my gaze moving forward, letting go of yesterday's losses, building on the strength of the past, embracing today’s limitless opportunities, and expecting a fruitful and prosperous tomorrow.

Help me create legacy, assisting, encouraging, and empowering fellow travelers and friends on life’s journey, embracing the good and walking in the divine Presence of the Unseen One.

Help me take action, thinking deeply, treasuring wisdom, grasping opportunity, making decisions, living creatively, sharing generously, advancing positively, choosing now, embracing love, faith, hope, truth, and joy – and dreams that parallel with God's reality.

Help me to laugh, reflect, rest, and enjoy the most important blessings of life.

 

Trusting God with Coronavirus

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1 NLT).

The Bible teaches us that God is above every storm and can be trusted in every situation.

Bible commentators believe Psalm 46 was written with King Hezekiah in mind, when a great enemy surrounded Jerusalem. The account is found in 2 Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37. The king of Assyria and his massive army blockaded the city and waited, instilling fear into the people. Hezekiah, with the counsel of the prophet Isaiah, took the threats they heard back to the Lord and prayed. God told them to not give into fear and put their trust in Him. In one of the great deliverances of the Old Testament, the Lord intervened and protected His people.

The psalmist, celebrating this victory, reminds us of seven realities to remember when we find ourselves in a storm.

1.       God is always ready to be our refuge and strength (1).

In troubled times, the Lord wants us to run to Him first for help, for refuge, and for strength. We learn to talk to Him habitually, ask for His help, and tell Him our troubles.

We don’t just gather the wagons in a circle with our friends, but we go to Him as the One who sticks closer than a brother – the ultimate Friend who is made for the day of adversity.

2.       We don’t have to give into fear when trouble comes (2-3).

When fear hits a society, people panic. I heard a worker for Pepsi say yesterday they required a police escort this week to accompany their delivery of water. In almost hysteria, people have been purchasing loads of toilet paper. No, you probably don't need 21 cases of it. But you probably do need one or two!

Remember, God holds the ultimate keys to life and death.

Martin Luther, the great Reformer, lived in an era when the Black Death took many lives. He once wrote, “I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, He will surely find me, and I have done what He has expected of me, and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however, I shall not avoid place or person. I shall go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God” (Luther’s Works; Vol. 43, pg. 132).

You cannot die until God allows it. No, that does not guarantee a long life. Some godly people die young, and some ungodly ones live to be old. But ultimately, though we take precautions, we trust our mortality to the One who created us.

We are wise to eat healthily, avoiding lots of sugar and bad carbs, exercise regularly and take vitamin supplements. However, people who practice all of that sometimes die at age 40, and some folks who eat chili cheeseburgers every week live to be 100! 

Likewise, I can quarantine myself from everyone and die in my house of a heart attack, aneurism, or stroke. I could also be out amongst people and never contract anything.

The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:13-19 that we are not to be controlled by fear, because we are loved by God.

3.       We are wise to be resourceful (4).

Pastor Chuck Swindoll writes, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

The psalmist celebrates the fact that a river goes through the city of God. While the source of water includes significant spiritual symbolism, their reason for enthusiasm was quite practical.

Sennacherib’s army blockaded Jerusalem, expecting to keep the people from having water. However, the Israelites prepared for such a problem. Wisdom led them to build an aqueduct underground going into the middle of the city. The project allowed fresh water to come from a spring into Jerusalem, thus “making glad the city of God.”

Today, visitors to the Holy Land can walk through “Hezekiah’s tunnel” and see this act of foresight.

God doesn’t want us to be stupid. He wants us to assess our resources, get counsel, and make plans in order to safeguard our lives. I appreciate Mark Batterson’s advice, “We should work as if it all depends on us and pray as if it all depends on God.”

The Lord has resources, wisdom, and knowledge we do not – thus we should pray hard. But many times His deliverances come after we have used our own elbow grease.

4.       The Lord’s voice is louder than the world’s storms (5-6).

In a storm, it is essential to hear from God, allowing His words to be louder than the things causing you fear. The psalmist reminds us that God wants our attention. He also reminds us how important it is to get our focus on Him: by meditating on His Word, by praying, and by singing praises to Him.

Don’t let your focus be consumed by your fears – if so, your emotions will follow your fears instead of your faith.

The media has its place and can be extremely helpful. However, some aspects of the media feed off of people’s fears, trying to make you feel like you have to keep tuning in or you will miss something crucial.

Listen to some media, but then turn it off. Don’t let watching the news be the last thing you do before going to sleep. If so, your subconscious mind dwells on all of that information all night long. Instead, put God’s Word into your mind before you head to sleep. Let His Word be your last thought.

Spiritual habits helps us to keep our ears tuned to Him during fearful times.

In 1948, C.S. Lewis advised in light of the threat of the atomic bomb, "The first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."

5.       His presence is our best ally (7,11).

The Lord wants us to live aware of His Presence. The missionary statesman Hudson Taylor said, “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.”

The constant presence of the Lord is our greatest resource, ally, and asset.

The Lord encourages His people in Isaiah 41:9-10 with, “I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’ ” (NIV).

And the author of Hebrews reminds us, “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.’So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.What can mere mortals do to me?’ ” (13:5-6 NIV).

Pastor John Newton wrote, “Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for His grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much.”

6.       He is much greater than any problem or threat on earth (8-9).

One truth experienced repeatedly in the Scriptures is that God is bigger than our obstacles. He is greater than a closed womb, the Red Sea and Egypt’s army, Jericho’s walls, hungry lions, a massive giant, and vicious enemies. God’s people are to put our trust in Him in spite of our mountains.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 remind us to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (NASB).

The Lord tells us in Isaiah 44:6, “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me” (NASB).

7.       God will be honored and accomplish His purposes (10).

Verse ten, the most familiar one of the psalm, calls us to be still, cease striving, and know that He is God.

When Jesus wanted to feed the 5000 men plus their families, and the disciples told Jesus to “send them home,” he simply instructed them, “Sit down.”

In my sanctified imagination, it’s as If I hear Jesus say, “I do not need your help. Sit down. Be quiet. I have got this one without your help.”

Sometimes I’m sure God needs to speak that to me when I am fearful, anxious, or troubled.

Sit down and trust God. He reminds them, in the midst of all of this trouble, “I will be exalted.” God will work out His plans. He will accomplish His purposes. And He will bring Himself glory.

We are wise to submit to Him, get on His agenda, and live for His glory here and now.

Watch my message, "Trusting God with Coronavirus," here.

Have fears and worries about Coronavirus? Click here.

Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.

Living Life Upside Down

The following article is my monthly column appearing today in The Clinton Chronicle . . .

In my college days, the music group TRUTH popularized a song called Living Life Upside Down.  The lyrics warned, What if we’ve fallen to the bottom of a well thinking we’ve risen to the top of a mountain?

America has been on moral free-fall for several decades.  In the Old Testament, one prophet warned that days would come when wrong behavior would become so normalized that we would forget to blush.

We’re there, folks.

The most recent indictment in our moral landslide is the Charlotte City Council passing a much-contested ordinance that transgenders can use the bathroom of their choice.  In response, the North Carolina governor quickly responded by signing a bill banning people from using public restrooms other than their birth sex. 

How about a few facts?  There are 808,676 registered sex offenders in the USA.  16,709 of those live in SC.  

Estimates say that 0.3% of the United States population identify themselves as transgender.  The answer to this debate is not to change basic bathroom dignity rules affecting the 99.7% of Americans who identify with the sex of their birth anatomy given to them by their Creator.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council aptly said, “This is where the Left leads us when left unchecked by common sense: The privacy of women and children must be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. This reckless abandon of common sense threatens the safety and freedoms of Americans from Seattle to Houston”

Laws that allow individuals the right to use the facilities of the sex with which they most identify provides legitimate safety concerns for a greater number of people than the number of people whom the laws accommodate. 

The threat is not imagined or exaggerated. Any high school male claiming to be a female for the day could enter the girls’ locker room at any time. Any group of males choosing to identify as females for the day could enter women's facilities at any time. No legal protection. No legal recourse. 

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory summed it up well last week: “If you have the anatomy of a man, you should not be allowed to use the women’s restroom, shower, or locker room facility. It’s basic common sense. It’s etiquette of privacy that we have had for decades. And it’s amazing that the nationally politically-correct police have descended upon my state [North Carolina] and unfairly smeared [NC]. This is a lot of media-elite hypocrisy. It’s demagoguery at its worst.”

As McCrory cited, the big business bullies showed their faces last week.  Paypal, for example, cancelled their plans to open a center in Charlotte.  That, folks, is called a corporate bully.  And it is called blatant hypocrisy.

Paypal, like several corporations who have jumped on the bandwagon, does business in many countries where transgenders, gays and lesbians face legal punishment.  Paypal works in 25 countries where homosexual behavior is illegal.  In five of those the penalty is death.

Yet North Carolina wants to keep a man from going into the bathroom with my thirteen year-old girl, and Paypal wants to not give Charlotte any business?  Bruce Springsteen just cancelled a concert in NC due to the new bathroom law.  

Thankfully, the Governor and key lawmakers did not bow to pressure in spite of raging opposition. Paypal and Bruce, don’t let the door hit you on your way out of North Carolina.

McCrory wisely said, "Girls' bathrooms are for girls, boys' bathrooms are for boys. The fact we are even debating this is a sad commentary on where we are as a society.”

It is indicative of a society that is living life upside down.

Fantastic Family Friday: 16 Lessons Learned from 16 Years of Marriage

 

16 Lessons Learned from 16 Years of Marriage

Sixteen years ago today I covenanted with Tracey Funderburk to become one in marriage.  We stood with our family and friends at the First Baptist Church in Lancaster, South Carolina, on that hot July day.  In some ways it seems like it has flown.  In other ways, that memory seems distant.

What lessons have I learned in sixteen years?

1.  Marriage is the best thing God has got going on this earth for most people.  We love being married.  Marriage and family are awesome.  We would do it all over again.  When God created the world, He created one man and one woman for a lifetime together.  Marriage makes it into the first chapter of the Bible.  The family is more important than and is the building block of church, government, and society.

2.  All those prayers are really worth it.  Dr. Earl Crumpler challenged the congregation in a Sunday night sermon in about 1986 that young people should begin praying for their future mate.  As a seventh or eight-grader, I then began asking God to select the woman I would marry.  I know my mother regularly prayed for years for God to give me a good mate.  Boy, did He.  If you’re not married, pray for your future mate.  Pray for the mates of your children and grands.  Some things really, really matter, and who you marry is one of those.

3.  Sometimes love awakens quickly.  Laying on my dorm room floor on Friday night, January 31, 1997, I wrote in my journal, Whatever is in the future, Lord I trust You.  To lead along new paths.  Ways I have not known.  I am Yours.  I give myself to Your love.  I walk into the unknown trusting.  I then got up, walked across campus to a music school party in a friend’s apartment.  A cute blonde from South Carolina walked into the room, got my attention, and I met Tracey Alane Funderburk. 

Eight days later, we went on our first date.  Standing in the foyer of Tumbleweed Restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, on a cold February evening, I thought, “This young lady next to me is gorgeous.”  Sitting knee to knee at a small table over supper, I realized there was a lock to my heart whose key was kept only by this woman in front of me.  I knew at that moment that I would spend my life with her.

4.  When the decision is something massive in your life, as you seek God for direction, He will move heaven and earth to guide you.  The Bible promises that when our hearts are fully His and we seek Him hard, He will show Himself to us (2 Chronicles 16:9; Jeremiah 29:13).  To read more about how God showed Himself to me during those days, read here.

5.  Laughter is great medicine.  The first year we dated, I often thought that Tracey was to me like one bringing laughter.  Through the years we found that laughing together, laughing with each other, and laughing at ourselves helps brighten the days, bond us together, and help us make it through the rough spots.  May our homes be filled with laughter.

6.  The family that plays together, stays together.  We enjoy having fun.  If we had enough money, I think we could officially be full-time “having-funners.”  Look for ways to play, explore, and discover.  Spend time together.  Communicate to your family with your time that you would rather spend your free hours with them than with anyone else in the world. 

7.  The family that prays together, stays together.  Through the years I learned that prayer doesn’t have to be long, complicated, or impressive.  Prayer simply opens our lives to the Spirit of God.  Take the time to grab your spouse’s hand and say, “Let’s pray.”  As children come along, make family prayer a natural habit.  Pray for your family and with your family.  Teach children to pray out loud.  Walk into their bedrooms at night while they sleep and pray quiet prayers over them.  Open the door for the Lord to walk through the doors of your home.  Open that door through prayer.

8.  Make regular, spiritual habits a normal part of your marriage, and do it early. 

I knew that I wanted our family to be one where talking about things that really matter, like our faith and our feelings, was natural and regular.  Early in our marriage I began regularly opening the Bible, reading and praying with my newlywed wife.   We had many conversations those first few years that started with, “Let me tell you what I read in my devotional time this morning.”  We learned together to talk about our feelings, our hopes, and about things we believed about God and how He was working. 

If you will establish that atmosphere between the two of you when you start your marriage, it will already be established when children arrive.  They will grow up in a home marked by spiritual things, good communication, and the love and fear of the Lord.

9.  Sex is a fantastic pleasure of marriage, but it is not the main course.  I heard a Hollywood actress say, “In the movies, life is mainly about sex with a few other things thrown in.  In real life, life is mainly about a whole lot of other things with some sex thrown in.”   When a guy is twenty, he usually thinks that marriage is a whole lot about sex.   In reality, sex, as designed by our Creator, is a part of a relationship marked by mutual submission, trust, and sacrifice.  Sex at its best is a whole lot about communication and pleasing each other. 

Sex is fantastic.   I think it is one of God’s best blessings He created.  But it is only one part of life.  And, as Kevin Leman says, it begins in the kitchen: unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the house, getting the oil changed, speaking kindly, and having a good attitude to your mate.

Also, remember, the need for purity never stops.  Read more about the need for purity in marriage here.

10.  Expect from the Lord.  Morris Keller gave me great marriage advice when I was in college.  He said, “You will want to expect from your wife, wanting her to meet your needs.  That’s a trap.  You need instead to learn to expect from the Lord.”   Psalm 62:5 says about the Lord that “my expectation is from Him.” 

When we expect from people and they don’t deliver, we feel disappointed.  We may withdraw our affection from them because they did not meet our expectations.  However, if we expect first from the Lord, then it frees us to graciously receive the good things that do come to us through our spouse.  Enjoy those blessings.  But then when our spouse does not meet our need as we might wish, instead of falling into an expectation trap we are free to love them.  Expecting from God first and being satisfied with what He allows us to receive from our spouse frees us to love and appreciate them without always trying to make them into something else.

11.  Children are a blessing from the Lord.  They are to be cherished.  Thank God for those children.  Together we share in the miracle of creation.  The Bible says that one of God’s purposes for marriage is that we may produce godly offspring.   Start praying now for your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  God’s Word says that our lives influence many generations.

 

When Tracey was pregnant with our first child, I read James Dobson's book Straight Talk to Men: Timeless Principles for Leading Your Family.  That book greatly impacted me as Dobson shares stories from his own life and relationship with his father and son.  Dads, we have about eighteen years to impact our children.  Make the most of it.  They need us intentionally investing in their lives from day one.   

12.  Create margin in your life.  Our first year of full-time ministry, we attended a conference for pastor families sponsored by the South Carolina Baptist Convention.  The key note speaker was a medical doctor beginning to receive notoriety because of his writings.  In books like Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives , The Overload Syndrome, and In Search of Balance, Dr. Richard Swenson challenges the pace of our society and the consumer culture of always having to produce more, what he calls the escalation of the norm.  That weekend, a strong seed was planted in our lives.  We determined that year to take the challenge of learning how to build margin into our lives.

Swenson writes, “Marginless is the disease of the new millennium; margin is its cure.”

As a young pastor, I realized that  I can win the world and lose my family.  Andy Stanley has a great book for dads called When Work and Family Collide.  The book was formerly titled Choosing to Cheat.  He challenges dads to not regularly take time away from their families.  I decided that, using Andy Stanley’s illustration, I would not regularly cheat my family of time and attention.  I would not be a pastor who tried to please everyone else but neglected my own family. 

Your children won’t care about the plaque they gave you at work or school.  They will, however, remember sledding down icy slopes, leisurely reading books by the fire, and taking long walks in the woods.
 

13.  When life stinks, you can’t check out.  Life will be different than you expected and much harder than you expected.  When newlyweds stand at the altar, they dream of all of the good things that will happen.  I doubt if many think, “Life will be very stressful at times.  We will get on each other’s nerves.  We will have financial struggles.  We may lose our jobs.  We will watch our parents die.  One of us may watch the other one die of cancer.  Our children may give us heartache. “

The first time Tracey and held hands was a Sunday night at church.  At the close of the service, the pastor told us to join hands with the person standing next to you.  I rejoiced and thought, “Please pray a long time!”  I still remember that evening a young woman sang the solo, “Life is Hard, but God is Good.”  Well ain’t that the truth?  Life is hard. 

Tracey and I have journeyed through unexpected trials, heartaches, and valleys.  The stress and challenges that come with being a couple in pastoral ministry have at times been daunting and disappointing.  Pastoring a church the first year of marriage was what I call being baptized with fire.  Whatever your lot in life, life will include difficult times.

In such times, we cannot check out.  We need each other.  Though we may like to stay in bed, pull the covers over our head, and check out, we simply cannot.  Life goes on.  Lean into each other instead of leaning apart.  Give each other grace when the other one is not at his or her best.  This is a season.  There is something to be said about just showing up.  Elisabeth Elliot often taught this simple, practical advice: Trust God and do the next thing. 

Or, as Dolly Parton sings in her song "Try," And whenever you think you ain't gonna make it, put a smile on your face, suck it up and fake it for a while.  Give it a try. At least you'll know you tried. 

That’s good advice.  And yes, I used Elisabeth Elliot and Dolly Parton in the same point.

14.  Everyone changes.  Choose to change together.  I have a bald spot now that surfaced a few years ago.  My weight increased quite a bit since our first date.  Bodies change.  Interests change.  Hobbies change.  Musical tastes change.  Dreams change. 

Tracey amazes me how she has changed for the better through the years.  When we first dated, she had no interest in history and bored easily with reading.  She mainly wanted to have a good time.  Seventeen years later, she can’t get enough of books.  She wants to read about classical education methods and historical biographies.  This year begins her ninth year of homeschooling our children.  She directs our homeschool community of about thirty families.  She exhibits a thirst for learning that still surprises me.  Sometimes I say, “You would have never been interested in that in 1997.”  And she agrees and laughs.

You and your spouse will both change.  The key is, learn to change together.  Move towards each other.  Don’t expect him to be just like he was twenty years ago.  Enjoy the fact that she acquires new tastes and interests.  Just make sure you adapt together.

15.  Friends are a blessing.  Charles Swindoll says that you are blessed if, when you die, you can count four or five people in your life who have been real friends.  You will have many people move in and out of your life.  The only contact you will have with some of those folks in your wedding party ten years from now will be annual Christmas cards.  Some friendships are seasonal.  Their purpose and blessing is for a specific season of life and marriage.  Then as seasons change, so do relationships.  A few may last over various seasons.  Some friendships will fade away or end abruptly.  Some walk away from you.

Enjoy the friends God gives you.  Life is better with friends.  But remember, friends come and go.  But God remains.  Put your trust in Him, and love your friends.

It is a wonderful thing to have a few companions in the journey of life who will pray for and encourage you and your wife.  You pray for and encourage them as well.

16.  Life sure does move quickly.  Boy does it.  Blink.  Five years.  Blink.  Ten years.  Blink.  Fifteen.

An eighty-something year old widower told me yesterday that last week his boys helped him clean out everything from his house’s attic.  “It was a bittersweet week,” he said.  They rummaged through filing cabinets, toys, and stacks of his wife’s sheet music before sending some to Goodwill and throwing away the rest.  From that perspective, life moves quickly.

After sixteen years I can definitely say that I would marry her all over again. 

Tracey Alane, you are a gift of love to me.

  
 

Edwards Road - 50 Years!

This weekend I am remembering with joy the church of my youth – Edwards Road Baptist Church in Greenville, SC. Tomorrow ERBC celebrates her 50th anniversary!

My parents joined ERBC in the 1960’s when the church was young and met in the old chapel. Mom and Dad were members there for 25 years (spanning 35 years – with about ten years in North Carolina!). For years I heard the old stories of that small group of charter members, including Jake and Frances Matthews, Billie Burns, and Chester and Esther Holmes. They had a vision for an evangelical church on that side of Greenville. While visiting Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary once and staying in the guest house, I opened a book of photographs by the bed and found pictures of the early years of ERBC! The guest room was named after Bill Palmer, who I believe was the church’s first pastor.

When we moved back to Greenville in 1980, we soon joined ERBC. I spent many happy days in the fellowship of that church, including several milestones of my life – all the way from my baptism in 1982 to my ordination in 1998. I expect that most if not all of the foundational lessons and shaping that I needed for life were first given to me by my family and then reinforced by the people of ERBC in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

The church was our family’s primary social outlet, and Mom and Dad both served for years in a number of capacities. Dad stood at the front door and greeted almost every Sunday for more than a decade with his friend Jerry Fowler. Mom served in numerous areas, teaching the Bible and serving through prayer ministry. She still hears occasionally from young ladies that she taught in Sunday School in late high school, as she hoped to instill in them qualities to help them walk with God long-term.

Many people, more numerous to name, impacted our lives from ERBC. So many wonderful people, some in the grandstands of heaven now, intersected our lives: Earl and Louise Crumpler, H. S. and Linda Yarborough, David Bennett, Allie and Ann McNider, Bob and Kay Gray, Steve and Gloria Taylor, Danny and Freida Cole, Ben and Billie Burns, Mickey and Barbara Massey, Janice and Marty Clark, and countless others. I recall listening to Henry Kluizenar (not sure of that spelling!) singing songs to God with his beautiful voice. And H. S. sharing Sweet Little Jesus Boy close to Christmas.

Memories abound: Christmas parties, Easter musicals, Royal Ambassadors with Tony Brown, Children’s Bible Drill, children’s choirs, youth trips to Williamsburg, Virginia, choir and mission trips to New York, Kentucky, and Myrtle Beach, Bible studies and Sunday School. And lots and lots of fun with the youth group! I can’t remember my youth without recalling Edwards Road and her people. Numerous members of that youth group from the late ‘80’s and ‘90’s are now serving the Lord vocationally and in their churches scattered many places.


To this day I enjoy remembering gathering with the church to worship, most often led by Earl and H. S., and being together as God’s family. Those were blessed days, and I am thankful to have been a part of the church’s life.

For many years ERBC was for our family what a church should be – a place to be trained in the Word of God, a place to worship God, a people with whom to share love and life, and a place to use our gifts for God’s glory and for His kingdom. ERBC was a huge part of my “sovereign foundations” which taught me a love for the Lord, His Word, His church, the Great Commission and Great Commandment, and the sanctity of human life.

Life contains difficult choices. When my parents left ERBC in 2000, it was the most difficult decision of their entire life. In 40 years, I have never seen my parents grieve like they did during that time. That was a testimony to the love they had enjoyed with ERBC for 35 years.

Though I can’t attend the celebration tomorrow, I thank God for the church. I do remember attending the 25th anniversary celebration!

Wishing Edwards Road well on her 50th anniversary, and may the Lord use them for His glory until He comes! Thank God for that small group of people who stepped out in faith 50 years ago and started a small church!