Thank You

For the seventh year I have been able to post over three hundred blogs in a calendar year.  Every now and again some reader will wonder how it is that I am able to write something almost every day.  I must admit that there are moments when I feel like I am ready to quit, but then when the next day comes, I find myself here at the keyboard putting another word together.  When I started writing the blog back in 2008, I never planned for it to be a daily thing.  I did five or six a month and thought that was more than enough.  I am not sure how I got from there to here, but here I am, nonetheless.   

There are several things which have kept me coming here to write.  First, it has become my ministry.  Ministry has defined me since my ordination back in 1971.  A few years ago (2015) I had to give up the preaching ministry.  In retrospect I have never been sure whether I gave  it up, or it was taken from me by the One who called me to do it.  I mostly think it was taken and in its place I was led to begin this writing ministry.  In every place I served except for one, I have written weekly devotionals for newspapers so the writing ministry has been with me longer than any part of my ministry. Secondly, I have come to understand that these daily blog postings reflect the way the Holy Spirit is working in my life and enabling me to accomplish something I could not do alone.    

The third and final thing which has kept me going are the many people who read these blogs.  Many have been the times that I thought it was time to stop when someone spoke a word of encouragement to me, or told me how a particular blog had touched their life.  When I have been tempted to quit, I mostly think of the faces of some of those I know as faithful readers and then I come back to the keyboard to write one more.  All of you who read these ramblings of mine keep me going and I want to end 2023 by letting you know that you who read are as much a part of this blog as any writing I might do.  Thank you.  Thank you very much. 

The Gift

We all tend to do a little looking back at this time of the year.  We count the milestones toward moving forward with our life and we sadly remember the moments which seemed filled with the kind of stuff which is overcoming.  Somehow we made it to what is near about the end of another year.  And as we look back at the whole thing, we know being here is about what it has always been and that is grace.  God's grace is surely the reason we are here on this earth with our famiies and with a measure of good health.    

There is, perhaps, no religious word which gets tossed around so casually as the word grace.  We sing "Amazing Grace" without realizing how amazing it really is for each of us.  Grace is not about what we have earned through our efforts, or through our educational achievements, but something which can only be rightly understood as a gift.  Grace is always all about what we do not deserve.  It is all about God's gift to us.  If we live, it is because  of grace.  If we die and enter our eternal home, it is because of grace.  Life is about grace.    

The bottom line is that the life we live is ours because of God's gifting spirit.  From the moment of our conception in the darkness of the womb until our eyes are opened to see the glory of heaven, we are being gifted by Him.  When the dark clouds of difficulty are hanging heavy in our life, it is hard to see that life is a gift of God's grace, but it remains true.  We are as dependent on God's grace as we are the air we breathe.  Actually, we are more dependent on grace for air is only good for this life and it is grace that sustains us here and will be sufficient to get us Home.  

A Time for Praying

A phone call a couple of days ago sent me to the local cemetery yesterday morning to meet a family who needed a gravesite to bury a loved one.  Some six or seven years ago I volunteered to serve as the caretaker for the local cemetery which is actually owned by the local Baptist and United Methodist Churches.  What that means is that I make sure the maintenance gets done and that gravesites are sold as needed.  It is a job my father-in-law did some twenty years ago and one which gives me an opportunity to serve folks in a time of need.   

After I concluded the business part of the conversation yesterday, I asked the widow and her two sons if I could pray with them before we headed for the warmth of our vehicles.  No one has yet to say "No" to my offering prayer so it gives me an opportunity to point us to the presence of God in a difficult and dark time.  The gravesites require a check, but the prayer is freely given.    When I first started the volunteer job as caretaker, I did not think of the opportunity to pray with those who came, but as the years went along, it became a natural thing to do.  

There are many opportunities given to us through the course of our daily life to pray for those whose lives intersect with us.  Simply saying something like "You are in my thoughts and prayers" sounds a little weak when we could actually take a moment and pray.  I have a friend who when asked to pray always prays for those who ask, but he does it right then even though they may be standing in one of the crowded corners of the marketplace.  It is something we can all do.  It makes a difference.  I know.  I have been one of those who has stood in the presence of someone who dared to pray for me in an unexpected place.  The Word tells us to pray for one another.  Maybe it should also say, "wherever and whenever you find someone who needs the praying."

Old and Worn Out

A late afternoon tractor trip to the pasture with a bale of hay created a moment for seeing the pecan trees which line one side of the domain of the cows.  Oh, I have seen those trees a thousand times, picked up several thousand fallen limbs from under the spreading canopies, and even been blessed with harvesting some pecans every now and again.  In the Spring life stirs among them as green buds start to appear, by summer the trees are full of green leaves and crop of nuts has set.  Then comes the season of falling leaves and dropping pecans which finally leaves the trees as they are today, barren skeletons stretching upward in the sky against a fading gray sky.    

When compared to the other seasons, this day's view might seem to be a bit drab, but it was a kind of beauty that was spellbinding and encouraged me to sit idle on the tractor for a few moments as the picture of creation faded into darkness.  I love what God does with worn out trees that have run their course and show more sign of being spent than useful.  I love the barrenness of the outstretched limbs.  Everything about the afternoon picture seemed empty of life, but there is something in the soil, there is something within the tree, there is something stirring in deep invisible places that is full of mystery.  

Those old worn out trees which are in some cases a hundred years old may look spent and used up, but one day a power will take hold of them to bring forth new life, new foliage, a new crop, and new hope. I am grateful for what God does with these old worn out trees and grateful, too, to know that as He makes the old trees useful so does He make you and me.  

The Last Promise

Some years are harder than others.  As this one comes to the end of its journey, each one of us probably looks behind to see some times we would never have chosen and some that came as delightful surprises.  Such is the nature of life.  It always has been.  We tend to let the hard times overshadow everything else so that the sunny days seemed like they never happened.  These recent gray rainy days remind us that even when the sun cannot be seen, it is still present.    

When the hard difficult moments come with too much regularity, it is good to be reminded that joy and laughter and even dancing are only a day away.  As surely as the sun is not always seen, but always present, so it is with the goodness in our life.  Goodness is always present because God is always present in our life.  There have certainly been times for us in recent days when He seemed absent, but deep in the inner places of our heart, we know He has never been absent.  

It may have been harder in this past year for us to be aware of Him and His goodness, but the Word tells us very clearly that He is with us.  According to Matthew, His last promise to us was, "And remember, I am with you always... (Matthew 28:20}  It is His Word, not mine.  You can count on it even in the hardest of days.

A Slow Journey

Maybe I make too big a deal about getting a new Bible.  It is, after all, just another book, or just another Bible and I have quite a collection of them.  Most of those that fall under the category of "others" have served the purpose of being study Bibles. My new Christmas gift Bible is certainly a replacement Bible for one that is worn out so being the one who does too much thinking about the least of things, I have been pondering how to baptize it into daily use.  

What might seem obvious to most came to me late in the day after a spell of pondering.  I decided to start at the book of Beginning and read to the book that brings the inspired Word to its ending.  It has been some years since I did a through read with the Word.  Do not be looking for a report that the read is finished anytime soon.  I have decided to make this a slow journey.  

When I came to the farm thirteen years ago, the Lord gave me two words one afternoon as I was on my knees pulling weeds from the tomato plants.  "Pay Attention,"  is what He said and what I heard.  It has been a Word that has served me well as I have lived midst the Creation.  As I walk into this new year with a very old Word held together by a new cover, I will move slowly and I pray God will reveal Himself and speak clearly His Word as I "pay attention" to the unread and unmarked pages which tell His story.

A Gift of the Word

Back in 1990 I bought two Bibles just alike.  Well, almost.  One was black and one was blue. When I retired twenty years later the black one was well worn, falling apart, and in need of replacement.  So, I put the blue one into service.  It is starting to look like the retired black one. Someone noticed and bought me a new Bible for a Christmas gift.  This new one is much nicer than the ones I bought.  It has a  leather soft cover and is a large print edition.  I guess that says something about the eyes of the reader!  

So what do you do with a new Bible, one that has no ink markings, no coffee stains, and no torn pages?  Of course, the obvious answer is to read it.  Reading a new Bible will be a different read as I will not be influenced by underlined verses and words written in the margins.  Maybe what it affords me is an opportunity to read the Word again with new eyes, a different set of experiences through which to filter the reading, and a fresh anticipation for hearing the Word of God speak through the new large print edition.   

It makes me remember my first Bible.  It came to me when I was a child.  It was a King James Version with a zipper that ran around the black cover.  It also brings to mind the first Bible I read after becoming a Christian.  It was a Phillips translation of the New Testament given to me as a gift by my Dad when I left for college.  There have been many Bibles in my life.  Each one has been the Word of God which guided the journey.  I am grateful for a new one which will launch me on still another adventure with the Word of the Lord.