Lois and I celebrated my 72nd birthday Monday. The number almost takes my breath away. (So does walking up stairs.) My body feels 72, but not my mind. (You may diagnose me differently if you regularly read what I write.) Anyway, we enjoyed a wonderful day together—brunch and dinner out (not at the same time), Lois’ card and letter to me (I cried) and the movie “The Notebook” (more tears). Unusual all-day rain kept us from the beach (original plan), but it was just as well. We enjoyed being quiet together appreciating having each other. I’m more in love than ever.
At the risk of sounding egotistical, here’s one line from Lois’ letter: “Your ability to persevere and continue to show Christ’s love is witness to the power of the faith you have taught—and lived—all your life.” (Ah, yes. Love is blind. Is that in Leviticus?) I shared her sentence only because I’ve struggled recently with the Lord’s answer to Paul’s pleading prayers to be freed from his “thorn in the flesh” . . .
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9a).
I read those words and wonder where the Lord’s gracious perfected power is in me. I limp in pain leaning on my walker. My faith fights feebly against my disability. Some days I’m angry or depressed. God’s promises seem to mock me. No divine power-surge in this old body! No spectacular signs of God’s sufficient grace in me! Not only do I not boast of my weaknesses, I hate people seeing me this way. No contented sighs coming from this mouth. Where’s the Lord’s power?
Then Monday I read Lois’ letter. “Your ability to persevere and continue to show Christ’s love is witness to the power of the faith you have taught—and lived—all your life” (and other such statements). There it is! There’s the Lord’s perfected power in my weakness!
Lois sees me persevering and continuing to show Christ’s love. She sees me as a witness to faith’s power. (She sees many other virtues I won’t point out for fear of sounding like Donald Trump.) These virtues that she sees are evidence of the Lord’s perfected power of grace in me.
I realize again that his power doesn’t displace weakness; it shines in weakness. It doesn’t turn a disabled body into Superman; it displays Jesus in the attitude and words and ways of the disabled. His power doesn’t rescue me from the Calvary road; it inwardly renews me on the Calvary road. (And one day, just as God’s power exploded in the resurrection of the crucified Christ, it will explode in this rotted, worm-eaten body and resurrect it imperishable and immortal.)
This is how, of course, God’s power was perfected in Paul. It’s impossible to read 2 Corinthians, other Pauline letters and the book of Acts and not know that Paul suffered for Christ. Just read 2 Corinthians 6:4-10; 11:23-29. Only in 2 Corinthians 12:9 did Paul pray to be spared suffering. And when he didn’t receive what he wanted, he wrote:
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content
with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9b,10).
That’s the Lord’s perfected power in a mere sinful mortal who trusts his saving grace!
I’m not saying the Lord never delivers. Read Hebrews 11 and realize there are times he does and times he doesn’t. But when he doesn’t, his power isn’t absent—just demonstrated in different ways.
Listen! There’s no need to run to “healing evangelists” or to send money for an “anointed prayer cloth.” Our Father never turns a deaf ear to his children. Our Lord never ignores his redeemed. He just asserts his gracious power in different ways according to his sovereign and good will.
That means I am as much a miracle as I would be if the Lord physically healed me!
I am unabashedly and unreservedly pulling for Dr. Ben Carson to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States. As the headline below announces, here is his stand on the issues. I hope you take time to read the article and become an informed voter.
Why Carson? I see America plunging headlong and long down the wrong moral path. A Washington insider isn’t enough; we need a brilliant, respectable, caring outsider to lead the country back to the right path.
Ben Carson on the issues: Inside the mind of the retired neurosurgeon surging in polls, rivaling Trump
Michael Walsh
Reporter
Yahoo Politics
September 2, 2015
Ben Carson speaks in Little Rock, Ark., during his campaign for president. (Photo: Danny Johnston/AP)
The red-blooded Republican base of America is fed up with career politicians and ready to hit reset — if poll numbers are any indication.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has been surging in the early polls for the GOP presidential nomination. His reserved and soft-spoken personality is a far cry from the bombastic rhetoric that’s largely defined the primary race so far.
Like real estate tycoon Donald Trump and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Carson has never held elected office, but that might actually be a boon rather than a hindrance in appealing to conservatives frustrated with politics as usual.
Without a governance track record for Carson, some voters are unsure of whether he would be able to “play the game” necessary to make changes in Washington. But his commitment to conservatism is indisputable.
Here’s where Carson stands on several key issues:
National debt
Carson thinks that the government will not pay down the national debt of more than $18 trillion until a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution mandates it.
He says “career politicians in Washington” have shown that they won’t get serious about balancing the budget until they are forced to.
“Each generation’s greatest responsibility is to pass on a greater opportunity to the next generation. Our generation is failing in this regard,” he wrote on his official website. “A Balanced Budget Amendment to our Constitution will lead to a better future for our grandchildren.”
The Economy
Carson has argued for a flat tax between 10 and 15 percent based on tithing for all Americans.
“You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one [dollar]. Of course I would get rid of all the deductions and all of the loopholes,” he said during an appearance on Fox Business.
Carson also called for gradually raising the age of eligibility for receiving Social Security and eliminating the IRS.
Ben Carson poses for a photo in Little Rock, Ark. (Photo: Danny Johnston/AP)
Immigration
Carson says he does not think that the 14th Amendment should protect birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.
In a 2014 National Review op-ed, he criticized the Obama administration for making it clear that “certain unaccompanied illegal minors would not be deported if caught.”
According to Carson, this helped to create an environment of tolerance that led to what he called the “current rash of illegal dumping of thousands of children.”
He bemoaned “incentives” for illegal immigration, such as easy government assistance and public school enrollment.
“We must create a system that disincentivizes illegal immigration and upholds the rule of law while providing us with a steady stream of immigrants from other nations who will strengthen our society. Let’s solve the problem and stop playing political football,” he wrote.
Health care
Carson says the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is a “looming disaster” and “monstrosity.” Despite the cost of $1.2 trillion, he argues, 23 million people will still not have health insurance even after it has been fully implemented for 10 years.
He supports health savings accounts that, he says, will lower health care costs while letting Americans make their own decisions about the medical treatment they receive.
Carson says that the medical community must re-establish a direct relationship between patient and physician.
Marijuana
Speaking on Fox News, Carson said that medical marijuana has been useful in certain cases but that he opposes legalizing the drug for recreational use — saying it’s important to remember it is “a gateway drug.”
“I don’t think this is something we really want for our society,” he said. “You know, we’re gradually just removing all the barriers to hedonistic activity. We’re changing so rapidly to a different type of society, and nobody is getting a chance to discuss it because it’s taboo. It’s politically incorrect. You’re not supposed to talk about these things.”
Ben Carson speaks with Edwin Johnson at a Little Rock, Ark., coffee shop in August. (Photo: Danny Johnston/AP)
Climate change
Carson has described the issue of manmade climate change as irrelevant. Though he says we must protect the environment, the presidential contender said climate change cannot be an “excuse not to develop our God-given resources.”
Same-sex marriage
Carson opposes same-sex marriage and says he believes in the traditional definition of marriage as one man with one woman. In 2013, he incited controversy by comparing homosexuality to bestiality and the North American Man/Boy Love Association.
“Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are. They don’t get to change the definition,” he said in an appearance on Fox News.
Carson said he thinks people who want to “change the definition of marriage” are ”directly attacking the relationship between God and his people.“
Abortion
Carson describes himself as “unabashedly and entirely pro-life.” He believes that human life begins at conception and needs to be protected from that point forward. As a surgeon, he has operated on fetuses and says they are “very much alive.”
The Second Amendment
Carson vowed that he would never support any attempt to “to weaken the Second Amendment.” He said it is not a mistake that the Founding Fathers established the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns immediately after the right of free speech — they are essential for American liberty.
“The Second Amendment is a central pillar of our Constitution,” he said. “Our Founding Fathers added it explicitly in order to protect freedom in the United States of America. It provides our citizens the right to protect themselves from threats foreign or domestic.”
Ben Carson laughs as his wife, Candy Carson, waves to the crowd after saying a few words supporting her husband in Phoenix. (Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP)
Israel
Carson says the U.S. must maintain its special bond with Israel and help protect it against surrounding nations that “threaten her very existence.” As Israel is America’s only democratic ally in the Middle East, he added, we must never waiver in supporting the nation.
Iran deal
During a speech in Iowa recently, Carson said that the controversial Iran nuclear deal puts the “whole country in jeopardy” and betrays a “complete lack of common sense,” the Daily Signal reported.
“It [the deal] doesn’t disassemble the nuclear infrastructure of Iran,” Carson said, according to the news site. “It lifts the economic sanctions. … It allows for arms dealing and ballistic missiles. And if we want to inspect something, it has to go through a committee on which Iranians sit, and on which the Russians sit.”
Terrorism
In an opinion piece for the Washington Times, Carson said that conditions across the globe have improved since the United States hit the stage. People need to suspend their knowledge of American history, he said, to believe that the U.S. is the source of much of the world’s problems.
“Understanding that we are not evil makes it easier to identify evil elsewhere and to combat it effectively,” he wrote. “When we accept the falsehood that everyone is equally bad and, therefore, we have no right or obligation to interfere with atrocities occurring elsewhere in the world, we facilitate the development and growth of groups such as ISIS, which are not dissimilar to the adherents of Adolf Hitler, who also aspired to world domination.”
Carson said it is better to fight the country’s enemies when they are in their early stages before they grow into bigger threats.
On his campaign website, Carson said the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp is the best facility in the world for detaining dangerous terrorists while they await a military trial. The United States, he said, must keep Gitmo open to protect the country from potential attacks.
Ben Carson laughs during a rally in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo: Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP)
Tax Code
Carson described the U.S. tax code, which includes more than 74,000 pages, as “an abomination.” He supports wholesale tax reform to remove the system’s complexity and loopholes, arguing that career politicians are unable to deliver the bold changes Americans deserve.
“We need a fairer, simpler, and more equitable tax system,” he said. “Our tax form should be able to be completed in less than 15 minutes. This will enable us to end the IRS as we know it.”
Religion
Carson says that Americans should be proud that “courageous men of principle and faith” founded the United States on “Judeo-Christian principles.” He thinks that secular liberals are trying to drive faith out of public spaces in American society.
Confederate flag
Carson says he does not have a problem with removing the Confederate flag from government property and acknowledges that it has been used for racist purposes. But, he said, the real issue is not the flag as much as what people use it to symbolize.
“The issue is not the flag so much as it is how people think,” he said to the Wall Street Journal. “What’s in their heart? You can get rid of every Confederate flag in the world, but if you’re still being motivated by the wrong emotion it’s not going to solve any problem.”
During an appearance on CNN, he shared a story about a racist person trying to intimidate his family into leaving a new home in rural Maryland shortly after they arrived.
“One of the neighbors put up a big Confederate flag on the barn, I guess as a message to us,” Carson said. “And one of our friends who’s a black general came through the drive, saw that and said, ‘I’m in the wrong place.’ The interesting thing is all the neighbors immediately put up American flags and shamed this individual and he took it down.”
Carson said that humans are social beings and we live in a pluralistic society, so we should pay attention to the messages we send one another.
With additional reporting from Yahoo News’ Gabby Kaufman
The phone rang around 9 this morning. Lois answered. “It’s Monica, for you,” she said. Before I heard her weeping, I knew. “Glenn died this morning.” Her words sucked air from my lungs. “We’re in North Carolina for a short vacation, having a good time,” she managed between sobs. “Glenn got up this morning at 6:30 and just collapsed. When Jesse and I got to him he was barely breathing. We called 911. But they couldn’t save him. They’ll do an autopsy Tuesday to try to find the cause.”
I asked how Jesse was. Thoughts of going with you to the airport to pick up the Korean boy you adopted over two decades ago flashed through my mind. “About the same as I am,” she said. Her tears never stopped during our short conversation. Another image: Monica rushing to you on the floor and finding you almost gone. How did she feel ? What went through her mind driving to the hospital—and after? Thankfully she has quite a few family members for support when she and Jesse get home to North Port.
I prayed with her before we hung up. “Father . . . ” And then I didn’t know what to say. I can’t even remember what it turned out to be. We hung up. I cried. Lois came and held me.
Why cry? You’re with Jesus and that’s better by far (Philippians 1:23)! I was grieving, though not as others who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). I cried, because I felt great loss. You’re my five-year-younger brother. Even though we’ve not always been close, memories came flooding back.
Week-long summer vacations at the Jersey Shore. Remember that year cousin Dennis was with us and we found the hull of an old sailboat at the bungalow Dad rented and we used a straw broom and I don’t remember what else to paddle out the lagoon into Barnegat Bay? Wiffle Ball and football in our backyard at Lion’s Head Lake? Most Wiffle Ball games ended in an argument and Mom saying, “Wait ’til your father gets home.” And football was crazy. Just you and me against each other, rushing into each other, passing the ball to ourselves.
We graduated to church softball after that. You played short, me third. For a while we played racquetball weekly at Yogi Berra’s club. Those were great times. I don’t know if you remember, but you’re the one who got me into jogging. I think it was right after Bible college. I guess I was a little paunchy and you persuaded me to hit the pavement in Atco, N.J. I must have run for forty years, ’til my back troubles began.
At one point, you hit a rough spot, drifted away from the Lord. We never stopped praying. I still remember you showing up out of nowhere on the front steps of The Living Church in Montclair telling me you were back. And I remember how happy you were when you told me you and Monica were dating. She was our pianist in the church then and you were one of several guitarists on our worship team. It was such a joy to perform your wedding ceremony!
Remember our move from N.J. to Florida? Two big U-Haul trucks, yours with a trailer hauling a car. Monica driving your other car and Lois driving ours. We were like the late ’80’s version of “the Beverly Hillbillies.” We split at I-4, you and Monica going south to North Port, Lois and I going to Palm Harbor. Times together were few after that, mostly holidays.
I regret that. So much we could have done and said. Nobody’s fault, just life. About two years ago, we had some conflict. Today I’m eternally grateful to our Father that by his grace we got it resolved and could end our recent string of e-mails, “Love”.
As always, death—especially death so close—gives a different view of life. How short time is! How much of it we waste distanced from those we love because of an argument or some other trivial thing! How idiotic we are to put God on the back-burner when our relationship with him through Christ determines our eternal destiny!
Apart from “better by far” and “death is gain”, Scripture doesn’t say much about this time between going to be with the Lord and getting our resurrection bodies at Christ’s Second Coming. I’d love to ask you what it’s like being with Jesus now! Anyhow, I guess now you know what Paul meant about being caught up into the paradise of “the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2,3). So, while I have a sad heart with you gone (and only the Lord knows who won more of our competitive Wiffle Ball, football and racquetball games), I have to admit: you won today. You got to see Jesus first.
I love you, brother. I miss you, though if it were an ordinary Sunday I probably wouldn’t even think about you. But on this Sunday, I wish I could give you one more hug. Guess that’ll have to wait a little while.
D.O. is code for Daughter Older, D.Y. for Daughter Younger. Since this blog is read around the world, I thought it wise not to identify you two. Who knows? You could have some terrorist group selling you on signing up, or worse, Bill and Hillary Clinton pestering you to invite Bill for a $750,000 speech.
I know the code is pretty simple. But if I used two from my old CIA days, it might be too complex for ordinary civilians.
I was going to use D.1. and D.2. However, fearing you might assume that meant order of preference, I decided to risk the age-thing, since one of you is actually as a matter of historical and medical fact older than the other. I assume you know which one. I keep it straight because I have a system. I have 3×5 photos of each of you and I write D.O. on one and D.Y. on the other. I don’t put your names there either, for fear they might fall into the wrong hands. So I think we’re all pretty safe. My only worry is some 8-year-old computer nerd reads this, figures out the code in an instant, and blackmails us to get college tuition.
To change gears a bit, did you notice the flower photo? Two flowers, like two of you. And bright yellow, outstanding in a world of browns and grays. That’s how I see both of you—always standing out, making others around you pale by comparison (except for your mother, of course. Honey, if you read this please don’t skip that last line!)
Often when I write to you both I mention I wish you were children again. Not just because that would make me younger, but because that time of my life as your father was the best. I know my old mind conveniently ignores some of the not-so-best-times, like . . . well, never mind. So, as I’ve also said before, enjoy your children now while they’re under your roof, because these days will pass quickly and you’ll soon be blogging coded-letters to your kids.
I praise the Lord with joy that you both know him, have trusted your lives to him, and are following him day by day. You are flesh-and-blood models to your children of what a Christian really is. I’m sure you don’t feel as if your example is as good as it might be. And it probably isn’t, because we all still fall short of our Savior. But he hears our prayers (even when he seems disinterested or uninvolved) and he multiplies our meager witness (like the bread and fish), in order to make himself known to your children. So be encouraged, keep praying and continue to “talk the talk” to them and “walk the walk” before them!
D.O., you’ve certainly chosen a challenging route for motherhood! A young adult son living at home. A teenage daughter. And three stepchildren. To quote an old proverb from N.J. (that’s code, too): “Whaddaya crazy?” And, because of divorce and remarriage, that “mothering” is pretty complicated and hectic. I’ve always said that you are a strong lady and you’re still proving me right. That’s our Father’s grace at work in you. And you are a wise lady—not just because you’re the older one and wisdom comes with age, but because our Father gives wisdom to those who ask. I’m sure this is both a loving time for you (and I’m so thankful for that!) with your husband (I’d use his name, but, well, you know) and a topsy-turvy time with the “kids.” The future for your own two must seem like a big question mark. But our Father is sovereign and in his time (please soon) he’ll sort it all out and open the right doors and make the way clear. He will use the wonderful mother that you are for ultimate good in their lives.
D.Y., your children (whose names I remember but can’t identify for security purposes) are still precious “little” ones, but rising up quickly. What treasures they are from our Father! How ear-splitting they can be when they all talk at once (as they often do)! You have been blessed your whole married life to have a husband who, like you, comes from generations of believers in Jesus. Now you are lovingly, patiently, and with all your heart raising the next generation. Not to mention being endlessly involved with soccer, baseball, school productions, Sunday school and church! Soon the youngest one will join the circus (not literally). As I said to D.O., “Whaddaya crazy?” No, like D.O., you’re a wonderful mother who wants to give her children every possible good. Whenever I see them, like whenever they stop by to mooch some candy, I see your influence on them. (I don’t mean the mooching.) I mean their politeness, respect, intelligence and knowledge of Jesus. They’re going to make a difference in this world for Jesus.
BACK TO YOU BOTH. First, I want to mention that I wrote ten lines for each of you. I got that from my mother who bought my brother and me the same kind and number of underwear every Christmas. No favoritism! Be glad I’m not exactly like her!
Second, I want you to know that Mom and I pray every day for both you and your “tribes”—and many days many more than once. You are both hedged-around by prayer.
Third, I want you to remember that Mom and I are always here for you until the Lord takes us home. I know, I know, in my condition these days the help-direction often seems reversed. But I love you both so much, if I had to crawl to help you, I would. (Just hope it’s not something like your house is on fire!).
Finally, Mom and I are proud of you. Probably history won’t remember you. But our Father remembers every test you’ve passed, every challenge you’ve overcome and everyday you’ve lived before your children for his sake. Sure, it’s been his grace, but you’ve chosen to live it out. Your names won’t be in history books. But they are in “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” And if God somewhere has a book entitled, “Mothers Who Loved Their Children for My Sake”, your names are there too. And that book has eternal significance far beyond any book on the history of this fallen and passing-away world.
Oh, one more thing. If you reply to this, please use code.
I wanted to write a new Mother’s Day message. Then I re-read the one I wrote last year. Pretty good. I figured maybe by now you forgot what it said. You do forget where you put your keys, right? My gut, though, told me “no.” One sentence and it would all come rushing back. But I decided to live dangerously, because I still mean now with all my heart what I wrote then. (Don’t even bother adding a year to the ages mentioned here. You’ll feel better.) Don’t read this as a rerun from a lazy husband. Read it as a renewal from a loving one. (And if you think I’m taking the easy way out, you won’t have to buy me that convertible for Christmas.)
Before I “copy and paste” . . . Some things have changed since last Mother’s Day—primarily my health. It’s worsened and you’ve had an old guy who sometimes must make you feel you’ve got another child. (I’ve noticed when babies drool people laugh at the cutey-pie. But when old people drool it’s a silent, “Yuk.” Thankfully, I’m not drooling yet—just spotting my shirt with some supper or saving a bit of salad cheese in my beard for later.) Anyway, you’ve loved me “for . . . worse” without complaint. I love you so much for loving me, especially when you’re getting less love in return. (Remember those younger years when I was like Don Ju-an? Now I’m more like Don Knotts.) At least, please know it’s there, deep in my heart. Thank you for serving me in love. Daily I see Jesus in you.
Okay. Now the “renewal” of last year’s “Happy Mother’s Day” . . .
* * *
As fatherhood changes with time, so, of course, does motherhood.
During those young years, anyone watching silently from the sidelines would have assumed you’d trained for years. A Masters in Motherhood? Know-how picked up from your mother? I always felt I was learning fatherhood in the doing–or maybe after the doing. You, on the other hand, seemed to intuitively know what a mother should do and say in every situation. It was as if God put a “mother gene” in you from the start.
But you were never–what should I say–an old-fashioned mother baking pies and sewing diapers and saying things like, “Land sakes alive!” You did bake great pies and cook delicious meals, but, Land Sakes Alive what stress in the doing and what mess in the clean-up! What you produced was always wonderful, but Kitchen was never your God-gifted room.
You were always beautiful, attractive, classy. Never the kind of mother to be mistaken for Aunt Henrietta from Kansas or Elizabeth Taylor with a face-lift.
You were always godly, Christ-devoted. Our children surely knew where you stood with Jesus–behind him, following him. You talked about that. You taught them that. And you lived that before them. You have been a fine instrument in the hand of the Master shaping the lives of your children. Did you blunder sometimes? Of course. But the Master even used those blunders for his good. (By the way, in the process you’ve been a fine instrument in the Master’s hand shaping me, too.)
Now we’re both 70. (It’s okay, nobody reads this.) Our three children are adults with their own children, making you “Grammy” to eight ranging from 20 years old to five. So motherhood has changed. Yet your “mother gene” keeps working. You know how to be a mother to adult children. A tricky tightrope to walk! Mother and friend and intercessor before the Father. You know how to be a grandmother–loving, sacrificing, giving, wise, faithful and above all godly. Blunders? Sure, still some. But God still turns them into good. And you still are so beautiful to me–and, I think if they thought about it, to our children and grandchildren too. Beautiful outside, even more on the inside.
I know. I’m your husband. I’ve stood silently (and sometimes not so silently) on the sidelines and seen. So today I’m so thankful that my children and grandchildren have had you. And that I have you. A gift from our Father in whom his Son is gracefully reflected. Happy Mother’s Day, honey. I love you.
Yesterday (Wednesday) I had the highest number of users on my blog—73! That seems kind of scrawny to “the professionals”, but to me—well, praise the Lord.
My “highs” to that point had been 66 last Monday and 59 on March 22 and 30.
I’m telling you this, not to brag about myself, but to boast in the Lord. When disability drove me to retire from pastoring March 31, 2014, I didn’t know what I would do with myself. How about blogging? Sounded reasonable (brain surgeon and auto mechanic were equally out of the question!), especially since I’ve wanted to write for decades and the only thing I knew after 44 years of pastoring was the Bible.
So a couple weeks before retirement, I began. I quickly learned that producing a blog-post that said something significant in typical blog-space was as big a challenge as finishing a sermon by noon. It took much longer than I’d expected. I still can’t write a blog a day.
But what’s significant about blogging for me is the opportunity it gives me to still “preach” God’s Word. That was my life for 44 years. And now our Father in his infinite goodness has allowed me to continue.
At the start I wondered, “Who’s gonna read what I write?” While there’s value in writing to clarify one’s thinking, it doesn’t mean a whole lot if no one else “clicks” in. For the first months (many) I struggled to get out of the single digits. Now 73! And over the last 90 days, I’ve had almost 300 “uses” from Russia. I don’t know what that means, unless the Holy Spirit is working on Putin’s heart . . .
Anyway, this really isn’t about me. It’s a testimony to God’s grace that he’s still using me in some small way for his purposes. I used to say that I hoped to die preaching in the pulpit. Now I say that I hope to die sitting at my computer working on theoldpreacher.com.
Thank you for reading. And if you have a friend who will sign up for money (not too much now), let me know. Seriously, it would be great if you would spread the word—which I pray will always be God’s for his glory.
Pardon my doubts. It’s just that sometimes my mind demands answers I can’t find. I don’t doubt God or his existence or his being as the Scripture describes him. I just don’t get certain things.
I recently read a blog by an Arminian. Simply defined an Arminian believes humans have a free will to choose for or against Christ. This stands in stark contrast to a Calvinist who believes God elects or chooses to save some. Apart from God’s choice a person is dead in sin and unable to chose for Christ. His nature is bent against Christ.
The blog I read criticized Calvinists for believing that by choosing to save “the elect”, God created the rest of humanity to suffer hell forever. How, the blogger asked, can such a God be good? I agree this is a question Calvinists must answer. I’ve read some: we don’t know how God could create the bulk of humanity for eternal hell and still be good because God hasn’t revealed it to us . . . God’s goodness in this case is a mystery beyond our capacity to understand . . . God is sovereign, so he possesses the right to do whatever he wants and call it whatever he wants—in this case, no one deserves to be saved. God sovereignly shows mercy to some.
It’s here that the Arminian presumes to prove Calvinist theology wrong. None of its answers sound satisfactory. I have to agree. How can we continue to proclaim “God is good” if we believe he chose to save only some and damn the rest to hell forever?
As I think about it, though, things aren’t better for the Arminian. He believes humans can freely choose for or against Christ, thus for or against eternal heaven or hell. But he also believes God knew beforehand who would choose what. The Arminian may enjoy a bit more wiggle room, but his end result is virtually the same. God created, knowing who would reject Christ and be doomed to hell. As Jesus said in another context, “It would have better for that man if he had never been born (or created).” Yet God created him knowing his eternal destiny. How can such a God be considered “good”?
Suppose my wife and I had two children. As they were growing up, we realized they were rebellious little urchins. We decided to keep one to enjoy our luxurious lifestyle with us, but put the other in the state foster home system. Would we be considered good parents? Or suppose before we had either child we somehow knew the first one would freely choose to submit to our parenting, while the second wouldn’t want to have anything to do with us and would end up in prison. Would we be good parents if we decided to conceive that second child anyway? The analogy isn’t perfect, but is quite like God and his relationship with us, whether we lean toward Calvinism or Arminianism.
Of course, both systems contain many more points of doctrine than Total Depravity (man can do nothing to save himself–Calvinism) and Free Will (God has given man the ability to freely choose to believe in Christ or not–Arminianism). There’s also much more to be said about this point. But this is the question looming large in my mind right now. Not which theological system is correct, but how God can be considered good whichever we believe.
I’m not losing my faith–just wrestling with what’s for me a tough question. For now, I have to leave it with our infinitely wise God who can answer all dilemmas and explain all apparent contradictions. And one more thing: if you have any thoughts on this, I’d very much like to read your comments.
Let me end with a somewhat “simplistic” old Gospel song. It mentions other experiences in life we question, but applies also to how God can be good and still have created many for hell or at least knowing that would be their destiny.
Trials dark on every hand, And we cannot understand
All the ways that God would lead us to that blessed Promised Land
But He’ll guide us with His eye, And we’ll follow till we die
We will understand it better by and by.
Oft our cherished plans have failed, Disappointments have prevailed
And we’ve wandered in the darkness, heavy-hearted and alone
Bu we’re trusting in the Lord, And, according to His Word,
We will understand it better by and by.
Temptations, hidden snares, Often take us unawares
And our hearts are made to bleed for some thoughtless word or deed
And we wonder why the test, When we try to do our best
But we’ll understand it better by and by.
By and by, when the morning comes
When the saints of God are gathered home
We will tell the story how we’ve overcome
We will understand it better by and by.
(You have to listen to this. Well, you don’t have to. It may not be your kind of music, but it’s mine. Give it a click, then click on “Farther Alone” with Sandi Patty (the third video). And rejoice in the understanding that’s coming!
I hesitate to write this letter. First, since you went to be with Jesus January 8th, I don’t know for sure you can read it—or even if you’d want to because of the glory of Who captivates your attention now. Second, I don’t know how many who read this even know of you. So, how can they relate? And, third, what I write may sound too sweetly sentimental. Oh well, here goes . . .
I was strangely sad to read last month about your death. Back in the 70’s and 80’s I enjoyed your music often. I was a young pastor then, and you were part of my formative pastor-years. Then I kind of lost track of you. Maybe it was because I didn’t like nearly as much what your later music evolved into from your earlier days with the Disciples. Anyway, your death drove me to my computer to read details, and then to listen to some Youtube recordings.
And finally to buy some of your CD’s. (I confess: I never bought any before.) Lois and I listen to them over and over. How they lift our spirits! Your music fills our home and hearts. I know your style isn’t for everyone. (What’s wrong with people?) But we love it. Makes me wish I was black. No matter how I try, this white boy can’t sound anything like you! It’s a reminder that it takes the varied music of God’s ransomed people from every tribe and language and people and nation to begin to give you the highest praise! (In heaven the “worship wars” will be over! We’ll be singing every kind of worship music then!)
I’m writing this to tell you (better late than never) how the Lord has blessed me through you and your music. (I’m listening to it now and can hardly sit still.) Probably we have minor doctrinal differences. But the worship of “My Tribute” (“To God Be the Glory”) and the truth of “Through It All” and the anticipation of “Just Like He Said He Would (He’s Coming Back for Me)” swallow up those minor differences with major joy. The words you composed, the chords you played, the harmonies you wrote continue to touch my soul and turn me again and again to rejoice in the Christ who gave himself in love so we might have life to the full.
Thank you, Father, for the eternity of music that awaits us! Thank you, Holy Spirit, for gifting this man to encourage us and to move our hearts to sing for joy to you. And thank you, Andrae, for faithfully serving us for Jesus’ sake with those gifts.
Your brother in Christ who can’t wait to hear your music again in heaven,
Allan
I have a reason for writing this letter besides honoring Andrae. We all have people in our lives whom the Lord has used to show us his love. It may be a well-known Christian musician. Or it may be our mostly-unknown wife or husband. Maybe a Christian friend or neighbor. Why not encourage him or her by telling that person now how the Lord has blessed you through him or her and how you thank the Lord for him or her? Years pass without our recognizing God’s gifts in the lives of the people he’s given us! This is a good time to change that!
In my last post we had our first meeting with Mark. I see him as a spoiled, direction-less young man. Sometimes that’s us. So in that last post, I suggested what we might do to gain guidance from God. God’s guidance, however, may come in odd ways. At the risk of boring you, here’s my story. It’s one way God directs our steps–at least it’s the way he directed mine.
THOSE EARLY “BOUNCING” YEARS. A year after high school, Lois and I married. She went to work as a medical assistant in a doctor’s office. I bounced from job to job, unhappily failing each. For our first five married years Lois was the main, stable wage earner, while I worked in the mail room of a corporation in New York City, in the printing department of an insurance company’s regional office in New Jersey, as a magazine phone solicitor, even as a mutual funds salesman. My final sales attempt came at Fuller Brush, lugging my suitcase of wares door-to-door to disinterested housewives. Meanwhile, Lois moved on from the doctor’s office to the regional office of that insurance company where she became secretary to one of the big-wigs. I applied to become an agent, but failed the interview. (Not motivated enough by money.)
THAT SUNDAY NIGHT. Several years earlier, I had an interesting, passing experience in the church where Lois and I grew up. At our Sunday night service, up front at the “altar” where we all gathered to pray, the thought suddenly hit me: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be in this kind of environment all the time!” As quickly as it came, it went.
CORNERED. Then, years later, a pivotal Monday morning dawned. Lois had left for work. I stood alone in our apartment trying to psyche myself for another miserable day of Fuller Brush-selling. I hated that job. I hated my failure. I hated bouncing here and there, dissatisfied and direction-less. I was hopeless. In our kitchen, I started to cry. The long ago Sunday night-thought of that wonderful church environment returned. Suddenly I sensed the Lord calling me to serve as a pastor. No words. No sounds. No Scripture. Just no place to go. He’d backed me into a corner. I’d failed at everything else. I could only rely on him and trust that what I was sensing was from him. What else could I do?
Sometimes God corners us, like a shepherd corners a dumb wandering sheep. Sometimes God directs the direction-less by closing every door but one. And that door may seem unlikely, unbelievable even. (Who was I to be a pastor?) But when our way has us going nowhere, what choice do we have?
This testimony didn’t get me invited to speak at seminars or write an article on “How to Hear God’s Call”. Paul’s Damascus road experience would have been far more captivating. I wish I could tell how was I knocked to the ground, blinded by the sun (Son?), and audibly instructed what to do and where to go! From the direction-less nowhere way of my life, I could only accept the one escape God seemed to be offering. By faith I jumped at it.
WHERE ARE YOU GOING? Is God cornering you? At 20 years old or 70, are you wondering what to do? If you’re 20, do you think all the good possibilities are blocked behind closed doors, so now you don’t know what to do? If 70, do you think age or illness has made purposeful years only a memory? If you have no direction, I’m willing to bet God is cornering you to show you the one way he wants you to go. Why not ask him to make that way clear? Why not keep asking until he does? Why not seek after him to lead you? He will. Your way, like mine, leads nowhere. His way leads to himself and to a most-satisfying purpose in this life and in the one to come.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart.
Never rely on what you think you know.
Remember the LORD in everything you do,
and he will show you the right way (Proverbs 3:5,6–TEV)
Last week, on the web site Linkedin, I found a friend from New Jersey Lois and I haven’t seen for 25 years. Being the technical wizard I am, I don’t know what I did. But suddenly, there she was!
Eileen. She was a member of the New Jersey church we planted in 1973. She served as director of our weekday nursery and child care program. She babysat our three young children. For a while, she even lived with us. She wasn’t only Lois’ and my friend, she was our family friend. Lois phoned her a few nights ago. They talked and talked—many calendars of years to catch up on! They plan to do it monthly. The other night I mentioned to Lois: “I feel like we’ve found a long-lost daughter!” She agreed. Eileen was a very special young lady to all us Babcocks.
Memories. With Eileen’s face and catch-up news came reams of memories. Getting on in years as they say, I can’t recount all the memories or even recall specifically which ones she was part of and which she wasn’t. Here are a few I remember from that time in our lives . . .
Our house on Fairfield St. When we first moved to Montciair, N.J. to plant a church we rented a house on Watchung Ave. Later our planted church bought a lovely home on Fairfield St. That’s where Eileen lived with us on our third floor.
The Living Church. “In (the Word) was life” (John 1:4a). So that’s what we named our church. (It was alive with the life of Christ!) Eileen played the piano for us occasionally. (Am I remembering that right, Eileen?) She served as director of our weekday nursery and child care center. That’s where (among every other place she was) Eileen’s servant’s heart showed through.
Snow. I miss it. But imagine me walking in snow! I have enough trouble staying upright on a level floor! Anyway, I remember one Christmas Eve service we left the church building and found ourselves walking around the corner to our house in beautiful falling snow. It was, in C.S. Lewis’ meaning of the word, magical. (Eileen, were you living with us then?) I remember “snow days” when our three children had no school. I remember snowmen and snowball fights and snow angels (and shoveling).
Swimming pool. We had an above-the-ground one in our backyard where we had great family fun and where we rejoiced in the Lord when we baptized many young (and a few older) people.
Mills Reservation. That was a kind of wilderness park on the “heights” of Montclair where our family went for walks some Sunday afternoons. From a certain spot the trees opened up to a grand view of Manhattan Island. It was a fun, out-of-the-way place.
Edgemont Park. A few blocks from our house, this park had a big, shallow pond that often froze in the winter. It was our favorite ice skating spot.
Our babysitter. I have no idea how many times we left our precious young children in Eileen’s care. But never did we do it with anxiety. I think she loved them as much as we did.
If I really worked at it, I could get this rusty old mind to recall more memories. But they’re like baby pictures to you, aren’t they. You’re probably remembering you have to schedule your root canal—and you certainly wouldn’t want to miss that! Wait! Don’t go. I’ll turn off the good old days—and briefly turn on why I’m writing about this.
God is big on memories.He commanded the Israelites to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy . . . For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11). The Sabbath was to be set apart, not only so the people could rest, but so they would regularly remember that the LORD had created everything they saw and enjoyed.
God commanded the Israeltes to “Take twelve men . . . [one] from each tribe a man . . . saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the places where you lodge tonight'” (Joshua 4:3). “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan (into the Promised Land) on dry ground'” (Joshua 4:21,22). The Lord wanted generations to hold memories of what the Lord had done in that place.
The apostle Paul recalled Jesus’ command: “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me” . . . “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24,25). Above all, Jesus wanted his followers to remember his death by which he established the new covenant between the Father and us who believe.
God is big on memories, because they are opportunities to recall his acts of grace and power. So as I remember those days with Eileen and our family decades ago, I recall God’s gifts of grace. How he gave us a beautiful home in which to live. An exciting, challenging church to pastor. The beauty and fun of snow and a swimming pool. The adventure of hiking and catching a bird’s eye view of New York City. Ice skating with frosty noses and fingers. And a young lady who showed our whole family Jesus’ servant love in everything she did.
Owner at Sensational Spaces, a company in the Washington, D.C. metro area that declutters and organizes small businesses, home offices, and homes and creates simple, workable systems to keep them running smoothly.
How about your old friends and memories of God’s grace to you?
Lois and I celebrated my 72nd birthday Monday. The number almost takes my breath away. (So does walking up stairs.) My body feels 72, but not my mind. (You may diagnose me differently if you regularly read what I write.) Anyway, we enjoyed a wonderful day together—brunch and dinner out (not at the same time), Lois’ card and letter to me (I cried) and the movie “The Notebook” (more tears). Unusual all-day rain kept us from the beach (original plan), but it was just as well. We enjoyed being quiet together appreciating having each other. I’m more in love than ever.
D.O. is code for Daughter Older, D.Y. for Daughter Younger. Since this blog is read around the world, I thought it wise not to identify you two. Who knows? You could have some terrorist group selling you on signing up, or worse, Bill and Hillary Clinton pestering you to invite Bill for a $750,000 speech.
I wanted to write a new Mother’s Day message. Then I re-read the one I wrote last year. Pretty good. I figured maybe by now you forgot what it said. You do forget where you put your keys, right? My gut, though, told me “no.” One sentence and it would all come rushing back. But I decided to live dangerously, because I still mean now with all my heart what I wrote then. (Don’t even bother adding a year to the ages mentioned here. You’ll feel better.) Don’t read this as a rerun from a lazy husband. Read it as a renewal from a loving one. (And if you think I’m taking the easy way out, you won’t have to buy me that convertible for Christmas.)
As fatherhood changes with time, so, of course, does motherhood.
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