Category Archives: Thankfulness

Preacher Man, Conclusion

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As I sat at Derek’s dinner table digesting God’s big surprise (yesterday’s post), he asked me what I thought of Nelson becoming a pastor.

“It’s glorious!” I said, confident that the Lord had been schooling him to this end for a long time. “But how can he be a pastor without being ordained? And how can he be ordained without having gone to seminary?”

Derek’s answer surprised me (God’s Part Two). “You don’t need to go to seminary to become a pastor here. It’s about being the man the church ‘puts forward,’ combined with an interview and ordination process that happens in front of a panel of Baptist pastors working in Hawaii.”

Two weeks later I was sitting in the back of the church as its members discussed the possibility of Nelson becoming their new pastor. Five different people stood and told of their long-ago hope that if Derek ever left, Nelson would step in. When they voted whether or not to extend the call, it was unanimous – and that day they “put forward” the man they wanted as their new pastor.

IMG_2180Two weeks after that, Nelson was sitting in front of six Baptist pastors, answering questions about God’s Word and his own faith. I was privileged to listen in on the process and their discussion afterwards. Once again the vote was unanimous, and they agreed to ordain Nelson the following day.

And what a day it was!

After these same men had preached in their own churches that morning, they and their wives joined us to participate in Nelson’s afternoon ordination service. The charge was given, followed by the pastors encircling our son to pray phenomenal blessings over him as he received Part Two of God’s amazing surprise….

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….and I couldn’t help but weep.

As I listened, God gave me a flashback to the days of difficulty Nate and I had had with a youthful Nelson as he made one unwise choice after another. I remembered a teen who ran away from home on a sub-zero night and was missing for four days. I thought of court room episodes, car accidents, alcohol, and a tearful conversation with Nate during which I questioned what would ever become of our wayward son.

FullSizeRender (7)As Nelson kneeled in the little sanctuary in the process of being ordained, God gave me the answer. Directly into my heart and mind he said, “During those troubled years when you were looking at Nelson, all you saw  was a rebellious kid.

But Me? I saw…. a pastor.”

“I have chosen the way of faithfulness.” (Psalm 119:30)

Jack’s Lament

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It’s been nearly a year since I posted as a guest blogger on Midge’s site, but I have an important reason for wanting to write tonight.

IMG_0891Because I turned 13 in October, I am now 91 years old – and feeling my age. Like many 90-somethings, I can’t hear very well and no longer notice when someone raps on the door. The vet told Midge I have cataracts in both eyes, and one eye has a small tumor under the lid, keeping it in a constant state of irritation.

But my biggest problem is a degenerative spinal disease that causes me pain, along with arthritis that has literally frozen my back leg joints. Going up stairs is almost impossible, and I don’t like it when Midge tries to help by lifting my rear – it just hurts too much. With such bad hip dysplasia, my whole back end is in crisis.

I also have a skin disease that causes me to lose hair in big splotches, exposing raw irritation. The hair does grow back, but the infection just moves elsewhere. My heavy panting is always a problem, even in the cooler weather. And to top it all off, I’ve got a belly filled with something called fat tumors, some the size of golf balls, others like baseballs. One of those tumors near my shoulder is responsible for my limp.

And then of course there’s my doggie dementia, which I wrote about earlier. It keeps me confused and wondering what’s coming next, which isn’t a good feeling.

You blog readers have always been kind to me. That’s why I wanted to write you tonight. You see, this might be my last post.

TiredI know Midge has been agonizing about what to do with me, since she is about to leave town for quite a while and knows I’ll be searching for her every day. But I’m not the least bit worried. She shouldn’t worry, either. My life is happy and full of love, and all along, I’ve felt God’s hand of blessing on me.

A hearty thanks to you, cyber-friends, for being so good to me. And now it’s time for another deep, snoring sleep on my comfy bed.

Night-night….

God made the animals…. and saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:25)

God’s Object Lesson

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In the last blog I described a botched opportunity to do a random act of kindness for a needy lady, but God didn’t let me forget it. He repeatedly bothered my conscience till I knew I’d have to do something to make up for my poor choice.

The next morning a handful of us were seated at a restaurant having breakfast, so I planned to tell the group of my fail, and ask for input.

GiftAs I waited for the right moment, a stranger broke into our conversation, arriving at our table with a beautifully wrapped package. He walked up to Emerald and handed the gift to her as if he’d planned it for weeks. “Here you go, little girl. Merry Christmas!” Immediately afterwards, he hurried away.

Assuming it was the restaurant manager giving gifts to all young patrons, we questioned our waitress when she returned. “Did you see that?”

“Yes,” she said. “Interesting.”

“Is he part of the restaurant staff?”

“I’ve never seen him.”

Charlie Brown Christmas book.Emerald opened her present (wrapped in paper decorated on both sides) to find a 9” X 12” book – Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. And then it hit me. God was demonstrating what he’d wanted me to do the day before, by allowing me to experience the warm feeling of being surprised with an unexpected gift. As we were saying, “Wow! Can you believe this?” God was saying, “That’s what I had in mind for the Walmart lady. Understand?”

And I did. But there was more.

As our eggs and pancakes arrived, I told my family the story of the Walmart lady, expressing sadness that I hadn’t responded to God’s prompt.

“Maybe you should respond now then,” Nelson said.

“How?”

“See that guy over there?” he said, pointing to a man eating alone across the room. “Why don’t you pay for his breakfast?”

When our waitress returned, I asked if she could put his meal on our bill without letting him know who paid. “No problem,” she said. “Glad to help.”

CouponBut God wasn’t finished. When our server brought the bill she said, “Your breakfast will be 25% off this morning. That couple over there gave me a coupon to apply to your meal.” It was Ann, a local bank teller, having breakfast with her husband.

The Lord was creatively driving home his point about giving to others without counting the cost. But he wasn’t done even yet.

When I looked at the bill and its 25% discount, the extra meal we bought totaled less than the discount we received. So even after our gift of a free breakfast, we were going to leave the restaurant with a gain. The only thing to do was give it away– and we joyfully left a 50% tip for our waitress.

But God had one final comment to make. Our food plus tax added up to $46.10 – a familiar number. “Hey,” I said. “Isn’t that an important Bible reference?”

“You’re probably thinking of Psalm 46:10,” Nelson said. “ ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ ”