Making a good faith effort

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“She hath done what she could” (Mark 14:8).

These days, my walking routine–long established but constantly taking different shapes–consists of two miles just before sunup.  That requires some real self-discipline on these muggy summer mornings in the sultry South.

On days when, like today, the temperature at 6 am was in the low 80s and the humidity the high 80s, I cut myself a little slack.  I anticipate being miserable out there, but know how critical exercise is for this 75-year-old body. So, even though I make myself get outside, I decide that “this morning I’m giving myself permission to make a good faith effort.”

I can cut the walk short if I choose.

In so doing, I’m making a statement to myself only that by being out here I’m still walking and still committed to taking care of this body.  It means I’m bringing my body under subjection, as Paul puts it.  And I’m being victorious.

It’s important not to lose the momentum of daily exercise if I would serve God for years to come (if He so wills).

The simple fact is anyone can make himself/herself walk when the temperature is 68 degrees and the humidity is 50 percent.  On those mornings, I could walk forever.  I think, “All year long, I live in anticipation of such days.”

But to walk at the hottest time of the year takes strength.  And discipline.

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Pluto, Hubble, and why I believe in Heaven

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“You have covered the heavens with your majesty…. When I observe the heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You set in place, what is man that You remember him…? Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!” (Psalm 8)

This has been quite a week for science lovers and everyone else.

The New Horizons spacecraft did a fly-by in the area of Pluto traveling at a comfortable 30,800 mph.

And sent back snapshots for our enjoyment.

Pluto is handsome and a little small for his age, but still quite the character.  He’s definitely someone we wanted to know.

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Why a man needs a wife, and vice versa (so to speak)

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“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him” (Genesis 2:18).

The old t-shirt said, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”

It’s cute, but quite wrong.  Dead wrong, as a matter of fact.

We all need other people in our lives.  God made the genders male and female so that we complement each other.  Because we are different, we bring different things into the marriage. Some of those “things” are gifts and endowments and strengths and some are what we call “baggage.”  Such “baggage” may include character flaws, prejudices, areas in which we are immature, fears, guilt, and needs.

No one enters a marriage empty-handed.

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No two marriages are alike, but some are amazingly like yours

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“They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis 26:35).

No marriage is perfect.

The union of two godly well-intentioned disciples of Jesus Christ does not guarantee a successful marriage.

And even the successful ones–however we would define that!–in almost every case had their ups and downs.

So, if you’ve been feeling like a failure because a) your husband spends more time at the church than at home, b) your wife isn’t nearly the cook or housekeeper your mom was, c) you and your spouse argue, d) you have each lost your temper and said/done some things you regretted later, or e) all of the above, then….

Welcome to the human race.

I’ve been reading William J. Petersen’s book “25 Surprising Marriages: Faith-building Stories from the Lives of Famous Christians.”

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10 things the preacher’s wife can give him no one else can

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“D. L. Moody found in his wife what he termed his balance wheel.  With advice, sympathy and faith, this girl labored with him, and by her judgment, tact, and sacrifice, she contributed to his every effort.”  (quoted in “25 Surprising Marriages” by William Petersen)

The pastor’s wife is in a unique position.

She is close to the man of God but she does not come between him and God.  She is privy to a thousand things going on between him and God, but must not insert herself into that process.  She knows this man as no one else in the congregation does and can counsel/advise him as no one else is able, but she must know when to speak up and when to be quiet.

In many respects, she has the best seat in the house and the hardest job.

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Why a man needs a wife. (Why this man does, at any rate.)

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“He who finds a wife finds a good thing” (Proverbs 18:22).

My friend Dr. Fred Luter, pastor of New Orleans’ Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, has an interesting way of introducing his beloved Elizabeth from the pulpit.  He calls her “the love of my life, the apple of my eye, my prime rib, my good thing!”

Elizabeth has heard all that only a few thousand times, but she beams each time, as the congregation laughs and applauds.

My dad, Carl J. McKeever, who loved mom, Lois Kilgore McKeever, every day of his life, would say, “My rib is the best bone in my body.”

When the great C. S. Lewis married Joy Davidman, she moved into his house near Oxford and looked around.  His home, called “The Kilns,” hadn’t been redecorated in decades.  “The walls and carpets are full of holes,” Joy wrote. “The carpets are tattered rags.”  She feared that moving the bookcases might cause the walls to cave in.

Joy was soon bringing in decorators and workmen and turning that pile of rubble into a home worthy of its distinguished resident.

Who can calculate the worth of a good wife?

I was thinking this week about this.

My friend Randy is burying his wonderful wife of 53 years today.  I participated in Charlene’s funeral on Monday, and they were transporting her body to Florida for burial.  My heart goes out to Randy and his family. This distraught husband has some lonely and tearful days and nights ahead, and there is nothing to do but to go through them.

His big house will have never seemed so huge. And so empty.

Yesterday, I saw a dermatologist.  I told him, “I don’t have any particular reason for coming except I no longer have anyone to spot something on my back or neck and tell me I should see a doctor about that.”  I said, “Would you mind looking me over?”

Two years ago, I had skin cancer and surgery, so I’m vulnerable.  The doctor spotted a pink area above one eyebrow. “We’ll keep an eye on that.”  I’m to return in six months.

They say widowers and other single men live shorter lives than married men.  If that’s the case, I think I know why.  A wife will see that a man eats right, and that he sees his doctors as necessary.

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What to say on your way out the door

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“And now I commit you to God and to the message of His grace….” (Acts 20:32).

You’re leaving the church you have served for a shorter period than expected.  Perhaps you were forced out or were informed by the Lord and/or the leadership that your ministry had been aborted and you should leave.

If this is your first time to leave a church in this sad way, your heart is broken and your family is confused.  Nothing about this is good.

Some friends in the church are crying; others are gloating.  It’s the real world, my friend. Sad to say, the church is frequently too much like the world.

Anyway….

Try not to be too hard on those who want you gone. And as much as possible, stifle the martyr complex that keeps rearing its egotistical head within you.

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Good job, God!

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“Lord, you have treated your servant well, just as you promised” (Psalm 119:65).

“Lord, I was just looking back at the things You have done for me the last few years, and I want to say, ‘Thank you.  Good job, Lord.'”

Only a battle-scarred veteran can look back down the years and tell the Heavenly Father, “Well done, Sir!”

We are well acquainted with the Lord’s promise to say something similar to the faithful disciples who are reporting in and “weighing up  ” at the end of the day. He says to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many” (Matthew 25:21,23).

Wonder how it would be if we said something similar to Him?

Maybe put a star by His name?

The only people who know that God treats His servants well “as He promised” are those who, first, know His promises and, secondly, over a lot of years of service have found Him to be true and good and trustworthy.

They have found Him faithful.

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On the shore, waiting to cross over to the other side.

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“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Timothy 4:6).

Suppose you are 95 years old, as my friend Bill is. You buried your wife of over 50 years some six or seven years ago, and you have serious health issues now.  So, you begin to think of transitioning from this earthly dwelling to your heavenly existence.

The minister–that would be me–comes to see you in the rehab hospital.  And he asks some probing questions.

Can we talk about this?

This morning’s paper contained a tiny article about the Fort Morgan ferry that runs across Mobile Bay to Dauphin Island.  The cost for one car and two passengers, this fellow said, is $20.50.  That’s up considerably since the last time my wife and I rode it with our grandson.  Grant was about six, as I recall.

We had arrived at the ferry landing and took our place in line with other cars. I bought the ticket and we were milling around waiting for the ferry to arrive from the other shore.  Grant was apprehensive.

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Grief and Humor — Part 2

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(The first of this two-part piece was posted on June 30, 2015.  Access it by scrolling backward on our website.)

There are no comedians in Scripture and no jokes.  But there is a great deal of humor.

Elton Trueblood’s classic “The Humor of Christ” nowhere mentions the Lord as telling jokes or trying to be funny.

In times of grief–the subject before us today–it’s humor that eases the pain and lifts the spirits.  Not funny business, although there are notable exceptions.

I’m all for fun and laughter.  But mostly, we save that for another time.

At moments of grief, something a little gentler and sweeter is in order:  Something humorous.

Tom Brokaw’s new book “A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope” tells of his battle with cancer in recent years.  Multiple Myeloma is serious stuff, and it required his putting his life on hold to deal with it, and the involvement of Mayo Clinic as well as Sloan-Kettering.

Brokaw was speaking to an audience in Portsmouth, New Hampshire recently, and it was being telecast.  I happened upon it in the middle. Throughout his presentation, the audience was often laughing. Since I’ve been working on a paper dealing with “grief and humor,” I paid attention.

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