What Flash Saw

 

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Stay away from every kind of evil.  1 Thessalonians 5: 22

His name wasn’t “Flash” – that’s just what we called him.  Mr. Odell was about 85 and he “jogged” down our street with his walker every morning and evening.  It was doctor’s orders after a heart attack and stroke (and about a dozen other life-threatening issues).  He had moved in with his daughter and her family, and he soon became a fixture on the streets of Gainesville, Florida.

Our kids nicknamed him “Flash” one day.  Although he couldn’t hear two words if you were standing in front of you eyeball to eyeball, Mr. Odell could hear your car coming six blocks away.  He would pick up the walker and high-step it onto the neighbor’s grass to get out of the way.  He was not going to be an easy target!

Whenever he passed our house on his morning or evening “jog”, if anyone was outside he would stop and pass a few moments, telling us about his bride who was in another state recovering from “her madness”.  Even in the most painful of life’s moments, Mr. “Flash” Odell had a twinkle in his eyes and smile that made you wonder if he was teasing or crazy.  (Often, I thought it was both).

From our conversations, Mr. Odell knew I was a pastor at a local church, and I knew he was a retired accountant who really missed his bride.  His days were lonely as his daughter and husband both worked.  The grandkids were grown and rarely stopped in.  So, our little talks were brief, but often.  He would greet you with a smile, tell you about the squirrel he almost “flattened” with his walker, and then move on down the street to finish his laps; morning and evening, jogging with the walker.

Now, Elizabeth always wants things clean; this included the carport.  So, when it was time to change the oil in the old Ford Brownworth bus, I would pull it off to one side of the carport.  That way the car would not drip oil on the carport floor (keeping Mrs. Preacher happy) and I could work in the shade.

One Sunday after evening services at church I decided to get a jump on the week and change the oil before retiring for the night.  The plan went well until the oil was changed, filter replaced, and I tried to start the ailing Ford. It wouldn’t, I was tired, so I decided to try again in the morning.  This was where the appearance of evil came full circle at the parsonage.  Early Monday morning the preacher’s bride, awake less than 30 seconds, sporting hair curlers and pink robe with bunny slippers, ventured out the front walkway to retrieve the newspaper from the front lawn. Now, carrying a full cup of coffee when you’re only marginally awake is never a good plan.  When the parson’s wife bent over to pick up the paper, the hot coffee streamed over the pink robe and onto pink hands.  I won’t say what she said (I wasn’t up yet), but I know it was loud and included sounds that you may only hear when Dale Earnhardt fires up the monster engine of ol’ #83.  When the screaming stopped, Elizabeth opened her eyes and realized she was standing eyeball to eyeball with Flash.  The old man’s mouth was half-open, wondering if there was going to be another Archangel shout.  He stared at Elizabeth’s morning hairdo, coffee stained robe and bunny slippers; then he noticed the Ford all “catawampus” hanging off the carport floor.  He looked back at Mrs. Preacher – then to the car again, smiled and said, did you come home drunk AGAIN last night, honey?  I tell ya…you can’t make this stuff up!

For You Today

Don’t take yourself so seriously.  But do avoid changing the oil if you can’t start the car!  You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day! 

---

[1] Genesis 32:22-28

[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

Today’s devotion was first published October 24, 2013

Don't Raise a Fist

 

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

“I warned the proud, ‘Stop your boasting!’  I told the wicked, ‘Don’t raise your fists!  Don’t raise your fists in defiance at the heavens or speak with such arrogance.’”  For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness—should raise a defiant fist.  It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.  For the Lord holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices.  He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs.  But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.  For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”  Psalm 75:4-10

Like most people I laugh at goofy things I do, or other people do.  Humor is generally spontaneous and understandable.  We laugh when we get tickled.  One of the components of humor is absurdity.  When, for instance, you have told a two year old she cannot grab that snarling dog by the nose, and she whirls around to lock eyes with yours, and her icy glare screams I hate you, and if you don’t let me pet that puppy now I’m gonna wring your neck, you pompous idiot, well, you just gotta laugh!  It’s absurd that a two year old, who is only 30 inches tall, and weighing in at a massive 30 pounds, and not understanding the least bit of the danger of wanting something best left alone, is going to wring the neck of a 6’, 200lb father. And, if you’re not somehow tickled by that absurdity, you’d better check your pulse.

It’s humorous, but reasonably harmless to see the immature actions of a two year old; but with adults, not so much.  Adults, of any age, operating with an immature short fuse, and the power to lift a dangerous fist in anger, is not funny at all.

We have a lot of that in our culture.  Frankly, it’s in our nature.  And who is to say, definitively, exactly why it seems worse these days?  Perhaps it’s the relatively new platform that social media, or news media have given that entices and empowers the attention-grabbers towards outrageous acting-out, capitalizing on a perceived injustice.  Or, maybe, it’s just a grab for attention.  In the end, it’s still a two year old who hasn’t got a clue, but is going to demand his way.  The folly in it all, and the tragedy that follows is, in getting our way, will we be better off?

The current movement which clamours for an end to racism is a fact in point here.  An end to racism is a lovely thought, and one of which God heartily approves.  After all, God’s hand created Adam and Eve with the DNA chain that held the key to every form of diversity we now see in the human race.  To disparage one of God’s own, or any who are disparate from our tribe is to denigrate the Creator; we all hail back to the same set of parents in the garden. 

The problem with the movement du jour is not the rallying point of an end to racism, but rather with the methodolgy.  To use anger, the raised fist, either metaphorically (as in cancel culture), physically or verbally, against others and their motives, will not remove racism; rather it further divides those who are already different.  It puts those who push the anger on the same level as, say, Adolph Hitler, a monster with a heinous quest.  His quest was to push racism to it’s ugliest, purist conclusion – put all the other tribes to death, and then we’ll have a perfect society.  Adolph Hitler was just another two year old with a distorted sense of his own grandeur.

Granted, Black Lives Matter, and it’s push for an end to racism have a rightful support in their end game from any fair-minded individual.  But, unless the fist is laid down to open the hands to take my hand, and others (even the perceived enemy), they stand as just another two year old stamping his feet, pushing any hope of reconciliation down the drain.

And, considering the imagery God uses in today’s Psalm, the dregs of what’s down that drain will be a pretty rough drink to swallow when they get there.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, forgive us our foolish ways of trying to correct violence done with more violence given. 

For You Today

Sometimes it seems like the more sophisticated and educated we get, the dumber we become.  God hates violence of all kinds…how many ways does He have to say that?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO                                                                                                                  

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on this text:  Chosen Still and The Promise Over the Power

Slim's Legacy

[1]

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.  Ephesians 5:15-17

My Dad would’ve been 101 today.  He was only a few years short of making it to triple digits when God decided there was a need in heaven for a laughter-loving, corny-joke-telling guy.  Elwood Frederick Brownworth (Slim, for short), wasn’t a dry wit; rather he was someone who made use of that bottomless pit of Readers Digest stories and quips.  Born into a generation that saw the end of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, my Dad had to leave school after the 6^th grade in 1930 to  pick up work here and there to help support a 7-member household.  In those days you did what you could just to keep food on the table. 

But exiting from the traditional school system didn’t mean he stopped learning.  Indeed, when he retired he went back to school, earning his GED.  And what he lacked in formal education he learned to replace by informal means.  Dad loved to travel and find out what made things tick.  He loved to put his knowledge of learned skills to use, teaching others.  When I was a pre-teen, Dad took a course to become a certified bowling instructor so he could organize children and youth bowling leagues.  Every Saturday morning our family would begin the day opening the bowling center…an old, smelly 10-lane place called Carlton Lanes, complete with a bar (which I never was permitted to enter).  We’d be there 6 hours or more while nearly 100 kids spent a week’s worth of pent-up energy from all that schoolwork, at noise levels approaching 140 decibels.  And, right in the center of the tornado of activity you’d find Slim, laughing and making corny jokes.

It’s coming up on 4 years since Dad left us to join Mom and many friends and family in God’s forever place.  Dad didn’t leave behind a truckload of stuff, or a bunch of land, or financial wealth.  Instead, our family treasures are the example of a Godly husband and father, what it’s like to be faithful, and a person who loves with his life’s commitments, and his word kept.  We have a legacy of attending church because we knew there was more to life than just stuff that pleases you. 

Somehow, my Dad, who didn’t have a knack for remembering Scripture, had learned to live what the apostle encouraged in his letter to the church folk at Ephesus…not to be fools, but understanding what God wanted them to do.  Dad loved to laugh and tell a joke to brighten up everyone’s day.  It wasn’t foolishness, it was his understanding that some are evangelists, some teachers and pastors….but some are called to live a life bringing light with wit, humor, and a knack for being there when the chips were down.

It’s hard to sum up a life in a few words, but some people live their lives in such an uncomplicated way that you really can get at the heart of the depth of their legacy in simple terms.  My father was one like that.  And here are the words that come to me this day:

They called him Slim, but that was his body; 

his life was full!

For You Today

When it’s all done, what will people remember about you?  If you’re talking about the people closest to you in life it will probably be little about your job, or your accomplishments.  I’m thinking it will be more how you loved them with your life opened to what mattered most to them. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com     Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Patience

[1]

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return.  Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring.  They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.  You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.  James 5:7-8^(NLT)

One of the hardest things to do is wait patiently.  The fact is we have conditioned ourselves against patience.  Everything manufactured these days requires little assembly or consideration.  The computer I use came with only a single page instruction sheet, and the rechargeable battery was already charged…plug-in and get going!

We are in a hurry today.  That “hurry” builds tension and uneasiness into our daily lives which can only be measured with a bucket loader.  There is hardly an un-anxious person to be found among us.  Yet that is exactly the advice given to pastors, to be a non-anxious presence as antidote to the fear and worry that pervades anxiety.

I had a hard time with that this past Sunday.

One of our churches uses multimedia to enhance worship; you could have fooled me.  At the first church (without screens and projector) the service went well, with several changes and unexpected shifts; it’s ok, we get used to last-minute hiccups! 

Elizabeth and I jumped in the car and noticed it was still early…we had a whole, extra two minutes to enjoy, getting down the road 11 miles to our second church.  That was the last bit of non-anxious in the day! 

Our choir-director, along with her son, the sound/multimedia technician, were gone on their annual vacation.  So, Russell, ever ready to take on much more than he is able, or qualified to do, said sure – I’ll run the computer for those two weeks; no problem! 

Poor, deluded monkey! 

Disclaimer:  if you’re not a technology genius, never agree to this; it’s difficult enough to stand before even a small church and stay sane while conducting a worship service.  If you throw-in having only 11 minutes once you arrive at church to set-up the laptop with the PowerPoint presentation, connect all the thingamajigs, turn-on the projectors, set-up the camera, video your wife standing at the piano saying “hi” to cousin Billy in Arizona, get to the bathroom (hey-it’s a long morning), and rush back into the sanctuary in time for the call to worship…you have a perfect storm waiting when you begin to lead the congregational call-to-worship printed in the bulletin – especially if you have in your hands the bulletin from the first church, and you’re trying to lead the congregation at the second church. 

And then, of course, the batteries in the remote control choose that exact moment to go belly-up!  And there you stand, non-anxious presence smile on your face, created in the image of God, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, Super-pastor….and you just want to cry.

Note to self:   If you’re going to be a non-anxious presence, it would be a smart thing to stay within the boundaries of common sense and follow the advice you give to others from Scripture:  what makes the church THE CHURCH is not a Super-Pastor, able to do it all.  Rather, it is the Body of Christ being THE BODY OF CHRIST with each part doing that loving task to which it has been called. 

Stay in that; live in that; proclaim that – trusting God with everything.  That’s how the peace of God, which passes all understanding will create a non-anxious presence even in the midst of technological chaos!  It’s called the gift of patience.

For You Today

Waiting patiently may be the most anxious thing we do…and the most useless when we wind up faking the “patiently” part.  So, come with me; let’s take a deep breath and recite the Lord’s Prayer early this morning.  Call on the Father; fellowship with the Son; let the Holy Spirit have all that anxiety, and rest in His peace…patiently!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

When Two Become One

[1]

Friday, June 22, 2018

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a helper who is just right for him.”  So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky.  He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.  He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals.  But still there was no helper just right for him.  So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep.  While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.  Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.  “At last!” the man exclaimed.  “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh!  She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”  This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.  Genesis 2:18-24^(NLT)

This is a picture of our dear friends John and Anne, who recently celebrated their 54^th wedding anniversary.  Anne writes a blog and shared this photo from when they took their wedding vows.  Let’s hear how it went from Anne:

54 years ago photographers did not take pictures during a wedding ceremony. We posed as if we were exchanging rings.  All of a sudden, Pastor Gross (yes, that was his name!) exclaimed, “I hope the book won't show in that shot.  I had it open to Burial of the Dead.”

Had I been drinking coffee at the moment I read that, there would be coffee spray all over my computer screen!  THAT is a classic!  It’s no wonder the only one smiling is the preacher!

As one who has stood on that side of the ceremony I can truly attest to the fact that weddings are something of a hint of foreboding, considering all that follows the ceremony for years (sometimes months in current culture).  All things considered, what with not picking up your socks, squeezing the toothpaste from the wrong end of the tube, and some more substantive issues…the fact that some couples do make it past 50 years is undeniably a gift of the grace of God alone!

I would suggest that one of the reasons many couples who do manage to have a lifelong (till death us do part) marriage is due to strong faith, lived-out, coupled with a learned humility that fosters forgiveness.  You cannot live successfully together with another human being without both!

My theological take on John & Anne’s pastor tweaking a tedious photo session after the ceremony (while all the guests wait interminably at the reception hall) is that he really was conducting a burial of the dead service.  Let’s face it; if you’re going to have a successful marriage you’ve got to bury some things…the most important being selfishness, which is the biggest roadblock to two actually becoming one!

Coupled with burying some things is establishing other living things – a living commitment to Christ and His church, as well as serving others in His name.  John has served in many ways, teaching young ones, and helping the choir director/organist (Anne).  Most pastors would consider themselves blessed to have a couple or two like the Mehrlings!

Congratulations, my friends, on taking burying the dead seriously all these years.  Your commitment to each other, our Lord, your family, and community are an inspiration to us all.

For You Today

Marriage going well?  If it could use a boost, try burying some self, and lifting up your spouse.  Two becoming one takes a lot of lifting!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image & story:  Courtesy of Anne Mehrling  (also current picture of John & Anne near their mountain home in the Blue Ridge of NC)