Taking Time to Smell the Roses

 

Friday, June 30, 2023

“Be still, and know that I am God!  I will be honored by every nation.  I will be honored throughout the world.”  Psalm 46:10

Each year at annual conference the several days at Lake Junaluska was enjoyable and inspiring in the mountain setting of Western North Carolina.  There was one opportunity I always loved, and the half-week stay would have been empty if I’d missed walking the half-mile of roses.  

The variety of sizes, colors, and textures, combined with the astonishing mixture of beautiful delicate scents, are always a welcome contrast to the sturdy ruggedness of mountains and lake…you cannot walk that half-mile without stopping to take it in and dwell on the majesty of God’s handiwork.  Breathing-in the crisp morning air, and seeing the dew-kissed petals of God’s creation, is one of life’s wonderful joys.  It’s hardly a mystery why we all know that familiar phrase:  take time to smell the roses!

It's also no surprise to me that today marks an end to the last 18 years serving as a pastor to United Methodist churches, and the 25 years before that as a Baptist minister.  I am retiring from vocational serving, and entering serving for the pure joy of being obedient to He who has been faithful and my Rock every day of my life, including that first nine months when my Mom carried me around.

I have been expecting this day to come, and since it is now here, I can share the mixed emotions that flood my soul, as surely as the beauty and scents of the Junaluska Rose Walk. 

One of those emotions is, of course, sadness.  The many challenges and joys of serving as pastor cannot be placed on a scale to see which outweigh the other.  Despite the hard times, even if they overwhelmed the good and great times, I would not trade loving what God called me to do these last 45 years, ever since a pastor, long overdue for vacation, invited an inexperienced church member to fill his pulpit while he was gone.  I had promised God I would never say “no” to an opportunity to proclaim His word.  It’s been a ride!  And God has blessed, never failing to teach, help, heal, and direct me all along the trail.  The sadness I feel is that this chapter on what I have loved so deeply is now closed.  And that leads me to the second emotion at the other end of the spectrum:  I feel great joy!  That joy isn’t relief from the pressure, or the weight of caring for others 24/7/365; rather it is in knowing, with all my flaws, sermon-flops, missed opportunities, and times of never knowing the next step…God has it all sorted-out.  And, much like Joseph, the 13^th son of Jacob (Israel) who was sold into slavery by his brothers, in the end, faced with either revenge on his evil brothers, or forgiveness, God enabled Joseph to figure it all out just what God had in mind.  Here’s what he said to them:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.  Genesis 50:20

My joy is that I trusted God for it all, and that trust wasn’t wasted!  He will use all of it, because God’s Word never comes back to him empty-handed![1]

For You Today 

Smelling the roses (for me) is going to mean thinking-back, evaluating, and just plain resting.  There will be a little golf, some aimless mountain roads to drive, just to take-in life along the way, spending quiet time with my bride.  I’m going to be still, and know He is God.  I’m also going to hit the pause-button on publishing Rocky Road Devotion for July, and much of what I have been doing as a pastor these near 5 decades.  Going to smell those roses…be back in August.

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] It is the same with my word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.  Isaiah 55:11

Multiplication by Division

Thursday, May 19, 2022

After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.”  Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark.  But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work.  Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus.  Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care.  Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there.  

Acts 15:36-41

There are rules which govern mathematics.  For instance, for an equation to be valid, or true, both values on either side of the “equal sign” must be equal.

1 + 1 = 2

No matter how many times you do this problem, adding two ones will always equal two!  Because of this rule (and others too numerous and increasingly complicated – much too complicated for my brain) division and multiplication are inextricably related.  To do one is to mirror the other.  An example:

2 x 2 = 4   mirrors  4 ÷ 2 = 2

What does this have to do with the Kingdom of God here on earth?  Everything.  In the case of Paul and Barnabas, God divided their opinion about Mark in order to multiply their missionary impact.

It is a common understanding that an argument in church is counter-Christian in nature.  However, that is a far cry from a matter of differing opinion about which way to do something.  The rules governing truth require us to recognize that two contradictory opinions cannot both be right.  Therfore, there only three possible outcomes, relative to truth:

          1.  Party A is right, Party B is wrong

          2.  Party A is wrong, Party B is right

          3.  Party A and B are both wrong.

It is never a matter of victor over loser in God’s Kingdom, but humility to understand God does math more perfectly than human wisdom.  Sometimes He uses the division of thought between believers to create multiplication of His plans for spreading the love He has for us.  It was this way with Paul and Barnabas’ dispute over the usefulness of John Mark on the next road trip.  Instead of one missionary team of three (Paul, Barnabas & John Mark), God had two missionary teams of two each, adding the usefulness of Silas to the mix.

I cannot recall how many times I’ve been asked the question about why so many different denominations and doctrines, preacher?  My stock answer has become:  Sisters and Brothers…it’s God-math!

For You Today

In my journey, God took a rebellious teen, who was raised in a northern Congregational church, and later joined a Methodist tribe, moved to a non-denominational fellowship, then moved to the South (Florida) and joined a Southern Baptist church, studied in a Southern Baptist seminary, to pastor Southern Baptist churches, only to wind-up in the United Methodist tribe. 

Now, if you can use a calculator and press the right buttons to figure out what God was accomplishing, you’re on a higher pay grade than I.  But remember, just like God’s Word never returns to him void of the accomplishment He plans[1], so it is with what He does with our days and movements.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

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

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[1] Isaiah 55:11

Lapsed Atheists

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)

C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham were the original “odd couple”.  The movie “Shadowlands” tells the true story of how Lewis, a never-married, post-middle-aged scholar/teacher, living a protected, safe existence at English Oxford’s college, meets and falls in love with Mrs. Gresham, a Jewish-born/now Christian, and very outspoken American, soon-to-be-divorced poet. 

It was Mr. Conventional meeting Mrs. Every Day is a New Adventure.

In the discovery process of these two lives joining, their common ground is that they were once both “confirmed unbelievers” who turned to Christianity.  Joy’s line is classic:  So, you mean we are both lapsed atheists?

Enter the witness of Solomon. 

The wise king wrote much about family life and parenting.  Training a child in the way (s)he learns best is an imprint on a soul; eventually all parental training becomes something unforgettable in the grown person.

In the lives of C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham the seeds of Christian faith were planted early, and only came to fruit in their later years.  They both chose their faith intellectually before it blossomed within.

And, (give or take a few years) isn’t that the way it always happens? 

We may be brought into the church when just a few weeks old, baptized and placed on the cradle roll; or some time later in life, a crisis awakens us to our need for faith.  Or we may have been raised without ever darkening a church doorstep. 

Either way, because of the faith of our parents, influence of a guardian, or witness of a friend, (whether in early life or later days) the seedling of faith will have its prevenient planting in our souls, and will bear its fruit; God says His Word will never return void ^{(Isaiah 55:11)}.

In such a fashion we are all destined to become lapsed atheists; faith is inevitable in the sense that we are created to believe.  And, because of free will, some choose the faith of the cross; others reject Christ, choosing to become God rather than worship Him. 

Not all choose Jesus, but we all choose to place someone or something on the throne of our heart.

The seeds of faith in Christ were planted early, clearly and firmly by my parents, the believers in the church we attended and the lives of countless friends and acquaintances. 

For a while I chose to walk away from that faith; but my atheism lapsed! 

And I am forever thankful!

For You, Today…

Like the man on TV who asks, What’s in your wallet?, I would pose the same inquiry:

Who’s on your heart’s throne?