When God Plants a Vineyard

Friday, October 27, 2023

I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way.  I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them.  Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them.  Isaiah 42:16

In 1981 Elizabeth and I stood in a chapel service at seminary, along with 1,200 other students and faculty.  The preacher had extended a call to follow Christ in mission without reserve – no matter where it was God wanted us to go, and despite whatever conditions we would encounter.  Even the song we sang was Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go.  We responded to that call, promising to do just that!

Now, it’s great to have a mountaintop experience when you’re headed for the valley; it helps you remember and hold-onto what (and Who) your focus should be.  At that time, our vision of serving Christ as a pastoral family was kind of a Norman Rockwell painting – a snapshot, frozen in time, with pastor, wife and three kids.  Thirty years later we were supposed to still be in the same location, having developed loving relationships with the same people in the same town.  Those plans were  MY plans!  In our naivety, however, we never imagined that the plans and pathway of ministry could change so dramatically and so often!

Fast forward forty-two years, eleven churches, nine grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren….Elizabeth and I are just a few months into full retirement, having completed another first (and only) year with a new church family.  For the last four decades we’ve lived finding out how life turns on a dime!  There have been moments when we felt like the tree in the picture…uprooted, laid-down to rot.  But in those times, as we waited for God to make sense for us out of challenging and changing circumstances, new growth was always the result!

The Lord has led us into different (and unexpected) places, but His Word has never varied, His promises always faithfully-true, and we have been blessed more than if our plans had been followed to the letter.  Truth be told, I’m glad God used His plans instead of mine.

I planned to continue writing this devotional in retirement until God offered a new path on which to grow and serve.  I believe that time is here, and it is time for that new path.  So, to be obedient to our original promise to follow wherever He leads, for us future ministry will be focused in two ways:

1.    Helping in the local church where Elizabeth and I worship

2.    Taking the lessons I’ve learned (and sometimes just survived as they unfolded)…and forming them into some pages that will (hopefully) be an encouragement for pastors who are just starting-out, or looking to refocus for the next season. 

In Isaiah’s words, I feel like blind Israel with God taking me by the hand to show me a new pathway.  But that is the exciting nature of being a follower of Jesus Christ in a changing universe.  Like the tree in the picture, it looks like it is over, done…totally-finished.  But God specializes in bringing new life where death thought it was going to be in charge.  When God plants a vineyard there’s going to be fruit!

For You Today 

If you’re new to Rocky Road, or if you’ve been there since May 7, 2013, when it started, thank you for your interest, prayers, and encouragement to me along the way.  May God bless you to be a fruitful blessing to others is our prayer.

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from a friend’s Facebook page (original source unknown)

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

In Faith

Friday, April 28, 2023

“Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me.  He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you.  I have promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt.  I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.”’  “The elders of Israel will accept your message.  Then you and the elders must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us.  So please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord, our God.’  “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him.  So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them.  Then at last he will let you go.  And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. Every Israelite woman will ask for articles of silver and gold and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and from the foreign women in their houses.  You will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.”  Exodus 3:16-22

Starting a new chapter in life can be exciting, uncertain, and even downright scary.  Truth be told, life, however short or long, is a series of new chapters.  The final new chapter for all of us on earth is leaving this life’s cares, pain, loved ones, and virtually everything we’ve accumulated.  Christians (myself included) believe the final earthly new chapter is but the introductory words of the gift our God bestows upon us, the book without end…eternal life. 

At this point in life I can only reasonably conclude that I have many less years ahead of me than behind me.  That does afford the opportunity to do some evaluation of what life has held, and how I have been held up, even in my weakest moments.  Looking back over ones’ journey is far more important than merely nostalgia.  It had better be so…even the word is formidable.  The word nostalgia is formed from joining two thoughts, returning home and pain[1].  The mental image is nothing less than picking at an old wound!

Standing on the verge of full retirement[2] I’m doing a lot of musing over what will occupy my days hence.  The excitement phase of any new chapter, being ready to launch itself into the unknown, will fade into development of whatever God has in store, and I cannot wait to see the color and shape of a new adventure.  If this new ride through God’s vineyard leaves me even half as breathless as the previous 75 years, it’s going to be white-knuckles on the dashboard all the way!

In some way I identify strongly with Abraham.  God called his name and said: Come here, Abe…I want to show you something.  Life really got interesting when Abraham responded:  OK…you lead…I’ll follow.

But that’s the meaning of faith, isn’t it?

For You Today 

You may have hit this retirement moment long before my time, or you may have a while to go; either way we should realize we have the same challenge to launch every morning our feet hit the floor.  He’s ready to lead; our choice is the privilege of following!

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.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Just When...  and  The Comfort of Being Known   

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] The Online Etymology Dictionary

[2] My first retirement (2013) was from full-time to part-time (somewhat an oxymoron in pastoral work).

Life Interrupted

 

Friday, June 11, 2021

It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did.  Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts.  Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.  It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.”  For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.  And it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.  It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood.  He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before.  By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.  Hebrews 11:4-7

Three men, Abel, Enoch, and Noah – all men of faith in God, and one other piece of common experience – having their lives abruptly interrupted.  Enoch had, perhaps, the most pleasant experience of the three.  A friend and teacher of mine in seminary, Dr. Charles Graham, was the first I heard say it, Enoch walked with God (he was really good friends with the Lord).  And one day, after walking a good while, God said to him, Enoch, today we’ve walked so far together that we’re closer to my home than yours; why don’t you just come on home with me?  Going to Heaven while you skip the funeral home stuff has a certain appeal!

A little more disconcerting was Noah’s boat excursion.  Having God shut the door on everything Noah and family had ever known, while the thunder and lightning roared, and the earth broke up to push floods, well, THAT was no easy ride!

Perhaps the toughest life-interruption on the list belongs to Abel, who was the second child born to humanity.  According to this account in Scripture, Abel was a righteous man, meaning everything he did in life was intended to please God. 

Most funerals you’ve ever attended sound like they were for Abel.  The preacher talks about just how wonderful the person was in that casket.  But Genesis tells us Abel’s earthly walk through this life was interrupted in the most violent and unjust of ways.  His older brother, Cain, the firstborn child to Adam and Eve, got jealous over his younger brother’s righteousness and killed him with a rock.  Abel never got that wonderful funeral with all the aunts and uncles, and community of friends; his brother just hid his broken, bloodied body in the dust.

There is something quite at-odds with conventional “Christian” logic here.  All three of these men never got the testimonial retirement dinner and gold watch.  Abel’s death was a betrayal of a brother who murdered him.  Noah’s validation party only had his wife and kids…everybody else was dead.  And Enoch, well, he just disappeared one day, leaving everyone to wonder, and the news cycles reporting goofy stuff about him running off to the South of France with his secretary, or some other excuse…anything but righteousness.  Most so-called Christian thinking says that just isn’t right; they were good men, faithful to the Lord’s work…and WHAM…life interrupted…ended without fanfare or thanks.

Fast-forward a few millennia and check out the Book of Hebrews.  Because of their faith, God was pleased.  Whatever the news cycles read on the last day of Noah’s, Abel’s, or Enoch’s lives, God was pleased with them. 

For You Today

Gold watches and a framed commendation certificate to hang  on your den wall aside, what is it about your life that needs to be said on the day you breathe your last?  For any of us, isn’t it, God was pleased?

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

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

When the Pilgrims Return

 

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Psalm 126:1-6

When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream!  We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.  And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”  Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!  What joy!  Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert.  Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.  They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

This past Sunday Elizabeth and I attended a worship service of the outdoor sort, the final Sunday for my friend, Nathan Snyder, as pastor of Fairgrove UMC in Thomasville.  He is retiring from full time service, and it was good to be there as the congregation celebrated his four decades of ministry; it was a time filled with remembering and celebration, a time of joy.  They even had a Nathan-parade in lieu of a covered dish, as Nathan and his bride, Margaret, stood at the outdoor shelter and all the members drove past to wish their retiring pastor happy trails! 

During the last 3 months we have been enduring an exile of sorts.  Congregations all over the world have refrained from meeting in their gathering places, the place where worship is so familiar, and the hugs, handshakes, and conversations flow like refreshing streams of God’s glory.  Now we meet via pixel-resoluted screen times, flat-screened, and absent of the pulses of our brothers and sisters.  As for me, all I hear and sense of a live body in the room is my furry friend, Wellie, snoring beside me when I write, or record the latest sermon.  Stout Methodist as he is, Wellie is no match for the living, breathing human souls I long to be with.

I have gained a new appreciation of what it meant for the Israelites to be captives in a strange, foreign land…and then, they got to come home; it was a big deal.  They came singing, with joy-filled hearts and souls.  Their joy was so full other nations took note with amazement – what wonderful things the Lord has done!

And so, it is natural, as I look to the future, to relish that time when we get to come home – home to God’s spiritual body, gathered in joy and worship, instead of this drought-ship, dry, parched, quarantined existence.  In my mind there is a picture of God’s house, full of joy-filled faces, glad to be back – happy to be singing, praying, giving, loving, planning, serving….together!

Of course there will be some new flies in the ointment, so to speak.  Some will wear masks and gloves; hand sanitizer will be on order by the gallon, and some of it might feel strange for awhile.  It’s like that after a long absence; you want to get back, but what will it be like beyond just that first rush of joy?  I think I know; there will be sharing of our lives again, sharing all the stories of what has happened, guessing at why it all happened, and the catching-up that always happens.  And, somewhere past the strange uneasiness of discovering that change has happened, and the discomfort of knowing our world is different, we will find ourselves strangely renewed, hearts strangely warmed (as Mr. Wesley might say); we will awaken to the dawn of a new day of possibilities.  We will begin to open to a new moment, an era of letting the petty differences to which we may cling, evaporate like the unimportant wisps of selfishness they really are.  Song preferences, perceived slightings, unwelcomed change or tedious repetition, will all be somehow so insignificant.  In my sanctified imagination I imagine the refreshing of just raising our voices together to sing, our hands lifted to praise, heads bowed to pray, and hearts and souls opened for hearing God’s voice to lead us into deeper, fuller relationship…this is what will come for God’s people.  Because this is what God always does for grateful, humble people.  And I cannot think of a time when I have been more grateful, or humbled, by the realization that I may have been taking corporate worship for granted…and I sense that I can’t possibly be the only one who feels this way.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, your pilgrim children, exiled from the buildings and routines we sometimes worship, are longing to go home.  We know you do all things well, and in your time.  As we wait on your hand to guide, may we wait with our sandals on, staff in hand, ready for your direction.

For You Today

Can you say “pilgrim”?  A pilgrim isn’t home; he’s wandering – she’s wondering, we’re walking.  It’s always a movement.  The only real concern we should have is the direction in which we’re moving – towards God…or the other way.

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

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

For other posts on Psalm 126 see World UPSIDE DOWN and Precious Seeds  and When a Warrior Weeps

Blindsided by Love

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Thursday, December 13, 2018

With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!  In that wonderful day you will sing:  “Thank the Lord!  Praise his name!  Tell the nations what he has done.  Let them know how mighty he is!  Isaiah 12:3-4(NLT)

You know what it means to be blindsided; something happens that surprises you in such a way you can’t believe you never saw it coming.  It could have been bad, like the knee on the football field that put me on an operating table in 1963.  It could be good, like a gift you got, and it wasn’t even your birthday or Christmas.  Stuff comes from the blind side…you never suspect it, until it hits.

I get blindsided a lot. 

There was that time when that new girl showed up on the first day of school.  She walked right past me and I felt like one of those cartoon characters whose jaw literally drops to the floor.  That was 53 years ago, and I still remember the blindside storm of feelings – wow! – huh? – who? – uhm… Hey…anybody know who that is?  That was 9 grandchildren and 4 great-grands ago!  She still turns my head!

In the bad-blindside department about 10 years ago I was headed to church on a bright, sunny morning.  Coming around that sharp curve in the road I saw the stopped car a little too late to do anything but drive right into the ditch.  Distracted and blindsided!

Some blindsides are Christmas and birthday all rolled into one moment; some are the kind where you want to whine:  can-we-start-this-day-over?  

Blindsides can be good or bad, but there is something common to both varieties:  you will tell about them!  It’s human nature that we can’t help talking about those life-events big-enough to qualify as blindsides.  When your life has been rearranged, you will rejoice, moan, celebrate, ruminate, cogitate, think about, regret, and probably do what a hundred other descriptive phrases might fit…but one thing is true…you will not keep it to yourself.  Some things are just too good (or bad) to stay silent!

And that brings me to the mailbox yesterday afternoon.  The mail carrier made it to Brownworth house for the first time since the snow started Saturday.  And there was that envelope from Treasury Services, a letter from the Bishop with a check for $268.80, on behalf of Duke Endowment.  So many years ago, James B. Duke had a passionate drive to make sure pensioned preachers were taken care of, that he endowed a Christmas gift to be shared with Methodist clergy each year.  I’ve been officially-retired for 7 years, and each year I get blindsided by this event.  A man I never met, set up a recurring blindside each Advent season to lift my day, and lighten my load.  He shared his fortune (literally) with people he’d never met, nor would ever meet.

That stewardship mindset of James Duke is a constant reminder for me of Isaiah’s fountain of salvation.  Another man none of us has ever met in the flesh set up the mother of all blindsides.  And he did it in the most unlikely way – no legal papers, trusts, corporate divestments or dividend schemes; Jesus simply took our place on a cross.  What he left in our mailboxes was a check far greater than even Mr. Duke could write; it was the PAID-IN-FULL promise of forgiveness.  His blood signature opened the wealth of heaven’s welcome to my soul.  And a simple prayer of repentance cashes that check and cleans our hearts of every obstacle that stands between us and God.

Now, THAT’S a blindside worth telling about!

For You Today

If you’ve been blindsided by the love gift God sent through Jesus Christ, don’t keep that news to yourself. 

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

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth

The Song of a Worm

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Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob, don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you.  I am the Lord, your Redeemer.  I am the Holy One of Israel.’  You will be a new threshing instrument with many sharp teeth.  You will tear your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains.  You will toss them into the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them.  Then you will rejoice in the Lord.  You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.  “When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the Lord, will answer them.  I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.  I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.  I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.  I will fill the desert with pools of water.  Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.  I will plant trees in the barren desert—cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.  I am doing this so all who see this miracle will understand what it means—that it is the Lord who has done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it.  Isaiah 41:14-20^(NLT)

Regarding the kingdom of bugs, to the best of my recollection worms do not tear their enemies apart, tossing them into the air like insignificant straw for the garbage heap!  Neither are the poor and needy movers and shakers, and water doesn’t flow upwards to high plateaus, nor pools of water normally sprout in the desert; most definitely parched ground isn’t a place to find forests of trees that need water.

By definition, all that stuff falls in the realm of miracle, where the laws of nature and science are suspended and the opposite of those laws happen.  It takes a miracle to fall upwards to the sky!  It takes that for the lowly to turn the tables on the mighty!

There are “worm seasons” in all our lives, time when we feel powerless, or like our time to contribute is gone.  I feel like a worm most Mondays, worn-out from giving out whatever I’ve got in ministering on Sunday.  Conducting a couple of worship services after an hour’s drive to get to the church can leave one feeling pretty worm-like the next day.  This isn’t what the brochures said about retirement!

But on the other hand, God’s word to Israel wasn’t about retiring; the little worm-like nation only felt like a worm.  In the mighty hands of the Almighty it is of little consequence what the world thinks of you, or even how you see yourself, when God says even the natural order of the universe will be no obstacle to what His will is for you! 

And the reason God does stuff like that – taking lowly Israel and elevating them beyond anyone’s imagination – is because He wants there to be no doubt about Who it is that did such a thing.  He wants to make certain it is clear:  God is the author.

For You Today

Eating dust lately?  Feel a little worm-like?  Powerless?  Remember that there is a kingdom coming that seems pretty far-fetched to those without faith.  Everything will change when the Holy One of Israel is behind it.  And if you are His, nothing will stand in the way of all He has planned for you.

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

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com