My claims to suffering are rather small compared to so many other people.

For the last several weeks I have been reading a few pages, most every day, from C. J. Mahaney's Humility: True Greatness. The current chapter has been on Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet. As Mahaney concluded the chapter he inserted a section on anger, in which he related a conservation his sister had with another relative. The setting, of which was, the sister's living room, in which was her husband, awaiting death from a fast growing brain tumor, the sister and the relative. Below is the conversation as related by C. J. Mahaney.

“On one occasion, a relative of Dave was visiting, a man who was not a Christian. As he watched Sharon caring for Dave and thought about Dave's relative youth and the children he would leave behind, anger seemed to well up from within him-anger directed at the God whom Dave and Sharon were professing to believe in.

He asked Sharon, 'Why aren't you angry?'

She turned to him and answered with the truth of the gospel: 'Dave deserved hell for his sins, just like you and me, and yet God, in His mercy, forgave him because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Dave is going to heaven,” she said. “How could I be angry at God for taking him to heaven?'”

Pastors in small towns and rural villages get sick. I have had a cold that has laid me pretty low for a week or more now. This morning is Labor Day. I sit in my office trying to accomplish a few things but my sinuses are distracting me: they feel like a little more pressure could cause them to explode. The pressure from my glasses on my nose and across my temples is noticeable, and may easily be described as “more than annoying”.

Okay, I have been afflicted with the cold in a 'serious' way for a little over a week. It is time for it to move on - I did try giving it away yesterday but no one would take it! It is time for God to make me all better now that I have experienced the weaknesses and frailties of my flesh. I'm ready to be energetic and strong again.

But suppose, in God's will, I stuff from sinus problems for the rest of my life? Suppose, that every morning, I have to fight the desire to just close my eyes and hope it all goes away, instead of forcing myself to think, to concentrate on a task. Yes, I know that I am revealing how pathetic I really am. Others have faced difficulties every day and somehow march on.

The point of all of this is: would I find God's grace to be sufficient in the face of difficulties of various sizes and shapes that I might be facing? Would I rise up to live the life that I have been called to live trusting the Lord for strength or trusting in my own strength? Would I be content and happy with what God was enabling me to accomplish, or would I say, “God, I could do so much more, if I were health!”?

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2Co 12:9 ESV)

I'd like to pass on a link. I just finished listen to an interview between Mark Dever and Carolyn McCulley. This is worth a careful listen, and I pray that I (and you too) might be the men and women that would love God more than we might love self.

http://www.9marks.org/audio/women-christianity-and-feminism/?utm_campaign=9MarksUpdate-20100801&utm_medium=email&utm_source=entirelist&utm_content=audiointerview

In my continued plod through a series of book called: The Essential Edwards Collection by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, I ran across these thoughts.

“It is wise to rest and to pace oneself. Furthermore, it is humble to do so. Though it may not seem to be motivated by pride, overworking sometimes reveals a desire to control the world such that one cannot be happy unless all is in immediate order. Though it seems strange in a very busy age, resting can often glorify the Lord since it expresses humility and a recognition of God's sovereignty.” (Lover of God, 71)

“The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will for ever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another; but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in any thing else whatsoever that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what shall be seen of God in them. (Works, 17, 208)”

“For Edwards, life is not about one's selfish interests and heaven is not about one's prefabricated paradise. Earthly life and heavenly life alike revolve around the greatness of God.”

From The Essential Edwards Collection: Lover of God, Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, Moody Press, p. 63-64.

A week ago we got together with several of our children and grandchildren. We now have a few visiting with us, with another daughter coming for a brief visit next week. Pastors are, for the most part, with the Lord's blessing, family men.

While this status ought not to be abused, the church ought to encourage their pastor to be a godly, faithful husband, son, dad and grandfather. The pastor's family is in need of all that he would counsel other men to give to their family.

The pastor's family is also a sinful family. In saying this I am not saying that the families of pastors are all very dysfunctional. Certainly some may be. On the other hand all of the children and grandchildren come into the family being in the state of spiritual deadness. They will not show signs of spiritual life until, and if, God makes them alive in Christ.

Therefore, we might pray for our pastor and his family like we would pray for any other Christian family – that he and his wife might be godly testimonies at home and that God would graciously save his children and grandchildren. Further, as in my case, not all my children are waking with the Lord, and my grandchildren have not yet professed Christ. Continue to pray, lest the love of family overwhelm his heart, pushing out the love of the Lord. Or, that he would cease to love and care for those in his family who are rebellious against the Lord.

In other words, the pastor, in his relationship to his family, is a man just like any other Christian man; therefore, pray for him as you might for yourself or your husband.

“Because He [God] is not capricious, He can be known. He can be trusted. His words are a true revelation of Himself, and we need not fear that He will act arbitrarily. Such was good news for the ancient Israelite, and it remains good news for us today.” Table Talk, July 2010

This means, among other things, that as we come to know this God, our character will become more stable, less capricious. This is a good, especially if it is coupled with holiness.

I have not counted but I suspect that Princeton Baptist Church, like many other church, is made up of a majority of women. While we believe that men and women are saved by the same Savior, through the same cross, and the same faith, we also believe that God has made men and women with distinctions. We are not the same.

As mentioned we believe that our distinction were designed and given to us by our Creator. This has many implication for life, work, families and church, many of which are actually addressed in God's Word.

Every couple of months www.9marks.org publishes an eJournal. This issue is entitled Pastoring Women. I found it a helpful and challenging read, and wish to pass it on to you. The eJournal is on the home page.

May our women be glorious, holy women and a men, noble, faithful leaders, even here in Princeton.

Distractions, and other things.

Is this something that only those of us in small, rural town experience? I doubt that this would be so. Urban pastors certainly could have even more distractions. Over these past weeks we have learned, without much surprise, that our mini-van was not going to pass inspection. Therefore, we decided not to do any of the repairs that we had planned on doing, but would pursue a newer vehicle. This was hastened by the death of the van's battery. In the meanwhile, and even before we receive the notice of impending death, we had started to look around a little on line, as well as in Calais.

Now Calais is, depending upon where one wants to end up, about 25-30 minutes away. (If one counts time to get into the vehicle and get into one's destination- in other words, it is not just a block or two away.). So it was decided that I would take a trip into this 'city', (It has a couple of traffic lights!) from out here in the county, for the purpose of buying a battery or getting a new vehicle. I came home with neither, as the only van on the lot needed a couple of little things done to it before I took it home.

So, after a few jump starts I returned the next morning and did come home with the newer van. One fix up took a good part of another day, and then an alignment. Hopefully we are finished with this.

Writing, and not just putting letters on a computer screen, but arriving at something without too many typo's and wrong words stuck in any old place, or left out entirely, takes me a long time to do. So this blog has suffered.

Yet, are all these van things really distractions? I think not. They are a very real, hands on, element of this life that God's gives us to life. The Sovereign, Almighty Lord, does not consider them as distractions, I believe. These are tests to see of what one is made! These stir up in us groanings, and so we cry out for something better, according to the promises of God. They are opportunities to show of what material one is made. Will one trust God? Will one rejoice in the Lord, always?

May we accept these opportunities that come from the hand and heart of our Heavenly Father.

Is Christ beautiful? (Continued)

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1Pe 2:9 ESV)

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, has taken upon himself the task of not just restoring what was lost, ruined and corrupted, but of making it even better than it was previously.

In this life we have a tendency to be thrilled over something new, yet as the newness wears off we find that our delight and pleasure in this object, or even in a person, will diminish. That which once satisfied no longer does so. Yet I suspect that as we contemplate the wonders of God's marvelous light we will find no end to it. In other words it shall for eternity be marvelous. This will be true for a couple of reason. First God is, indeed, glorious and will be always so regardless of the number of times, or angles from which, we look upon him. Secondly, our heart and nature will one day be holy and pure, and will hunger after, not just the good things that God has done, but after God himself. Our all-to-shallow heart will be made deep. Forever, we will want him.

Today we contemplate what God has done for us only from time to time, and at times we are even captivated in wonder at God's work of forgiveness, justification, reconciliation and adoption. But restlessly we get distracted, and find our flesh seeking satisfaction else where.

This calls us to endurance; to set our heart today upon not just the wonderful things that God has done, but upon him, and to keep our heart there. If we have had opportunity to watch a skilled craftsman at work we find ourselves marveling not just at what is being crafted but with the craftsman as he works, the turnings of his wrists, the movement of his fingers, the relaxed pose of his body, thus we find that He too is beautiful.

If we are one of those brought from darkness into light by God, we are to do more than just proclaim the excellencies of the change of location. No! No! The one who has moved us is excellent above all.

May God forgive us of our distractions, our spiritual laziness, and may he stir our hearts to see His beauty.

Is Christ beautiful?

"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple." (Psa 27:4 ESV)

A story.

The property was deserted, a tangle of weeds, broken branches and litter mingled in with what might be take to be the remains of - maybe a flower bed. Broken windows, a door that would not swing shut, and a sagging roof line along with muted peeling paint highlighted the structure. All the neighborhood though the guy was crazy, a fool, for sure. He himself was not a handsome man, just average. He did not exactly move in, but he did live there, perhaps one might say he camped there.

The demolition was not total – some wood removed here and there so that structural pieces might be torn out and replaced. Then doing a stretch of days, predicted by the weather man to be fairly dry, the roof came off, only to be made new.

By late fall new windows and doors hung in their place ready to do what they were designed to do. All winter lights shone through those windows causing speculation, leading to comments about which room was being worked on, accompanied by the occasional “I wonder if he might be warm enough in there?”

Spring came, and less smoke wafted from the chimney. Now, almost a year had passed. The litter and junk seemed to be disappearing, the digging began. Weeds came out, the soil was built up, new and old bulbs, plants and seeds took their places. During the summer and fall gardens took on an air of promise – 'Wait – another year or two!'

Finished work was evident on the outside when winter returned. Now there was some expressed admiration, and a hope of someday seeing what the inside of the place might look like.

Spring marked a continued expansion of the dominion of this man. Then he was gone!

It was not until nearly two weeks later that the local gossips eagerly reported for a fact the he was back and that he had a woman with him, a cow, a horse a few sheep and some chickens, as well.

Over the years the family was blessed and grew. He kept the place well and all agreed that she was a wonderful companion. New comers would remark on the house and the beauty of the grounds, but the old timers they knew – a ruin had been restored – a man had come, a man with a heart for work, sweat and long hours. A man with skilled hands and a heart for that which is good and fruitful. He (along with her) was beautiful!

What beauty is there to behold when we look upon Christ?

(To be continued)

On being a single parent

First, I am not a single parent and the experience I am about to relay in this blog is no attempt to pretend that I have been a single parent.

My wife was away for 15 days. While this was not the first time she had left me to be with our older children to help with a new grandchild, this trip marked a few transitions for us. A few months ago we put Mom in a home. I had always been more or less tied down to the house, unless someone was there to watch her during previous absences on my wife's part.

Our youngest, now almost sixteen has helped out with the duties of watching her grandma, and once in a while we would have another lady watch her if we both had to be away. This time it just our youngest and myself! Freedom!!??

Well, in the name of honesty we did allow some cleaning to slide until the last couple of days, but the house did not turn into a total disaster, as we did do a few daily chorus. Also, with unlimited calling as well as the internet we were not cut off from contact with mom. And as a father of four daughters I have come to accept that dads just can not fill the role when a daughter calls and asks “Is mom there?”

Our baby, and I knew this ahead of time, has a few activities to which her mom usually drives her. Ok, I thought no problem. Then there is something referred to as father-daughter relationship. Daughters do need to be communicated with, given attention, cooked for, encouraged, corrected and just plan have some time with their parents. A note, covering all 15 days, posted on the refrig just would not do the job.

So having this delightful creature around meant something to me … “You have a daughter and for the time being you are her only parent within normal speaking range!”

What would change in my schedule, in my carefully crafted list of priorities? Work time? ME TIME? How important to me was it that I had a daughter to parent? What sacrifices would I make for her well being?

Certainly, if, in the will of God, my wife would be taken from us, this issue of being a single parent would become all too real, close and personal. How would I do? I know that I am thankful to the Lord for my wife, the mother of our children, for all her parenting. And I acknowledge that she can not be replaced, but if she were not here, I would be called upon to make permanent changes in my life. What would I be willing to give up? To change? Permanently, or at least until she got a few years older, to take her places, parent her, do father-daughter things and time, and not to let our relationship deteriorate into that of being isolated housemates?

My hat is off to all single parents who have taken this responsibility well. May the Lord give you grace day to day.

Christ is risen!

Amen!

Hello!

Remember me? Al, the pastor of the Princeton Baptist Church, in Princeton, Me, by the will of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, I have been aware of the lack of updates on this blog. No promises, however, I am making an attempt to get back into this.

My excuses??

We have sold our house. It was about a 50 minute drive from our present location in Princeton. The sale meant trips to get STUFF which we had at the house, and it also meant that we had to figure out where to put this stuff here. We are still working on that, with some measure of success. I'm amazed when another load disappears into the garage, and we can still walk in and out of the garage!!

Just a few days after the closing on the house my wife left Princeton to fly to Maryland to be with our daughter, Amy, her husband and their two daughters. While she was there a third daughter appeared. Just like that!! In the meanwhile our youngest daughter and I have been left to our own resources. Well, there were a few frozen things left in the freezer for us!

We have been managing well, but it is not the same without a loving wife and mother. Yes, I am pleased that my wife was able to be with Amy and her family. We wish they were closer so we could just drop in or spend a day to help out when needed. However, at present that is not the way it is.

God willing ,we get wife and mother back tomorrow - about supper time we should get home.

I have a couple more blogs in the works. Though, so as not to bury you in reading, I'll pace my posts.

The Lord has been good to us. We are blessed and do praise His Name.

Sharing our faith through FaceBook and other internet sites.

From time to time emails and posts surface urging the reader to pass the message on if they are a believer in Christ. The express intent is to share the message of Jesus Christ. (Even worse are the Christian chain letters that speak of blessings or answers to prayer or avoidance of “bad things” if the message is passed on to some many people.)

I usually do not participate.

Here are my reasons.

First, some messages are poorly written so that the message of Jesus Christ, or the definition of what it is to be a Christian, is at best vague. Sometime bad theology characterizes the message.

Secondly, more and more people are ignorant of who Jesus Christ is; therefore, a mere mention of him in a brief FaceBook post is likely not to be thorough enough to inform the reader of the basic points of who Christ is or why one ought to trust in him.

Thirdly, reposting such messages does not, in fact, establish one to be a true follower of Christ, any more so than plastering one's vehicle with Christian bumper stickers would.

Fourthly, a true follower of Christ is to also be a transparent follower of Christ. This means that my friends on FaceBook, etc, ought, over time, to see that I do not live in sin, that my speech does speak of Christ and the Gospel, that love and truth, as spoken of in the Bible, is seen, while taking the Lord's name in vain, crude/course speech, deceit, and numerous other signs of conformity to sin are absent.

In other words, as you get to know me through the internet you also ought to see the God of the Bible in me and to hear that my boast and glory is in the God who has had mercy upon me through Christ.

Reposting “Christian” posts may not be harmful but if not accompanied with speech that shows fellowship with God such posting is at best shallow, and at worst, is hypocrisy.

Christians are not perfect people, we are still between being forgiven of our sins through a confession of Christ and being brought into Christ's glory. No one of us will be the witness that we ought to be 100% of the time. I am not trying to be critical in the sense of sending a blasting message of condemnation to 'reposters'. However, I am challenged myself to think of being a thorough Biblical, witness to the God who-is through my life on-line.

May each post by each believer add up to a grand testimony of God's grace and truth.