What's Wrong with Charlie?

His name was Charlie, and he was one of the interesting people I have had the honor to know in my pastoral ministry.   He lived in a small town in eastern Sampson County called Turkey.  At that point in our lives, he was an old man and I was still a young man.  Charlie lived just down the street from the parsonage, and worked regularly at a local feed store. Charlie had some interesting habits.  For example, he liked to keep the church checkbook locked up in the trunk of his Chevrolet and loved to grind his own coffee beans with the coffee grinder he kept on his kitchen table.   When Sunday would come,  you would find Charlie forsaking his usual bid overalls for his seersucker suit and bowtie to wear to church.   There is something else that Charlie wore and it was this:  a long chain of perfect attendance pins at Sunday School and church he wore on his suit lapel. 

What was wrong with Charlie?    Why did he never miss attending Sunday worship?  Did he never get sick and not feel well?   Did he not have the chance to take a day trip to the lake or the beach?   Did he never have family come for a weekend visit?   What was wrong with Charlie that made Sunday worship such a regular practice week after week for years?    In Luke 4:16, we read the following verse about Jesus:

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. 

I suspect that Jesus did not have a long chain of  perfect attendance pins; yet, it seems that when the Sabbath would come, you would always find him with the people of faith for worship.  What was wrong with Jesus?   Surely Jesus could have been a more able teacher than some others who spoke.   As the Son of God and the son of man, surely he knew of the truth that some said one thing on the sabbath and did something else the other days of the week.  What was wrong with Jesus?

The answer is that not anything was wrong with Jesus.  No, there was something right about Jesus.  Through his example and practice, Jesus was saying that worship of God was first and foremost.    There are a lot of people today that choose to not worship regularly for all kinds of reasons:   going away every weekend  to a second home in a beautiful part of the world, indifference to organized religion,  disgust at the church because of a bad experience with a church or a church leader, and many more.  Jesus and one of his followers, Charlie, went to their house of worship  regularly as was their custom.    How about you?  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall  

Prayer:    O God,  you are worthy of all our glory, thanks, and praise.   Help us make the worship of you first and foremost in our lives, on Sunday and every day of the week; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

There are not enough Books

I love books and I love to read.   I read daily not just from the Bible and the local newspaper, but some book.    It seems that reading is something that I have always loved to do.   I am pleased to say that our children and grandchildren love books also.  Our grandchildren make the trip to the library regularly for story time and to get books they read at home.  It is commonplace for Ann and I to give our grandchildren books on a regular basis.

When I enter a library,  I am often astounded at the number of books there are to read.   The internet tells me that my alma mater, Duke University has 6 million volumes in its library system.    Google tells me that the Library of Congress (which was founded in 1800) has more than 16 million volumes.    Wow, that is a lot of books.    I came across a passage of scripture the other day that got me thinking about books.   It is the last verse in the gospel of John.    While it is easy to skip over a verse of the Bible particularly when you get to the end of a book and chapter to move on,  pay attention to John 21:25 which says:

²⁵ Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

What a powerful thought it is to think that the whole world would not be large enough to contain the books that could be written about what Jesus is doing.   Lets go and fill this world with the good things He continues to do through people like you and I.   Have a joy-filled week.—Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  we give you thanks that our you are still working in our world.  Through the power of your Spirit, use us as your instruments in this day and in this life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Staying Connected

This is the time of year when many students are returning to the classrooms for a new school year.   I would guess that some of you have already seen your children or grandchildren make that trek for their first day of school and the rest of you will see them do the same very soon.   When I retired from full time ministry a few years ago, one of the things I decided to do was to take some classes at our local community college.   After completing the enrollment process, I decided to take a class in an area that was unrelated to the pastoral ministry:  marketing.   One of the things I learned about marketing is that businesses should stay in touch with their customer base regularly.   That is why you see car dealerships show the same commercial on television time after time and why retail businesses send you emails about their latest sale at least once a week.   They want you to not forget about them, and want to stay connected to you.

It is good and important to stay connected in not only business relationships, but in our personal relationships.    Isn’t that why  we phone or text regularly our friends and loved ones?   Isn’t that why we think it important to have a “date night” with our spouses, children, and friends?   We not only want to stay connected, but we need to stay connected.  

The importance of being connected to your customer in business and being connected to friends and family got me to thinking about our connection to God.   Are we staying connected to God?  Are we taking time to read and listen to the Holy Scriptures, and to speak to God and have God speak to us in prayer?      Perhaps there is no person that has ever walked the face of the earth that faced more demands than Jesus.   People were always clammering for his touch and his word   Yet,  Jesus took time amid the many demands upon him to go to a lonely place and spend time in prayer with his heavenly Father.     This routine had such an impression on his disciples that we read in Luke 11 that they asked Jesus to teach them to pray.   As students learn new things in a new school year,   let each of us learn to stay connected with our heavenly Father.  Will you join me in prayer?   Will you join me in prayer for our students and school staff for a safe, fruitful school year?  Have a joy-filled week.—Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  we thank you for the gift of prayer.  Help me to make staying connected to you an important part of our lives.  We pray this day for all students and school staff as they face a new school year;  through Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

What Makes You Happy?

What makes you happy?     For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, you may recall that my daughter Heather has a third party  that sends a question to me each week via email this year.  That was the question a few weeks ago.  I have several responses to the question about what makes me happy.  My first response is something I read a few years ago from one of my favorite preachers and authors, Frederick Buechner.   I recall in one of his books Buechner states that happiness is manmade while joy is God-given.    I believe there is some truth in that.   For example,   I recall several times going to McDonalds  when my children were young and giving in to the request of my children to get a “happy meal”.    In a few minutes time, they would be happy but it would be short-lived.    Happiness is like that.   It is here today, and is gone tomorrow. 

   

My second response is that I cannot say that there is only one thing that brings me happiness or joy.   There are so many things, and most of them are fairly simple.    For me, happiness/joy are the following:

• ·         Being on the hill at Frank Liske Park watching the sun set with Ann beside me
• ·         Sharing life, a meal, a trip, and the like with Ann
• ·         Watching a bird eat breakfast or lunch at one of the bird feeders outside our den window
• ·         Watching the sun rise from the balcony at the beach  knowing God has given another day
• ·         Preaching a sermon and getting the sense that something was said by me that was beyond myself and touched someone else
• ·         The sheer joy and fun of being with my children, their husbands, and the grandchildren especially when everyone is there
• ·         Watching a newly fallen snow
• ·         Eating my first tomato sandwich of the season
• ·         Being together with a church congregation for the high seasons of the Christian year like Christmas, Easter, and the like
• ·         Being the officant at a wedding and seeing the bride and groom as they began their life together
• ·         Seeing a new born baby (especially when that child is one of my grandchildren)
• ·         Watching the earth and clouds beneath me as I fly in a plane
• ·         Giving a gift to someone I love and seeing them surprised about the gift
• ·         Opening a letter in the mail from one of my children with a note or from  one of the grandchildren

These are some of the images that come to mind when I think of what makes me happy.   I am certain there are many more.   I am so grateful for my life and the blessing that it is.   I encourage you to make your own list of what brings you joy or happiness.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  you are the giver and source of all happiness and joy.   Thank you for your goodness that is fresh every morning;  through Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

Fishing with the Grandkids

Back in the 1980’s, there was a syndicated television show called “The Southern Sportsman” hosted by Franc White.    At the time, I was living in eastern NC and would see Franc White’s zebra-striped  vehicle riding around the area from time to time.  Franc White ended each episode of his television show with one sentence:  “Do yourself a favor, take a kid fishing.”  I did that a few weeks ago when Ann and I had all our children and grandchildren  together for a few days in the N.C. mountains. 

One afternoon,  all of us went over to Lake Junaluska.   While some of the family took a dip in the pool,  I took some of the grandchildren and went fishing on a pier next to the pool.   There were only two of my 6 grandchildren that wanted to go fishing with “Pop Pop”:   8 year old Thomas and 3 year old Eloise.   Thomas and I had gone to the woods and cut down some tree limbs to make into fishing poles.   With Thomas’s help,  I put fishing line, weights, and a fishing hook on each fishing pole.  This was Thomas’s second fishing trip with me and this was the very first fishing trip ever for Eloise.   I put the worm on the fishing hook for Eloise and helped Thomas secure the worm on his fishing hook.  After Eloise and Thomas had their fishing hooks into the water, I told Eloise,  “Now Eloise,  one of the things that you have to do when you are fishing is be patient.  Do you know what the word patient means?”   Eloise replied,  “Yes, Pop Pop.  It means that you got to wait and wait.”    Eloise and Thomas did not wait very long.  Soon, their interest in fishing waned and they ended their fishing expedition heading to take a dip in the pool.  

Sometimes, you have to wait and wait.   Sometimes, you have to be patient not just when fishing but in life.  Hungry children wait for their parents to prepare dinner, and commuters wait in traffic.   Eager brides wait for their wedding day to come, and farmers wait for the harvest to be ready.   Psalm 27:14 declares:    “Wait for the Lord;  be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”     It is hard for my grandchildren  to wait for a fish to be caught, and it hard for God’s children to wait for a prayer to be answered or a healing to happen.    Perhaps one of the reasons why Jesus called fisherman to be his disciples was because he knew that we need patience.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  I celebrate that you are still working in the world.  Give me patience as we wait for your will to be fulfilled;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

You Might be a Senior Citizen If...

I am having a birthday in a few days and it is the big 65.  There seems no universal agreement on when a person is a senior citizen today.  AARP says that you can become a member at 50.   There are some restaurants that give a discount if you are 55 or others that do the same at 60.  There is no debate, however, that you are a senior citizen when you are 65 and you are on medicare.   

When Dave Letterman was on the air with his talk show on late night television, he used to share his “top ten” about this or that subject.   Here are my “top five”  signs that you might be 65 and/or a senior citizen:

1.         You can remember all the words to the Beatle’s “Hey Jude”, but you cannot remember what you had for dinner last evening

2.       You know that “Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young”  is not a new law firm in town

3.       If you have paid for gas with a one dollar bill, you might be a senior citizen

4.       If “on line” ever had to do with how you dried your clothes instead of the world wide web, you might be 65 or over

5.       If you think of  a telephone instead of a party when you hear the phrase “party line” , you might be a senior citizen

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 90.   We read there these words:
¹⁰ Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away…..
¹² Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

I am grateful to God for the gift of life, and the life abundant in Christ.  I give thanks for the gift to share the journey of life with family and friends like you.   Have a joy-filled week.  One last thing: Will someone please remind me when my birthday is.  I would not want to miss it.  – Pastor Randy Wall    

Prayer:    O God,  thank you for the gift of life.  Help me to live it as the precious gift it is;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

You Missing Something??

The nature of our family today is that we are scattered across the country.   While I grew up only a few miles from my grandparents and each of their children, such is not the case with our family today.  While Ann and I live in North Carolina, 3 of our 4 daughters live in other states.  While many families all get together at Christmas and other holidays, it seems that we are only able to all get together about once a year.    That once a year gathering took place a few weeks ago.   Ann and I rented a house in the NC mountains and all of us made our way to that 7 bedroom 5 bath home in the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains.   You will find above a picture that was taken of all of us together.  This picture was taken at the house where we stayed.  While it is great to have this picture of each of our family members with the Great Smoky Mountains in the background, there is something missing.  Perhaps it is more accurate to say that someone is missing.   All of our immediate family was present except for our son in law, Christian Neff.  Christian was not able to join us this year for an important reason:  he is deployed right now in his duties as a Chief Warrant Officer with the U.S. Army.   This is his 5^th deployment in his 12 years of military service.   I missed Christian being there.  I missed his dry wit and his corny jokes.  Christian missed much too.   He missed running around Lake Junaluska with the family, riding the roller coaster at Santa Land, and seeing the house where he and my daughter, Ginger, spent their honeymoon.     I am so grateful that we could be together as a family, but I missed Christian.

I tell the story of our family gathering and of Christian’s absence not simply to point out the sacrifices our military personnel and their families make, but to make a point about the nature of the church:    when people are absent when the family of faith gathers, they are missed and they miss something.   In my 40 plus years as a pastor, I can’t recall a single church gathering when everyone in that church was present.  I have heard a myriad of reasons for abscences through the years.   Some reasons have seemed quite understandable  and other reasons have seemed pretty weak at best.   I will let God be the judge of all that. 

There are many people that have had bad experiences with the church.  I have seen the church at its worst, but I also have seen the church at its best.  What I do know is that you miss something when you are not present when the church gathers, and the church is not the same without you.  I hope to either see you in church soon or hear about your time there.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  thank you for the church, the body of Christ.  Heal the hurts in my heart of when the church has not been true to your way; through Christ our Lord. Amen.