I have a blessing to pray over you for this New Year. It is a prayer that Paul prays for the church at Ephesus. It is a blessing for today to meet the challenges of tomorrow. It is a prayer for discernment. Discernment is my focus word for 2024. 

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance of the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 2:17-19a)

Throughout the next few weeks, I am committing to pray this passage repeatedly with your specific name in mind, and as far as I know their names, your family members also. Instead of “you” I will substitute your name. I will be using the church directory and Evangel mailing list. There is nothing magic in this prayer. It is simply the majesty of God at work through the prayers of His people. 

So many are walking in darkness. So many are facing daily temptations to succumb to lies and fantasies. So many feel the weight of bad news, overextended schedules, and depression. So many believers also find themselves overwhelmed by health, money, and family issues, they may wonder if there is any Light at all left for them. This passage has a word for each of us—that the eyes of your heart be enlightened –discernment.

If you are so inclined, would you join me for a concert of prayer over your extended circle of friends, neighbors, and family members? What if, during the month of January, we were to blanket a great host of people across our country, even our world, with a prayer of enlightenment amid their daily living?  

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Pray for discernment. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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(This is reprinted from January 2020, lightly edited.)

Can there be a day beyond this night? I don’t know any more what is true.  I can’t find my direction, I’m all alone. The only star that guided me was you. How to rise from the floor – when it’s not you I’m rising for? Just do the next right thing. Take a step, step again. It is all that I can do—the next right thing.

One evening during the holidays, Dorothy and I took our grandchildren to see the animated musical, Frozen II. I was surprised by the many issues addressed by the movie, including the intense grief and sorrow in the apparent loss of one character’s older sister. In her pain and confusion, Anna remembers her sister’s words from earlier in the story—if you are ever lost and wonder what you should do, just do the next right thing. This is the moral takeaway from the movie.

Many of the children and teens who saw the original movie when it debuted in 2013 have faced their own personal crises, like family divorce, grief, depression, temptation, and peer pressure. This story gives them a memorable way to find hope in their confusion, and a starting point for making good or even better choices. Right choices matter. Teaching the next generation the difference between right and wrong has always been a challenge. Taking this one step further, the Bible is filled with cautionary stories of those who make wrong choices, and the power of doing the right thing God’s way. 

I won’t look too far ahead. It’s too much for me to take. But break it down to this next breath, this next step. This next choice is one that I can make. So, I’ll walk through this night, stumbling blindly toward the light, and do the next right thing.

Life is filled with small choices each of us make every day. “What would Jesus do?” was a question that we asked ourselves in our younger years. As people of faith, we are challenged to live morally rich lives by modeling trust in God and listening for His voice. 

And, with it done, what comes then? When it’s clear that everything will never be the same again, then I’ll make the choice to hear that voice, and do the next right thing.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Do the next right thing. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

Bro. Darryl

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On the Friday after Thanksgiving, sometimes called Black Friday because of the trauma of holiday greed, my car radio rudely switched songs in the middle of my easy listening music. An up-tempo Andy Williams launched into It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  I was not feeling it. At the least they should have waited until December to start holiday music. But the message was received loudly and clearly, get in the Christmas shopping mood now, or all the good stuff will be gone or cost even more. What has happened to Christmas gift giving?  

It starts when we are young. What do you want for Christmas, boys and girls? Later it becomes, What did you get for Christmas? Selfishness is built in. The “present” becomes the point of Christmas time. There is a healthier guide to gift-giving for parents and grandparents. It goes like this, limit up to 4 gifts: something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. If giving to another adult, you can substitute with something to eat, like fruit or nuts, or a restaurant card. Ask yourself, who am I trying to impress? 

When the Church began to celebrate the birth of Christ, some 300 years after the fact, the image of the Magi bearing tribute offerings to the newborn King of the Jews was emphasized. The gifts were for Jesus. Going forward a century, Christians used the day to worship and give gifts to the poorest people in the area; think of the Saint Nicolas story. In time Christmas Day came wrapped in all kinds of local traditions, blending secular religious practices and fundraising. Martin Luther is credited with the indoor, candle-lit evergreen tree. Christmas became fantasized and commercialized in the 1800’s. Today, getting in the Christmas spirit is demanded by advertising and social pressures. 

My model and mentor for being a pastor was Dr. James G. Harris, Senior Minister of University Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Harris would repeat occasionally before the ushers received the Sunday morning offering, “Anyone can give without loving, but no one can love without giving.”  

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Love gives the best. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Over the Thanksgiving weekend I took our four teenaged grandchildren into Osage Reservation country to visit Woolaroc, the museum and wildlife preserve of Frank Phillips, a founder of Phillips Petroleum. He was one of the good guys one hundred years ago. We encountered the rich history of the Osage nation, the cowboy, and oil. Even taking the back roads, it’s only an hour from Tulsa. The Killers of the Flower Moon movie was filmed just northwest of Tulsa in the actual locations of much of the true story, between Fairfax and Pawhuska. Along the way we saw many pump jacks still pulling oil out of the ground.

In the film, Robert De Niro portrays William Hale, “just call me King.”  This community benefactor consoles the tribal people with words of God as their family members are dying mysteriously, praying in fluent Osage at the funerals. Most villains see themselves as justified in their ways, even to the point of killing people, for they assume they are righting a perceived grievance.  In the story, covetous white people wanted the oil money of the Osage. De Niro’s character symbolizes all that the prophet Micah condemned: Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! … They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance.  (read Micah 2:1-13)

Micah was addressing God’s people living in Judea and Samaria. Those who cloak their evil ways in robes of righteous acts are truly wicked. Micah issues a call of judgment from on high for those who richly promise what the wicked want to hear. Disaster is at hand for God’s people who succumb to the seductions of greed and pride. 

What about today? Are we wrapping our desires, politics, and pride in righteous garb to manipulate others? Are we listening only to what we want to hear?  Are we secure enough to humble ourselves before the Lord in these matters? Micah proclaims a promise of a remnant of the faithful. A faithful people will see protection, justice, and salvation for the true King is coming to lead the way. 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today.  The King is coming. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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In the summer of 1992 Dorothy and I attended the inaugural CBF General Assembly in Atlanta. It is always an amazing experience to gather with thousands of Baptists for two or three days of worship, workshops and conversations. It is like going to a giant family reunion, only without relatives. It was good to see so many of our friends in ministry from our seminary days and to hear the reports of the mission efforts at home and globally. At one point former President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter brought greetings to the assembly, for the Carter Center is in Atlanta. His famous smile lit up the convention center. It was announced that later President Carter would be signing copies of his newest book. Dorothy and I decided to purchase his book and get in line to meet him. 

The book is called, Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age. It tells the beginnings of how the peanut farmer got into local politics, which led to the governor’s mansion and then the White House.  The line we were in seemed to move easily and suddenly we were there. He looked up and smiled at us, we introduced ourselves and said a few words of gratitude, and were quickly ushered away. We wandered back to the exhibit halls and went into the large ballroom that had been converted into a Christian bookstore and gift shop. There were very few people in the bookstore. I went to the books, Dorothy to the gift area. At one point I looked up and realized Rosalynn Carter and another lady, probably secret service, were coming into the area.  I was still holding the newly-signed book, and I hesitantly approached her, asking if I might have her autograph also. She shook my hand and in her soft-spoken and gracious voice she said, of course. I quickly found Dorothy and showed her my treasure and took her to see where Mrs. Carter was looking over the books. 

With the passing of Rosalynn Carter this past weekend, I reflected on that memory and pulled out the book signed by both a president and his first lady. He was a Baptist Sunday School teacher, and she was the quiet helper behind the scenes. She advocated for mental health services and was ever faithful to the end. 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today.  Live out your faith. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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