I’ve been thinking about graduation gifts. Graduation is one of life’s rites of passage, literally and figuratively. A person passes the tests and completes the required course work. There is a commencement. A commencement is both an ending and a beginning. The graduate will soon discover they have advanced into the “what’s next?” of life. All of that hard work deserves recognition, commemoration and validation. A graduation gift is always in order. When I graduated from high school, my grandmother gave me an Avon toiletry set for men. I still have remnants of that set to this day. The giver wants the receiver to be pleased. 

I’ve also been reflecting on the gifts of graduation that shape my life to this day. Reading, writing and arithmetic head up my gift list, although there are some questions about my subsequent math skills. Music and imagination, science and discovery, history and literature, all were gifts I received at my graduation. The power of preparation, the patience of persistence, the satisfaction of success were all given to me at graduation by my teachers and mentors. I was a solid C high school student. As I neared graduation, a Sunday School teacher handed me a little devotional book called Meeting the Test: A Book of Devotions for Young People. That book challenged  me to find other books where I learned how to study and deeply learn about any subject. It pointed the way to life-long learning and my grades improved substantially in college. What a great gift!

As I explored my call to ministry, I found my way back, time and again, to the insights of Meeting the Test.  One lesson was about getting the most important “degree” of all—the A.U.G. Degree. Last Sunday’s message was based in part on this early life lesson. This degree is found in the King James Version of 2 Timothy 2:15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Approved Unto God. I’m still working on that degree. It’s the graduation gift worth living for. One day there will be an eternal commencement for us all. It’s not too late to cram for the Final, yet. What might your diploma say?

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

The non-stop coverage of the Coronation of the King of England begins soon. He is already the king but will officially take his oath of office and receive his crown on Saturday, May 6. King Charles III is the oldest king to ascend to the throne of Great Britain. He was 73 at the time of his mother’s death. The runner up is Queen Victoria’s son Albert, Bertie as he was called, while he was Prince of Wales. Albert Edward became King Edward VII at age 59. The US television coverage (on all major channels) begins at 4:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time. Charles and Camilla will be crowned in a two-hour service in Westminster Abbey beginning at 5:00 a.m. The new King’s crown was made for Charles the II in 1616. Have fun watching it all. You can tell me about it someday.

Who should crown a king? Whoever puts the crown on a sovereign’s head implies an authority above the King. For centuries the Pope, representing God Almighty and with the personal power to condemn people to eternal punishment, crowned the European kings. With the Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s, and a general move towards religious separation, the Pope became less important. In fact, one King of France snatched the crown from the hands of the Pope and crowned himself, proclaiming no one was above the King. Religious libertarians, like Baptists, proclaimed the separation of the church from the entanglement of the state. We have but one King—Jesus. Baptists helped write the first amendment to the Bill of Rights. Men like James Madison recognized that state endorsed religions promote a heavy-handed oppression of the free expression of faith.  Some Baptists today have abandoned their principles on this matter. 

After Henry VIII broke from Catholicism and established the Anglican Church, tradition there holds that the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the church. In that role the Most Reverend Justin Welby will anoint the King with holy oil (viewers are not allowed to witness this ritual) before placing the crown upon his head. Those countries which still have kings and queens, including Great Britain, are all constitutional monarchies and are pledging an oath to their governing constitutions. The kings and queens of today’s world are symbols of a nation’s heritage and carry the role of advisors to their nation’s leaders.  They have the title but little authority.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Christ is King. Let’s experience the love and power of God together.

Jim Niederer called Dorothy on her birthday last month but got her voicemail. Without any preliminaries, he sang Happy Birthday completely in German, then hung up. It was an unexpected call from her father’s younger brother, especially since it was in German. Jim’s parents, Dorothy’s grandparents, immigrated to Waco, Texas from the German-speaking Appenzell, Switzerland in 1907. The family became part of the Central Baptist Church, a former mission of First Baptist, Waco, to the German immigrant families. Jim’s mother organized Central’s WMU in 1910. Jim was born January 6, 1921. He served in World War II from 1942-1945. When he married Ella Marie Gossen in 1947, a very young Dorothy Niederer was their flower girl.

Jim Niederer has a remarkable story.  After intensive training, Jim’s unit sailed to north Africa to fight the Nazis in Europe. Under the command of General George Patton, he participated in the invasion of Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio in Italy. They then fought their way through Italy to France and Germany. Because Jim could speak German, he could eavesdrop in various places and pick up what was rumored to be happening. Once Jim was able to get a brief leave to meet up with his younger brother Charlie, whose unit was also in Italy. Later, Jim witnessed General Patton’s death from about 50 feet away. His unit came under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower, whom he talked with on many occasions.  As the war was winding down in Europe, they freed towns across Germany and on to Austria, where Jim’s unit liberated the Dachau concentration camp. Jim was awarded six bronze stars. 

The Intentional Lifegroup of Preston Road Baptist Church, Dallas, has as its mission the video recording of the remaining WWII veterans to preserve their stories. Even though Jim’s family counts Park Cities Baptist Church as their home church, the Lifegroup filmed Jim’s story and combined it with actual war footage and newsreels of Jim’s experience. You can watch Jim recount his experiences on You Tube. Search for Jim Niederer: 102 Year Old World War II Veteran. The complete documentary is 50 minutes and contains many brutal scenes from the war. 

Jim is a remarkable man who still lives in his own house. His son Ken comes over each night to help him get ready for bed. His daughter Kay drives in from Round Rock to spend most weekends with him. Others check on Jim daily. He greatly misses Ella Marie, who died in 2020. And he reads The Evangel faithfully each week. Thank you, Uncle Jim, for your faithfulness in prayer for the church’s ministries and your sacrifice for liberty and democracy.

Assumptions about others do not matter unless they are wrong. This week 16-year-old Ralph Yarl rang the doorbell and was shot twice through the front door of Andrew Lester’s house. Yarl had been asked to pick up his younger twin brothers. He was at the right house number, but on the wrong street one block over. Yarl assumed he was at the right house. Lester says he was “scared to death” and assumed he was being robbed. Yarl’s wounds were not fatal, but his life has been forever traumatized. Mr. Lester has been charged with two felonies: assault in the first degree and armed criminal action. 

This week I have been exercising, also known as walking, at Tulsa’s upscale outdoor shopping center, Utica Square. On Monday I also got my afternoon coffee. On Tuesday, Dorothy and I met for a late lunch. I also watch people and admire the spring flowers planted everywhere. I remember being at Utica Square one November many years ago. The place was filled with holiday shoppers and parking was at a premium. On my way back to my car I saw the most beautiful automobile I believe I have ever seen outside of a car show. It was a stately silver Rolls Royce adorned with highly polished silver trimmings. As it passed in front of me, I saw there was a chauffeur driving two people who were seated in the back of the car.  I made two guesses as to who was inside: a wealthy elderly couple or the Lady Dowager Duchess of old Tulsa Town herself (whoever that might be) with her personal assistant. I got in my car and drove around the block to see where the Rolls Royce took the passengers.

The chauffeur stopped at the front door of a store, but from my position I could not tell which store it was. He got out, dressed in a full charcoal and gray uniform with the hat, and opened the car’s rear door. Out stepped a dark-haired young lady dressed in stylish causal clothes. “Ah ha,” I thought, “the other will be the Duchess.”  But when the other woman stepped out of the car she looked as young and stylish as her friend. They could have been sisters, or a mother and daughter or just good friends. I discovered that they had gone into the Pottery Barn. Maybe they won the lottery and rented the Rolls Royce for the day just to impress people like me. Maybe that is how they go shopping all the time.  I just do not have enough information to know the real answer. My first assumptions were wrong.  The hard lesson is that almost every time I assume, or presume upon a person or a situation, I am wrong. Just ask my wife. 

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

There was something different about my neighbor’s lawn ornaments. I got home from work in the late afternoon about a week or so ago. As I went to check the mailbox, something caught my eye in the neighbor’s front yard. Our neighbor has a brick-edged flowerbed circling a maple tree. On each side of the flowerbed stand two three-foot-tall ceramic deer. That day there stood a motionless goose beside one of the deer. Then I spotted another Canadian goose behind the tree. I took a picture of the four lawn ornaments. This is unusual for our part of the neighborhood. The geese tend to stay over at one of the ponds on the next street. The next morning the geese were still there. Later I noticed one of them standing on the roof of a white pickup truck parked across from my neighbor’s house. My neighbor sent me a text asking if I had noticed the geese. I called them his new lawn ornaments. He corrected me by saying one had become a hood ornament for the truck. Then he mentioned that they would probably be with us for a month. The goose is nesting in the flowerbed. The gander stands on patrol. 

As the temperature has warmed, the gander has taken to guarding both of our houses, retreating under the truck only to nap. The truck owner has not noticed that the gander can no longer stand on the truck due to the unpleasantness on its roof. The geese choose to use our driveway and sidewalk when they need to stretch. I find that the snow shovel works well, but it is noisy. Maybe that is why the geese decided today to alternate their breaks in the relative privacy of our front stoop and on the welcome mat at our front door. Only three weeks to go.

Cleaning up the mess is a chore that needs to be done, whether we like it or not. I wonder sometimes what God thinks of the mess I make of things. In Biblical language confession leads to cleansing. Admitting I am responsible for my own sin is step one. It is much easier to point to others’ messes. Confessing someone else’s sin, while self-satisfying, does not lead to personal cleansing. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.

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