The whole world is grieving under the weight of the losses of this year. The coronavirus has reached every place on earth except Antarctica. In our country, it is the 3rd leading cause of death, with about 1,000 souls a day. Millions of acres of forests, farms and towns are burning in California, Oregon, and Washington. Hurricanes and repeated flooding threaten even more people. Financial, racial, and political tensions have up-ended families, churches, and communities. So much grief, and no real opportunity to properly mourn together. I came across this poem this week by Maya Angelou, who was raised in Sparks, Arkansas.

When Great Trees Fall 

When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken.

Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves.

And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.  Copyright © 2015 by The Estate of Maya Angelou.

Isaiah reminds us that our Messiah “is a man of sorrows who knows our grief.” By faith I believe that one day we will gather at church again to worship, pray, sing and even share our accumulating grief. Until that day, weary as we have become, we press on, step by step. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. You are a great soul. And let’s experience the love and power of God together while apart.

Bro. Darryl

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If all goes smoothly, the Avery family will arrive in Houston, Texas about 2:30 this Sunday afternoon, September 13^th. They will quarantine in Houston until the end of the month. Kevin’s parents live there, so they will spend much time with them. We talked to the Averys on Sunday evening, which was Monday morning in China. September 7 was Molly’s 13^th birthday. The whole family was recovering from Molly’s birthday sleepover. They are down to the final packing of everything into eight suitcases to bring with them. Everything else they own in Shenyang is being given away. There have been farewell parties, visits with many of the families they have been ministering with, guests from other parts of China, and last-minute work meetings to finish up all the details.

Kevin, Dayna, and the children are scheduled to move to Tulsa around October 1^st. The gracious people of Arrow Heights Baptist Church in Broken Arrow are providing their furnished Mission House for them through the end of the year. This will give them time to find a suitable place to live. Their mission efforts will continue as Kevin assumes the management of the mission organization, Serving Humanity in Crisis (SHIC), headquartered here in Tulsa. Kevin will continue his work in Shenyang through Zoom and other virtual platforms, much as he has done since the pandemic began. He is also negotiating the publication and distribution of his Chinese book, Needs to Be Seen, throughout China. Mission and autism centers in other areas of the world seem interested in his book also. The Averys mission efforts to children with disabilities and their families continues, with just a change of address.

On a personal note, I would like to thank you for your prayers and financial support of our daughter and son-in-law, Dayna and Kevin Avery. Your support for these missionary volunteers has enabled them to touch countless lives for the Lord. And the work they have begun will continue far into the future. In addition to safe and smooth travels, you can pray for Kevin’s health and stamina for the journey. The trip will take them about 35 hours, flying on Delta from Shenyang to Shanghai, then on to Seoul Korea, to Detroit, and finally to Houston. They will be wearing their N95 facemasks and distancing from others as much as possible on the planes and in the airports. By the way, they have a family motto: Averys can do hard things, because nothing is impossible with God.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Know that God provides. And let’s experience the love and power of God together while apart.

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Summer is the time to imagine the future. I was promised there would be flying cars by now. I do not exactly remember who made that promise. What a difference a flying car would have made for how we might have spent this summer of confinement. Then there was the imagination of Oklahoman Chester Gould, who in 1946 equipped comic strip detective Dick Tracy with a telephone watch with a tv screen. There was this implied promise that technology would make our life more comfortable and convenient. The original Back to The Future movie was released to theaters 35 years ago this summer. In the movie sequel the story ended up in 2015, which promised flying skateboards, hoverboards, if you will. Of the three, we got the watch, which is probably the most practical of the promises.

Sitting on the porch in the summertime brings out the smiles, the memories, and the imagination. We lost more than we realized when suburban architects moved the front porch to the backyard, and then installed “privacy” fences. Part of the joy of the front porch was watching the neighborhood come to life before your very eyes, waving at friends and seeing the children at play. Porch-time is good for the soul. Sit on the porch during a summer rain and feel the world change. Witness the cleverness of a squirrel raiding the bird feeder. Taste the luxuriousness of a fresh ripe peach or a homegrown tomato. Watch the fledgling sparrows learn how to fly. With a glass of iced tea at hand, read a Bible story, sing softly of God’s love, listen to all creation praise His name. Imagine the impossible, dream the incredible and relax in peace and grace. It is perfectly acceptable to relax into a nap or become inspired to write out a few new ideas. Do not wait for flying cars, or even self-driving cars, to make your life better. Enjoy the best life there is today. The only promise of tomorrow that we can count on is that God will be with us whatever tomorrow may hold. I recommend reading all of Psalm 118 today. Flying cars are not mentioned, but the image of an open gate for us to walk (or run?) through stirs a holy imagination in us.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Enjoy the porch. Let’s experience the love and power of God together while apart.

Bro. Darryl

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