Today, October 1, is former president Jimmy Carter’s 100^th birthday. A remarkable milestone for a remarkable man.  Following the death of his wife Rosalyn last November, Dorothy and I began discussing the time we attended a luncheon with the former president. We had each taken a picture with him using our little digital camera. We needed to get those pictures framed. Back in 2009 I was serving as the Moderator of the Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma. Jimmy Carter had launched an effort to help bridge the racial divide in our land starting with Baptist churches. He called it a New Baptist Covenant. An organizing meeting of all the various Baptist denominations and organizations in our state was formed to invite Mr. Carter to share his vision. The actual meeting included the most diverse representatives of Baptist leadership I have ever witnessed.

We gathered in the convention meeting hall of the Embassy Suites in Norman, Oklahoma, with hundreds of others for an evening of worship followed by smaller breakout sessions and discussions across August 7 that year. Dorothy and I were invited to a small luncheon beforehand  to hear his testimony of faith in the Lord and God’s people. Because the luncheon was limited to the steering committee, there were about 60 people present. Following his remarks, he invited us to come and meet him and have our pictures taken. There was no professional photographer, so we were on our own to take the pictures. We finally got those pictures matted and framed this spring. The back of the picture has a pocket for other pictures and materials from the event.

When the Carters left office in 1981, he was 56 years old. He told of their family discussions on how to best use the platform they had been given as a former president. They felt a call to be “missionaries” to the world, promoting peace, healing, and human rights. They developed the Carter Center, which is both a presidental library and a mission headquarters for their world-wide activities. He has shown us how to treat others and how to serve Jesus through his work with Habitat for Humanity well into his 90’s.  Now he is also showing us how to die with faith. Since 2015 he has been living with liver cancer, which metastasized to his brain, and since February 2023, in home hospice care.  Happy 100^th Birthday, President Carter.

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

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Over the course of the past couple of weeks, a small RV town has formed on the north and west sides of the county fairgrounds. The Tulsa State Fair opens this week. About six weeks ago dump trucks loaded with dirt started unloading the massive amounts needed for the animal barns and temporary parking lots and staging areas. Bulldozers and shovels are valued tools these days. It has been a little quieter on the Yale Avenue side. Since company is coming, city crews have been repairing broken sidewalks and redoing the curbs and ramps along Yale between 11^th and 15^th streets. Trucks with trailers filled with large animals have been rumbling past the church headed for the fairgrounds, only to have to weave around the barriers on Yale. Carnival rides have been assembled and are still being tested and inspected, new signs have been added, and those RVs filled with people, supplies and merchandise have assembled, followed closely by the young Future Farmers and their prize-winning livestock. Corn Dog and Cotton Candy trailers are escorted down the streets like honored guests arriving at the ball. All that is left is for about a million people to show up, discovering along the way that it costs real money to go to the State Fair. Last year’s Tulsa Fair attendance was 1,075,000, by the way.

There is a widely held belief that 80 percent of every successful project is careful planning, 10% is in having a Plan B and Plan C, and the last 10% is found in the enjoyment of seeing it all come together. The unexpected will always happen—that is what makes it memorable.

I enjoy the Fair. I enjoy watching the people, eating the “food” and discovering the latest, greatest miracle-working gadget ever seen on the face of the earth. There is nothing quite like a state fair. But it would never happen at all without detailed preparations, hardworking people, and a common goal to hold the best fair ever. So when you see the 4H-ers with their creative robots and future technologies, the FFA-ers’  prize cow or pig, the blue-ribbon cakes or quilts, the hot tubs or the glasses cleaner, remember the effort and sacrifice that is behind it all. Any worthy endeavor takes preparation, commitment, and sacrifice. That includes your family, your church, and your daily life.

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

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How well do you sleep each night? As a child I was taught the bedtime prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

You may have prayed this prayer as a child. Apparently children have been praying this bedtime rhyme for a few centuries. As a youngster, the “if I should die” part of the prayer did not bother me as much as the keeping and taking of my soul. What is my soul? Where do I keep it? And why would the Lord want to take it somewhere? That was heavy theology to ponder before going to sleep at night. Later I assumed this prayer was probably born out of the anguish of high infant and child mortality during times of plagues and smallpox. One day I discovered the full version, based on a German poem from the 1600’s, has much more to say. It also could have been based on a sermon from Psalm 4.  Where we finished praying with, I pray the Lord my soul to take,  fuller versions continued with: If I should live for other days, I pray the Lord to guide my ways. Amen. Why didn’t we learn this part before we said, Amen! 

How well do you sleep at night? What are the things you think about as you drift off (or not) for the night? I read an article this week with the headline, Why Everyone Is Waking Up at 3 a.m. A quick search will reveal several widespread reports about the reasons many people wake up in the middle of the night, and the struggle to go back to sleep. It is a popular subject in the field of mental health these days. 

I have my share of wakeful nights. A couple of Bible verses help me at the end of a stressful day: Come to me, all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:27) Cast all of your anxiety on Him, for He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7) Try letting God hold all your stress, fears, to-do’s, etc. as you go to sleep. You will find them soon enough in the morning.

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

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This year we have been getting our backyard ready to attract more butterflies. Our beautiful old October Glory maple tree was showing the repeated years of storm damage. We had the tree specialists mend and thin out the broken sections year after year. But the damage had become too great. We were concerned the old tree might topple on our neighbors’ fences, or our house, with the next ferocious storm. Reluctantly, we had the tree removed this spring. It was time to rework the backyard with a little landscaping project. I have since learned there is no such thing as a little landscaping project.

We gathered some ideas and found a landscaper that was reasonable and affordable. I do not enjoy weeding flower beds, ever, so we had the bed along the back fence filled with rock. We added some Juniper trees, three lilacs and three rose bushes. At the far end we planted a Butterfly Tree (Chaste tree). It is somewhat like a crepe myrtle, yet softer and wider.  That one tree alone provides most of our backyard enjoyment. That and the roses, which have been continuously in bloom since late June. Pollinating bees, bugs and butterflies attract the best birds. All these little creatures and insects tend our part of the earth with professionalism and diligence. No pesticides are allowed in our backyard, for the monarchs are headed to my house, and yours also, in a couple of weeks.

The majestic monarchs are making their journey from Canada to winter in Mexico, a place they have never seen, yet long for. When the winter passes, they will send forth the next generation back to Canada. The journey is one of transformation from a sluggish caterpillar into an international traveling butterfly. If God does that for butterflies, imagine what is in store for us. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

When I went out to inspect the roses and the trees today, the bees and bugs were faithfully working. The backyard is starting to settle in. The weeds seem easier to pull up. Creation is amazing. God is so good. 

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

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​As I headed to the car to leave the church this afternoon, a trio of puppies, maybe three months old, came prancing towards me, all “look at us, we are out on our own.” I did not know if they had escaped their yard or had been set loose to find a new home. I am not ready for a puppy, or three, at my house. Although it does remind me of this good word:

If you can start the day without caffeine, If you can get going without pep pills, If you can resist complaining and boring people with all your troubles, If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it, If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time, If you can overlook it when something goes wrong through no fault of yours and those you love take it out on you, If you can take criticism and blame without resentment, If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him, If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend, If you can face the world without lies and deceit, If you can conquer tension without medical help, If you can relax without liquor, If you can sleep without the aid of drugs, If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion or politics, Then, my friends, you are almost as good as your dog.

It is simply amazing how attached we can become to our pets. We can simultaneously delight in their antics and clean up their messes with a frown. We love them in our laps or at our feet. We smile when they are happy and cry when they are in pain. Our grief is all too sharp when we lose one. I called my first dog Nickel because his mother’s name was Penny. Nicky listened to my troubles, chased mice and other critters and ran beside me when I rode my bike. I do not know if our pets will goto heaven when they die. I do know that the Bible indicates that heaven is filled with all manner of animals and creatures beyond our imaginations. If we can love our creatures so deeply, how much greater is God’s love towards us today? 

​Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Be as good as your dog. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

​  

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As the Body of Christ, the church has been provided, to use Paul’s analogy, the Armor of God. (See Ephesians 6:10-18) This armor serves as defensive protection against the daily onslaught of problems both human and spiritual. Describing the uniform of a Roman soldier, Paul depicts the church locally and its members individually, dressing for the day.  He shows us a spiritual exercise for facing each day. How do we get dressed?

We dress for the weather, and we dress for the occasion. If we are staying in, we may not dress much at all. We have yard work clothes, dress-up clothes, travel wear, and the stuff we wear all the time in between. I suggest clean clothes are better for being with friends and family. Consider adding the spiritual layer of protection on top of the physical every time you get dressed. 

Last Sunday I made a few suggestions for dressing as the body of Christ and as witnesses for Jesus:

Stand firm then, with the belt of Truth buckled around your waist, rather than a string of Lies trying to hold it all together.

With the breastplate of Righteousness in place, rather than an ugly t-shirt of Lawlessness.

With your feet (shoes) fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace, rather than the flip-flops of Conflict and Chaos.

Take up the shield of Faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, rather than the ping-pong paddle of Cynicism.

Take the helmet of Salvation, rather than the hoodie of Hopelessness.

And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, rather than a bucket full of the words of Anyone or Everyone Else.  In Jesus Christ alone, we are fully secure, fully dressed for the day, and fully protected for eternity. 

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

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One day I learned a valuable lesson from a seminary chapel service over fifty years ago. The speaker was D. Elton Trueblood. Dr. Trueblood (1900-1994) was a distinguished theologian, religion professor, author and presidential advisor. He was a Quaker and a noted philosopher. His was a call for world-wide Christianity to “wake-up” to the decline in the church due to idolatry. Sounds quaint by today’s standards, doesn’t it? He was talking about idols such as church buildings as monuments of pride and affluence, clergy hired to do ministry for the congregation, entertainment disguised as worship, and Christian service defined as “attend our Sunday meeting.” These idols are still with us. He was calling for the Church to be a “company of the committed” to Christ, seven days a week.

In one of his books, The Incendiary Fellowship, Trueblood tells the story of the fire-keeper, a young man chosen by ancient tribal elders to always keep a fire burning. In the long-ago, fire was a necessity for tribal survival. As nomadic people moved to follow their herds and their game, someone needed to keep a flame going throughout their journeys. It needed to burn through rain and storm, heavy wind and blowing snow. Elders showed the young man how to protect the flame by sharing it with others during the riskiest times. Carelessness would be a costly mistake. It was easy to carry the fire on most days, but preparation for the unexpected was mandatory. From Trueblood’s perspective, every Christian needs the commitment of the fire-keeper, for Christ is our world’s only hope.

At the end of chapel that day an announcement was made inviting anyone to join Dr. Trueblood and some of the faculty for dinner that night at a local restaurant. I called Dorothy and she indicated that she was always open to dinner out. That evening eleven of us spent a marvelous time with a profoundly insightful Christian. The valuable lesson I learned that day was: Never miss an opportunity to learn from the best, for they will share the fire.

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

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This Reflections is a re-posting from August 2020

A few years ago, I wandered around the Army Navy surplus store looking for a good deal on something. I was open to what that might be. They tried to interest me in some body armor—a bullet-proof vest. It was camouflaged with multiple pockets and places to attach my survival gear. Wearing that vest, they told me, I could face down the bad guys when all the bad stuff starts to happen. What stuff? You know, robbers, looters, zombies, that kind of stuff. Here, try it on. It’s only $140.00 and like new. I looked it over. They were right. I did not see any bullet holes anywhere on it. Of course, this particular vest must have been worn by someone much bigger and in better shape than I ever was. It was not a good look for me.

The experience quickly brought to mind David, when he volunteered to challenge the giant Goliath in a death match. Everyone stopped laughing when they realized David was deadly serious. The well-intentioned king decided that David needed to wear the best armor available, so David put on the king’s armor. It was too much, too big and too heavy. “David tried walking around, because he    was not used to them.…I cannot go in these….So he took them off.”(1 Samuel 17) David used his own armor: faith in God, a slingshot, a stone and a plan. I also remembered the story’s lesson, be true to who you are; do not wear someone else’s armor. 

Lately, I’ve been on a quest for the perfect facemask. I have discovered two that seem to work best, the blue medical one and a double-layered washable black one with a long shoelace type cord that goes over my ears and around my neck. That means it can hang at my neck when I take it off. It can also serve as a stylish bib. 

God provides the custom-fitting armor that each of us need for the spiritual battles that we face every day. “Put on the whole armor of God,” admonishes Paul in Ephesians chapter 6. Hiding behind someone else’s armor will never work. Face the day ready to meet the test with the grace and strength of God’s love and power. With all the bad stuff we face each day, armor up, do not be afraid, for our God is with us.

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

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For a Sunday newspaper a few decades ago, Charles Shultz drew Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty under a shade tree, just talking. Patty turned and asked, What do you think security is, Chuck? He answered, Security? Security is sleeping in the backseat of the car…When you have been somewhere with your mom and dad, and its night, and you’re riding home in the car, you can sleep in the backseat…You don’t have to worry about anything…Your mom and dad are in the front seat, and they do all the worrying…They take care of everything. A smiling Patty says, That’s real neat. 

 But it doesn’t last, sighed Charlie Brown. Suddenly, you’re grown up, and it can never be that way again! Suddenly it’s over and you’ll never get to sleep in the backseat again. Never!  Never?  Absolutely never!   Hold my hand, Chuck!!

Sometimes we feel we need to hold someone’s hand to see us through. Peppermint Patty was growing up. One day she would be driving the car all by herself. The famous writer Anonymous once said that a friend is one “who comes in when the whole world goes out.” Each of us has our own burdens to bear. But there are those times when someone comes into our day with an overburdensome load to bear. In Galatians 6:1-5 Paul encourages us to lend the helping hand when others have stumbled over the temptations on their path or the loneliness of carrying too much for too long. 

The difficult words for me are found in verse 2: … you who are spiritual, restore such a one with a spirit of gentleness. It is far easier for me to tell someone how to “fix” themselves than to support them as they face the next shaky steps. It is far easier to hand over a band-aid than to wrap them in gentleness. It is far easier for me to confess their sins with a promise of forgiveness than to deal with my own sins along the way. “You who are spiritual” recognizes that each of us may be one of the more spiritual people that someone knows. “Restore such a one” recognizes that healing often begins painfully and slowly.  Burden-sharing can be hard work because our own loads are so heavy. Let’s lighten the load together.

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

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“Summertime and the livin’ is hot, humid and salt free.” At least that is what I heard the teen-aged waitress say. So I tried to cover up my confusion with the one weather joke I use when people complain it’s too hot in the summertime: Who would have thought it would be hot in the middle of July in Oklahoma? But she was trying to cover up her embarrassment. “I can’t believe I said salt free when I was trying to say sultry.” So it was not my hearing. She then went on to tell me that she could not wait to get off work because she had a million things to do tonight, and she was stressing out about it all.

I do not know which is worse: thinking one thing but saying another or saying something out loud you did not know you were thinking. Or is it saying the wrong thing when you thought you said the right thing, but it was the exact opposite of what you thought you were saying when you thought of it. Maybe we are all under too much stress, and the heat of the summer just frazzles us quicker. And whatever happened to the summertime and the livin’ is easy?

I guess I have to go back to the days of my childhood and youth, before my first summer job, to find when the livin’ was easy.  Those were the days of swimming in the neighbor’s pool or in the neighborhood lake behind my uncle’s house. Those were the days of Scout camping trips, Vacation Bible Schools and family time at church. Those were the days for reading National Geographic, comic books, and adventure stories. Those were the days of ice-cream trucks and popsicles under a tree. Those were the days we played ball in the street and came home for supper when we heard our names yelled down the block. (If you heard your middle name, it was too late.) So how stress free are the summers of our children and grandchildren these days? Are they stressed because we are stressed and hot? What does summertime living look like for today’s teens? Take one for an ice-cream cone and find out. Maybe we all need to read an adventure story, play with our friends, and go to church together more often.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Eat some ice cream. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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