Decades ago, we had a leader in our church who would on occasion recite from memory a poem from Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) called Success:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people, and affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

This is a beautiful understanding of a satisfying life.How do you measure success? Emerson began his public life as a Harvard-taught minister two hundred years ago. Then his young wife died of tuberculosis. A crisis of faith naturally followed. He questioned his place in the great scheme of life. He struggled with issues of faith and science, eventually settling on what I characterize as “the transcendence of creation” as the touchstone of his life. Sadly, he had abandoned the Christ of Christianity. His writings became foundations for what was called “Transcendentalism,” which still has great appeal today.

The Bible speaks very little about success as we define it today. My understanding of Biblical success is not found in popularity, prestige, possessions, or power. Biblical success does not equal great leadership or numbers of followers or ministries or even mission endeavors. To me the Biblical definition of success is faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus. When things come down to the very end, the question from on High will not be if you were successful, but rather, “Were you faithful?” Were you faithful to God’s word, faithful in your relationships, faithful in your daily actions? Faith is fully trusting God. Faithfulness is living in gratitude for God’s great love and salvation.

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

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Celebrity news has surpassed the old-fashioned soap opera, although some of us still remember Luke and Laura. With the Grammys behind us and the Super Bowl and Oscars headed our way, who can avoid hearing about the misadventures, drama, controversies, loves and losses of the headliners of entertainment, sports, and politics today? What do you know of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? Who was snubbed by the award givers?  Whose tweet set off a firestorm of applause and outrage this week? There is so much celebrity news you may not know the answer to that last question? 

  He sent out a perfectly gentle and caring question to his followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. Then his innocent and sheltered world was unexpectedly rocked like an earthquake in Oklahoma. I am speaking, of course, of Elmo. I assumed a Muppet’s life was fairly simple like any TV personality: sitting in a make-up chair, rehearsing lines, hitting the mark when the director says “Action,” sleeping on a shelf the rest of the time.  I did not realize Elmo was also a celebrity influencer. I should have known better because we are all influencers. Elmo asked his followers: Elmo is checking in! How is everybody doing? The responses came in overwhelming numbers—10’s of thousands followed by 100’s of thousands, soon a million and a half people shared how hard things were. Because of this Elmo was invited to talk about mental health on the Today Show. Comedian Larry David, listening off stage was enraged, charged over to Elmo, and began to strangle the Muppet saying he could not listen to this any longer. David offered a reluctant apology. Elmo accepted the apology, but later David publicly retracted his apology to Elmo.  The next day Elmo tweeted: Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you. 

We should all have a friend like Elmo. No matter who you are, you are an influencer. Someone is looking at you and maybe thinking, so that’s how I am supposed to… act as an adult; talk when I’m mad; treat elderly people…  The questions always become then, how am I doing in my own soul today? How am I influencing others? 

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

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The future is with us right now.  Today is the future, most likely even tomorrow. But tomorrow is not here yet. There is one thing about the future I always hope to see—a new awakening of the Church in America. A sweeping wind of the Spirit, a revival of the church writ large, is always found in generational repentance and humility before God.  And it is always led by young people. Every world-shaking, soul-wrenching Great Awakening over the last 600 years has been born out of the tender hearts of teenagers and young adults. The elders are the faithful prayerful. They are also the encouragers and disciplers of children and teens. The rising generation among us is Generation Z (Gen Z).  It is a generation like no other in US history.

Gen X: Born 1965-1980

Millennials: Born 1981-1996

Gen Z: Born 1997-2012 

Gen Z’ers are the first generation to be totally immersed in digital technology. The i-Phone was released in 2007.  Covid disrupted their education and brought social isolation. They feel death and sickness is always near.  Generally, they are mostly urban and suburban, following social influencers like ducklings from fad to fad and scam to scam. They long to do things irl (in real life). They would rather shop in a store than online. Yet Snapchat, Whisper and TikTok is where they retreat with their friends. Gen Z’ers have dealt with continuous economic setbacks (the great recession of 2008-2009 and Covid.) Their focus is on economic security and materialism. Gen Z’ers long for good mental health. They want authentic experiences, truthful relationships, and less violence and meanness. I asked an 18-year-old waitress recently what she was thinking about these days. She told me she was terrified of AI. She said she was always stressed out, and she did not understand the world anymore. Religious faith had no place in her life. She just wanted to go skiing in Colorado with her boyfriend.

What does a stressed out, materialistic, digitized future look like? A whole lot like today. How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone teaching them? (Romans 10:14)

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

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Our daughter Dayna introduced me to a series of books a few years ago that have captured my imagination and tickled my funny bone. The books are literate but not stuffy, Christian but slightly irreverent. They are written from the perspective of a motherless little girl, harassed by her older sisters, fascinated with chemistry (poisons are her specialty), who regularly chooses to wedge her way into murder mysteries. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first in a series of ten novels following eleven-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce in post-war England. 

The Canadian author Alan Bradley began writing this, his first novel, in 2007 when he was 69. In 1994 Alan Bradley took an early retirement as director of television engineering for a university to begin his writing career. He wrote short stories and articles for magazines and published a couple of non-fiction books. His success came after a little girl he later named Flavia “took over” a story he was trying to write one spring day in 2007. Born in 1938, Mr. Bradley published the tenth book in his series in 2019. According to Variety Magazine, the movie version of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie starring British actors Martin Freeman (Sherlock) and young Isle Gie (The Sandman) went into production last spring.

“There are choices in life which you are aware, even as you make them, cannot be undone; choices after which, once made, things will never be the same. There is that moment when you can still walk away, but if you do, you will never know what might have been.” –Alan Bradley, The Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, 2015.

Advertisers want us to choose their products. Our families, friends and co-workers want us to go along with their choices. Politicians want us to choose them. We are faced with choices about everything, in every area of our lives, every day. Some choices are bigger than others. How do you choose? Day by day we decide, or we let someone else decide for us, how we will live today. Proverbs 3:6 declares: In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Invite God into your decisions. 

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

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Penguins are fascinating. They are all from the southern hemisphere—all 18 different kinds of penguins. Most live in Antarctica, South America, Southern Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. One group lives up in the Galapagos Islands. Most of us remember the award-winning film, The March of the Penguins, narrated by Morgan Freeman. Those were Emperor Penguins, but the life cycles and dangers are universal to all. The important thing to remember about penguins is not that they do not live anywhere near the Arctic Circle, but that they know how to walk on snow, ice, glaciers, and icebergs. We do not. They also know how to hop out of water onto said iceberg with bare feet. We should not even try. On my trip to Antarctica, we observed Adalie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguin colonies from a respectful distance of a few yards, although a few crossed the path right in front of me while hiking one day.  It amazed me to see how agile and skilled they are in and out of the ocean. 

One lesson that I learned from the penguins was how to walk on frozen water. Even with their short legs, penguins can slip and slide, but they mostly do that for fun—sliding headfirst, like a small missile into the sea. We, with our longer legs, are top heavy. (I’m speaking for myself, of course.) This means our slips and slides are not as much fun, especially that first bounce. Penguins teach us to keep our center of gravity low and beneath us. This means taking small steps, shifting your weight slightly side to side as you walk. Humans tend to walk shifting our weight forward, while waiting for the other leg to catch up with us and go forward even further. It does not take much to get ahead of ourselves. Add a little ice or mud, and we fall. Walking like a penguin might keep you safer in this frigid weather.

When it comes to walking through life, walk in the ways of Jesus. May I suggest a little spiritual exercise to help stretch us for our Christian walk today? First Corinthians 13 is known to us as the Love Chapter in the Bible. (There are other love chapters in the Bible, by the way.) Read chapter 13, substituting the name of Jesus every time the word love or it is used. This is how we live the Christian walk each day.

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

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When were you last hungry?  It has been observed that some people will get up from their holiday meal with the announcement, I am so full I could burst. Yet not ten minutes later they are spotted rummaging through the turkey carcass or picking up another bite of dessert. Then there are teenagers who periodically emerge from their caves growling for something else to eat. Imagine being the single parent of three children, working one or two minimum wage jobs, trying to keep everyone clothed and fed, plus cover rent and utilities; or a disabled vet living on the street; or a senior couple trying to make it until the end of the month. These are some of our church neighbors. 

Our People’s Pantry ministry has not missed a single week of sharing bags of groceries each Wednesday night for ten years straight—no matter the storms, Covid, the heat or the cold. Today a group of volunteers unloaded 1,792 pounds of commodities from the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This included dozens of bags of frozen chicken thighs and drumsticks, canned goods, and bottled juices. This, combined with donations of goods, and the purchase of supplemental items will last us about a month. All of this ministry is under the direction of Lori Dryer with her husband David and Terri Qualls at her side.

Here is a summary report for 2023:

Total Families served: 393

Total Individuals served: 948

Total Grocery Meals provided: 11,376

These numbers reflect a 15 percent increase in the number of people served over 2022.   We provide good quality food, an opportunity for conversations and prayer. Diep Vo and Terri Qualls oversee our Clothes Closet ministry, which is available each week for those who have additional needs. We also provide personal hygiene kits, can openers, and other necessities. We invite our neighbors inside for a light hot meal prepared by Russell Ford, Ben Shepard, and Patty Hickman. The People’s Pantry is open each Wednesday evening from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed around 4:00 p.m. to help us set up. Thank you for your on-going prayers, food and clothing contributions, and financial support.

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

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It’s time to put away Christmas. You know the routine: get out the boxes to re-store the decorations, undecorate the tree and the various places in the house, remove the tree, bring in the outside stuff, and finally pack it all away. I should not have been surprised to learn that there is a social media controversy over when to undecorate a Christmas Tree. Social media is the birthing room of all controversies great and small. It is the playground of brats and bullies. Apparently, there is a specific date on which to undecorate a Christmas tree. Some people disagree. Those who call themselves Christmas Traditionalists view Epiphany as the sacred date. Their reasoning lies in that the Twelve Days of Christmas concludes on January 6, the 12^th Day, Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, the day Jesus is made known to the Gentile world. Those who are the true believers of Christmas, as the controversy seems to imply, are right because of a centuries-old tradition. Everyone else must be a pagan or heretic.  All I want to do is put away the extra stuff. 

I have known people who never took down their Christmas tree. Some moved fully decorated trees in and out of a special closet. I’ve known others who redecorated their tree every few weeks—Valentine’s, St Patrick’s, Easter, Mother’s Day…throughout the whole year. Other people have trees with lights on them year-round because it makes them feel better. I have even known some people who do not always put up a Christmas tree. Who is the troublemaker?

Jesus never had a Christmas tree. His tree was a cross. Jesus never wrapped a Christmas present. His gift was the Word made flesh. Jesus never sang a Christmas carol or wished anyone a Merry Christmas. His salutation was “follow me.” Jesus never signed a Christmas card. His love was written in red—while we were yet enemies of God, Christ died for us.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Put away the stuff and Celebrate Jesus. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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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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