That’s what life is made up of. And we all have them. The past couple of days has been like that. To be more specific…yesterday.
Background: at the beginning of 2026 we found out a couple was expecting their first child in February. She ended up coming in March, along with two boys. April brought a little boy. May brought a 2 boys and a girl. June brought 4 little girls. And then there is August.
As of Sunday morning, we had 3 babies left to be born. As of last night (Monday), we are down to one. One little boy was born yesterday at 12:01 am to a couple who went through IVF and who had waited 10 years after their first (considered a miracle child she was even conceived) That mom and another were “competing” for who would come first. 🙂 Last night the other little boy was born. At this point we have one due in October (I told them the 9th would make it a very special baby. And yes, that is my birthday). 🙂
Meanwhile, I received a call that Janna’s fiance’ was not doing well, so they were hurriedly making preparations so they could get married. It was originally scheduled for Friday and I was supposed to do it, but I don’t exist according to Ohio. Long story short Mike and Janna became husband and wife. Living 4 1/2 hours away, Jo and I could not make it. The low: Mike’s deteriorating health. The high: they were able to pull off the Mr. and Mrs thing. Jo and I will be making our way to Ohio tomorrow so prayers would be appreciated.
Highs and lows: part and parcel of living on this planet. In spite of the myriad of false teachers with their health and wealth garbage, the follower of Jesus was never (read that N.E.V.E.R.) promised a trouble-free life. What we were and are promised is God’s presence through those ups and downs. He is more there when things are up; no less than when things are down.
Trust His presence. Trust His goodness. In all circumstances of life.
Here is a song that tells the truth (and yes, it is more like my style). Words are easy to hear. If you have trouble click on “More” and scroll down for transcript. (I’m not into Bethel AT ALL but I do like this song).
I recently had a big disappointment. Our daughter, Janna, is getting married to Mike. Originally scheduled for August 28th at the courthouse (with a reception on September 14th at the Pickleball Club they played at), Mike’s health deterioration due to his pancreatic cancer is causing them to move things up. The original plan was to be married at the courthouse by a magistrate. Plans changed to this coming Friday and I was asked to marry them. To say it would have been an honor would be an understatement. When they went Thursday to get the license (they both had to be there), Janna was told I was not in their system. I would have to jump through hoops to make it happen and I tried. Two unreturned phone calls, one undeliverable email (using the address they gave), finally said, “I can’t.” Ohio said I didn’t exist. Funny thing is that I have my original license to perform marriages in Ohio from 1974! So, Jo and I will be there as proud parents watching our grandson, Braden, stand up there with her.
I sure am glad God doesn’t look at me as though I don’t exist.
I finished Out of the Blue by Greg Murtha yesterday afternoon. In his final chapter Greg wrote the following:
When I check out of Hotel Earth, please don’t say, ‘Greg lost his battle with cancer.’ That will not be the truth. No, when that time comes, when I get to the front of the line, it will be a point in time when I have never been more alive, and it will be an epic win. (p.183)
“So many men lives their lives in quiet desperation” as Henry David Thoreau once said. There are scant few who really and truly live life to the fullest. As Howard Thurman once said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (quoted on p.102). Or as that great theologian, William Wallace 🙂 says in Braveheart: “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”
Greg’s earthly life ended in 2017, 6 years after his initial diagnosis. He moved to the “front of the line” as he put it. He left behind quite a legacy. There is so much more I could write or say about this book. There are posts galore just begging to be written. I would encourage you to read his book.
I’ll close with this from The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
For us this is the end of all stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than before.
They all lived happily ever after is not a fairy tale. Live life to the fullest, my friends, knowing this is not all there is. Jesus has promised so much more!!
I had hand surgery yesterday. They have been dealing with a trigger finger of my left index finger for close to 2 years with shots, trying to get it to cooperate. It hasn’t. Surgery was scheduled for yesterday. But there is a twist. I was to meet the surgeon on Monday, July 27th. That morning I woke with my left ring finger in locked position. It eventually let up and you can’t tell, but after talking to the surgeon I was given a choice of doing the shot regimen again or having surgery. I told him, “You are already working on my hand. Let’s get them both done.” The total procedure is done under local anesthetic (I’m awake and talking the whole time while he works behind a sheet place between me and my hand) and one finger takes 5 minutes. Needless to say, typing may be an issue. 🙂 Recovery is supposed to take 5 weeks. At least I’m not allowed to ride my bike or lift weights (upper body) for that long. The stitches come out in 2 weeks. My fingers will be in splints so I’m not sure how much typing I will be able to do. I have been working frantically to finish my sermons and have one left in this current series called “Break Those Chains.” (It, by the way, is called The Elephant in the Room. It is a sermon on suicide.) Please pray for a quick and complete recovery. Thanks.
For today, I thought I would share another quote from Out of the Blue by Greg Murtha.
The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. The strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians-when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths. Sheldon Vanauken (quoted on p. xv)
Greg says that without cancer he would have remained that somber, self-righteous, smug, narrow-minded Christian who turns people off. Yeah…don’t want to do that either. I’m eternally grateful that God’s grace has ramrodded my life. It took me from a legalistic, pompous fool pretending to be religious and having all the answers, to (hopefully) one who is grace-filled and loves people genuinely for who they are not what they can give me. I don’t want to be one who misses the joy of following Jesus and doing His will willingly for any amount of money in the world.
Join me will you?
I wrote and scheduled the above yesterday
{Update: the surgery went well. But typing is a challenge. There is no splint, but my hand is wrapped in this big bulk of gauze and wrap. I’m supposed to put ice on it but I’m not sure how that is to be done. I slept in my recliner last night to keep it elevated. Not sure I will do that tonight. 🙂 Some good news: the doctor said if it heals well I can start using it and riding in 3 weeks, not five. YAY!! Continued prayers would be appreciated}
I began rereading (for the 3rd time) Out of the Blue by Greg Murtha. Greg was a 46 year old man, a long-distance runner, an entrepreneur, and a very self-motivated man. After an 11 mile run, in which he felt at the top of his game, he knew something wasn’t right. The words, “Mr. Murtha, you have cancer” rocked and changed his world. Even more, Aggressive Stage 3 colon cancer (later upgraded to Stage 4). Given the state of Janna’s fiance’, Mike, and his Stage 4 pancreatic cancer which has spread to his liver and abdominal wall, I felt it appropriate to read it again. My plan is to share some thoughts from the book (and some of my own) over the next few posts.
Several quotes have stood out to me in the Introduction and 1st chapter. Here’s one:
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn our, and proclaiming, “WOW!”(p.xviii)
The other is by writer, Bob Goff, the author of Love Does and Everybody Always (2 excellent book I have read):
God’s more interested in our hearts than our plans.” (pp.7-8)
Greg says, “The worst diagnosis is the best thing that ever happened to me because it changed my heart.” (p.8)
I can remember reading a book (several times) by the late Tim Hansel, entitled You Gotta Keep Dancin’. Tim was an avid outdoorsman when a freak accident mountain climbing changed his life forever. He landed upside down in a crevasse and when he came down from the mountain he felt smaller. The physical damage to his body played itself out in numerous ways as he got older but Tim refused to allow it to stop him. “Dancin’ is a wonderful and encouraging book where Tim encourages us to choose joy in the midst of life’s hurts. He closed his book with this quote:
There is no box made by God nor us but that the sides can be flattened out and the top blown off to make a dance floor on which to celebrate life. Kenneth Caraway (quoted on p. 143)
No life is “charmed.” We all face trials, difficulties, set backs, and challenges. My prayer is that whatever comes my way will be met with faith and trust in the ONE who knows all and controls all. I want to be used up when I breathe my last breath, knowing I gave it all for the glory of God.
{Please check back tomorrow for an update…and no, that is not clickbait}
Psalm 115 is an interesting psalm. Its divisions are stark and easy to see. But before I show that, there is a four-word question we all have to ask (and eventually answer): Whom will I trust? Well, let’s take a look at Psalm 115.
Verses 1-3 begins with a “trumpet” of praise: “Not to us, O Lord, not to use, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” WOW! We could spend hours in conversation just about this verse alone. But in a strange twist it diverts into a question: “Where is their God?” He answers with a contrasting thought: “Our God is in the heavens, and He does as He wishes.”
Verses 4-8 he takes the emphasis from the one true God and writes about their god, a god made with human hands. It is so graphic with phrases like, “They have mouths but cannot speak and eyes but cannot see.” It goes on to include all the senses, but then says an idol made with human hands cannot be alive.
Verses 9-18 is the book-ended conclusion. He goes back to describing the God who is real, the God we can trust. Two totally different types of gods. Theirs made with human hands and incapable of responding in any way, shape, or form versus our God, the Creator of all things, the One worthy of our praise and adoration, the One who is our helper and shield, the One who can be trusted.
The difference is stark. But it calls for a decision from each one of us, from me: which one will I serve?
Have you ever been honored and so overwhelmed that it left you breathless? I got this text last night from Janna:
“I want to put a bug in your ear, but there is a possibility that we might move up the wedding ceremony, especially with Mike’s health being back-and-forth so much. And we both talked and would want you to do it…But I just wanted you to be aware that we may need you if you’re willing to come to Delaware.” (Ohio)
Well, duh! 🙂 Marry my daughter and her fiance’? Let me think about that for a few minutes. Aaaah YEAH! (That was less than a nanosecond).
After Janna’s divorce (her ex wanted out), she eventually started dating Mike. {Funny story: When Janna talked about me, Mike asked what I was like. Would I sit and drink a beer with him? She laughed and said, “No. My dad has never had a drink.”} 🙂 They have been together, all told, for 6 years (if my math is right and that is dubious). He asked me about a month ago if he could have my blessing to marry Janna. Jo and I were both there and we wholeheartedly gave a big Yes! They had been talking about it before his cancer diagnosis. Now, of course, that changed everything. The wedding was scheduled for late August and the reception on 9/19. The magistrate was performing the wedding with only their sons and their two best friends in attendance. We were going to the reception in September. Mike’s cancer has changed everything. It has wracked his body so badly that he has been in almost constant pain and in and out of the ER and hospital. (He currently has been in since Monday). He has been unable to take his last two chemo treatments. So they are moving the wedding up to sometime during the 2nd or 3rd week of August, possibly the 14th. Braden will be gone from the 6th to the 11th visiting his dad in South Carolina.
I’m honored they asked. Mike asked Janna why she didn’t ask me from the beginning. While I have my suspicions, I can’t say for certain. But you know what? IT DOESN’T MATTER. In her first marriage I was her father. In this one I’m her dad, yes, but I’m also their shepherd.
I have a serious request though. Please, please, please pray for Mike. Storm the gates as they say. Stage 4 pancreatic cancer than has spread to his liver and abdominal wall is, frankly, a death sentence. BUT GOD... I’m praying for his healing-body and soul. Join me please.
“The best laid plans often go down the tubes.” That’s the “Bill version.” The real version by Robert Burns is “The best laid of mice and men often go awry.” Either one works. 🙂
My plan for today was to share some news with you that will change my world in the future but I have been asked not to do so at this point in time, so I will honor that. Maybe down the road a bit I will be able to do so.
Meanwhile, Psalm 102:1-2 “spoke” to my heart this morning:
Lord, hear my prayer! Listen to my plea! Don’t turn away from me in my time of distress. Bend down to listen, and answer me quickly when I call to you. (NLT)
I had a texting session just before bedtime with one of the people from OVCF, a lady who went through a devastating experience a little over a year ago and is still struggling to make sense of it all. I would say these verses describe exactly where she is. I can’t and won’t say I know exactly how she feels because I don’t, but I can say there have been times I have been where she is now. Questioning God’s goodness and wisdom. A cry for help. Silence. Answers needed/wanted. Silence. But in spite of it all, I want to be able to echo the psalmist’s words in verse 12: “But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever. Your fame will endure to every generation.”
As I told the lady last night, it is human nature to want answers. But God is not obligated to give them. As a parent I believed I knew what was best for my girls, and I didn’t owe them an explanation (at least at that moment), for my decision. God is under no obligation to tell me the “why’s” and “wherefore’s” of what He is doing. I have to trust His goodness and His love for me, just as I wanted my girls to trust me and my love for them. I wasn’t being cruel, even though in their eyes, I was.
“So Lord, to borrow lyrics from the song in yesterday’s post: ‘Even in the storm, I will praise You. Even in the storm I will trust You.’ I don’t know all, if any answers, but still I will trust You, my Savior, my King.”
“God is using this…Nothing would be wasted. Everything had a purpose. God’s timing is always perfect.” (Risner-p.237)
That was a quote I read yesterday as I make my way through Vaneetha Risner’s book, Watching for the Morning. Then I wrote this in my journal: “It’s hard to see that at the time, but it is a truth I’m going to cling to today, tomorrow, and all the way through. My Be Strong and Courageous words will now come home to me.” Come back here tomorrow to see why I say that. In the meantime, I am posting a song that has rocked my world. And no, it is not a rock song. 🙂 In fact, after I sent it to Tami she came back and questioned if I was her dad. In the event something happens that the link does not work, the song is called “Still I Will Praise You” by Seek First Worship. I’m wagering (without betting) that it will become a new song on your playlist. The video has the lyrics but if you hit “more” it will give you the information about Seek First Worship and also the lyrics.
“Lord, may the song soothe someone’s aching heart. Start with mine. Show me your greatest gift through times like this…Your presence. Give me grace to share with others. Help me to remember you are in control and You have a purpose.”
This is not a “woe-is-poor-me” post, even though it might sound like it. I love…LOVE…my job. I LOVE the church I have been privileged to pastor for 20+ years. I don’t want to be, nor do I desire to be anywhere else. I have one daughter who lives with us (she wants to keep an eye on her aging parents); a soon-to-be-married daughter who lives in Ohio; and a 19 (soon to be 20) year old grandson who will begin his Sophomore year at Ohio State. I am TOTALLY happy living where I do and serving the Lord where He has placed me.
I just finished reading a book entitled The Ministry of Small Things by Reuben Bredenhof. He wrote about what I consider is my approach to ministry: do the small things. I once pined to be the pastor of a big church and the prestige that came with it. May I say one thing? WHAT A FOOL I WAS! Along with all the headaches that came from being a small town church pastor, I realized those issues would just be magnified. That is why this book so resonated with me. I like doing the small things. I like sending personal notes. At the first of this month, I sent out 135 personal handwritten notes to the families and friends of OVCF to encourage them to BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS. One thing to say: NOT AGAIN! Besides the cost factor, there was the time factor and the hand factor (I think it cramped several times). 🙂 That’s not the first time I did that..but I’m thinking it might be the last. But I digress. It was a small thing and I like to do small things to make people feel loved and wanted.
But being the pastor of a small church also has its glitches. (Remember, Gail, I am NOT complaining!!) 🙂 Far from it. Being the pastor of a small church in a small town affords many opportunities for shepherding and being involved in peoples’ lives and feeling their hurts. The following is just some of what has come across my desk JUST THIS WEEK. No names will be mentioned and I will be vague on purpose.
My future son-in-law (yes he asked me, asked her, she said yes, and she got a ring) is struggling with the effects of chemo on his stage 4 pancreatic cancer. My heart aches.
A young friend who has been fighting cancer for 7 1/2 years…7 1/2 years!!…is struggling and hospice has been called to help his mom. He is not on death’s door, but the struggle is real. His grandfather, one of my best friends, died after a 15 year cancer battle that started in his prostate, just a little over 2 years ago.
I had a visitor to my office who shared some really hard news that still has me reeling.
A personal health issue that will have ramifications in the future (and which I will share some day) has me wondering how I will do.
But then God’s Word reminds me that God gives me what I need to make it through each day. That is what I’m counting on. Today. That’s all I need. Today. Not tomorrow, especially since tomorrow has enough trouble of its own. Why borrow it, you know? 🙂 Besides, I have no clue what tomorrow will bring. Today is what I need to remember. God gives me strength for today.
And in spite of it all…I love what I do. I love being a shepherd to “my” people. (Please don’t make a big deal about the “my” I used. I know they are HIS and I am His shepherd. But He did give them to me to watch over). I’ll keep you posted on God’s answer to my “today.” And sorry for the long post. You know those preachers…
