Celebration

...now browsing by tag

 
Bible/Scripture Choices Christian Living Christmas Church Death Faith/Feelings Forgiveness Friendship Generosity God God's Plan God's Word Grace Humility Jesus Kindness Leadership Lifestyle Love Mercy Ministry Miscellaneous Opinion Parenting Perseverance Prayer Questions Quiet Time Reflection Resurrection Salvation Scripture look Second Coming Seeking Sermon Series Sin Speech Story Suffering Surrender Thanksgiving Trials Truth Telling Worship
 

May 20

Tuesday, May 20th, 2025

Celebrations are meant to be shared by all.

After a trip to Ohio that was uneventful getting there, we had a great time celebrating the graduation of our only grandson from high school. His current (and so far only) interest, Cameron, also graduated. We endured over 400+ students graduating and (sadly) very poor acoustics which did an injustice to all the speakers, to see him accomplish something which not too many years ago seemed so far out in the distance.  After getting to share a meal on Saturday night at Roosters (his and my favorite when there) with Braden, Janna and Mike, and Mike’s son, Andrew (who graduates this coming Sunday), we had a very full Sunday afternoon and evening. It was in downtown Columbus and I am so glad Mike drove. He knew where he was going and it was nice to be along for the ride.  After a Monday morning breakfast at IHOP with Braden and Cameron we headed back home around 9:15. Plans were to be home by 1:30 or so. That was until we got stuck in a 1-2 hour wait due to a wreck not quite 4 miles ahead of us. It took us almost 1-2 hours to go 4 miles or so, until I was able to get off the Interstate (due to it being closed completely) and get around the accident. All in all though, we made it home in 6 hours which is just 2 hours longer than normal. Jo and I went to the local ball fields to watch some of the kids play last night and when we got home we were beat. But it was one of those “good beats.”  I slept almost until my alarm went off at 3:30.

For my reading this morning I was in Nehemiah. The people of Judah had made their way back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon with the blessing of Cyrus, the king of the Medes-Persians. Ezra, the priest, was with the first wave. But the report of the devastation of the walls surrounding Jerusalem reached Nehemiah and he was so distraught that King Artaxerxes noticed it. Nehemiah petitioned for, and was granted, passage back to Jerusalem. There were those who intended to rain on Nehemiah’s parade, but one word from the king changed all that. Ezra brought spiritual reform; Nehemiah brought physical reform. In this case they went hand in hand. And along with Nehemiah’s work came both trouble (by outsiders), but also a celebration for being back and being able to rebuild the walls. While not all were happy and did not celebrate this milestone, Nehemiah did and he invited the people to do so.

I think it would behoove all of us to find things, events, and especially people, to celebrate. There is enough doom and gloom in the world without adding to someone’s angst. Praise and encourage others. Find the good in others and celebrate that. As Proverbs 20 says, “Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.” (V.15). It also says, “A gossip  goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers.” (v.19)

There you have it. “Celebrate good times come on!” (cue song). 🙂

Posted in InTheShadow | 8 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

May 15

Thursday, May 15th, 2025

Everyone likes a celebration.

Birthday. Well some. I guess it depends on the age. 🙂

Promotion at a job.

Graduation (whether high school, college, trade school or whatever).

We will enjoy a celebration this Sunday. Our grandson will graduate from Worthington Kilbourne High School in Worthington, OH.  It has been 18 years in the making.  Let me rephrase that because it sounds like it took him 18 years to get through school. 🙂 🙂  He turned 18 last October and will graduate Sunday. It is hard to believe-for Jo, Tami, Janna (his mom), and me that we are at this point. From the little baby I held in my arms when they brought him home from the hospital; to the little boy I used to throw the football and ultimately, baseball with in the yard; to attending multiple games of both football and baseball; to watch him go from eating nothing but rice at Chipotle to eating anything in front of him; to meeting Cameron his first and only girlfriend (that phrase is so ’90s as he says); to the time he had long blonde hair because he had gotten into skateboarding and had to have his hair long; to getting a mohawk when he finally cut it; to hearing about passing his driver’s test; to this moment in time. Lots and lots of memories cloud my mind. At this point the tears of joy and remembrance have not leaked.

This Sunday he graduates from high school with a 4.2 GPA and plans to attend THE Ohio State University and major in finance and business. His first plan was to be a sports agent, but that changed to a sports analyst (tells what players and teams need to do to get on the right track, etc). At this point, I have no clue what his ultimate goal is…and I’m not sure he does either. Part of his education track will involve some classes in law. So, who knows?

What I do know is that this weekend is a celebration for his mamaw, his aunt, his mom, his friends, himself, and me.  This will be my last post until Tuesday. We will leave Saturday for Ohio and return sometime Monday. Your prayers for our safe travel would be appreciated. Your prayers for Braden, my grandson, and his future-spiritually and career-wise- would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

Posted in InTheShadow | 8 Responses »
Tags: , , , , ,

October 25

Friday, October 25th, 2024

“CELEBRATE!” (cue up Rare Earth from the 60s or if you prefer Kool and the Gang)

I normally don’t post on Friday, or the weekend for that matter. But this is big! Huge in fact! I know you are waiting with baited breath to hear what is so important that Bill would break protocol to post on a Friday.

OVCF, the church I have had the honor and pleasure of pastoring for 19 years (I start #20 next month) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this Sunday. 20 YEARS!!! No matter how you look at it that is quite an accomplishment. From starting out with a meeting in a hardware-type building with just a few folks and meeting at several different places in its beginning, the church found a “home” at the Owen Valley Sports Complex, where it was meeting when Jo and I moved here in November of 2005. We temporarily moved to the middle school for a few months until someone got a wild hair to get us out so we went back to the complex. We went back to the middle school when the flood of 2008 displaced us from the complex for about 4 months. In 2010 we bought an unused Mormon church building. We had our first worship in the new facility in September and were excited about the future. In January of 2011 it came to light that over $200k had been embezzled from us. But God was good. I missed one paycheck during that time and it was made up at the next pay period. In 2012 we remodeled our building to accommodate our growth. We knew when we bought the building it was too small and would require an expansion.  In 2014 we hired Ryan East to be our youth pastor. He had been working at IU Credit Union and teaching our youth group. It was a perfect fit! In 2018 we sacrificed expanding the adult worship area for a youth wing. It was a very wise decision. Along with that we became debt free thanks to someone’s inheritance. When COVID hit the generosity of the people never quit. We didn’t miss a beat. In fact, we expanded to offer live stream during that time! We also increased our mission giving.  After finishing the youth addition, we began saving for an expansion on our adult worship area. We have been in two services since 2013 and there is a strong desire for a unified body in one service. Holidays like Christmas and Resurrection Sunday will often find us at the Abram Event Venue to hold all of us at once. But that comes with a ton of inconvenience and limited ministry to the kids (like none).  We have continued saving to be able to build debt free. Along the way we have taken our Easter offering and given it away to missions, giving all of  away unless designated otherwise. We have taken our anniversary offering and put it in the building fund or given away all or part of it to missions as well. God has been more than faithful to us.

So we celebrate Him this Sunday. We celebrate His faithfulness and goodness to us this Sunday. And yes, we celebrate the people of OVCF. They are, after all, the church. Not the building. People have come and gone-some through death, some through moving, and yes, some through discontent. But along the way, God has also brought some exciting people that I’m proud to call friends and ministry colleagues. One of them reads and comments on this blog almost daily-Ryan and his wife, Amanda. Jo and I still see them and go out to eat with them (Chili’s here we come!). People like Ryan have impacted my life in ways they do not know and words fail when I try to express them. Over my 19 years I have seen a lot happen at OVCF and in Spencer. My prayer is that the influence and legacy has been a positive one.

I’ll close this post for now and give an update on our celebration on Monday (Lord willing, of course). Until then, may I ask you to pray for us for Sunday? My deepest prayer, my most fervent prayer, is that in our celebration we will never lose sight of Who is behind it all and to Whom we give all the praise. One of the songs we will be singing, along with Good  Good Father and No Longer Slaves is  Firm Foundation (I prefer the Disciple/Honor and Glory version): “Christ is my firm foundation/The Rock on which I stand/when everything around me is shaken/I’ve never been more glad/I put my faith in Jesus/Cause He’s never let down.”

Amen!

{Note : if you so desire, we are unable to live stream from AEV due to a lack of good internet connection. My message has been prerecorded and downloaded and will be shown at 10:00 Sunday morning on our YouTube channel. It is a shortened version of the live experience but will give you a little bit of a taste of being there}.

One more thing: I did this from home on my iPhone so if you find typing mistakes, blame the phone. 😂

Posted in InTheShadow | 10 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 18

Monday, September 18th, 2023

Jo and I and our daughter traveled an hour away yesterday afternoon to attend the Celebration of Life of a friend. On August 23rd I wrote about us attending a funeral visitation of a friend. That visitation was on Tuesday, the 22nd. On Wednesday, the 23rd, I made my way to the hospital to visit a friend from that same town who was in the hospice unit. It was a matter of time for her to pass. Both families were tied together by blood and hearts. On Saturday, the 26th that friend went to be with Jesus. Due to various circumstances, they had to wait almost a month to honor their mom.

One of the qualities of this friend people kept talking about was her sweet spirit. I have known her as a pastor and a friend since 1987 and never once did I ever hear a cross word or a bad mouth about anyone come from her lips. In fact, on display by all who knew her and spoke of her was her tender, gentle heart. That heart came from her deep and committed relationship to Jesus Christ. It permeated every part of her. If there was someone of whom it could said “every joint, every bone, every muscle, every fiber of her being was locked on to Jesus,” it would be her.

I think the best words I could say-that I want said about me when my days are done-is that she loved. There is a passage of Scripture which I think sums up Sherri’s life. I’ll let it speak for itself and say the rest of my words:

“Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear…All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Eph. 4: 29, 31-5:2 NASB2020)

What words would you want said about you if people gather to celebrate your life?

Posted in InTheShadow | 8 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

September 12

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

A further recollection of 9/11…only this one comes later…one year later.

I was still the pastor of a church in Sandusky, OH. As 9/11 approached, I knew the memory was still very real. I had befriended several other pastors and met with them on a monthly basis for laughter and mutual encouragement and prayer. I lived in a small town outside of Sandusky and had become acquainted with a law enforcement officer or two (not from disobeying the law). 🙂 Some of the other pastors had communication with LEOs and firefighters. So we decided to have a memorial service, which included some singing, short recollections, and honoring the men and women in attendance who were, what are now called “front line workers.” Standing on the stage with me were pastors of various churches, various colors, various races, and various nationalities. There was no distinction based on race, color, or creed.

There is a reason for that. When tragedy or hardship strikes, it knows no boundaries. It doesn’t say, “I’m just going to bother white people this time.” As a matter of fact, did AIDS just visit one class of people? COVID? Does discrimination? The answer, of course, is a big resounding NO.

We used a school auditorium for that one year anniversary of 9/11. It was packed! Year #2 not so. Much of the cooperation was also gone. Not because of animosity, but because life moves on. It happens. The pastors still met for prayer, laughter and mutual encouragement. But, in some way, the collective remembrance stopped. For me, 9/11 always brings a time of silence, of gratitude for others, and a renewed sense of living in a flawed, but still-the-best-country to live in.

I still sing “God Bless America” when I hear it (mostly under my breath because my singing acumen has much to be desired). 🙂 🙂 But I pray more that America will bless God, that we will repent and return to the ONE who controls all things and heal our land.

Posted in InTheShadow | 12 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,