Retirement Talk

I am humbled, honored and overwhelmed at all that is happening today! Who could have guessed the incredible journey ahead when God called a fat kid from Nebraska to be a preacher! I can identify with one of my favorite stories – two milk cows were standing out in the pasture when a brightly painted milk truck drove down the road. On the side of the vehicle was painted, "Grade A Milk, Homogenized, Pasteurized, Sanitized,". One cow turned to the other and said, "Makes you feel a little inadequate, doesn't it?" I know I do not deserve all the accolades that have come my way in recent days, but I confess I am enjoying them, and hope and pray that in some small way I have made a positive difference for some folks.

As I survey the crowd, there are some folks here that, if you heard me preach, it was probably at a funeral. We may have met over a cup of coffee and you never attended the church I pastored, but you became a good friend. Over the years I have told lots of stories, but I have listened to lots of them, too. We have laughed at funny stories, but I have been touched by stories about cancer, about adult children tragically killed in accidents, about unfortunate things that happened in church, about marriages in crisis, kids in trouble, dealing with aging parents and too many other mention…if I could remember them…getting old, you know.

I love the Church of the Nazarene. She provided places of ministry and places to serve at various levels. As much as I love my denomination, however, that has never been a priority for making friends. I recently heard that John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, had a dream that he died and went to heaven. When he arrived he was anxious to inquire of Saint Peter, "There aren't any Catholics up here are there?" The Saint smiled and said, "No." Wesley continued, "There aren't any Baptists up here are there?" Once again the answer was, "No." There aren't any Presbyterians here either are there?" "No." "Well, how many Methodists are here?" Saint Peter smiled and said, "None. You see, up here there are no denominations." The story goes that Wesley's dream changed and he dreamed he died and went to hell. He had the same questions he'd asked in heaven. He was told there were plenty of Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians and even Methodists in hell. "You see, down here everyone has a denomination!" I have done my best to build the Kingdom of God, and trust He will take care of the congregations and denominations.

Several years ago I set out to review all the churches we've pastored and to record some of the significant things I thought we accomplished while we were there. When I finished, I realized that it would be better to review those churches and communities and the people who touched my life and made me better. The list would be too long to read here, but I did write some of them down. I'm sure Karen would be shocked at some of the names on that list because there are those who, intentionally or unintentionally, caused us a lot of heartache and a lot of pain, but I have learned that God wanted to use even those experiences to help us to be better.

This has been billed as MY retirement party, but there is a person who helped put this all together who stood by me for 42 years of want and in plenty. She never did, but at several points along the way Karen could have noted that when we got married Pastor Fechner said for better or worse…she could have asked, "When does it get better?" Karen graduated from high school, went to college, got married and moved into a Nazarene parsonage before her 19^th birthday. She was 18 and I was 22 when we started. Truly we have grown up in the ministry! I have witnessed people who failed, not because they did not have the gifts and graces for ministry, but because their spouse was a hindrance. In my humble opinion, and I know I am prejudiced, if there was ever a perfect minister's wife, it is Karen. She would be the first to say she did not do it perfectly, but she has been genuine and been a vital part of all the good that has touched my life. I say this, not in arrogance or pride, but humbly, but the grace of God, Karen is the only woman I have ever been intimate with, because she deserved no less.

I must express appreciation for our children. Brad knew he could not be here today because of his involvement with the youth in his community in Oklahoma, but he sacrificed to make the trip to Cañon City for my last Sunday and said some very kind things that day. I was a terrible parent, but I can say I did my best, and once I got my head on straight, God gave me time, some wonderful kids and time to be reconciled.

It has been an answer to prayer to live this close to our daughter, Brigette. She and I will usually instant message several times through the week, and Karen and I get to have dinner with her and Robert regularly. I'm not sure this party is really appropriate, but she has done a lot of work to make it happen, and it will always be a day we will remember…THANKS SWEETHEART!!!

They have made my life richer than they will ever know and I am so proud of both of the kids, their spouses, children and cats. J

I'm going to tell one more story and then be done. It comes from the ministry of a pastor whose ministry spanned over 30 years at 1^st Baptist Church in Dallas, TX. Dr. George Truett told of a family whose house quickly burned to the ground. The entire family perished, save a little girl of four or five summers. She had been severely burned; especially her face bore the mangled flesh of the fire that nearly took her life. Times were hard and neighbors tried to care for little Mary, but finally, they had to contact Col Buckner who ran an orphanage in south Texas. The youngster was put on a train and when it arrived the Colonel met her at the station. "Are you Mary?" he asked. "Yes, sir," she answered. "Are you Col Buckner?" Discovering he was, she then said, "Sir, you are going to have to be my mother and father, for I have no one else."

The story says the man had to travel a lot, and I presume it was to raise money to keep this home for children operating. After he had been away, his return home was always a great homecoming. The children would line up along the route where he would have to walk to make his way to the orphanage. The children would run up to him, and he would grab them up and give them a kiss and send them on their way.

On one of those days, as Mr. Buckner made his way down the street, he saw little Mary standing off, under a tree. He stopped the procession and called, "Why, Mary, don't you want to come and let me give you a kiss?" Mary burst into tears and cried, "Oh, no sir, my face is so scarred and I am so ugly that I would never expect you to kiss me, it is just enough if you love me!" The man took the mass of children with him as he made his way to the little girl, gathered up in his arms and began to kiss that gnarled, mangled face.

Dr. Truett then says, Once I was that little girl. Sinned had scarred and disfigured me and I felt so ashamed. But Jesus came, took me in His arms and began to kiss away the scars and pain in my life.

I love that story so much because I identify with what the great preacher said. My prayer is that over these past years I have done something will have pointed people to the Jesus who loves to kiss away the sins and scars of our lives.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS A DAY KAREN AND I WILL NEVER FORGET! TRUTHFULLY, INSTEAD OF CELEBRATING OUR 42 YEARS OF MINISTRY, WE ARE CELEBRATING 42 YEARS OF RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH THE GREATEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. As Will Rogers (I think he was the one) prayed, "Lord, make me worthy of my friends!"

8 Cow Wife

I recently read the story of a certain isolated Pacific island where it was the custom that when a young man proposed marriage, he would announce his intention to the entire village. Then he and the whole community would go to the young woman's home. Her father would come outside and then -- in front of the community -- the father and suitor would barter. Obviously, there was no feminist movement on the island.

The main item of value on the island was the cow. Therefore, a suitor would offer the father a certain number of cows for his daughter. The average bride was worth two cows, perhaps three if she was unusually bright or attractive. The all-time record was four cows.

The most eligible bachelor on the island was Johnny Lingo. He was handsome and wealthy. Imagine all the excitement among the women of the island when Johnny announced one day that he had selected a wife. But then he shocked everyone by announcing that his choice was a girl named Lisa. Lisa was not even in the top ten. She was regarded as rather plain and frightfully shy. Some of the jokers in the crowd even suggested that Lisa's father might pay Johnny a cow or two.

The community gathered at Lisa's house for the bartering. Then came an even greater shock. Johnny's opening bid for Lisa was eight cows! Her father almost fainted, but he managed to say yes. That very evening Johnny and Lisa were married. They departed for their home on an adjacent island.

For a full year no one saw Johnny and Lisa. Then on their first anniversary they returned to visit their parents. From the moment they arrived at the dock, the grapevine went ballistic with gossip. Everybody said, "Come and see Johnny and Lisa! You won't believe it!" Everybody came, but nobody noticed Johnny. All eyes were on Lisa. She had been transformed! She was a vision of loveliness. She was poised, warm, friendly, and confident.

At the end of the day as Johnny and Lisa were preparing to return to their home, one of Johnny's long-time friends pulled him aside and said, "I want to know the secret of this amazing transformation in Lisa. How did it happen?"

Johnny said, "I will tell you. From the time Lisa was born, she had been treated as though she was not worth very much. She had begun to believe that about herself. But I announced to the community that she was an 8-cow wife, and I have treated her just that way. She has become that vision of herself that she sees every day in my eyes."

What a great Valentine story! Beloved, if we want an 8-cow wife or husband, we have to catch that vision first and then treat him or her that way. And God, the master change agent, may produce that 8-cow wife or husband that you envision!

I want to testify that God gave me the gift of a GREAT wife. I'm asking Him to help me to better communicate just what a great gift she is!!!

TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS

The Bible in Psalm 90:10-12, gives some important wisdom as we progress through life. The Message, by John W Peterson, records them as: "We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), And what do we have to show for it? Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard. Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!" The King James Version says of verse 12, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

The older I get, the faster life goes by, and the more I am learning to understand that we need to learn to number our days, to learn to live wisely, so we can apply our hearts to wisdom and not foolishness. I recently heard that life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes! All too soon we wind up with a marker in the graveyard. Before we get there, it would be good to reflect on what we hope our life will mean. We often do many things to avoid thinking about the reality of our death, but so far the morality rate is 100%.

    The key is not how long we live, but how well we live. The man who is recorded as the oldest man in the Bible lived to be 969 years old. I was fascinated to discover that he died in the year of the flood. There is no record that he died in the flood, but there is none that says he didn't. Wouldn't it be something if the man who lived longer than anyone else recorded in the Scripture, was a victim of the flood? That would mean he was a part of the sinful world God destroyed, revealing that just attaining old age is of little value.

    I want to learn to live life well, to have a sense of the number of my days, and do all I can such that one day I will be able to look back and have the satisfaction that I didn't do too bad. That will happen one day at a time, making each day count. I know I won't do it perfectly, but I want to my life count.

    It will be of utmost importance to have made peace with God. He has done all the hard work. When humanity was held hostage to the horrors of sin, God raised the ransom, by giving His only begotten Son, who was brutally executed, buried, and raised from the dead. He who knew no sin, became sin, so that we could be forever free. He tells me that if I will simply confess my "stuff", my sins, and my failures, no matter how awful they are, He would be faithful and just to forgive me and to clean me up from the inside out.

I also want at last, to lay my head on the pillow knowing that as much as it is my responsibility, I will be at peace with everyone else. So often we wait until we are facing death to apologize and reach out to people from whom we have been alienated. Living well and wisely surely include making peace with the people in our lives.

    I hope and pray that as I pass through this life, I can do some things that will be a comfort and blessing to those I meet along the way, for I believe it will be that kind of life that will hear those precious words, "Well done, faithful servant..." I have a hunch it will be a calculated life, devoted to wisdom and not folly.

Just For Today

Several years ago I went to a workshop where the presenter predicted that in the near future the primary question volunteers would ask would not be, "How much MONEY does it cost?" The primary question would be, "How much TIME will it take?" Someone else admonished, "You don't let other people spend your money, so don't let them spend your time."

Time is the great equalizer. Bill Gates may be worth billions of dollars, but he does not have even one second more a day than you and I have. (That is pretty humbling when you think of it!)

Often I am overwhelmed with all the things I DON'T get accomplished. (It seems preaching and farming can be similar in that you can have more to do at the end of a day than when you started!) I recently read that "Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!"

As I turn the calendar to January of 2012, it is hard to believe how fast the last 30 years have sped by. I am reminded that, as an old song sang, "...yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come…we have this moment, today" In reality all we really have is just this moment, all we have is today. Each of us has things in our past that have hurt and disappointed us. There may be things that we are ashamed of. A friend once said, "My life got significantly better when I stopped trying to give me a better past!" We cannot start over, we do not start where we wish we were, but we start today, right where we are.

The glorious "good news" is that no matter what lies behind, if we will just acknowledge it as OUR problem and not someone else's and release it into God's hands, there is forgiveness and grace. I found a great bit of wisdom that simply talks about, "just for today." I pray it will be a blessing as you launch out into the great unknown of 2012.

 

JUST FOR TODAY...

Just for today I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once.

Just for today, I will be happy.

Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful.

Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to fit everything to my own desires.

Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do -- just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

Just for today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, and not try to improve anybody except myself

Just for today, I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.

Just for today, I will have a quiet half hour with God. I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today, I will be unafraid. Especially, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful.

 
 

Life is not made up of a few great big events, life is an accumulation of a whole lot of little events—Life is not measured so much in the accomplishments of years, but of days. Let's make every day of 2012 count!

 

Christmas Is Coming!!!

Christmas is coming, that is FAITH. Long before the first Noel, Israel was looking for the coming King. That expectation bound together all of the Old Testament. Isaiah caught that hope so eloquently: "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace". Isaiah 9:6 (NLT) Sometimes I have trouble keeping the Christmas faith. Times of intense suffering, times of emotional pain, times of financial insecurity, times of strained or fractured relationships, times of grief and sorrow. But I must keep the faith…Christmas is coming! We can take courage from Habakkuk: "This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed." Hab 2:3 (NLT) The Christmas I am talking about is more than December 25, it is when Christ is re-born into our everyday lives. It is when He is re-born into our suffering, failures and even our joys. Soon after the holidays, the trees will go into the trash, many of the trinkets and toys will be broken, and families will go back to their jobs and duties. Decorations will be stored for another year, but the Baby lives! Jesus lives to love us. He lives to comfort our aching hearts. He lives to touch our beds of pain. He lives to carry our sins. He lives to conquer the grave. He lives to rejoice in our victories. The great news has to be the fact that Christmas is coming! Hold on…Hang in there…Christmas is coming for you!

Thankful for People

David A. Seamands tells about the day in the early thirties, William Stidger and a fellow pastor sat in a restaurant talking about the worldwide depression--the suffering people, rich committing suicide, the jobless. The pastor said, "In two or three weeks I have to preach on Thanksgiving Day. What can I say?" Stidger said it was like the Spirit of God answered that question: "Why not thank those people who've been a blessing in your life and affirm them during this terrible time?" He thought of an English teacher who had instilled in him a love of literature and verse, affecting all his writing and preaching. So he wrote to her.

In a matter of days he got a reply in the feeble scrawl of the aged. "My Dear Willy: I can't tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of autumn lingering behind. You'll be interested to know that I taught in school for more than 50 years, and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has done in many years."

There is a list of people I am thankful, and some of them I was able to thank for the impact they've had in my life, but I encountered some of them back so long ago I have no idea how to contact them, and some may be deceased by now. I thank God for a praying mother who not only talked her faith, but walked it before her children. I am thankful for the teachers who truly made a difference in my life. There was a 2^nd grade teacher, Mrs. Reasoner, at little Hazeltine School in Henderson, CO, who helped me learn to read. I was hopelessly behind and struggling. Mrs. Reasoner kept me after school and had me reading out loud while she was doing some of her other work. I was stumbling and fumbling so badly that I began to cry. I will never forget that woman who sat down beside me and cried with me. Her investment made it possible for me to eventually graduate from college. I never got to thank her. The list of people who have positively impacted my life would more than fill this page. Suffice it to say, I have truly been blessed by some wonderful folks.

In light of debris from hurricanes and the floods, earthquakes and the tough financial crisis, we need to find ways to be thankful today. We may more closely resemble what Alice Johnson wrote: "When I was a young mother with two preschoolers, I was often overwhelmed. One night I fell into bed, exhausted. I poured out my frustrations to God. 'The kids won't mind, the house is a mess, my husband doesn't seem to care …'--the list went on. Suddenly, a voice said to my heart, 'Which one do you want me to take away?' Everything I was complaining about was precious to me. Immediately, I began to thank God for everything on my list--something I continue to do now as a grandmother."

Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life is a book that is several hundred years old, and the language is a bit out of date, but it made a difference in John Wesley's life. In it William Law wrote, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who received everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."

I am sure that by now most, if not all have realized that Thanksgiving is about more than gratefully reciting a list of THINGS, most of which we could do without. Perhaps we would do well this year to pick out some of those people who have touched our lives and express our gratitude to them. Email is OK, but something more personal seems appropriate. Imagine a world where during one 7-day period everyone on the face of the earth would have someone say, "Thanks for the special way you have touched my life". I have a feeling it could change a lot of "blue days".

Certainly, we want to thank God in the spirit of the little fellow who prayed, "And God, please take care of yourself—if anything happens to You we are in a real mess!"