Thoughts from Dad

Children do seem to grow up fast, this year my youngest crossed the line into being a twenty-something. This has happened in a blur of time. In fact, I now find myself telling young parents to enjoy every moment with their little ones because they will blink and the kids will be heading out the door.

As I have watched my children grow and change I have to wonder if my Heavenly Father can see growth and change in me. I want to be a father and person who stays on the growing edge of life. I want my life to display constant growth in the Lord.

On this special day, may each of us be reminded – especially those of us who are fathers – to continue growing and changing so that our Heavenly Father will be pleased with how quickly we’ve grown, and our children will follow in our footsteps.

Flag Day

June 14 is Flag Day, while not an official Federal Holiday it does commemorate the day in 1777 that congress adopted the United States Flag. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day and in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. The week of June 14 is designated as "National Flag Week." During National Flag Week, the president typically issues a proclamation urging U.S. citizens to fly the American flag for the duration of that week. I never tire of seeing the Stars and Stripes flying and so appreciate all that our Flag represents of our great nation.

Psalm 60:4 tells us that God has given us a Banner (flag) of truth. It is our allegiance to the truth that should be on public display before an often skeptical world. In addition to our study of the Word to understand and know the truth, we must also live out God’s truth every day.

So get your flags flying.

Feeling Small

When we express size we often use comparisons to do so. Expressions such as "big as a whale", "small as an ant", or "the size of a breadbox" all communicate size. But if we can make it a little more personal, what comparisons do we use to determine our size? If you have stared at an amoeba through a microscope you no doubt felt quite huge; while peering into the Grand Canyon or viewing the ocean will make you feel quite small. Such experiences tend to put us back into our place.

The Psalmist David describes such an experience in Psalm 8. The thing that made him feel small was considering the extent of God's creation. He wrote: "When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained: What is man, that Thou are mindful of him?"

When was the last time you felt small in the presence of God? Perhaps this summer would be a great time to seek out some place to experience the awesomeness of God's creation. So pack your lunch and your Bible and head out to be impressed with who God is and what He has done. Seek to reach that point of feeling small, and while you are in that reduced condition, offer words of praise for His immeasurable grace.

Webster says that a reward is something given in return for good or for service or merit. In our lives we are motivated by rewards. The most obvious is the paycheck we receive for work. There are three major kinds of employee payment. The first is a salary. This is a fixed payment at regular intervals for work performed. The second is hourly, whereby a person is paid a fixed rate per hour worked. A third is piece work where payment is made strictly on the basis of production.

In I Corinthians 3:8-9 God tells us that -"every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God:" It seems as if God's rewards are most like piece work. I This labor is not to get us to heaven but is the product of a life transformed by God's grace as one labors because he is on his way to heaven ( see Ephesians 2:8-10).

It is worth thinking about what rewards may await us at God's throne. All of us who are part of God's family are to be involved in the service of our Lord. Remember His Word to us --"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12

The Valley of Vision

I have recently been reading The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan Prayers, edited by Arthur Bennett. Whatever you think of the puritans you cannot fault their sincerity and personal devotion. I have been challenged in my own prayer life as I have read these. To see what I mean here is a sample from a prayer entitled Kept by God.

"Jehovah God,
Thou creator, upholder, proprietor of all things,
I cannot escape from thy presence or control,
nor do I desire to do so.
My privilege is to be under the agency of omnipotence,
righteousness, wisdom, patience, mercy, grace.
thou art love with more than parental affection;
I admire thy heart, adore thy wisdom,
stand in awe of thy power, abase myself before thy purity.
It is the discovery of thy goodness alone that can
banish my fear,
allure me into they presence,
help me to bewail and confess my sins."

Praying for our Leaders

We are commanded in 1 Tim. 2:2 to pray for those in authority. We usually apply this to include praying for our elected leaders. I would assume that most of us likely spend more time complaining about our leaders than we spend actually praying for them.

I have been reminded in the last few weeks of this need. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet and share my best wishes with Governor Manchin and today I had the privilege of praying for the opening of the State Senate session. I had the opportunity to visit with several of our legislators and support staff and was reminded that these are not just folks whose names and pictures appear in the newspaper or on TV; these are real people with real needs and real problems and are in need of real prayer. It is our job to come through with the real prayer!

So let’s devote some time to pray for our leaders- national, state and local. God will be pleased.

Prayer for the WV Senate
March 25, 2009

Dear Heavenly Father:

You have told us in Your Word that every good gift comes from above, from You, the Father of Lights. So we give You thanks for the gift of this day,we give You thanks for the gift of a great land that we call West Virginia, we give You thanks for the gift of a great people, and we give You thanksthat we have the high privilege of calling ourselves West Virginians.

Dear God, we ask Your blessing on all of those who make this state great, those who today are in the factory, in the school, at the desk, in the home, in the mines,or on the farm; those who are in the firehouse, the court house, or in this House. We ask that You might give us all a knowledge of Your presence and the wisdom and the strength to carry out our duty in a way that helps our fellow man and brings glory to You.

We ask that Your particular blessing may rest on these Senators who have gathered to do ourstate’s business and to be about Your business.

We humbly seek these favors from the hand of our loving God and in the name of our Savior. AMEN

The Washington Generals

If I were to ask you, what is your favorite basketball team, I am sure of one team you would not pick. That would be the Washington Generals. They were in town playing at the Charleston Civic Center last Tuesday to add to their impressive string of losses to the Harlem Globetrotters. Since their founding in 1952, the Washington Generals have lost to the Globetrotters in excess of 13,000 times! I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun, but just perhaps the odds of winning are stacked against the Generals. After all, does anyone pay to see the clown princes of basketball lose? No, the losing falls to the Washington Generals.

Let me let you in on a secret: the game of life is stacked in our favor. How do I know? Romans 8:31 states: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” With God in the picture we will win- game over. How can we lose or be defeated if God is on our side?

Let that truth encourage you even in your darkest hour. It may be late in the game, the clock is ticking and we appear to be behind, but remember the game is stacked in our favor- God is on your side.

Gone Fishing

Growing up in the hills of West Virginia, fishing was just part of life. As boys we fished in creeks, rivers, lakes, and ponds. We would dig up worms in the backyard garden, net minnows or catch assorted other critters for bait. Fishing was big stuff. I must admit fishing is an infrequent activity of my adult life; perhaps this is due to the pace of my life or my lack of patience, but I am safe in the knowledge that there are enough fishermen in the Bible Center family to keep the fish population of West Virginia streams in check.

Several of those closest to Jesus were professional fishermen before He changed them into "fishers of men," and by means of their example we are all to do some fishing among the people we know. Sometimes I feel I am not much better at fishing for men than I am fishing for fish. When it comes to fishing, I need help. The fishermen's encounter with Jesus in Luke 5 will provide us all with that help. I invite you to learn God's plan for fishing and together, to go fishing with me. In so doing we will be blessed, God will be glorified and we don't even have to mess with any squirmy worms.