Cleanup from our flood is progressing slowly. We got our water heater back on line this morning and a professional is due today to extract water from the carpet. Because we know the pad is also saturated we intend to just replace the carpet. Since there was three inches of water in there, we expect the drywall will need replaced in the lower portion of the walls, some of which is now behind the furnace, water softener, and bladder tank. We’ll ask the professional’s advice on all that while he’s here. But, he’s way behind schedule because so many others were flooded as well.

This has given us a chance to do cleanup. Because we had to move dozens of books to move the bookcases, it was an opportunity to say, “You know, I really don’t know why I bought that unread book, or who gave it to me.” If I haven’t used it in five years, I’ll probably never read it, so why is it taking up space?

We’ve also determined to buy some of those plactic tubs they sell at Wal-Mart to make sure things stay dry, with the side advantage of organizing things a little better. We have important documents laid out on newspapers to dry because the water level was high enough to leak into our safe. I think a couple of bricks would elevate the safe enough that would never happen again. We built our house well out of the 100-year flood plain, yet got three inches in the house!

We’re seeing some positive results of the flood, but haven’t seen the bill yet. There is nothing this world offers that is truly secure. The only sure thing is that we can’t take a thing with us. Easy come; easy go. But we’re secure with God.

What have you lost recently that taught you a valuable lesson?

A man wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper some time back: “I have been attending services quite regularly for the past 30 years, and during that time…I have listened to no less than 3,000 sermons. But, to my consternation, I discover I cannot remember a single one of them. I wonder if a minister’s time might be more profitably spent on something else.”

Anita and I have been married for over 30 years. During that time I have eaten over 30,000 meals, mostly prepared by my wife. Unfortunately, I find I can’t recall the menu of a single meal. Yet, I received nourishment from every one of them. I think without them I would have starved to death a long time ago.

There are lots of reasons to not go to church, but the best for going is this: “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Tags: Excuses

Missionaries Paul and Karen Whitley were our guests last night as they passed through the area. We put them up in our guest room downstairs. About 1:30 they woke us up to tell us there was water in the basement. We immediately checked and saw that storm water was coming into the basement under the outside doors. I hurriedly got the ShopVac but saw it was no use. By the time we went back to bed there was 3 inches of water in the basement, with the sump pump running continuously. Never in fifteen years of living there has the water been within 50 feet of our house.

When I saw we could not control the flooding, I flew into moving important things to a dry place. I started with the closet in my den, which had many family heirlooms, including a family Bible dating back to 1832, family history books, etc., stacked in cardboard boxes on the floor. Then I went to rescue some of my Dad’s coin collection books and packaged proof sets from the ’50s laying on the floor of another room, then rescued twenty or so family photo albums on the bottom shelf of a plastic shelf unit, and a couple of older guns still in the original boxes standing in two inches of water. I appreciate Paul helping in the rescue effort in the middle of the night.

In a moment like that you don’t have time to think. Afterwards I reflected on what we had focused on saving first. It wasn’t expensive things like the computer, TV, or furniture. They can be replaced. It was the irreplacable items that represented family and our lives together.

There seems to be a lesson in every crisis. What lessons have you learned in the testing time?

Tags: family, flood, test

How does the murder of Pastor Fred Winters affect our church and me? We are saddened that First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, has suffered this loss. This shooting during his sermon in front of his congregation is a sad note in the history of America. We should grieve for this church and its members.

However, it does not hinder us from doing the Lord’s work. This type of incident happens only once or twice a year and there are over 450,000 churches in the United States each Sunday. Could such an event happen at New Hope? Of course. We do not yet understand the shooter’s motive, but we know that the shooting was premeditated.

There are abusive husbands whose hurting wives attend our church. There are people who trusted God to make them rich and have now lost it all. There are others who express their anger toward God by blaming Christians or church leaders for their own problems. There are political activists who want to stop our interpretation of the Truth. Yes, such an event can happen here. The more outreaching we become, the greater the risks.

But if its time for the Lord to call me home, I want Him to find me busy preaching the word to God’s people. “And I say unto you, my friends,” said Jesus, “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear Him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, Fear Him” (Luke 12:4-5).

Tags: fear

If you haven’t heard yet, Carolyn Miller passed away last night following a battle with pneumonia . She was a sister to Marie Brewer, Sandy Albright, Cindy Rowe and Fred Ballentine, and dear friend of Dennis ‘Hap’ Dawson, all who also attend New Hope.

When I first met Carolyn years ago, she was a mixed up, backslidden Christian. Apparently she had received some bad teaching on Christianity and was convinced she had walked too far away from God to ever come back. Seriously, I thought at the time she might have a mental disability, but soon discovered it was spiritual deception. As she met with me in my office, over the phone, and in email communications, I became amazed at how quickly she learned and responded to my counsel. I rarely had to tell her something she needed to know twice. She needed the truth to set her free and just got it the first time.

As the months went on, I saw a change in her life. Her spiritual disillusionment became spiritual hope. The joy of the Lord returned to her again. She got more involved in her church and we began to see the change in the results of her life.

For unknown reasons, God has decided her purpose on this earth has been completed, and called her home. She is now with Jesus and I’ll miss having someone as teachable as Carolyn asking the tough questions in life.

What will you remember about Carolyn?

Tags: Add new tag, blindness, deception

I heard a minister once say that there are four kinds of people in church each weekend:

1. Those who absolutely believe everything the preacher says.

2. Those who always did believe and are glad the preacher finally said it.

3. Those who weigh everything the preacher says and may believe it.

4. Those who don’t believe a thing the preacher says, but like to hear him say it.

Which are you?

Tags: people, preacher