Reflections

Happiness & Joy

/ Bob / 2 Comments

CAR CRUSHER HAPPINESS 2

It was the summer of 1977. Pam and I were newlyweds. I had just graduated and Pam was still in school at Baylor. I was working in a plant called Mosley Machinery. We built the machines which were used to flatten cars. All was right for this young couple beginning their lives together.

Every morning Pam sent me off to work with my packed lunch pail. I thoroughly enjoyed working there. I especially loved test days (always a Thursday) when a new car-crushing behemoth came off of the line for its first trial run. A crane with a giant claw would pick up an old, unsuspecting car and drop it into the belly of the beast. Slowly the great metal plates enveloped the doomed vehicle and closed in, flattening the car to the cheers of the 300+ employees who watched the car’s fateful end with great delight. Good days indeed. (Thursday was also the day we had “church” but that’s a story for another day.)

I returned home at the end of the day usually covered in dirt, oil, and debris as my job primarily consisted of tearing down buildings to make room for expansion at the plant. The old buildings had been in use for decades and had not been cleaned except for a daily sweeping. I brought home the filth of the decades. Pam made me remove most of my clothes before coming into our apartment. I was never indecent, but I was barefoot and shirtless before entering – just the way Pam wanted me. I went straight to the shower and, after cleaning up and getting dressed, I would relax a while and then we would eat supper. Pam was trying out all of her newlywed recipes which were usually designed to feed 8 people. After swinging a sledgehammer all day I was famished so I would consume my 7 portions while Pam ate her one. (After a few days of this routine she told me that if I didn’t eat all of it, I could have some in my lunch the next day, so I reigned in my appetite.) The rest of the evening was spent watching TV, Pam’s studying and/or rehearsing, and visits with a dear friend, Tony, who lived in the same apartment complex. Life was simple. We were happy.

However, within a span of a little over a year, our happiness would be crushed like those hapless cars on test day. Pam would have to undergo emergency gallbladder surgery, we would move to another town where I would begin a new job, and “Pappa B,” Pam’s Dad, passed away along with my uncle and grandmother. Even though my new job seemed exciting, it was also stressful as was the move, so that dealt happiness a blow as well.

“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) It was in the midst of those stressful times that the seeds of joy began to grow and supersede the happiness which I had regarded as joy. It has been a slow growing plant – this joy in the Lord – but it has endured through many storms and droughts; through many harsh winters and scorching summers; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. In fact it has grown so much – this joy in the Lord – that it bloomed beautifully not too long ago when I was to undergo a biopsy procedure in which I would be placed under anesthesia.

For some reason, the day before my trip to the hospital, I had a sense that I might not come out of the procedure alive. It is very rare for someone to die in this procedure, but the thought was there nonetheless. I prayed and asked the Lord to give me peace and this absolute flood of joy came over me. I knew that all was well with my soul. I actually understood and experienced the peace, hope, confidence – and yes, joy – that I had often read about in Daniel 3:16-18. I knew that God would deliver me, but even if He didn’t, I would not bow my knee to the spirit of fear. Many times I have discussed the concept of “dying grace” in which the Lord gives you peace as you are about to leave this world, but I had never experienced it. Granted, it was just a little bit disconcerting when I pondered that this might be “dying grace,” but even that was fleeting in the face of God’s peace and joy. Even as I was going under in the operating room I was full of joy talking about the Isle of Skye and remembering the wonderful time Pam and I had spent there. When I awoke in the recovery room I glanced around and realized pretty quickly that I was not in Heaven. I smiled and even chuckled a bit – not because I was still alive, but because my Joy was with me.

The biopsy did reveal that I have prostate cancer. The Gleason score is 9 (out of 10) which they tell me indicates an aggressive, high risk form of cancer. And yet, my Joy remains. My doctor believes it can be cured, but even before he said that I knew that all is and will be well with my soul. I’m going to MD Anderson for surgery and treatment. It’s regarded as one of the best (if not The Best) cancer centers in the world. Even so, my hope is not in them, but in the One Who gave them the wisdom and knowledge that they use on a daily basis. My doctor there is a preeminent prostate cancer expert, but I know that God will direct him as He sees fit with no regard for his outstanding qualifications. I can even see how God has orchestrated all of the events in the past few weeks to put me in the care of such capable doctors and surgeons. Still, through all that I will face I know that it is my God Who will deliver me, but even if He doesn’t, I will not bow my knee to the spirit of fear for the Joy of the Lord is my Strength. It truly is well with my soul. Hallelujah!

Where Are You Headed?

/ Bob

i 35 with hitchhiker final

While I was at Baylor I had three jobs from my sophomore year until I graduated. I was a music theory lab instructor, a music theory tutor, and I was the Youth Minister for Memorial Baptist Church in Temple, Texas. Needless to say, I spent many hours driving back and forth to Temple on I-35. I made two trips each week and often three or four. As it is the aorta of Texas, there were thousands of people who traveled that stretch of highway every day, including some without cars.

You don’t see a lot of hitchhikers these days, but they were plentiful then. Sometimes they were out of town a bit and sometimes they were there waiting when I pulled onto the interstate – thumb up and suitcase, backpack, or duffel bag sitting on the ground beside them. I could only take them thirty-five miles down the road, but they were grateful to be that much closer to their destination and, if they were already out of town at night, they were grateful to make it to someplace with light.

I had a friend in Temple, Gary Castleberry, who was a seasoned hitchhiker. He gave me a couple of tips on picking up hitchhikers. The first was never to pick up a hitchhiker with no suitcase or bag. They might be running from someone or something. A second rule was to never pick up more than one hitchhiker at a time. Two or more could overpower you or one could distract you while the other one did you in.

I tried to follow his advice, but there was One Who I listened to even more than Gary when it came to picking someone up. I always prayed and asked God if I was supposed to pick up a person when I saw them on the road. Almost always the answer was “yes.” A few times it was “no” and there were even a very few times when I wasn’t sure and started to pull over when I looked in my rear-view mirror to see someone else pulling over to pick the guy up. And yes, I did violate Gary’s rules occasionally. I had as many as four hitchhikers in the car at one time – two from one pickup and two more a mile down the road. Those without bags were indeed often running, but not from the police – they were running from their own lives.

When I had the time I would pull into McDonald’s to get them something to eat. Someone who is truly hungry doesn’t savor the moment. There was no time to chit chat over the meal. They couldn’t get the food in fast enough – head down, right over the burger, much like a dog who doesn’t want another animal to get his food. Even as I write this I recall vivid images of those hungry souls.

I used these opportunities to get to know the people, usually by starting with a simple question – “Where are you headed?” After exchanging small talk I tried to introduce them to Jesus. It was easy to broach the subject. I was either on my way to or from work and my work was in a church. We had many philosophical conversations, many curiosity driven conversations, and a few quick ending conversations, but in all of the conversations they knew who my Lord was and what He could do for them. No one made a “profession of faith” during those trips, but I like to think that some did later. But whether they did or they didn’t, I knew that I had been obedient to God’s still, small voice saying “pick up this one” and I know that I was being obedient to his command to do such things for the least of these.

An Everlasting Motto

/ Bob

Deus Eternus

When asked about my motto, I only have to look as far as my last sent email. My motto is included in my signature:

    Ars Longa – Vita Brevis – Deus Eternus

    Art is Long – Life is Short – God is Eternal

Hippocrates is credited with the first two statements and the basic meaning is that while life is short, what we create (craft) will live on past our earthly existence. I believe this to be true and not just in arena of artistic pursuits, but in all of the positive and beautiful things we bring into our daily lives. It is also true in the legacy we leave that is wrapped up in our beliefs and world view. Those grand ideas will be passed on as will some of the unfortunate traits we would rather deny.

However, my world view would not allow me to rest with “Ars longa – vita brevis.” God is eternal eclipsing both life and all we do that is good. Our very best goodness is as filthy rags when compared to the infinite goodness of God. Similarly, our very best contributions to the beauty of this world pale in comparison to the wonder and beauty of God’s creation.

So I choose to pray the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 90:12 that God would teach me to number my days … because life is short. And I will be mindful of the warning given in Ephesians 5:15-16 to make the most of the time.

I also choose to follow the creative nature within me as one created in the image of God – the One Who created all that is – the One Who insisted on art in the tabernacle (Exodus 31) – the One Who inspired the art in the temple (1 Kings 6) – the One Who has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11.) Things of beauty are truly transcendent.

However, as important as life is and as important as art is, they are both fleeting. Only God is eternal and everlasting. So my ultimate focus is on the Eternal One – the source of life and art.
C. T. Studd in his poem, “Only One Life,” concludes each stanza with the line “Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Whatever I find to do with the time I have been given on this planet I must do it for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31) because art is long and life is short, but God alone is eternal.

Scientists? Politicians? Health Experts? Who Do We Turn to for Truth?

/ Bob

 

Psalm 118

It seems that with all the noise going on it’s hard to tell who to believe, who to trust, and what to do with what little knowledge they seem to bring. One health expert gives their opinion based on their experience in their research, but another health expert says just the opposite. One politician tell us what he believes and what his constituents believe is the best course of action and another politician says just the opposite. One scientist gives a report on what is happening and another scientist says just the opposite. One mental health expert explains why people act the way they do and another mental health expert says just the opposite. One sociologist says why people act the way they do and another sociologist says just the opposite.

So who do we believe?  Why, the one(s) we agree with the most, of course.  No need to balance and reconcile opposing views of others.  Quite frankly, we don’t need to even entertain their thoughts.  Ridicule them?  Yes, but we need not carefully consider them or what they say.  After all, their ideas don’t align with what we want to hear.

“For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3 NLT)   When Paul gave this admonition to Timothy he was warning him about false doctrine coming into the church.  My concern is that false information is guiding Christians because many believers choose to act relying solely on the knowledge provided by humans (even experts and/or authorities) while ignoring the wisdom of God.  There is nothing wrong with seeking advice.  Proverbs 15:22 reminds us that “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”  However, there is something wrong – disastrously wrong – with seeking advice and not seeking God.  Psalm 118:8-9 says it this way:

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

May we, as believers, always take refuge in the Lord; always trust His wisdom: always rely on Him for our safety, understanding, and peace.  “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” –  Isaiah 26:3

 

Opening the Doors of Truth

/ Bob

A Guest Blog from my wife, Pam Young

It has taken a lifetime of learning to make up for the history I was never taught in the traditional classroom. Growing up in south Texas, I knew a lot about Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos and Texas history. I knew a bit about World War II because my father served in it before I was born. I knew about indentured servants and Scottish land clearances because of family history. I knew about Ruby Bridges and the Civil Rights movement because of the evening news and it was all so bewildering to me because in my little town my school was integrated some time before I was born. We all started first grade together and it never occurred to us it had been any other way. It wasn’t talked about.

Eventually I started learning things and each time a dusty door of history opened to me, I began to see without naive blinders. When I took a job teaching music at an inner city school in Houston I learned from the kind and patient elder teachers of color, who gently and openly taught me about inner city poverty, education to promote freedom, and music and literature that had been skipped over in my own education. Can you imagine that a lifelong musician and school of music graduate had never heard “Lift Every Voice and Sing?” It’s true. I learned it at Bowie Elementary along with my students In the eighties.

I had another revelation when I taught in Hempstead in the nineties and I relived that experience today when a conversation on Facebook brought it back to life. I started some elementary choirs in Hempstead and we did some really cool things. There were about 120 kids in my 5th and 6th grade choir and we had so much fun! We did several big concerts every year, performed at the fair and Fiesta Texas and Bobcat football games, and for several years we sang at the Texas Celebration at Liendo Plantation. There weren’t planatations in Beeville, so when we were asked to sing at the historical home of the sculptress Elizabet Ney, I took the kids. We sang Disney songs and Texas our Texas and I remember singing Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World” with sign language. We had a black principal and assistant principal, and I wonder in retrospect how they really felt about it, but they never said anything about how some of the children or their parents might have reservations. Then one day, a dear friend and colleague whom I adored (and still do) just nonchalantly said when asked to go with us, “I don’t do plantations.” Another dusty door creaked open. Here I was, thinking how great it was to take my sweet singers to sing at a big, pretty house while many of them had long family histories of pain and suffering in the community and it was a burden to their parents to decide whether to let them go. Yet they were so kind and loving toward me and didn’t want to say anything to me about it. After Eula Richard gently offered a comment to open a closed door of history to me, we didn’t go back. I never told her how meaningful her candor was to me. History class was the place for them to learn about plantations and I took the time to learn more on my own. Today my sweet choir children (now in their thirties) were gracious to me again and didn’t want me to feel bad about it. That’s the kind of people they are. I wish I had a time machine and could go back and do it all differently.

These were just the first of many eye-opening revelations I have found and the doors have continued to open over the years, the most enlightening of which was the door of adoption. Raising black sons, it was my duty to learn black history, but even if I hadn’t gone looking, the reality of how they were often perceived spoke volumes of truth into my life. Suddenly I saw things in my everyday life that I had naively missed before. It truly felt as if I had been wearing blinders and was seeing the world around me for the first time.

I’m still learning about dusty doors that need to be opened. A really raw video shared by my niece this past week mentioned historical events I hadn’t known. It sounds ridiculous, but I had not read the histories of Tulsa and Black Wall Street. I never heard the hideous history of Rosewood. Now I have and I am going to keep opening the dusty doors that are hard to walk through because knowing the truth sets us free.

People around the country are opening the door to knowledge about Juneteenth today like never before. What has been a glorious celebration in Brenham and other parts of Texas for many years is spreading to the rest of the country. I remember when I first learned that Texas slaves didn’t even know they were free until that day 2000 troops sailed into Galveston with the proclamation. I didn’t learn it in school. We have been passing by these dusty doors too long. I’m asking my black friends to continue to speak truth in love and I’m asking my white friends to walk through the doors of truth. A lack of knowledge and understanding is a form of bondage. We can walk in freedom together if we are willing to do the work.

Lift ev’ry voice and sing,
‘Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on ’til victory is won.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

/ Bob

Lamentations 3.22-23

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been thou forever will be.

Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided;
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! Refrain

~Thomas O. Chisholm~

Christian Response to Corona Virus Panicdemic

/ Bob

For many of us, we are not concerned about what the corona virus will do to us as much as what the panic surrounding the corona virus will do to us. Panic in any herd of animals can be devastating but panic among humans is made worse by the fact that, while animals react instinctively, humans react by “thinking” and “reasoning” which is drastically skewed by their fear and irrationality. And then the toilet paper disappears. When no one within a 50 mile radius of us is sick we feel comforted by knowing that we have toilet paper. The Canaanites had Asherah poles to worship and ward off evil and we have stacks of toilet paper rolls to serve the same purpose. So what is a Christian to do in the face of such fear and irrationality?

1. Trust God

Psalm 56:3 – When I am afraid I will trust in You.

Romans 8:35-39 – Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Peter 5:6-11 – Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 4:6-7 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Isaiah 26:3 – You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Psalm 94:19 – When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.

Psalm 91 (The Amplified Bible)

1. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].

    1. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!
    2. For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
    3. [Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.
    4. You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day,
    5. Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.
    6. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.
    7. Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked.

2. Repeat Step 1

Trusting God won’t stop the craziness around us, but it will provide us with peace in the midst of the storm. And in that peace we can help those around us, meeting their needs as God has commanded us. (Titus 3:14) Of course, we must also do the things that we were taught as children concerning good nutrition and hygiene and health practices, but ultimately our lives rest in the hands of God and not our own hands – no matter how often or how well we wash them.