The Dog I Didn't Want. . .

During the first 25 years of my life I had a single dog. Her name was Taffy. She was a Beagle, and she died from Cancer on the night I graduated high school. I didn’t own another dog for seven years.

However, since that time I have owned close to 100 different dogs, the vast majority of them rescues. There is a family picture of my wife and I, our blended family of 5 children, and, at that time, 2 spouses. The special thing about this picture is the dogs in the picture outnumber the humans. All of the dogs are Boxers!

Over the years, we have rescued Boxers, Greyhounds, Great Pyrenes, Boston Terriers, Akbash, Anatolians, German Shorthaired Pointers, Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, Staffordshire Terriers, what I call “Dust Mop Dogs, but mostly mixed breed.

They have been adopted from shelter, off the track, picked up from the ditch, rescued from the median of I-45, the shoulder of I-35, and from the exit ramp to Perkins Rd. in Memphis, TN. Yes, her name became Perkins!

Currently, we have thirteen, but today I want to tell you about the one I didn’t want. His name was Ozzie, and he was a Boxer. I first saw Ozzie running loose through Ennis, Texas. He had jumped the fence at his owner’s house and creating a traffic jam from motorists trying not to run him over.

Over the next few day, I would discover that his owner was my secretary at First Presbyterian Church in Ennis. She was looking for a farm on which Ozzie could run free. I did not know at the time, but there was a conspiracy between my secretary and my wife to relocate Ozzie to my house. My response to the request for rehoming was a solid, “No.” That settled the matter until the day I came home and found Ozzie sunning himself on my deck.

Not only was he there to stay, but he decided I was going to be his human. I didn’t own him; he owned me. He didn’t stay in my fence either. He ran across 35+ acres. He enjoyed life. Since nobody seemed to know his birthday, he decided we would share mine. Yearly, we would go through a Whataburger and sit by a lake to share lunch. He became the guardian of our house, the most loyal creature I have ever known. He would go to the office with me. If you wanted to wrestle with him, he would take you down and stand over you until I told him to let you go.  And, best of all, the dog I did not want and tried to ignore, shared 17 birthdays with me before he passed, making him, at the time of his passing, the World’s Oldest Living Boxer. Though he has been gone for several years, I miss him still. 

Blessings,

Pastor Craig

The Pastor's Page

We are less than 40 hours away from a whole new year. While our starting and ending dates for the year are quite arbitrary, they have a tremendous symbolism! We do much more than simply turn the page on the calendar, or start a new tax season. We make promises and set resolutions. We decide to lose weight. I have a friend striving for sobriety in the coming year. Their start date, January 2^nd. Honestly, they wanted to get the holiday season and all its temptations behind them before, feeling they would pretty much guarantee failure if the began in the middle of a season with so many temptations.

First Presbyterian Church is facing an exciting year. The challenges and adventures, the rewards and the struggles are, at this point, all hypothetical. They are signposts on the horizon, mile markers along the road, things we use to judge our progress on our journey, to help us keep direction as we travel.

Where will you go in 2019? Where will you start, and where is it you would like to find yourself at the end of the year? I know that my calendar changed dramatically 6 weeks ago. I find myself altering long kept schedules and making plans for destinations and tasks I never thought would be mine.

Going through that process of redirection does involve some excitement, but it also involves a sense of loss. The regularity of one schedule is replaced by the real possibility of one that is much more organic, always changing, moving, and reforming. One of the “exciting” things would involve the need to learn a new language in less than six months. Considering how little I learned in 2 years of high school Spanish and my poor grades in that class, it is a daunting task as well.

All of this simply leads us to the fact that our God is a lover of surprises. God loves to challenge us. The Holy Spirit throws things in our path that constantly drive us toward our that same Spirit. We are faced with opportunities that will be totally impossible without complete reliance on the power of that Spirit.

This could be an extremely frustrating existence if it were not for the face that we know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us. We can embrace the reality of these future events as being placed along our journey for the express purpose of leading us into an ever deepening relationship with the Triune God. These are not events to overwhelm us. No, they are opportunities to marvel at the God who makes us conquerors in all things!

Pastor Craig

Take Time to Know

Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

Today, January 21^st, is General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson's birthday. This will be a day few people will celebrate. It has become unpopular to speak of Confederate Generals in a positive way in our current culture, but this man deserves to be highlighted for his dedication to his faith in the face of persecution and ignoring the political correctness of his own day.

Despite his success in both the Mexican War and the War Between the States, the accomplishment for which he was most proud was the Sunday school class he began in 1855 for free black and slave children in Lexington, Va. More than 100 children showed up every Sunday not just to learn the Word of God but also to read and write. Many of them became leaders in their communities after slaves were freed.

Jackson's effort was no small accomplishment. In the aftermath of the 1831 TurnerRebellion in southeast Virginia, legislatures in all Southern states enacted restrictive laws including the prohibition of black education. A local Lexington judge warned Jackson his Sunday school was in violation of such laws, and he could face a year in jail if he continued. Jackson was indignant and responded that black children stood in need of God's salvation as much as white children. He felt that each person deserved the right to read the Bible for themselves, and that they should not have to rely on other people for this. They deserved to know and study Christ for themselves. Jackson told the judge to follow his conscience, and he would follow his. He refused to close the school, which continued for many years after his death in 1863.

It is difficult to understand how believing in the importance of each person’s right to be able to read the Word of God for themselves could be in balance with the idea of maintaining slavery in the South.

In our modern age we think of Jackson as a Confederate general, a man fighting of the losing side, a person who seems to be supporting the institution of slaver. We are a little too quick to make a judgement on the people of this time. Maybe we should begin with an analysis of our own faith, seeing how words and deeds match up, before we judge the faith and intent of others. We simply must look to the inconsistencies and hypocrisy in our own faith, celebrating God’s grace and mercy to all people at all times, using each of us in His own way, and from our own starting point. Amen.

                                                            Pastor Craig

Loving One Another in a Hate-Filled World

I am writing this the day after members of Dallas police department were ambushed and killed in the streets.  I have read people’s blogs and posts regarding this issue. Some say these attacks are symptomatic of the deeply embedded racism in our country. Others say it is the natural consequence of years of lack of respect, or even rejection, of authority, tracing its roots all the way back to the 60’s. Still others say it is the result of our narcissistic society, the outgrowth of too many reality shows about people who have nothing to contribute to society other than being famous for being famous.

I wish to put forth a more accurate scenario. Our present trouble is the result of sin. We wish to rule ourselves, we have rejected God rule for self-rule. The problem with self-rule is that everyone is rule to themselves. We each become little gods. There is no way we can tell anyone, “You can’t do that,” or, “That’s wrong.”

In the last 24 hours I have heard numerous pieces on how we need to embrace love; then we can begin to learn to live together. Unfortunately, we live in a society that knows nothing about love.  Society labels love as acceptance. Acceptance means that I take you exactly the way you are. As soon as I make a call about morals or ethics, I am labeled as judgmental, racist, sexist, whatever –ist fits the topic at hand.

At First Presbyterian in Ennis, we sing a chorus in response to the benediction. The current one we are using is an old camp favorite, They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.

Unfortunately, most of us, myself included, stand little chance of being labeled as a Christian if the only thing the world uses to make the decision is how we love. . .how we love, not just the people like us, not just the people who will vote like we vote, not just the people who have the same skin color or cultural values that we have, not just people from our church, denomination, or who share religious prejudices with me.

We fear one another. Presently it seems minorities fear the established powers, while those same powers do not feel that they can trust the very people they are entrusted to watch over.

If perfect love does indeed cast out fear, then it is our goal to seek that perfect expression of love. As we seek common ground where all folks can stand equally we must come to the knowledge that the only place where all people are equal is on their knees at the foot of the cross asking forgiveness. Therefore, let us be Gospel people, people who share the Good News frequently, not just so bad people can become good people, but so fearful and anxious people can find that peace which passes all understanding.   

Turn the Page

This time of year is a time of transition. It is the season of the year when we think of weddings, graduations, the ending of one phase of life and the beginning of something new.

Some of the changes we experience are changes for which we have been waiting. We dream of leaving high school and going off to college. We dream of leaving college and starting our dream job in our dream city while living in our dream apartment. We long to begin a life together with a very special someone. We wanted and longed for these changes. Sometimes all our dreams come true; sometimes our reality life doesn’t match the one we had in our dreams.

Some of our changes are risky. We may find that our dream paycheck isn’t part of our dream job. We find a flaw in the perfect someone with whom we plan to spend the rest of our life. We learn that keeping in touch with former classmates is much harder than simply promising we will.

Some changes we can put off: We can postpone the wedding in hopes of becoming more certain. We can delay our move away from home to the dream city, dream job, and dream apartment.

But, sometimes our future comes upon us even when we would like for it to wait. Life becomes a conveyor belt, and we are on it traveling at a predetermined speed.

When your road is long, when daylight turns to dusk and the trail becomes hard to see, when the path becomes more steep than what you were prepared for, when fellow travelers drop out or drop off and you feel you must journey on alone, for all those times, the good ones and the difficult ones, there is a Father to give you strength, a Son to redirect you to the correct path, and a Spirit to offer you guidance and encouragement. Remember, Jesus became like one of us, not to remind us only of God’s Sovereignty, but to demonstrate God’s community with us and compassion for us!

                                                                                    Pastor Craig

When Faith Makes a Difference

You know the story well. You don’t have to be a regular church attender to have heard it used as the central theme for many a sermon. It is the story of The Good Samaritan. The story is told as an illustration for a theological discussion.

An expert in the Jewish law wanted to test Jesus, the great teacher of the multitudes, so he asked Jesus a simple question, “What do I have to do to guarantee eternal life?’

Jesus responds with a question, “You’re the expert. How do you read it?”

“Put God first,” was the lawyer’s reply. “Love him with every fiber of your being. Take care of your neighbor as you would your own family. Love your neighbor as you love your own life.”

“Well said,” Jesus shot back. “I think you’ve answered your own question.”

The lawyer, now feeling a little foolish, wishing to regain some sense of honor and authority asked, “Well, just who is my neighbor?”

Thus begins one of  Jesus’ greatest parables, a story of two people who should hate one another, but instead offer and receive help when others refuse to get involved.

Our society is being divided up. We are faced with an “Us vs. Them” mentality. We are more concerned with being right than being righteous, with being "correct" than being faithful, We have groups within our own country who are more divided, more hateful, more antagonistic of one another than the Jews and the Samaritans ever were. Jesus speaks to the very heart of this division.

“What is saving faith?” we ask. “How much faith is enough faith?” we want to know. Sometimes we become “experts” in the word. We go to meetings, attend worship services, gather for prayer and study with like-minded Christians.

Jesus calls us to the road. He invites us on a journey. We’ve experienced love and grace. The question is whether or not we are ready to extend that love and grace to the rest of the world.

“When is faith enough?” When it will not be content with living life in a way that allows us to watch most of the world lying half-dead in a ditch and walk on by.

Pastor Craig

Pushing Back the Darkness

The opening words of Psalm 27 are “The Lord is my light.” When I first read those words I thought of a light in the darkness, something that helps us to see our way.

Over the years I have been involved in 11 family retreats, directed 5 summer youth camps, taken a group of 21 on a two week hike along the Appalachian Trail, and directed some 10 youth retreats. Almost all of these events took place at a remote camp or conference site, a place where, when everything was over, you had to walk back to your cabin or room in the dark. For some reason I cannot explain, the one item I forgot almost every time, except for the two weeks on the Appalachian Trail, has been a flash light. I have stumbled over more roots than I can count, have missed several trailheads, and walked straight past a dark cabin multiple times. I seem to have a mental block about flashlights when it comes to my checklist before I leave.

The flashlight image is how most of us think of the light of our Heavenly Father, something to help us find our way. It is a candle to reveal for us the roots, turns in the trail, and our destination as we walk along the paths of life. Certainly, this idea of light goes with the next words in that verse. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Our relationship to our Heavenly Father brings us out of the dark and shows us that straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life.

However, there is another aspect of light that we tend to forget. I think we often choose to forget it because it is less pleasant than the warm and inviting light that helps locate home and hearth. This aspect of light is not the flashlight; it is the searchlight. The searchlight reveals. It highlights that which often wishes to remain hidden. The floodlights you may have around your home help you find your way in the night if you are walking around the yard, but you probably had them installed first as a security feature, to highlight the people who would use the cover of darkness to find an entry point into your home.

When God’s light shines on us it reveals us as we really are. Our many faults and failings, the things we would so much like to keep hidden are brought out into the bright light of God’s holiness. This too is salvation, for it is only when we recognize our need for salvation that we fall at the feet of Jesus Christ and ask him to grant us that which he has already prepared for us.

The light of Christ shining out from us, helps us and others find our way in this world. The light of Christ shining on us, reminds us that we never grow out of our need for the forgiveness that comes through Christ. Both of these lights show us the path of salvation. 

Pastor Craig