Finish this Thought . . .

I am asking you the reader to complete this post today.  I will begin with a couple of thoughts and leave the floor open for you to interject your thoughts.  Here we go . . .

God is . . . .

• Love,
• Light,
• Good . . .

Keep this going.
Scott 

The Original Undercover Boss

On Sunday evenings, when we get home in time, we watch a new "reality" show on CBS - Undercover Boss.  The premise of this show is simple:  A CEO of a major company such as Waste Management, 7-11, or White Castle sheds his suit and tie, dons a "blue collar," and then goes to work in entry level and lower management positions in the different departments of his or her company.  These bosses learn a lot about the companies they run and the people who work for them.  Of the three of four episodes we watched, these bosses began to empathize with their worker, they began to understand the stresses of lower wage employees and as a result are more open to listening to those employees and implementing changes to help.

This is not a new concept.  Who can forget Mark Twain's story, The Prince and the Pauper, where the young Prince Edward VI abandons the palace to switch places with his doppleganger, Tom Canty who lived in Offal Court on Pudding Lane.  The young prince's experience as a pauper serves him well after the death of his father, King Henry VII.

Even that story rings of familiarity.  A ruler stepping down and living as a subject to better understand them so to give them relief from their plight is a classic plot.  Paul records, "(Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." (Col 1:15-18).  Jesus being one with God was king of heaven, and came to earth as one of us to understand us and to save us from the plight of sin. That is why the Hebrew penmen records, "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb 4:14-16).

I am glad God understands me.  Praise God for sending His Son, Jesus, to provide for my deliverance.

Scott 

Milford and Bessie Minor: Heroes of Marriage

This blog is edited from the Fall/Winter '08 Our Families Magazine published by Faulkner University Cloverdale Center for Family Strengths.  The Minors are members where we attend and I serve as minister.  I asked them around the time of their 73rd anniversary what they would say to couples just beginning their marriage.  Sister Bessie smiled and said, "Tell them to stay together, that love gets sweeter and sweeter every year." Thank you, Barbara, Donald, Gail, Virginia, and Roger for sharing your parents with us. -- Scott 

On September 2, 2006, exactly seventy years since their own marriage, Milford and Bessie Minor were present at the Harpeth Hills Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee for the wedding of one of their granddaughters. She had chosen that date to honor the love and commitment that she and the other grandchildren had always observed in the marriage of their grandparents. Milford and Bessie grew up in adjoining communities in rural Walker County, Alabama. Both knew and experienced the difficulties of farm life, especially the rough economic times as the country endured and emerged from the Great Depression. In 1922, times were very dire when Milford, at the age of seven, lost both of his parents in the flu epidemic that spread across the area. He and his six siblings were orphaned when their father, mother, and paternal grandmother died within one week. His father’s sister moved into the home and kept the family together earning what the land could produce. Bessie’s father was a cotton farmer and supplemented his family’s income by making sorghum molasses when the cotton was harvested. In 1930, Bessie’s mother died from

a debilitating illness. As the oldest surviving daughter, Bessie, at age thirteen, became housekeeper for her father and four older brothers and a mother figure to a younger sister and two baby brothers.

The major work on farms recessed for Sundays. The Lord’s Day was a day of worship and visiting other congregations for special meetings, singings, and singing schools. It was at gatherings such as these that Milford and Bessie became acquainted and became part of a group of young people that usually attended such events in the area. As they became young adults their interest in each other grew and they began
seeking time to be together. To visit Bessie, Milford had to walk several miles from his home to hers. Other times they were able to borrow the family mule and buggy for trips to church services and socials.

At the home of the local Justice of the Peace, and with a couple of friends as witnesses, Milford, age 21, and Bessie, age 19, became husband and wife on September 2, 1936. For the first two weeks of their marriage they stayed with Milford’s family. When they found a small house to rent, Milford continued to help his family with the farming and to seek extra work with anyone else who needed a worker. His pay was rarely cash because no one had money; the pay was usually in goods that could be traded. Bessie’s first cook stove was bought with 14 bales of hay that Milford had earned working for his cousin. Other needed household items came from family and friends who had something extra that they knew the newlyweds needed and could use.

In September 1938, two years after their marriage, the first of their five children was born, followed quickly by the other four. The couple recognized that more resources were required to raise and educate their children. To meet the need, Milford and Bessie left the farm and moved into the small coal mining town of Parrish, where Milford found work in the coal mines. Bessie continued her work as wife, mother, and full-time homemaker, but for the fi rst time she had electricity to make some things easier. When a teen-ager, Bessie had been baptized into Christ at the rural Central congregation in Liberty Hill where she had always attended.
When she and Milford moved into town, she became a member of the Parrish Church of Christ where she has been a faithful member since 1941. All of their children were baptized there, and in 1972, Milford, also, was baptized and is today the oldest member of the Parrish congregation where their youngest son serves as
one of the elders. Though slowed by age, and no longer able to lead in the services or teach class, Milford and Bessie are in regular attendance at the scheduled services, gospel meetings, vacation bible schools, and other special services.

Their children remain faithful in the Lord’s church. The congregations their large family attend are scattered in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. Four of their children and five grandchildren became
educators working in public and Christian schools. Milford’s and Bessie’s teaching example and influence continue to have great impact on their children, eleven grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren.

When asked how they had been able to endure the childhood hardships, the trials of raising a large family, and be able to establish and maintain a good marriage for seventy-two (73 now) years, the answer was, “It hasn’t always been easy, but we took a vow to love, honor, and cherish as long as we both lived and we know and understand what a vow is.”

The Man I Desire To Be

Four years ago, as I was completing a Masters' Degree in Ministry, our instructor (Paul Tarrence) assigned us at simple project.  That project was to reflect on the Man we Desired to be.  I wrote this list then and occasionally pull it out to look at it, today was one of those days.  I reflected on how I am becoming that man and admit I am still a work in progress.

The Man I Desire to Be

• Above all a servant of God.
• A man who is a leader in service to others.
• A man focused on the needs (physical, emotional, and spiritual) of his family.
• A person with the financial security to be generous in giving to the Lord and in helping others with their needs.
• A fried to all I meet.
• A man of God's Word in reflection and action.
• A man motivated by a pure heart.
• A man of ever deepening faith and trust in God.
• A living testimony of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
• A man Christ-like in attitude and behavior.
• A teacher of teachers and a disciple of Christ discipling others to reconciliation with God through Christ (2 Tim 2:2; 2 Cor 5:18ff).
• A man aware of and sensitive to the thoughts and emotions of others, yet not allowing the values or misunderstandings of others to change my core-values that have their basis upon and in the principles of God's Word.

What would your list include:  List the attributes of the Person You Would Like to Be.

Scott 

Ten Religious Books That Influenced Me

Yesterday (Monday) I wrote two posts.  The second one was my "Passing the Torch" article.  Go back and read that if you missed it and be sure to read the other articles I linked to.  The first post yesterday concerned ten books that are among my favorite non-religious books. Today, I am sharing a list of Ten Religious Books that Influenced Me.  You will notice that I did not include the Bible in this list.  The Bible is by far the most important of all the religious books I read, but for this list, I wanted to include books by men and not the Book of Books by God.

1. Old Light on New Worship - John Price
2. Biblical Eldership - Alexander Strauch
3. Jesus and the Victory of God - N. T. Wright
4. What Did Saint Paul Really Say - N. T. Wright
5. The Gospel According to Jesus - John MacArthur
6. Living Jesus - Luke Timothy Johnson
7. The End Times - Russell Boatman
8. Is the Holy Spirit for Me - Harvey Floyd
9. Showtime - Dan Chambers
10. The God Who Risks - John Sanders

Honorable Mention -
- Twelve Ordinary Men - John MacArthur
- The God of the Towel - Jim McGuiggan
- Adrift - Phil Sanders
- Saddlebags, City Streets, and Cyberspace - Michael Cassey

Keep Reading and Keep Growing

Scott

Passing the Torch

Monday I read more than a few blogs concerning preachers whose influence is ongoing:
Chris writes about Dowel Flatt.
While Brian writes about Mike Tanaro.
Paul writes about her Dad.
Lisa writes about her Dad too.
And John writes about Richard Travis and others.

Today, I join the effort in Passing the Torch.

There are a lot of preachers in my life.  Many of them from my childhood and the congregations we attended.  Some of those who impacted my life were: John Bird, Jim Wisdom, and Ron Missildine.  These three were preachers where I attended.  Brother John Bird was the preacher when I obeyed the gospel at Leonard Street in Pensacola, FL.  He was one of the most kind hearted and tender men I had the privilege of knowing.  From him I learned the importance of prayer and saw in him a man who often knelt before the throne of God. Jim Wisdom is the man who "tricked" me into preaching my first sermon and (other than my mom) most influenced my love for singing.  He was the first preacher I knew as a friend and not just "the Preacher." If Jim had not been a part of our congregation when I was a pre-teen and young teen, I do not know if I would be a preacher.  Ron Missildine preached across town. I attended where he preached while a teenager since that congregation (Warrington Church of Christ) had an earlier service I could attend allowing me to worship and then go to work at a restaurant on Sunday afternoon.  Ron was much like Jim Wisdom in that he was a friend, and like John Bird he was a man who you knew had a relationship with God.  Ron's lessons were Biblical, practical, and easy to understand.  I hope in some way I am like the three of them.

Again, there have been a lot of preachers, but the one that stands out most, was a "retired" preacher who taught Bible Class when I was a teenager - Dale McCaleb. I only heard him preach on a few occasions.  Most of his influence was in class and in fellowship before and after worship.  Bro. McCaleb grew up not far from where I now live.  He is part of the "Greatest Generation"  who had a hard life and worked to make ends meet.  He worked with Navy and preached where ever he lived.  His life finally brought him to NAS Pensacola, where he decided to stay.  Dale and Ruby began worshiping with the Leonard Street Church of Christ when I was about 14 years old.  Soon Dale was teaching the teens, talking about a life of preaching, and going to school at Montgomery Bible School and meeting the love of life (Ruby).  His knowledge of scripture, his relationship with the Savior, his love for God, his example of a life spent in service inspired me.  When he spoke of his education, of his wife, of his God and Savior, I could hang on every word.  He was my grandfather's friend, but he was and is in many ways my hero.  Bro McCaleb's health is not what it used to be, the years are catching up to him, (he is about 90 years old).  This past year, I had the honor to preach a series of sermons at the congregation were I grew up and where he still attends.  He was there, sitting in the third row, smiling, nodding approval, and saying, "Amen."  After 20 or more years of preaching, having his approval meant so much to me.  Brother Dale McCaleb -- "Thank you."  I pray I can be a similar influence as I strive to follow Christ.

Scott

My Ten Favorite Non-Religious Books to Read

This morning I thought I would give you a reading list.  I like to read.  I read fiction, non-fiction, and religious books.  I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Lemony Snickett series and a few other pre-teen and teen books, but I also read on my level.  Here are ten books (both fiction and non-ficiton) I liked enough to read most of them more than once.

1. The Old Man and the Sea - Earnest Hemingway  - (Classic man against nature)
2. A Farewell to Arms - Earnest Hemingway - (The realities of war on one man)
3. A Painted House - John Grisham - (a departure from the normal Grisham style)
4. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - (I really like Jem, Scout, and Atticus Finch)
5. 1776 - David McCullough - (Historical reconstruction)
6. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson - (Not much better than pirates, treasure, and adventures at sea)
7. Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain - (The copy I first read had an early 1900's publishing date)
8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain - (same as above)
9. Greece to 14 A.D. (?? Shuckburg, Putnam Bros. 1906) - (A rare history book)
10. Due South - R. Scott Brunner - (Scott's dad is a friend of mine.  This book is a collection of humorous stories and anecdotes about being a Southerner.  Scott's maternal grandparents are members where I preach and recently celebrated their 73 wedding anniversary.)

Grab a book a read.

Scott