My Best Friend

Today marks seven years since I said “I do” to the love of my life, Craig.

In the summer of 2000, I met Craig – hold onto your hats! – on the internet. We exchanged a few emails and a couple of phone calls in the first week. Late one night, we spent nearly four hours on the phone, just talking about our lives. Without ever having laid eyes on him, I fell in love with his heart and his gentle spirit.

After years of running from God, without realizing it, I had turned from the broad road I was walking, and had taken the first step down the path that led back to Him.

I had spent the first twenty years of my adult life in a marriage that was doomed before the wedding day. A rebellious, know-it-all young woman, I thought I had it all under control. And tried to maintain that tenuous appearance for the next two decades. When I jumped out of the frying pan, I landed in the fire. Ironically, that’s exactly what it felt like … like I was living on the fringes of hell.

After many bad choices, many embarrassing situations, and too many wasted and forgotten moments, I heard what I now know was the Holy Spirit directing me to do something totally against my nature. Taking that course of action led me directly to Craig.

Once the Lord had the two of us together, He worked on both of us at the same time. We didn’t really have a chance. It was all over. We just didn’t know it yet. We married in 2002, but it was the fall of 2003 before we committed the rest of our lives to the Lord.

He is the godly man that I love to come home to every night. His is the ear that hears my heart, his is the hand that dries my tears. He is the first person I call when something wonderful or something awful happens or when I’ve seen a really neat bumper sticker. From the divine to the mundane, he hears, sees and knows it all. He knows my heart’s desires and the little things that drive me to the brink. His ears have the unique ability to filter out the whining, the harshness, the unlovely that comes from my mouth. I’ve often thought that he loves me like Jesus does … unconditionally.

He’s the one I want to wake up next to every morning for the rest of my life. I do not want to spend a single day on the face of this earth without him. Apart from my eternal salvation, he is the greatest gift God has given me.

In a world where many marriages are nothing more than a reason to throw an expensive party, I feel like the most blessed woman on the planet to have such a man as my husband. Grateful doesn’t even begin to describe it.

A Tribute to my Father

In a leadership class that I took under Pastor Mark a few years ago, we were given a homework assignment to write an essay. The topic was to about a person that we admired for demonstrating true leadership.

What you are about to read is that essay. I can think of no greater tribute to my Father than sharing this story from my heart on this Father's Day.

The Model of Leadership

For the past 50 years, I have had the privilege of knowing and learning from a truly great leader. He may not be known far and wide by millions of people, but he is a significant impact within his circle of influence. My father has always modeled responsible leadership in our home, in his workplace, and in the church where I grew up and where my parents are still active to this day.

I personally know no one else who has walked so consistently with Christ during my lifetime. He has been a man of integrity, honor, and discipline as long as I can remember. He has always given his all in everything he has been involved in.

During his 40+ year career at Modern Welding Company, he rose from janitor to Plant Superintendent. He was such an integral asset to the business that the company pleaded to hire him post-retirement on a contractual basis at an exorbitant rate of pay. My father might not be the most greatest mind to ever live, but it seems that he possesses a little thing called work ethic that is very rare and highly sought after. Daddy has always accepted any responsibility he was given and taken it very seriously. Looking back, I see now that he always did his job “as unto the Lord”. He gives nothing less than his very best. I am glad that I chose to adopt his work ethic as my own.

He is the very model of consistent Christianity in my life. My dad never changes. Not his values, not his morals, not his faith. He is respected, though sometimes not liked, because of his high standards. But even those that might not like him know that he can be depended on when others cannot. He is humble and always puts others ahead of his own personal desires and needs.

He loves to laugh and have a good time. As a kid, when we went to Disney World, my dad would embarrass my brother and me by skipping --- yes, I said skipping --- down Main Street after the parade. He always has a silly joke to break up a tense moment and has the ability to make a total stranger feel like they are conversing with an old friend. My dad has a distinctive, boisterous laugh; and he laughs often because he is unable to contain the joyful spirit within him.

He loves God’s Word. Every evening he read his Bible and meditates on the Word. When I was a kid, every Saturday afternoon he would set up all of his reference books and materials at the dining room table and finalize preparation for the Sunday School lesson that he would teach the next day. He studied and prayed most of the afternoon, then again after dinner and well into the night. He still does this to this very day.

He loves to sing to the Lord. He has always enjoyed leading the music service, directing the choir, singing with our family, or solo. He used to have my mother or me play the piano at home, just so he could sing along. Even when he was piddling around the house, he was singing or whistling a hymn of praise.

The most poignant memories I have of growing up are when my father cried. As a child, I didn’t understand. As a teenager, I was embarrassed that my father would show such “weakness”. As a young lady, I began to understand that his tears were heart-tears --- of either joy, conviction, or gratitude -- because of his wonder, awe and love for the Lord Who had reached down and saved his wretched soul.

I have always known what my dad stands for. Before asking, I knew what his answer would be because I knew that his standards didn’t waver. I thought he was excessively strict when I was a teenager. Now I know better. He knew that allowing me to push through the boundaries he had set was not in my best interest. Now I fully appreciate all that he endured while raising my brother and me. And more than appreciative, I am truly grateful to him.

He models service to the Kingdom of Christ. As music director and deacon for as long as I can remember, he is the one who the congregation always looks to for leadership. As pastors came and went, as they seem to do in a denominational church, my father was the one that the congregation looked to as they began a search for a new pastor. He has been with the same congregation through church splits, financial crises, building programs that spanned multiple pastorates, even nearly losing the new church facility due to lack of tithes and offerings to pay the mortgage. He has leaned on the Lord during all these circumstances. He has always believed that it is the Lord’s Church and He will cover and protect it. Even though he never wanted the responsibility or the infamy that accompanies his title-less position, he has always stepped up the plate to do what no one else would do. He has been the de facto administrator through at least nine pastorates in the past 50 years. He does it all … all the grunt work, all the untidy, tedious stuff, the business of carrying on a local church ministry between and under pastors. He is the one person that has always been there. He has never left the church and come back. He has never shrugged off responsibility. He has never said that he would not do something that needed to be done. My mother worries that he has become the congregation’s doormat. But I know that he’s doing it for The One Who is Worthy of his sacrifice and the Bride of Christ … not for the accolades of the congregation.

I remember a particularly dark time in my father’s life a few years ago when his mother died. She had been in a nursing home for years in Louisiana. Twice every year, my parents made the trek to visit Grandma. Since Grandma was confined to a wheelchair, my dad built a wheelchair ramp at the back of one of my aunt’s home so that he could retrieve Grandma from the nursing home and visit with her at “home” rather than in the impersonal nursing home. Family gatherings resumed at Aunt Helen’s when my dad visited, because he’d go get Grandma from the nursing home on a three-day pass. Each morning, he took her out for a walk. One morning, however, as he guided the wheelchair down the ramp, he slipped and fell. The wheelchair careened out of control and Grandma ended up on the ground with a broken neck. After surgery and a hospital stay of a few weeks, it didn’t take long for pneumonia to claim her life. I’ll never forget the profound grief in my dad’s voice the day he called to say that she had died. One of his sisters did not even want him to come to the funeral. She was very hateful and spiteful, laying the blame of Grandma’s death at Daddy’s feet. But he did not respond to her. He suffered intense grief and guilt in silence. At the funeral, a family that should have grieved together and comforted each other was divided and angry. I was outraged that my Aunt would heap blame and guilt on my father for this tragic accident. After all, he was doing for his mother what his siblings would not do … give her a glimpse of something outside the walls of that nursing home, sharing times with her at home again in her waning years. I was so angry that I grew to hate my aunt. Every time we discussed this, my dad would tell me that I must forgive her and pray for her, because she didn’t mean it. He had forgiven her immediately. I was not walking with the Lord at that time (obviously), and I could not for the life of me understand where he was coming from. His ability to forgive his accuser completely in the face of his innocence was so Christ-like … and I wouldn’t see it for my own anger. Now, I see that he was demonstrating Christ’s love and forgiveness on the cross – “forgive them, Father, they don’t know what they are doing.” My dad has always forgiven like that. This extreme demonstration of his unconditional love and forgiveness is forever seared into my memory and my heart.

No matter how far I’ve strayed from the Lord, no matter how I’ve embarrassed and grieved my dad by willfully living in the pit of sin during an awful period in my life, he has always love me and prayed for me. He has always been ready and willing to talk to me, to guide me, admonishing me with a gentle spirit to do what is right.

The servanthood, the love and laughter, the commitment, the songs of worship, the love of The Word, the unerring Godly standards, the unselfish forgiveness, the discipline, the unwavering faith in God, the consistency with which he walks through this life with Christ. Those attributes are the mark of a spiritual giant – a true leader. I want to be like Leon Jesse Jones when I grow up.

Upgrade

While downloading Internet Explorer 8 the other day on my computer, I was reviewing the touted enhancements, bug fixes, enhanced security and scads of new features in this new-and-improved version.

As I explored the new features, I kept thinking – “It’s about time they added that feature!” Visual searches, instant answers, smart-screen filter, view sites with ease, get things done faster, stay more secure, more functions, more security features, faster, easier, more, more, more …..

It all sounded so magnificent! Now I will certainly be able to get much more work done, and more efficiently at that!

Hmmmmm. Didn’t that very same thought run through my head with the release of Internet Explorer version 7 ….. and version 6….. and...?

That marketing crew at Microsoft sure does earn its keep. They’ve got us trained to start salivating at the very mention of an upgrade.

Isn’t it like that with everything we buy? It’s great when we first take it home from the store. We thought we wouldn’t be able to live without it. But within months - sometimes just days - it’s just not enough. If only it could do this. If only it had this feature. If only it was faster, less complicated. If only… Gotta get a better version.

Those guys at Microsoft are always looking to broaden the appeal of their products and have to work hard to keep releasing updates in order to keep us happy and continuing to buy and use their products. Better ways to accomplish tasks quicker and easier. Glitz and glamour. Bells and whistles. Features that you didn’t even know you needed are now things you can’t seem to live without. After a few years, the product has changed so much that the original is buried in the dust of progress.

Thank God He doesn’t have to update His Word to keep up with our everchanging circumstances. Rather than starting with a basic concept, then adding new features, building the product up, God’s Word is designed as complete and unchanging from the very beginning of time.

When we first explore, read and study the Bible, we are just scraping the surface. Too often, many Believers stop and camp right there, never getting beyond the top layer. They get just enough Bible to find salvation and redemption, the ten commandments, and the beatitudes. There is certainly nothing wrong with any of these things. But there is so much more waiting for the heart that wants more of Him.

It’s like an archeological dig. All of it is there already, we just have to dig to find out more. We don’t have to wait for the angels in programming to work the bugs out before the next level is released. It’s already there, waiting for us to desire the knowledge so much that we seek it out.

Archeological digs take months, sometimes years, to complete. There are weeks of painstaking, seemingly monotonous removal of earth – one teaspoon at a time – in order to uncover a small portion of the artifact. Among the diggers, there is exuberant celebration at these tiny-to-the-rest-of-the-world victories. What an unparalleled sense of wonder, awe and splendor they must experience when the dig is complete, the ancient artifact is recovered intact, cleaned up and ready to put on display.

We have the possibility for this type of mind-blowing, life-changing experience in our very laps.

Dig a little deeper. Layer upon layer. From glory to glory.

Instead of waiting impatiently for the next update to be released, it’s up to me to dig deeper, to explore with an open heart and the eyes of my soul. To get more, it’s up to me to pursue Him through His Word with all my might.

We could explore the rich depths of His Word for eternity and still never be able to grasp or understand it all, or use it up. His message of love and truth is infinite, will never need enhancements, bug-fixes, upgrades or updates. We will never stop discovering new information, new revelations, new nuggets, new encouragements, new treasures, new lifelines. We continue to find new features without downloading an upgrade or paying for the newest release. The deeper we delve into the Word and the very heart of God, the more wonder we experience and glory we uncover.

The Word of God: Deep enough for a scholar to explore for an eternity without exhausting the contents, yet simple enough for a child to grasp and embrace for a lifetime.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ (The Word, according to John 1:1) is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Psalm 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Acts 17:11
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.