Servant

All of us will have many stories to share in the future about the 2020 pandemic and how it affected us. I think the thing that I will remember most is that we were not able to be with our daughter and family when she had her 2020 child—even though they are less than three hours away. 

Allison and Will will soon be blessed with a fourth child—our 16th grandchild. That is wonderful news especially considering Allison’s recent bout with cancer. Cheryl and I are heartbroken because we will not be able to be there for Allison and Will to help take care of their three preschoolers while Allison and Will are in the hospital and during the first couple weeks to lend a hand with a very active household. 

This has been a topic of concern for our whole family for the past couple of months. Friends have volunteered to keep the children while Allison and WIll will be in the hospital, but in this season that is too big of a risk for their family. Their plan has been for Will and the children to drop Allison off at the hospital and come back and pick her and the baby up. That just sounds wrong! 

Apparently our 18 year-old granddaughter, Shelby, thought so too. She has volunteered to help. On Saturday she moved into the lower level of our home for two weeks of self-imposed isolation to make sure that she is uninfected, and then she will go to help Allison and Will for as long as she is needed .

She is set up on the lower level which has a separate outdoor entrance. We visit outside or on the screened porch or deck on our level. Shelby has a small kitchen downstairs, but Cheryl is preparing food regularly and leaving some at the top of the stairs for Shelby. The arrangement works, but it is so impersonal. How I miss hugs from family and friends!

Like many people, Cheryl and I have been alone in our home for several weeks, and now it is so great to hear someone else in the house—especially to hear Shelby downstairs singing praise songs and laughing at a TV program or movie. 

I am so proud of Shelby. She is graduating from high school, but she is exhibiting the maturity of someone much older. She is truly being a servant for our whole family as she has volunteered to serve Allison and family during this special time of their lives.

Thank you, Shelby, for showing our family what it means to serve one another. 

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace”- 1 Peter 4:10

The end

This morning a good friend from Texas sent me a text to let me know that their beloved dog had passed away. He talked about how sad it was, but he also talked about the joy his family experienced for many years with that pet. It is easy to get attached to our pets. 

Only twice have we had an inside pet. One time was before and just after having children. We decided that our house was not big enough for two boys and a pet, so the inside pet became an outside pet. The other time we had an inside dog was when we moved a teenage girl and an adolescent girl from the USA to Germany, and one of their
“deals” they worked out with their parents was that we would let them have an inside dog. I don’t remember a very long period when we did not have a dog as a pet—no matter where we lived. But a cat—I can count those times we have had an outside cat on my hand—and never have we had an inside cat.

On February 8 I wrote a blog entitled “Cats.” I talked about my lack of fondness for cats, but my great fondness for Viola, our farm cat. Today, Viola died. Yes, I was sad. I buried her in the pasture, and before I knew it I was thanking God for letting us have Viola for these past 12 years. I have buried a lot of farm animals over the years, but I don’t ever remember saying a prayer when they died.

Often I have heard some people refer to “dog heaven” or “cat heaven.” I am sure that they really don’t believe that an eternal life exists for their pet, but it is strange to think of an animal having a similar eternal state as mankind. 

It is good that God designed everything so that we would have dominion over animals, fish and fowl while basing our diet on some of them and enjoying others as pets and companions (What is your all time favorite dog movie? Mine is “My Dog Skip.”)

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." - Genesis 1:26

But the best news from that passage is not about the relationship between man and his creatures—even though Americans will spend over sixty billion dollars on their pets this year. The best news is that God made us in His own image to live among each other, but when we could not do that successfully he sent Jesus to redeem mankind. Praise! Our passing is not the end, but it is the beginning of our eternal life. Mine is vested in the Lord Jesus. How about yours

My voice

 In West Africa we had Moscovy ducks which are very hardy ducks that could survive the harsh arid climate. Living on the farm here in Georgia for the past 12 years, we have enjoyed having Moscovy ducks. We have two small ponds, and the ducks love the habitat. However, for ten years I had to buy new ducks each year because of predators. A hawk has consumed about 3 dozen over the years, but the biggest varmints are the raccoons, possums, and foxes. On really cold nights when the ponds freeze over, the varmints can consume a large portion of my duck population. 

The biggest feasting for the predators is when baby ducks are hatched, and one single predator can eat its way through a dozen ducklings. Sorry for all you animal lovers who don’t like to hear stories like this, but I am just stating farm facts. I got tired of losing baby ducks and then having to buy ducks to replenish my flock, so I decided to start looking for the duck nests and then trying to capture the mother duck and the ducklings and place them in a secure varmint-proof pen. 

Late last winter (2019) I had a male and four female ducks to survive the predators. I was able to raise a dozen ducklings to maturity. At the end of this winter, I had nine ducks to survive—partly because some of those I raised spent the night up near our barn and guardian dog and not on the pond. So far this year I have 31 ducklings in three separate pens.  I am having to be mom to ten of them because their mother did not cooperate to raise them as a captive in a pen. 

The ducklings are naturally afraid of people, and when I am near their pen they run away and cower in the farthest corner of their pen. I discovered yesterday that when I am near their pen, if I talk to myself, it has a calming effect on the ducks. It is almost like they know my voice. I am not sure about ducks, but my goats and cows definitely know my voice.

A few years ago we were having a board meeting at my colleague’s farm south of Atlanta. During the meeting, we took a break and walked out to the fence line behind my colleague’s home because he wanted to show his cows to our board member friends. Unfortunately, the cows were nowhere near us. It was a hot muggy July day, so he said that the cows were probably down in the swampy area keeping cool. He said we would have to wait and come back later when the temperature was cooler to see the cows. 

My cows have made their annual “conjugal visit” to this farm every year for the past 14 years, so at the time our board meeting was going on, my cows were mixed in with my colleague’s cows. I said to the group that I could call the cows up to the fence. They looked at one another and one of them said, “Oh sure” in kind of a smart aleck tone. Then the group had a good laugh at me, but I was undeterred and all of a sudden I let out a yell that startled the group. After their shock, they all had another laugh. Nothing happened, so I let out another yell, and we heard the faint moos of a cow. The sounds grew louder, and after a couple of minutes the large herd of cows led by my alpha cow, named Jolene, came running right up to the fence where we stood. 

All my board friends just stood there with their mouths open! I just said to them, ”My cows know my voice and they come when I call them.” A fellow board member from Australia said, “Indeed they do old chap.” 

Today I read John 10.  Verse 27 says, “My sheep hear my voice... and they come.” I had a phone conversation with a friend this morning about the biblical elder role. Foremost among the qualifications outlined in the Bible is that an elder is a shepherd. The role of the elder is to smell like the sheep that he leads. How does that happen? By living among those sheep and sharing life with them. One of the things that I miss most during this shelter-in-place season is being around other sheep. I miss my family, my friends, my fellow church members. I miss sharing life with them. 

Zoom is good, but it is a pitiful substitute for shaking hands, sharing hugs, and just being close to family and friends. Thank you, Lord, for this season, for it has taught us much about what we enjoy in life and how little we have thanked you and praised you for those opportunities to share life with our family and friends.  

COVID 1960

I saw an article entitled something like “What If This Had Happened in 2005.” All the news these days is about COVID-19, and I decided two weeks ago that I will limit my exposure to the news during this crisis. I turned on the TV news a couple times over the last few days, but the news media producers and writers are having to “scratch the bottom of the barrel” to maintain their Nielsen ratings. It seemed to me that some of the people they are interviewing really don’t know much about what is going on except what they are also reading on the web, so I have decided to just stick with picking and choosing what I want to digest from my internet news feeds.

That article made me start thinking—OK, I admit that I was in the shower where I generate a lot of thoughts and receive some of my inspiration for cogitating later on. I wasn’t thinking about 2005, but about what if this had happened sixty years ago. 

In 1960 my maternal grandmother did not have running water in the house, much less a telephone. She had electricity thanks to government programs subsidizing rural electric cooperatives. She had an electric “ice box”, but she had no TV. One light bulb hung from the ceiling of each of the four rooms in her primitive farmhouse. 

A Coronavirus probably would not have reached my grandmother’s homestead. But we lived in the big city—population around 20,000! We had all the modern conveniences, and we even had a television. My parents received the local newspaper and still listened to the radio for local news and gossip. I didn’t know anyone who had traveled to another country except some uncles who had served in the military. Our world was small and our lives provincial. 

If there had been a Coronavirus during 1960, and a stay-at-home order had been issued, we would not have had deliveries to our home from internet orders, but we might have had deliveries from the grocery store. Lysol and Clorox were around but not in the handy-wipe versions. Vinyl gloves were not available to the public, nor were face masks. No fast food restaurants, much less drive-throughs for food or pharmacies or banking. There was no technology that would have allowed us to contact my grandmother who lived 30 miles away. 

Are we blessed during this Coronavirus? Yes, indeed. First of all we are blessed to have good health. We are blessed to be so prepared for such a crisis. How blessed we are to have technology that allows Cheryl and me to see our families on our devices. How blessed we were to celebrate Easter today with our church family via FaceBook live. Thank you, Lord, for the grace and joy we have in You that sustains us during crises in our lives. 

It’s Easter! Rejoice and give thanks for all our blessings!

Chosen family

I grew up with my family in Mississippi—my dad and mom and two younger brothers. Bubba is five years younger than I, and Danny is 15 years younger. I left home for college at 17, and I did not turn 18 until I had finished my first semester of college. I did not get to know Danny other than as a baby—all I remember is having to change his diapers!

The five of us were a tight family who spent a lot of time together. My mom had 11 brothers and sisters. Three of her brothers lived in Texas with their families and two other brothers were divorced, so long distances and split families meant that I did not get to know some of my cousins. I don’t really know to this day how many first cousins I have.

My dad had only two younger sisters and they lived with their families in the same town where I grew up, so we spent a lot of time with them—especially on holidays. 

Of course, our church family was an important part of our lives, too. My grandad and grandmother went to the same church as we did.

My immediate family has remained close even though we lived overseas for many years, but we could always pick up right where we left off. We all have a natural family with whom we share the same lineage.

When I left home at 17, I never lived there again as I went to college or worked away from home every summer during college. Cheryl and I started making friends together in our early college years and today my best friend from college and his wife remain very close friends. We have enjoyed vacationing together over the past 30+ years. Our kids call them “uncle” and “aunt.” 

A seminary friend and I were called to the same church in Florida on  the same day. We have been friends of this couple for 48 years. They called us this week just to catch up on us.(Hasn’t it been great how we have all been checking on one another during this crisis!) 

So many missionary colleagues have been part of our larger family over the past 45 years. Our kids have many, many aunts and uncles with whom we have served on three continents. We enjoy getting together each year with some special former missionary colleagues. We meet in our home, and we all look forward to that time of just talking and eating and talking and eating. This past weekend was scheduled to be our annual get together time. Of course we could not meet, so we did the next best thing—we spent Saturday morning together with the help of that rising company called Zoom. The girls were on one call and the guys on another. It wasn’t as good as being in person, but it was a sweet time! 

Cheryl and I have come to call many of these relationships outside our natural families our chosen family. During different seasons of our lives we have had many people in our chosen family. Living in different parts of the world we have not had any of our natural family near us. So we have chosen others to be our family, and in many cases, these are people we love as much as our natural family.

Thank you, Lord, for our natural families, and for allowing us to have a chosen family. 

Do you know the song that goes like this:

I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God.

I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood.

Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod.

I’m a part of the family. The family of God

Windows

In all this Coronavirus mess I am hearing of friends and family who are so stressed. Granted, it is a time to be cautious and above all intelligent about staying healthy.

We are so accustomed to fast-paced living and operating from a full calendar, but now most people are working from home these days. That can certainly lead to even more stress and anxiety in the household. 

Cheryl and I are blessed to live on a small farm. We live on the side of a hill—they call them mountains in north Georgia—and out of every window we see the handiwork of God. During the last couple of weeks I have enjoyed more than ever looking out those windows. I marvel at the new growth on the trees, the farm animals grazing new grass, and the return of the hummingbirds. This virus has not affected all these beautiful creations one little bit. 

You might not live in a setting as we do where we can’t see our closest neighbors’ houses. Even if you live in a high rise building in the city you can still spend time alone with the Lord looking out a window at all of His creation. 

Maybe one of the messages that the Lord is sending us through this crisis is that we need to look out our windows and allow Him to speak to our hearts in quietness and solitude. 

1 Peter 5:6,7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.