My Weekend

I'm not much of a blogger. That is because I can't type (unless the "hunt and peck" method is considered typing) and I really don't spell well. So, I don't post many things on my blog. Maybe when I have been retired (that means put out to pasture by others) I'll have the time and inclination to blog every day. I just hope I'll still have the mental ability to do so. All of that is to "justify" why this is my first blog entry since August. I also must add that any thoughts I want to share are usually expressed when I preach so blogging is a secondary outlet for me. Nonetheless, from time to time I do feel the need to write something.
That brings me to this past weekend. About ten days ago I had some growths removed from my vocal chords. The biopsy was negative, praise the Lord, but it left them swollen and me hoarse. So, I was sentenced to "total" voice rest which is like making a glutton fast or a NASCAR driver walk. It was hard enough to not be allowed to preach, but not being able to talk to people during football season or yell at the TV during a ball game was pure torture. Finally, after two torturous weeks I was allowed to preach again. The problem was that a couple of months ago I had committed to preach at my daughter's church in Tuscaloosa on the second Sunday in November(yesterday). This wouldn't be a problem except that they have two morning services (9:00 & 10:15) that I would preach back to back. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to do it but at the same time I knew that God would enable me to if it was His will for me to do so. That is exactly what He did. In fact my voice, though hoarse, held up during the first service and actually got stronger during the second one. Since Valley View Baptist is currently without a pastor I was asked to baptize those who were awaiting baptism. Now, I knew that I would have the privilege of baptizing my oldest granddaughter (Jordan) during the 10:15 service but I was also asked to baptize fifteen year old Chase Davis at the 9:00 service. Now here is what is interesting. Valley View was started when about half of the members of Rosedale Baptist Church decided to relocate. Half of Rosedale stayed where they were and the other half founded Valley View. So, Valley View is partly my home church though I have never been a member. However, many of the people there are part of my spiritual pilgrimage. They were there when I was saved, when I surrendered to preach, at my baptism and my wedding and they heard my first sermon. They had prayed for me, encouraged me and modeled the Christian life in front of me. When I surrendered to preach (six months after I was saved) I committed myself to be as active and faithful in the ministry of the church as I could possibly be. The first Tuesday night after I surrendered to preach I showed up for visitation and went out to visit and witness for the very first time in my life. My partner that first night was Billy Ray Davis; Chase's grandfather. How's that for coming full circle? I admit that it made me feel old but at the same time I felt such a sense of "home" and of being a part of God's grand design. It has been forty-one years since I made those visits with Billy Ray but I remember the long conversation we had that night when we got back to the church. We sat in his car outside the church and talked for an hour about the Lord and our spiritual lives. Billy Ray told me about a man he worked with. Billy Ray worked commercial construction. They were working on a thirteen story dorm on the University campus. As he rode up the elevator he was witnessing to a twenty-seven year old coworker and encouraging him to give his heart and life to Jesus. His friend responded, "I'm going to, but I want to get all the fun out of life while I'm young and then one day, when I'm old, I'll get saved". They got off of the elevator and his friend went to sharpen a chisel. When the tool touched the sharpening wheel, the wheel disintegrated and a piece of flint rock went into his heart and he was dead before he hit the floor. I have told that story many times in the last forty years in sermons to stress the importance of accepting Christ while there is time because you never know how much time you have left. All of those memories passed through my mind as I baptized Chase. I felt like Abraham when came came back to Bethel (which means house of God). I was reminded of God's faithfulness, life's frailness and motivated to return to my church with the passion and zeal I had when I was that young "preacher boy" just starting out in the ministry. I pray I will never lose my passion for Christ and His work and that I will never lose sight of the wonders of His grace and His mysterious ways of working.