Saturday, August 31, 2013

Farewell to Dad

Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.”  (Proverbs 17:6 KJV)

My Dad was close to Life’s River.  Eighty-six birthdays, and three unrelenting malignancies, compounded by Mom’s fifteen year slide into  Alzheimer’s oblivion, combined to draw him inexorably towards the end of his earthly sojourn.  My older sister and I alternated weeks with him in the hospital.  As Dad neared his departure we agreed I would stay in the room with him until the angels came for his weary spirit. Then I would notify her.  And Wednesday morning the angels seemed to be at his door.

Though Dad was thirty years old at my birth, still, in recent years, a bond of friendship deepened  with Dad, along with my having an immeasurable sense of grateful wonder and respect for  him.  Born in a small unpainted  house in the Ozark Mountains of northeast Arkansas, the fourth of twelve children, he learned life’s lessons from God-fearing parents and grandparents while working with siblings on a red-clay rocky farm. He split a wagon-load of hickory firewood in order to become the first in his family to complete high school – in a private religious academy, with one professor.  He then washed dishes in Springfield, MO to enable him to study and to obtain a certificate from a business school there.

Dad married Mom, his high school academy sweetheart in 1929.  Mom gave birth to their first child – a daughter, in the depths of the Great Depression.  When I was born three years later, the meager funds our parents had saved to pay the doctor and hospital were swallowed up when the bank failed.  Mom and I were not going to be released without payment – but there was no money, nor job, to provide the payment.  I do not remember ever hearing how the conundrum was solved.

Dad confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus and was baptized into Christ about the time I was born.  So we grew up together – he, as a “newborn” babe in Christ (Cf. Acts 8:26-39;  1 Peter 1:18-2:3), and I,  in the beginning of my life’s journey.  There were only two churches of Christ in Little Rock, AR at that time.  E. R. Harper, the preacher in the 4th & State St. congregation, had a gospel meeting elsewhere about that time. So he asked Dad if he would take his daily fifteen-minute radio program for a week.  Dad had hardly “dripped dry” from his baptism, and had never prepared Bible lessons before.  But he spoke on Radio KARK (which covered the state ) that week.  And that started his gospel ministry, alongside his working in the Little Rock City Tax Collector’s office -  in time, becoming the City Collector.

If you had drawn a circle of 150 miles radius around  Little Rock, in the years following Dad would likely have preached in seven of ten churches within that circle – helping start new congregations, helping churches with no preacher, helping between preacher changes, helping as a peacemaker during troublesome times, performing weddings and conducting funerals.  My sister and I became well acquainted with the back-seat, and floor, as Dad and Mom rode in the front seats of a 1935 Chevy on  late Sunday night returns from Dad’s preaching appointments.  

Gas was rationed during the 1940s WW II, along with a nationwide 35 mph speed limit.  An “A” sticker on the windshield  would allow you 4 gallons of gas per week; “B” stickers for essential workers provided 8 gallons; and a “C” sticker (doctors, ministers, mail carriers and railroad workers) would provide more gas – as the ration board determined how much.  Dad, not being a full-time minister, had only an “A” sticker – 4 gallons per week.  But brethren, hither and yon,  wanting Dad to come on Sunday,  would pool their gas to give him enough gas to get back to Little Rock on Sunday nights.  Such ministry as this continued for about forty years.  But with the onslaught of Mom’s illness, Dad’s care of her took precedence over his helping churches across the state.

I  stayed in Dad’s hospital room without leaving, the first week of the final week and a half.  On Saturday he inquired, “What’s the doctor saying?”  I replied, “He said you were a ‘grizzly old hillbilly’, and he did not expect you to die soon. But we are losing the battle”.

“Does he offer us any hope?”  “Dad, God can raise the dead. So He can cure cancer if that’s his purpose.  But the doctor has nothing else he can do. We truly are in God’s hands.” Dad paused in silence, then said, “Well, it’s hard to give up.”  

            “I’m sure it would be”, I observed, “ if you knew how to give up.  But I’ve never seen you ever back away from anything which you thought you needed to do.  Dad, I don’t see your giving up.  Our Lord did not have to die. He said, ‘The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again…This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:17ff. )  When Jesus said, “…not my will, but yours be done”  Jesus showed He trusted his Father and gave Himself over to his Father’s will. (Luke 22:42.)  He was “obedient unto death – even death on a cross”. (Philippians 2:8. ) That’s what I see us doing in these circumstances.”   

            Dad looked at me, without speaking, closed his eyes in trust and began his wait on his Father’s will for him.  He appeared to sleep, without rousing or speaking, until Wednesday morning.  The angels seemed to be at the door.

            But there was something further I needed to say.  “Dad, I want to thank you again this morning for some very important things you taught, that you showed me.  Thank you for the GOOD NAME you gave me.  Though you likely had occasion to apologize that I was your son, I never had reason to apologize that Frank Kell was my father.  Thank you, Dad, for your INTEGRITY.  I have never, to anyone, at any time, for any reason, seen you be dishonest.  In my own experience I learned that you would do what you said – for good or for ill.  And, Dad, thank you for your life of faith in God, and love for Mom, our family, and others.  You have taught and encouraged me, not only with your words, but by your daily life and EXAMPLE.  My Grandaddy Kell was dying of prostate cancer in June, 1942.  His strength  gone, he asked Dad, two brothers and a sister, to sing, “Life’s evening sun is sinking low, a few more days, and I must go…”  And, they sang to their Dad.  Not knowing if he could hear, I added, “Dad, I’m going to sing to you the song you sang to Granddaddy Kell.” So, there in the hospital room, I sang that great hymn of faith in God.  Then the angels  must have entered the room and borne away to the Heavenly Father, the spirit of my earthly father, Frank T. Kell, in the 87th year of his earthly pilgrimage.

            (NOTE: Mom, who had not spoken in three years, two weeks later some how sensed her “Shug” was gone.  So Dad’s “Sweetheart” stopped eating, must have willed  to die, and completed her earthly sojourn at age 84.)

                                    A LAD AND HIS DAD
            I  can’t remember when my eyes first saw him –
                         The day I understood he was my Dad;
            My recollection of that time has grown dim,
                        Still, day by day his life would guide this lad.

            In time, I’d look and wonder at his power,
                        His hairy arms, the hands that swallowed mine;
            He stood erect, his frame as though a tower,
                        Yet, gentleness, with strength, love did combine.

            A young boy needs a lot of help in living,
                        So much to learn, of “What?”, and “How?”, and “Why?”
            But simply, clearly, daily, he kept giving            
                        Example, how to live, and how to die.

            His life was ever moving towards heaven,
                        Though painful toil, or trials, be his lot;
            God’s love through him touched others, just like leaven,
                        His covenant with Christ he ne’er forgot.

            I watched the weight of years on him, increasing,
                        The strong and noble form now bowed with pain;
            The time drew nearer for this soul’ releasing,
                        That in God’s welcome he might find life’s gain.

            I’ll long remember when my eyes last saw him,
                        The day I whispered, “Farewell…” to my Dad;
            Nor death itself could cause my mind to grow dim
                        Towards him, who showed true life unto this lad.
                                                                --Ted Kell (Father’s Day, 1994)

Ted Kell

Brownwood, Texas                

Thursday, August 29, 2013

C A K E

Would you enjoy a slice of moist chocolate cake with a creamy frosting?  I would too, especially if it had a scoop of vanilla ice cream beside it.  I recently witnessed a Christian sharing her faith over a piece of delicious chocolate cake.  She included the cake as part of her conversation about God. I thought what a novel idea?  I could see that the words she shared were touching the heart of the hearer.

This Christian woman used the written word “cake” to bring up some points that she wanted to share about her God. I remember these thoughts. The acronym has been a good reminder to me for my daily life and it is another way to share God. These are the seeds that she planted in the heart of her friend.
                                                C= You can COME to God
                                                A= You can ASK God
                                                K= You can KNOW God
                                                E= You can ENJOY God

C:   Hebrew 7:25 Jesus is able always to save those who come to God though him, because he
       always lives, asking God to help them.  Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and    
       knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you will   
       eat with me.
A:   I John 5:15 And this is the boldness we have in God’s presence; that if we ask God for   
      anything that agrees with what he wants, he hears us.  If we know he hears us every time we   
      ask him, we know we have what we ask from him.
K:   I John 5:20 We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding. So now
       we can know the one who is true, and we live in that true God. We are in his Son, Jesus
       Christ. He is the true God, and he is eternal life.
E:   Psalm 92 Lord, you have made me happy by what you have done; I will sing for joy about
      What your hands have done.

When you have a friend who is lonely you can come to God together in prayer. You can invite a friend to come study the word of God with you.

When you have a question or need guidance, you can ask God. Your friend may be struggling with something and you can offer to ask God for help by praying with them.

We can share our love for God with others. We can show others His love, so that they can experience it and come to know Him.

We can enjoy God as we trust and experience the love he has for us.  We can show others that we enjoy living for Him.

Almighty God, you who call me to prayer, and who offer yourself to all who seek your face, pour out your Holy Spirit upon me today and deliver me from coldness of heart, a wandering mind, and wrongful desire. By the power of your spirit place within me steadfast love and devotion, so that today I may worship and serve you with all of my life; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Terry Smith  
Stepheville, TX

Monday, August 26, 2013

Drifting

In the book of Hebrews, chapter two, God tells us:
"We  must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"

Here we are warned of the danger of neglect.  The idea is not that we decide we don't believe anymore.  Or that we deliberately decide to turn back to the world.  As a matter of fact, we don't think at all.
   
We get distracted; we think of other things. Our faith moves further and further to the back of our minds. Since we are thinking of other things and looking at other things, our mission gets foggy and our goals get uncertain.
   
The scripture uses the term, "drift." If a boat is not anchored, it moves with the current or wind . . . it drifts. Even when we are rowing or motoring, we must keep our eye on our goal since other forces such as the current or the wind are at work and will cause us to miss our mark.
   
The scripture teaches us we can unknowingly be lost when we do not pay attention. Since these forces are always influencing us, we must stay focused. The fact that we do not usually think about this or worry about this proves how dangerous drifting is.  We don't even see it happening until, unfortunately, we are a long way from where we know we should be.

Dear Lord,
I praise your name. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. 
I, however, am not. I am all over the place. I want to live by faith, but I am easily distracted and find myself astray. Please forgive me.  Help me to stay focused.
Help me run my race looking to Jesus.  Looking like your son, who was always on point.  Jesus . . .  the way, the truth, and the life.
It is in His name I pray.     Amen

Paul Shero

San Angelo, Texas