When the Kids Grow Up

 Last Friday night was an interesting moment for me.  I was home alone.  That’s not always a bad thing.  I love people, but sometimes solitude refuels my soul.  For some reason, Friday night was too quiet. 

My wife was headed to New Hampshire, where she and four other ladies from Northside would lead a women’s conference for a church there.  My heart is thrilled at all the ways God uses her.  I’ve been to that church and ministered as well, and I knew they were in for a great time, and would be a blessing from the Lord for that congregation.  Higher Ground Baptist Church is only eight years old, and already making a huge kingdom impact. 

Our youngest daughter was babysitting and would be gone for the evening.  I enjoy time hanging out with her.  Thankfully, we had an amazing late lunch date after she got out of school and before she went to babysit.  I love her, and I cherish these last couple of years before she heads to college.  Our conversation was never more meaningful than it was over that lunch Friday.  

Then I began to think about the rest of the family.  There’s our Ohio family – our oldest daughter, her husband and three of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen in my life.  Oh how I love them.  I’m looking forward to seeing them in a few weeks.  There’s our Delaware family – our son and his wife.  They’ve just found out they are expecting their first child next summer.  I love them so much as well.  There are days I wish Dover was just an hour away.  There’s our Virginia family – our next daughter, her husband and their son.  I love their love for Jesus, for each other, for people and for life.  There’s not a day goes by it seems that I don’t miss them all. 

Friday night the house was very quiet.  My heart was full of gratitude and memories.  It seems like just a couple of days ago we were moving to Liverpool and they were 8, 5 and 2 with no knowledge yet of our youngest.  Humanly I was sad – because I missed them.  Spiritually – I am grateful for all that God has done and is doing.  In fact, I’m grateful beyond words. 

So here is my challenge to you and to me.  Cherish every day.  Welcome every season.  The kids come into our lives, and then they grow up.  It’s not bad it’s just different.  It’s change but I will welcome this season as well and thank God for all he is doing in each life.  Remember this – sometimes the quiet is the opportunity to reflect, rest and plan for the next season.  God has a plan.  God has a purpose.  God is faithful.  Praise His holy name. 

Memories on a Mountain

Ten years ago, my wife and I brought our son to college.  He would be a freshman at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  It’s hard to believe that was ten years ago.  Our first trip back to see him was early in October.  We attended a gathering led by Jerry Falwell at Liberty and Thomas Road Baptist Church called Superconference.  God spoke to Kathy and me during those days and in the Charlotte airport waiting for our next flight, we wrote a document I still have on my laptop of 22 things we learned at that conference.  The last one read ‘We could do a conference like this at Northside.’ 

We continued the regular trips to Liberty and Thomas Road during our sons college years, and three years later – 2008 – I took my first Doctor of Ministry seminar and now I was a student here too.  We brought one of our daughters that August to Liberty.  Our son was a senior and our daughter a freshman.  Soon our son graduated and then our daughter, and then their Dad. 

Jerry Falwell walked this barren mountain almost 60 years ago believing God for great things.  He is with the Lord now, but his sons are doing an amazing job of fulfilling the vision God put in their father’s heart.  What has happened has been exponential as now Liberty has more than 14000 students on campus and more than 90000 online.  With more than 100,000 students it is the largest Christian University in the world. 

This week it has all come back so fresh to me.  I came back with one of the men on our staff and we are attending Thomas Road’s ‘Refuel’ conference.  It’s the ten-year later version of Superconference.  The conference is put on free of charge and the meetings have been life changing.  Each night I’ve been reminiscing and remembering the faithfulness of God. 

You see in July, that daughter who was a student returned  - called to serve on staff at Thomas Road.  Her husband transferred from the seminary he was attending to Liberty.  They now serve God on this mountain.  It has been a joy to see their lives close up this week and how God is using them.  In addition, our son who now serves a church in Delaware, came over to the same conference and it was a great joy to sit with him in many of the sessions.  I've also spent time with current students from Northside who are here studying and some were able to attend the conference.  

The hotel I’m staying at, I spent many nights at during my graduate studies here.  I’ve thought of all that God taught me during those days.  I’ve thought of the classes – the professors – the classmates – and friendships formed here. I met Roscoe Lilly here over lunch.  We had never met though we served in the same state.  We are friends to this day. 

I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Northside, the church where I have the privilege of serving, to my family, to my staff, and most of all to Jesus for the incredible love and support in this journey.  And now to think that we host a conference called Keep the Fire Burning that was birthed in my heart in a classroom here and does a similar thing for pastors across the northeast.  We are five years into that journey with the best yet to come. 

As I head back to Syracuse tomorrow, my heart is full with the goodness of God.  I’m blessed to know that He was working ten years ago, and He is still working today.  In fact, I’m confident the next ten will be exponential compared to the last ten.  To that end I dedicate my life to Him and the work of His kingdom for His glory.  I’m going home with memories on a mountain, ready to take some new mountains for the Lord.  It’s time to see more mountain moving miracles for the glory of God.  As Tom Mullins reminded us today, it’s time to shake the salt that the world can taste Jesus, shine the light so the world can see Jesus, and fill the city with the name of Jesus! 

Teach Us To Number Our Days

This week has been a week of ups and downs.  Monday I learned mid-afternoon of a very sudden death within our church family.  In a phone call later that night I spoke with a man who had just become a widower.  His wife of more than 25 years, had suddenly died.  One minute he was talking with her.  The next minute she was with Jesus.  He never saw it coming.  I sat in that home yesterday joined by two staff members, and we ministered to a grieving family.  They all know Jesus, so there was tremendous hope in that room.

Later in the day I received a call from a member who’s son is battling colon cancer.  Today we visited him.  At the age of 38, he is fighting for his life, with a supportive wife close by his side.  The pain in that room was palpable, but Christ was there too, and His peace was evident even in the midst of their storm.

Next, I went to a hospital here in Syracuse to make a visit to celebrate with a family.  A young husband and wife were rejoicing over the arrival of their brand new baby boy.  That man is one of my prayer warriors, who holds me up to the Lord daily.  What a thrill to rejoice with him over this great blessing in their lives. 

Later in the day, I went to visit my mother in assisted living.  I had some things to bring to her and when I arrived and was signing the logbook into the home, the receptionist said, ‘Hi, Bruce.  Your Mom is at Bible Study.’  She then pointed me in the direction, and as I arrived the gathering was just disbanding.  While visiting her she opened her Bible and asked me about a passage she had read earlier.  My Mom still wants to keep growing, and moving forward with the Lord even in her later years.  I love that.  I love her.

Now back to the start of my day.  My day started with my wife and I taking our youngest daughter to school.  She’s in 11^th grade.  It hardly seems possible.  It seems like a couple of years ago she was born.  Oh how the years go by . . . I’m going to blink and we will be taking her to college. 

I’m now back at my office and getting back to working on this weekend’s message.  This whole week and my day have reminded me that every day is a gift from God.  My challenge to you is to not get so caught up in whatever is on your mind or distracting you that you miss the blessings of the moment right in front of you.  Cherish every day. 

The Bible says, ‘Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.’  Psalm 90:12, HCSB

Problems With My Mouth

 When I was a little boy, I hated going to the dentist.  I don’t like needles, and I’m not extremely fond of pain.  I was always grateful to have very few cavities, and was grateful when I got a good report.  Early in my life, our family dentist in Chateaugay, New York discovered that I was missing several teeth since birth.  He pulled ten of my baby teeth and suggested I get braces, and then be fitted for partial plates.  Needless to say, I wore braces for 6 years.  We were waiting for two permanent teeth (something I had precious few of) to arrive.  That journey took me from the end of fourth grade through the end of tenth.  I was thrilled to go to school as an 11^th grader with no more braces and a full mouth of teeth with my new temporary partials. 

By college I upgraded to a more permanent set.  I’ve continued to do well up to this day, but all that changed two days before my sons wedding.  I discovered I had a serious issue with a back tooth.  I went to my current dentist and learned that tooth would soon be history.  Gratefully, I made it through the wedding and vacation with no real issues.  My dentist recommended a mutual friend, that he knew I would know and suggested I see him soon for my current needs.  I had that visit this week.  I discovered my mouth is a mess.  Two hot fires had to be put out soon, and other issues addressed. 

I’ve been preaching through the book of Ruth, and my message on August 15-16 was entitled ‘God Is Always Ahead of You’.  I seldom preach that God doesn’t allow me to live through my message in some fashion.  This week, I discovered he was truly ahead of me again.  As I sat in a consult room and looked at x-rays and pictures of my teeth, a rush of memories of the issues I’ve had flooded my mind and heart.  At the same time, I was filled with gratitude knowing that for this season I was exactly where I needed to be.  A brother in the Lord, who has a set of gifts I need right now, was coaching me through my next moves to fix my mouth. 

In the last 30 hours we got two fires put out.  He referred me to an endodontist who gave me my first ever root canal, and helped save a tooth.  Then this morning I went to an oral surgeon who extracted the tooth that had broken a month ago.  There was no saving that one!  Tonight I’m sore, but extremely grateful.  The Lord is always faithful.  He’s been ahead of me again.  The Lord is so personal, and I encourage you to know Him that way by surrendering your life to Him, and thank Him for His amazing faithfulness. 

While I have physical issues with my mouth, the Bible also talks about the dangers of our speech.  Psalm 141:3 says ‘Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!’  Ephesians 4:29 says, ‘Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.’  Psalm 19:14 says, ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sigh, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ 

Tonight, I am reflecting on the craziness of this week.  I didn’t know how much trouble I was in physically.  My mouth needed serious attention.  That transformation has begun in the early stages.  I’m also finding myself amazingly grateful for the gifts and abilities God gives people to work on those issues.  I am also reflecting that while my mouth is being fixed physically, I want it to also be healthy spiritually, and my words be honoring to God and encouraging to others.  So I leave you with one question.  How’s your mouth? 

Lowville

Lowville

This week, I got a call from a man who serves faithfully at Northside, and learned that his father who had been sick and nearing death had gone to be with Jesus at the age of 89.  My friend, in his 60’s was sorting through the deep emotions of saying farewell to his father, a man he was extremely close to and respected greatly. 

Just a couple days later, I would travel north with one of our associate pastors and his wife to the funeral.  Lowville is south of Watertown, and about an hour and a half north of us.  Lowville, is the typical town that has birthed the vision in my heart for Keep the Fire Burning.  Google says the population was 4,982 as of 2010.  

As we got to Lowville Baptist Church, we saw the crowd already gathering.  I learned that in the family there were six kids, many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.  The service was the powerful reminder of what matters most in life – faith, family and friends.  Following the service, it seemed like everyone joined the processional to the cemetery.  Veterans were there to honor this fellow soldier.  Scripture was read, and prayer was offered for the family by the pastor of the deceased.

We then returned to the church for lunch together.  I  had begun to realize, remember, and recognize that someone else who had a strategic role in the north was also buried in Lowville. His name was Daniel Nash.  From 1816-1822 he served as pastor of the Stow’s Square Congregational Presbyterian Church.  He would later give himself to a ministry of prayer with pastor/evangelist Charles Finney.

Nash was little known for his pastoral ministry, but his prayers reached heaven and shook the earth.  Entire communities were transformed.  Thousands came to Christ.  This little known man would arrive at a community just a few weeks before Finney would preach there, and rent a room.  He would gather a handful of believers in the town and pray until the scheduled meetings.  God moved greatly in answer to prayer. The power of God would fall on businesses, churches and communities.  

At lunch we learned that my friend’s brother was a pastor in town currently, and knew where Nash’s grave was.  In fact his church owns the property where Nash's church used be located.  He took us further up route 26 to the site of the old church, and then down a very small side road to an old cemetery where he showed us the grave of Daniel Nash.  We prayed together and asked God for revival to come again.  This weekend, I was reminded again with Elmer Towns preaching at Northside, that the call to pray is one of life’s greatest privileges. 

This weekend, as best we know now it seems around a dozen people gave their lives to Jesus and trusted Him as Savior and Lord at Northside.  That’s why Jesus came – to save us from our sins.  Hallelujah, what a Savior!  God worked in Lowville and Adams years ago.  I’m confident He still is – in fact we saw evidence of that.  My prayer is that revival fires burn throughout the 55 million of the northeast and spread to the whole world for the glory of God! 

Don’t ever call a place a small town – there are no ‘little’ places to God.  After all, Bethlehem was little in Jesus’ day.  God raised up a prayer warrior in Lowville and he’s doing it again.  God also loves the cities and has plans for those who live among the millions.  Be strong in the Lord.  He’s at work.  He lived, he died, he was buried, and he rose again.  He ascended into heaven and one day He is coming back again.  Be ready!