Life’s Lesson

Life’s lessons

Let’s begin with a prayer.

Lord please quiet my fears and strengthen this message that You are speaking through me. Lord bless this time together and speak to those that need to hear this today. I pray that my mistakes in life can be attributed to You picking me up and guiding me on the path that you intended. Lord I truly wish I would have heeded ALL of your advice throughout my life, but Lord I am blessed to be where I am and what we have accomplished.

First I apologize in advance if this is long, but I really think that we should all share our life story and our walk with God. I’m 67 years old and mine has been a long road. I know there’s a fine line between a long sermon and a hostage situation!

2 Samuel 23:5 - "Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?

How does life go by so quickly? How do we stop this high speed train and get off? Just seems like yesterday that Jayne and I were married and started our life. We first met in the summer of 1977 while I was in the United States Air Force stationed at Tinker AFB, OK. We did not have a first date until August 1978, as I thought she was way out of my league.  Or as one of my friends used to tell me, “Boy you done out punted your coverage!” We were married February 3, 1979 and on October 7, 1979 I began my career in the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Traffic Controller. That was how many years ago? Man, it only seems like yesterday. Then we had our daughter Heather in October 1980, then our son Bryan in April in 1983. Wasn’t that last week?

Wow, looking back at my life to this point I am glad that we had God guiding us. I always knew that there was a God even when I was a young boy, although I did not attend church very often. When I did go, I went to Catholic Mass. I was raised as a military brat and we moved often, but South Fork, PA was always home base.

The summer of 1966 (I was 10) we were living back in South Fork, as my father was serving in Vietnam.  I remember being invited to go with a friend of mine, Paul Webb, to a Wednesday night service at Mt Hope Methodist Church. Paul and I were the same age and he and his family were regular church goers. Okay it was a game night for the youth. The only thing I truly remember about that night, besides the fact that Paul was trying to get me to church, were the games we played at the rec center. Come on I was 10! I wanted to go back, albeit just for the game night. But I will never forget the feeling that I got while I was there. I was welcomed by everyone and felt right at home. We have attended that church a few times over the years since then.

I firmly believe that this is where God started working on me and began leading people into my life to point me to Him. Not all were Christians, but God uses everyone and uses circumstances to guide us. Once you get to know me you will understand that I do not believe in coincidences. Not if you believe in God.  (That’s a whole sermon in itself, but not for today.)

Jayne was raised in a Baptist home, went to church every Sunday, and had involved parents that were Christians. Jayne and I had many discussions on the differences of how to get to Heaven. I always thought that as long as you did good things and obeyed the 10 Commandments that you would get into heaven. Jayne was always trying to explain how the Baptist believed in getting there and she never pushed her “religion” on me.

Jayne had an uncle that was a Baptist preacher and I remember to this day what he said to me after Jayne and I got married. He said that we need to get into church. At the time, I knew he was right, but I really did not know how much that really meant. God placing people in front of me.

We attended church a few times as newlyweds, but it was not a priority for me. I believe that this was weighing heavily on Jayne. I can remember several times listening to the sermons and I thought the preacher was preaching to me. I was uncomfortable and did not want to go back. Jayne did not push, although we did go on Christmas and Easter. I was 23 years old when we attended an Easter Service at a Baptist Church in Savannah, GA. This was the second Easter that we had been together. I did not feel the pressure that I had in the past, as most Easter sermons are meant to get people coming back. Am I right Pastor?

That Tuesday after church we were visited by some church members and the discussion came around to getting into heaven. Again, I thought just be good and do good things. They explained that all you needed was to believe in Jesus and accept Christ as your savior. Well like I said, I already believed in God so the first part was covered. But to accept Jesus as your Savior was a different story. After some more discussion I was convinced that God was calling for me. We prayed right there and I accepted Christ.

What, that was April 1980. Man, time flies! I wish I could tell you that I got my life right and started attending church regularly, but that did not happen. But I do remember the following morning as I was driving to work, I prayed. It felt right and it felt like God was right there in the car with me. I prayed a very simple selfish request…I asked Him to watch over my career and my family. At this point we were about 8 months into our career with the FAA and did not know that Jayne was pregnant with Heather. I would love to stand here and tell you I was completely changed and began living for Jesus. But my attitude never changed toward God. About the only thing that changed in me at that time was my faith in Jesus. But, I do remember that conversation that I had with God and I had enough faith to know that He would never forsake me.

We moved from Savannah to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March of 1981 and in June of 1981 God helped me make a decision at work that changed my career forever! I did not know it at the time, but looking back I know now. God was working for me even though I was living a Godless life.

In my chosen profession, like most others, it was a Godless career. I was in a young workforce that all of a sudden began making good money. Jayne and I made the choice for her to be full time raising our children and I would be the provider. During our time living in Florida, and not going to church or even thinking about serving God, I had a friend come up to me and tell me, do not be concerned about the single guys driving flashy cars, taking wild vacations and living a wild lifestyle. They all want what you have. Wow, I am not sure if George was a Christian or not, but that spoke to me. As I look back I am sure that was God using George to guide me in a time where I probably needed it.

I worked shift work which included weekends and rarely went to church, except for the religious holidays. I Lived for 11 plus years after accepting Christ as my Savior and never decided to live for Christ. Then out of the blue I received a phone call from an old friend that wanted me to come to Lake Charles, LA and work. I accepted. My career was about to take off! As I look back on my life, this is where God said Okay it’s time for you to get closer to me.

2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

While in Lake Charles we had neighbors that were relentless at asking us to come to church. Not just one family, but several. Again, I was getting that uncomfortable feeling again. But it was easier now to say yes. Long story short I finally was baptized at First Baptist Lake Charles, along with both of my children!  Immediately after getting baptized, an older gentleman came to me and told me to read Psalm 37. My book mark in my Bible is still there today. In the essence of time I will not read the entire Psalm, but let me share a few verses from that Psalm.

Psalm 37:1-2 Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

This really spoke to me and God reminded me that this is what He wanted to me to hear from George years ago.

Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

This verse I recite when I am anxious about anything, specifically the part about: Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him.

After that I realized that I had not been living the right way. You see God kept His part of the bargain when we had that conversation many years ago. God was working on me. Even though I was still working shift work, I made it a priority to get to church whenever I could. God got me out of my Godless lifestyle and was now working on me. We only lived in Lake Charles for just over a year then we moved to College Station, TX.  In fact this next move was a huge step in my career and I absolutely knew God was behind this.

It was now my time to step up to the plate and serve God. When we got to College Station, we immediately got searching for a church. That was, 1992! Where is this time going? Jayne and I began teaching children’s Sunday school. Still not fully devoted to God and still thinking more about me than serving Him. But God is patient and He knows what He is doing. We lived there for 2 years and really hated to move, but the job was going away.

Another move for the career, you see these moves kept getting me promoted, so God was still keeping His part of the bargain. I was trying to serve Him, but it was not my top priority. We moved to Amarillo, TX and we got involved in another church, where Jayne and I both began teaching Sunday school to the youth. After a year God led us to become involved with a new Church startup, Westway Community Church. This was one of the most exciting times of our lives. Immediately we jumped in and began serving with the youth. Well God had other plans for my career, so off to Washington DC we went.

In the summer of 1996, I accepted a position at FAA HQ in Washington DC and we settled in Stafford County, VA. We visited many churches and found them, well not quite as friendly as we were used to in Texas and Louisiana. But we ended up at a local Baptist church and quietly attended.  We were helping out with the youth, but not in any formal sense. But, God was still keeping His end of our agreement and my career was headed for bigger things. Within a year of us moving to Virginia I had reached a 10 year goal in my career that I had set for myself 5 years before that! God was making things happen!

Then around 2001, we stopped going to church, because of church. What? Not trying to look for excuses, we stopped going as our kids got out of high school and we were not involved with the youth. We may have been burnt out. But anyway, within a few months my career came to a standstill. Was that a coincidence? I don’t think so. I had funny suspicions that God was showing me that I needed to get back to Him. Well we would still go occasionally to church, but it did not become our top priority and we began looking for excuses to not attend Sunday mornings.

During this time, my career actually went in reverse from what my career plans were. But God knew what He was doing.

So after a few years of not going to church and allowing God to lead me, it took Jayne to get me going back to church. She had been attending a Bible study at our neighbors’ house and that led us to start attending another Baptist Church.

We had been quietly attending there about a year when one Sunday it dawned on me that there were 5 women for every man sitting in that church. (I know, because I counted.) Right there, God spoke to me and said that I needed to step up to the plate and serve Him on a full time basis. I did not get the feeling that I was being called into the ministry, only into service to Him. I began praying for God to show me how to use me. (Little did I know how He was going to use me or where.) This was late 2006 or so.

It was also around that time that Jayne gave me a copy of The Unusual Suspect, by Stephen Baldwin. It is his story of his testimony. If you haven’t read that book, I highly recommend it. What I got from Stephen’s book was to do something for the Lord, just start and try anything; God will fill in the blanks. It was while reading this book that God spoke to me to begin doing something.  

For me it all began substituting for adult Sunday school. My first adult lesson I taught was based on:

Matthew 5:41 - If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

This became a theme when I taught. That was in 2007. A good friend of mine and our Deacon, also named Jim, came to me asked me to pray about helping him start a men’s ministry at the church. I immediately said yes. He said no, but to pray about it and I told him “I have been praying and this is the answer! “

So Jim and I began serving the men by starting a men’s Bible study on Saturday mornings at Hardees. That lasted a little over a year. After each study I would send out notes via email. From that email chain, I began to include anyone that wanted to be included. Then I started an on line ministry in which I would send out a daily devotion, which grew into a daily scripture with notes for today’s living. (Very arduous, because I was still working full time in my career.)  Sometime in early 2009 I learned about an online way to post stuff. No it was not Facebook, I learned about BlogSpot, which is a free domain service provider.  So I became a Blogger and started a blog site, called, yep you guessed it, Second Mile Ministry. (secondmileministry.blogspot.com.) This site is where I would post weekly devotions which began to turn to monthly, then quarterly and then just occasionally. (About 250 blogs, or as I call them Life’s Lessons) I always wanted convert those into a book.  Lately I have been praying about how to do a video catalog of these lessons, so not only will my words speak to my grandchildren, but I can physically speak to them.)  I tried to start a book once but was overwhelmed with how to organize it. But, I digress, let’s move on.

Between late 2008 and May 2009 I began seeking God’s direction for my career. Lots of life changing things were happening. Work did not become as important as our lives were. So Memorial Day Weekend, 2009, on Sunday morning, I was drinking coffee and talking with my son-in-law’s father who told me about his decision to retire the year before, after 30 years in the Army. What I heard was God speaking to me through Don Browne telling me that everything would be okay. I was ready to move on, but I was also afraid of leaving the security of the Government job. But, God was using others and situations to get to me. I was a little nervous, Jayne was probably thinking I was an idiot or at least out of my mind. We were only 53 & 51 and had so much going on.  But we knew that God would be there. It was also during this time that God moved us to another church. These church moves were growing us in our walk and preparing us for our next role as His servant. I look at these church moves as I did my career, they are to grow us in our lives with God and fulfill our mission for Him.

Side note: You want to know the irony here? Working for the government I strived to get promoted to the GS-15 grade. I did temporary assignments several times in my career to that level, but it was always just for about 90-180 days at a time.  On December 25, 2008 I became eligible for retirement. I thought what a great gift that was. I began researching retirement and the world of becoming a contractor.  At the same time I was asked to work at a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) with a joint team of about 12 different government agencies. I was promoted permanently to the GS-15 ranks. This was March of 2009. So I retired as a GS-15, but actually only held the permanent position for about 4 months! God has a sense of humor but He is also a loving God that keeps His promises and fills our hearts desires. (Ask me later about why we travel so much. That’s another God story there!)

So, literally within days of that conversation with Don, Jayne and I made the decision to retire from the FAA on July 3^rd, 2009 and a 34 year government career. I went to work as a government contractor for the next 13 years.  So began a new chapter in our life. Contracting to the government does have its challenges. I continued to serve God as an online servant. God kept His end of the bargain and continued to bless Jayne and me and our family.

In 2011, we purchased our current house in order to move my parents in to help them out. My mother lasted one year before she passed away and then my father in 2018. Both my parents were believers and in fact my father got baptized when he was 80. My mother, to quote Will Rogers, never met a stranger. She was one to know your entire life story within 10 minutes and then ask you if you knew Jesus Christ! She was a lot like Paul in my mind. My father was a bit more reserved, but still firmly believed that he would see her again.

During the time that we all lived together we would go to church together and once my mom passed, my dad wanted to change churches. The church we were at was a bit more progressive in their music and had a large congregation. My mother loved the church, but my dad was a bit more conservative. So we changed to a smaller Baptist church, as we were just trying to serve my father in his time of need. We went there with my dad a short time, when in 2014 we were led to a new start up church where we stayed until we moved here about 2 years ago.

While at that church there was no men’s ministry. Wednesday nights the ladies had a study and the youth had a study but no men’s. So going with Jayne, I would sit and read my Bible, play on my phone and even occasionally, help with the youth.  I was just showing up and reporting for duty. It was several months of being there alone, when a friend decided to join me, after I asked him to come. Now Robert is a dear friend and we carpooled into DC every day, so being together was easy. We really discussed worldly things, but I was always trying to at least try to apply some scripture to our talks. Over the next 2-3 years Wednesday nights slowly grew into 8-10 men regularly attending, some were from other churches. Then the dreaded COVID hit and that church began online Sunday morning only, which effectively killed the men’s ministry.  We wanted more than watching TV, so we prayed and ultimately God showed us it was time to move on. Hard choice, as both Jayne and were leaders in that church. That was late in 2021.

Now I need to back up just a minute to discuss how we got here at Richland. In February 2018, I was laid off from the current contract I was on. We were still a bit young to fully retire so I went to work at Lowe’s for 6 months then decided to start a handyman business. God being in charge, got that business booming and we began another fulltime adventure. That handyman job grew into a Class C contractor license and we began to do all kinds of work, including building decks. Whenever we did jobs for others I would try to get the conversation around to God. (Not quite as quick as my mother would do!) This is how we met Joe and Susan Butner. Working with Joe and Susan the course of the discussion led to, oh where do you go to church? Susan said it would be great to have us come and sit with us one Sunday. That conversation was Thanksgiving 2021. The rest is current history, we’re here!

But God moves us around for His service. So here we are at Richland. We have visited this church a few times over the 27 years we have lived here on 17 and never felt like this was home, until this time. To be honest Jayne and I were looking for a church close to home. After being involved with 2 startup churches, I really wanted the safety net of an established church with Sunday school and Bible teaching. The Life Groups are a big bonus. Plus the entire fellowship is amazing. I look around this church and see the children worshiping, the teens, and the young adults all trying to serve our God. My heart smiles. This is how we know we are in the right place. What does God have in store for us? I’m not worried; we are just showing up, reporting for duty.

Like scripture says and I repeat:

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Now, to wrap this up, why do I go through my life story to tell you this? Like I said at the top of this God was guiding us and sometimes if I wonder if I would have begun serving Him sooner, how far would we be now? I am not complaining, because we are very blessed. But I do see a direct correlation of when we work for Him; He works even harder for us. He just wants our attention.

God never gave up on us and always looked after our career, our family and especially our dreams. Not only do we have 2 adult children, but we also have 3 grandsons and a granddaughter. Life just keeps getting better.

Don’t let time slip by you without living life for the right reasons. God has so much to give you and all you have to do is ask Him. If you already know Him, then talk to Him and listen to Him, every step of the way. He wants you to do well, just like you want your child to do well.

Life is complicated enough on our own and I want to leave you with this scripture:

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)

Place Your Life Before God

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.