This weekend Kelly and I drove to Bar Harbor, Maine to visit Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park with Kelly's mother Marjorie and Marjorie's husband Bud. We had a great time walking downtown Bar Harbor, eating dinner at the Fish House Grill, and then seeing the highlights of Acadia National Park again: the Visitors Center with the video about the Park, Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Cadillac Mountain, and the Jordan Pond House for Popovers with butter and strawberry jam.
Sounds nice, right? Two years ago this week we visited Acadia National Park, and the state of Maine, for the first time. We were with my brother Don and his wife Grayce. They were celebrating milestone birthdays and wanted to visit Maine; they invited us to join them. This has become something we've done together a few times recently: a shared vacation to celebrate one of our birthdays. Previously we've visited Washington, D.C. and Gettysburg, PA.
On that trip to Acadia National Park, Kelly and I agreed that there was much more to see than a single day permitted, and that someday we'd like to return. Remember that for a minute, please.
One year ago this week, we DID return to Maine, though not to Acadia National Park. On this weekend last year, Kelly and I visited Houlton, Maine for the first time to meet with the Pastoral Search Committee at the First Baptist Church of Houlton. We were invited to preach at the nearby New Limerick Free Will Baptist Church to allow the Search Committee to "see me in action" without introducing me to the whole congregation prematurely.
As most who might read this article (if anyone DOES read this article!) already know, the Search Committee recommended us to the congregation, and we returned in October last year (Columbus Day Weekend) to officially candidate. I moved here permanently on January 1, and Kelly arrived permanently in early April.
Let me now circle back to Acadia National Park this weekend. This was now our THIRD visit to Acadia National Park. We still feel the same way as we did two years ago. We've shown the park now to Kelly's brother Mike and his wife Kym, besides Marjorie and Bud. We're eager to explore more of this wonderful Park, and share it with other of our family and friends who come to visit.
Here's the reason for this article, though. As I was looking around yesterday and describing these wonderful places to my in-laws, I suddenly had a thought I had not previously considered. I imagined my conversation with Kelly from the point of view of God our Heavenly Father, listening in on our thoughts. As we talked excitedly about how much we liked this place and how we looked forward to returning "some day" to see it again and see more of it, I thought of God, looking over us lovingly and saying,
"Oh, I KNEW you would love this place! It's one of My favorites too! And just wait until I show you what I am getting ready to do in your lives! If you think THIS place is awesome, just wait until I show you what's coming next!"
Of course, I don't know for sure if that's what God said. He didn't say it out loud where you might have overheard it. It's just something quiet He put into my thoughts, the way He most often does when He has something to say to me. But oh, man, when I hear from Him...! How great it is to know that God loves me, personally, and how He does enjoy a good surprise!
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Sunday, July 12, 2015
The Letter That Changed My Life
This morning I was asked a question in an internet-based community I belong to: "Talk about a memorable piece of mail you've received."
The letter that immediately came to mind was a letter I received in April 1979 that changed the course of my life forever--for the better.
In the spring of 1979 I was a senior in High School and about to graduate. I had planned my life and career after high school very carefully. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had been working for over a year by that time to earn an appointment to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. I had chosen the Coast Guard Academy for one reason and one reason only: of all the service/military academies, only the Coast Guard Academy did not require a congressional appointment. Since we had no political connections, I believed that the Coast Guard Academy was my best chance into the commissioned officer corps of the United States Uniformed Services.
However, the Coast Guard Academy is also the smallest, by far, of the academies, with just 300 new appointments each year. I had made it through every test and challenge and had been notified that I was a finalist for an appointment. There were 3,000 finalists across the country for just 300 openings. All 3,000 finalists were qualified; it would come down to a selection board.
In April 1979, while my senior class was on their way to Washington, DC, for their class trip, I was heading in another direction. As an early graduation gift, my parents had purchased for me a one-way bus ticket from Binghamton, NY, to Gridley, IL, where my older brother Don and his wife and family were serving God as a Youth Pastor. I was to spend a week with them, and at the same time he had arranged for me to work on a local pig and soybean farm to earn enough money to purchase a plane ticket home.
On the morning I was to board the bus, my mother drove me to Binghamton. On our way out of town, we stopped at the post office to pick up our mail. I ran in to get the mail while my mom waited in the car. The long awaited letter from the Coast Guard Academy was there! I ran back to the car and jumped in. My mother encouraged me to open the letter already! I tore open the envelope with great excitement and began to read..."We regret to inform you that you have not been selected..."
I don't remember reading the rest of the letter. I will confess now that my eyes filled with tears as in that instant my entire life's plan came crashing to earth. I had been so confident of the success of this plan that I had not considered any other options at all. I was now an aimless high school student 3 months away from graduation and...nothing beyond it.
Determined to carry through with the plan for the bus trip, we drove, mostly in silence, the 30 minutes to the bus station. I mumbled words of thanks and good bye to my mother, who, I am sure, wanted to comfort and encourage me, but I was having none of it.
I boarded the bus and walked to a seat near the back. The bus was half empty so it was easy to choose a seat by a window, and put my book bag in the seat next to me to discourage any other passenger from sitting down. I did NOT want to talk to anyone! I would spend the next 24 hours on that bus, all alone with my thoughts. That was just the way I wanted it.
EXCEPT...I was not left alone. Shortly after the bus left the station, Someone sat down in the seat next to me. Now, if you had been on that bus, and had happened to look toward the rear, you may have seen me, sitting all alone with my head against the window. But I was not alone. As crazy as this might sound to you, reader, the Lord Jesus Christ sat down on the bus next to me and began to talk quietly to me. Not one for small talk, He came right to the point:
"Dennis, why are you crying? Why are you so upset?"
I was less respectful than I might have been on any other day. "Lord, You KNOW why I'm upset!"
"Tell me anyway, Dennis." He was gentle but insistent.
"My plans are ruined." I complained.
"Yes, I do know that, Dennis."
"Well, then, Lord, why did that happen? You know how much I wanted this."
"Yes, Dennis, I know how much you wanted it. But I have a question for you."
"What is your question?"
So gently He asked me. There was no accusation. No recrimination. Just..."Dennis, why did you never ask Me what I thought about your plan?"
There it was. Just like that I realized how proud, how selfish, how arrogant I had been. I should have known better. But He was right. Of course He was right! I had never, in over a year of planning, testing, training, I had not prayed about this decision, nor did I ever say, "Thy will be done on earth..."
And I knew what I had to do. I had to ask. So I started to respond to Jesus. But He was gone. He was not there in the seat next to me any more. I had another 23 hours to go on that bus, but now I had a new thought to occupy my mind.
That next night, after my brother picked me up at the bus station, we went to his church. It happened to be Good Friday, and they had a church service. Afterward, we stood in the foyer of the church, and Don was introducing me to people. One man asked me the dreaded question: "So what are you going to do after you graduate?"
Gulp! Swallow back the tears, Dennis. I opened my mouth to answer him. "I don't know for sure, but I haven't ruled out going into the ministry."
To this day, I cannot say where these words came from, but as soon as they passed my lips, I knew what God wanted. I had my call to the ministry. It wasn't completely clear at that moment what it meant, but I had a direction.
Within weeks, God opened doors that had appeared closed, and I had a conditional acceptance at Philadelphia College of Bible to begin studies in the fall of 1979. The rest, as it has been said too often, is history.
Postscript: six years later, God gave me back what He had taken from me, and I was able to enter military service and serve my country in the United States Army. God has NEVER taken anything away from me, or asked me to give up, that He has not replaced with something FAR BETTER!
It has been 36 years since that bus ride, and I have never forgotten it, nor have I regretted receiving that letter of rejection.
The letter that immediately came to mind was a letter I received in April 1979 that changed the course of my life forever--for the better.
In the spring of 1979 I was a senior in High School and about to graduate. I had planned my life and career after high school very carefully. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had been working for over a year by that time to earn an appointment to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. I had chosen the Coast Guard Academy for one reason and one reason only: of all the service/military academies, only the Coast Guard Academy did not require a congressional appointment. Since we had no political connections, I believed that the Coast Guard Academy was my best chance into the commissioned officer corps of the United States Uniformed Services.
However, the Coast Guard Academy is also the smallest, by far, of the academies, with just 300 new appointments each year. I had made it through every test and challenge and had been notified that I was a finalist for an appointment. There were 3,000 finalists across the country for just 300 openings. All 3,000 finalists were qualified; it would come down to a selection board.
In April 1979, while my senior class was on their way to Washington, DC, for their class trip, I was heading in another direction. As an early graduation gift, my parents had purchased for me a one-way bus ticket from Binghamton, NY, to Gridley, IL, where my older brother Don and his wife and family were serving God as a Youth Pastor. I was to spend a week with them, and at the same time he had arranged for me to work on a local pig and soybean farm to earn enough money to purchase a plane ticket home.
On the morning I was to board the bus, my mother drove me to Binghamton. On our way out of town, we stopped at the post office to pick up our mail. I ran in to get the mail while my mom waited in the car. The long awaited letter from the Coast Guard Academy was there! I ran back to the car and jumped in. My mother encouraged me to open the letter already! I tore open the envelope with great excitement and began to read..."We regret to inform you that you have not been selected..."
I don't remember reading the rest of the letter. I will confess now that my eyes filled with tears as in that instant my entire life's plan came crashing to earth. I had been so confident of the success of this plan that I had not considered any other options at all. I was now an aimless high school student 3 months away from graduation and...nothing beyond it.
Determined to carry through with the plan for the bus trip, we drove, mostly in silence, the 30 minutes to the bus station. I mumbled words of thanks and good bye to my mother, who, I am sure, wanted to comfort and encourage me, but I was having none of it.
I boarded the bus and walked to a seat near the back. The bus was half empty so it was easy to choose a seat by a window, and put my book bag in the seat next to me to discourage any other passenger from sitting down. I did NOT want to talk to anyone! I would spend the next 24 hours on that bus, all alone with my thoughts. That was just the way I wanted it.
EXCEPT...I was not left alone. Shortly after the bus left the station, Someone sat down in the seat next to me. Now, if you had been on that bus, and had happened to look toward the rear, you may have seen me, sitting all alone with my head against the window. But I was not alone. As crazy as this might sound to you, reader, the Lord Jesus Christ sat down on the bus next to me and began to talk quietly to me. Not one for small talk, He came right to the point:
"Dennis, why are you crying? Why are you so upset?"
I was less respectful than I might have been on any other day. "Lord, You KNOW why I'm upset!"
"Tell me anyway, Dennis." He was gentle but insistent.
"My plans are ruined." I complained.
"Yes, I do know that, Dennis."
"Well, then, Lord, why did that happen? You know how much I wanted this."
"Yes, Dennis, I know how much you wanted it. But I have a question for you."
"What is your question?"
So gently He asked me. There was no accusation. No recrimination. Just..."Dennis, why did you never ask Me what I thought about your plan?"
There it was. Just like that I realized how proud, how selfish, how arrogant I had been. I should have known better. But He was right. Of course He was right! I had never, in over a year of planning, testing, training, I had not prayed about this decision, nor did I ever say, "Thy will be done on earth..."
And I knew what I had to do. I had to ask. So I started to respond to Jesus. But He was gone. He was not there in the seat next to me any more. I had another 23 hours to go on that bus, but now I had a new thought to occupy my mind.
That next night, after my brother picked me up at the bus station, we went to his church. It happened to be Good Friday, and they had a church service. Afterward, we stood in the foyer of the church, and Don was introducing me to people. One man asked me the dreaded question: "So what are you going to do after you graduate?"
Gulp! Swallow back the tears, Dennis. I opened my mouth to answer him. "I don't know for sure, but I haven't ruled out going into the ministry."
To this day, I cannot say where these words came from, but as soon as they passed my lips, I knew what God wanted. I had my call to the ministry. It wasn't completely clear at that moment what it meant, but I had a direction.
Within weeks, God opened doors that had appeared closed, and I had a conditional acceptance at Philadelphia College of Bible to begin studies in the fall of 1979. The rest, as it has been said too often, is history.
Postscript: six years later, God gave me back what He had taken from me, and I was able to enter military service and serve my country in the United States Army. God has NEVER taken anything away from me, or asked me to give up, that He has not replaced with something FAR BETTER!
It has been 36 years since that bus ride, and I have never forgotten it, nor have I regretted receiving that letter of rejection.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Forty Days in the White Winter Wilderness of Northern Maine
Today, February 9, 2015, marks the 40th day of my new life in northern Maine. The thought has been running through my mind all day today that 40 days is meaningful. Especially for somebody who reads their Bible and remembers some of the stories from both the Old and New Testaments.
There was the 40 years that Moses spent in Egypt before leaving in one big hurry to live for...40 years...in the Sinai wilderness, taking care of sheep before God appeared to him in the burning bush to send him back to Egypt to lead Israel out of slavery there. Once they left and safely crossed the Red Sea (with a little bit of help from God, who handled the obstacle and the opponent with a certain flair. After that, Moses went up on Mount Sinai to meet with God for...40 days...and then brought back down from the Mountain the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Levitical code.
From their, Israel traveled to the edge of Canaan, only to turn back in fear and despair. Because of that, they had to wander in the wilderness for another...40 years.
PHEW.
Saul, the first king of Israel, reigned for ...40 years.
David, the second king of Israel, reigned for...40 years.
Solomon, David's son and the third king of Israel, reigned for...40 years.
Oh. There's the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and praying before His temptation and the beginning of His public ministry.
There's more, but to write about it, I'd have to look it up. And you'd accuse me of showing off.
The point is...40 somethings, be it hours, days, years, is meaningful. There is a significance to the recurring number throughout the Bible. A generation, or more likely, two generations.
I've been in Maine for exactly 40 days. And it has been a fasting experience, of sorts. I'm fasting, refraining from warm (ish) weather. It has been cold here. I mean, really cold. Many, no, MOST nights, the temperature has dropped well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Many days, the temperature has remained below, or only slightly above, that benchmark. Wind chills have dropped into the 20s and 30s BELOW zero several times.
Don't worry about me, though. I am not living in a refrigerator box under a highway overpass. They've discovered heat here in Maine--whether generated by burning heating oil, firewood, wood pellets, kerosene, propane or electricity. I am not complaining about the cold--just reporting the facts.
What is really important about these 40 days in Maine is not related to the weather. It is about the people. In 40 days, I've met well over a hundred new (to me) people and am well on my way to making these new acquaintances into friends. I have worshiped with my new church family on six consecutive Sundays, and celebrated the Lord's Table twice. I've attended and participated in a dozen different meetings of various groups, boards, committees. I've enjoyed many meals as the guest of generous hosts. I've learned nearly everyone's names and can successfully associate those names with the appropriate faces about 80% of the time, and that number is going up daily. I've partipated in more than 20 Bible study sessions with men and women who are really serious about studying God's Word, growing in faith, in knowledge, and in fruitful ministry.
And in those 40 days, there has been no discouraging words heard, no second thoughts or regrets about making this move, no unpleasant encounters. Nobody has made fun of my ugly orange New York State license plates still clinging resolutely to the front and rear bumpers of my car. And, oh, yeah--no car wash.
Looking forward to the next 40 days--and beyond. It will eventually warm up here, I'm told. I'm guaranteed that summer will last at least...40 minutes.
In closing, I'd like to corrupt those well known words from Job 13:15 (Dennis Ashley paraphrase):
"Though He freeze me, yet I will trust in Him."
There was the 40 years that Moses spent in Egypt before leaving in one big hurry to live for...40 years...in the Sinai wilderness, taking care of sheep before God appeared to him in the burning bush to send him back to Egypt to lead Israel out of slavery there. Once they left and safely crossed the Red Sea (with a little bit of help from God, who handled the obstacle and the opponent with a certain flair. After that, Moses went up on Mount Sinai to meet with God for...40 days...and then brought back down from the Mountain the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Levitical code.
From their, Israel traveled to the edge of Canaan, only to turn back in fear and despair. Because of that, they had to wander in the wilderness for another...40 years.
PHEW.
Saul, the first king of Israel, reigned for ...40 years.
David, the second king of Israel, reigned for...40 years.
Solomon, David's son and the third king of Israel, reigned for...40 years.
Oh. There's the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and praying before His temptation and the beginning of His public ministry.
There's more, but to write about it, I'd have to look it up. And you'd accuse me of showing off.
The point is...40 somethings, be it hours, days, years, is meaningful. There is a significance to the recurring number throughout the Bible. A generation, or more likely, two generations.
I've been in Maine for exactly 40 days. And it has been a fasting experience, of sorts. I'm fasting, refraining from warm (ish) weather. It has been cold here. I mean, really cold. Many, no, MOST nights, the temperature has dropped well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Many days, the temperature has remained below, or only slightly above, that benchmark. Wind chills have dropped into the 20s and 30s BELOW zero several times.Don't worry about me, though. I am not living in a refrigerator box under a highway overpass. They've discovered heat here in Maine--whether generated by burning heating oil, firewood, wood pellets, kerosene, propane or electricity. I am not complaining about the cold--just reporting the facts.
What is really important about these 40 days in Maine is not related to the weather. It is about the people. In 40 days, I've met well over a hundred new (to me) people and am well on my way to making these new acquaintances into friends. I have worshiped with my new church family on six consecutive Sundays, and celebrated the Lord's Table twice. I've attended and participated in a dozen different meetings of various groups, boards, committees. I've enjoyed many meals as the guest of generous hosts. I've learned nearly everyone's names and can successfully associate those names with the appropriate faces about 80% of the time, and that number is going up daily. I've partipated in more than 20 Bible study sessions with men and women who are really serious about studying God's Word, growing in faith, in knowledge, and in fruitful ministry.
And in those 40 days, there has been no discouraging words heard, no second thoughts or regrets about making this move, no unpleasant encounters. Nobody has made fun of my ugly orange New York State license plates still clinging resolutely to the front and rear bumpers of my car. And, oh, yeah--no car wash.
Looking forward to the next 40 days--and beyond. It will eventually warm up here, I'm told. I'm guaranteed that summer will last at least...40 minutes.
In closing, I'd like to corrupt those well known words from Job 13:15 (Dennis Ashley paraphrase):
"Though He freeze me, yet I will trust in Him."
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