30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 57: the Mid-Hudson/Union Association

Today I am expressing thanks for the Mid-Hudson/Union Association of American Baptist Churches of New York State (phew! that’s a mouthful!). This association of approximately 30 churches in our Hudson River valley area is a networked collection of local churches with some important points of common interest. In this association are several pastors who actively participate in monthly breakfast meetings. We gather to share concerns, opportunities, and just to encourage one another and be encouraged.

Not all of our member churches actively participate nor support the association, for which I am somewhat sad. Even so, in the nearly six years of my association with this group, we have seen more of our churches and individual members become more involved. I am thankful for the growth of our association, for the friends I have made here, and for the future that we share.

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the people, the churches and the pastors of the Mid-Hudson/Union Association.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 56: Toby

One year ago today, we picked up our new “child,” Tobias Maximillian Rudolph Ashley, the First. Toby, as we call him, is a mutt: part Golden Retriever, part Yellow Labrador Retriever. He’s a dog who believes he is a people. He has front paws that he believes are hands. He’s a big dog who thinks he is a lap dog.

Toby is a miracle in our family. Some would say that the miracle happened first in the heart of his “adopted mother”, Kelly (but please don’t tell Toby that he’s adopted!) We expected, after we said goodbye to Blackjack, never to have another canine child in the house, except maybe as “grandparents.” Imagine my surprise when Kelly announced, without warning, that we ought to get a new puppy for Christmas!

One year ago today, we went to select our new “baby.” Thinking it best to let Kelly be the first to connect with the puppy, I quietly suggested to Ryan and Matt that we should hang back, and let Kelly take the lead. From that first day, Kelly and Toby bonded in a way that Kelly and Blackjack never did. So we have a dog again. He likes the water…so much so that he learned how to climb the ladder to jump into the swimming pool. He loves to run, especially with a stick in his mouth, and the bigger the stick, the better he likes it. He sometimes runs, and sometimes prances around the yard.

I cannot explain what changed Kelly’s mind, but whatever it was, I’m glad it happened. There have been moments, and not just a few, that we have wondered if we lost our minds that day. For sure, we’ve lost our hearts to this crazy canine.

Video of Toby the WonderDog

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for giving us a new life to nurture and to love. Thank You for Toby.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day #55: My Most Valuable Christmas Present

Years ago, Kelly and I began a Christmas tradition: each year (or at least, most years) we have given a gift to ourselves—a “Family Christmas present.” The first was a stereo system we purchased while in Germany in 1988—I wrote about that in an earlier post (click HERE to read that post). Other gifts through the years have included a Foosball table, a trampoline, and many more that I cannot remember at the moment. One of our boys’ friends was heard to comment about the trampoline: “That’s my favorite your Christmas present!” That comment has stuck and has traveled with us all the years since.

Thinking about my “favorite” Christmas present is a short thought process. I have received many, many gifts from many people who have loved be, and whom I have loved, well. These gifts have been thoughtful, humorous, practical, frivolous, and more. Some have been handmade or homemade. Others have been purchased at considerable expense. I have and do appreciate each one of them, both for the gift itself and even more so for the giver and the love demonstrated toward me in the act of selecting, making or purchasing, wrapping, addressing, and presenting the gift to me.

The greatest of them all, however, is the first of them all, and the inspiration for every gift since. It’s described beautifully in the words found in the Gospel according to John, chapter 3 and verse 16: “For God so loved the world [including Dennis Ashley] that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever [still including Dennis Ashley] believeth in Him [I do! I do!] should not perish [yay!] but have everlasting life [hallelujah!].”

Thank You, Loving Heavenly Father, for this Gift of love, freely given to and for me, and to and for the whole world. Oh, that everyone would believe, and have everlasting life as Your gift, freely given and freely received.

To you, reader, if there are any, I say: please, if you have not already, accept the gift God is presenting to you. It is not yours until you receive it, but it does have your name on it!
Merry Christmas!

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 54 (Christmas Eve): the Incarnation

Christmas Eve…those words carry a special thrill and meaning all of their own. As a child, of course, they meant mainly one thing…”Santa Claus Is Comin’ Tonight!” Last minute shopping, wrapping, baking…these things were all part of my Christmas Eve experiences, whether personally or watching my parents and others frantically working to get everything done.

In my adult years, while all of those things still fill my Christmas Eve experiences, the most important feature of my Christmas Eve is the church service. The candlelight, the music, the full sanctuary, the “passing the light” candle ceremony, singing “Silent Night”—these are the things that mean the most to me now.

On this Christmas Eve, I want to say “Thank You” to God for this miracle: the Incarnation. “The Word [God the Son] was made Flesh [Jesus the infant] and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, Authorized Version, with emphasis and clarifications added.) It was unexpected. It was unheard of and unlooked for. It was a complete surprise, and some people are just now getting it. It was perfect.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day #53: the Ministers Council

Today I am thankful for a special group of colleagues in ministry: the members of the Ministers Council. This is a professional organization that has a National component (professional ministers or “clergy” of American Baptist Churches across the United States) and a Regional component (professional ministers from around the New York state “Region”). Though the potential membership in our region is well over 300, less than 20% of our ministers are members in the Ministers Council.

This voluntary association of pastors serves a number of important functions for me. It offers a collegial network of pastors who can encourage one another, commiserate with one another, and counsel one another, when a pastor has no one in his or her own church to whom he or she can confide (which is almost always the case). The Ministers Council offers a forum for sharing ideas—especially those that have been somewhat successful elsewhere. It is a place for refining the pastor’s skills, for sharpening the pastor’s tools, and for maintaining the pastor’s spiritual vitality.

Since coming to First Baptist Church in Newburgh and becoming a part of the American Baptist family of ministries, the Ministers Council has become very valuable to me. Among the constellation of agencies and ministries associated with American Baptist Churches generally, the Ministers Council is unique in that it has the pastors as its sole focus. Oh, the Ministers Council is a crucial resource for our churches, because the Ministers Council exists to serve and to support the pastors. Improving and enhancing pastoral ministry is a particularly important piece of the puzzle of how to help our churches grow and thrive.

I thank God for the Ministers Council!

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 52: The Dunnemans

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the singing group GoodNews. Today, I am thankful for another music ministry, also friends of mine: Reg and Gretchen Dunneman, The Dunnemans. I was introduced to this unique duo for the first time by my father (yes, my father!) Reg and Gretchen quickly became good friends, and have become part of the Ashley family. They even joined us for the Ashley Family Camping Trip at Westcott Beach on Lake Ontario a few years ago! 

Reg and Gretchen worked with us at Montrose Bible Conference for several years, leading worship, teaching music workshops, and producing our variety show for Teen Camp in those summers that they were with us. Reg routinely beat me in tennis, though he was always gracious in victory. They have sung in our church several times, and we are due for another Dunnemans concert in the coming year, the Lord willing.

The Dunnemans tour up and down the East Coast, from Canada to Florida, and also travel to the Midwest often. Check their website for their current itinerary. They regularly tour in Florida during the winter months (good planning there!) and will stop and sing at retirement centers, community events, fairs, picnics, conferences and retreats in addition to the traditional church concert. Their music is great, and their message is always uplifting and encouraging. If you’ve never heard them, visit their website where you can hear samples of their music and order their recordings. If they are singing near you, drop everything and go hear them. Tell them Dennis sent you!

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for The Dunnemans. May you continue to watch over them, and may they continue to minister for you, bringing Your message of hope and reconciliation through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day #51: Laughter

The ability to laugh, and occasionally to cause others to laugh, is something that I cherish. As a child, my home was filled with laughter. My mother had a distinctive laugh, which we heard often. My father loved to laugh also. They took turns playing the “straight man” for the other’s comic quips. One of the early lessons I learned was that “it is better to laugh than to cry.” Later on, I learned that laughing at myself is healthy; laughing at others is hurtful. These lessons have stuck with me and I still believe in their value.

Jesus Laughing

I believe in the therapeutic value of spontaneous and enthusiastic laughter. Yesterday in our Tuesday morning Bible study we all had a good, hearty laugh over something someone said, quite unexpectedly. It felt good! Several people mentioned how much better they felt after joining in an uncontrolled fit of laughing. I don’t understand the physiology of it, but I believe in it nonetheless. I’ve got theology to stand on here: Proverbs 17:22 declares that “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” (Authorized Version). Moreover, according to Psalm 2:4, God Himself laughs: "The One enthroned in Heaven laughs..."

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the gift of laughing, for the ability to laugh, for sometimes helping other people to laugh, and for the things and the people who have caused or helped me to laugh.