Fishrapper

No Secrets Here

When I find a good eating place I tell everyone who will listen, and those who won't. There are too many bad restaurants to not shout from the rooftop about the good.

When I find a "honey hole" -- that's Southern for great place to fish -- I tell people, even those who don't ask. I can't help it, and it has been known to get me in trouble with fishing buddies.

Likewise on great travel spots or camping areas.

In other words, I like to share what I know. That is my passion. It drives my desire for discipleship.

So here's one for you.

Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX is as good as it gets.

I have listened to my son for seven weeks extol the magnificence of that place. The attitudes, the caring, the consideration, and the medical knowledge and treatment are beyond imagination.

Here is Van's latest comment:

"BAMC is an unbelievable place - they are very accessible and are all about patient care. I can't gush enough about how great of service and care we receive there. Anything I say pales to what really happens - people recognized me (or us) in the hall, and asked about Barb, etc. This is all the more remarkable when you consider how much trauma they see. Amazing."

It's great to expose BAMC for what it is.

I Hurt...

It doesn't make a lot of sense but I've been grieving all day -- for Kenny Perry and his loss in the Masters Golf Tournament.

I usually pull for someone (in golf) or a team in basketball or football, but the a loss has never affected me this way. I have actually hurt. I'd like to be able to say my grief was for Perry, who at 48 probably won't have another shot at winning the Masters, or any other major, but it wasn't. It was for me. I wish I knew why.

Lord, give me a sense of what is going on.

My Rock and Fortress

I cringe when asked, "How's the church?" I don't like where we are. Neither do the people! But I can't let the circumstances reflect where I am day by day.

I realized this morning it is okay to be happy or sad, up or down, on top of it or underneath, as long as I remember God never changes and my real abiding place is in His City of Refuge.

Thank you Father for being all I need.

Up and Running Again

    This has not been a good last five months. It could have been, but I got in the way.

    We moved from our 3,800 sq. ft. ranch house to a 1,040 sq. ft. house on the Colorado River. We call it our Beach House. And it is a lovely setting. But culling has been another story. And at 66 it has been exhausting.

    I've done too much griping and complaining and too little thanking God. In other words, I've blown it. I've repented.

    Good times are ahead.

God Is So Good

    I'm sitting here in the mountains of northeastern Washington, far from civilization. The only thing that comes to mind is that old commercial, "Mmmmmm! Boy! Almond joy!"

    The view is magnificent. The air is chilled. Deer and wild turkey abound.

    We're on vacation at a place called Gaius Guest Ranch. They take only one pastor or missionary couple at a time. We have a neat cabin with a loft, a kitchen house next door, a fishing pond nearby, and a host couple who cook dinner for us each night.

    It is eat, sleep, read, talk, and spend bunches of quality time with the Father.

    Wish you were here!

Yielding, Working!

    Three questions are foremost in my mind as I focus on living the Spirit-filled life.

• Where is God working in me?
• How am I yielding?
• What problems do I have giving in?

Saying NO To Myself

    Shirley (my wife) and I had a disagreement early this week. It was a word thing. And it didn't get resolved immediately. I was absolutely sure I was right. Still am! But let me tell you God's take on it.

    I was mowing the yard Monday morning and God brought up the last point of my Sunday message -- yielding as a key to walking in the Spirit. He amplified it, suggesting I need to yield to Shirley on this issue. In response my thought was, "But I was right." And God said the issue was not who was right, but simply that I was to yield. Literally! To Him!

    Philippians 2:3-4 came to mind. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself..."

    I understood the principle. I needed to yield to her because I was to consider her as more important than myself. In the flesh -- the opposite of the Spirit -- that is a hard pill to swallow. But as I chewed on these thoughts I heard the Spirit saying that it was more than yielding to Shirley. It was really yielding to Him.

    So I've been walking around all week with my hands in the air, as if surrendering, and muttering to myself: "Yield."

    I don't have time to tell you all the incidents that occurred this week. It was enough to drive home the point. There were lots of opportunities. And in the process God even had the opportunity to say to me, "You really have a need to be right, don't you?"

    I need to yield, even when I believe I've been dealt a bad hand and want to fold. Folding is not the answer. Yielding is! Always!

Valuable Times

    The past month has been one of the most stressful, yet joyful times of my life.

    We had company -- Jack Taylor (wife, Frede) and Peter Lord (wife, Johnnie). They were in our home for 16 days, here to teach our people at First Southern Baptist Church, and the pastors/leaders of the Trinity Southern Baptist Association.

    I was stressed because of the responsibility I felt, plus I did not know Jack well. I was very nervous about having him in our home for five days. Shouldn't have been! He was a delight, as was his wife. We were blessed abundantly by their presence. And, of course, the time with Peter and Johnnie was as always -- refreshing and challenging.

    God really used them to introduce us in a fresh way to the Holy Spirit. The neat thing is that, though they are gone, God continues his work in us -- and me.

    I am excited about what God is teaching us, especially the principle of yielding as a model for walking in the Spirit.

Specific Prayer

    We prayed tonight for Peter Lord, an author and former pastor who is coming to minister next week at our church in the Southern California desert.

    I had read the story of blind Bartimaeus where Jesus asked, "What do you want Me to do for you?" He answered, "I want to regain my sight." (Mark 10:51)

    Then I asked the people to pray just as specifically, like Andrew Murray suggested, "...the distinct expression of definite need." They did! It was great. Every request was to the point. No wholesale praying! I was blessed by their intercession for the man who next week would minister to them.

    But I also hurt. I thought, "I wish they prayed like that for me."

   

Will I Ever Learn?

    I should have listened.
    My friends Don and Dennis told me to wait and let them help. "The ground may be slippery," they said. I didn't listen.
    I went to the water's edge to empty the rain water from my jon boat. We were on vacation at Patagonia Lake in southern Arizona. The dirt bank seemed stable. I pulled several times to get the boat up on the bank. Then I slipped right on my tail bone, the same one I injured 35 years ago while riding in a friend's bass boat.
    Realizing I couldn't move the boat further I moved to the back to lighten it by removing the battery. One hand couldn't do it, so I stepped into the boat with one foot and attempted to lift the battery with both hands. Suddenly the boat started sliding back into the water. I went with it, submersing everything but my wife's baseball cap. The boat tipped sideways, but I let loose and nothing spilled.
    My ego was damaged, but no one saw me. So after clearing the rest of the water from the boat I walked the shoreline trail back to my camper, took a hot shower, and changed clothes.
    I did give my friends a verbal picture of my adventure, even suggesting I would recreate it if they'd make a video. But now my tail bone hurts. I really should have listened to my friends.