Today, August 24th, is Patty’s and my 56th wedding anniversary. It is hard to imagine being married that long, but barring health problems, we should easily make it to 70 years of marriage. If we do, we will have a party and you are invited. We have had a good marriage over the last 56 years. No affairs, no major fights about anything, at least not that I can remember. We raised eight kids and had the usual stuff and adjustments with them. For 50 years, we have been here at Jefferson, pastoring. In the early days of the church, we didn’t have much money. My salary was $500, and gradually, as the church grew, it went up, so we had to budget well to feed eight kids. I don’t remember having any tension about how to spend the money. I regularly worked extra jobs to help out with the bills. 

A couple of keys to our 56 years of unity and love: We went on a date together without kids almost every week. We talked about life, us, kids, finance, goals, church, problems, and our relationship with the Lord. Another key was that we got away with the kids camping at least twice a year. We went to the Steens Mountains to camp and hunt for ten days in the fall. We also went to several other areas. In the Spring, we went to the Powder River arm of the Brownlee reservoir, camped, and fished for ten days.

On our first anniversary, we went on a 100-mile canoe trip, camping each night. We had more adventures and excitement on that trip than you could imagine. Dealing with and conquering all those challenges was a great kick-start for a great marriage with hundreds more challenges over the last 56 years that we have figured out and conquered together. On our 50th anniversary we went to the Steens Mts and camped for a week, just the two of us. We camped next to Fish Lake and I would fish and Patty cooked what I caught. We started with a ten-day canoe trip, and 49 years later, we were still camping and fishing. But the primary key to our great marriage was that we prayed together regularly. We prayed for our kids, for wisdom, for strength, we prayed for money to be able to pay all the bills, we prayed about and for my preaching, we prayed for anything that became a problem, challenge, or tension in our marriage. Our prayers are what brought God’s blessing into our marriage and into our family. That is how I would describe our 56 years of marriage, God blessed.

Jefferson Baptist Church has had a ministry in Sierra Leone since 2002, when the civil war they had been in for over ten years ended. During the war, over 50,000 people were killed, most of whom were not soldiers but innocent civilians killed by raging bands of kids randomly killing, including thousands of people having their hands and feet cut off with machetes. The war was fought primarily to control the country’s rich diamond fields. When we went there in 2002 and drove across the country, we saw a country that this war had destroyed.  There was no free public education, very little electricity outside the capital of Freetown, 80% unemployment, the roads had been destroyed, and terrible dirt and rock roads were mostly what was left. It is hard to describe what we saw in the days of “touring” the country during our weeks there. But, despite the conditions, it was very easy to preach the gospel and start churches, and when we left after a couple of weeks, we left behind four churches. From 2002 until about 2017, I made around 30 trips with others over to Sierra Leone to teach and start churches. I haven’t gone back for the last eight years because of my health, but I am going again this coming April and looking forward to it with great anticipation. I thought about Sierra Leone yesterday when we got an email from JBC that the air-conditioning had gone out and wouldn’t be fixed until next week. I heard someone say they would stay home in their air-conditioned house and watch the service on “live stream.” I thought that was a good idea; it is nice that people have that option. Then I thought about Sierra Leone, where the temperature is almost always in the 90s with the same humidity, and no air-conditioning in any of the churches. Besides that, much of their worship includes dancing, which results in most of them being covered in sweat. One of the churches I worshipped at had rows of two bamboo limbs running horizontally to sit on with no back. They were happy, joyful, and very grateful for what they had. Comfort and convenience are not wrong until we begin to depend on them for our joy and level of gratefulness. Grumbling and complaining are very common with most people in our culture, and Christians are as bad as the world. As Christians headed for heaven, we ought never to grumble or complain about anything ever again.

Revelation 3:15-16 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

I don’t think being lukewarm is bad like murder or lying, but it is a bad place to be in our Christian life according to these verses. Lukewarm people get spit out of the mouth of Jesus. That is certainly not a good thing to have happen. I don’t think that getting spit out means that we lose our salvation, but I do think it means that we lose our relationship with Jesus. I have an intimate, close relationship with my wife but I know of many marriages where there is little closeness, they are married legally but there isn’t much that shows their marriage to be true. Being lukewarm is being content with where you are in your character level, your righteousness, and your level of fruit bearing. The result of being content is a plateaued saint. There is no desire for more growth, a better relationship with Jesus, or more fruit in our lives. It is all good enough. The main problem with being lukewarm is that most who are think they are hot, they are blind to their true condition. Obviously this warning is intended to be a wake up call, a motivator to do something, to change, but it is hard to change what you can’t see to be true in your life. God will take a lukewarm Christian through trials to try and wake them up, sometimes they get it but often they don’t. I believe that a main tool of God’s to wake people up is good preaching. Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2-3 was “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” Lukewarm Christians don’t want to be reproved, they want to feel good so they go to churches where that is the kind of preaching there is. My goal when I preach is to create a discontent in those who hear with their present level of maturity and a strong desire to do something about it. It doesn’t always happen but I always pray and prepare so that it might.

Years ago, I went on a short-term mission trip to a country that was very hostile to the gospel. If a person converted to Jesus, they risked losing their jobs, their property, their family, and possibly even their own life. I chatted with a leader of one of the small house churches we visited, and he said a very interesting thing, which I am reminded of often. He said that when a person became a follower of Jesus in his country, they were already ahead of most Christians in the United States in spiritual maturity, who had been Christians all their life. He said in the United States, many Christians are in a state of arrested growth or plateaued, a state that they rarely escape from, but in his country, that never happened. All believers grew rapidly from day one and never stopped. The reason was that they were picking up their crosses daily and following Jesus. They counted the cost of being a disciple of Jesus every day, and despite the dangers and fears, they continued to follow and serve Jesus. We never face persecution for our faith here; there is no price that we pay to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus. There, they risked everything to attend a small house church and rarely missed. It was a severely punished crime to be caught with a Bible, so they read it in secret for hours before passing it off to someone else to read and memorize. Christians in our country can grow rapidly and bear much fruit, but they are rare. In Oregon, the only ones who grow and never stop are the ones who desperately want to and pay the price in personal discipline to grow.

It is encouraging to see the number of professional football players who are Christians and give public testimony of their faith. It is even more encouraging to see many of these give intelligent, gracious, humble interviews and demonstrate Jesus’s character. I recently heard one NFL quarterback say that because of the platform that God had given him, he needed to be faithful and use it to glorify Jesus and attract people to his savior. Many of us don’t have the same platform as famous athletes, but we must be faithful to every opportunity God gives us. I believe that we all get many, many opportunities to be a witness for Jesus, divine appointments,  but we miss them; they come and go because we aren’t looking for them. They come and go because we are distracted by the things in the world, we miss them because we are timid and don’t want to influence someone to Jesus, and we miss them because we aren’t committed to being a witness for Jesus, so we aren’t looking for them. It is like the fellow who goes hunting and doesn’t see a single deer when they are all around him. Jesus said,” Lift your eyes and look on the white fields for harvest.” Look, look closely, look expectantly. Looking to see.

Everyone has their favorite time of year. Mine is September, October, and November. It seems like plenty of sunny days are left, even though the rains start, but it is cooler. I am not a hot-weather person; I like cooler weather and don’t even mind cold. I don’t like rain, but I can tolerate the days when it sprinkles for a few hours. I think I like the Fall because of the good fishing and hunting this time of year. I might have been mentally programmed on the dairy when I was a kid. June, July, and August were hectic and challenging months. We had to move the irrigation pipe daily, put in three cuttings of hay, and continue to milk the cows twice a day. When September arrived and school started, things slowed down on the farm. September, October, and November were much easier months. The winter snow and cold hadn’t started yet, the weather was still relatively comfortable, fishing was good, and hunting was in full swing. Now, things get busier in the fall with considerable increases in ministry. I still enjoy this time of year because I enjoy teaching, preaching, studying, meetings, and all the rest that goes with doing ministry, and of course, I enjoy hunting. My Mom used to say that for all of us, our favorite part of the year was when we were born. My birthday is October 27th, and October is my favorite month. My Dad’s birthday was in April, and he loved April.

I have never tested my Mom’s conclusion, but it was true for her, Dad, and me. We all use the word favorite a lot: favorite food, favorite sport, favorite month, favorite activity, favorite person, favorite color, and so on. I have a T-shirt that says, “God loves everybody, but I am His favorite!” I get lots of comments when I wear that T-shirt. I wonder what my favorite activity will be in heaven. Heaven will be a very active place. We will do a lot, and our activities will be very different. I don’t think my favorite activity will be playing a harp.

 Proverbs 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Proverbs 16:9 The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

There are a half dozen verses in the book of Proverbs on goal setting. Here are two in the same chapter I read this morning because it is the 16th of August, and everyday I read one chapter in Proverbs that corresponds to the day of the month as part of my Bible reading plan. As I write my goals, I always pray before I start, asking God for wisdom, guidance, and faith, and when I finish, I commit them to Him, asking for strength to accomplish them. I pray when I am all done writing my goals and begin sharing them with others, “Dear Lord, these goals are what I believe is part of Your will for my life this next year. I intend to advance with these goals in faith, trusting You to give me the strength and the wisdom to accomplish them. At any time in the pursuit of them that I think I missed how You were leading, I am open to change and will make adjustments as things open up and become clearer. I will not let this commitment to make adjustments become an excuse to let up or take the easy way if things get hard in pursuing a particular goal.” Another prayer that I pray numerous times in the weeks that I am working on my goals is, “Dear Lord, I am writing these goals down and choosing to read them at least weekly because I know that if I don’t, they will disappear in the business of life and in my tendency to forget. My writing and reading are my commitment to You to pursue them diligently, and You promised that my commitment results in Your blessing.”

I have made a goal to climb Mt Adams this next year on July 12^th. I think it has been at least ten years since I made it to the top. I can remember about four times since the last successful climb that I have attempted and not made it. I am going to train very hard for this climb and I will also be about 50 lbs lighter than I have been in the last ten years. If I make it or not this will be my last attempt. If I make it I will call that my last hurrah, and if I don’t, I will figure that is the best chance I will have and move on to another challenge not quite so hard. It used to be that in my annual goals there were about six B-HAG’s, Big, Hairy Audacious Goals, now I usually have one or maybe two. I have liked them because they motivate me to do more than I normally would. This goal has me walking on the treadmill three times a week and increasing the incline and speed, riding on my stationary bike three times a week, and lifting weights three times a week.

Matthew 14:28-29 Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Every time I read this passage of Jesus walking on the water I wonder what was Peter’s motive in asking Jesus to command him to “Come.” There are any number of possibilities. If it had been me, my motive would have been the chance to do something that was impossible. I don’t think that would have been a bad motive. I have successfully climbed Mt Adams a number of times in the past, Mt Hood a couple of times, Mt St Helens before it blew it’s top, I have sky dived three times, ridden across the USA three times on a bicycle, and last year I volunteered to Pastor a different church in Jefferson. Why? There is something exciting, and rejuvenating in getting out of the boat and walking on the water, or at least attempting to. I may downsize and reduce the number of B-HAG’s I attempt in the years ahead depending on my health but I am pretty sure I will have at least one, even if it is a relatively easy one. I think I am going to go skydiving again pretty soon. My granddaughter wants to go and I can’t let her do it without me. I am reading a book right now called, “Do Hard Things.” The theme of the book is what happens to our minds, character, and confidence when we regularly choose to do a B-HAG instead of playing it safe.

I was having a conversation with some of my grandkids the other day, and we somehow got onto the subject of hitchhiking. One of them asked if I had ever hitchhiked, and I told them this story.

The summer after my Junior year in High School, a friend and I hiked half of the Pacific Crest Trail in the State of Washington, and the second half the following summer. That was in 1965, and there wasn’t much available then in lightweight camping gear like there is now. We didn’t take a tent, just a 10×10 canvas tarp that we put our sleeping bags on if it wasn’t raining, and under if it was. So with food and camping stuff, our packs weighed almost 70 lbs each. It was a great trip and the first time I had ever done anything like that. With the ups and downs of the trail, the altitude we were hiking, and the weight of our packs, we were tuckered out at the end of each day. We had a goal of walking at least 20 miles daily, so some days it was pretty late when we stopped for camp. My friend was in much better shape than I was, and he would often go ahead of me.  When I got caught up to him, he would have a fire built and dinner cooked. He was an awesome friend. His parents drove us to the start of the trail, and on the way, we stopped off at one of the highway passes and left my friend’s car so we would have a ride home when we got there. At the pass before the one where we left the car, we decided that we were done for that summer. We decided to hitchhike to where our car was parked. We had been walking down the road with our thumbs out for about 30 minutes when a Washington State Police car pulled over in front of us. He told us it was against the law to hitchhike in Washington on highways. We told him of our dilemma, and he gave us a ride to the nearest bus station and bought us tickets to where we needed to go. He gave us his card, telling us that if we wanted, we could mail him the money he spent on the tickets. I don’t know whether he thought he would see that money again or not,  but we sent it to him as soon as we got home, plus some extra.

We could have kept the money if we had wanted, but we didn’t even consider it. We were both very thankful for the blessing of his intersection into our lives and gave God the credit for arranging that divine appointment. Our packs weighed 55 lbs the following summer, and we finished strong.

I am scheduled to speak at a retreat center from August 29th through September 1st. I think I am talking five times. I need to send all five sermons and the  PowerPoint stuff to them soon, so I set a goal to finish it by Friday. The hardest part is trying to decide what to teach about. I have taught several times over the years at conferences, retreats, and camps. I usually always pick basic stuff to teach about, rather than novel or unique, like the importance of reading your Bible every day, spending time with God in prayer every day, or disciplining yourself to memorize Bible verses systematically. If those coming knew what I would talk about, they probably wouldn’t come, thinking they already knew or that it sounded boring. I try and teach the basic stuff so that it is very motivational and engaging and holds their attention. Most Christians don’t read their Bibles daily, have a random, undisciplined prayer life, and haven’t memorized or meditated on scripture for years. I don’t want to teach simply to produce quilt, but to motivate so that their lives change as they faithfully practice the Christian life’s basic disciplines. Years ago, as a Pastor, I concluded that most Christians know much more of the Bible than they are successfully living. They don’t need to learn more Bible knowledge to add to what they aren’t living, but to be motivated to change, repent, and grow in their daily walk with God. It is fun, though, to teach on some hot topic that interests people and they are curious about. Back and forth I go as I try to decide between basic stuff and new and exciting. Mmmmmm