SPECIAL THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES ON "LEAP DAY", FEBRUARY 29

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."  (Psalm 90:12)

February 29, 2016.  This is a special day.  It's what some people call Leap Day!  Yes, every four years we add a day to the calendar because the planet Earth travels one complete revolution around the sun every three hundred sixty-five and one-fourth days.  The extra day in February takes care of that "one-fourth" part.  It's not quite that simple, however.  In elementary school, I was taught that every four years we have a "leap year".  It's usually a presidential election year.  I deliberately wrote "usually" because just a few years ago I learned that not every fourth year is a leap year!  In fact, most years ending in "00" are not leap years.  I know.  2000 was a leap year.  That's true, but 1900 was not a leap year and 2100 will not be a leap year.  I'm no scientist, but I guess the figure of "three hundred sixty-five and one-fourth days" is rounded off somehow.  In fact, over a period of centuries, adding an extra day every four years would be adding too many days.  In order to compensate for that, most years ending in "00" are not leap years.  I think the way it works is that every fourth "00" year is a leap year.  1600 was a leap year, and 2400 will be a leap year.  I could add that about three hundred years ago, the "western world" changed calendars.  For a little less than three hundred years, we've been using the Gregorian calendar, but prior to that time, we used the Julian calendar.  I may have some of my readers confused already, so I will try to not be any more "technical" on this piece!

My cousin Marilyn was born on February 29, 1952.  I wonder how that works [for anyone born on a Febraury 29] as far as figuring elibibility for beginning to receive social security benefits, or the date you have to register for the draft, or the date you can legally purchase alcoholic beverages, or all sorts of other matters?  I guess it is pretty "cool" to have such a unique birthday!  I'm sorry to have to report that Marilyn passed away a couple of years ago.  She was a thoroughly wonderful person, so that makes this February 29 a bit sad for me.  Marilyn would have been sixty-four today; or if you're only counting "February 29ths" she would have been sixteen today.  If I were a radio D.J., today I'd play two hit songs in Marilyn's memory.  One would be, When I'm Sixty-Four, by The Beatles, and the other would be, You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful and You're Mine) by a Beatle, Ringo Starr.

I know some of my readers may be surprised that I'm a fan of the ABC sitcom The Middle, but I am.  Fans of The Middle know that February 29 is the birthday of the character Sue Heck on the show.  Well, it is and it isn't.  In 2012, a whole episode of The Middle was dedicated to Sue's sixteenth [or was it her fourth?] birthday (February 29, 2012).  Sue gave a big impassioned plea in that episode about the importance of being a "Leap" baby.  The writers, however, decided to have her turn sixteen all over again in February of 2013 and to have her turn eighteen in February of 2015 during her senior year of high school.  I guess the writers of The Middle are about as confused about leap years as are the scientists who plot out what years ending in "00" are supposed to be leap years!

Anyway, it's Leap Year Day so I just couldn't pass up posting this!

And, on this special day, this post comes with a P.S. :

I began writing The Blog of Bob Baril in February of 2006.  I had been meaning to write a special post to honor the ten year anniversary of my blog, and I'd almost forgotten to do that!  I'm thankful this is a leap year, so I can still squeeze in the ten year anniversary thing during February!  Wow. I can't believe I've been writing this blog for ten years.  At the time I started this blog there were maybe about one-tenth as many active "bloggers" out there as there are today.  Having a blog in 2006 was much more of a novelty in those days.  I was actually featured on the front page of a local newspaper as a "Framingham blogger" along with Michelle McElroy who wrote a blog called This is Framingham.  My blog was actually in AOL Journals and had a long, complicated, and difficult URL address during its first couple of years.  Most of my blog entries over the first two or three years were about very secular and sometimes silly matters.  No more than ten percent of them were about "spiritual things".  Many of my Christian friends frankly had a difficult time with that.  I wrote about politics, soda-pop, cars, television shows, and I even sometimes used the blog to express my anger or disappointment about service I'd received.  In those days, I wrote an absolutely vicious and scathing piece about a bad experience I'd had with an airline, including having to spend the night in an airport.  Some friends said I'd exhibited conduct, "unbecoming of a minister", and that I should be ashamed of myself.  I will say I gave that a lot of thought, and over time there were fewer and fewer "secular" postings and more and more "Christian" or "Biblical" entries.  Today, probably ninety percent of what I write on the blog is explicitly "Christian", and yes today's is an exception to that.  I think it was in 2008 when AOL decided to drop all of its blogs [what they called AOL Journals].  I wrote one entry saying that the blog may be coming to an end.  I was delighted that blogspot made a way for the AOL folks to "switch over" to their service.  It meant a new [and easier] URL address, and a different and more aesthetically pleasing layout.  I can't remember if it was two or three years ago that during a time of great depression, I posted that the blog was pretty much coming to an end and that in the future I'd only be posting once in a very great while.  I really meant it when I wrote that piece, but after three or four weeks, I realized that writing my blog was so therapeutic for me that I wasn't going to stop it, nor almost stop it, after all.

Today, it seems like "everybody" writes a blog.  It's not so special and unique anymore.  Writing a blog is probably not going to get you featured on the front page of your local newspaper, for instance!  I admit that probably about half of the posts I've placed on the blog over the years are not very good at all.  There's a lot of drivel.  I will also admit that one of my early purposes for writing was, what a friend of mine calls, "shameless self-promotion".  One of the deacons at the church I attend [i.e. "Bread of Life Church"] teaches a "new believers" class and I've actually gone through it a couple of times.  No, I'm certainly not a "new believer" but it's amazing how much you can learn in such a class.  In one session he warned against "shameless self-promotion", and I have to admit I felt very guilty.  As I kid, I was terribly uncool and kind of awkward.  Maybe this is talking about The Middle a little bit too much, but I was a kid like the character Brick Heck.  Well, I admit, I wasn't quite that weird;  I didn't lower my head and whisper two words at the end of every sentence and I didn't yell "whoop!" when I was excited, but I was terribly uncool!  As a [seemingly] failed pastor of a tiny and non-spectacular church, I felt totally marginalized and pushed aside, and I longed for recognition.  Part of why I almost stopped the blog a couple of years ago, frankly, is that behind the scenes, I know how many "hits" the blog gets and how many "hits" each individual posting gets.  Let's put it like this:  If my blog were a 2016 presidential candidate, it would be Rand Paul!

I've gone way too long with this, and perhaps it should have been two postings instead of one!  And, maybe this is more "shameless self-promotion" but I'd really appreciate your feedback to me by e-mail or on Facebook or by your comments here at this very posting.

Again:  Happy February 29, 2016!

CANTON CRYING

"Blessed are they that mourn:  for they shall be comforted."  (Matthew 5:4)

"Where is it written that 'life is fair'?"

During the many years I pastored at First Assembly of God of Framingham (MA) that line was spoken countless times by Claire, the church's volunteer secretary.  Please don't misunderstand.  She had great faith in God and had a wonderful disposition, but (like most of us) she sometimes had difficulty processing life's disappointments, challenges, and heartaches.

Canton, Massachusetts, the community in which I was raised, is currently trying to come to grips with two devastating accidental deaths.  Not one, but two people in Canton have been killed by falling tree limbs.  A six-year-old girl, Kaleigh Kenyon, died on Friday, February 5 and a forty-eight-year-old man, Thomas Gunning, died on Saturday, February 6.  The heavy, wet snow which fell on Friday [much more than had been forecasted] brought down some trees and a number of large limbs.  Mr. Gunning was a well known and very well liked and admired hockey coach in town.  He was clearing off a hockey rink located in his back yard when the terrible accident happened.  Little Kaleigh had gone out to do what countless New England children do every winter day- play in the snow, when she was knocked down by a huge limb.

My sister Dianne has been deeply affected by little Kaleigh's death.  The child attended church where Dianne worships each Sunday morning:  Faith Baptist Church in Stoughton [just over the Canton line].  Kaleigh's aunt had been bringing her to worship services for several months.  Dianne says she particularly noticed little Kaleigh each week, admiring her beautiful red hair and blue eyes, and appreciating the child's cheerful demeanor.  The church's pastor has recently been preaching a series of sermons from the Gospel of Luke.  Last Sunday's passage happened to be from Luke chapter eighteen verses sixteen and seventeen.  Ironically, that's the famous, "Let the little children come to me...for of such is the kingdom of God," passage.  The wise pastor tied in the passage with the devastating loss of little Kaleigh, reminding the tearful church family that she's now in Heaven with the Lord.

Claire was right.  Unexpected, accidental deaths such as happened in Canton this past week are very difficult to accept and to understand.  There are no adequate words to describe the grief the families and close friends of Kaleigh Kenyon and Thomas Gunning are walking through.  About a year ago, I was called upon the conduct the funeral service of a two-month-old baby who had passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  I haven't actively pastored a church for several years, so I felt "rusty" as I prepared for that service.  I admit to having felt nervous and overwhelmed as I stood before the mourners.  I opened with a story I'd heard my Uncle Raymond tell.  It was the story of his seven-year-old sister Irene's funeral procession in 1915.  The little casket was on a horse-drawn hearse.  Uncle Raymond remembered his father [my grandfather] grief-stricken and sobbing.  I commented that the world of today is so much more technologically sophisticated and advanced that that of a hundred years ago, but that processing the loss of a little child is not any easier.

Claire the volunteer secretary is still living, but frankly facing some very "unfair" challenges and difficulties of her own at this time.  I had lunch with a friend last Thursday who has walked through several difficult years, as have I.  We shared our hope for God to work things out in our lives and for things to ultimately get better.  I know that for many people, the concept of putting one's faith and trust in God, even when life doesn't make sense, is considered "pie in the sky" and foolishness.  But for me, my faith in God and in His Word is the only thing that keeps me sane and pressing on through difficult times.

I've seen and experienced great miracles from God and wonderful answers to prayer in my life.  I've also experienced times when God seemed to be a billion miles away, circumstances were dark and confusing, and seemingly nothing made sense.  I wish life consisted of just one miraculous answer to prayer after another!  I "wouldn't sign up for" (to use a friend's expression) those horrific experiences that bring great pain and make no sense.  I hate those things.  But they're part of life, and no matter how hard I try, I can't run away from them.

The Apostle Paul wrote the following while serving time in prison:

"I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound:  every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."  (Philippians 4:12)

In other words, "No matter what happens I'm perfectly content and fully trusting in God".  Wow.  I'm frequently not "there", but I want to be!  One more "very real" verse from the Bible says:

"...Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."  (from Mark 9:24)

No, from our point of view, life definitely isn't fair.  But one hundred years from today, for probably everyone who reads this; this life will be over; but if we've walked and talked with the Lord, and trusted Him with our hearts and lives, we'll be with Him forever and our joy will be eternally full.

In closing, I want to extend my sincere condolences to the families of Kaleigh Kenyon and Thomas Gunning.  I say to them and to the people of Canton, please look to the Lord.  In Him, there really is hope.

DAVE MILLEY- TWO YEARS LATER

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,"  (Philippians 1:3)

It hit me yesterday.  Two years ago on a Sunday afternoon in late January, I attended the visiting hours and funeral service for Dave Milley at a funeral home in Stoughton, Massachusetts.  It's hard to believe two years have gone by since his passing.  Dave was seventy-two-years-old at the time of his death, so he'd be seventy-four now.  I recall that at his service, someone commented to me that Dave died ten years earlier than he really should have.  That may sound like a weird or erroneous observation for a person to have made, but I heartily agreed with that gentleman's comment, and I still agree with it.

I greatly grieved at the loss of David C. Milley.  I knew him for almost thirty-six years, but it was during the last five or six years of his life that we became really close.  Within twenty-four hours of his passing, I wrote and posted on-line what I believed was a very powerful piece about Dave- a piece I considered to be a great tribute to him.  Some of his relatives thought my posting was much too explicit and quite inappropriate.  I guess my problem was that I'd sort of pulled out all the stops in writing about Dave's strengths and weaknesses.  A Milley family member contacted me and asked me to take my posting down- and I did just that.  Later, someone asked me if I'd saved a copy of that piece.  I didn't.  I intended to honor the family's request, and I never meant to hurt anyone, nor to disparage Dave Milley's image or reputation.  My intention was to honor him and to help insure that his greatness and legacy would not be forgotten.

Today, if you do an on-line search for David C. Milley, you won't find very much material.  That's disappointing, because if and when the history of the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal movement in the northeastern U.S.A. during the last half of the twentieth century is written, I believe Dave Milley will hold a prominent position in such a scholarly work.  In many respects, he was a great man.  Dave was a natural born leader.  I think he could have become Governor of Massachusetts or even President of the United States if he'd have aspired to one of those positions.  Dave was the first Boston Teen Challenge director way back in the early 1960s.  He personally knew early leaders in that wonderful organization such as the Rev. David Wilkerson [author of The Cross and the Switchblade]  and a famous early convert of Wilkerson's ministry, Nicky Cruz.  David Milley later pastored one of the key Assemblies of God churches in northern New Jersey, and subsequently he became pastor of Walpole (MA) Assembly of God [the name was changed to Christian Life Center] at a critical juncture in the church's history.  Milley led numerous short-term missions trips to foreign countries, and inspired many to become ministers and missionaries.  He was a charismatic personality, and a gifted church leader.

Dave Milley did not see people as they were; he saw people as what they could become.  I know that when he hired me as an assistant pastor, there were people who wondered how a guy who was seemingly afraid of his own shadow (i.e. me) could possibly serve in such an important position.  Milley told skeptics that I'd never really been given a chance at leadership, but that with the proper mentoring and instruction I'd rise to the challenge.  I honestly don't think anyone else would have granted a timid young man such an opportunity!  (Note: for you Bible scholars, I guess those skeptics forgot about the Apostle Paul mentoring the timid young man named Timothy.)  I'd graduated from Central Bible College, yes, but I truly don't believe I'd ever have served as an Assemblies of God pastor without the care and foresight of Dave Milley.

Dave went through some pain and difficulties in his own life following his years of ministry in Walpole, Massachusetts.  I believe the "older" Dave Milley was a far greater man than the charismatic leader of the eighties.  The D.C.M. of the years following 2000 had compassion, empathy, and spiritual depth much like that of his late father, Norman Milley, Sr.  I will never forget a morning in June of 2009 in which I was in deep emotional pain and frankly in what could be described as "a very dark place".  The warmth, wisdom and deep concern he showed me that day was quite special and most helpful and meaningful.  That morning was a turning point for me.

I had my final visit with Dave at his residence in early November of 2013.  He told me his heart condition was very serious and that he'd made all his funeral arrangements.  I prayed with him that afternoon.  That day, there was a deep friendship love between us on the level of what you hear in Elton John's The Last Song.  

It's been two years.  I just don't want Dave Milley to be forgotten!

SHORTEST DAY AND LONGEST YEAR

 "For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)

That verse comes from the Biblical account of the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would become the virgin mother of the Messiah.  It fits right in with this season, and it fits right in with this piece.  It was exactly one year ago today, on December 21, 2014, that my 1995 Subaru Impreza died!  The car had 270,911 miles on its odometer.  I can't help but think that the "911" was significant!

December 21, 2014 was a Sunday.  On that Sunday, my wife Mary Ann was directing the children's Christmas drama at Bread of Life Church, just like she did yesterday.  She stayed up in northern Worcester County the night before.  Early on Sunday morning, I got into the Subaru but there was no way it was going to start.  It's a long story, but I not only drained the battery that morning, but in the process of doing that, I "fried" the engine.  I was so disappointed!  My heart had been set on attending that Christmas drama;  then my "grown kids" Jon and Rachel were going to join Mary Ann and me at a restaurant for a nice Sunday meal.  Instead, there was no trip to Westminster, and although December 21 was the shortest day of the year, as it is every year, it was a long and sad day for me that began a long and in some respects; a difficult year.

There is no way I can explain all the "whys or wherefores" of this, but I moved into Jon and Rachel's apartment due to its convenient location to my answering service job.  I expected to be there for perhaps a week or two.  It ended up being four weeks.  I expected to be without a car for up to two weeks; instead, I went without my own car for five and a half months!  I have actually seriously considered writing a book about that experience entitled, "Five and a Half Months".  The one big problem with writing the book is time!   I would need quite a bit of time to devote to it, and I just have not found the time to do it.  I have come up with twelve titles of chapters for such a book, however, including, "A Month to Remember", "Lots of Snow and Lots of Tears", "Hyundai One and Hyundai Two", and "June 6, 2015". 

My son Jon believed with all of his heart and soul that I was going to be supernaturally given a great used car which would cost me nothing.  A couple of days after the Subaru's death, a guy I know who is a used car dealer bought a 1995 Saturn sedan at auction for a very low price and offered it to me at his very low price.  I agreed to this (despite what Jon had told me).  I spent almost a month waiting to get that car!  There was a problem with the car's Title.  Without a Title, there's no way the car could be registered.  I waited and waited.  There was all kinds of scrambling to some up with the Title, but ultimately my car dealer contact brought the car back to the auction and got his money back.  There were several cars that came my way for reasonable prices during that five and a half months, including "Hyundai One and Hyundai Two".  I came very close to buying some of them, but some of them "fell through" and in one case, after much prayer and thought, I decided to not borrow $1500. from a family member to buy a 1996 Saturn (not to be confused with the 1995 Saturn mentioned above).  One person I know was very skeptical when I said somehow was God was going to provide a car for me.  That person figuratively dumped a large bucket of ice water on my head in telling me me, "I'm a realist!".  I was haunted by those words for weeks, and I had to fight against them and struggle to keep believing God to take care of me.

It's a long story, but I was given a car in early June:  A 2001 silver Toyota Corolla.  It's truly a miracle car and I don't think I ever get into that car without feeling "choked up" and deeply thankful.  The most meaningful trip I took in the Toyota was with my son for his appearance on, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (the taping was in July).  Ironically, that taping was in Stamford, Connecticut and the Toyota was a Connecticut car for its entire life history prior to my taking ownership of it.

This year, I not only attended the children's Christmas drama at Bread of Life Church, but I played a major part in the play!  Yesterday, I had a great time acting in that program, and my "grown kids" joined my wife and me at a restaurant for Sunday dinner.  We'd come full circle; a year had passed.  I had lots of fun in the play, but I kept contrasting it with last year's death of the Subaru.  I also felt "choked up" thinking of how good God has been to me.

My late mother literally spent half of her adult life deeply depressed.  I've also been afflicted with this malady.  She tended to think most people's lives were happy and carefree but that she was one of the few who suffered with pain, loss, heartache, and disappointment.  My many years in the pastorate taught me that for every person who leads an essentially happy and carefree adult life, there are scores and scores of folks who endure great suffering, hardship, and tragedy.  Few of us escape this stuff.  We easily forgot the years the Apostle Paul spent in dark, dank prison cells, and the severe beatings he endured for the cause of Christ.  And, many times we don't stop to think about the great suffering the Lord Jesus Christ endured for us.  My own life has included a large amount of loss and disappointment over the past six years, and I've known dark days.  But, I've got to tell you, that December 21 is a good day for me this year!  It's a milestone.  It's a reminder that, as my dear friend Dave Milley (who is now in Heaven) used to often proclaim, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!" 

I entitled this piece, "Shortest Day and Longest Year".  Of course, that title refers to the shortest day of the year in 2014 and the long year of many challenges and ups and downs which followed it.  It might, however, be more appropriate to call it, "Longest Day and Shortest Year".  Sunday, December 21, 2014 was a long and disappointing day for me; in some ways, I feel like it was only yesterday, and now I have the perspective that God has been faithful and brighter days are ahead!

WHAT I'D LIKE TO SAY TO BRADLEY JAY

"...Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?"  (from Luke 6:39)

Bradley Jay hosts a radio talk show during the "very early morning hours" on Boston's WBZ which is located at 1030 on the AM dial, and of course can be heard over the internet all over the world.  (The show airs from Midnight to 5 a.m. Eastern time.)  I have never listened to an entire broadcast of "Jay Talking" as it's formally called.  I sometimes hear the first few minutes, but most often, I listen from about 3:45 to about 4:30.  

Several times over the past few weeks, Bradley has brought up the topic of "religion".  His main focus has been stating "the parts of the Bible that man made up" as compared with "the matters that really came from God".  Most of my readers know I'm an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, and that prior to my Ordination, I was a seriously committed Christian layperson.  I will say bluntly that much of what Bradley has had to say has been "off the wall".  Lest anyone complain that I'm writing about Bradley Jay behind his back and that I should say all of these things to him, please be assured that I have.  I've actually written Bradley Jay two letters over the past few months, and I've sent them to him via U.S. mail.  In the letters, I address various matters he's brought up on the show, including religious matters.  He has not responded.  In fact, as bothersome as it is to hear an arrogant and self-appointed guy give a completely absurd rendition of Christianity and the Bible  over the airwaves, the callers who respond to him usually make statements that are far more erroneous than anything he has to say!

Last night (or was it this morning?) he focused on the Ten Commandments.   Bradley proclaimed which commandments were from God and which commandments weren't from God.  No, there were not any lightning bolts that hit the 1170 Soldiers Field Road facility in Boston's Allston neighborhood around 4 a.m., but that's because God is a God of love, patience, and mercy!   Bradley eliminated "Thou Shalt Not Covet" as well as "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery".  Oh, and, the thing about not making any "Graven Image" got short shrift from him.  I thought it was comical that during the 3 a.m. hour he threw out "Thou Shalt Not Covet" but that during the 4 a.m. hour, he decided he liked "Thou Shalt Not Covet" after all, so that made it back onto the list of Commandments From God.   A female caller ran her mouth against "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" bringing out the fact that a lot of Biblical characters did commit adultery (and hey, a lot of them did! ) but she had some wrong information.  She stated that Abraham had relations with a concubine and that this union produced the promised son Isaac.  Wrong!  Isaac, the promised son, was born of Abraham's wife Sarah during her old age.  (Yes, his birth was a miracle as she was long past menopause.) 

Lest anybody get the wrong idea, in some respects I do like Bradley Jay.  His best shows are the programs in which he talks about the international and domestic trips he has taken on his vacations, and the programs in which he's told interesting stories from his youth.  Regarding religion, Bradley's like most New Englanders:  He hasn't got a clue!   I honestly thought about calling Bradley and speaking to him over the air, but I was half asleep and would have preferred to have some notes in place in front of me to which I could refer.  I did not want to be made to look foolish by him.  One thing I would have said to him is that his conversation today reminded me so much of a conversation Jesus had with the Sadducees in Matthew chapter twenty-two.  The Sadducees did not believe in angels and the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection of the dead.   I imagine that when they came to Jesus in an attempt to try to make Him look foolish, they must have sounded a lot like Bradley Jay!  The Old Testament Law stated that if a man died and his wife was childless, his brother was to marry her to raise up descendants for the deceased.  The Sadducees claimed that there were seven brothers.  Due to this Old Testament Law, each was married to her!  One would die, then she'd marry the next, then he would die and she'd marry the next, and so on!  It ended up that she was married to all of them.  Their Bradley Jay style question was:  In the Resurrection, who will she be married to, for she had each of them as a husband?   Jesus replied:

"...Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."  (from Matthew 22:29).

Amen and amen!

That's Bradley's problem, and the problem of those like him.  They greatly err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  Bradley thinks life should be a matter of people just being good and doing good.  In this month in which we celebrate the Nativity, I wonder if Bradley has any idea why God sent His Son into this world?  A thorough reading of the New Testament reveals that only perfect people go to Heaven.  The purpose of the Ten Commandments, in fact, was to show us, how far short we fall; that we are sinners; that we have failed; that we can't and don't measure up.  They were to show us that no matter how good we are, it's never good enough.  Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for our sins- to be our Atonement.  If we put our trust in Him, then due to His righteousness and not ours, we go to Heaven when we die.   (See Galatians 3:24 which tells us the Law was our "schoolmaster" [or "tutor"] to bring us to Christ.   See also Ephesians 2:8-9 and John's Gospel 1:12.)

To Bradley Jay, I would say:  Stick to the travel/vacation stories!  If you want to discuss the Bible,  have someone like your friend "Father Brian" on to discuss the Bible with you.   And, Merry Christmas!

A LOST LADY

"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."  (Luke 19:10)

Yesterday in the late afternoon I was driving along Beaver Street in Framingham heading toward the Sherborn town line when I received a text message from my daughter Rachel.  I certainly will not read, compose, or send text messages while driving, so just after crossing into Sherborn, I pulled into the Sunshine Farm ice cream stand parking lot to read the text.  Shortly after I'd read the message and sent a reply a slightly heavy-set woman with a determined look on her face walked to my car and up to the driver's side window.  I couldn't understand why this woman was approaching me.  Honestly, this was a woman that I would have referred to as "an old lady" just a few years ago, but she was probably only five or six years older than I am!  (When you reach sixty-one, it's interesting that your perspective on who qualifies to receive the labels "old man" or "old lady" definitely changes!)  I fully expected her to say something like, "You're not allowed to park here when the ice cream stand is closed!"  I was wrong.  She was quite flustered.  The woman announced to me that she was lost, that her G.P.S. had just quit functioning and that she was trying to get to Route 135 and had no idea how to do so.

I almost directed her toward the Dennison crossing area of Framingham where she could pick up Route 135, but I asked her where she was going.  "Natick Center" was her reply.  I knew sending her to Dennison crossing would be a long and circuitous way to get her to Natick Center.  "Do you know how to get to Route 27?" I asked.  Her reply surprised me.  She told me she lives right off Route 27 but had no idea how to get to Route 27 from where we were.  (Of course, she could have lived off Route 27 in Acton or in Sharon for all I knew, so maybe her response wasn't really so strange after all.)   I then told her I was heading toward Route 27 and that she should follow me.  I then added, "Once we get to Route 27, I'll be turning right, so don't follow me at that point." 

"Why not?!" she asked, seeming quite confused. 

I explained to her that I would be heading south toward Medfield and that she would need to turn left onto Route 27 to head toward Natick Center.  The "old lady" (you'll understand in a moment why I've now decided to call her that) got into an old black Toyota Corolla parked a few spaces to my right and to follow me in my old silver Toyota Corolla.  She drove slow and I do mean slow!  I take a lot of teasing from people for being a slow driver.  This woman drove much slower than I do!  She was driving so slowly that she kept disappearing out of my rear view mirror.  At one point, I had to stop so she could catch up!  Finally, we made it to the intersection with Route 27.  I put on my right turn signal, hoping she would get the hint, and she did.  She blew her horn as sort of a thank you, and went in the opposite direction on Route 27.

As I continued on toward Medfield, I thought about that lost lady.  The way she approached me was a bit awkward and inconvenient.  She was pretty clueless about where she was and about how to get where she needed to go.  She was way too slow in following me, which made things a bit frustrating.  I took her as far as I could, and I hope she did get to where she wanted to go.  Well, in our Christian lives, God sometimes sends (spiritually) lost people to us.  Many times, our encounters with the are awkward or inconvenient.  They may think they've got things together, but often these lost people are clueless about God and eternal life.  Sometimes we do get lost people to "follow us", that is to accept our direction and instruction.  But many times, they progress at a very slow rate which is frustrating for us.  Often we take them "as far as we are able".  We hope they "get to the destination" God has for them.  The bottom line is, we ever can't turn our backs on those who are geographically lost nor on those who are spiritually lost!  God expects us to help to them!

WHERE WILL YOU BE IN ONE HUNDRED YEARS?

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  (Mark 8:36)

Where will you be one hundred years from tonight?  Undoubtedly, many reading this will think they will be dead and will just have ceased to exist.  Their body may be l laying buried in a grave someplace, or at a mausoleum, or their body may have been cremated and their ashes scattered to the wind.  In fact, the soul, that part of each of us that lives on past death into an afterlife will be in existence somewhere one hundred years from now.  It may be in a state of eternal bliss or it may be in a state of eternal torment, but it will be in conscious existence in either one of those states.

Yes, I really believe that.  I will admit that after the small church I pastored was closed in early 2010 and after some tremendous losses for our entire family, including the residence where we'd lived for over twenty years, I went through some times of very deep despondency.  There were months of me being numb- just numb.  Life seemed surreal and unfair.  I walked through a very emotionally dark time.  At times, I just sat and stared and asked myself, "Do I really believe all this stuff?"  That was the painful question I grappled with over and over again.  In Philippians chapter four, the Apostle Paul writes of his own life experience,  "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."  (Philippians 4:12).  Honestly, I'd often struggled to understand that verse and now I was faced with it "up close and personal".  Paul indicated that his testimony was if everything in life was just great, he was joyful and praising the Lord, and if things in his life couldn't be worse, well, he was also joyful and praising the Lord.  That was very difficult for me to accept.  I would never have "signed up" for what has happened in my life and in my family members' lives over the past few years.  However, I've come to a genuine answer to my question of, "Do I really believe all this stuff?".  I can say that I really do!   I celebrated my sixty-first birthday just a couple of weeks ago.  The past few decades have just flown by!  My own parents each died in their seventies.  I suppose the actuarial tables would say I've got around eighteen more years to live, and that's it.  This life and all that goes with it is so fleeting.   James 4:14 indicates that life is as a vapor or a mist- it quickly appears and it's quickly gone.  I'm amazed that so many of the people who prepare so thoroughly for retirement, and for the possibility they will be placed in a nursing home and need long term care; so many of those same people make absolutely no preparation for eternity.  They don't even give it a thought.

This past March, I had the difficult experience of being called upon to lead the funeral service of a two-month-old baby.  What a difficult task!  I suddenly remembered the words of my late Uncle Raymond from many years ago.  He told the story of the death of his sister Irene.  She died from diphtheria in 1915 at the age of seven.  Her funeral service was at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Boston's West Roxbury section.  Uncle Raymond remembered a horse-drawn hearse and a white, child-sized casket.  He also remembered my grandfather (who died before I was born) sobbing uncontrollably.  I told the audience of mourners in March of 2015 that despite all of the advances in science and technology over the past hundred years, the feeling and the loss and the grief are no different. 

In a sense, one hundred years is a long time, but most historians will tell you it's really just a turning of a page, and not long at all.  I was a first-grader fifty-five years ago.  The Kennedy-Nixon election happened that autumn.  Today, probably most of the Americans who were alive at that time have passed on.  I'm really not trying to be morbid!  I believe we should truly "live every day", that is make the very most of every day of our lives.  When opportunities come our way, we should take advantage of them.  I had a great time joining my son on a popular national television game show recently.  (It was recorded in July and will air this month.)  Yes, many "fun things" can come our way and we should enjoy them, but we must never completely forget the brevity of life and our responsibility to God. I work two pretty humble jobs at the present time.  It's very different from being the noted and respected, "Pastor Bob Baril"!  One of those jobs is handing out flyers at a "big box store".  As I did that today, I stopped a woman who'd come into the store with a propane tank.  It was a previously used tank that she wanted re-filled.  She was completely unfamiliar with the law that propane tanks are never to be brought inside public buildings like that!  It seemed right to her to bring that tank into the facility.  It was wrong.  Both Proverbs 14:12 and Proverbs 16:25 speak of a way that seems right to a man but that leads to death.  So many people say, "Well, I believe this or that."  They expect that it really doesn't matter what they believe when it comes to spiritual matters; that God will just say that it's O.K.  It's just not so. 

Sadly, evangelical Christians are often our worst enemies!  So often we embrace extreme right-wing politics and then we try to  jam it down everybody's throats!  That's such a turn-off to people.  And, it's nothing like Jesus Christ!  It's nothing like the Lord Jesus Christ would ask or expect of us!  Sometimes we're unkind, cruel, or insensitive.  I'm glad that 99% of the evangelical Christians I know do not support the tactics of the crowd that holds up those cruel signs indicating God hates homosexuals, etc.  (In fact, God doesn't hate them.  He "so loved the word" -see John 3:16-  and that includes homosexuals.)  Even so, that crowd has pushed a lot of people away from God and too many of us don't agree with them, but we aren't vocal enough about that.

I like the song, "100 Years" by Five For Fighting.  It chronicles a life from age fifteen to age one hundred.  I "received Jesus Christ as my Personal Lord and Savior" and was "born again" at age fifteen.  And, today at sixty-one, I guess I'm closing in on one hundred.  I've seen and experienced miracles.  My sister and I laid hands on our tax accountant over thirteen years ago and prayed for his miraculous healing.  He was seriously ill with cancer.  In fact, he was checking himself back into the hospital as soon as that appointment was done.  We were meeting with him about settling the estates of my parents who'd died within weeks of each other in 2000.  My motives were selfish.  I didn't want this guy to die in the middle of that estate settlement process!  A few months later, Jim the accountant told me over the phone that he'd been miraculously healed!  He credited me with the healing, and I firmly corrected him, telling him Jesus Christ was the healer!  Today, he's living in South Carolina and continues to enjoy good health.  Yet, our brother Eddie collapsed in 1983, 
existed on life supports for just a few days, and died.   Of course, we prayed much for him.  I don't know why I've seen some like Jim healed and some like Eddie not healed, but it doesn't stop me for praying for miracles.

There's a beautiful old hymn, Blessed Assurance which speaks of a Christian's story and song of rejoicing in life in Jesus every day.  That's been my testimony through very good times and very bad times.

In closing, I ask you the very important question I opened with:  Where will you be one hundred years from tonight?