Home

I knew a Preacher once

Who was called of the Lord

To stand in a pulpit

And open up the Word

 

I knew a Preacher once

Who said, “Thus says the Lord.”

His passion was singular

And his allegiance to only One

 

I knew a Preacher once

Who studied relentlessly the Book

Holy Spirit fire in his eyes

When to the Sacred Task he took

 

I knew a Preacher once

Who taught his children at home

To cast all hope upon Christ

And from His pierced side never to roam

 

I knew a Preacher once

Who never coddled sin

But preached Christ crucified

The only hope of men

 

I knew a Preacher once

Betrayed by so-called friends

Because to Scripture alone

His heart and life would bend

 

I knew a Preacher once

Whose anointing grew with age

No jokes or worldly eloquence

Just simple speech of God’s sage

 

I knew a Preacher once

Who sought no fortune or fame

If only I could hear him again

Herald Jesus’ holy name

 

I knew a Preacher once

But O, I dare not be sad

For the blessing was all mine

To call the Preacher, Dad.

 

When my day finally comes

To fly to my heavenly home

The Preacher and I will sing praise

To our God, the Three-in-One!

 

And may those I leave behind say

I knew a Preacher

Once . . .

 

*Dedicated to my hero and still my favorite Preacher:

Don Wilson McWhorter

June 16, 1946 – September 13, 2017

He was a Deacon who served in the church my Dad pastored.  He was my high school Sunday School Teacher.  And he was my wife's Dad.

Thurman was called to his eternal home to behold the glory of God in the face of Christ more years ago than I can remember.  The exact year escapes me, but I think it was my junior year of college ('94).  And if memory serves me, I think he passed from death unto life on July 2oth.  He was preceded in death by a decade or more by his wife, Linda, my wife's Mom.  Michele, my wife, has lived most of her life now without her Mom or Dad.

I loved Thurman.  He was the best Bible teacher I had growing up (with the exception of my Dad's weekly sermons).  He used a curriculum that had us in the Bible passage, studying before we came to class and answering questions directly from the text.  What a concept!  He loved his students.  He invested in us.  Planned fun hang out times for us and grilled us steaks.  He was the first teacher to urge and encourage me to seriously memorize Scripture.  I remember memorizing about ten verses during VBS one summer and Thurman gave me $25.  Now I realize knowing God through His Word is its own reward.  Thurman knew it too.  But it was just his way to encourage me and care for me.  I appreciated it.

I was devastated when he got cancer.  I hurt for my future wife (we married perhaps a little over a year after his death).  I hurt for my Dad, who considered Thurman a friend and key leader for gospel truth in the church.  But honestly, I hurt mostly for me.

Yeah, I know.  Selfish.  But true.  I still miss him so much.  He was truly a joy to be around.  I remember the first time he had me over for a cookout after I started dating his daughter.  His baby girl he raised from the age of ten all on his own!  He really put me to the test.  He asked if I liked rare steaks.  Well, what was I to say?  My manhood was clearly on the line.  "Yes sir," I barked.  So he proceeded to put my steak to at most 1 minute of flame per side, and then serve it to me.  Now I might be exaggerating a bit, but that steak was definitely still mooing!  And I ate it all.  With a smile.  And I'm still smiling with Thurman's daughter by my side some 25 years later.

From time to time my wife and I have visited his grave.  He literally was laid to rest "high on that mountain" in Pike County, KY.  I have stood on that steep slope and wept more than once.  I have often marveled at the strength of my wife who gave up both of her parents before the age of 25.  Her perspective has always inspired me.  She grieves.  Sure.  But she looks ahead.  She rejoices that her Mom and Dad gained the victory in Jesus that she longs for herself.  Her faith shines in the way she has lived after Thurman's death.  I am so proud to be her husband.  And so proud to be Thurman's son (technically in-law but somehow I don't think he would have viewed me that way).

He was a good man.  Not because he thought he was good.  And not even because he did good things.  But because he knew his goodness was but filthy rags before a Holy God.  And because he trusted only in the goodness of the Risen and Reigning Lord Jesus.  Christ was his goodness.  Christ made him good.  To know Thurman was to know a man in whom Jesus lived.  I am so thankful God graced me to know him and to be family (physically and spiritually) with him.  I hope to be a "good" man like Thurman.

So help me God.  Be glorified in me, as You were in the life of Thurman.  And help my wife and her brother, Alan, and her sister, Marcia, to rejoice in the goodness of their Savior God who blessed them with such an humble, loving, joyful, funny Dad.  I praise You God for his legacy.  In Christ alone, amen.  

"You do not grieve as the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).  

Well...i have not blogged in a while. Okay okay, i have not blogged in forever. There are some valid reasons. My pastor (his name is Keith McWhorter...in case anybody wants to send complaints to him) told me I had to use this new forum and start editing my own blog. Can u believe it? He got tired of fixing my mistakes. What is that about?? Well...my system was just recovering from that when I BECAME A NANA TO TWO TINY BABIES. i now have four sweet grandbabies. My life is overrun with grandkids and new mommas needing help and support. And so...this blog. Well.. you know.

That being said, I cannot contain the thinking inside my head and so here it is.

Schedules...orderly living...having an idea of what is happening next have all mattered to me over the years. When I had my own kids, I had a schedule and I kept that schedule fairly faithfully. I don't feel like my schedule was an idol to me. I was willing to flex it and bend it when the season demanded that I do that. But I was really serious about keeping a schedule and knowkng what I was doing week to week and sometimes even month to month. And I don't necessarily think that that was simple. I think that that season of my life taught me much about the character of Christ. It taught me to make my yea yea and my Nay nay. It taught me to respect other people's time and resources and energy. It taught me to use my time and resources and energy wisely and to be a good steward of them. I didn't have time to waste. It taught me to be accountable for what I did and did not do during the day and why I didn't do it. And I practice that accountability to my husband. It was a good season full of joy and busy and learning.

But I am in this new season and its called Nana. This season has no schedule. It has no movement from day to day that is consistent and continues. It has no knowledge of what will happen from day to day. The only thing that stays the same from day to day to day to day is that I have no time to plan...to think... to clean. This has been a different world for me. I find myself floundering...trying to find my feet all the time. I no longer plan my days..weeks..months. I just get up in the morning and trust God every single day. New season...new lessons. Here are a few. God is really in control. He is faithful to do his work and complete it. He does not depend on my faithfulness or hard work to continue. He loves me even though my life has changed up drastically. And God has a right to do what he wants with me when he wants to do it.

Different seasons require different things and teach different lessons. What has this meant to me? New sanctification...new life in Christ. I find myself changing to thr glory of God during this new season. Wish i could say it has all been gracious and wise on my part but most of it has been kicking and screaming in defiance. Until...now. I thank God for this new place. A place of no control...a place of submission. It has been..it is sweet. And if this sounds jumbled. Well it is because while i was writing this new season has been yelling my name. So gotta go. Planned for writing time..
But well. God has a better plan. :)

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.  Its rising is from the end of the heavens,  and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.  Psalm 19:1-6

This 5 minute video stirred my heart to worship our incredible creator.

 

"You can be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good." is one of those clichés that I've heard repeatedly echoed throughout my life. Is it accurate? Can we be too heavenly minded? In Colossians chapter 3 the apostle Paul commands us to set our minds on things that are above and not on things that are on the earth. He instructs us to seek after heavenly things. We are told to intentionally refocus our attention on the things of God. We have to think about that which is heavenly. This is specifically set in contrast to the things that are earthly. Is this promoting a disregard of physical concerns like feeding the hungry, caring for the environment or mowing your lawn? I think not! I've been rereading a good book titled The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians and today I came across this passage that strongly speaks to this issue.

"The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half enjoying and repairing what they spend it on.

It is not heavenlimindedness that hinders love. It is worldlimindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend. Where is the person whose heart is so passionately in love with the promised glory of heaven that he feels like an exile and a sojourner on the earth? Where is the person who has so tasted the beauty of the age to come that the diamonds of the world look like baubles, and the entertainment of the world is empty, and the moral causes of the world are too small because they have no view to eternity? Where is this person? He is not in bondage to TV-watching or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or sailing. . . . He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love.

Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love! It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise - these are the cords that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope."

We need to be heavenly minded, so we can do earthly good. When you take a good look at how you are living, do you think you could truthfully be described as one who is heavenly minded? If not, it's time to make a change. What is one thing you can do this week in order to set your mind more firmly on the things of God?

As a new year begins I am mindful that I learned many things in 2014... some of them were painful and some of them were joyful and some of them were embarrassing and some of them were helpful. I learned a bunch of stuff last year. I am glad for most of it and some of it I wish I never knew. But I guess everything in my life comes from a sovereign God and is for my good so I must have needed it all. So here are some of my lessons...

Pinterest ideas do not always turn out well so you should not bank on them for gifts... well,  until you know if they work.

Exercise does not happen unless you actually move.

It is better to wait on pepto bismol until you know if puking really is the best option. Otherwise the nausea without the puking can really last much longer and be very painful.

Gluttony still hurts my soul more than my body.

Not everybody defines family the same as me and that can end up hurting my family very badly.

Sons are way different than daughters except that they love to be loved. 

The Bible will change me...if I will read it.

Prayer is a weapon that I do not use enough.

Persecution of the saints is real and I have never suffered it.

Not all churches are gospel centered and most who are not,  don't even know it.

Pride is a relationship destroyer.

God is a relationship builder.

I learned these because I lived them. I failed miserably this year in so many ways. I gossiped about a son and had to beg forgiveness.  I hurt extended God family and had to rebuild relationship.  I stayed sick 3 days instead of 2 because I did not want to puke. I lived...sometimes in great victory and sometimes in abject failure but I lived to God's glory in both. And here is why...He never changed in 2014. His blood covered my victories and my failures. He made me right years ago and I can never be made wrong in Him again. He stayed faithful. So...I pray for my Bible and prayer time to increase. I pray to love others better and with integrity. I pray to be a good momma. And at the end of this old year and the beginning of this new year...I thank God for grace that enables me to do those things and forgives me when I epic fail.

Happy New Year sweet sweet family.

Two days of wishing to die.

That's what stomach or intestinal flu (virus) is to me.  Hunched over the toilet or sitting on the toilet for the last two days has caused me to quote the Apostle Paul with more frequency:

For me to die is gain.

But God is a Father-Teacher par excellence.  He never stops teaching.  Never stops correcting.  Never stops shepherding those He loves and has redeemed in Christ Jesus.  He is so good, He even teaches us through the stomach bug.  Since I, and many others in my church family are suffering through this pandemic right now, I wanted to remind us all of lessons we can learn even from a virus.

1. God is sovereign.  Over every molecule in the universe.  Even over microscopic viruses.  Whether the Lord directly sent me this virus, or merely permitted it to be so, the inevitable conclusion is the same - God is in control.  Not me.
2. We are weak.  Something that can only be seen with majorly expensive microscopes can take down the world's strongest man.  Nothing reminds a man of his own frailty like uncontrollable dry-heaving that leaves his entire body sore for days.
3. We ought to pray more.  Begging for mercy from God was a consistent theme in my life for the past few days!  I begged not just for myself, but that my wife and daughters would be spared this gut-wrenching sickness.  Why, O why, does it take something like this to make me a fervent man of prayer?
4. We ought to be more thankful.  For everything.  Not eating for a few days makes one more thankful for a simple meal of chicken noodle soup.  Not being able to get out of bed for two days makes one more thankful for the ability to even get up and walk.  We are totally dependent upon the Lord for everything good in our lives.  We ought to thank Him a lot more often than we do.
5. Good leadership means thinking of others before ourselves.  My sickness struck me early Saturday morning, like 2 am.  I wanted so badly to pull myself into the pulpit yesterday to preach.  There's nothing on this planet I enjoy more than preaching God's Word to God's people at Corydon Baptist Church.  I did not want to miss it.  But my wife reminded me that I might just communicate more than the Word to the people.  My disease, after all, was very communicable.  I should stay home.  My desires had to take a back seat.
6. Multiple Elders in a Church is biblical, and an immense blessing.  Who would've thought that we'd need a fourth stringer to come off the bench yesterday?  Three Pastors had the flu either personally or in their homes.  We called our fourth string - a man we've been investing in as an Elder Apprentice for two years plus.  What a blessing.  I hope our church body appreciates the depth God has provided us.  What peace of mind to know we have four men who can preach and teach God's Word faithfully.  I did not lie in bed worried that the flock would not be fed.  Or that they would be fed junk food.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
7. Things can always be worse.  Believe it or not, I actually thought to myself a few times during this brief illness, "It could be worse.  You could be in hell and this sickness would never end."  Sobering reminder.  I needed it.
8. One day King Jesus will banish all sickness and disease from His people.  Every illness only makes us long for this day on an even deeper level.  Our sufferings will not be worthy to be compared, dear Christians, with what glory God has in store for us (Romans 8; Rev 21-22).

Our Savior is so immeasurably good to us.  Whatever ill or bad comes our way, we can be sure we deserve worse.  My Dad has often told me, "Every single bad thing that has ever happened to me I deserved.  What I cannot get over is just how many good things God has lavished on me every day, year after year."

Amen Dad.  Preach on!

I am a waterfowler.  I enjoy seeing ducks swim.  I like hearing the whistle of the wind under their cupped wings.  I am often struck by the beauty of a flock of Canada Geese in their familiar V-formation.  More times than I can count, I have nearly run off the road while gawking at a field full of feeding geese.  And I enjoy hunting ducks and geese, and enjoying them later as table fare.

I am not asking you to understand my delight in these birds, or in chasing them with guns and gear.  I am not asking you to agree with me about the hunting aspect at all.  But the season opened in my home state of Kentucky on Thanksgiving Day, and so far I have spent 3 days chasing feathers.

The last hunt I enjoyed was in a Kentucky corn field.  I hunted it with my brother, who is the best scout and land owner permission-getter I know!  Land owners tell him yes, and the same ones tell me no!  Maybe I should switch my deodorant?  But I digress.

The morning of this corn field hunt found us wet from the cold drizzle.  But we stuck it out in anticipation of hungry geese arriving like they had several days in a row.  Except this day, we were waiting on them with some fine looking decoys.  We even had a decoy that flaps its wings, making them think a live goose is surely in that field!  Our blinds blended perfectly with the corn, allowing us to lie down on our backs in the middle of some phony geese, in hopes of fooling some real geese.  And our calls imitated the sounds of live geese very closely.

And make no mistake, we meant to lure those real geese to their deaths.  While we love watching geese, we love eating them even more!  And that means we must fool them into range of our guns, then shoot straight.

As you can see from the picture above, we did all that on this soggy morning.  We shot a "limit."  And these giant geese provide a really big portion of meat.  A half a breast feeds my whole family easily!  God is good.  It was a good morning.

For us.  Not the geese.

Why am I stating the obvious?  And why am I bothering you with details of my recent goose hunt?  Well, it dawned on me as we lay in that field that morning, that far too often we Christians are like those geese.

We often want something so badly that we will set our wings and coast right to our death to get it.  When we want something badly enough, we lose our ability to think clearly and to identify the traps laid for us.  We lose the ability to discern between the call of the Good Shepherd and the imitation call of the enemy.  We trust the wrong people.  Follow the wrong crowd.  All the other "geese" seem to think this is safe, so why not imbibe?  Looks good.  Smells good.  Feels good.

Bang!  Bang!  Bang!

There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12).  

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its lusts (Romans 13:14).  

So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11).

What is it you want so badly that you will sin to get it, or sin if you do not get it?  Beware, dear Christian, you just may be staring down the barrel of a loaded gun unless you repent.      

With more and more violent persecutions being committed against Americans and Christians by Islamic militants (not to mention Hindu radicals or North Korean atheists), we western Christians are being forced to deal with matters we'd prefer to ignore or not think of often.

I recently wrote a four page document addressed to our local congregation urging Christian parents to not shelter their children from images of Christian persecution often found in Voice of the Martyrs pamphlets or DVDs.  The images are done as tastefully as possible given the brutal nature of what our Christian family endures on a daily basis.  While we should teach hard things to our kids in age-appropriate ways, I do not think keeping all images of death or suffering from them is appropriate at any age.

Biblically, as I stated at length in the four-pager, we often see God ordain or command public slaughter or suffering even among His people.  For just a few examples, consider Exodus 32:25-29; Numbers 21 & 25 and 2 Kings 6:24-31.

And the experience of ancient Israel is in line with the experience of the majority of the world today.  Most parents around the world are not afforded the luxury of hiding death and suffering from the eyes and experience of their children.  I am not convinced we do our children any favors by exercising the right of our luxury here in the West.

But to keep this discussion short and to the point, I want to urge us all to think seriously on these matters.  It is no longer possible in our day and age to bury our heads in the sand.  Our teens can watch beheadings with a click on their phones, if they so desire.  So, we need to prepare our children biblically to pray diligently for our persecuted church family, and to be ready themselves to have the knife to their own throats.  That's a horrible image, I know.  But it's not unthinkable anymore in America, is it?

Let's seek grace in our church communities to equip one another to obey Hebrews 13:3, knowing a good starting place may be to walk our children through Hebrews 11 verse-by-verse.  We've got a hard road ahead.  We're going to need one another like never before.  God help us.

To hear Dr. John Piper address this topic: http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/should-i-look-at-beheading-images

 

Veterans Day in America is humbling.

Consider the hundreds of thousands of lives sacrificed to give birth to this nation and to keep her free.  Each one of them sons and daughters, dads and moms, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends.  Humbling.

Consider the hundreds of thousands of living veterans.  They are in our churches, neighborhoods, businesses and schools.  They greet us at Wal-Mart.  They cook our meals.  They drive our cabs, or trains, or buses.  They build our homes and cities.  They keep our roads repaired.  They build our infrastructure.  They teach.  They preach.  They mentor.  They lead businesses.  They often are quite silent about their time in the military.  They aren't looking for fame or fortune or attention (a few current SEALS excepted).  They are silent heroes.  Humbling.

Our nation faces some imminent threats.  I am not convinced we can or will withstand them in the long-run.  But I pray God's grace continues to be shed on us.  May our Founders' pledge of their lives, fortunes and sacred honor not be in vain!

The great need of America, however, is not to be found in political halls or on Mid-East battlefields.

Our great need is revival of God's men by the Holy Spirit.  We need warriors for Christ to rise up and reclaim our homes, our workplaces, our schools, and our churches for God's glory in the gospel of Christ.  We need warriors who will fight sin, addictions to gaming or gambling or drugs or perversions of any kind.  We need warrior-men in Jesus who will once again wash their wives in the Word.  We need warrior-men to model pursuit of holiness for our children.  We need men who know the enemy well - Satan and their own sinful hearts.  We need men who know the Savior even better; for He is the Sovereign Warrior-Redeemer-King.

God give us men.  And may future generations of Christians look back on their manly sacrifices and be able to celebrate their own brand of Veterans Day.  Veterans of the War against sin and filth and deception and irresponsibility and false doctrine and feminism and warped gospel.  This is always a war worth fighting!  Rise up O Men of God!

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.  My loving kindness and my deliverer, my shield in whom I take refuge (Psalm 144:1-2).

Train us O God!  Make us Your veterans.  Amen.