young families

I have the privilge of watching young families grow in the Lord. Nothing is more encouraging to me in ministry than observing that firsthand.

I have a standing appointment with a young man who meets with me each. Sometimes his wife and family accompany him to our time together, always a rich experience for me. We share together, dream together, pray together. And I am always the richer for it.

Young men like this man give me hope for God's church tomorrow. I see a a young man committed to God, passionate about using his gifts and successfully and faithfully leading his family to God.

I see a young woman, aspiring to honor God and her husband, caring for her children--seeking God's will for the ministry of their family in the body of Christ. Is it any wonder that I am excited?

Young families...they are foundational for the future of the church when people old like me have passed on.

I am encouraged today!

timing

God's calendar is different than ours. God's reckoning of time is different than ours.

I have been "wrestling" with that reality in recent days.

*Why is it taking so long to complete our building? Every week we are faced with a new challenge that delays construction, invites more cost, and pushes the date back for occupation.

*Why does cancer come to a young life and decimate it, with little children potentially left motherless? It is hideous even with older people, but when it is someone young, it is even more confounding.

*How long must someone suffer--an alcoholic son, a potentially devastating financial crisis, a recurring need for chemotherapy?

I have no answers that are satisfactory in the sense that they bring resolution and and intellectual satisfaction. Even as I write those words--"intellectual satisfaction"--they seem arrogant and faithless.

So what do I do? I turn to the Word of God.

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen".

Amen.

PASTOR CHURCH

Pastor Henry Church was my predecessor in Northern California at a small church in Amador County. He was loved by everyone in the community and was the prototype country preacher. He knew everyone, visited everyone, loved everyone.

He loved horses and the outdoors. Amador County afforded him the luxury of a rural setting but his heart always longed for his native Arkansas. In the final years of his life he moved there...until a horseback-riding accident nearly killed him. He ended up in Arizona, and just a week before he died, back home in Amador County.

I was honored to have a part in his memorial service. His son, Henry, Jr., a missionary in Africa, shared a reflective eulogy about his father and punctuated all the things we knew about him as friends and parishioners, as a son. What we saw in public, he was at home.

We will miss Henry.

PUBLIC OFFICIALS

President Bush's recent nominee for the Supreme Court withdrew her name this week, much to the apparent delight of both liberal and conservative political pundits.

I was reflecting upon the process since and thinking about the intense scrutiny candidates are subjected to--and, perhaps, rightly so. The office of supreme court justice is a high and lofty one and we are entitled to know what a potential justice may be thinking about key issues. I guess.

It just seems as if no one can survive such intense examination, doesn't it? They are labeled and pronounced "guilty" of whatever seems contradictory to the subjective opinions of those who feel it is their duty to make such judgments.

But, then, we are all public people to varying degrees. We have our spheres of influence--some greater than others--and people are watching us and making their own judgments about us.

Jesus said that "all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another", John 13:35. By this very statement He assures us people will be watching us and our conduct in terms of our interpersonal relationships will have much to say about the legtimacy of our faith and service to God.

We may not be public officials but as believers we are public witnesses to our faith in Christ. People will make their own pronouncements about us, but if they are going to discern the valdity of our relationship to God it will be because of how we treat one another within the body of Christ.

Valerie

Our daughter-in-law, Julie, recently shared with us the news of her sister's liver cancer. Valerie is only thirty-seven years old and has three children, ages 1,4 and 6. Her husband, Chris, has physical problems as well so this is a real crisis time for this young family. I would like to ask all of my church family and blog readers to join in prayer for Valerie who is undergoing tests at UCLA Medical Center, awaiting a final diagnosis and treatment plan.

So many issues are stirred when we think about all the factors here that make us want to ask "why?" Our true comfort and strength come from the knowledge that God is sovereign--He is not surprised by what is happening in the McCrea household. The passage of comfort and direction for me during these days as we think of Valerie, are the words of the Psalmist who writes,

"His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

nor His delight in the legs of a man;

the Lord delights in those who fear Him,

who put their hope in His unfailing love."

turn lane plans take a turn

If you have followed my blog site you read recently of the huge relief at the securing of our turn lane permit for our new facilites.

Yesterday we received word that the approval had been rescinded. GROAN.

However, the reason for the change is that we are going to be required to do LESS work and to SAVE money on the anticipated $250,000 project. PRAISE THE LORD! (I think...)

I am still working through this development in my mind because of all the time factors and the re-education of our congregation regarding this miexed blessing.

The bottom line for me today is acknowledging that this is God's thing--not mine--and I must trust Him

PRAISE THE LORD! (I am sure!)

JJ

JJ (my grandson) called me a few weeks ago to tell me about the three goals he scored in a soccer game. He left the message and then I had to call him back and get his version of the story, followed by his father's (my son) colorful adaptation of what really happened.

I was sooooo proud. That athletic ability comes through the genes, grandfather-father-son. It was amazing to picture JJ running down the field full speed and defytly weaving his way through defenders to score. I mean, I could remember the days when Jeff, his father, made six interceptions in one football game. Like I said, it runs in the family!

Seriously, I hope I can pass something else on to my children and grandchildren. We can argue about the athletic skills and wonder about grandpa's vivid imagination and inflated evaluation of his own skills. But what a grandfather really wants to see in his progeny is a strong faith in God, a character molded by God's Word.

I can't pass that through the genes. But I can try--however imperfectly--to be an example...to Jeff and to JJ.

home

we have been gone for over a week on a much-needed vacation break. we rested and hiked and rested and biked and rested...and so we are rested!

we were in some beautiful country and enjoyed the beauty of God's creative work.

we were with some wonderful people and exulted in the fellowship of family and friends. i even held my newest grandson, haaken, which was a special treat (not to mention playing with sage, eden and zeke).

but...we are home... and there is nothing like being home, i have decided.

yes, it is back to the rigors of work.

yes, it is eyeing all the household tasks to be addressed.

yes, it was 27 phone messages and 542 e-mails.

yes, it was sorting through piles of mail and magazines and old newspapers (i should have cancelled for the week!)

yes, it was the news of two friends who had died, a funeral to prepare, a list of those in serious need.

yes! yes! yes! yes! yes!

yes...it is my life--my wonderful life--a life to which God has called me.

i am glad to be home!

PTL FOR A TURN LANE!

The good news today is that we have final approval for a turn lane from Cal Trans. Praise the Lord (PTL)!

This has been a process of unparalleled frustration. the process looks something like this.

1. We want a turn lane.

2. We don't want a turn lane.

3. A turn lane could cost $750,000.

3. You need a turn lane.

4. You don't need a turn lane.

5. You need a turn lane.

6. A turn lane will cost $250,000.

7. The Bank of Stockton will lend us the money.

8. Let's build a turn lane.

9. Here are the plans from the engineer for the turn lane.

10. Here are the revised plans back from Cal Trans for the turn lane (repeat #9 and #10 five times)

11. Today...the turn lane plans and drawing are approved.

12. We will have a turn lane when our contractor can work us, probably work to begin in six weeks.

Turns out we won't need the turn lane for another 3-4 months so the timing is fine. We have prayed for this issue for over three years so today is a day of praising the Lord at Grace Fellowship Church!

AT REST

restless spirit

frantically flailing in my soul

subdued without notice

traumatized muscles

awkwardly arching against my skin

relaxed without effort

fractured emotions

silently screaming beneath the surface

quiet without reason

mindless thoughts

ruthlessly running over my solitude

exit withour fanfare

i am at rest

TREADMILL

I passed my treadmill test on Monday. It was interesting how I discovered I had passed. After about 12 minutes on the treadmill at ever escalating speeds and angles, I was told, "You have answered all the questions we have; would you like to stop now?"

The doctor, my personal friend, then proceeded to tell me all the things a treadmill may not show, i.e. other sources of heart trauma, hidden blockages, etc. I was feeling very tense and afraid as he rehearsed all of the other possible scenarios and concluding inwardly, "I must have failed the test..."

When he was all done, I asked, "Well, did I pass the test?"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? Yes, your treadmill was normal; you passed the test!"

When we come before God each day, He isn't there to discuss all the possible results of our sinful makeup and human nature, frigthtening as those are. Instead, He is there to say, "you passed the test...you have trusted in my Son."

That's the good news of the gospel. Stay on the treadmill, if you must, but I choose to get off and simply embrace the fact that in Christ I have passed the test!

I feel pretty good about my treadmill results. It is good to know my heart is in good shape.

Is yours?

milla

I am sure you agree with me that Milla--full name, Camilla--is beautiful! She is identical in her appearance to her mother, my oldest daughter, Jennifer. When I saw this picture it was as if I had been taken back in time thirty years ago to when Jennifer was just a little girl (I am in trouble...I revealed her age). It is almost as if I am looking at a facsimile of the same person!

In my Christian life my desire is to be like Jesus--so that when others look at me, they will see Christ. That is a lofty ambition--one I have certainly not achieved-- but it is a compelling motivation to resemble my heavenly Father, and in so doing, attract others to Him.

When I see Milla, there are a myriad of happy memories she incites of times spent with Jennifer when she was a little girl.

Is there anything about what God is making me through his mercy and grace that would draw others to Christ? Is there any resemblance to my heavenly Father? It is my prayer.

Grandpa Again

Ten grandchildren makes one proud!

Haaken Case Theule was born on September 8th to Tim and Susie Theule, their fourth child. Beverly, my wife, was able to be with them when the baby was born. It was an exicitng time since the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he had to be rushed to ICU...but he is home and doing fine!

We are rejoicing in the miracle of life. Though I was not present at the scene, I never cease to be amazed at the gift of life, and as Beverly detailed it for me, I could sense the awe and wonder at God's creative power.

We have ten of those precious "grandbaby gifts"--Sage, Eden, Ezekiel and Haaken Theule; Kyle, Julianne and Nathaniel Theule; JJ Barrett, and Camilla and Owen Vlach. I thought they needed some blogsite notoriety!

It is fun to be grandpa again!

Filling in...

My regular secretary is gone today. Pity her substitute. She has to read my handwriting!

Every Monday I generally make a list of some of the missing families and we send bulletins to those who were gone. This can generally be as many as 100 families and my scribbled list has to be discerned by some poor soul.

Mr regular secretary has learned to decipher my scrawl. For that she is grossly underpaid. The volunteer substitutes are doubly-penalized--we don't pay them...and they have to read my handwriting. I always shudder when I think of the subsitute's task--and even though I try harder to be legible--it is oftena futile exercise.

I was thinking about the Hebrews' passage that tells us Jesus is our faithful High Priest. In that position He is never absent, but always present. There is no subsititute standing in His place while He is on sabbatical. He is always there. He already knows my heart, knows my life...he knows how to read me.

It is a good thing no one is filling in when I come to Christ with a plate full of failures and blunders. He knows me, and remarkably, still loves me.

So do my secretaries...I think.

ATT: Blogsite readers

Let me know if you are reading this blogsite. Dale

the building

Please join us for prayer as we construct our building at Grace Fellowship Church.

FRUSTRATION

Ever wanted to do something, you couldn't find a way to do...even though you knew it needed to be done?

I guess that best describes my condition today. I really want to do something for the hurricane victims, but I can't figure out how to do it. As I watched the people milling about in the Astrodome, I thought, "I could go and be a counselor...offer encouragement, share the Word of God". I saw several men walking around with the words VOLUNTEER MINISTER on the back of their clothing, and I thought, "That could be me!"

That's where I am today; in fact, it's where I have been for the last week as I watch the grueling tale of a city under water unfold, and listen to the platiff cries for help.

I am frustrated. I can't go now because I am needed here. I have responsibilities, ministry to faithfully perform to the people I have been called to serve.

I will go, I hope, soon enough to offer some fleshed-out love and service in the next few months (work team planned!). In the meantime, I will do what God has called me to do...here.

And I can pray...HERE...NOW.

a work trip

Stay tuned for an update on our plans to send a work team to the New Orleans area when the dust clears and the water recedes....about twelve volunteered to join me on a work team projected for the Thanksgiving holidays. Of course, everything we plan will be dictated by the conditions and ability to get into the area at that time.

Our goal at Grace Fellowship is to designate our charitable gifts at this time for a very specific project. We are in communication with Desire Street Ministries to determine what is the best direction for our funding at this time. For more information, visit "Desire Street Ministries" on line and look for "Hurricane Update".

September 11th will be our first love offering for the victims of Hurricance Katrina. Gifts can also be mailed to Grace Fellowship Church, Box 850, Jackson, California 95642 and marked "disaster relief".

RESOLVED...

My wife and I have been deeply-moved by the continuing saga of the New Orleans tragedy. We have friends there and a ministry we support so our hearts have been touched in multiple ways.

Tragedies like this can be forgotten easily because (a) we are geographically distant and (b) we have tendency simply to emotionally detach in time and to "move on".

Bev and I have resolved two things.

1. We will not exchange Christmas presents this year (except gfifts for the grandchildren). We realize we have everything we need--and then some. Instead, we are going to earmark what we would have spent for gifts for Desire Street Ministries.

2. I am going to try to orchestrate a work team response of men to go to New Orleans at the "right time" (Thanksgiving week is my goal) to assist Desire Street Ministries in a meaningful project that will help restore their outreach in the city.

If you're interested in going with me, contact me at the church office (209-223-1971) or right here on my blog site.

Let's resolve to do something together.

STUFF

Someone told me today that they were considering some changes. The context for those, he expressed, was a brush with mortality that got him thinking.

What he is contemplating doing is getting rid of alot of his "stuff", downsizing to something much smaller, freeing himself from debt...so he can do the really important things in life.

I am there, too. I am a little younger, but daily reminders of the shortness of life cause me to ask, "What really matters?" It is a discipline for me because I find it easy to get caught up in "stuff".

I know better. People like the fellow I spoke to this morning are helpful reminders.