Monthly Archives: December 2007

Dec 30 2007

Back in the saddle again…


I hope each of you are enjoying the Christmas and New Years holidays as much as I am. Our holiday season thus far has been a blast! Carol and I returned from a lengthy trip to the Carolinas and Tennessee last night.

We left Monroe on Thursday as week ago and arrived in Atlanta late in the afternoon. On Friday we were able to have some time with my brother who lives in Atlanta, do some outlet shopping, a trip to Bass Pro Shop, and then a short drive to Travelers Rest South Carolina. We stayed two nights with an uncle (recently widowed) and on Sunday worshipped with him an aunt at the little church in Cleveland where my paternal grandparents were saved and are buried. My aunt who is almost 80 has been a member there since she was 12. She recounted to me how she walked quite a distance and then crossed the Saluda River on a log and then up the hill and down the valley to the church at 12 years of age.

We drove about 50 miles to Hendersonville, N C on Sunday after church and visited with dear friends, Don and Harriet Yelton. Don is not only a friend and dear brother, but my wife’s boss. He has been Director of WFR Relief for over 35 years and he and Harriet also run AMEN ministry as well. We enjoyed the fellowship of several members of their family on Christmas day and then on the next morning were greeted by a pretty snow which had fallen during the night, almost a white Christmas.

 I was able to see my mom four days in a row which was a great blessing. She is a great woman. Her health is slowly failing and her almost 86 years is taking its toll. She will likely soon be promoted to joy unspeakable and glory to the full! What a hope we have in Jesus!

We drove to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee on Wednesday afternoon and actually vacationed for a whole day! We found DollyWood delightful. We enjoyed the musical “Babes in Toyland”, especially since one of the leading characters is a young man who is a member of our church in West Monroe. We were able to visit with him for a few moments between shows. There was southern gospel music, Blue grass, and lots of very nice folks with accents that made this mountain boy feel right at home. To top off the day we ate beans, cornbread, and blackberry cobbler at “Granny Ogle’s Kitchen”. (I am right at home in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. There are lots of Ogle’s there) Some of the best people on planet earth grew up in the hills of Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. They are down to earth, hard working, fun loving, God fearing, “salt of the earth” kind of folks. I am very proud of my heritage.

Today we celebrated Christmas with our grandsons and children here in Monroe and I got in some yard work, put up a Blue bird house, washed my John Deere, arranged some crappie tackle, did a minor upgrade to my boat trailer, and helped Carol put goodies away in the attic for next Christmas. No child ever enjoyed Christmas more then this one I am married to!

We are looking forward to church tomorrow and then on New Years Eve we will have several couples here at our house for fellowship, fun, games, and some vittles. I am looking forward to the New Year with its challenges and opportunities. It seems we continue to have God’s favor and for that underserved goodness we are humbled and thankful. I look forward to writing a series on Jesus Christ our Lord here at Grace Digest in the next several weeks. My blogs, for the most part, are just some of my personal studies that I share with anyone who cares to read them. I pray that they will bless you as they have me.

May you walk in the Light, with the Wind at your back, and your eye on Jesus in 2008.

His peace,

Royce

Dec 20 2007

A Blue Ridge Christmas


cb_tree_thumb.jpg 

Early tomorrow Carol and I will begin our trek east to my beloved childhood home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. The house I grew up in is about 1/4 mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway on the N. E. side of I-40, and across the river from “The Cove” conference center of the county’s most famous resident, Billy Graham. Our other claim to fame in the Asheville area is Biltmore House, supposedly the largest residence in the United States. It is beautiful this time of year and is only matched in beauty in the spring, when wild flowers and the well groomed gardens on the estate scream with beauty “Spring in here!”

My mom, who will soon be 86 now lives a few miles away from her home of over 50 years in a nursing center. Blindness and old age are taking their toll, but she is still the wonderful woman who cared for my every need for so many years. I have mentioned before in my blogs that she taught me much about the life of faith and about prayer. She is the last of 8 siblings, and one of the last of an era, one of those great Americans who lived through the Great Depression and who really know what it means to do without. It will be good to see her once more, but at the same time, in the recesses of my heart, sadness looms as the time draws irrevocably near to our last visit on earth.

As a boy I could go less than a quarter mile in almost any direction and there were aunts, uncles, dozens of cousins, and neighbor’s friendly and familiar faces. We were dirt poor but no one had told us yet so we just enjoyed what we had and were as happy as could be. After mom has finally graduated, the pull for a bi-annual visit back to the hills will be less and less. A few cousins are still in the area, and most are older than my 62 years, so in the natural course of life,  in a few short years, what was once a huge play ground for a gawky little boy will be a strange little coutry neighborhood where only a few fond memories still live.

You probably wonder about the Christmas tree. It closely resembles some of the trees my father would bring in the house and decorate when I was a child. He had the worst decorating tastes of any person I have ever met. As daddy entered a field of scattered pines, the first tree he saw that resembled a pine fell victim to his axe. Even if a couple of limbs had to be wired on to make it acceptable that was no problem. The same two strings of lights were used for perhaps 20 years. There were colored light bulbs with colored metal reflectors held in place by screwing the bulbs in through them. There were two strands of garland, one silver and one red, which after a decade or so began to look like shiny twine, not garland. Some of the early years would find daddy with some sewing thread, a needle, and a bowl of pop corn, stringing it up to add more color to the tree. At its best it was always only slightly more attractive than the one in the picture. Mom was blind so daddy got away with stuff most husbands would have been maimed for! But, it was Christmas and we were happy.

At least once a year, daddy would mention that Christmas for him, when he was a boy, was an orange, and perhaps a few peices of hard candy. It was a true story. My grandparents had 13 children and lived a very primitave life back in the hollars and way up the creeks in Yancey County N.C. We had it good compared to those days and my parents never took it lightly.

My favorite Christmas memory was getting a bicycle one year. It was a hand-me-down from a 1st cousin that daddy had painted red with a brush and it looked like it. But, I was thrilled to have my own bike and it was a wonderful gift. My grandson’s haul, and the huge boxes that were mailed off to granddaughters, are a stark contrast to those days of finding so much comfort in just getting by.

This will be our first Christmas since 2000 that we have not been with our grandchildren but we will see them soon after and celebrate with them then (the boys), and then in June we will once again get to see our 3 granddaughters for a special several day visit in Hawaii as they return from their two years in Guam. (Of course their parents will be allowed to come too)

We will return in time for a New Years eve party with a some of our friends from church and some neighbors who have become as dear as our own family. I wish for each of you who read my blog a great time with family and friends and may the Christ of Christmas rule your hearts as you surrender to Him.

Merry Christmas,
Royce

P.S. For those of you with a slightly warped sense of humor like  yours truely, one more Christmas picture I just had to share. For those of you who are “normal”, just pretend you didn’t see it.

Christmas in ‘Bama

Dec 17 2007

Jesus? Whats all the fuss?


The idea of the Trinity is often confusing and difficult for many to understand. I don’t know that any finite being can begin to fully comprehend the awesome central essence of our great Creator God. I do believe however, that we are given quite enough revelation in the pages of the Bible so that we can understand the basic concept of the triune God we love and serve.

One man describes the Trinity this way. “There is one essence (God) and three manifestations of that essence, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. That is a very concise and clear way to state it. There are not three Gods but one who has revealed Himself in three distinct personalities.

Another illustration might be the following. My father, David Ogle, was at the same time a father, a son, and a husband. He was very real in each of those roles and neither compromised the others. He was one man (essence) but was known (manifested) in three distinct personas.

I believe a basic understanding of the Trinity is necessary before one tackles the Deity of Jesus. It is disturbing to me that many people struggle with questions about Jesus the man. Was He or is He God? If He was or is God, how could he have died? If he was fully God how could he pray to Himself or be in a submissive role while on earth? These questions and more continue to be asked in the minds of many, and not just those who are outside the household of faith, believers have some of the same questions. Can I answer them all? Absolutely I cannot. I can remind us of what the Bible clearly teaches about Jesus and His role as the second person of the Trinity.

The deity of Jesus Christ is regarded by every orthodox theologian as one of the “essentials” of the historic Christian faith. It is “foundational” in its value as a doctrine. It is a “fundamental” doctrine held by those who embrace the basic tenets of the Christian faith who are correctly called “Fundamentalists”, of which I am happily one. Many people today refer to this same group of believers as “Evangelicals”, but the core beliefs are almost exactly the same. One difference is that some who refer to themselves as “Fundamentalists” refuse to fellowship with anyone who does not believe and practice everything to the letter that they believe. The “everything” includes some Bible doctrines that are not “essentials”, or “foundational” teachings. Common consensus is that there are some facts in the Bible that are so important that one who is exposed to them must believe them to be correctly called a Christian. The deity of Jesus is one of those teachings.

Another important thing to keep in mind in addition to the concept of the Trinity is the concept of “roles”. In the Bible, when women are instructed to be submissive to their own husbands, slaves to masters, children are to honor and obey parents, etc. There is no hint, stated or implied, of determining value or worth. The mistaken idea that Jesus was not co-equal with the Father because he was sent to do the will of the Father in no way is a statement about His value, worth, or place in the Godhead. Function never is a measurement of value or worth, for God or for His children.

It is my goal over the course of the next few weeks is to post some of my observations about what the Bible clearly states regarding the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Was, or is He, fully God, or something a bit less? Was he a creation of God the Father? Did He exist before he was born to Mary? Was he really raised from the dead in a body? Where is He today and what is He doing? Is He only our brother or is He our God?

Your input is invited.

Merry CHRISTmas and a prosperous new year.

His peace,
Royce

Dec 13 2007

Singing off key using a pitch pipe made of gopher wood


Several months ago, I was assailed by a few brothers in response a letter I wrote that was published in the Christian Chronicle. In that letter I had not embraced the party line on the subject of singing and music in churches of Christ and Christian churches. After exhausting his other familiar arguments, one brother asked in an email the following question.

   “Could Noah have built the Ark out of Mesquite wood and been pleasing to God?  We follow God instructions and are accepted or we no not follow His instructions and are condemned.  Real simple”

This was his last of a series of emails we exchanged. His view was that any person or congregation that is not acapella is not right with God and should not be the recipients of our fellowship. My reply to him follows.

My dear brother xxxx

May I appeal to your common sense? Taking your line of reasoning to its logical end, one could invent all sorts of sins, and thus reasons to not to “fellowship” lots of folks. The bible says nothing about making the human voice louder by using electronic equipment, but every acapella congregation I have ever visited had a public address system. The bible says nothing about a church building, water coolers, air conditioners, heaters, telephones, church buses, and the list is endless. None of them is sinful just because the bible never mentioned them and musical instruments are not either.

The bible says “I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal 6:3) and, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 8:13) The Psalms encourages God’s people again and again to praise God using musical instruments. When did that change? How much more of the Psalms should we disregard today?

Should I fellowship you? Just because you worship in a church that adheres to the church of Christ tradition of acapella singing, is that enough of a reason? Should I also require that you are a “one cupper”? Should I add that you have no Sunday school? They are not mentioned in the bible! Should I check to see if you comply with every other rule that suits my taste?

Or should I fellowship someone who speaks against brothers who love Jesus as much as you do? Should I fellowship a man who is critical of everyone who is not like him? The first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 is “love”. Paul talked at great length about the importance of love and the futility of serving God without it. He said even if he became a martyr for the faith without love, he would have failed. I think it is striking that immediately after the famous verses on the supremacy of love Paul said these words.  “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor 13:11) If I am required by my Lord to love my enemies I believe I can manage to love and have fellowship with those who have surrendered their lives to Him, even if they are not like me in some ways. I like Paul’s way better than your way brother. In his letter to the Philippians he said this, “ Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”  But Paul, do you know they have a piano? Do you know they pool money together with other churches to preach the gospel on foreign soil? Are you aware they have some folks singing while others only listen? But what about the TBN TV network?

Paul would say again, “if Christ is preached I  rejoice, and will rejoice”. I believe I will too.

Royce

We restoration people have much larger fish to fry than what some congregation does on a Lord’s day in some distant city. Before we can hope to be people who embrace scriptural unity we must grow to the place where we can say with Alexander Campbell, “We are only Christians, but not the only Christians”.  And, have the same view of others who claim Jesus as Lord as Paul did.

His peace,
Royce