I Had Lunch Here Today

More later...

At My Age..

...seems like simple pleasures are the most satisfying.

Yesterday was my birthday. I found many well wishes in my electronic inbox. People were very kind to remember. I had lunch with one of my prayer partners- he even bought it!

My wife and son gave me a pair of shoes and a new belt to replace one that (popped) became unusable. With age comes an expanded middle. I had several cards waiting on me. I was advised to "do nothing I did not wish to do." How does one do this and pursue his vocation?

There was even grilled steak for supper.

I enjoyed all these things immensely.

But I really enjoyed the strawberry cake. We had staff meeting and there it was- homemade strawberry cake. As I was growing up, Mother knew that was the cake I wanted. For some reason, my father always insisted on making my picture sitting beside it with the candles lit. I suppose somewhere I have 18 pictures of successive birthdays- each with me sitting beside a strawberry cake.

I have to admit that it has been years since I had homemade strawberry cake- the kind that uses the frozen berries in the cardboard can with metal ends. Some got close, but cherry cake with canned strawberry icing just isn't the same.

But for my birthday one of staff secretaries' husband made the finest cake I've had in years. Like the cartoon dog, Snuffles, I exclaimed my groans of delight. If I could, I'd have jumped into the air and floated down like he did.


As I took the first bite and realized it was just like momma's, I got a bit misty-eyed. Memories returned of birthdays gone by. I thought of my mother- now in glory. That was the best birthday present of all.

Mother is gone, but her recipe lives on.

Simple pleasures like homemade strawberry cake are the best.

I got another birthday present, too. I'm going to redeem it tomorrow. I'll write about it -and the results- in a later post.

Now, if I could just get that old Beatles tune out of my head...."You say it's your birthday..."

Talitha Cumi

Early this morning, I got a phone call. Calls this early never bring good news. Sure enough, it was a lady in our church who told me of a teenage girl who attends our church with her grandparents. The girl had fallen off of a golfcart on to a sidewalk and hit her head. At that time, she was in Pediatric ICU. There was a hematoma in her skull and she was unresponsive.

I told my wife about the situation and she was troubled. I took a shower and prepared for church.

At approximately 7:15 this morning I took my wife's hand and we prayed for this young lady and another child we heard had been involved in a lawn mowing accident.

As we prayed, I led out. I was reminded of Jesus' words to Jairus' daughter in Mark 5:41. Jairus had requested Jesus' presence to heal his sick child. But before he could arrive, the child died. Jesus told the crowd when he arrived that the girl was not dead, but sleeping. He was ridiculed. Then Jesus took her hand and said, "Talitha Cumi," which is Aramaic for "Little Girl Arise." Indeed the girl awakened. Jesus raised her from the ded.

You can see a powerful video here, or here:


I prayed, repeating the words of Jesus, "Talitha Cumi" and went to eat breakfast.

Later, as I finished getting ready, I could hear my wife in the living room on the phone. She had been trying to reach the grandmother of the girl who had been injured and get the latest report. I heard her laughing, crying, and pounding the bar in kitchen.

The girl had just awakened and begun to talk to her family.

My wife asked the grandmother when this happened.

As it turned out, it had happened about the time we were praying for the girl to awaken which was ten minutes earlier.

God heard our prayer!

Coincidence? I find more coincidences occur when I pray.

I shared the story with my prayer partners and later with my church. There was spontaneous applause and cheers.

After church we went to the hospital to visit the girl and her family. We told them of our prayer, the answer, and the church's response to the story of healing and answered prayer.

The girl in particular was fascinated. "They clapped and cheered for me?" she asked.

"That's right," I said. "They clapped and cheered because you are an answered prayer."

The words of the prophet Isaiah came to mind several times today, "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear." Isaiah 65:24 (NIV)

Indeed, God answered while we prayed, "Talitha cumi."

A Passing Legend And Me

“I wanted something very dense, something that would sustain long and more pieces of wood that would be soft, sweet, for more of a mellow sound.”- Les Paul

I well recall the early years of my teens when I was a guitar player/band member wannabe. I had two friends, Tony and Larry, who had the same aspirations as I. In fact, we formed our own band (sans instruments, as we had no money to buy them) and even took to photographing ourselves for the covers of albums that we were sure we would one day record. In fact, if one of us got mad at the other, we would "kick him out of the band." In fact, this often happened to another friend, Raymond. We alternated between letting Raymond in the band and then later kicking him out again. Never mind the fact that we had no instruments, no songs, and none of us really knew how to play. We had a dream. We would one day be a band.

That led us to make regular trips to State Line Avenue and G Sharp Music in our hometown of Texarkana, TX. The owner of the store, as I recall, was named George Sharp- hence the "G. Sharp" of the store's name. G. Sharp had the best selection of pianos, band instruments, drums, amplifiers, accessories, ...and guitars.

Oh, they had the guitars.

One in particular caught my eye. It was a solid black Gibson Les Paul Custom model. I had seen some of the guitar players I admired at the time playing Les Pauls. I knew three things about them: They were popular among guitarists, They were heavy- hence their nickname, "the plank," and they were EXPENSIVE.

The one I had my eye upon during those frequent excursions to G. Sharp Music Store cost a whopping $695.

But wait! It had genuine mother of pearl inlays on the fingerboard. It had gold plated tuning pegs and pickups. It was a beauty. A black beauty.

And it might as well have have carried a million dollar pricetag as far as I was concerned. I was 14 years old, too young to hold a regular job, and from a middle working class family which earned just enough money to feed and house a family of six. I know that was the list price and had I haggled with G. Sharp, he would have come down on the price, but there was one thing I knew deep down.

There was no way I was ever going to own that Les Paul Custom guitar.

But I could dream. And I did. Today, when I go to music stores or talk to other guitarists- some of whom actually play Les Pauls- I am always tempted to tell of my teenage dream of owning a Les Paul.

And according to WikiAnswers.com that guitar today could sell for around $4000-$5000. Sigh.

Anyway, I bring this bit of trivia from my past in memory of the guitar's designer, Les Paul.

Paul was an accomplished guitarist himself. He practically invented some popular licks and phrasings that are the standard fare of modern guitarists. He and his wife, Mary Ford, made hit records together. One of their big hits was "How High The Moon." As Mary sings, Les can be heard in the background playing some mean chops.

Not only was Paul a popular artist and guitar designer, but he was also quite inventive on the recording end of music as well. He first discovered multi tracking and layering as a recording technique. He would record his wife singing, and then play back that recording as she sang with herself and added that track to the previous one. This is why some recordings seem to sound like the singer has cloned himself or herself. Paul perfected this technique and would often record songs with his wife in their hotel rooms as they traveled between concerts.

Right up until his death today at 92, he could still be found at clubs, jamming with his musician friends. He once said, "I have younger friends who don't work, and they aren't doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working."

He did indeed, right up until the end.

Thanks, Les. Thanks for the stuff that dreams are made of- from a former teenage dreamer.

--Postscript: I recently bought an Epiphone Les Paul copy, in part to fulfill that teenage dream. It certainly cost a lot less then the original Les Paul and isn't quite like the original, but I can say that I have a black Les Paul today. The thing about it is, today, it doesn't seem to matter as much as it once did. If I wanted to do so, I could buy an original Gibson Les Paul Custom. But it really doesn't seem so important to me anymore.

Lost

I found two illustrations on the way to church this morning.

First, as I drove down a main street to meet with my prayer partners, I saw a man sitting in the back of a minivan reading a newspaper. My first thought was that he must be selling something.

Actually, he wasn't.

In fact, he was trying to give something away.

As I looked closer, I saw a large dog on a leash with a water bowl set before him. I also saw a cardboard sign in front of the dog.

"Lost," is all the sign said. Instantly, I got it. Apparently the man found a stray dog in his neighborhood and was trying to find his owner on an early Sunday morning. I admired his generosity and caring spirit to see that a lost animal would be reunited with his master.

As I drove further down that street, I wondered about the willingness of Christians to inconvenience themselves to reach people in our world- our neighborhoods- who are lost without Jesus Christ. This stranger's unselfish act struck me with fresh conviction to be about sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also on that commute to the church, I felt the need for caffeine. I stopped by a convenience store along the way. A young lady whom I have seen visiting our church services was behind the counter. She smiled, and as I "filled 'er up," asked me, "Whatcha gonna speak on today?"

I had an answer.

I have been challenged by a conference speaker I recently heard who asked us to labor diligently to get the gist of a message, sermon, or teaching into one striking and compact sentence. He said that if your wife woke you up at 3:00 in the morning, and asked you what you were preaching on Sunday, you should have a short, pungent answer. He also said that the statement should be able to fit on the back of your business card.

Having thought much on that challenge, and labored to meet it, I had a ready answer for the young lady.

I told her that I was preaching on "Leave Boldly," part of the One Month To Live Challenge and sermon series. I also was able to say, "I am going to say that in order to leave this earth boldly, you must be able to look back at life on earth peacefully, and look forward to life in heaven hopefully." Those words are based upon the experience of Jesus on the cross as recorded in Luke 23: 29-39.

I drove away from the store thinking, "Here is a good example of what the speaker asked us to do." I was able to give this young woman a business card condensation of my sermon." Such a practice makes preaching and teaching far more effective, because the speaker has one main idea he is attempting to drive home. Mac Brunson compares it to a pneumatic tube which drives its object home with force, power, and clarity.

I also thought, "What a great illustration to share in my preaching classes with students."

Thus, today I got two good illustrations that begged to be shared. The first I shared with our congregation during our invitation time. I couldn't let that one get away!

The other I share with you, dear reader.

May their force be with you!