Wednesday,
November 28, 2018
ONLY
A VAPOR!
James 4:14
14
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Yet
another birthday
has come to me. In 1946, today was Thanksgiving Day. My arrival interrupted the
festive feasting of the doctor as well as my mother but Oneida, Tennessee
gained another son.
It
seems like only yesterday I was a shirtless barefoot boy, playing with an old
alarm clock in the black dirt in front of a rented house in Cincinnati. One
could smell the meat packing house not too far away and the noise of the city
was a curious mixture of honking horns, and the rumble of machinery. I would
play all day and then turn the bathwater into muck. Momma would dry my
kid-blond hair with a towel and then off to bed.
A
moment later
I was a teen in a football uniform and then a cap and gown. Suddenly I’m a
young man working in the parts cage at the Coca-Cola Company with an uneasy
restlessness that later defined itself as a call from God upon my life.
Like
a blur
I’m kneeling in the tabernacle at the Ohio youth camp after hearing Dr. David
Cavin. Now I’m standing in line registering for classes at Baptist Bible College. Standing near the back of the
Bible Baptist Church I spy a lovely young lady playing the organ. She is still
the love of my life.
The
once robust
fellowship of pastors that molded me have dissipated into a squabbling, finger
pointing mob, but a few close friends remain. It is one of my greatest
heartaches.
Forty-seven
years of ministry
swirls about in a cyclone of places and faces. What remains are a bit of
ambition, too much disappointment, and an extra helping of satisfaction in a
strange blend. Now it is sunset and the colors are magnificent. A wonderful
product of older age is the evaporation of the need to impress or please
others. I’m much more comfortable with who I am.
Dear
Lord, teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
AMEN
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