One of our family's cherished photos, taken 29 years ago, portrays three women and a baby girl. The infant is our weeks-old daughter Melanie, held by my wife Sara Faye (then in her 20's), accompanied by Sara Faye's mother Celia and Celia's then-aged mother whom we called Tata. On this Mother's Day 2002, we took another photograph to place beside that one. Celia is the 90-year-old in this picture and the infant is our granddaughter Julia. Between them are Sara Faye and Melanie, now herself a mother. This morning also included Julia's dedication service at our church, an event during which … [Read more...]
GRANDPA’S FAITH AND FEAR
As I write this on a Sunday afternoon in early April 2002, our first grandbaby Julia remains in the special care nursery at the hospital where she was born five long days ago. Her parents, Melanie and Michael, are staying at the hospital, although Melanie has been officially discharged as a patient. It seems that Julia's temperature is lower than normal and her heart beat is slower than usual. The neonatologist says this is cause for concern and caution but not necessarily for alarm. We hope to hear from a pediatric cardiologist tomorrow when tests are analyzed. We grasp at positive … [Read more...]
DEATH, BE NOT PROUD
(This gracEmail summarizes remarks I gave on March 26, 2002 at Mason {Ohio} Christian Village Chapel at the memorial service for my stepfather, Joseph Dewhirst of Morrow, Ohio. These thoughts come from the story in John 11 of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead.) 1. Death is inevitable. Mary and Martha both tell Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died" (v. 21, 32). The truth is that Lazarus might not have died then, but he would have died sometime. Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time to be born and a time to die. From the moment we are born, we are … [Read more...]
MORTALITY
As I write these words in 2001, I face a small and treasured family picture on my desk. Melanie appears to be four or five years old, Jeremy about two. Both are now grown and married. Where did those years go? Can I really turn 57 this year? The folks I once knew as grownups are now either old or dead. My contemporaries are showing their own years. The youths are taking over the world. Thus it has been from the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. And -- we might add, before saying "Amen" -- thus it ought to be, as well. A preacher in the New Testament once remarked concerning King David, … [Read more...]
BEYOND TERROR
Is there a word from God, following Tuesday's (September 11, 2001) unprecedented terrorist attacks in New York and Washington which claimed thousands of lives, shut down air travel nationwide and launched the USA into a state of virtual war against an invisible enemy who as yet remains unknown? Three solemn truths transport us beyond terror, as we reflect on the whole teaching of Scripture. * * * First, we lament the mind-numbing and momentous loss of life. We mourn for those who perished and pray for their loved ones. Though thousands died, each was an individual, snatched … [Read more...]
FAMILY ROOTS & BRANCHES
June 2001 -- This weekend Sara Faye, Grandma Locke and I, with both our children and their spouses (all from Texas), enjoyed a Fudge family reunion at beautiful, wooded, Doublehead Resort on Wilson Lake in North Alabama (www.doublehead.com). My brothers from California and Florida werethere, as well as two brothers and a sister from Alabama and our mother from Ohio. Plus dozens of other Fudge-related kin covering about four generations. You will understand when I say that the event was both restful and tiring. Along the way, we visited the little stone house in Franklin, Tenn. where Sara … [Read more...]
HOME FOLKS
July 2001. Those who know first-hand the joy and assurance of salvation through trusting in Jesus Christ also experience the family love of fellow believers as spiritual brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. This weekend my own heart filled to overflowing with pleasure and with love as I worshiped, ate, visited and studied the Bible with "home folks" in both a physical and a spiritual sense. The occasion was a weekend of gospel ministry at Seven Mile Post Road Church in Athens (Limestone County), Ala., the town in which I grew up and the county of my ancestors since … [Read more...]
RENEWAL IN REGINA
April 2001 -- Outdoors the sun reflects off snowbanks as the Canadian Spring temperature dances in the 40's (F). Inside the Regina Church of Christ building, however, hearts warmed by the gospel glow in God's presence, and sweet harmony of worship rises as a sacrifice before the throne of God in heaven. The Holy Spirit hovers over God's new creation in an atmosphere of manifest reverence and celebratory joy. Churches of Christ are rather scarce in Canada, and not large by U.S. standards. This annual Spring Renewal thus brings believers to Saskatchewan from Alberta and British Columbia on … [Read more...]
MINISTRY IN OREGON
March 2001 -- For three days this week, I had the pleasure, along with my co-author Dr. Robert A. Peterson of Covenant Theological Seminary, of presenting the Bueerman-Champion Lectureship at Western Theological Seminary in Portland, Oregon on the theme "Two Views of Hell." Dr. Peterson argued that hell will involve unending conscious torment. I argued that hell will culminate in the everlasting extinction of the entire person, body and soul. We both appealed to the Scriptures as primary and final authority on the subject. The Western Seminary administration, faculty, staff and students … [Read more...]
KEEN ON KIWI-LAND (3)
Most New Zealanders speak English, with a modified British accent to American ears, although Maori is also enjoying a revival among the growing indigenous population. One-third of the nation lives in Auckland -- NZ's counterpart to New York City -- and one of them in five came there from some other part of Asia or the Pacific. By far the country's largest and most cosmopolitan city, Auckland's 1.3 million residents sprawl from Waitemata Harbor on the Pacific Ocean to Manukau Harbor on the Tasman Sea. Auckland appropriately calls itself "The City of Sails" -- its harbors' dancing waters sparkle … [Read more...]
