In the wake of my dad’s death almost two weeks ago, I came across a letter I wrote on his behalf for a service award he was up for in the state of Mississippi.  I think it expresses just a couple of the reasons why I wanted to be just like my dad.  Outside of Jesus, who is the ultimate hero, my dad will always be my hero.

————————————————

Dear Mr. Betts,

Thanks for the opportunity to write a letter expressing why my dad is a worthy recipient of this leadership award.

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be like my dad.  From the time I was in first grade pretending to shave like him to the time I was in college wearing some of his clothes, I wanted to be just like him.  I even wanted to follow him into accounting after college until I realized that my calling was something different.  Fortunately for me, I did inherit a number of his qualities, and yet there are some qualities that can not be inherited.  They must be taught and learned.  

Though not something he particularly taught me, but rather something that I caught from his life, is that there are times when a leader is called to step into a role that will not necessarily win you any popularity contests.  In fact it will most assuredly cost you a great deal, but a leader doesn’t chose what is safe, he chooses what is right.  Over the years, my dad has served in a number of leadership positions, some more costly than others, and he has given his very best to those he was serving.  As a result, many people in the city of Jackson and the state of Mississippi have a better life because of his sacrificial and servant leadership.

Another noteworthy aspect of my dad’s leadership is his ability to get the best out of people.  His God-given personality enables him to be pretty intuitive when it comes to people – who they are and what they need to make them successful.  He is able to draw out the best in people, and I think he proves the axiom that good leaders don’t have success because of the weight of their position but because of the reach of their influence.  

For these reasons and many, many more, I am honored to be my father’s son and that he is being recognized for his leadership.

With great affection for my dad,

Brett Eubank

Pastor

12072201.mp3

My dad just finished up a 30 day radiation treatment on his esophagus and a 15 day radiation treatment on his hip to treat tumors related to his stage 4 lung cancer. At Baptist Hospital, their tradition is that when a patient finishes up his/her radiation treatment, they get to ring a gong, which sits in the lobby. Because my dad had separate treatments, he got to ring it twice. Though he has lost a lot of weight, he’s still got a pretty good backhand. Now if he could only hit his a backhand that good in tennis! Thank you to all who have been praying for my dad. He still has one more chemo treatment (that will make 5 total) and then they will do a scan to see how effective the chemo and radiation has been. We are praying for a good report, and that whatever the results, God may be glorified in it.

I have travelled far now on life’s journey, and having climbed one of the few remaining hills between earth and heaven, I stand awhile on this vantage ground and look back across the country through which the Lord had led me…

I can see two pilgrims treading the highway of life together, hand in hand–heart linked to heart.  True, they have had rivers to ford, mountains to cross, fierce enemies to fight and many dangers to go through.  But their Guide was watchful, their Deliverer unfailing, and of them it might truly be said, “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all the days of old.”

Mostly they went on their way singing; and for one of them at least, there was no greater joy than to tell others of the grace and glory of the blessed King to whose land he was hasting. And while he thus spoke, the power of the Lord was seen and the angels rejoiced over repenting sinners.

But at last they came to a place on the road where two ways met.  And here, amidst the terrors of a storm such as they had never before encountered, they parted company–the one being caught up to the invisible glory, and the other, battered and bruised by the awful tempest, henceforth toiling along the road–alone!

But the “goodness and mercy” which for so many years had followed the two travelers, did not leave the solitary one.  Rather did the tenderness of the Lord “lead on softly,” and choose green pastures for the tired feet, and still waters for the solace and refreshment of His trembling child.

He gave, moreover, into her hands a solemn charge–to help fellow pilgrims along the road, therewith filling her life with blessed interest, and healing her own deep sorrow by giving her power to relieve and comfort others.

Some people construct a Christianity which consists entirely of a personal relationship to Jesus Christ and has virtually nothing to do with the church. Others make a grudging concession to the need for church membership, but add that they have given up the ecclesiastical institution as hopeless. Now it is understandable, even inevitable, that we are critical of many of the church’s inherited structures and traditions. Every church in every place at every time is in need of reform and renewal. But we need to beware lest we despise the church of God, and are blind to his work in history. We may safely say that God has not abandoned his church, however displeased with it he may be. He is still building and refining it. And if God has not abandoned it, how can we? 

Insofar as the church is conformed to the world, and the two communities appear to the onlooker to be merely two versions of the same thing, the church is contradicting its true identity. No comment could be more hurtful to the Christian than the words, ‘But you are no different from anybody else.’ 

What a thrilling thought to be known by Jesus – and not just from afar like an acquaintance but up close like a friend or spouse. But Jesus knows us even better than a friend or spouse because he knows EVERYTHING about us. He knows every fear that keeps us awake at night or distracted during the day. He knows every fantasy that sails across our mind and docks in the port of our heart. He knows every grace-robbing word we’ve stolen from others to keep for ourselves. And yet when Jesus is confronted by such knowledge, he doesn’t run away from us saying as he goes (like Jerry Seinfeld to George Costanza), “Good luck with all that!” He pursues us, he welcomes us, he loves us and he changes us. The thought that my sin doesn’t chase Jesus off is freedom, and the thought that Jesus chases my sin away is real love. He does not let me stay in my sin because he knows the harm it does to my soul. May we know the thrill of freedom and joy that comes from being known by Jesus and may such knowledge move us towards knowing one another, extending the love of Christ to others.

When you think of sinful pride, what comes to mind?  I always think of it as self-reliance, depending upon myself to do what needs to be done.  I forget that the implication of that means separation from others.  Henry Fairlie in his book, The Seven Deadly Sins, reminded me of that separation in his chapter on pride.  He wrote:

…often in our Pride we do not realize how aloof we have become, and how cut off even from what in our own nature we should most deeply know and enjoy…The most widespread form that [pride] takes today is simply the retreat of people into their private lives.  As long as their society provides them with a reasonable degree of personal security and affluence, and the necessary means and opportunities to entertain themselves, it may be left to function and be managed as may be, no matter that it is still an unfit place for others to live in.  We at least have “made it,” and having made it, need only to be left alone.”

How sinisterly subtle, pride is and what we celebrate as rugged individualism is really nothing more than sinful pride.  Deliver me God, all the more, from the pride that refuses to see my neighbor. to love my neighbor. to serve my neighbor.  Help me see that pride for what it is and how it violates your shalom.  Thank you Jesus for violating yourself by taking on my sin – you who knew no sin – so that I may know and enjoy the shalom of God.

A marvelous devotional book came out last year from one of my spiritual mentors, Scotty Smith. Originally, he broadcast these as emails to his blog subscribers and then Baker Books had the good sense to publish 365 of them under the simple title, Everyday Prayers   Reading through these prayers again, especially as I begin my day, is a needed exercise in recalibrating my thinking and reorienting my heart around the truth of God’s eternal and exhaustive love of me in His son Jesus.  May these prayers do the same for you.  Here is today’s entry, which I thought particularly helpful to me at the beginning of the new year.

Dear Father, the health clubs and fitness centers are packed with postholiday traffic.  Yesterday I had to wait twenty minutes before I could even get onto my favorite elliptical machine.  Once again, scores of us seem ready to leave the sugar/butter/carbohydrate binge of the past six weeks for the purge of exercise and sweat.  This is a good thing, for stewardship of our physical hearts and bodies does have value, and it does bring you glory.

Yet, I’ve never been more aware that spiritual formation based on the “binge and purge” cycle simply doesn’t work.  Our spiritual hearts need to be strengthened by the grace of the gospel daily, all year long.  We cannot afford periods of “cruise control,” when we leave the banquet of your love for a buffet of comfort foods, fast foods, and junk foods.  Just like the physical hearts you’ve given us, our spiritual heart muscles will atrophy if we don’t take care of them.

So I thank you for the “means of grace” – the good gifts you’ve freely given us to help us grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus.  Thank you for the Bible, your written Word, through which you reveal yourself and feed us with the riches of the gospel.  Thank you for prayer, meditation, and corporate worship, by which you meet and fellowship with us.  Thank you for the sacraments of baptism and Lord’s Supper, these tangible expressions of your covenant love and grace.

Father, you won’t love us more or less based on our use of these good gifts.  But we certainly demonstrate and deepen our love for you as we do so.  By the convicting work of your Holy spirit, let us be far more concerned about flabby, faceless hearts than bigger love handles.  Because you love us, don’t let us get used to being spiritually lazy.  May we come to the point where we’d sooner avoid oxygen and water than the means of grace.  Certainly gospel sanity is to be preferred over personal vanity, all the time.  We offer our prayer in Jesus’ loving and faithful name. Amen.

What an incredible night of serving the “least of these” at Least of These Food Pantry tonight. Several Grace Hill Church folks (Heather Lowe, Barb Cortner, Mike Allen, and Debbie Wilson) joined me and Jackson and Anna Sloan and the more than 100 volunteers to assemble 750 Thanksgiving Baskets, which will be distributed Friday and Saturday. It was fun watching every single space of that food pantry get filled with bags and bags and bags of food. What I particularly loved about the evening is that Jackson and Anna Sloan were able to be the church even if they didn’t understand it. The kids were so into it that not one time did they ask to eat or were bored. We started at 6 and didn’t leave until almost 8. May Jesus be lifted up because of what was accomplished tonight.