Grandma Ressie

When my godly Grandma, Ressie Creed, went to heaven in 1989, my parents thought it important that I have something of hers.  Dad had purchased a set of William Barclay's Daily Study Bible commentaries as a gift for Grandma.  She used them in preparing her weekly Sunday School lessons for the young adult class she taught.  Mom and Dad saw to it that this set of Grandma's commentaries were mine.

In 2015, I felt prompted by the Lord to use Grandma's commentaries for my daily quiet time.  I read both volumes of Matthew and both volumes of the Revelation.  In December, I started The Gospel of Luke.  Many times, I would find Grandma's jagged underlining.  Each time, I felt closer to her.  I also discovered date I had inscribed where I had read a passage earlier.  It was a great spiritual journey.

On December 11, 2015, I was reading in Luke 6 about Jesus' selection of his disciples. I found a sentence marked with Grandma's uneven underlining. It read: " It is only in Christ that we can solve the problem of living together; because even the most opposite people may be united in their love for him. If we really love him, we will also love each other." (William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 73).

My mind reached back across the years to 1946 when Grandma, my momma, and others of Ressie's six daughters were born again at a Baptist revival in Prosperity, West Virginia.  I remembered how my grandparents were married for another 33 years before Grandpa Creed found Jesus.  Then I thought about how Grandma Ressie prayed for my papaw, Clarence Ruthven Creed's salvation.

I'll never forget my dad bursting into Miss Elma Reed's choir class at Mount Carmel High School in the spring of 1979, during my Senior year.  "Papaw Creed just got saved!" was his euphoric announcement.  I weep today at the thought of it. 

I remember my grandparents 50th anniversary.  I remember Grandma shouting in church, her little feet beating a tap dance sort of tattoo on the tile floor, forever pock-marked by repetitions of that holy dance.  I remember Grandpa praying around family altar and testifying in church.  And then I think about Mamaw's love that endured, prayed, remained faithful, and loved my Papaw Ruthven to Jesus.  

"If we really love him, we will also love each other."

God of the Impossible

Genesis 17:15-18:15, 50:20, Psalm 136, Joshua 1:5-7, Daniel 6, Matthew 19:26

Dear God,

Impossibilities loom like mountains in the distance.  Sometimes, I feel like I am lost in mountains of impossibility.   You are no stranger to apparent impossibility.  You are the God of the impossible.

You promised Abraham and Sarah a son.  They did everything they could to manipulate the process.  You had to perform a miracle and open the childless womb of a ninety year old woman.  You are God of the impossible.

Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery.  Imprisonment, interpretations of dreams, and subsequent prophecy revealed his character.  You took a series of events that had been intended for evil, and brought beauty and good out of them.  You are God of the impossible.

Moses faced the impossibility of the Red Sea.  The looming sea in his path and Pharaoh’s encroaching forces to the rear created an impossible situation; but You are God of the impossible.  

Joshua faced the impossibility of the Jordan River.  The flooded Jordan, some priests carrying the ark of the Covenant, the Hebrew people, an inviting Canaan, and a God of promise triumphed over the apparently impossible.  You are God of the impossible.

An aged Daniel, prayer warrior and Godly leader, faced an impossible decree seeking to bar him from prayers to You.  Condemned to the lion’s den, You shut their mouths and an unharmed Daniel emerged to Your praise and Glory.  You are God of the impossible.  

If You are the God of the impossible for these, surely You are the God of the impossible for me today.  I have worked, prayed, trusted, and sought to take the path of obedience to which You directed me.  I have seen miracles along the way, for which I praise You, but today, the mountains of impossibility are looming largely.  I feel lost and trapped in impossibility.  

I need a miracle from You.  You said, “With me this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”  I need the God of the impossible to show up.  

I love You.  I trust You.  I believe You.

Amen.

Kentucky Missionaries and the Bourbon Trail

I grew up in a Christian home mission setting that took a very strong stand on total abstinence from beverage alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs. I even joined the Loyal Temperance Legion, the children’s division of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), as an eight year old child and took a pledge to abstain from the aforementioned personal and societal evils.

One of my longtime colleagues and friends recently wrote me that the President of the Kentucky Mountain Bible College, where we had worked together, Dr. Philip Speas, asked her to find some "interesting places for our KMHA senior citizens to take a trip now and then--within reasonable distance."

Her story continues: "We went to the Creation Museum (Petersburg, KY) in December for their Christmas lights display and programs. I've been searching for something indoors during this cold weather. I finally told him I found a great idea. The most popular thing being advertised right now is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail! Now wouldn't that be something we've never done before? Something brand new is always exciting. Right? Well, it certainly gave him a laugh. He even suggested Miss Henrietta Griffith (long-time leader in local, state and national WCTU organizations) lead the excursion!"

I laughed loudly in my office as I read this story!

CT Studd learned to trust God

Kinlaw on CT Studd

"C.T. Studd and his missionary team lived deep enough in the interior of Africa that their mail only came every two weeks.  Their existence depended on the money that was in that mail, so its arrival was always an event.  C.T. Studd was master of ceremonies at the opening of the mail.  He made it quite a ritual.

"One fortnight there was a pleasing amount of money in the mail.  Studd's comment was 'Bless God forever!  He knows what a bunch of grumblers we are.  He has sent us enough to keep us quiet.'  Another fortnight the amount was quite small.  Studd's comment was, 'Hallelujah!  We must be growing in grace.  He thinks we are learning to trust Him.'  One fortnight there was nothing.  Grubb (Norman Grubb was C.T. Studd's son-in-law and missionary colleague in the heart of Africa) said that the missionaries gathered around Studd, waited, wondering what he would say.  They were not disappointed.  He lifted up his voice in a shout, 'Hallelujah!  Praise God forever!  We are in the kingdom already, for in the kingdom there is neither eating nor drinking, but righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost'

"Some would think Studd's faith was reckless.  I suspect, though, that he had a special place in the heart of God because he dared to expect God to be faithful to His promises."

From Kinlaw, This Day with the Master, December 1.

Dear God,

Teach me to trust You like the great saints who have gone before me.  They risked much for You, and seemed to have a trust in You that matched their risk.  You have called me to risk everything for a cause You have birthed, Wesley Biblical Seminary.  I am often tempted to fear.  I am choosing to trust You.  Make me a man of faith and trust through the adversities, setbacks, and disappointments I face.  As we experience growing success for Your glory, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world."
In the Name of my trustworthy Savior and Lord,

Amen.

They Trusted God--Wilfred and Alice Fisher

Alice and Wilfred Fisher were my neighbors.  They had a profound impact upon my life and upon the lives of many others.  Alice and Wilfred Fisher modeled lives of complete trust in God.

Alice and Wilfred had graduated from a Bible College in Oregon, then enrolled Asbury College. While completing their degrees at Asbury in the Fall of 1939, Rev. Lela McConnell approached the Fishers.  Rev. McConnell had founded a fledgling ministry of churches and schools in the hills of East Kentucky.  She called it the Kentucky Mountain Holiness Association.  On July 5 of that year, the startup Bible institute she had founded eight years earlier was destroyed in a flash flood.  Lives were lost.  McConnell found herself leading a grief-stricken, short-handed organization.

McConnell, desperate to keep the Bible institute afloat, approached Wilfred and Alice.  Her request was simple, direct, and astonishing.  “Come help me finish the school year at Kentucky Mountain Bible Institute.”  She offered no salary, only a humble place to live and even humbler provisions.  The Fishers, inspired by McConnell’s vision agreed to finish out the school year at KMBI.

Wilfred and Alice arrived on the newly rebuilt KMBI campus in December, 1939.  One building was under construction.  After the flood, land had been donated to KMBI by the Fletcher family. Raymond Swauger and his team of young men, desperate to reopen the Bible institute, rapidly constructed the first building.  It stands today.  When Wilfred and Alice moved in, there were no doors hung on the rooms in the building, only sheets to serve as modesty dividers.  That is, there were no doors except on the humble dorm room that the only married couple on the hilltop would call home.

The Fishers had trusted God and His leading to join McConnell in a temporary arrangement.  That six month agreement spanned 71 years for Alice, until her death in 2010.  Wilfred died in November, 2014, shortly after he turned 100 years old.

Trials, triumphs, and tragedies filled those years of service to Christ as full-time volunteers in a “temporary arrangement.”  Alice birthed three children in those years.  She and Wilfred buried two of those children.  Steve died tragically in a bulldozer accident.  Frances succumbed to long-term illness.

Yet, Alice and Wilfred Fisher trusted God.  Alice taught at KMBC and served as registrar.  She was a counselor to many, myself included.  Wilfred founded WMTC radio which is still going strong! Wilfred was a well-known camp-meeting evangelist who traveled the world in evangelism.  He often returned his revival and camp-meeting offerings to WMTC in order to help pay the bills.

Daily, for many years, Beth and I would see Alice walking around the tennis court between her house and our own.  We could watch from our kitchen window while washing dishes or preparing an evening meal.  Alice carried 3x5 cards, and was memorizing scripture.  She continued this practice as long as she could walk, which was well into her nineties.

Next to my own parents, Wilfred and Alice Fisher are among the Godliest people I have ever known. Service was never about self.  It was always about the Savior and the mission to which God had called them.  Life was never easy for them, but they walked with God with such a grace and intimacy that I wanted to be like them. They simply trusted God.

Jesus is often asking us this simple question, “Will you trust me?”  If we will, we have much to gain.

Isaiah 26:3-4  “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.   Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.”