Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 118
February 9, 2015
Friends of Bob
Sunday morning, February 1st in South Bend Bob Dubar woke up to a heavy snowfall. He usually got a cup of coffee and got to church early to serve as an usher. Sunday Bob spent some time clearing the drive of snow for his family to get to church. He shoveled behind the cars. He shoveled a path to the door of his wife Linda’s truck. He shoveled around the front of the truck to clear the snow away from the passenger side door. It was there he spent his last heartbeat serving his family and helping them serve God.
Bob loved his family and he loved his God. He loved to worship God with his family. I remember well seeing him singing with lifted hands and tears running down his face when we were his guests at Promise-Keepers. I treasure the memory of him singing with hands up-lifted in worship at his daughter Carlie’s wedding. He loved his family deeply. He loved his God.
Bob was a servant. Rick Wood, who was Bob’s pastor for years, told me that Bob was always saying, “What do you need, Pastor?” During a soccer game in 2002 Bob noticed the team needed water. He went across the field and hauled a large orange cooler of water to the sideline for the team. He told Pastor Rick, “Something doesn’t seem right.” The doctors discovered that he would need a heart procedure.
The day after Bob’s memorial service his wife Linda found a note neatly folded in one of his wallets. It was his personal testimony. The last paragraph of the note read: “…September 11, 2002… a cardiologist put three stents in two different arteries around my heart. This was the first time I ever faced the idea that I might not live to be an old man and see my children grow up. Even though I did not want to leave Linda and the children, I knew that if I died… I would go to heaven and see Jesus!
The night of Bob’s visitation the lines began to form around 3:30 and mourners lined up around the halls of the building and waited for two hours to comfort his family and pay him respect. The lines did not empty until after ten o-cock that night. All during that time his beautiful children and grieving wife stood and wept and talked with each one who came to mourn Bob’s death and comfort them in their loss.
Our oldest son, Kyle deeply loved his uncle Bobby. Bob had invested greatly in him of time and wisdom and much money. When His beloved uncle Bobby died he wrote:
‘My heart is flooded with memories of my Uncle Bob today. Memories of when he gave me a job in his construction business when I was 15 years old. He let me drive with him when I was getting my permit, and when I ran a red light he was calm. He bought me my first caramel latte and then hundreds and hundreds after that. I was on his cell phone plan for many years. He took me to Florida to be part of his family vacation. He stood with me in my wedding and celebrated with me and Elizabeth on our happy day. He paid for the hotel room we stayed in before going on our honeymoon. It was through a connection from him that I got a job selling insurance. It was also through him that I connected with Grace Church where I would get my start in full time vocational ministry. I didn’t make much money in those days and weekly he would make sure we had what we needed, many times giving us money without saying a word. When we had Kyle, our first son, he came to the hospital and held him and cried. Our families went to eat hundreds of times together and he would never let us pay. He loved my wife and kids and watched out for them. We met for coffee almost weekly for the seven years we lived in South Bend. He never had an agenda other than to be together and listen. When I was with him and he met someone he knew he would always introduce them to me, like I was important to him. I went to him for wisdom with every big decision. We always talked about going into the coffee business together. I watched him as a father and husband. He loved his family with self-sacrificial love. Today, he suddenly went to heaven. Everyone who knew him saw Jesus in him. I will miss him while here on earth. We can have peace because he loved Jesus more than anything. He was my uncle, but he was also one of my best friends.”
At the visitation Kyle said; “Did you know about his group?” I didn’t because Bob was a doer—not so much a talker. He did so very many things quietly and faithfully.
“Yes, Dad,” Kyle said, “For years and years he has had a men’s group that met at Panera every Friday morning. Over the years it’s amazing how many men have been through that group. They always sat at the same table…”
Bob’s memorial was on a Friday morning. Quietly, behind the scenes, Kyle and Bob’s oldest daughter Carlie coordinated the beautiful service. Holly and Chuk and Hannah and Hope and I sang songs he loved of heaven and family. His pastor friend Dan Thomas spoke. A number of his friends spoke. His oldest son, David, gave a beautiful tribute to his dad over audible weeping all across the auditorium. Every seat in the building and balcony and video overflow was full. The service was live-streamed to friends who gathered in Florida. Kyle created a beautiful video tribute including photos of Bob and the song he played most often on his tablet—the Old Rugged Cross. The last words at Bob’s memorial were Bob’s. Kyle gathered them from a video of Carlie’s wedding. They were, “You always have time for things you put first which reminds me of the scripture verse in Luke 12:34 that says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So my advice to you is to treasure your relationship with Jesus, treasure your relationship with one another, and if God choses to give you children, treasure your relationship with your children and your family and I think if you do those things, you will honor God with your lives and He will pour out his blessings on you like he has on me and mom.”
Kyle said to me as we prepared for the service on Friday morning, “Dad, did you hear the men are meeting this morning? Kyle told me Dan Blacketor was a long time member of the group. I connected with Dan and asked him to tell me about the group. Here is what he wrote:
“As everyone shared over and over at Bobs memorial service he was a man of great wisdom, insight and compassion.
Bob wanted to start a men’s group that had men from different church backgrounds and seasons in life. Can’t remember exactly when the group started but it was more than 10 years ago. We started at Honkers Restaurant and moved to Panera Bread when it opened up. We have been meeting on Friday morning.
In addition to men from different church backgrounds the group attracted men that were in work transitions. Most times we would read books for faith for men and sometimes study guides of books of the Bible.
Ages in the group has ranged from 23 to 87. Several of the guys did not have a strong faith background but were searching for answers. A large number of the men would only come for a season because their new job would relocate them or change their schedule.
Early on Bob would always pull out his little note pad and write down men’s concerns or prayer requests. Later he switched to his iPad. Even the last few years Bob’s new job required him to miss Friday mornings he would pop in every so often and every time we would have lunch he would ask about the group and the guys attending.
Many years ago one of the guys named the group “Friends of Bob” because of his impact on the number of guys that started to come because Bob invited them. He will be missed but always remembered.”
Bob was buried on Friday. The “Friends of Bob” group met on the morning of his memorial service. Bob’s friend Dan said; “We spent the morning sharing the greatest stories of Bob.”
I wrote these words for Bob’s Obituary:
Bob was a deeply sincere and active follower of Jesus Christ, a loving and loyal husband, an engaged and devoted father, and a genuine friend to so many. He was a skilled listener. He studied the hearts of his children and cared sincerely about others. He was a man of deeply-held convictions, but he was patient and gentle with all people.
He loved to be with his children, attending all their games and thousands of practices. He held a position of high responsibility as the Chief Operating Officer of Newmark Grubb Cressy & Everett of South Bend, but faithfully prioritized his time to invest in civic leadership, serve at Grace Church, and devote himself to his wife, children and friends.
He lived generously, continually giving and serving others. Bob loved to be quietly outdoors, sitting in the sun, fly-fishing with his boys, or walking the beaches of Lake Michigan. He read widely and was skilled at intelligent, warm conversation. He loved children and they loved to be around him. He loved a good story and had a joyful laugh and a ready sense of humor. He was most at ease in a small circle of friends, with coffee-in-hand.
To the very last beat of his heart he was joyfully serving others and he will be sorely missed.
Ken Pierpont
Gravnille Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
February 9, 2015
Friends of Bob
Sunday morning, February 1st in South Bend Bob Dubar woke up to a heavy snowfall. He usually got a cup of coffee and got to church early to serve as an usher. Sunday Bob spent some time clearing the drive of snow for his family to get to church. He shoveled behind the cars. He shoveled a path to the door of his wife Linda’s truck. He shoveled around the front of the truck to clear the snow away from the passenger side door. It was there he spent his last heartbeat serving his family and helping them serve God.
Bob loved his family and he loved his God. He loved to worship God with his family. I remember well seeing him singing with lifted hands and tears running down his face when we were his guests at Promise-Keepers. I treasure the memory of him singing with hands up-lifted in worship at his daughter Carlie’s wedding. He loved his family deeply. He loved his God.
Bob was a servant. Rick Wood, who was Bob’s pastor for years, told me that Bob was always saying, “What do you need, Pastor?” During a soccer game in 2002 Bob noticed the team needed water. He went across the field and hauled a large orange cooler of water to the sideline for the team. He told Pastor Rick, “Something doesn’t seem right.” The doctors discovered that he would need a heart procedure.
The day after Bob’s memorial service his wife Linda found a note neatly folded in one of his wallets. It was his personal testimony. The last paragraph of the note read: “…September 11, 2002… a cardiologist put three stents in two different arteries around my heart. This was the first time I ever faced the idea that I might not live to be an old man and see my children grow up. Even though I did not want to leave Linda and the children, I knew that if I died… I would go to heaven and see Jesus!
The night of Bob’s visitation the lines began to form around 3:30 and mourners lined up around the halls of the building and waited for two hours to comfort his family and pay him respect. The lines did not empty until after ten o-cock that night. All during that time his beautiful children and grieving wife stood and wept and talked with each one who came to mourn Bob’s death and comfort them in their loss.
Our oldest son, Kyle deeply loved his uncle Bobby. Bob had invested greatly in him of time and wisdom and much money. When His beloved uncle Bobby died he wrote:
‘My heart is flooded with memories of my Uncle Bob today. Memories of when he gave me a job in his construction business when I was 15 years old. He let me drive with him when I was getting my permit, and when I ran a red light he was calm. He bought me my first caramel latte and then hundreds and hundreds after that. I was on his cell phone plan for many years. He took me to Florida to be part of his family vacation. He stood with me in my wedding and celebrated with me and Elizabeth on our happy day. He paid for the hotel room we stayed in before going on our honeymoon. It was through a connection from him that I got a job selling insurance. It was also through him that I connected with Grace Church where I would get my start in full time vocational ministry. I didn’t make much money in those days and weekly he would make sure we had what we needed, many times giving us money without saying a word. When we had Kyle, our first son, he came to the hospital and held him and cried. Our families went to eat hundreds of times together and he would never let us pay. He loved my wife and kids and watched out for them. We met for coffee almost weekly for the seven years we lived in South Bend. He never had an agenda other than to be together and listen. When I was with him and he met someone he knew he would always introduce them to me, like I was important to him. I went to him for wisdom with every big decision. We always talked about going into the coffee business together. I watched him as a father and husband. He loved his family with self-sacrificial love. Today, he suddenly went to heaven. Everyone who knew him saw Jesus in him. I will miss him while here on earth. We can have peace because he loved Jesus more than anything. He was my uncle, but he was also one of my best friends.”
At the visitation Kyle said; “Did you know about his group?” I didn’t because Bob was a doer—not so much a talker. He did so very many things quietly and faithfully.
“Yes, Dad,” Kyle said, “For years and years he has had a men’s group that met at Panera every Friday morning. Over the years it’s amazing how many men have been through that group. They always sat at the same table…”
Bob’s memorial was on a Friday morning. Quietly, behind the scenes, Kyle and Bob’s oldest daughter Carlie coordinated the beautiful service. Holly and Chuk and Hannah and Hope and I sang songs he loved of heaven and family. His pastor friend Dan Thomas spoke. A number of his friends spoke. His oldest son, David, gave a beautiful tribute to his dad over audible weeping all across the auditorium. Every seat in the building and balcony and video overflow was full. The service was live-streamed to friends who gathered in Florida. Kyle created a beautiful video tribute including photos of Bob and the song he played most often on his tablet—the Old Rugged Cross. The last words at Bob’s memorial were Bob’s. Kyle gathered them from a video of Carlie’s wedding. They were, “You always have time for things you put first which reminds me of the scripture verse in Luke 12:34 that says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So my advice to you is to treasure your relationship with Jesus, treasure your relationship with one another, and if God choses to give you children, treasure your relationship with your children and your family and I think if you do those things, you will honor God with your lives and He will pour out his blessings on you like he has on me and mom.”
Kyle said to me as we prepared for the service on Friday morning, “Dad, did you hear the men are meeting this morning? Kyle told me Dan Blacketor was a long time member of the group. I connected with Dan and asked him to tell me about the group. Here is what he wrote:
“As everyone shared over and over at Bobs memorial service he was a man of great wisdom, insight and compassion.
Bob wanted to start a men’s group that had men from different church backgrounds and seasons in life. Can’t remember exactly when the group started but it was more than 10 years ago. We started at Honkers Restaurant and moved to Panera Bread when it opened up. We have been meeting on Friday morning.
In addition to men from different church backgrounds the group attracted men that were in work transitions. Most times we would read books for faith for men and sometimes study guides of books of the Bible.
Ages in the group has ranged from 23 to 87. Several of the guys did not have a strong faith background but were searching for answers. A large number of the men would only come for a season because their new job would relocate them or change their schedule.
Early on Bob would always pull out his little note pad and write down men’s concerns or prayer requests. Later he switched to his iPad. Even the last few years Bob’s new job required him to miss Friday mornings he would pop in every so often and every time we would have lunch he would ask about the group and the guys attending.
Many years ago one of the guys named the group “Friends of Bob” because of his impact on the number of guys that started to come because Bob invited them. He will be missed but always remembered.”
Bob was buried on Friday. The “Friends of Bob” group met on the morning of his memorial service. Bob’s friend Dan said; “We spent the morning sharing the greatest stories of Bob.”
I wrote these words for Bob’s Obituary:
Bob was a deeply sincere and active follower of Jesus Christ, a loving and loyal husband, an engaged and devoted father, and a genuine friend to so many. He was a skilled listener. He studied the hearts of his children and cared sincerely about others. He was a man of deeply-held convictions, but he was patient and gentle with all people.
He loved to be with his children, attending all their games and thousands of practices. He held a position of high responsibility as the Chief Operating Officer of Newmark Grubb Cressy & Everett of South Bend, but faithfully prioritized his time to invest in civic leadership, serve at Grace Church, and devote himself to his wife, children and friends.
He lived generously, continually giving and serving others. Bob loved to be quietly outdoors, sitting in the sun, fly-fishing with his boys, or walking the beaches of Lake Michigan. He read widely and was skilled at intelligent, warm conversation. He loved children and they loved to be around him. He loved a good story and had a joyful laugh and a ready sense of humor. He was most at ease in a small circle of friends, with coffee-in-hand.
To the very last beat of his heart he was joyfully serving others and he will be sorely missed.
Ken Pierpont
Gravnille Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
February 9, 2015
February 2, 2015
Our Last Cup of Coffee
About thirty years ago, very late on a winter night, the phone rang. I answered. On the other end of the line was a quiet voice.
“Hello, this is Bob Dunbar. Could I speak to Linda?”
Lois’s sister Linda had come to live with us while she got launched in life. We had plenty of room and it was good to have her with us. She was always fun to have around and she showered little Kyle with attention and bubble gum. She worked as a waitress at the Emporium, a restaurant in downtown South Bend. It was there she met Bob Dunbar.
At first I was a little skeptical about this young man with a quiet voice who called at three o’clock in the morning, but when we met him, he won his way quickly into all of our hearts. We all grew to love him but I wondered about his faith.
One day I asked him to golf with me. My goal that day was to spend time with Bob, get to know him, enjoy a round of golf, and open the door to conversation about Christ.
After our round of golf was over we put our clubs in the back of his old pick-up truck and I prayed silently that he would be open to talk to me about the things of the Lord. I expected to take this conversation in stages. I prayed that God would help me be gentle but persistent. Over time I hoped that he would be open enough for me to explain the gospel to him. I wanted Linda to marry in the faith. I wanted to influence Bob and Linda, if they were going to marry, to follow Christ together as a family.
Bob ran though the gears and over the sound of the engine I started into one of the most important gospel conversations I have ever had with anyone.
“Bob, there is something that is very important to me that I would love to talk to you about some time,” I began. I planned to just explore around the edge of his soul to see if he was open to talk about something so intimate as his faith. I didn’t know him well at the time. I didn’t realize at the time how precise his thinking was, how logical he was in the way he approached things. I didn’t know him well enough at the time to realize how sensitive he was, how intuitive he was with people. I didn’t realize what a sincere person he was. With kindness and directness that I would later discover characterized him he said, “Well, Ken, if it is important to you, lets talk about it right now.”
That spring evening we stood in the open door of the garage and talked about Jesus and Christian marriage and family. He told me that he wanted to follow Christ. He wanted to have a Christian marriage and a Christian home. He was interested and sincere, eager and open. For many years I have remembered that conversation with great joy. It was the first of hundreds of conversations about ultimate things that Bob and I have shared.
Often, when a young man is interested in a young woman, he will initially show some interest in her faith or her religious background until he has won her heart and then he will lose interest, but Bob was sincere and honest in his desire to follow Christ.
Bob was baptized and began to study the Bible. He was active in attendance and service in an evangelical church. When he and Linda began to have children they taught them at home and trained them to love and serve Jesus. Bob quickly became a Christian leader in the South Bend area. He served on boards and in his church and expressed his faith and devotion to Christ in a multitude of ways with hundreds of people. He gave and served and questioned and listened and worked giving expression to his deep and sincere Christian faith.
He continually encouraged me. Soon I began to look to him as a source of clear-thinking wisdom. One day he wrote me a long neatly lettered note on a legal pad thanking me for my spiritual influence and my example in his life. I cherish the memory of that note but in just a few years time it would become clear that he was a spiritual leader and that many including my own son would begin to look to him for encouragement and for council, wisdom and support. He was quietly generous with us and with many, many others.
I wrote an article once about questions to ask your children in order to access their heart and express your love. He wrote me to tell me that he kept a copy of the questions in his wallet. He said, “When I am taking one of them to sports practice I will take out the list and I will concentrate on a few of the questions to open a meaningful conversation.”
He always read the Stonebridge and continually shared it with others and wrote to me to comment about it. Once he said; “You should charge for the Stonebridge Newsletter.” I never go that off the ground but I was encouraged to know he thought it was worthwhile.
The Saturday after Christmas our families were all together at Kyle’s house in Howell for a family Christmas. It was a happy evening. We exchanged gifts and laughed and had a lot to eat.
A major winter storm hit our area early yesterday morning. I leave for the study at church long before light on Sunday mornings to prepare my heart for the day. On the way out yesterday I shoveled out to Lois’s car and cleared her windows. Before the morning service I made my way around greeting people. I didn’t see Lois. I texted her to see if she was OK. As the service progressed I kept thinking she would show up late. Maybe she had had a little trouble with the snow.
By the time I stepped into the pulpit to preach I still had not seen her. Sunday I used my phone as a timer while I was preaching. About fifteen minutes into the message a phone call came in from Lois. I had the phone on silent but when the call came it it vibrated and her picture showed up on the screen. Twice more during the message a phone call came in from Lois. Transitioning from the message to communion I went over to our son-in-law, Dale and asked him to call Lois.
For her to call repeatedly during a time she knew I would be preaching I knew something must be very wrong. As soon as the service ended I walked out into the hallway. Dale and Hannah looked at me with grave sadness. Hannah said, “Mom needs to talk to you.”
“What is it? What’s wrong? What has happened?”
“Bob Dunbar died. He was shoveling snow this morning and he had a heart attack.”
I remembered our last time together. We joked about the gift he gave me in the family Christmas exchange. It was a Starbucks gift card. For years we have joked about a little habit Bob has. When you go to a restaurant or driving range or coffee shop and try to pay, he would always say, “Ken, let me get this.”
“No, Bob. You always buy. This is my treat,” I would object.
Then Bob would hold the palm of his up and say, “Please. Please.” Then he would pay for the coffee.
I still have a little money on the Starbucks gift card Bob gave me for Christmas. This week I’m going to Starbucks and spend an hour just thinking about Bob. I’m going to spend some time thanking God for him and asking God to help me finish faithfully and honorably like he did. I am going to enjoy the last cup of coffee he bought me in this life.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
February 2, 2015
January 27, 2015
Slanting Evening Light
You don’t have to own a lot to be happy. Drink in everything good and beautiful around you—enjoy anything worthy around you. Sometimes, maybe often, things are much easier to enjoy if you don’t own them—if you are not responsible for them. I’ve often taken great pleasure walking the hills another man owned but rarely visited. A public park really belongs to me alone and no one else for the moments I sit in solitude by the water’s edge and enjoy the slanting evening light.
January 26, 2015
January Sunshine
All the talk on the news today is the blizzard of historic proportions that is about to hit the east coast but this morning here in Michigan the sky is clear and the sun is shining. The snow storm passed south of us last night and we are cheerily about our business.
Here’s a story that I hope will warm your heart on this cold winter day.
This morning on my desk in front of me is a handwritten note written on a small yellow legal pad.
Our third-born is a son name Charles Kenneth. Chuk manages a business in the Grand Rapids area but he was here for the weekend. Sunday he sang at Evangel to close the service. I’m preaching on angels and he sang one of my favorite songs by Fernando Ortega: Jesus, King of Angels.
Last night I left for evening church and Chuk had to get back across the Mitten for work in the morning. After the service I had a meeting and got in late. My study at home doubles as a guest room. I noticed that Chuk had left a hand-written note on my desk before he left. I looked for long time at the simple words of love scratched out on the little yellow pad there. As simple as they were they warmed my heart.
This morning I read them again. Again, my mind went back over the nearly thirty years he has been my boy. What a treasure he is to me. I think of Chuk continually. I love him deeply. I enjoy him thoroughly. He is bright, witty, full of ideas, generous and loving.
A lot of things in my life need improving. I have goals and ambitions and even some regrets. I have plans and hopes and dreams. I have fears and failures and frustrations. I have responsibilities, deadlines, and people who depend on me. In the middle of all those things that can press in on my heart I have a fine son who loves me and wants to spend time with me.
That fact, affirmed on a little piece of yellow legal pad, warms my heart like the bright January sunshine streaming though the windows this morning and I thank God for it.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
January 26, 2015
January 23, 2015
The Red Truck Story
I stumbled on this story surfing EricWoods site. I love stories about God’s provision like this. Take a minute to watch the story.
January 22, 2015
Choking On My Tea; Story Podcast #20
http://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Choking-On-My-Tea-12215-8.31-AM.mp3
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January 19, 2015
Mormons in the Rain
Today I noticed an old journal entry that made me think. “On January 8, 1991 I went to Cedarville College to hear Jerry Falwell speak. Jerry Falwell is with the Lord, but during his lifetime he started the Thomas Road Baptist Church which grew to thousands and thousands of members and he founded Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the world. That day Falwell said, “There is not a pastor here who couldn’t double his attendance in a year if he just got out of his office and off the golf course and out into the coffee shops and into the homes of people.”
A pastor I admire once said; “One rainy day I decided not to go out and follow-up on some church visitors but to stay in my study and read because it was raining. I put my feet up on the desk, opened up a good book and began to read. Looking out the window I saw two Mormon missionaries going door to door. It ruined my day.
People are out there. They need the Lord. Let’s go get ‘em. Ask the Lord to lead you to someone who is open. Pray for them. Love them. Do kind thoughtful things for them. Invite them to church or to a Christian event or concert. Tug them into a gospel conversation. Listen to them with your heart. Tell them the good news. Get out of the office rain or shine. By all means golf or fish but sometimes take along a seeker, that way even if you slice the ball into the woods or get skunked you will not have wasted your day.
Once I neglected to aggressively follow-up on a visitor to our church, a young woman who was pregnant. The older lady in our church who had invited her asked if I had seen her. I had phoned but no one had answered and I had not followed up. Chastised, I called again, made an appointment, and went over for a visit. I was greeted by a huge, white Alaskan Malamute who put his paws on my shoulders and looked directly in my face. He decided not to eat me, I had a good visit with the couple. Soon Mark and Vicky were followers of Jesus and regulars at our church.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
January 19, 2015
January 18, 2015
The Surly Bonds of Earth
Today (January 16, 2015) a distant cousin watched his mother die. He’s a colorful and interesting man. He lives in a distant state and I have been watching his thoughtful posts on social media while he has been watching his mother decline. Today she died. He wrote; “She has slipped the surly bonds of earth and sailed away…”
I recognized it as a quotation and went searching to find this fascinating and poignant story behind the poem:
“High Flight”
by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. was a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Second World War. He came to Britain and flew in a Spitfire squadron.
One day while he was flying at a very high altitude, he was suddenly inspired to write a poem … which he did, right there in the cockpit of his airplane, in flight. After he landed, he turned the paper over and wrote a letter to his parents that said, “I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed.”
This is the poem:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless falls of air…
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor e’er eagle flew –
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
On December 11, 1941, he died in a crash during a training flight. He was 19 years old.
January 16, 2015
Why The Terrorist Threat?
The dark cloud of God’s judgment hangs over our nation today.
In our time the official courts and institutions of government and civil life in our land are governing without serious regard for the law of God. The law of God no longer appears to be a factor in the rulings of our courts. The law of God no longer appears to be an appropriate subject for teaching in our schools. The law of God is no longer considered relevant in the musings of our legislative bodies. God’s law is set aside by most as a cumbersome anachronism. Collectively the popular culture and cultural influencers seem a little embarrassed by the law of God. When someone tries to bring the law of God into play in conversation “thinking people” cough, look away, and practice social inattention until someone mercifully changes the subject back to sports or weather or fashion or celebrity gossip.
In our culture we are forming collective opinions and convictions that are directly counter to the clear and unmistakable statements of Scripture regarding human sexuality, human flourishing, and matters of life and death.
As a whole Americans consider people of the conviction that God’s law is still binding on men and nations, a little out of touch, willfully ignoring the fact that can be easily demonstrated from history that the men who founded this great country were, for the most part, men of resolute belief in the Bible, the God of the Bible, and the law of God as expressed in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
Now we are scrambling to accommodate every kind of belief or suspicion or disbelief or point of view no matter how bizarre or perverse. Regardless of the fact that the Word of God locates the basis of false religions in demonic activity, we try to re-write our history with and open-minded pluralism that the founders never intended and the Lord directly condemns.
We officially and covenantally endorse sexual perversion, and protect a whole industry that profits from ending the lives of pre-born babies unable to speak for themselves. Now we wonder why a dark cloud of terrorism, false religion, economic disaster, societal decline, senseless violence, crime, family disintegration, and educational collapse hangs over our heads.
But our founders knew and clearly stated that a nation cannot flourish without God’s aid and His favor and no nation can disregard God and set aside his law and expect His blessing and protection.
On June 28, 1787, at the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin made this statement:
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages …
I therefore beg leave to move — that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.
God’s people must unite in prayer, resolve to live holy lives, build godly homes and churches, be a prophetic voice, and proclaim the gospel so others can join them in an Ark of Safety before they are drowned in the rising waters of God’s judgment.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
January 16, 2015
