Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 94

Love People While You Can

Our oldest son, Kyle is a pastor. He has a difficult funeral today. I told the story here. Maybe it will do you and those you love good to watch it.

Don’t Dry Up

Every Friday for the last nine years I have written an e-mail for the people of Evangel to let them know what is coming up on Sunday and challenge them to be consistent in honoring God every day and every Lord’s Day. This week I added a weekly video. Here is the first one.

Longing for Happiness (Sermon)

Longing for Happiness

Philippians 1

August 21, 2016 AM

Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan

Pastor Ken Pierpont

Walking in the Golden Hour

There are two golden hours in every clear day. The first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset. I walked this morning in the golden hour as the sun rose over the church near the pond I commonly circle I my walk. The sun glowed in the east and the moon lingered full and pale just south of west.

This was day 14 of walking every day until November 3.

Longing for Meaning (Stephen Lounsbrough)

Pastor Stephen Lounsbrough

Series: Longings

Title: Longing for Meaning

Date: August 14, 2016 AM

Place: Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan

Longing for Love (Sermon)

Series: Longings

Message Title: Longing for Love

Text: Romans 5:5

Date: August 7, 2016 AM

Place: Evangel Baptist Church, Taylor, Michigan

Speaker: Ken Pierpont

Keeping a Promise to Myself

We are in Oregon visiting Jesse and Holly and Aiden Redemption! He’s a sweet little bean of a human being. Adorable. I hold him up next to my heart and ask God to help him sense how deeply I love him and how grateful I am to God for him. After spending a little time with Holly and Aiden Redemption, I have a promise to keep to myself.

I get in Holly’s car and open the sunroof so the sun warms my head. I drive less than a mile to Del Ray Beach. The site of the ocean takes my breath away… It’s a blustery day and the surf is crashing over and over again into the sand.

This is the Pacific Ocean. This mid-western boy is about to walk along the Pacific Ocean. It’s intoxicating stuff. I breathe deep. The air is cool. It’s windy here. The sky is mostly blue—not enough clouds to interfere with the mid-afternoon sun.

For long stretch of beach I’m almost the only person in sight. Down the beach comes a couple playing with our their dog. A little farther a family is sitting quietly looking out toward the ocean. They will be here for a while. The back of their SUV is stacked with wood for a beach fire later when the evening cools into the low fifties and the sun grows large along the watery horizon.

One family has a special appliance to throw a tennis ball out where the water runs up the beach. Their Beagle joyfully runs after it, ears flopping. Something about the sight makes me laugh and the Beagle comes over to meet me like an old friend.

Two young boys are flying a colorful kite. It’s impressive to watch. A young woman jogs past. Then another middle-aged man greats me as he walks by. We agree it’s a perfect day. Cars, trucks, SUV’s are buzzing down the beach.

A black Jeep comes trucking towards me. The sun roof is open. Three kids are on top of the car. There are a couple teen-aged girls and a guy up there. As the Jeep passes the guy is doing push-ups all the way by with perfect form. I pass a middle-aged couple walking their dog… He turns, smiles broadly and says exactly what I am thinking; “Oh, to be young again, doing push-ups on top of your Dad’s car to impress your girlfriend.” We laugh–two strangers enjoying a mutual understanding for just a few seconds–I stride on up the beach.

I walk along on the wonderful place where the sand is wet and hard just at the margin where the water meets the sand. Ahead in the distance a mountain rises out of the ocean in the mist. A couple hundred yards to the east a bank covered with green sawgrass rises and runs the length of the beach for miles.

Gulls swoop down out of the wind and fly along just over the surf. Some land and hop along in the shallow water.

I walk for a half-hour before I turn and make my way back. I take off my flip-flops to feel the earth beneath my feet. My heart is glad here. I know a visit like this is a rare thing. I’ve flown here over 1500 miles in a few short hours in a comfortable seat, watching a movie and drinking ginger ale and now I’m walking along the Pacific Ocean with bare feet. It’s a worship experience.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for Lois, who brought Holly into this world. Thank you for Holly who bravely came near death a little over a week ago to give her Jesse a boy. Thank you for that little boy. He’s perfect to behold—little fingers and toes and a perfectly-formed little nose—dark eyes that look right at yours when they are opened and a dark head of hair that follows the sound of his mother’s voice.

God, please never let my heart grow hard to the miracle of a walk along the ocean, a faithful wife, a daughter who has become a mother, a baby’s coo, the pride of a young man becoming a father for the first time.

Ken Pierpont

Seaside B+B

Gerhard, Oregon

August 8, 2106

Be Nice

Here is a classic re-post.

Last weekend I was in a bookstore to pick up book for my wife. It was a fairly pricey book, something she would use for her photography. When the young lady told me the price I winced. I started to write the check and mentioned that I had a discount coupon at home but that I had forgotten to bring it.

She said, “I can help you. I have one here.” When she announced my new total it was a savings of $10.00. I was happy. Before I left the store I went to the information desk and said, “May I speak to the manager on duty?” The young lady at the information desk looked at me suspiciously and said, “One moment please.” In a few minutes a young woman came to the desk and tentatively asked, “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I want to commend one of your employees. She was very pleasant and courteous and went out of her way to help me. I appreciated that and I thought you should know.”

The manager’s look turned into a big smile. “Thank you, she said. I’m glad you called for me. That doesn’t happen very often.”

Maybe costumer service and morale would improve if it did happen more often. As I walked away I was glad I took the time to encourage another human being. It was easy and fun and it didn’t cost a penny.

Maybe it would be a good idea to keep that in mind when you are trying to influence others for Christ, just determine to be especially thoughtful and kind. Say nice things to people. Go out of the way to be kind and considerate. Genuinely like people. If you don’t naturally like someone, make up your mind to learn to like them, for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. If you show enough interest in a person you may begin to understand them. It is hard to dislike someone you understand well. And I have learned that it’s a lot easer to learn to like someone than it is to keep putting up with someone you don’t like.

I have a friend who is an especially effective witness. One of the things he does is give tracts to people. Years ago his father found a gospel pamphlet in a restroom in a General Motors factory here in Flint and it changed his life. Eventually his whole family came to know and love Christ because the that tract left anonymously in the restroom. My friend is an busy, successful attorney, but he is not to busy or important to leave tracts wherever he goes. He has introduced many to Christ.

I have often heard him say that when he goes through the fast-food drive-through he will often give a gospel tract with a nice tip sticking out for them to see. Since I heard his story I try to do the same from time to time. It’s fun to see their face light up with gratefulness. It is an expression of human kindness and personal warmth and it must make it a lot more likely that that little pamphlet will be read.

There you have it. Be nice, for Jesus’ sake. You never know, maybe if you make it a habit to go around being nice to people they will wonder why, and when they wonder why you get a chance to tell them about Jesus. It’s fun, it’s free, it’s easy. Anybody can do it.

Ken Pierpont

Riverfront Character Inn

Flint, Michigan

August 15, 2005

Keep Smiling-Seriously

Sometimes I think people take advantage of my good nature. I smile easily. I have a joyful spirit and I try to believe the best about people. I’m not a high-powered, driven type. I’m sometimes tempted to be more serious and sober when people take advantage of me…. When that happens I get a note like the one I received from a neighbor today. Here is what it said:

“… this morning I saw you walking. I said to my kids; ‘he’s always smiling, I want to be more like that.’

…my little guy says; ‘He must have Jesus in his heart because when you do you always have a reason to smile.’

That is so true. Today I am thanking you for your silent reminder that I need more Jesus and less me to lead a happier life… Keep smiling, you never know the difference you will make!”

Thanks Kim Hohmann you made me smile… and cry a little.

Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

Riverview, Michigan

August 4, 2016

A Cool, Refreshing Breeze

You get to know someone well if you spend a month with them on a hot bus touring Mexico. Yes you do. That is how we came to know Maurice Stonecypher. He was the back-up bus driver on a missionary trip to Mexico we led in May of 2006.

Some of the people on the bus lost their good reputation on the trip. It’s easy to do that when you add 110 degree heat, close quarters, sleep depravation, and sudden bouts of diarrhea in a country where you have to remember to bring your own toilet paper. I will resist the temptation to write colorful stories about the follies, foibles and character deficiencies exposed by the hardships of the trip.

Others we did not know at all before we left we found to be patient and selfless people no matter how hot or inconvenient things became. Maurice Stonecypher was such a man. By the time the trip came to an end there were people on the bus that I never cared to see again. Maurice I would gladly chose as my traveling companion anywhere on earth. He was a quiet, godly man.

For years I have maintained the habit of asking a question of my Christian friends. When dinner is finished and we lean back into our chairs to let our food settle I like to drop a this question into the conversation and see what happens. “Tell me now you came to know the Lord?”

I have had the most wonderful conversations after dropping the question into an evening of conversation.

One peaceful evening in Mexico I asked this question of Mr. Stoncypher. He answered; “I grew up in Florida. One hot night when I was just a boy I was lying in my bed by the window wondering if what people told me about God was true. The air was still and hot and humid. I prayed; ‘Lord, if what they say about you is true, send a cool, refreshing breeze…’ Before that prayer there was not a hint of breeze, but when I finished my prayer the curtains began to move and a cool, refreshing breeze came through the window. Since that night I have followed the Lord.”

When our trip to central Mexico was done we nursed the old broken-down bus north until we found ourselves at border across from Loredo, Texas. We all had enjoyed the trip but we were so eager to be back in the states and enjoy the comforts were were used to.

The traffic at the border was backed up for a couple miles. The bus rolled to a stop and set there under the direct sun. The heat along the hi way had been oppressive hour after long hour but we were moving. Now the air was still and hot and we were not moving.

Mr. Stonecypher was behind the wheel. I stood up and looked back at the young people sitting shoulder to shoulder all the way to the back of the boiling hot bus. Without really thinking I quipped; “Maurice, now would be a good time for you to pray for a cool, refreshing breeze…” I said it in humor remembering his story.

He did not laugh. He simply closed his eyes and began to quietly express to God how welcome a cool refreshing breeze would be.

The bus had windows that opened out an inch or two only allowing a little air to circulate when the bus was moving. There were a couple “hatches” in the top of the bus to let in air. About twenty seconds after Mr. Stonecypher finished his prayer there was an unmistakable breeze that began to blow through the hatches and the windows.

We were quiet with reverent gratefulness and still cherish the memory of that simple answered prayer.

Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

Riverview, Michigan

August 3, 2016