God is a First-Responder
I didn’t cry much when I was young but when I did, someone was always there to care for me – grandmother, mother, aunt. As I grew older, my need for someone to respond to my cries decreased, even as my times of crying were reduced. I grew up with the philosophy of life that says, grown men don’t cry. But I never completely stopped crying. I spent a lot of time bottling up my tears, believing that if there was “no crying in baseball “ (a line from one of my favorite movies), there ought not be crying anywhere else. Then one day I cried and my faithful responders had all departed for heaven. The occasion and details of my tears are unnecessary here, but the fact is, I cried, and no one responded. I began to ask myself, if a grown man cries and no one hears, is it still a valid cry? When I wasn’t really looking for it, I found a comforting verse. On an occasion, Isaiah assured the people that God, “will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you” (Isaiah 30:19). Even if no one else hears and responds, God does. That’s all I really needed to know, and pass on to you. Go ahead and cry when the occasion calls for tears. God is a first-responder.
The ABCs of Ministry
It happened again. I’ll spare the details. This time it was one of my former Seminary students, a winsome, deeply committed young man. He had risen too fast from the small church where he began to serve, to a larger church with too much responsibility for his age and experience. He remembered a classroom lecture I once shared entitled, “Satan’s Great Track Record,” with three points: Sex, Power, and Money, but he said he assumed it was for others in the room. In delivering such a message to my want-a-be-ministers, I had an advantage – I grew up as the Preacher’s kid. With a Pastor as my father, I wasn’t allowed to do certain things, go certain places, participate in certain events, date certain girls, etc. When I was dropped off at a small Baptist college, located a long way from home, my father said., “Son, remember who you are when no one knows who you are.” His statement both guided me and haunted me. Not everyone grows up in that kind of environment, with that kind of advice. John Maxwell report-ably said, “When leaders believe they can do whatever they want in private even if it contradicts what they do in public, they violate their calling.” Again, my advantage – I had a strong upbringing and a powerful calling. I tried to pass it on to my students. Sometimes it worked, other times, it failed. What God asked of Ezekiel, He needs to ask again to those who have influence over the young ministers, “Have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us’” (Ezekiel 8:12). Pass on to those who follow you, the simple ABCs of ministry: Acknowledge God’s call. Behave yourself. Cling to the cross (more on this point later).
A Better and Longer Life
The advertisement promised a better and longer life. All I had to do was order and eat their food and consume their drinks. There were even a few brief testimonies from physically fit people telling how they had lost weight and toned up their bodies to look much younger. There was even a response card – postage pre-paid. All I had to do was check an option related to payment and quantity of each shipment. One problem with the ad was that it didn’t have my preferred option available. I’ve lived eight decades without their product, most of them in good, or at lease acceptable health. While my physically fit body departed several decades ago, my doctor recently told me I was his healthiest patient in my age group. (I’m not exactly sure what he meant by that, but I’ll take it a face value) A “better life?” Better check the quality of my life before proposing that you could make it better. As to living longer, well I believe that my departure has already been appointed (Hebrews 9:27). I filed the advertisement in one of my preferred filing places and drove to Whataburger.
Adopted
During the first week of my Freshman year at Howard Payne College (now University), in Brownwood, Texas, I was walking from class to the Cafeteria when suddenly there was someone walking beside me. She said, “Hi! My name is Betty.” I replied, “Hi! My name is Dan.” She said, “ I know. I worked at Glorieta Conference Center this summer and some of your friends told me about you.” The next time I saw Betty was at church on Sunday morning. Along with approximately a dozen other students, Betty and I both joined Coggin Avenue Baptist Church in Brownwood, where they had an “Adopt a Student” program. A family came forward announcing, “We want to adopt a boy and a girl; a brother and a sister.” They took Betty and me. Having always wanted a sister, now Betty was the sister I never had. For the next four years, I watched my adopted sister be a sister with many students, especially international students, studying far from home, needing a friend. Then we both graduated, and it appeared our special relationship would end. I enrolled in Southwestern Seminary, but who lived in an apartment on Seminary Drive, but my adopted sister, Betty. For the next sixty-three years, we remained adopted “brother and sister.” Along with our spouses, we re-united while living in Austin for six years, and later in Fort Worth, for eighteen years. We served together on the Alumni Board of Directors of our alma mater and enjoyed our visits during annual college Homecoming events through the years. Last week, I participated in the memorial service for Betty Ann Fowler Smith who had gone to her eternal home. But our relationship still has not ended. Since “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family” (Ephesians 1:5, NLT), Betty and I will someday, be brother and sister again in God’s forever family. See you, Sis!
Stopping by the Surgical Center
I stopped by the Surgical Center recently to pay a visit to a long-time friend who was recovering from surgery. We met in our 20s, when we were both newly graduated, newly employed, newlywed, newly Dad. Our paths crossed many times through the years. We talked often, shared a meal occasionally, prayed together frequently, even reminisced from time to time, using one of God’s greatest gifts, the gift of memory. Many of our conversations began with, “Remember when . . .” Glad we’ve lived long enough to need surgeons, prescriptions, lab technicians, therapist, etc. A lot of our mutual friends have moved on to their eternal reward, perhaps even thinking that we didn’t make it. We will join them soon enough. We’ve checked all the boxes, and turned the future over to Jesus. As soon as our houses – “not make with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1), are completed, we will be ready to move in. We’ll move our membership to the Church Eternal, where once again, we’ll know all the songs. Meanwhile, we’ll just keep sharing memories, even if we have to meet at a Surgical Center to do so.
Desiring to be Different
Ever wish you were like someone else? I am healing from my tenth MOHS (skin cancer) surgery, this one on my forehead, right between the eyes. I’ve had others on both sides of my face and on my nose, even one on my temple. accompanied by six weeks of radiation. I asked the Surgeon why. His answer was simple – “fair skin and Texas resident.” I tried to blame it on my mother, remembering her words, “Go outside! Take off your shirt! Get some sun!” It wasn’t her fault. She was only offering advice based on her training as a Registered Nurse. She knew I needed the Vitamin D provided by the sun. My Surgeon further took my mother off the hook, by adding, “You can go to the mall, park on the edge of the parking lot, walk across the lot into the air-conditioned buildings, and if you’re not wearing a hat, you’ll get skin cancer as you walk.” So, I’ve given up golf, daytime sports events, trips to the beach, yard work (thank you, Jesus), and trips to the mall, replacing all of this with multiple micrograms (mcg) of vitamin D3. I’m just a Jacob, wishing I was an Esau (Genesis 27:11).
Underdogs
Underdogs
Before Dallas had the Cowboys or Houston had the Oilers, back when I was a treen-anger growing up in Houston, I was a Green Bay Packers fan. Why? From childhood I was told I would be attending Baylor University, so I grew up loving the green and gold. Then I chose to attend elsewhere, and Dallas and Houston secured football teams. The effect of this love of green and gold made me a supporter of the underdog. Also, my own football career, such as it was, ended with an accident-related broken second vertebrae of the neck, but prior to that, I always played on an underdog team. According to Wikipedia, an “underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose.” Perhaps all of this is why I was so open to being a Jesus follower. I was a no one, until The One, made me a someone. A few verses were helpful to me in those underdog days:
- “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Ephesians 4:13)
- “So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:16)
- “But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
- “If God is on our team, who can play against us?” (Romans 8:31, from a translation I can no longer find.)
So, all you underdogs, it’s time to overcome.
Old Man, New Methods
Two years ago, I had never heard of a Podcast. Then I was asked to be the guest on several and I determined that this was not too difficult for a man my age to learn. About this time, I was invited by new friends Vidal and Josue Muñiz (father and son) to allow them to assist me with a Podcast based on my teaching ministry with the Valley Baptist Missions Education Center in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Together we have learned a multitude of new things. With Vidal as my co-host and Josue taking care of all the technology, we have re-formatted our “Discipleship Directives” Podcast in order to link it to my corporation – Disciple All Nations, Inc. based on Matthew 27:19-20. To view the YouTube version and possibly subscribe, go to https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.DanCrawford. I’m not sure if you can actually teach an old dog new tricks, but I am proving you can teach an old man, new methods.
Three Cheers for the Inward Man
So, I had another birthday recently. Let me explain to you youngsters what that means. Two months ago I was diagnosed with Acute Sinusitis. It took a month full of medications and a few cancelled events for me to beat it. Well, I didn’t really beat it. When it left my nose and I stopped the uncontrollable coughing, it settled in my left ear. This time the diagnosis was Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, meaning I have zero hearing in that ear. Next week, I will complete four rounds of antibiotics plus various rinses and sprays. If I am still missing my hearing, my doctor (I’ve actually seen three doctors and two PAs in the last six weeks) will decide if I need a Scan of some kind to determine if surgery is needed to remove polyps in the ear canal. Meanwhile, a skin-cancer showed up on my forehead. A biopsy revealed another Basil cell on top of where two earlier ones had been. I have been referred to a Surgeon for my tenth MOHS surgery. I hear someone saying, “Yeah, but you are retired so have nothing else to do.” Next week I have a preaching assignment and I leave for my monthly teaching session with pastors and church leaders in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. All the while, many of my friends and family are already in heaven thinking I didn’t make it In 1976, Ralph Carpenter, a Dallas newsman announced at a close basketball game, “The opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings.” Well, my young friends, pay no attention to her. She’s just warming up. The Apostle Paul, who had a few aging issues himself, wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” So, three cheers for the inward man. In the words of that great philosopher Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
2023 and 2024
I have written before of the 16th century Japanese “Forgetting the Year” Party, where participants brought the past year calendars to the party and destroyed them. We sentimental folks prefer keeping our old calendars in order to look back and reflect. We gain insight as well as strength from past experiences. However, there is something to be said also for destroying the old calendars. While 2023 brought many blessings, not the least of which were many new friendships, both from my interim pastorate at Trinity Hills Baptist Church in Benbrook as well as my monthly teaching of church leaders in the Rio Grande Valley, the year brought its share of heartaches – illness and death of family members and close friends, personal health struggles, and just the issues that go with aging. So, there are parts of 2023 that I would like to forget, and there are parts I would like to cherish. Had there been such a thing as a “Forgetting the Year” party in the days of the Apostle Paul, he might have attended, since there were things in his past he would have liked to forget. But there were also things in his future that excited him. So, he wrote, “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). As we begin 2024, join me as we press on.