CELEBRATING TWO PEOPLE I LOVE

BY STEVE DUNN

My mother was a beautiful woman – both physically and spiritually.  If she was still living, today would be the 66th wedding anniversary of Marilyn Reames and A. Gail Dunn.  My mother died in 2000 of cancer, just a few months past their 50th wedding anniversary.

They were married on New Year’s Day in the just completed chapel of the new College First of God by their pastor, Dr. Darrell Linder.  Both were students at my denomination’s school Findlay College.  Gail, a native of Columbia City IN was a history major and a cheerleader, a year younger than Marilyn.  He also sang in a quartet called The Gospel Five and was preparing for the ministry.  Marilyn was ultimately training to become a medical technician.  A high school beauty and a member of the College Choir, she came from Zanesfield, Ohio-the daughter of a nominally Christian family that was attending a Friends Meeting when she enrolled in college.  The first time Dad saw Mom, the very first time, he said, “I am going to marry her.”

My paternal grandparents, TA and Mary Ruth Dunn, were very excited about their beautiful new daughter-in-law; especially she since was a warm, outgoing, and mature Christian.  Her parents did not attend the wedding.  My maternal grandmother, Wynona Reames thought her daughter could have done better than being married to a preacher.  I suspect her husband Robert, who came from a staunchly Methodist family didn’t share her opinion, but Grandma won most arguments in their family.  For the record, a few weeks later, she changed her mind and they showed up at the newlyweds humble lodgings (remember they were both college students) with wedding presents and kisses.  Over the years she came to love my Dad, especially since he loved her only daughter.  (My strong-willed grandmother, however, always insisted on picking up the check.)

A year later Mom dropped out of college to have me.  Dad graduated and was ordained to the ministry of the then Churches of God in North America.  My mother was a stay-at-home Mom

as they had three more children.  After the youngest, Mark, was born. she went back to college earning her degree in medical technology and enduring the trampoline in gym class, graduating 17 years later as the oldest member of  her class.

Mom and Dad always went to lunch on their anniversary, a tough task since it was New Year’s Day and many restaurants were closed.  Their favorite was the Embers in Carlisle PA.   The first anniversary that Dianne and I enjoyed we went to the Embers, a high class place for college students. Yes, we got married in college, too but Dianne managed to graduate 10 days before our first child was born.

Gail and Marilyn were devoted to one another.  And they passed that devotion to one another in marriage–and a devotion to Jesus Christ, that inspired many.  Later, when Dad became the conference superintendent, they made a ministry of inviting clergy couples to their home for dinner, fellowship and encouragement.  To this day, I continue to meet pastoral couples who consider the ministry Marilyn and Gail provided to them one of the best blessings God had bestowed on them.

I thought celebrating them, especially because of their New Year’s Day wedding, would be my most appropriate first blog post of the New Year.  Better them than the celebs and pols and villains that will occupy center stage in the broader world.

© 2016 by Stephen L. Dunn.  You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com 

MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS: AMAZING GRACE–WORDS TO LIVE BY

BY STEVE DUNN

In our performance-based, in your face, never let them see you sweat world–too often our both our position and success life depends on where you live, or Tex Sample says, “The wisdom in which you chose your parents.”

Although I am not an irresponsible,”everyone owes me something” person that hides behind a victim status; I am grateful that my ultimate worth does not depend on me. I depend on the One whose death and life and resurrection makes me worthy.

I resonate with and rest in the truth that the Apostle Paul spoke to the Church at Ephesus: “…For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” – Ephesians 2.8-10

One of my favorite singing groups testifies to it as well:

GOOD PARENTS

BY STEVE DUNN

Meet two very important people – my son Michael, the oldest of my son’s and my second child (pictured here with his family-wife Melonie, daughters Natalie and Ashley.

The other is my daughter Katherine Marie, a.k.a. Katie (now Huther). She is pictured here with her son Caleb (husband Jason is probably taking the picture).

Katie is the “baby” of the family-the one her other three siblings were convinced was spoiled rotten by her Daddy.  (Katie winks and says with a wry smile, “You’re right.”) Besides being children of a brilliant father, they have two things in common.  Both are two of the most conscientious parents you will ever meet.

The second is that they have the same birthday. (Actually they were both born in the same hospital as that brilliant dad of theirs).   Seven years after Michael boldly entered the world, his younger sister was born–July 1st.  Michael, when discovering that Katie’s impending arrival was about to rain on his birthday parade actually asked his Mom to stay in labor so that this little intruder would be born July 2nd.

But they are different as well.  Yes, it’s obvious from the photo that Katie is a brunette and Michael a blond.  What I mean is they are different persons with different skills, experiences, and dreams.  Michael is an entrepreneur, Katie the quintessential penny pincher.  Katie has always been a great administrator and resource manger.  She worked in the cash office of a Walmart at age 16 and until son Caleb came along, was in demand in banking.  Michael is a master of managing people, especially people whose lives are struggling and out of focus.

Dianne and I did not raise these two the same–nor treat them the same.  We sought to foster their dreams and empower their passions.  We tried to see them as God saw them and challenge them to aspire to the same.

“Train up a child in his way to go and when he is old he will not depart from it,” says Solomon in Proverbs 22:6.  His way as God designed him is another translation.  Good parents don’t treat their children equally – except to love then equally.  Good parents do not cookie cut kids into their own image but help them be shaped by their callings from God.

I hope my children considered me a good parent.

GOLDEN OLDIES: BREAKFAST

Starting a new periodic series of my favorite blog posts.  This one was first published in Life Matters December 1, 2011.  And by the way, I still love breakfast. – STEVE

BY STEVE DUNN

I love breakfast!

No apologies, no hesitation, no nuances – just a straightforward love of breakfast.
A cup of coffee, a simple bowl of Cheerios, a slice of toast – that’s breakfast at its most minimal.  Although my diabetes now requires me to tone down breakfast, there are some things that I particularly love with breakfast.
Start with a cup of fresh, hot coffee.  It requires no doctoring, just its rich flavor wafting aromatic out of the cup into your nostrils. A quality cup of coffee is the “first love” of a good breakfast.   And please, please, please — do not ruin the experience by serving me decaf.  I’d rather have a warm glass of diet Pepsi that’s been sitting on the counter for three days.

I can begin to embrace breakfast with a gusto by a cold glass of tomato juice served while the meal itself is being prepared.  Many places add a slice of lemon,but for me such “decoration” is totally unnecessary.  If I have lemon at all at breakfast, let it be lemonade.  Occasionally, when I am not too worried about my blood sugar, a glass of Florida’s best orange juice is a pleasant addition – but it has to have lots of pulp or the whole OJ thing loses substance.  OJ is the first place where I might want to chew my breakfast,  When the price on either is too high or none is available, there’s much breakfast refreshment from a glass of ice water with that slice of lemon that people erroneously want to insert into my tomato juice.

Now the main courses begin to arrive–generally on multiple plates balanced artfully on the forearm of your waitress.  How do they do that?  I have trouble carrying my keys in my hands let alone do the balancing act required by breakfast waitresses.  And they do it without velcro.

So what comes first?  Two eggs sunnyside up/  Please do not let them get cold in the kitchen before they reach me.  And if you break the yolks, I’ll send them back.  Never mind that I am about the plunge my fork into their shimmering yellow surface.  Part of the blessing is savoring the plunging of the fork into those two yellow faces staring back at you and watching the yolk run into the whites.  And don’t burn the whites. A runny yoke loses its culinary satisfaction when it is eaten with the rest of the egg that has begun to take on the texture of burnt toast.

Of course – toast.  My preference, four half slices of raisin toast, slightly crispy with a pat of butter melting into its surface.  My diabetes has turned breakfast potatoes into unwelcome carbs.

At my home restaurant, the Silver Spring Family Restaurant has offered me fresh, sliced tomatoes as an alternative. (Unfortunately with an upcharge).  That’s the “fruit: with my breakfast.  I cannot quite explain it, but those tomatoes are a perfect taste counterpart to the eggs and toast, and they don’t compete with the coffee. (By now I should be on my second cup).

If i want to have a more filling breakfast, old-fashioned Southern grits with a huge dollop of butter melting into their hot, fluid surface has me salivating before I even get that first taste (which is usually ten minutes after they get to the table and have finally cooled enough to eat without cauterizing your epiglottis.  Unfortunately too many people are introduced to grits through a box or in the North where they never seem to make grits the right way (except in Cracker Barrel).  But give grits a chance.  You won’t be sorry and they are probably better for you than a double order of toast.

And for “dessert,” (yes, breakfast has a dessert along with your third cup of coffee) be sure and tie the whole experience together with a few danish, preferably something with cinnamon (unless you need more fruit, then get apple danish).  But don’t tell my health coach about the danish.
I love breakfast!

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

DON’T PREJUDGE–YOU MAY BE VERY WRONG

Have you ever prejudged someone only to find you were very wrong. Here is a classic of the foolishness of prejudging.

NATIONAL “NO BRAINER” DAY

According to the Ultimate Holiday website, yesterday was  National No Brainer Day.  The explanation? “A whole day devoted to obvious choices? It’s a no brainer.”  In honor of that, here are a few NO BRAINERS to me:

MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS-DEMOCRACY WORKS

BY STEVE DUNN

Today is Inauguration Day and Barack Obama took the oath of office as President of the United States for the second time. That itself is historically significant. Mr. Obama is only the 17th President to be elected to a second term. ( In our most recent history Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush have this distinction, as well.)

But more significant is this reality on the world stage. Transfers of power across this planet are increasingly not peaceful. They are not products of the will of the people but often carefully orchestrated charades manipulated by a few powerful people, often military people. In many nations, the losing side now lives under physical threat.

The inauguration of a president reminds us that DEMOCRACY works. You may not have voted for President Obama, you may continue to oppose his positions and policies but he is our President. Having been elected by the democratic process, he will have to govern by it.

And for all of its imperfections and frustrations, democracy continues to be the healthiest and freest form of governance on this planet.

The inauguration of a President is a time for people of all political persuasions to celebrate.

LIFE IS SACRED

by Stephen Dunn

 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.” – GOD (Jeremiah 1.5)

In the past few weeks, on the heels of the Newtown School shootings; a battle has been enjoined over gun control.  Derided by the NRA and gun right’s supporters as histrionics or a plot by the government to take away our “God-given” freedoms, it is an uphill battle.  But on the other side of the debate, people of many political persuasions have said “enough is enough” and it’s time to do something to reduce this insane threat to our children.  You need to know that I stand on the “gun control” side of that political equation.  The Bible clearly states that I have an obligation to defend the weak and the powerless and children fit that description perfectly.  Plus, I do not believe an individual’s right to pursue his personal desires trumps the sanctity of human life.

Curiously, though, some of the same people who stand on the same side of this issue as I do have a limit to their view of what life is sacred.  For many of them, a human life (which they prefer to call a “fetus” to dehumanize it and thus desensitize us) begins when the baby emerges from the womb, not when it is conceived.  Up until then, the need to protect human life does not apply.  A woman’s right to choose trumps the sanctity of life.

As a Christian, I believe that our lives matter to God.  Not simply because God likes us but because God Himself is life.  Life is not merely the product of a biological process set into motion when two human beings chose to engage in intercourse.  It is a gift of God. It is a gift of Himself.  Like most of God’s gifts, we take the credit or we simply disdain their true and necessary value. The commandment to not murder is not simply a good idea to restrain human madness, it is command to teach us the principle that human life is sacred.  And human life is sacred because God is life.

Note: I think it’s curious that some people who are arguing so strongly for their Second Amendment rights would agree with me on the anti-abortion position but still think that their right to any any weapon of their choosing trumps the right of a child to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Somewhere in our society in our worship of the individual over the community we have come to believe that personal rights justify treating some human life as sacred some of the time, but not when it undermines our personal rights.

Somehow, I don’t think God agrees. In Psalm 139 we read David’s words of praise to His Creator:

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Maybe it’s time to reclaim that view of human life.

(C) 2013 by Stephen L Dunn

You have my permission to reproduce this blog post without cost if it is reprinted in its original and unaltered form, is not included in a formal publication and is distributed for free, and a link is embedded bringing people to the site along with a copyright notice noting my name.  Any other use is prohibited without my prior consent in writing.

THE FOUR HUNDREDTH POST

BY STEVE DUNN

This post marks a milestone. It is the 400th post on the WordPress version of LIFE MATTERS.  This blog was originally posted via Blogger (which I began in 2009) and is currently at 695 posts.  In 2010 I began posting on both engines to broaden my audience.  Since I began posting on WordPress, LIFE MATTERS has been view 41,853 times by people around the world.  For blogger such as myself, this is tremendously gratifying.

It seems like number 400 ought to be special–particularly significant.

When I started writing LIFE MATTERS my intention was to have an ongoing dialogue with people in our culture and the broader community.  I am unashamedly a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ.  A whole lot of people like Jesus, but they are not too fond of Christians.  I am convinced that part of the reason  for this is they know only Christians via the media, which loves to focus on the extremists in our midst.  An authentic Christian, who is just trying to be like Jesus and do what Jesus would do in a manner consistent with what the Bible teaches us about Jesus — that person is often unknown by the prevailing culture.  Part of that is because too many Christians live in bubbles, isolated from people not like them; or they live anonymously, as if their faith is simply a private matter.

Neither of these images match what the Bible teaches about followers of Jesus.  Christians are called to be salt and light in the world, which means we must live in the world.  Christians are called to embody the DNA of Jesus (we call it incarnate living).  Not being representatives of a cultural Christianity that is often personal desires baptized with scripture; but being people on mission with Jesus.

I am who I am by the grace of God.  You know the children’s song that goes, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” (John 3)

I am who I am because the God of all the universe intervened in our world to once again create a relationship with humankind who had chosen to be its own God–and that clearly was not working.”In just the right time, while we were yet powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5)

I am who I am not because I have a religion but because I have a personal relationship with Jesus, one where he is the Master and I am the disciple.  He is not my co-pilot, he is the captain of my fate, the Master of my soul.

I am who I am because by trusting Jesus I have learned that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called by his purpose” and the “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, my Lord.” (Romans 8)

Because of Jesus I believe life matters and my life matters and it is the passion of my heart for other people to find that same wholeness and joy that only Jesus can bring.

(C) 2013 by Stephen L Dunn

HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
I’ll praise the mount I’m fixed upon it
Mount of thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above

Sharon Hodde Miller writes an excellent blog called She Worships that I find an interesting look at practical Christianity and living out our theology in the real world. December 28 she wrote an interesting post called “Here I Raise My Ebenezer.” It begins:

I still remember the first time I learned that “ebenezer” was more than a scrooge-y character in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I was taking an Old Testament class in seminary, and when I came to 1 Samuel 7 I read about God’s saving intervention in the face of great peril. 1 Samuel 7:10-11 recounts,

While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.

In response to God’s faithfulness Samuel does the following:

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (v. 12)

When I first read this passage I loved the visual, the idea of marking the spot where God had been faithful. Not only did that stone remind Samuel of God’s faithfulness, but whenever Samuel’s ancestor’s would pass by it, they too would remember God’s love.

That’s when I decided to begin doing the same.

Ever since I learned about the story behind the ebenezer, I have periodically paused to raise my own ebenezers, vowing to remember God’s faithfulness whenever He has helped me. And this year, as 2012 draws to a close, I can’t help but raise one now. Read rest of post

Sharon’s post got me thinking about my own Ebenezer’s for 2012:

1. Dianne and I celebrated 40 years of marriage. She is the best thing that has happened to me in my life, standing by me through many challenges and adventures that went with the ministry–including one now where we have moved out of our home and made ourselves available to what God wants to do next in our lives as we serve His kingdom purposes.

2. A sabbatical at Winebrenner Theological Seminary that allowed me take a respite from the daily business of pastoral ministry and re-energized my passion to teach churches how to reach their unchurched neighbors with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

3. The opportunity to take Bridgebuilders Seminars that I had been developing for several years across the country helping reawaken a vision in many churches to once again be identified with the love of Jesus Christ as they reach their neighbors without fighting a culture war.

4. Significant time with all four of my children and their families, something that I have not been able to do in several years.

5. Seeing the Church of God of Landisville that I had helped nurture and equip for vision for 11 years make a smooth and healthy transition to a new and younger pastor, Tim Bistline, who will now be able to reach a whole new generation for Jesus.

6. The return to the Seminary classroom with 16 delightful students in the New Testament Foundations Class for Winebrenner’s Pastoral Training Institute.

7. God selling our house in 28 days so we have had money to live during this time of ministry exploration that Dianne and I have called our “Abraham and Sarah Excellent Adventure” and friends like Dennis and Carol Regitz and Dennis and Ruth Hall who have made their homes available to us during this season of our life.

I am sure there are more, but you can see that I have lots of reasons as I begin 2013 to celebrate what God has provided in 2012.

Here I raise my ebenezer!