Randy Greenwald

On December 11, 1989, the Greenwald family welcomed a new member and named her Hannah. She did not come into her family ‘in the usual way’ as most of you know. She came already four months old and ready to run our lives. Friends would wonder at the pale people who seemed to always accompany her. “Are those your parents?” She was neither white, nor black, but, as she loved to say, “a lightly toasted marshmallow.”

Over the years she grew, and struggled under the loving care and foolish foibles of her clueless parents. In time, God has had his way with her, preserving her and developing her into a lovely and gifted young woman of 17 ready, now, it seems, to run the world. How wonderfully God has blessed us.

Tonight, she graduates from high school.

People look back and say, “The time has gone so quickly.” We all know that time is relentless and even in its pace. It has not gone quickly. We have simply let too much of it pass by without notice and reflection. Hannah has emerged from the shadows of her older siblings and from the halls of time with the talents and personality given to her by her God. We continue to pray as we always have that our God would be her God, and that she would be enraptured with his love.

Hannah, we love you, and thank God for you in ways more deep than you can imagine. Congratulations on this milestone.

One of the most profound privileges that God in his kind providence has given to me in my years of ministry here has been that of coming to know and to love the man pictured here. Bill Mills is the president of Leadership Resources, International, a conference and training ministry based out of the Chicago area. Bill has a deep love for Christ, a profound grasp of the big picture of Scripture, and a passion for God and his church. He has had the opportunity to share that passion with Hope Church a number of times over the years, and all who have been under his ministry have found it to be deeply moving.

We will have this opportunity again this Fall as Bill leads for us a one day conference on Sunday, September 23.

I had the privilege a few weeks ago of seeing Bill and having lunch with him. It was, as always, an extremely encouraging time. To give those of you who might not know Bill an insight into his heart, I would like to share with you a brief excerpt from a note that Bill sent to me afterwards.

I think what amazed me most as we sat and talked together was the process that God’s taken us both through over many years with our ministry relationships, our circumstances and our children to shape us for who He desires us to be and serve Him the way He has called us to serve. I think that one of the “attributes” of God that I’ve learned over the last several years is that He is absolutely relentless! More and more I’m convinced that He is far more concerned about who we become than what we accomplish. It’s good to be in that process in our Father’s sovereign timing and in His care as well.

Do plan if at all possible to be with us on September 23. We will share more details later.

I’ve had people come to me personally and speak about how they have struggled with Mother’s Day at times in their lives. That is why the last post. I tend to be a bit down on all Hallmark Holidays. Renee, with whom I’ve worked for over a dozen years and who is a dear friend, notes every year when I ignore (purposefully) what used to be called ‘Secretary’s Day’ and then became ‘Administrative Assistant’s Day’ and is now who knows what. I hope she hears me speak my appreciation and acknowledge her contribution many times during the year, unprogrammed and uncoerced.

Adri Espino moved from what I said to some memories of her own which I found insightful. She granted me permission to share it with you all. Thanks, Adri.

Those we love and honor should be celebrated every day. I’m reminded of something seen in The National Observer [no longer in existence] 30+ years ago. My dad was visiting and pointed it out to me; I have no idea who authored the article. The subject was special days e.g. mother’s day, father’s day et al. The quotation goes something like this: “Happy families don’t need them and miserable families can’t use them.” I find profound wisdom in that thought.

Worth thinking about.

Wait!

Before you start throwing things or sending off letters calling for my investigation by the FBI, FCC, FAA, CIA, or IRS, and before you organize rallies to burn me in effigy, hear me out.

I am not against mothers. Just because wounded men on the battlefield cry out for their mommies and not their daddies, I am not bitter. I am not grumbling that the standard of purity in our culture is ‘Mom and apple pie’ instead of ‘Dad and apple pie.’ I can deal with those things.

However, if I’m not mistaken, there is a certain proportion of otherwise good and kind members of our population who would agree totally, though secretly, with the statement written above, that Mother’s Day stinks.

An analogy may help here. A good friend of my son is a young single female. Now, while she might not be so blunt as to say that Valentine’s Day stinks, she has adopted an alternative name for the day. In her mind, Valentine’s Day, the day of love and relationship and connection is rather known as Single’s Awareness Day (S.A.D.). To those longing for a relationship, the day only draws attention to the fact that they are alone. It is not a day to look forward to.

The same logic impacts Mother’s Day. It is a great day to celebrate the sacrifice and love and affection that we have received from our mothers – the very thing that leads soldiers to cry out for their mothers. We ought to find everyway possible to honor our mothers.

But as well on that day, the very effort we make to single out mothers has the corresponding effect of singling out those who are NOT mothers. If we ask, as is done in some churches, for all the mothers to stand, we have effectively recognized all of those who are not mothers. They are the ones still sitting.

Among those sitting is the young married woman who for five years has been trying to conceive a child and has been unable to do so. Mother’s Day sadly reminds her in a public way of the deep hurt she carries with her every day.

Sitting there as well is the mother who has lost a child to disease or violence or miscarriage. Perhaps this was her only child. The day heightens her pain and emphasizes her loss. Few of us can imagine the pain that brings.

There are also among us women who have conceived a child in unfavorable circumstances. Courageously fighting against the flow of our culture, they choose to give that child life and to place it in an adoptive family that is able to fully care for it. But on Mother’s day they are reminded of the difficulty of that choice and the emptiness of what might have been.

For these, and others like them, Mother’s Day, well, stinks. And I feel for them. I hope you do to.

We ought to honor mothers. All I ask is that we be sensitive in how we do so. Take care that you do not single out those for whom the day is agony by isolating them from those to whom God has given a family. Pursue privately those for whom the day bears a special pain and give them a hug or a card or a word of love and encouragement. And as you pray for your mothers, pray for those for whom motherhood is at present only a distant dream or a distant memory.

To be so thoughtful of others is, or should be, well, as ‘American as dad and cherry pie.’

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The above was submitted to the Bradenton Herald for publication on Saturday. Not sure it’ll make the cut, so here it is for the world… or the two or three of you who read this blog… to see.

Someone asked me recently the following question:

You talked about the Excel spreadsheet method of keeping track of prayer requests during your Sunday school class on having a quiet time. How does it work? I think I’d be happier with my prayer life if it were more organized — especially in regards to praying for people, etc.

The reason I am answering this question publicly is that I’m really interested in what others do to bring some order to their own prayer life. Often, I hesitate to tell someone, “I’ll pray for you” because if I do not write the request down, I will soon forget. (I am such a spiritual giant…!)

To keep track of requests over the years, I’ve tried notebooks, notecards, and sheets of paper with people’s names written at the top and requests below. For a couple of years, I’ve found Excel to be my friend for this purpose.

What I have done is simply use four columns of a simple Excel spreadsheet. In the first column, I list the date that I record a request. I like to keep track of when I begin praying for something. This gives me an idea of how long I’ve been asking God for a particular thing. In the second column, I type the name of the person for whom I am praying. In the third column, I list the request. The fourth column is labeled ‘answers’ and is a place where I can record incremental progress or notes regarding the answer to the request.

I actually have several worksheets set up this way — one for family, one for church, one for non-Christians, and one for general requests. I print each of these out and keep them with my Bible and other things which I use for my quiet time. This way I am not dependent upon the computer for my devotional life.

When requests change, are answered, or need to be added, I can write on what I’ve printed. Periodically this becomes messy. So, I open the spreadsheet, add and update requests and copy those that have been answered to another sheet labeled ‘answers’. I sort my lists by person and then by date. Then I print fresh copies and toss the old.

I know this sounds all so mechanical. But it works for me. I’d love to know what works for others of you.

I thought you might enjoy this from the blog of a college professor…

Best opening line of a paper this semester: “My parents are Christians and I grew up in the convent.” (He meant “Covenant”.)

My nominee for best bumper sticker of the year…

(Seth and I spotted this one on the back of a semi-trailer. We had to get real close in order to read it, of course.)

Discerning readers of nearly anything I write will notice that I have a pronounced preference for putting my punctuation outside of my quotation marks.

My logic in this is that though it is contrary to ordinary American practice, quotation marks should be treated the same way as parentheses. Thus, if the quotation marks enclose an entire sentence (such as in dialog) the punctuation, which belongs to the sentence, should be placed within the quotation marks. If, on the other hand, the quotation marks enclose only a part of the sentence, the marks themselves should be treated as part of the sentence, and the punctuation placed outside the marks.

You don’t care, do you?

I know. It’s pedantic. It is also British. If you would like to know more about this (although you’ve already read more than you ever cared to read) I commend to you the site maintained by Michael Quinion, who is British, and whose weekly newsletter is fascinating. He is an expert on all things English, and quite an entertaining chap to boot.

Click here to go to the site.

Here is an excerpt:

There is a case for consistency within any one publication. But nobody will misunderstand what you write because of where you choose to put your stops relative to quotation marks. A writer who fixes too much attention on the correctness of his punctuation, or a reader who does the same, is missing the point: the job of text is to communicate, not satisfy pedantic rule makers.

I’m hesitant to direct any to another blog for fear that those thus directed will assume that I am somehow an avid supporter of the author’s every view. So, first, the disclaimer: I’m not.

That said, I read a post this morning that reflects helpfully on a pattern that I see too much in my own life, and which I would like to change. That is, I spend all my time with Christians, and primarily with Christians with whom I am in substantial agreement. According to Scot McKnight, this is not at all a healthy thing.

What happens when we sit at table all the time with those who are just like us? What happens when we are at church, at breakfast and lunch, in committees and at work with folks just like us? Christians and social justice workers and business folks each have this tendency — it is natural and easy for this to happen. But what happens to us when we spend all our time with the same kinds of people?

Read his post here.

In a previous post, I explained how one could subscribe to the sermons of HPC via podcast or RSS feed. I also mentioned how this could apply to this or any other blog. It is far easier to have the blog posts delivered automatically to one’s computer when they are available than searching for them every day to see if anything new has been posted.

In this vein, I have come across an amusing video which should help. It is called “RSS in Plain English“. Click on it, watch it, enjoy it, and if RSS is new to you, maybe learn something.

Some recent discussions have reminded me how much confusion there is regarding where to place a spiritual discipline like personal worship or private prayer into a life of grace.

We must distance ourselves from any understanding of spiritual disciplines which turns them into acts which gain us spiritual merit or which in and of themselves mark us as holy. The fruit of the spirit is ‘love, joy, and peace’, not ‘quiet time, prayer, and grape juice’.

One can be humble, gracious, kind, and Spirit-filled, and never have a quiet time. As well, one can be daily in the word at the crack of dawn, and be full of doubt, short-tempered, and irascible. The mere fact that we have a quiet time does not mark us off as spiritual; its absence does not identify us as lost.

God blesses me way beyond what I deserve. It is such a meager understanding of God for me to think that I will be blessed today because I might have had a good quiet time. He blesses me because he chooses to do so.

Spiritual disciplines, whether public (like worship) or private (like a quiet time) do not mark us as Christians. So do they have value?

Of course they do.

I have said it so often that people will tire of it: the spiritual disciplines put us in the way of grace. If I want to be washed, I must stand in the stream. If I want to experience and grow through the work of the Holy Spirit, it is good that I put myself where he has shown himself to work. If the Holy Spirit nurtures faith through the ministry of the scriptures, then it is good that I often put myself where I am exposed to that word.

I hunger for the grace of God. I long to be changed by him. I long to hear the voice of my Savior speaking to me. I don’t know where else to go to hear that or to find him than at those places where he has promised to meet with me and to speak.

I want us to view the disciplines, such as a quiet time, neither as badges of holiness nor duties to endure. I want us to look at them as opportunities. I want us to see them as opportunities to see the window into heaven cracked just a bit so that we might see Jesus. We should hunger for discipline not because it makes us holy, but because there we come to know our savior.

I am very interested in comments on these thoughts.