Easter Sunday: Third Year Anniversary of My Dad's Death

It is appropriate that the anniversary of my dad's death falls on Easter Sunday.  The sermon at church was from John 11 on Jesus being the resurrection and the life.  The passage from 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 were also emphasized.  It was a message of hope beyond the grave just as the message Tim Counts brought at Dad's memorial was also a message of hope beyond the grave from Romans 8.

The one song that really stood out to me at my Dad's memorial was "In Christ Alone" and this was one of the songs that was sung today at church. I have to admit it made me a bit emotional.  

What an encouragement it was to hear these truths spoken and know that because Jesus lives, my dad lives and his body will rise from the grave one day and we will be reunited in heaven.

Do you have this hope?  Read verses 25-27 from the John 11 account. Do you believe what Martha believed?

John 11 New King James Version (NKJV)

11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about [a]two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but [b]was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, [c]saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone [d]from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O[a] Death, where is your sting?

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen [a]asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who [b]sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are [c]asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Romans 8

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of [a]corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession [b]for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Mean Dean

Nathaniel asked me why Grandpa was called the "Mean Dean".  I thought I'd write a blog post about it.  The stories below took place during the time of life in the photos above.  I wish I had photos from him at camp, but I don't.

This is the row of cabins talked about in the stories below.

My dad was the dean at Camp Gilead on many occasions.  When it was time to get up for breakfast each morning he would walk along the porch of the dorms and bang on the cabin doors yelling, "Bail out!"  Everyone groaned in their sleeping bags and rolled over, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep.  About fifteen minutes later he came around again, yelling, "Bail out!"  We knew we better move.  Showing up to breakfast late was frowned upon.  This was the main thing that I remember that earned him the title of Mean Dean.  However, there were some girls that found out the hard way that he really was a Mean Dean.

Daddy ran a tight ship at Camp.  He knew he could find out useful information by standing out of site behind the girls bathroom just below the open window to listen to the chatter that took place.  One day he got in on some good intel.  The girls in one of the cabins were planning to sneak out after the counselor went to sleep.

It was lights out in the cabins and Daddy positioned himself behind the girls dorm just up the hill behind a big stump with a big flashlight that worked as a spot light.  He patiently waited.  About half an hour after lights out he saw one of the cabin's back doors slowly open.  A girl's head poked out and she looked around.  She motioned for the others to follower her.  They all came out one after the other in a line.  

Daddy just waited.  It had been raining that day and there was a muddy spot just around the end of the row of cabins.  The girls got just around the end of the cabins when he put the spot light on them and shouted, "You get back in your cabin!"

The first girl stopped suddenly, and the one behind her ran into her and on down line, like a string of Dominos, they ran into each other and fell in the mud.  They all got back up, turned tail and ran for the cabin.  Not more than a few minutes after the last girl entered the cabin, Daddy opened the door and walked down between the the rows of bunks.  Every girl was in her sleeping bag, mud and all, looking like they had never left.  Daddy smiled to himself and walked out.  That was punishment enough. They would have to clean their sleeping bags and pajamas now.

A Tale of Blowing Blubber and Forgiveness of Sins~A Story from Cordell Baker

There is a great contrast between the thoroughness with which God does a job and what men try to do. This is particularly true with the matter of the forgiveness of sins. People may try their best, but they always come sort and leave a mess. It's kind of like the true story you might have read out of Oregon a few years back.

It seems that Florence, Oregon, had a big, stinking problem. A dead sperm whale had floated in on high tide and it was left to rot on their beach. Now dead rotting whales are not the most aesthetic backdrop to a nice stroll on the beach, or swim on the surf.. Tourism was at stake. Something needed to be done and time was of the essence.

Since Oregon does not have a whale removal department, the task was turned over to the local division of the highway department to get rid of the stinking carcass. But how do you remove 8 tons of stinking whale? They thought of burying it but they were afraid that the tide would uncover it and they would have to do the job over…. probably a worse mess than the original one. Perhaps they could cause it to disintegrate enough so the Sea Gulls and other carrion birds would consume what was left.  Surely enough dynamite, rightly placed would do the trick.  How about twenty cases, a half ton of the stuff?  The theory was that that much would vaporize most of the critter and what was left would soon be consumed by the birds and crabs.

When word got around, a large, curious crowd gathered to watch the exciting event.  The men carefully packed the explosives under the beast.  They made a special effort to pack the landward side, so the pieces might be blown into the ocean.  The crowd was ushered back a full quarter of a mile.  The plunger went down.  The blubber wen up.  The crowd looked up as the blubber came down...huge chunks of the stinking stuff that sent the crowd scurrying for cover.  One car parked a quarter of a mile from ground zero had its roof crushed by a whale of a big hunk of blubber.  As he watched the highway men remove the meat, the owner was heard to say, “My insurance company will never believe this.”  The plan did two things. It distributed the stench over a much wider area and scared all the carrion birds away.

This reminds me of man’s efforts to get rid of the guilt of his sin.  If only I can pack the carcass of my sinful life with enough good works and religious deeds I can get rid of my guilt.  Trouble is it doesn’t work.  For “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” (Isaiah 64:6). “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Romans 3:20). Better to go God’s way. “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea.” (Micah 7:19) This God can and will do because Jesus finished all that was necessary to pay the price of our redemption.  He cried, “It is finished.” Isaiah 53:11 tells us that God was satisfied with what His suffering servant did.  We may rest in that satisfaction.

My most memorable Christmas~A Story from Cordell Baker

                       

                                                    My most memorable Christmas

I lay in a hospital bed in Wenatchee. On the bed beside me lay our four month old daughter, while my wife and four-year-old daughter stood beside the bed. There we opened our Christmas gifts and ate the special Christmas dinner the hospital provided. That is I ate what could be sucked through a straw that went through the gap in my front lower tooth line. My jaws were wired shut, so all my food was either liquid or blended.

Doesn't sound like a happy Christmas does it? But when you've been through what I had been through and see what I had seen, it probably was one of the happiest days of my life.

Thirteen days earlier I had been run over by a tractor while doing seasonal work in an orchard in Bridgeport. After laying on the frozen ground for forty-five minutes while the men searched for an ambulance ( the closest one 45 miles away), I was transported on an old army stretcher in the police paddy wagon to the hospital in Brewster. Seeing the extent of my injuries, the medical people at Brewster sent me on to the hospital in Wenatchee.

When it was all sorted out the diagnosis included fractures to the left foot, left femur, ribs, nose, skull and three fractures of the lower jaw. My right eye was popped out of its socket and so swelled it felt like a tennis ball. The head injuries were life-threatening. Recovery would involve several surgeries. I would spend five weeks in the hospital, fourteen months on crutches and a year on a cane. Forty-five years later, as I write these lines, I still feel the effects daily.

But in the hospital we began to see the hand of God, graciously supplying every need and opening strong and lasting friendships which would bless our lives for years to come.

We were so young and utterly without this world's goods. I was pastor of a little mission church which paid us $40 per month. We gave the $40 back to the church to make payments on the parsonage. Another church gave us $90 per month. I made up the remainder of our needs by seasonal work in the orchards. Looking at it from the human side thirteen days earlier, that Christmas looked mighty grim. Then we begin to see how God works.

A few days into my hospitalization, the cards and letters begin to arrive, most of them with checks and money orders in them. They came from all over the world, from people we knew and many from folks we've never heard of. Soon it was like a flood. The nurses literally brought my mail and by the bucketful. Then they would stand by with awe as we open the letters and extracted the checks dozens of them. We never lacked! God supplied all our needs and more through his loving children from all over the world.

After a few days of waiting (the hardest part of it all) to see that they head injuries were no longer life-threatening, the surgeries and healing begin. Though at times very painful, every day was a challenge and a new milestone in healing. Is it any wonder then, that that Christmas, as pitiful and out of the ordinary it may seem turned out to be one of my most memorable Christmases. Mary, the mother of our Lord, in her inspired magnificent, expressed my sentiments exactly when she said "He...has done to me great things... and his mercy is on them that fear him." (Luke 1:49-50)

Learning to Be Thankful: A Story from Cordell Baker

It was 1953 when my wife and I really began to enjoy the blessing of being thankful. We had left the security of a steady job with General Electric in Linton, Indiana. At the call of a seven-member Church in Bridgeport, Washington, we had moved two thirds of the way across the continent at our own expense to pastor a church that would pay us $10 per week. In addition a larger church had promised us another $45 per month. The rest would have to come by a secondary job. When we left Indiana we had only enough money to get us to Wyoming. But God had supplied along the way and on my 23rd birthday we had arrived at our new place of ministry.

For the first month, our only bed was a 39 inch rollaway that was so uncomfortable, we took turns sleeping on the floor. Our household furniture was almost nonexistent. But we were or at least thought we were truly grateful for the things God has brought into our lives. We would go to our mailbox and often find "fellowship" to supply our needs. Or the area driver for a large baking concern would meet us and load us up with bread. Just one funds were getting really low there would be work available in one of the local orchards. We were growing to love our people and our place of ministry and I thought we were really learning to be thankful and by most standards most who knew us would have agreed.

Then in November I was invited by First Baptist Church in Wenatchee to speak at the Thanksgiving service. It turned out to be also a food shower for us, for which we were truly grateful. But the highlight of the service, I will never forget. We had just sung the old song count your blessings. The congregation sat down and from the back of the auditorium, I heard the voice of a man who began literally to count his blessings as a songwriter exhorted, naming them one by one. The crowd became silent and we listened in wonder as this saint of God spoke. I turned to see who it was that spoke so eloquently and to my surprise, I saw an ancient gentleman with a white cane speaking. I don't remember a thing about the sermon I preached. And probably no one else remembered much of it either. As badly as I wanted to inspire that congregation to greater thankfulness, my most eloquent words were as nothing compared to the words that were spoken and the lesson I learned that day from that dear blind saint.

On one occasion Jesus healed 10 lepers. One of them turned back to express his thanks. Jesus commended the grateful leper, but he asked the question. "Where are the nine? " (Luke 17:17). I pray that God will help me to always follow the steps of the one and never fall into the path of the nine.

The Town Bully Who Was Saved~A Story from Cordell Baker

The Town Bully Who was Saved

It has been my privilege to meet many interesting people along the trail of life. None was more interesting than the man who had been the town bully of a small town in north central Washington. They called him "pop".

Pop was a self educated man. He taught himself to read when he was 15 years old, by reading the Bible while he drank his morning coffee. He had been shortchanged on education because he had to drop out as a primary aged kid to sell newspapers on the street of Spokane to help support his widowed mother and some younger siblings.

But he did not let his lack of education holds him back. In his lifetime he mastered seven trades. He was once a railroad engineer. He once manage a large store in Spokane which catered to railroaders. He was a carpenter, painter, a plumber, an electrician, a wheat farmer in an orchardist.

But Pop had some terrible vices. He was a drunkard, a gambler and a brawler who just loved to fight. He had learned to fight as a kid who was forced to fight to protect his newspaper earnings from bigger boys who would attempt to rob him. He became so good at it, he later went into the professional ring both as a boxer and a wrestler.

When he moved to the small town where I knew him, Pop became the town bully. After a while, no one in the town would dare fight him. A rough cattle rancher told me that as he grew up he went to all the local high school games. He said he didn't care at all about the sports. He attended because he knew that after the game, Pop was going to fight. Since no one in his own town would dare to fight him, he would make it a point to pick a fight with some out-of-town guy who didn't know him and was foolish enough to take him on. The outcome was always a sound beating for the ignorant guy who took the bait.

However, Pop had a deep emptiness in his heart which his drinking, gambling and fighting could not fill. It all came to a head when his brother who was also a drunkard and brawler died suddenly.

I don't recommend this approach to a funeral, but the preacher preached from the text in First Corinthian letter where it states that no drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:10). Pop had not been a religious man. He hadn't attended church since the few times he went as a small child. He was not even sure in his mind that there was a god. But that Bible text got a hold of his mind and wouldn't let go. The next day he was irrigating his orchard and he couldn't get that text out of his mind. As he came to the end of his rope, he walked under a big apple tree, looked up into the heavens and said "God, if you are really God, if what that preacher said is true, my brother has gone to Hell. But I don't want to go there. " Then he stopped and thought for a moment and looked up again and said, "Now God, I've got you on the spot, because I don't want to go to hell.”

Most of us who have had some religious teaching would say that surely was an ignorant prayer. And it was! "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27).” God took him at his word. Soon he learned the blessed truth of how Jesus, God's son, died on the cross and rose again, suffering the pains of Hell to take the place of sinners. The town bully was saved!

My cowpoke friend couldn't understand what had happened to pop, but after watching his life for many years, he had a deep respect for him. That drunken brawler was not only delivered from his carousing lifestyle, but he became an effective lay preacher who was known and loved throughout that region. Pop has long gone to his reward, but as long as I draw breath I will thank God that he brought that transformed bully across my path.