Heaven's Roof

After spending some days thinking about my recent trip to the devastated island of Dominica, I penned this poem to honor the people that had weathered the storm from Hurricane Maria which nearly ripped every roof from the simple houses of the inhabitants homes. One particular pastor and his family, Asha LaRonde, lost their entire home and possessions. However, when the turbulent storms on earth take away from us our security and hopes, we can find shelter in God's sustaining grace. We can find a refuge under Heaven's Roof.

He Was Bold, And I Was Scared

 At the age of nineteen I became friends with a man that would change my life. Armando Calinisan was a dear brother who was saved in 1983 while serving the US Navy in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a Filipino and had come to America with his wife and two young sons. He would become a tireless bus captain, avid soul winner, and later a fearless missionary-church planter for Christ back in his homeland. While in Bible College, he took me with him many times preaching on the streets, and going door-to-door. It was this time he spent with me that helped me as a young preacherboy to become more willing to die to my flesh, face my fears, and be a bolder witness for Christ. This week, "Mandy" stepped out into eternity. However, his love for Christ and the souls of men will never be forgotten.

"Creekside Faith"

When I was just an eight or nine year old boy, my parents would take my siblings and I down to a nearby swimming hole called Lees Creek. We lived in the typical southern town, Van Buren, Arkansas, where my father pastored a Baptist church. It was at Lees Creek that we would spend lazy summer days splashing in the warm waters. It was also at this creek that my mother would have to muster up faith as she would watch my father playfully toss her children into the running water, leap off an old metal bridge, and pull all sorts of acrobatic stunts. 

Life as our mother, as well as that of being a Preachers' Wife has required this same faith over and over again. However,she has always risen to the challenges of living by faith. It is faith she learned when we were children swimming Lees Creek. 

"Though Far Away, You've Had My Heart"

One of the thrills of my adult life has been travelling all over Africa sharing the gospel of Christ. It is also, one of the burdens that my wife and children have shared with me as I have been away from them six weeks per year these past many years. About five years ago while preaching at the Moffat Mission in Kuruman, South Africa I was blessed to visit the very garden where David Livingstone proposed to the daughter of Robert Moffat, Mary, in 1845. While there, I reflected on the many nights Livingstone was away from his wife exploring and sharing Christ with the heathen. My mind wandered back to my wonderful spouse and friend, Kimberly, who was 8000 miles  away from me that evening. I took a piece of this tree in Kuruman, and carved a heart from it to make my wife a wooden charm to wear as a necklace with our names etched into it. While at Kuruman I penned this poem, and later brought this piece of the wood from the tree back home to forever remember this sacred ground. No matter how far away from home that I travel sharing the "Good News" I am always near to the one I love, at least in my HEART.

We Came Down the Aisle

In 1967 my mother and father attended a Baptist Church in DeSota, Kansas, that was pastored by my Uncle Roy Pledger. They were having a week-long revival and Evangelist Harold McConnell was preaching each evening. My parents had not attended church in over a decade and were living a life contrary to Christ. On Tuesday night of this evangelistic meeting my father walked down the aisle and said, "Yes" to Jesus. This decision not only saved him, but gave our immediate family an opportunity to know the Lord. Dad was literally walking down the aisle for all of us who would later follow him. Now 50 years has passed and thousands of others through his life have made their way to an altar with the same "Yes". 

"I Have Found It"

I have two great loves outside of my love for Christ. I have loved Africa for the better part of my adulthood. I also have loved my wife, Kimberly since our first date. As I travelled up a river in Elmina, Ghana in 2009 called the river "Benya" it was explained to me by one of the locals that this name was chosen by some of the earliest settlers for this coastal town and it meant, "I have found it". Returning to America later the following month, I had a bracelet made for my  love with this inscribed on its beads, BENYA. When I found my sweet wife, it was emotion akin  to that of those who found this West African river. I had found it. I had found true love, BENYA!!!

"Gospel Granny" and Jesus

Last week we lost a giant at our church in Florida to Heaven. Mrs Johnnie Dillard was a member of our church for many years. Though her health had been declining for many months and years, she spent the better part of last three years writing our children Sunday School lessons. This ministry for "Mrs. D" grew out of her love for the gospel and reaching kids for Christ. Though she was unable to do all the things that she once did as a Girls' Sunday School teacher due to her poor health, she was able to use her knowledge of the Bible and creativity to bless our church children with many wonderful truths. Today we laid her to rest. We will forever remember her investment. "She was known throughout our Sunday School as the "Gospel Granny". 

Found In A Field

In 2003, I led a homeless man on the streets of Brooklyn to Christ. He became my friend and a member of the church I pastored for four years. He went to Heaven recently. He will forever be remembered by those whose lives he touched. He was a man with a great treasure within his heart. That treasure was the love he possessed for others. However, that treasure took him years to find. It was a found in a Field. God bless the life of James Henry Hudson Jr. 

The Language Of Their Faces

Many years ago while travelling hundreds of miles up the West Coast of Africa, I was somewhat frustrated by my inability to speak the local dialects of the various tribes. One night while sitting and observing a village crowd watch another showing of the "Jesus Film" I discovered a great and wonderful truth that I have kept with me these years. The eyes and experssions on the faces of these precious people were speaking to me. Each of us have a story written deeply in our countenance. It is the wise missionary that will learn to read the biography of each life, even when we don't speak their native tongue.