Lessons From Wuhan -- Embrace the Challenge -- March 22, 2020

 Last Sunday, we were reminded in James 4:13-17 [ http://odbcmemphis.com/podcast/ ] that our best plans are uncertain, life is fragile…and short, and that our God is very much in control. Open Door’s Board of Elders met Monday evening and made the decision to suspend all classes and services for the week. Not meeting together this Sunday (March 22) was a tough decision, but we agreed it was the right and responsible thing to do. Some (though I should say no one from our congregation has suggested this) question the faith of those who would “cancel church.” I would simply point out that we will only be calling off church services. The church, Open Door Bible Church, is not a building. Nor are we a bunch of services. We are “the church.” The challenge in these days of “social distancing” becomes how we can continue on as the family of faith God has called us to be. I’ve been thinking of this scheduling upheaval as God’s gift—a sort of Sabbath rest. Busyness is often the enemy of holiness. The tyranny of the urgent pulls us away from His presence. Routine causes us to miss opportunities to meet specific needs as we “pass by on the other side” the way nice people avoided the injured man on the road in the Good Samaritan story. What Lessons from Wuhan remain for us to learn? What “first things,” important stuff, have we been missing in the rush of life? Perhaps it is as simple as “self-quarantining” to get time alone with the Lord. Maybe we will capture (or recapture spiritual truths that have eluded us in the crush of living life.

Yesterday I received an email from Brittany. She attended Open Door for a couple of months back in 2018. Her boyfriend, Connor, came a few times when he was in town. Then he left for Marine officer training school, and Brittany moved back to Colorado. I told them about a church near Ft. Collins. And, as happens sometimes, I was left to wonder what God had in mind in that brief turn of events. We observe life as a passing parade. God’s view is more like that a person atop a skyscraper, seeing the beginning and the end all at once. He was doing so much more than any of us imagined. It would be silly to try to take credit for any of it. But it reminds me that God has a plan in all of the craziness of these CoronaVirus days. Brittany gave permission to share the story, so here it is:

Pastor Starbuck, 

I am not sure if you remember me, my name is Brittany. I came to Open Door for a few months of 2018. My boyfriend, Connor, came with me a time or two. That year he was in training to be a USMC Officer. 

I write today to say THANK YOU. I grew up in a Bible church and accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 6 years old. Though I still had faith in high school, I began to stray. During my 20s, I completely stepped away from my relationship with God and from a church family. I was questioning many things. I wasn't sure what I believed or what was true. Your church was the first church that I attended that started to bring me home. I hadn't consistently gone to church in about ten years. Connor and I started dating before I came back to God. One thing you didn't know was that Connor was an atheist at the time we started dating and the time that he was attending Open Door. Surprisingly, he was the one who encouraged me to seek out a church family. He said he saw that it was something important to me. In the background, God was drawing him to Himself as well. Your church was the start of God moving in our lives in big ways. Open Door welcomed us both with open arms, your sermons are enlightening and true food for the spirit, the worship is genuine (no strobe lights and overdone theatrics), and the church's doctrine and values hold true to Biblical standards. It was exactly what I needed to press me to step back into a relationship with God. 

Before I moved back to Colorado, Connor tried out Loveland Bible Church, one of your recommendations. He was "just doing it for me," but I could tell God was slowly pulling on his heart. He called me after church, excited. He IMMEDIATELY knew that was where we were supposed to be. He met a former Marine there (who is also an elder of the church) and had some other conversations and meetings that day that I now know God intended him to have. He texted me this later, "I have to admit that the connections were not just random...My belief is still the same (him speaking of not believing in God), but if I'm being honest I have been thinking about the sheer chance of all of these things coming together in that one little room the way they did, all day. And I felt good there, I was happy. Just the way I felt at Open Door." That began the journey of us going to Loveland Bible Church, a journey that God has blessed. It took many months, but Connor came to know God and has come to see and know Jesus Christ as his Savior. He is a man ON FIRE for God. It is such an incredible thing for me to witness. He truly feels God's call to him is to make a difference and be a witness in the lives of the young enlisted Marines that so very much so need God and godly counsel. We are also now married. :) We were in CO together until last fall. I am still in Colorado and Connor is on temporary training duty in Virginia. We are hoping that I will be able to move to be with him soon. Between the Marine Corps and the unfortunate times our nation is seeing with COVID-19, we don't know when that will be. However, I continually ask God to guide us and to help us bear the burden of our separation. He has been so good to us, and I know He will continue to keep us in His loving arms. 

I wanted to share all this with so that you would know what a difference you and the congregation at Open Door made. You were/are a true light for Christ. His love, His radiance, and His truth show through you and others at that church. It drew me back to God and started Connor down his path to salvation. I would be happy for you to share this with any others that remember us. Thank you so much for all you do. 

Love in Christ, 

Brittany

Seeing As God Sees

Reminded this past weekend, once again, of what the family of God looks like. Edwina has been a part of Open Door for a lot of years. In the past four months, she and her husband Lester joined the church, Lester was baptized, and he shipped off to Army boot camp--leaving Memphis right after the burial of his father. As Edwina traveled to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, to bring him home for Christmas, she received word that her father had died. Last Friday, Lester successfully completed Basic Training. That night, Edwina stopped by our Couples Fellowship. She was on her way to Regional One to deliver Lester IV. In each of these events, people from Open Door were deeply involved. Sacrificially giving of their time and resources to meet needs. I am thankful for our family of faith!

BROADENING HORIZONS

Wedding receptions are a curious thing. They are attempts to bring together in celebration those people who are near and dear to the bride and groom. It can seem a curious mix. Some attendees only know either the bride or the groom, so we separate them in the chapel with his friends on one side and hers on the other. As if it were the marriage of Mr. Hatfield to Miss McCoy. The reception can offer glimpses into what the new family recently minted during the ceremony might look like. Had a similar experience recently in Orlando. Two great loves of my life involve the ministry of Open Door Bible Church and that of a mission organization called Pioneers. I had the privilege of inviting friends from the church I’ve pastored for 38 years to meet friends of the mission organization that I’ve been a part of for 33 years (if I can include the 23 years on the boards of Arab World Ministries before the merger). No question that the one group would bond with the other in mutual admiration and commitment to the same goals. Pioneers captures their passion in the tagline: “The relentless pursuit of the unreached.” Open Door has always had that same heart for the world. And it was a powerful couple of days! New friendships formed. New opportunities to explore working together for kingdom glory. I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store in the coming days.

The Resurrection Direction in Life

On this Good Friday, I am thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ presented Himself as the ultimate Passover Lamb who would die for my sins and be raised from the dead. This year Good Friday coincides with another legacy that has benefited my life immeasurably. On April 19, 1995, the Murrah Buiding in Oklahoma City was destroyed, taking with it the lives of two people I did not have the privilege of knowing. Still, they enrich my life even today. Dr. Charles Hurlburt and his wife Jean stopped in that day to deal with some Social Security business. Their grandson, Robert Palmer, would marry my daughter, Beth, a dozen years later. The Hurlburts left behind a rich heritage. They built into the lives of their family and of people around the world. As we celebrate the resurrection, may we strive to live as they did--with eternity in view.

https://oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/people/dr-charles-erwin-hurlburt/?fbclid=IwAR3Sp8E6guJyxENeU8SDMD-3njixIUyBTLfZvMbx8XSg0NWeOKnH5C6okw8

Generational Blessing

There are moments when God draws back the curtain of day-to-day life and allows us to see the bigger picture of what He's about. Sunday morning, August 19, was just that. As Ethan and I headed toward the baptistry and we had a few minutes to talk, he smiled. "My dad says you baptized him, too." We stood together as the seven year old gave a clear testimony of his faith in Christ, now a little over a month old. Later in the service, I was holding Ethan's baby sister as Shane and Ruth dedicated her to the Lord. Ethan, Norah, and Esther come from sturdy stock. Lots of godly folks from both sides of the family going back for generations--my own life has been blessed by four! Ethan, Norah, and Esther have footprints, deep and distinct, to follow.

The Malibu and the Motorcycle

While a freshman at the University of Missouri, I was always flat broke.  When my friends in the dorm ordered out for pizza, I regularly pretended to be “not hungry.”  They would end up getting me to eat a slice or two “just to be sociable,” then playfully accuse me of gaming them out of paying for my share.

It soon became apparent that I could not afford to care for and feed my 1964 Chevelle, first car I ever owned.  Five hundred hard-earned dollars on wheels.  Nicknamed “The Magnet,” it managed to get hit seven times in six months—never while I was in it.  As a high school senior, my pride and joy was stolen one day in March 1971.  Appropriately enough, it was recovered and hauled to the impound lot on April Fool’s Day, three weeks after its disappearance.  The thieves wrecked and abandoned her in the middle of an intersection, those boys fleeing the scene while my front bumper waved goodbye.  As a final insult, I had to scrape money together to redeem it from the city.  Hammers, Bondo, and spray paint made it the source of cruel humor.  But it ran.  Sort of.

Sometime early in my first semester, between gallons of gas, cases of oil, exorbitant insurance, and multiple repairs, I knew it was time to say goodbye.  When I told my grandparents, they suggested my dad needed a vehicle.  He was back “on the wagon,” and he had a job lined up.  I would have given it to him.  In 18 years, I had never had the opportunity to give him anything, but they insisted on paying me $600 for it.  And it seemed right and good that the old vehicle would stay in the family.  A curious link to a man I barely knew.  We were all painfully aware by now that jobs and sobriety never lasted long, though we would not say so out loud.  Maybe this time would be different.

And so I did my 125-mile trips between Kansas City and Columbia for the rest of the year using the campus rideshare bulletin board or hitchhiking.  My handcrafted “Home and Mom!” sign proved to be an effective, tug-at-the-heartstrings-of-passing-motorists ticket for free trips down I-70.  But I would need transportation for work in the summer.  That’s when inspiration struck.  I would buy a motorcycle!  Mom was not pleased with the idea.  The grandparents were horrified.  And so they approached me with an offer.  Dad had been living down in Louisiana somewhere.  The Malibu had been his mobile home.  But he was back, and the car was only slightly worse for wear.  He wasn’t using it.  It was out of place in their suburban neighborhood.  They gifted it back to me on the condition that I promise to give up my dream of a motorcycle.  To this day, I have never owned one.

And the connection to my Dad grew a bit stronger.  There was an old single-burner Coleman stove in the trunk and a sleeping bag that had outlived its usefulness and a few other vestiges of his last big adventure.  I proudly drove that prodigal vehicle until it would barely go, dating the young and beautiful Peggy McGovney in it.  We still joke that she only married me for my car.  Sold it for $500.  A good investment.  Many times over.  As my senior year at Mizzou began, Dad passed away.  Of all the vehicles I have owned, the midnight blue Chevy Malibu (my first, Dad’s last) remains my favorite.

Lessons from Charlottesville

When 9/11 happened, I wished more peaceable Muslims had stated clearly that the actions were evil. Seems obvious enough to me that white separatists are evil. If my stance on this is news to anyone, they really don't know me. But it needs to be said. White supremacy, indeed! Such people reject the idea that every human bears the divine image. They pretend they are better than others. God is moving His plan toward a grand crescendo of praise when people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will gather to praise the Lamb who was slain for all people. Those who insist themselves to be even somewhat good--never mind "supreme"--by virtue of their pigmentation (or anything else) will not be a part of that celebration. Is there guilt enough to go around? Are there planks in the eyes of those who only care to see the unrighteousness of others? Hating haters is problematic for those who adhere to grace. The BLM website will demonstrate they are no friend to biblical truth. Lawlessness and violence in the name of self-righteousness will not produce lasting fruit worth having. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Claiming moral superiority is sheer folly, turning me into my own brand of "holier than thou" counter protestor.