I was reading in my devotions and came across this quote, “Look back on all the way the LORD your God has led you. Do you not see it dotted with ten thousand blessings in disguise?” Blessings in disguise, that’s a good way to put it. Those times when God providentially nudged you in this direction or that. The times you didn’t get the job you knew was “perfect” for you. That house that was “just what you needed” or the school you had your heart set on. When I looked back over my life and consider the path I’ve taken I am amazed because I never would have chosen it if given the chance! Yet the people along the way who have most impacted my life and who, to this day, are some of my dearest friends are there because of those “blessings in disguise.” Those unexpected turns, those disappointing second or third choices that put me in the right place at the right time.

I wouldn’t take anything for the life I’ve lived and the places I have served. When I look back I’m not left wondering where I would be or what I’d being doing if not for “fate.” I’m left standing in awe of a loving God who providentially works all things for His glory and my good. I’m left with profound gratitude for a God too loving to let me have my way. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t always enjoyed it or appreciated it. Too often I was ticked. But time and distance have shown me the grace and mercy of God and the wisdom of His ways. My prayer is that, as I grow older, I will be less prone to argue and complain and more willing to rejoice and praise. How is that working? Some better but a long way to go. I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

What a great day Sunday! This past Sunday was Senior Adult Sunday. A day we set aside to recognize and honor our senior members. I commented Sunday that many do not want to embrace that title unless they are standing at a cash register, “Did you get my senior discount?” The Bible says, “The silver-haired head is a crown of glory.” We are to honor those who live long and well. We are blessed to have a large number of senior adults as part of our church family. Their years of faithful service and devotion are a rich blessing to us. Their example of faith and commitment serve as a constant reminder of why we need the church. I say again, “Thank you senior adults. Thank you for your love and faithfulness. Thank you for your continued faithfulness and your prayers.”

I also want to express my appreciation to Ed and Betty Roseborough and their service as leaders of our Keenager ministry. Thank you for all of your planning and coordinating. Thank you for caring for our senior members. Ed and Betty have been serving Trinity for quite awhile. How long? Well let me put it this way. They used to lead the youth choir and now those former youth choir members qualify as Keenagers! I’m not going to say anything about Ed and Betty’s age but…

Thanks to all of you for a great day Sunday. Also thanks to Buck Clayton and Nancy Morgan for sharing their testimonies during the morning worship. I look forward to seeing all of you this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

Praise the Lord for a great weekend! Thanks to Tina Downing who did an outstanding job organizing and overseeing our Easter-Eggstravaganza. We had an army of volunteers to handle the crowd of nearly 300 who attended this event. Thanks to all or you who worked to make this a great success. And wasn’t it a joy to see the worship center full on Sunday morning? We had a great crowd in worship as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord.

The whole week was a wonderful experience. I will always remember Easter 2010. That’s the week I became a total “idiot.” I knew it was going to happen, I just didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly and dramatically. The minute she was born I changed. Within hours I was assaulting people with pictures. I had become one of “those people.” I have never been a picture person. I was always complaining about Rheadon and her camera. “What are you doing? Just leave it alone. Let’s go.” Now I’m saying, “Oh, did you get a picture of that? Oh, look at this one. No, it’s not the same picture her eyebrow is raised in this one.” It’s embarrassing…but not enough to make me stop. I’m embracing my role – get used to it it’s only going to get worse.
Thanks to all of you for your love, support and prayers. By the way, is it just me or was she the best-looking person in worship this past Sunday? Okay I’ll stop.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

Wow, what a weekend! Can you believe it – 70 degrees on Friday, sleet and snow Saturday and Sunday! I was in Springfield, Missouri last week for the National Homeschool Basketball Tournament and made the 5-hour drive from Springfield to Tulsa Saturday afternoon into the evening (it normally takes just under 3 hours). I’ve spent this morning trying to dig out from under all the stuff that accumulated on my desk while I was gone and anticipating the week ahead. This could prove a busy week. Our granddaughter is due this Saturday. I’m hoping she cooperates and comes at a decent hour but who knows with that Sasser/Choate blood in her she could be something of a problem. Oh, who am I kidding we all know she’s going to be perfect.

I do want to remind you of a couple of things. Don’t forget the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Your gifts to this offering enable us to take the gospel to North America. Through your faithful giving we have missionaries serving throughout the U.S. and Canada. Your gifts have helped make our Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Organization the third largest disaster relief work in the country. In many cases our disaster relief workers are feeding and providing the meals for the Read Cross in addition to our own work. Your gift to Annie Armstrong is a great investment in Kingdom work.

I also want to remind you of the Easter Egg-Stravaganza coming up on April 3. This is our gift to the community. We need lots of volunteers and there are still plastic eggs to be filled with candy. If you can help with this event see Tina Downing.

I look forward to seeing you and your family as we gather for worship and celebration this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

I want to encourage you, if you can, to attend the Second Annual Prayer and Fasting Convocation for Tulsa County. This is a meeting for churches across Tulsa County for the purpose of prayer. We will be praying for a fresh movement of the Spirit of God in our churches and across our nation. We will also be praying for revival here and around the world.

As a part of the meeting we’ll be hearing a report from some brothers about what God is doing in Pakistan. The meeting is this Friday and Saturday, March 5 & 6 at Carbondale Assembly of God. Carbondale is located at 2335 W. 51st. Friday’s meeting begins at 7:00 pm and will conclude at 9:00 pm. Saturday is from 9:00 am to noon. I hope to see you there.

I also want to encourage you to begin praying about what you can give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. 50% of the North American Mission Board’s funding comes from this offering. Your gifts help with planting churches, providing Disaster Relief and reaching North American for Christ.
I hope to see you and your family as we gather for worship and celebration this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

How many times have you written the wrong year so far? It happens to me every year. I’m usually a week or two into the New Year by the time I consistently demonstrate that I know what year it is. We ended 2009 on a positive note despite the bad weather. Financially we ended the year with a healthy balance. We are within $17,000 of being debt free and we exceeded our Lottie Moon goal of $7,000! Keep in mind that in August we faced a shortfall for the first time in years. God is gracious.

Looking ahead to 2010 we are hoping to payoff our debt by March freeing up funds for some needed repairs. In addition we hope to put renewed efforts into our Sunday School and outreach. We hope to strengthen our ties with Clinton Middle School and engage in more aggressive community outreach. As we look ahead we want to keep in mind that our goal is to assist individuals in discovering life in Christ; in developing a vibrant, living faith; and in discerning their unique mission within the body of Christ.

Join me in praying that 2010 will be a great year here at Trinity. I look forward to seeing you this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

Christmas? Are you kidding? What happened to Labor Day? I was told this would happen I just didn’t think it would happen this soon. The other day I was looking for the coaster I keep on my desk here in the office. I looked all over the desk. I moved papers and books and looked behind file folders – it was gone. I moved my drink three times while looking for the coaster before I realized my drink was sitting in the coaster! Okay maybe age has something to do with that but it was mostly because I was busy, had a lot on my mind, and I was trying to finish up a project.

My point is busyness can cause you to lose focus. Busyness can make you miss the obvious. Too often that happens this time of year. There are things to do, people to see, programs to attend and parties to go to and before long Christmas is over and you never saw it. You remember singing the carols and the kids were so cute when they sang but you missed it. The family got together presents were opened, you ate too much but it is all a blur.

Can I let you in on a little secret? Often the one who is most guilty is the one telling you that you need to be careful. The one who too often looks back on their Christmas celebration with regret -is the pastor. “How are we doing on the offering?” “Is everything ready for the service?” “What about Christmas Eve?” “Did I get by to see everyone?” “I’ve got to be ready the 1st of January with that…” and so it goes. Another Christmas is in the book, every item is checked off, now what about next year? My point is not to gain sympathy or to claim that I have it any worse than any of you but rather to say we both struggle to keep priorities right.
Pray for me as I pray for you – that we both have a peaceful and focused Christmas. Merry Christmas and I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, the love of God. Thanksgiving and Christmas always turns my attention towards God’s love. He had every right to condemn and destroy the creation in response to Adam’s sin. The rules were, “The soul that sins dies.” That’s pretty simple and straightforward. It doesn’t require a rulebook, a team of referees or instant replay. You sin, you do anything that is contrary to God’s command or is in violation of His holiness – you die, game over. But God chose to love. More than that He chose to be wild and extravagant with His love.

Years ago I read a book on the parables by Lloyd Ogilvie entitled The Autobiography of God. Ogilvie’s point was that the parables where a way for God to say to us, “This is who I am.” His chapter of the “Lost Son” from Luke 15 was The Prodigal God. I thought that was a strange title until I discovered the term “prodigal” means wild or extravagant. Webster’s dictionary has it, “recklessly spendthrift.” It means to spend until there is nothing left. That is what God has done for us in Christ. That is the wonder of the Gospel. As we enter the Christmas season I hope that you will take time to reflect on God’s wild extravagant love for us. Imagine God so loved hopeless rebels like you and me that He gave His best – His one and only Son. He stood in your place. He bore your burden. He paid for your sin. Not because you begged Him to. Not because you deserved it. Not because you were caught up in a circumstance not of your making. He did it because He chose to love you. He made that choice when you were at your worst, a sinner rightly deserving His eternal wrath. That’s good news. That’s the Gospel. That’s the story of Christmas.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

There are just a couple of things I want to do with this space this week. First I want to take a moment and say, “Happy Birthday” to Sylvia Vowell. Sylvia turned 96 on Tuesday. Sylvia, we love and appreciate you and we want you to know that we miss you and we pray that you will be able to worship with us again soon. Thank you for your faithfulness to the church through the years. Thank you for your smiling face and your continued encouragement. God bless you Sylvia and we pray healing, strength and peace for you.

Second, I wan to remind you Trunk ‘r Treat is just around the corner. Thanks to Tina Downing, Elaine Hill, Robin Haynes and Lessie Hill for all their work in getting ready for the big night. Don’t forget we still need lots of candy and we need YOU to come and decorate your car and hand out candy. There will be prizes for the best decorated car, best kid’s costume, best adult costume and a pumpkin carving contest. There may ever be another surprise or two. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to give a gift to our community. Saturday October 31 from 6:30-8:30 pm in the west parking lot.

I hope you’ll join us for worship on Sundays. Sunday mornings we will be working our way through the book of Romans and on Sunday evening we are looking at questions. Questions related to the Christian life. This past Sunday we ask the question, “Is there such a thing as a carnal Christian?” Join us on Sunday evening as we continue to ask and answer important questions. Don’t forget this Sunday morning, October 25, we will be observing the Lord’s Supper in our service.

I’ll see you this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

It seems that regularly I’m reminded of just how weak, stubborn and sinful we can be. By “we” I mean, we, the fallen children of Adam. The older I get and the longer I walk with Christ the more aware I am of my own failings. I find it increasingly difficult to be critical of others. My own black heart too often astounds me. I have every reason to rejoice and be grateful due to God’s abundant blessing. Yet I am prone to discouragement, disappointment and rebellion. Oh I manage to hide it – after all I could lose my job! I manage to keep things in check not because I have no desire but because I fear the consequences of being caught. Why is that?

I so readily identify with Robert Robinson who wrote,
“Let Thy grace, Lord, 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, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”
Why is that? How is it that one who has been brought from death to life, who has been the recipient of God’s profound blessing could be prone to wander? Prone to leave? It’s because I’m in the process of being made holy – I’m not there yet. I’m a fallen man, living in a fallen world, who is stumbling towards holiness. That’s one of the reasons why I so desperately need the church. I can’t make it alone…and God never intended me to. When Christ saved me, He made me part of a body, a family, the church. As we learn to live the faith together we spur one another on to love and good deeds. We support, encourage and pray for one another so that together we might obtain the prize.

There are those who avoid the church because it is full of hypocrites and sinners. Well I’m one sinner who’s grateful for the company!
I’ll see you Sunday as we seek to walk together for the glory of God and the good of His church.

Rod