The Rankin File

Years ago when we would drive back to Orange on vacation we knew my Mom would worry the entire time that we were on the road (it was a bit over 6 hours), so we would tell her we planned to leave Monday morning to start home. Then, we would bed the kids down in the back of the Chevette (you could do stuff like that back then), and leave Sunday night after church, and drive through the night. Then when we got to Orange early the next morning, we would call and say, “We’re already here in town. We’ll see you in a few hours,” and we would have cheated her out of some worry.

The last few days I have discovered that I am more like my Mom than I care to admit. My youngest son, being a child of the internet generation, had been looking for a car to replace his Ford (Found. On. Road. Dead.) which croaked on his way to work a few weeks ago. He called; he bargained; he negotiated; he searched high and low and finally found the car he wanted in…Ohio. After working to get it financed locally (the Ohio title was apparently a problem with local institutions) he got the Dodge people to finance the auto. So this week was his big week.

He found a cheap flight to Columbus (by way of a long layover in Orlando), got an Uber to pick him up at the airport to take him to the dealership, and left the car lot with his Challenger. He spent the first night with a friend in Ohio (I said he was a child of the internet) and then started the long drive home. Now the boy is 25 years old, but the Dad in me has been concerned ever since he decided to do this. So I have had to work to not show that I had managed to put together in my mind every worst case scenario that could possibly happen on a drive through six states. I’ve have found myself quoting Scripture to myself, “Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be known unto God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7-7) But, it has been a challenge for me to find my “stop worrying button.”

Even a pagan should know it’s stupid to worry about things that you have no control over, and as a Christian, I should be able to rest in the fact that I have a God that I know is in control of all things. Yet, I did not breathe easy until I saw that new car pull into our drive late yesterday evening. What was the bottom line of my learning experience through all this? God’s promise that “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) He can somehow take my doubting heart and use it for His glory, and for my good (even when I can’t find my “stop worrying button”).

Dixie and I have been watching the first couple of seasons of “The Crown” and I found myself understanding John Lithgow’s portrayal of Winston Churchill better now than I did a few years ago when I first watched it. Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint a portrait of the Prime Minister for his 80^th birthday, and Churchill despised it. He complained that the painting “makes me look as if I were straining at a stool.” But, later on he opines about the real reason he hated the portrait: he was the old man in that frame. He despaired that he was not the young leader who was doing all that he could to keep Great Britain in its “rightful place in the world.”

When I look in the mirror to shave every morning I notice that my 67, almost 68 years, have taken a toll on me. The lines in my face are more prominent, as are the bags under my eyes. Of course, the dark hair is no longer dark, and I find myself grateful that there is hair there at all. Last night I drove to Lufkin for a football game and by the time I got home, I felt like I had been “ridden hard and put up wet.” I ached from sitting in the stands, and then from the long drive. I also realized on the drive home that the glare of headlights made it difficult to see, and I remember how my Dad hated driving at night when he was older. Yes, I have become the grumpy old man that Neil Young sang about.

All that being said, I am grateful to be alive. I can still love and be loved. I can still preach from time to time, although the font is bigger in my notes, and my mind is not as sharp as it once was. I still enjoy worshipping with God’s people, although I may miss what is being said when prayer requests are made, and sing “through” when the word in the hymnal reads “though” (those ‘r’s can be tough to see sometimes). I have many wonderful memories, and, Lord willing, maybe not many, but a realistic number of “good” years ahead.

So, although I may be in the winter of my life (I’m still hoping it is late autumn) I plan, by God’s grace, to keep living life to the fullest to the glory of God. As the Shorter Catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever,” and may the Lord give me the strength to do just that!

It has been right at two years since I posted on this blog. Now I realize that blogs are so “early 21^st century,” but I thought that I would use this venue to share some thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head. Last Sunday morning we had some of our new church members share their membership vows in front of the congregation. Yes, Presbyterians make vows much as those who are testifying at a trial do, or as a man and a woman do when they marry.

We answer five questions. The first two have to do with what we believe, and the last three with what, by God’s grace, we will attempt to do. The questions aren’t complicated; they are straight-forward and get to the heart of what a Christian should be.

Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?

Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?

Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?

Do you promise to support the church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?

Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the church, and promise to study its purity and peace?  

These questions sum up quite well the direction that Paul gave to the church at Ephesus in his letter to the Ephesians:

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

I am so grateful that these are things that we don’t have to do alone, but together with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Soli Deo Gloria!