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A Challenge to Write

We have met very few of our ancestors – just the few with whom we have shared, or are sharing, time on earth. For those we have met, our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and perhaps one or two great grandparents, we have only memories of what they have told us or what has been told about them. Nearly all, if not all, are from oral conversations and stories. Little, if anything is written down. A few may still be around to tell us stories they have heard or to fill us in on a few details, but the older we get, the fewer and fewer of the sources are left. As we neglect collecting these stories, we allow a lot of our family “tribal knowledge” to pass away with the generations before us.

With ancestors who have not been our contemporaries, most information, except legal documents, are lost. There is little left behind to learn anything more than when and where they lived, or if they participated in a history-making event. For most of our ancestors, the only information available is a precious few vital statistics on a census, taken by strangers, and often misspelled or otherwise inaccurate, or records of transactions of temporal business. Some left wills where they made their wishes known about the distribution of their earthly leftovers. But few left journals or diaries in which they communicated something about themselves to future generations. Many of them couldn’t read or write.

We don’t know each other very well either. It’s unfortunate that we care little about what our parents think while we are growing up. As they get older, we are uncomfortable gathering information about their early years for fear that we might have to admit that they won’t be around forever.

Of course, the stories of events in their lives are not usually of great historic importance. And there may be things they do not want us to know. What is important is that we get to know them, not the nitty gritty dirt that makes them so much like us. If we happen upon negative information about them, we ought to recognize that we’re not that much different – we’re all messed up. (Romans 3:23, & context).

Objects passed down from our ancestors are nice to have and may be a treasure in the sense that they were owned, handled, and used by them. But they are still silent and lifeless objects. Writing, on the other hand, carries and preserves thoughts from the mind of one generation to any future generation who cares to read it. How precious it would be to have the expressions of thoughts and cares of some of our grandparents.

Personal letters may exist that might talk about events that were going on in the family at the time. And, we may have a few recordings made in recent years that should be digitized and transcribed and preserved for the family.

The point? There are several. First, do what you can to collect and preserve what information is still available. Conduct and record interviews with family members – of all generations still living. Encourage families to get their memories written down and shared. StoryWorth is a good starting point, not only for older generations, but for “mid-life” generations. Eric and Jenn set us up with StoryWorth for our birthdays this year. Every Monday morning we get an email with a new question about our life that we are to write about. I’ll have to admit that it’s easy to get behind on the questions, but they are still there to manage in spurts. At the end of the year, StoryWorth puts it all together into a hard bound book. What a treasure for the family.

Whether it’s through a tool like StoryWorth, starting a notebook, or whatever it takes to start writing your own story or autobiography, start doing it. You may not feel significant enough for an autobiography. Our lives don’t need to be filled with history-making events to carry interest to our offspring. While you’re at it, write to your loved ones to express your appreciation of them. Encourage them. Challenge them. Pass along what you have learned about life. They may not care now, but many of them will wish they knew more about you after you’re gone. So, write about your feelings, beliefs, day-to-day life, etc., etc., etc..

Posted by gary

Our Monarch Butterfly Nursery

God has given Lynda and me an exciting opportunity to watch one of His creations go through one of His most amazing processes — metamorphosis.

Early this month, (June 3), I saw a Monarch Butterfly land in a couple of milkweed plants that have sprung up in the last couple of years in our backyard. Since I had my ever-ready phone/camera in my shirt pocket, I whipped it out and grabbed a shot or two. It flew off and I went about whatever it was that I was doing.

Two days later I happened by the milkweed and noticed a big monarch caterpillar on a leaf. Suddenly I was seeing them all over the plant. I checked the other milkweed and found that it was also filled with caterpillars. I wasn’t able to count them all, but there were at least twenty between the two plants.

We’ve been watching them
closely in the week and a half
since. As of today, (June 12)
we have 5 chrysalises already
and 2 or 3 more that are
preparing for that stage, one in the “J” formation.

 

Watch the trailer on this site to see just how awesome this process is:

http://www.metamorphosisthefilm.com/

Update, June 15
As of this morning, we now have 10 chrysalises! Three transformed from caterpillar this morning and I was able to shoot video of the last one. We’re not seeing caterpillars anymore, but we’ve seen butterflies around the plants. I wonder if there are more eggs. We’ll now be watching for butterflies coming fresh from their metamorphosis! Stay tuned!

Update, July 15
When I get more time I need to bring this up to date! We’ve had more than 11 chrysalises form and “hatch” and I literally have hundreds of photos. They include shots of all, or most of the stages. I need to post a few. It has been an awesome experience watching one of the many demonstrations of God’s handiwork!

I’ll try to get to the update soon.

Because He lives,
Gary

 

 

 

Posted by gary

The Message of the Bible (God speaking)

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. I don’t expect you to understand everything. (Isaiah 55:8-9), but here’s what I want you to know:
What God says about you:
I designed you
I planned you
I made you
I love you
I like you
I want you
I care about you
I bought you
I forgave you
I am with you
I have more for you

What God says about Himself
I know what I am doing


What God says that you can expect from Him:
I have given enough information – if you’re willing to pay attention – to know that I exist.
I will give you more information – if you’re willing to listen – to know that I am trustworthy to do what is best for you.
If you will ask, I will show you that you can trust Me.
If you’ll come to me, I will give you rest


What God says He expects from you
Trust in the Remedy I have provided for your sin
Make Me Lord of your life
Trust Me to get you through


What God says you need to keep in mind:
That I am God, and you are not
That My ways are not your ways
That My thoughts are not your thoughts
That I’m not obligated to do things your way
That I’m not obligated to explain myself
My ways may require pain – on your part, or on the part of those you love


And know this:
You can’t out-do My love. So –
     – Don’t presume that you are more loving than I am.
     – Don’t presume that you are wiser than I am. (“If I were God, I’d …”)
I don’t negotiate.


Also,
I can do anything
I’m not trying to confuse you – that’s the devil
I want you to have peace
I want you to have joy
My plan has an eternal perspective
     – It may involve pain
        – But only enough to accomplish my purpose in you
        – If that’s only to teach you something, the pain will end when you learn it.
         – If there is more, I’ll help you to endure it
               – It may be to learn how to comfort someone else
     – Please trust me
        – That’s your only way to peace

 

This list began on a napkin as Lynda and I were sitting in Starbucks one morning several years ago waiting for our car to be serviced across the street. We don’t remember what got the conversation started, but we began just writing down from memory what we saw as the message of the Bible. We have made modifications along the way since.

Note: There are very few original statements in this. Even where I haven’t cited the source of a statement, it is likely that I got it from someone else. No plagiarism is intended. Because He lives, Gary Crocker.

Posted by gary

A Few Things About God

  • God is Who He is. We can’t make Him into a God we like or want so that we can excuse what we’re doing.
  • The universe is not about me, and it’s not about you. It’s all about God.
  • We live in God’s creation, and He’s not obligated to do things our way.
  • “There is a god we want, and the God Who is – and they are not the same God. Real transformation begins when we stop seeking the god we want and begin seeking the God Who is.” Patrick Morley, Man in the Mirror
  • Not everything makes sense to us – but it does to God.
  • God loves us intensely.
  • Nothing catches God off guard.
  • God engineers our circumstances
    • With the purpose of conforming us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-29)
    • Using what He gets from us and those around us – sin and all
  • God wants us to trust Him.
    • In everything
    • He is trustworthy
  • We can thwart His plans for us – to our detriment.
  • He will do what it takes to get our attention. But if we continually refuse Him, He may get quieter and quieter until we can no longer hear Him. We may reach a point where he stops and gives us over to our passions and their natural results. (Romans 1:24, 26, 28)
  • God doesn’t come to our pity parties.
  • We do not live in the world as God created it. Mankind has fallen, and things are no longer the way they were supposed to be.

What some have said about God

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” Tim Keller

“As long as you do not begin with an imposed philosophical bias against the possibility of miracles, the Resurrection has as much attestation as any other ancient historical event.” Tim Keller

“I found out one day that God and I were incompatible and that one of us had to change.” Pete McKensie, Influencers West.

“… not what, in pride, we want to believe, but what, in humility, we must believe.” Randy Alcorn, about Erasing Hell, by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle, 2011.

“… not to apologize for God, but to apologize to God for presuming to be wiser and more loving than our Savior.” Ibid, Alcorn.

Posted by gary

Love Kindness

As we see our culture move farther and farther from biblical principles, I’d like to recommend Dr. Barry Corey’s book, Love Kindness, (2016, Tyndall House Publishers). Dr. Corey is the president of Biola University.

He notes that Christians, and especially American Christians have become combative in recent years battling the cultural drift. “The ‘culture wars’”, he says, “have done little to change our society, and we’ve lost many if not all these wars. As a result, the church too often is marginalized and mocked, and increasingly people are viewing the Bible as just as intolerable as our aggressive tactics.”

Corey proposes kindness instead. “To be Christian, kindness must shape us and define us. But this powerful virtue seems to be characterizing us less and not more. We have lost an understanding of the power of kindness, mistakenly dismissing it as fluff or flat. Kindness needs to be rediscovered.”

The kindness that he proposes is not to be confused with niceness, which just goes along with the flow with an equally soft core of softness in what it accepts anything that comes along.

“Kindness,” he says, “is fierce, never to be mistaken for niceness.” … “Kindness is the way of firm centers and soft edges.”  It’s not the hardness of firm centers and hard edges, or the weakness of spongy centers and soft edges. Corey’s book is “an attempt to explain what this means – not so much to define as to describe it as I’ve seen it in different people in different settings.”

I plan to re-read it as encourage other Christ followers consider it.

Because He lives,
Gary

Posted by gary

Fireproof

I urge all couples to see Fireproof.
Since it has a clear Christian viewpoint, it’s not likely to remain in theaters very long. So hurry.
See the trailer here.

Posted by gary, 1 comment

“The List”

Lynda and I were pleasantly surprised to find “The List” in our local video rental store. It’s an adaptation of Robert Whitlow’s book of the same title. We hadn’t heard of it, but Lynda had noticed a book by that title on the “best seller” rack at the Christian book store an hour or two earlier. That’s what initially caught her eye. What surprised us initially was the the mention on the jacket that there was a group Bible study guide included in the extras. The movie’s theme surprised us even more – the prevailing power of prayer. It had established actors and was very well done.

I took two lines from this movie that I’m adding to my collection of quotes:
“God’s children and His enemies make the same mistake; they underestimate the power of prayer.”
and
“I have said prayers for you that I believe will be answered after my death.” (In a note left for Lenny, one of the main characters, by his mother before her death.)
— This last one reminds me of my aunt’s prayers for my cousin.

In an article reproduced on the movie’s web site (http://www.thelist-themovie.com/index.html), filmmaker Gary Wheeler says that he tells audiences that the movie can be condensed into one phrase – “the prevailing power of prayer.” He says, “We very much had someone on set praying all day, every day, because it’s a movie about the power of prayer. We had to live it out.”

Another line that struck me, which I didn’t copy exactly, is about forgiveness. The same character who referred to our mistake about prayer, Lenny’s landlady – a retired missionary – told how she was able to forgive. She wrote down all her complaints and took them before the Lord and let them go. Then she burned the list. (This isn’t the “list” of the movie’s title.)

Bottom line: We need to be taking prayer much more seriously.
“The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.” James 5:16b (NET)

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Novelaires – More music

As of yesterday I have a total of 22 songs posted to www.novelaires.crockermedia.com, with about 25 more available to prepare and post. One of the members from the early 1960’s, Roger Jones, sent a list of eleven more songs to add to the list of ones the either performed or had ready to perform. The list is now at 77.

Gary

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New Novelaires Web site!

I have finally started to put together a web site for the Novelaires quartet in all its variations (Crocker Boys, 3 Mistakes, Over the Hill Gang, etc). So far it’s just a start with a Christmas song (Winter Wonderland) recorded in 1985 in a practice session at Dad’s home. Take a look & a listen at novelaires.crockermedia.com. Note that none of the links in the navigation panel on the left go anywhere yet. That’s just an idea of my plans for the site.
Another of their songs can be heard at www.CrockerMedia.com (Whispering Grass).

Enjoy!

Gary

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