Fun at Buck Run

We have a blast at Buck Run, as evidenced by the video below. The beauty of this prank is that the real mark of the con thinks he's in on it. You'll see three "victims" of the prank, but #3--Pete Wright--is the guy we are really setting up. He swears vengeance.

Seeing Christ in My Dad

The photo above was taken at our house on Rua Jonathas Pedrosa in Manaus during my first year of life. I love this picture. Dad is letting me stand on my own two feet, but he's close enough to catch me if I fall (and with a head that big, a kid is bound to be topheavy!). That summarizes his parenting and our relationship for the past 49 years.

Years ago I found a poem that J. Sidlow Baxter, a favorite of my dad's, had included in one of his books. Beatrice Cleland wrote the poem for her pastor, but it immediately reminded me of my precious father whose character always reflected the life of His Savior. May others be able to apply this poem to me as well as I can to my father, Wallace York.

Not only by the words you say
Not only in your deeds confessed
But in the most unconscious way
Is Christ expressed.

Was it a beatific smile,
Or holy light upon your brow?
Oh no, I felt His presence when
You laughed just now.

For me, 'twas not the truth you taught,
To you so clear, to me so dim,
But when you came to me you brought
A sense of Him.

And from your eyes, He beckons me
And from your lips, His love is shed,
Till I lose sight of you
And see the Christ instead.

My Father Is with My Father

Sunday evening, May 10, 2009, my father, Wallace York, went to be with his Savior who redeemed him and fitted him for eternity through His atoning work on Calvary and His resurrection from the grave. In my deep grief, I have an unspeakable, indescribable joy. He let the peace of Christ rule his heart, so that peace did not leave him in his death. I will share more later, but my son, Michael, has jotted down some initial thoughts that aptly capture my dad's heart and life. As you read it here, please pray for my mother, my sisters, and all my family as we grieve and rejoice together.

Visitation will be held at the Morgan Funeral Home in Princeton, KY, Tuesday May 12, 4-8PM CDT. The funeral will be at 1PM Wednesday at the Southside Baptist Church in Princeton, KY. At his request memorials may be given to Baptist Faith Missions, P.O. Box 471280 Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280.

A Little Less Conversation and a Little More Action Please

A lack of perspective brings a distorted view of reality. The swine flu spreading through the world makes my point. The World Health Organization has warned that this strain of flu is blooming into a “pandemic” and has urged nations to begin measures to counter it as best they can. As I write this, 150 have died in Mexico, 1 has died in the United States, and perhaps several dozen in other places in the world. As a result, this disease dominates the news and is making people fearful of contact with others. Right now Tanya and I are actually in Brownsville, Texas, where the first casualty in the US crossed the border from Mexico, and we have seen local people wearing health masks in hopes that it might prevent them from catching the disease.

Yet you might be surprised to know that the common flu that we are familiar with causes about 35,000 deaths per year in the United States, and between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths worldwide. The numbers from the swine flu are paltry compared to that. In addition, every year 2.1 million children five years old or younger die of diarrhea caused by the rotavirus. We have lived every day this year in peace and tranquility without any news reports about this killer disease while about a million little children have already died because of it. Automobile accidents accounted for 37,313 US deaths last year, but we aren’t afraid to get in our cars and drive to the grocery, even though the likelihood of dying in an accident—even in Brownsville, TX—is far greater than contracting and dying from the swine flu.

We often care more about the dramatic than we do about the truly perilous. New dangers shock our sensibilities more than grave dangers. Threats that we have learned to live with for a long while fade from our consciousness, even though the risk may not be reduced.

The economic crisis gets our attention far more than the spiritual crisis the world is experiencing. We feel a deeper concern with our 401k’s than we do with the declining moral climate in our nation. Many churches expend more energy changing worship styles than they ever do strategizing to reach their communities.

The greatest loss of perspective is that we have learned to view those who are lost around us with indifference and detachment. While they perish, we play. While they die without Christ, we live without telling them. Nothing is more real than hell, but one wouldn’t know that by the way most Christians live.

God grant us perspective.

Final Four!!! I Made the Final Four!!!

Thanks to all your help, I made it to the Final Four of SBC Blog Madness. Now I need you to vote for me again by clicking here and making the right selection. I don't imagine I can win; iMonk is pretty tough to beat. Plus, he's got my respect as he is a fellow Kentucky Baptist. But let's not let him have a cakewalk. I figure 700 votes can beat him. Vote early, vote often, vote for me.

Blog Madness Round 2

Okay, friends. I need your vote again. Thanks to you, the least prolific blog in the SBC has made it to the Sweet Sixteen! I never thought that not writing could be so popular. But now I'm out to prove a point--that silence might be a good thing, that restraint in sharing one's opinion might actually be prudent. Will you vote for that? Wouldn't it be funny if a blog that actually says very little were to win? So help me make a point. Vote for me in the SOUTH DIVISION by clicking here and then voting for me in the South division (I also endorse Russ Moore in the East, Trevin Wax in the Midwest, and 9 Marks, Steve McCoy, or Micah Fries in the West).

I may not write much, but . . .

Vote for me in blog madness, South division . . . OR I'LL START WRITING MORE OFTEN, subjecting an unprepared world to my unreserved opinions.

And I might even post a video of the annoying McDonalds filet-o-fish commercial.