Emily, Jacques, Steve and Colette. All doing very well--except tired!

In two weeks I will be heading to Seattle to see my mother and sister. There is a 95 year difference between mother and Jacques, and I stand between the two. Makes me think about life and its span, its beginning and its ending. And makes me think about what we do with what is between the two.

Carl, the pastor of the church we are attending here in Greensboro, spoke today about vocation--the call and response. The word career comes from a Latin word meaning to run. It implies seeking a goal and pushing towards it. The word vocation comes from a Latin word meaning to call or be called. It implies a goal that someone else has set before us--which is a Christian view of life.

At the end of his life Paul wrote, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith... (2 Timothy 4:7). Connecting these words with what he had repeatedly said about his life-work, he was saying that the thing God had called him to he had successfully done and the work God had called him to he had successfully finished. In Isaiah 6 the prophet hears the voice of God, and it is a voice of calling--an invitation. And the prophet responds. The voice clearly spells out some of the hardships ahead, but the prophet responds anyway. In both these men their life work was set by a voice from God and an acceptance of that voice. They were called and they responded.

That call from God is what sets the stage for meaning between birth and death. It is in hearing the call that we are invited into the life which is most fulfilling and it is in responding to that call that we experience that life. Such is the case for the span of our existence on earth, and such is the case for each day.

While few of us will hear a voice from heaven in the same way that Paul and Isaiah did, nevertheless God is calling and if we tune our ears to his voice we will hear it. It may not be to something dramatic and it may not be to something many will note, but if what we do we are doing with a genuine desire to be doing the call of God, and if we do it with the enthusiasm and commitment that that call merits, then it is probably of God. It will fill a need in the world and it will fill a need we have in our hearts. And if we are on the wrong path, but sincerely seek to be on the right one, God will speak--he is not a God who hides...

Many people today are running. They are on a career track, pressing forwards as fast and as hard as they can towards a goal that they have set for themselves. God wants to free us from that running--and he does it by calling us. He offers us a vocation. When we respond to his invitation instead of pursuing our own we may have to work harder than we would for a career, (take up your cross daily and follow me...)but we will find that we are not alone on the track. And we will find meaning in the most menial or the most glamorous--the meaning of being co-workers with God himself...

A little boy named Jacques (Steve's mother's last name) Emanuel (my grandfather's middle name) Content was born this morning at around 7:45. 7 pounds 14 ounces. All systems in good working order. Mother doing very well. Father very happy. Grandparents very happy. Photo or two to follow as approved by agents (mom and dad). Praise be to God!

On Friday we said goodbye to Harry and Ellen Bruce, who had come with us from Ireland and spent just under three weeks here in Greensboro. They were great to have around, and real friends for Colette, as well as great customers for the local Subway sandwich shop and all the malls. What a privilege to be part of the family of God and share experiences and opportunities with each other and their children.


Then tonight, Sunday night, there was a gathering of the Ackles-Content clan. JJ couldn't be there because she is in New York, but Steve, Emily, Colette, Steve’s mother and I were all together at our house. The Olympics were just finishing and the closing ceremonies were in the background, but they were not the reason for the gathering. The reason was we were making final preparations for tomorrow's early morning run to the hospital and the birth of our second grandchild, a boy this time. We did last minute things, made exact plans for the morning, talked nervously, and prayed.

The birth of our first grandchild, Colette, was different. We did not know when she would come—it was up to her! This time, because of complications last time, Emily and Steve made the decision to have a c-section. So it is not up to the new one—he is entering the world on someone else’s time table, not his own. He is full term and comfortable, but little does he know what awaits him in the next few hours. Change is hardly a sufficient word to describe what he is about to face—but it is hardly a sufficient word to describe what Emily, Steve and Colette are about to face as well. And probably grandma and grandpa too. There will certainly be more soon on this event in this blog, but for tonight I am reminded of the words of Psalm 139:14 and 15, For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

And just a short p.s.—for some reason I have been thinking recently about an ad I saw in a paper in Ireland. No connection with the upcoming birth, I am sure, but it struck me as strange and I have not mentioned it before. We may have the same in the US, and I could just be out of step with the way things are done now. In any case I have not noticed it before. The ad was for pre-wedding cosmetic/surgical procedures… The ad did not specify which parts of the body could be treated, I assume that would be optional, but whatever was chosen the claim was that that part would be better looking, at least for a time. The procedures noted were guaranteed to last for at least three months—then there was no guarantee that reality would not strike. Seems a bit bizarre and possible could give new spin to a popular saying, first better then worse…

Nancy and I are back home. At least we have returned to the United States and to our comfortable house in Greensboro, NC. The flight from Dublin was uneventful (which is how I like it), despite the full plane across the Atlantic. It seems that most flights these days are pretty full, which makes sense for the airlines. I read horror stories about some people’s flying experiences but I have not had any significant problems. This time the plane (Boeing, of course…) was comfortable, the food adequate (I do not fly expecting to be served a gourmet meal), and the in-flight entertainment consisted of individual screens (albeit small) with a plethora of options. Our luggage arrived in good shape, except that my bike box had been slit completely open by security, and the bike itself was only kept from falling out by one small piece of duct tape that had evaded the inspector’s knife. Once again duct tape to the rescue!

Harry and Ellen Bruce, two of the four children of our friends David and Zoe Bruce from Northern Ireland, are with us for a two week visit. I think the 95 degree weather that greeted us on arrival has been a bit disorienting to them, but it makes outdoor activities more possible than some of the cloud and rain in Ireland—at least if one can tolerate the mid-day heat. They have also both learned the value of the siesta, Harry shared a birthday with Colette, and they are good fun and help to have with us.

Returning to Greensboro raises once again the question of place. Fifty years ago in his book A Place for You, the Swiss physician-psychiatrist Dr. Paul Tournier mused about that topic. He said that everyone needs a place, that is somewhere that they call home, somewhere that they feel comfortable and safe, relaxed and accepted. He also said that if a person does not have a place then their life will be a journey to find one, and the void will impact all they do, all the relationships they develop and all aspects of their lives. Once finding that place, however, he said that wherever a person went there would be a degree of comfort and security—of self-contentment and tranquility.

This morning I was reading in Genesis about Abraham’s pilgrimage from Ur to Haran to Canaan to Egypt and back to Canaan. I read of God’s promise to him of a place, of a land stretching from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. And I read of Abraham settling down in the Promised Land—claiming that place by setting up a home, grazing his cattle in the fields, and building an altar. Here was a place for him—a touchstone, a familiar location where he and the land would be one.

But then I mused on the New Testament’s view of place. It is much more transitory, much less stationery, much less settled. In Philippians we are told that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). In Hebrews 13:14 we are told that Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come. In James the Christian community is addressed as a community of aliens and strangers, as in I John we are told to not love the things of this world. It seems that in the New Testament there is an intentional distancing from attachment to place and in its place is an attachment to person, to a person, that is Jesus Christ. What this means is that the security, permanence and touchstone for the Christian, what place provided for Abraham has been replaced by the person Jesus Christ.

If this is accurate then there are a couple important consequences. One is that the promise of a land which was made to Abraham, and which has today taken on great political importance in the reemergence of Israel, is not something to be fulfilled in the physical sense. If followers of Christ are truly heirs to all the promises made to Abraham then the promise of a place has been transformed—not abrogated but transformed to something greater. We are co-heirs with Christ not only of a small piece of real estate but of the entire realm of the kingdom of God. And today we experience that inheritance in the power of the Holy Spirit. The other change is that no matter where we live the greatest allegiance, identity and security is to come from our relationship with the person of Christ, not the physical land or house. And that means that when we are secure in Christ we have a security which enables us to be at peace and at home wherever we are.

Now, having said that I still think there is something wise in what Dr. Tournier said as it is applied to a physical place. I still think that it is important to have a home base where we feel safe, accepted and at peace. As Christians the importance of such is not primary anymore, but it is still significant—and it is one of the calls and challenges of the church. My first call out of seminary was to First Presbyterian Church of Fresno. That church adopted as a motto the title of Dr. Tournier’s book, A Place for You. That is a wonderful motto for any church—and a challenging goal as well. To be a place for people from different backgrounds, with different abilities and disabilities, with different perspectives and different needs; to be a place where those varied people feel at home, feel secure, feel needed and valued. Jesus made all sorts of people feel at home with him, and when a church reflects that in its fellowship, worship and witness, then it is truly being the body of Christ.

To have a physical place that is a place for you is important. In fact I tell pastors I have had the privilege to mentor that unless they love not only the people they minister with but also the place they minister in they cannot minister effectively. Physical place is important. But to take our primary identity from any place or to devote time and resources to a home over all else or to put allegiance to a nation over allegiance to the kingdom of God, is a form of idolatry and false worship.

Nancy and I are a bit out of place. We return to a house we thoroughly enjoy, a family that we love, an area with historical and geographical interest, and we are finding a welcoming church family. We are arranging the house and the yard, even looking for a good place for a hammock...That gives us a sense of place.


But our ancestors, particularly Nancy’s, at great cost and sacrifice moved west as pioneers, and we feel a little bit like traitors. And we do miss the particular beauty of the Northwest, family there and the church community that is still such a part of us. But we are in the place God wants us, and we are with the One who is our place. He is the One who was with us where we were before, is with us now, and will be with us in the future—to be our place, wherever we may be. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age… (Matthew 28:20).

Life is lived in chapters. The first chapter opens when we are born. The final chapter closes when we die, at which point through faith a new book begins! Some chapters are longer than others, and some are happier than others. But they add up, year after year, page after page.


Nancy and I are on the cusp of finishing another chapter in our lives. It has been a very happy chapter, thanks to the call of God and the grace of his people. Just over two months ago we landed in Ireland, made our way to Carlow, and began a venture in the unknown at Carlow Presbyterian Church. We had received some information from people in Carlow and knew that we would be welcomed, but we knew little beyond that—the chapter was not yet written.

But as the days went on, and the pages were filled, they were pages of joy and adventures. We met wonderful people, some of whom will remain friends for life. We visited some beautiful parts of the Emerald Isle. We shared in the pain of a church which had faced serious difficulties, but a church with people committed to the ministry, committed to Christ, and with hopes for the future.


I cycled lanes near the manse and Nancy walked them— I up hills and she along the river. We were invited into homes and shared meals with people we had never known. And we renewed friendships in Dublin and Lisburn which we had made before. We were taken places by new friends, shown parts of the area only locals know, and told pieces of history that may not appear in books. And we were fed and fed and fed…Potatoes and sweets and potatoes and lamb and potatoes and desert and potatoes and tea…


The chapter was filled with talking, sharing, praying, renewing, and making new beginnings with farmers and city workers and businessmen and others. A Tuesday morning men’s group, a golf outing, prayer for the persecuted church, a service in a barn, a picnic in a home and many other events made the chapter move quickly.

And the anchor was worship. Sunday mornings at 11:00. Nancy doing a children’s message and I leading the service. I was preaching out of Ephesians and it seemed to speak to us all. And there was the Wednesday evening service as well. There was laughter and tears, singing and praying—all the things that God sends us and we send back to him.


Tomorrow morning a plane leaves around 11:00 a.m. Nancy, I and Harry and Ellen Bruce will be on board, heading from Dublin to Newark to Greensboro. For Nancy and me it will be going back home—to family and a new family member soon to arrive. For Harry and Ellen it will be a visit, new experiences and, hopefully, something they will look back on with happy memories.

For Nancy and me this means this chapter will be closed. Not the relationships, not the memories, not the impact, but the time. We will look back and smile and thank God. And we will look forward to the time when we can renew the relationships and visit again. But in the meantime new chapters will be written and new adventures will be had. Some may be sad, some happy. But this chapter will be in the book of our lives. And it will be a good one—thanks to the people who have shared it with us and the God who brought us together…Praise be to God.