Three Harrys – Part 3

The third Harry H. in my life is Harry Hanger. My first contact with Harry was when I received an email from him regarding the text of a sermon I had sent to our mutual friend, Hank Mattox. Harry was quite encouraging in what he wrote.

Perhaps a year or so after Harry’s email Vickie and I moved back to Chesterfield and Hank encouraged me to attend the small group of men he met with on Tuesday mornings. Knowing that I needed to be in a small group I accepted Hank’s invitation and that is where I met Harry. Harry soon asked me if he could pick me up on his way to the group and I said “yes”. I wasn’t working at the time and my job search wasn’t going well and I needed all the encouragement I could get. When we are in need it is good to have friends and brothers (and sisters).

I didn’t realize it at the time but Harry was driving about ten miles out of his way, each way, to pick me up and bring me home. I know the drive he took well because three years later Vickie and I moved to a home just down the street from where Harry and Elaine lived at the time he was picking me up. Those early morning drives with Harry were sweet. Harry is committed to Jesus and the Bible and he has a sharp mind that critiques things through Biblical truth and the centrality of Jesus – so our relationship and conversations started off at pretty mature level. Plus, both of us had been followers of Jesus for many years and so we could draw on experience and the ebb and flow of life as we discussed things.

Harry was the facilitator of the small group and he did a fine job, as he would continue to do until ALS forced him to remain home on Tuesdays, but that was in the future; when I met Harry ALS had not yet invaded his life – or if it had it was not discernable.

One of the ironies of me attending this particular group, which is associated with Needle’s Eye Ministries in Richmond, VA., is that around 1989 I was in a men’s group that met down the street from my current group and that particular group was a spinoff of the group I’m currently in. My current group had a member who left it (with its blessing) in 1989 to start another group of which I became a member. That first group was integral to my life in many ways, and in a sense continues to be even though it no longer meets. From 1989 – mid 1996 I met Wednesday mornings with men who had a significant influence on my life – without that group I may never have ventured to seminary.

Those early morning drives with Harry were refreshing and encouraging.

The Wheelbarrow – 5

The yellow rental truck was packed tight, floor to ceiling, front to back. Everything was out of the house and on the truck, everything from the garage was on the truck, including the wheelbarrow.

Sasha from Ukraine, visiting our friend Joe (Sasha was built like an American football lineman), kept saying, “Books, more books,” as he carried box after box down the second-floor stairs, then down the porch steps and onto the truck. If Sasha could only see the books now he’d realize that he’d gotten off light twenty years ago. All pastors should have book allowances built into their compensation package; I had book allowances and I used them.

Even though the rental house we were moving to in Beverly, MA. was on a much smaller lot than our Chesterfield, VA home, we knew we’d take the wheelbarrow – for no matter how small the lot, there is always a place to grow plants. We also had house plants in the truck – we’ve always had house plants.

We lived in Beverly three years and we often think we should have stayed – but that’s another story and one which I may never write about, at least publically. Vickie worked her gardening magic at 3 Museum Road, Beverly, MA. There were flowers along both sides of our home, even tomato plants on one of the sides. Then along our rear fence she planted a perennial garden – this is when we learned about the “friendship gate” which I’ve written about. We discovered a paved path outside the back door which had been covered over the years by grass – we uncovered it. While we didn’t use the wheelbarrow as much as we did in Chesterfield, we did use it to haul dirt and turf and plants.

An important side benefit of gardening in a neighborhood is that it provides an opportunity to meet your neighbors. It works like this; you are outside gardening, your neighbor comes outside to do something, you speak to your neighbor and then your neighbor speaks to you – the whole thing is pretty neat. This is how we met our neighbors in the back and our neighbors on one side of us. The neighbors on our other side greeted us as soon as we arrived – that was an immediate answer to prayer…maybe I’ll pick that up on the next post in this series.

“Good For All People”

This morning I was struck by the following:

“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people,” (1 Thessalonians 5:15).

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we sought good for others? If we sought good for “all people”? Sadly we are selective in who we seek good for – we have a screening process and if you don’t make the cut well then it’s your own fault. Who doesn’t make the cut?

Those who don’t think like we do. Who don’t behave like we do. Who don’t vote like we do. Who don’t look like we do. Who don’t speak like we do. Who don’t believe like we do. Who don’t fly the same flag as we do. How long is the list?

Thankfully a holy God died for me, an unholy man – someone who did not make the cut, who could not make the cut. Now what? Now what am I to do? Whom shall I love?

God loved all on the Cross, shall I do any less? God sought the good of all on the Cross, shall I do any less?

Better to be rejected by others while loving them than to reject them, to push them away.

Better to “always seek after that which is good…for all people” than to usurp the place of God as judge.

Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you,” (John 20:21).

Will I join Jesus in seeking good for all people? Will I do this today?

Will you?