Thursday, May 11, 2017

My Dad in memorial

Carl Jentes finished his journey on this earth on April 10th and at his memorial April 22nd I wanted to say much, but was not able to get more than the first few sentences out before I got choked up. Here is what I wish I could have said:
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The first assignment I got in one of my college Bible classes was to write an essay on my father, because so much of our views of our Heavenly Father are shaped by our view of our earthly fathers.
While I did not dig up that old essay, with a couple more decades of hindsight I can see the wisdom. The truth my professor aimed to show can be seen as Carl Jentes exemplified the Lord to me:

My father personified faithfulness, so I knew my Heavenly Father is worthy of all my trust. 

He was faithful to his own duties. So many of his coworkers through the years with have attested that he did his work fully,  not cutting corners  nor passing of work onto others. When asked to perform a task, there was never a doubt that it would be done. He spent decades of his time at Morton Salt in a solitary position performing tasks with little supervision because it was never necessary.

He was faithful to his own family. Though strikes and unemployment hindered, Dad never failed to provide for our family. Though sometimes meager, there was never a time we went without food and the only utilities outages I recall were the inability of the provider (downed lines, water main breaks, etc.) and not failure to pay. If Dad was out later than expected, the concern was for his well-being and never was there a thought that he was doing anything to jeopardize our family.

He was faithful to his own friends. The ministry of remembering birthdays and wedding anniversaries of all their friends with a card was a trademark of my parents for as long as I can remember. While Dad did not send as many cards since Mom’s home-going, his phone calls to friends continued unabated. 

He was faithful to his own convictions. I remember to this day being at a yard sale while preparing to go to college and eying a computer printer.  The price listed was more than I had, so I was asking questions of the man hoping to find a way bring the price into reach when he said, “Are you Carl Jentes’ boy?” Unsure where the statement came from or where it was going, I confirmed that I was Carl’s son. He told me he would give me the printer because he knew Dad from School Board and City Council meetings, was impressed with how he stood up for his values and would be honored to help me out. All my college papers came from that printer, giving me a vivid example of the truth of Proverbs 22:1:
A good name is more desirable than great riches;
 to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. (NIV)

He was faithful to his own church. If there was a gathering of his church, he was there. I have often joked that the only drug problem I’ve had was that I was drug to church every time the doors were open whether I wanted to or not. If the body of believers was gathering, he (and as head of the home, his whole family) was there. Even though months removed from getting to fellowship with them, my father’s offerings were mailed to the Rittman Grace Brethren Church where he had been a member for decades – his church family who helped raise his sons and give us our spiritual roots.

Though talking about emotions wasn’t his way, I have no doubt that my father loved me. Dad showed me the way to my Heavenly Father’s love so that I could be His child.  Dad exemplified that now as His child, my Father will never abandon me and that He always cares and will provide all my needs.
Though certainly not perfect, Dad showed me faithfulness and the joy of serving the Father. May I follow Dad’s example and also be welcomed by my Heavenly Father as a good and faithful servant.

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Two other notes from the weekend of his memorial/internment that I wanted to note:
       My wife and I are undertaking together the “Bible in a Year” using the schedule from Our Daily Bread (www.odb.org). The reading for the day of the memorial included the first half of Luke 17. Since during the memorial it was mentioned that Dad rarely had such accolades while he was living, Jesus words in verses 7-10 so jumped off the page as being Dad’s attitude:

“Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”
(NASB)

       Sunday, April 23rd the bulletin cover at the Rittman Grace Brethren Church also reminded me of

Dad with its quote from the beginning of Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” 

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Update

Just a not as to why I have not posted recently if anyone is seeing this. I am one week into a Bible in 90 Days challenge. At first. I borrowed the audio for week one  from the Tennessee R.E.A.D.S (Regional E-book & Auidiobook Download System) that is linked with my public library card  and was going to continue just listening, But I found two things: I find it easier to follow along in my own NIV copy to underline things to come back to and then I found out when I logged into R.E.A.D.S. to borrow week two that my library card "is expired."  To "renew" my library card I have to contact the library to confirm my contact information has not changed, but I didn't get that done before they are closed on Sunday and Monday. Since I only have the audio for  week one, I'm thankful I found a PDF Checklist here so that I can keep up with the reading. (There are two "Grace Days" calculated in, but who wants to use one of them up in the first week.)

That and avoiding the time-wasting and unwanted content temptations of logging on has kept me from blogging. If you really miss my posts, leave me a comment and I'll try to get back to it as quickly as possible.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Giving is receiving the better.

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. (Philippians 4:17 NASB)
Moments after learning to do the "impossible" and be content in all situations (vv12-13), Paul drop's this bombshell that value of the gift the believers of Philippi sent for themselves as the givers meant more to him than the gift itself.
Just some rambling thoughts on the value of giving: If God is love (1John 1:8), His love is epitomized by giving (John 3:16), and our identifying characteristic as Christ's follower is our love for one another (John 13:35) and is it even possible to be a follower of God and NOT a giver? Can I rejoice with the giver or am I too focused on me when I receive?

Saturday, July 9, 2016

From

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. (2 Peter 1:8-9 NASB)

Listening through an audio version of John MacArthur's book "Twelve Ordinary Men" had one thing about Peter stick out to me. Primarily that he spoke from experience. This same man who promised never to forsake Christ (and swung a sword to prove it) was proved a liar hours later by a servant girl asking him for the truth only to give a confident, Spirit-filled sermon to those accusing them of being drunks weeks later. Not a man of knowledge or self-control (v7), Christ used him mightily because he was not gifted, but that he gave himself to be changed and let the truth increase in and through him.

If ought to be moving toward something greater. FROM who I was, FROM who I have been TOWARD the Spirit-Filled, Christ-like life that God has in store for me.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Judgemental or Discerning?

So then, you will know them by their fruits.
 (Matthew 7:20 NASB)

It has been my experience that those left on the outside by the type discernment this passage demands will label it as being judgmental. Those confronted by a loving brother often return fire with "Judge not, that ye be not judged." (Matt.7:1 KJV) entirely missing the point that both of these verses are from the same teaching by Jesus Christ. We must be discerning while remembering that we are all held to the same standard revealed in the Word and it's only through His grace that we are not all condemned and punished already.
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. (James 1:22-24 NASB)
Lord, Help me in my "discerning" to be full of grace that I might not become judgmental.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Focus

But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7 KJV)
So many like today's ODB challenge focus on the "physical exercise" in verse eight, but that seems to me as a small part of the issue. Some modern translations (NASB and ESV I've seen) us a semicolon at the end of this verse and into verse eight that remind us English readers that the thoughts ar connected. I just cannot see the "put off" principle in verse seven becoming separated from the "put on" of the strength-building labor and exercise in verse eight. Turning toward exercising a growing, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled godliness cannot be done without turning away from the profane (irreverent, polluted, worldly) ways of thinking. 

After the recounting to the "Hall of Faith" walks of those who had completed their earthly journey in chapter 11, the writer of Hebrews began chapter 12:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)
It's not only the sinful things that must be laid aside, but every weight that keeps us from giving maximum effort. The "okay" and the "good" may be keeping us from reaching the "best" just as effectively as the "bad."
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Lord,
     Help me to turn my eyes from all this world tries to set as distractions before my eyes, and turn my ears from all the contradictory "opinions"  so that they might not drown out Your voice and trip me up on my race. Help  me to keep my focus stayed on the finish line of being like You and finishing the race strong. Help me not to hold on to the things of this world but strain to grasp more of You in all that I do. I know that I cannot do this in my own strength, so as I yield to Your strength and Your guidance to preform Your work in and through me. 
Yours to do as You will,
Andy Jentes


Thursday, June 30, 2016

In and out

He is the door. He is the Good Shepard. I'm only a grateful sheep. It's none of me all of Him.

From the ODB passage, that's my take away. But I've been wrestling with another thought today.

The challenge I have been confronted with repeatedly is to take my own advice. In my role of technical support I found myself reminding a caller of the age old "GIGO" principle. Though it pre-dates the computer age by a few millenia, it was from early computer programmers that I first heard it called "Garbage In; Garbage Out." The caller expressed disappointment at the output of the program on their computer and I had to remind them that the program can only return what has been put into it.

Okay, Andy. Listen to yourself. So you don't like the outcome? Review what you are putting in:
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9 NASB)