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Life Update and Weekend Review (July 2022)

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I previously posted earlier this year about having my left knee replaced. Those who have been close to me in recent years have known the struggle. I had both knees scoped in the glory days of high school and college sports, and I was assured this would lead to arthritis in my 40s. Well, here we are. On top of that, in my pre-op work, x-rays revealed that both knees were bone-on-bone and would need to be replaced.

So, as if the excitement of February and March’s replacement wasn’t enough, I scheduled my right knee to get replaced the week before Memorial Day. Two weeks removed from that surgery, I was going to check the mail and step off the curb. Instead, I fell, tore open the wound, and felt a lot of pain. X-rays and MRI’s a week later would show that I tore my patella tendon and my quad tendon. So, I had ANOTHER surgery and was locked into a 0-degree movement for a few weeks to let all this damage heal well. I’m still in a brace that limits me to 20 degrees. So, this is my short explanation/attempt to explain why I haven’t been consistently posting here.

This past Sunday, 7/17, I was able to return to preaching. My sermon, The Groundwork of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 16:1-12), is online. This coming Sunday, Lord willing, I get to finish the book of 1 Corinthians.

I’d continue to desire prayers. It’s been a long road this summer. I’d love my brain to return to working mode and my body to heal. I trust God knows what is best, but I appreciate the support and love shown by so many who have helped me get through this. Blessings.

Forty

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I have a big birthday today.  40.

One thought I had was all that Ecclesiastes has to say about youth, age and days:

I only have a few days from God to make the most of life on this earth. (Ecclesiastes 6:12)
All the days God gives me are to be used to live a full life. (Ecclesiastes 6:3)
I should pursue joy with my life. (Ecclesiastes 8:15)
I should try to do good all the days God gives me on this earth. (Ecclesiastes 2:3)
I should be careful with what I give my heart to in the days of my youth. (Ecclesiastes 11:9)

I’ve been, by God’s grace, able to live a full life so far.  I’m blessed beyond anything I deserve with a faithful wife, fun children, a job full of joy, a work that is beyond this world and a life that is rich.

I also think about the mortality of days.  I asked my Mom and others some facts about my dad and grandfathers when they were 40 and the churches they were pastoring at the time.  At age 40…

My dad was pastoring Canaan Baptist Church in St. Louis, MO and I was a sophomore in high school.
My Gpa Auxier was pastoring in Sterling, IL and would soon move to Mt. Vernon to pastor a church he would retire from (and my dad was either graduating or about to graduate high school).
My Gpa Lemay was enjoyed a fruitful ministry at Park Avenue Baptist in Mt. Vernon (and my Mom was a sophomore in high school).

Why these facts?  Because these men are gone.  My dad would pass away at 48 and both of my grandfathers have passed away in recent years.  To know the lives they lived makes my desire to make every day count all the more pressing.

So, thanks for indulging my meditations on this birthday.  Would you mind praying for me, that God’s grace would flow in the next chapters as free and rich as it has in these first few?  Ask God to make my life useful for His purposes and for the good of others.  Thanks.

Anniversary Week

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10 Years!  This week, Meg and I celebrate 10 years of marriage.  Seems like only yesterday, the main application of any teaching I had was how this related to me finding a wife.  Now, I’m happily married (still!) and have been blessed with 4 children.  It’s been a crazy 10 years with plenty of ups and downs, good times and bad, but it’s been a blast.

Part of what makes the long term direction of marriage so difficult is due to selfishness.  So much of life turns on what we want as individuals.  God’s graciously wired marriage to be such a thing that selfishness will be exposed rather quickly.  Want to veg in front of a TV for long hours?  You’ll probably hear about it from your wife.  Want to burn every weekend doing what you alone want to do?  Gradually distance can be created in your relationship with your spouse.  Be on guard against selfishness — it’s actively working to undo what God’s done.

After all, what most of us remember about our wedding days is being so confident that God is the one who’s the great Matchmaker.  He’s the one who’s brought us to that spouse.  He’s the one who worked this out.  And, because this is something God has done, we shouldn’t work to separate it.  Yet, it can be so easy to do that.  It can be so easy to turn inward and do what I want at the expense of what God wants for me.

So, this week, I, for one, am praising God that He’s continually working in me to help me die to myself.  And, one principle way He’s working to do this is through marriage.  Meg is a divine tool from a loving God to shape me into His image.  It’s because this is true that marriage is a good thing.  I’m blessed to continue riding these waves.

Weekend Recap – Valuing Life

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Yesterday morning at Crestview, I continued my series on “Body Builders” by examining the concept of Valuing Life from Proverbs 24:10-12.  I tried to show some incentives from God’s Word about why we should value life.  If we live to value life, it may be costly, it is our calling and excuses are not an option.  My sermon went with the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.  This is a day when churches are encouraged to fight against the atrocities of legalized abortion in America.  I’m hoping my sermon in this regard helped foster an atmosphere of grace in thinking about this issue for people.

Hope you had a great Lord’s Day as well.