A Special Tribute

I've had this on my mind for awhile now and just have to put it down. It's only been a few weeks since I wrote about "My Kind of Champion." We all have heroes. But this one person is the one who started it all for me, and I want you to know him. So indulge me as I remember a very special person during a very special time in my life.

I was saved at the age of 28 in a revival service at a church close to my home. Earlier I had told God I was sick of life and sick of being heartbroken. If there wasn't anything good about life then I didn't care to live.

An older friend at work told me "You might find what you're looking for at church." So one Sunday morning I walked into Montrose Baptist Church, in Rockville, MD, holding the hand of my daughter. My life would never be the same.

Robert Crowley, pastor of Montrose, was the preacher for the revival that began just a few weeks after I started attending. I gave my heart to Jesus November 14, 1978, on a Tuesday evening. That date is very special to me. This November 14th will be 40 years since I found salvation.

I didn't have a good father figure during my growing up years, and Pastor Crowley became one for me. December of that year the church started a Single's Ministry, and I attended. That first year Pastor Crowley was the teacher.

We were privileged to learn under his care, many of us broken. I was surrounded with individuals just like me, trying to live in a world that had beaten them down. I was asked to write his name in the Bible we gave him after that first year, and he always remembered that. Such a little thing, but big in my eyes.

 My writing started at Montrose with "The Single Experience." That's me, with my dear friend, Clara, who I lost this year.

The Single's ministry was where I met Jerry. As we tell it, we met in an alley, a bowling alley that is.

Every year Pastor Crowley taught a class on Wednesday evenings for new Christians. It was a nine month class on the "Sermon on the Mount." Every Wednesday evening I was taught verse by verse how to live a life that is dedicated to and pleasing to God, free from hypocrisy, full of love and grace, full of wisdom and discernment.

The ground rules were laid out before me of the life of a Christian. I had solid ground in which to grow as a new Christian.

For two years on Wednesday evenings the church fellowship studied the book of Romans verse by verse. It took over two years. The book is an inspirational masterpiece written by the Apostle Paul, explaining God's plan of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is often considered his most important theological legacy.

My training under Pastor Crowley gave me the knowledge and inspiration I needed to continue living this life. I am blessed to have received great knowledge under his care, of the Bible and how to live a rewarding life with Jesus. I don't say that with pride. I'm humbled to know God provided the opportunity to learn under a great man, and that I was smart enough to listen.

I also worked on The Messenger, a monthly newsletter. I wrote many articles as I learned under other writers at the church. I was never criticized when I'd make silly errors such as writing "apond" for "upon." I was nurtured, and confidence grew so that one day I would become a published writer in a number of magazines.

 Montrose is where I received my first note of encouragement from a women in the fellowship. It changed my life. That's when my own ministry of note writing began.

I attended Montrose for seven years before I married and moved to the country. A few years after I moved, I was hired to work in the church office at Montrose, and I continued to be encouraged by Pastor Crowley. I remember when I first started attending Montrose. I walked past the church office one time and thought to myself: "I'll never be able to work in the church office. I'm divorced." I was also accepted.

Montrose is where I produced the first copies of my book on note writing. Pastor Crowley was happy and proud of my accomplishment, and I enjoyed giving him a copy of the book.




It was a giant miracle to be accepted and wanted, even in a church office. I worked there until Pastor Crowley retired, and soon after I went on to the Baptist Convention of MD/DE, where I met many of my champions. (August 2, 2018 post)

Many people have fond memories of a family member that helped them grow and live as a Christian. But there are many of us that didn't have that experience. Pastor Crowley was the first person who influenced my life on this special walk as a follower of Jesus.

Through the years I've sent him letters thanking him for his walk with God, and how he changed my life. I'm thankful that I wrote him a letter three weeks before his death, to let him know I will never forget his life and how it affected mine.

He died February 14, 2011, a most fitting day for a well loved person.

This year I will celebrate 40 years of living for Jesus. I bought myself a special pendant and had it engraved with the date I gave my life to Christ. It is indeed, well with my soul. Thank you, Pastor Crowley. I will never forget you.

My Day In Court

"Learn the luxury of doing good."

Oliver Goldsmith, 1730-1774

I've enjoyed taking pictures of "my" fawn in our backyard. For the past 4 weeks, each evening I sit in the dining room looking out the window, for an hour or two, waiting for them to arrive.  Hope you like the snaps

It's a notice most everyone hates to see in the mail. Certainly not a warm and loving note. "You have been summoned to jury selection."

 
At 69, I've been summoned twice before in MD. I was excused with a doctor's note both times. Now here in PA, the summon arrived. Being retired, and in fairly good mental state, I decided to go.

"I'll tell them I'm extremely emotional and subject to depression and headaches. Surely I won't be seen as a good juror selection." Silly me. Wrong. "You are juror #5," the judge said. I was not happy.

I received this news last Thursday morning at 11:30. "Be back at 1," I was told. I immediately took an Advil in hopes of stopping any headaches. (Seriously)

I called our church office and requested a prayer alert go out. When I saw the email come up on my phone and looked at it, I started laughing. People all the time spell and say my last name with an "r" in it. McGriffin. I've even received checks with the wrong spelling.

In all the confusion of our secretary's time off work for a family emergency, in this email my name was spelled: McGlovern. I laughed! That's just what I needed to get me settled down. I smiled and told God: "You know who I am so just hear all those prayers and remember me."

The fawn are in their natural setting and don't know I'm watching them. The doe look in the windows often because they've seen movement. Another thing that gives me away is a white light blinks when I press the button to focus. But I usually have free reign of snapping without being observed.

It had been a long three hours of sitting and waiting to not be selected Thursday morning. But at 1:30 I was sitting in the juror's box in the court room and listening to open remarks by the attorneys. Surreal. That's how it felt all afternoon. I was stunned to be sitting there listening to a case. I was in another world.

The judge was a jolly man. He smiled frequently and had an expression of "let's be happy." He certainly didn't have the appearance of TV and movie judges. That's all I could compare him too. He took every opportunity to tell us to stand up and stretch while each witness was brought into the court room. One time he did several jumping jacks. I wanted to giggle a few times, but managed to keep a straight face.

Although it was a criminal case, it wasn't gruesome or sickening. It was difficult knowing some body's future was in "our" hands.

We were back Friday morning at 9 and was finally sent to deliberate at 7 that evening. I pulled into our driveway at 10 p.m.

A serious civic duty. I think my life would have been just fine without taking part. But I did it. I survived my day in court. But let's be reasonable. I don't want to do it again.

The judge said we couldn't be called again for three years. Let's see. I'm 69. That would make me 72. What joy! I can opt out at 72.

 Oh, the joy of enjoying something fun!

My Kind of Champion

The doe was surprised when it came to eat corn to find a turkey family passing through!

"There are some men and women in whose company we are always at our best. All the best stops in our nature are drawn out, and we find a music in our souls never felt before." 

William Henry Drummond, 1854-1907

My dictionary  defines "champion" as "a person or thing that has defeated all others in a competition. Or, a person who fights, argues, or speaks in support of another or of a cause." We all know people we might consider to be a champion: a best selling author; a famous singer, a football or baseball hero, a world class chef. There are a lot of people one could call champion.

But the champion I'm writing about is not that at all. My champions are people who live a daily life for God and who are doing His work. They are faithful saints [champions] of witnesses who try to live their life according to the Bible.

The simple joy of a little vase with lovely flowers!

I'm attending a Bible study on Tuesday mornings at my church, officiated by my pastor. We are studying David Jeremiah's study called: A Life Beyond Amazing. In the chapter about endurance, it is noted that we need champions of our faith to encourage us. And that's when people started telling about the champions in their life.

Usually I hear how this family member or that family member encouraged them and helps them as they walk through life with Jesus. Sometimes the entire family and grandparents are shining examples that bring them joy and hope. Having a family member(s) who you've been able to learn from and watch as they live their life of faith is a wonderful thing. But if you don't have a family member who lives or lived a life of faith, you sometimes feel sad that there is no one for you to celebrate.

My first garden in Maryland will be in full bloom now. It was a joy to walk through it in the early morning. I was always refreshed and quiet, listening to the sounds of morning.

This is what happened to me. There was nobody in my immediate family or extended family who lived a life for Christ. I found Christ at the age of 28 and started my walk in faith with no knowledge of walking with Jesus.

In the early years of my walk in faith, a number of lovely women became friends, and I watched and learned from them what it means to walk with Christ. I still cherish those ladies today.

But on this particular day, while listening to others tell of their champion(s), I was reminded of the champions of faith in my life that I learned from and continue to learn from. I was 44 when God lifted me up and placed me in a work location that was filled with champions of my faith. And I've been learning from them ever since.

I worked for the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware for 16 years and was surrounded by people of integrity, wisdom, and knowledge about my faith. I saw how they interacted with one another, helped one another and used their special gift(s) from God to encourage others.

As human beings, we're not perfect, and these champions weren't perfect. But I saw them do their best to be a living example of the Savior I gave my life too.

Since retiring, I still have contact with a few individuals who continue to encourage me in my walk with Christ. And, I hope, that one day I will be a champion for someone else.

And this is the other end of that refreshing garden.

We've all heard the saying to be careful who you associate with because you will probably become more like them. That statement is indeed true. That's why learning from a champion of your faith is so important.

Biographies and accounts of faithful men and women of God can also help you live your faith. Build yourself up with examples of people who lived faithfully for God. Learn about their struggles and how they overcame.

I may not have been fortunate to be born into a family that lived by faith, and provided examples of His work for me to learn from. But God provided a substitute to help me.

The second garden I created will also be blooming now. How I miss the joy they brought me.

Surround yourself with champions. " . . . We need living, breathing champions around us today as well as others who have gone before us. " David Jeremiah

"Who is the greatest saint [champion] in the world?It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it." William Law, 1686-1761