From my new book "Letters to Tucker"
Letters to Tucker is a book full of little nuggets of wisdom passed on to a boy (Tucker) who lives in Black Rock, Arizona. His grandfather (Bill) is a retired minister living with his wife Beth in Eagle Mountain, Virginia. The old preacher really misses being around his grandson and writes to him at least once a week. Bill is sorry he didn’t get to spend as much time as he would have liked to in raising his own son Tom, but hopes to make a difference in young Tucker’s life by passing on the wonderful insights He’s acquired from God in the past thirty five years of ministry. Tom and Cathy moved to Arizona to be youth pastors at a large church in town. Tucker likes living there but misses his grandparents. Tucker is a good looking young man, sixteen years old and a star student/athlete. Bill says he takes after his side of the family. Each letter opens up a world of passion and a fountain of wisdom that ignites the heart of a young man hungry for God and thirsty for the spiritual things that Grandpa writes in his “Letters to Tucker”. The names and places are fictional but the views expressed are truths from God’s Holy Word that will edify and encourage the hearts of any reader.
Dear Tucker,
How are you young man? Me, I’m feeling old with the need to still grow. I know that doesn’t seem to make any sense. But, I was reading today in 2 Peter 3:18 “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” So, I feel the need to continue to grow. I was thinking back when you were a lot younger, do you remember it seemed like every other week you were growing out of your clothes. You barely got home from the store before people noticed your pants were hitting the high water mark. And you had more arm showing than shirtsleeve. This is a phenomenon common to a lot of young men called a “growth spurt”. Oh boy, I remember your Dad. He cost us a small fortune, and the shoes, “oh my word”. And you were the same way, spurt after spurt. I know these growth spurts can be a real problem, especially when your limbs grow at different rates causing growing pains and an awkward clumsiness. Growth spurts are no fun, but they are a necessary part of a boy maturing into a young man. The same is true for Spiritual growth spurs. When you are maturing as a young Christian you may find yourself feeling awkward and uncomfortable when around more mature Christians. You may also discover yourself feeling clumsy and uncoordinated when talking to others who seem to have more profound insights and scripture to back up what they believe. Spiritual growth spurs can be as challenging as physical ones, though physically you have little choose. All you need do to grow physically is to eat and give your body what it needs. Spiritual growth, on the other hand, requires effort and determination. While God will sometimes put you in situations to test your faith and make you grow spiritually, you will still have to work to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The initial step to this kind of growth is to carefully study God’s word. Read some everyday. As you read God’s insights and principles will become clearer to you. When you read the Bible, make it a focused, interactive experience. Eliminate distractions. For example, don’t read a few verses during commercial breaks while watching TV. Approach the privilege of Bible reading with a clear head and an open heart. Be willing to learn something new; be open to discovering something you’ve missed before. Be willing to change as a result of what you read. As you read, think about how you can apply the words, immediately and practically, to your life. Write down any action steps you plan to take. Underline or highlight passages you want to memorize. Don’t just skip over parts you don’t understand, read it through and study it out. And ask God for wisdom. Don’t just think of the Bible as some ancient book of history but rather as a book of treasure that will transform your heart, mind and soul.
The second step is to pray. As you pray and become more familiar with the sound of God’s voice the more in tune you will become with God’s will for your life. Prayer is the soul food that feeds your spiritual growth. When you pray, take time, and take care. Are your prayers just quick monologues to God or true conversations with Him? It might be tempting to hit God with a barrage of request, utter a few words of thanks and then hurry on to other things. That is not true prayer. True prayer is communing with your heavenly Father. It is unhurried, so slow down and approach God with a quiet reverence.
The next thing, without sounding too cliché, is to consider meditation. You might be uncomfortable with the term meditation. It might evoke images of bearded gurus, dressed in camelhair robes, sitting cross-legged in a circle and chanting. Not so, to meditate is to think on something deeply and continuously. If you want to listen more closely to the voice of God, meditation can mean focusing on one particular Bible verse and pondering what it says about God’s character and His feelings toward you. It can also mean taking time to appreciate what God has done for you in your life and for your family. So try your best, young man, to keep your mind and heart open to God. Follow Jesus’ perfect example of listening to God’s voice and following His direction. Avoid multitasking when it comes to your spiritual life. Always ask God for forgiveness and take quality time with God every day.
Well, I have to go for now. I love you Tucker. I pray for you, your Mom and Dad. I’m praying that God will help you all along the way with whatever growing pains you may be having in your life. Grandma says to remind you that we’ll be up next weekend. We can’t wait to meet Darlene. Tell your Mom and Dad we love ‘em and hope the weather is nice for the football game. Go Wolves. See you then.
Love, Grandpa
Copyright ©2012 All Rights Reserved
Dear Tucker,
We had such a great time this past weekend. Darlene is every bit as lovely as we had heard. You played one heck of a game Friday night. We are so proud of you. I overheard one of the coaches using profanity. I know it happens and is common for coaches, but I spoke to him after the game, don’t worry I didn’t mention your name. I did let him know that as a coach and an educator he should be able to express any emotion, and I mean any, without using such language. He apologized and thanked me for the reminder. I guess we’ll see if it makes a difference.
I saw how attentive you were when I was telling a story about the early days in the ministry. Unless I was reading you wrong you really seemed to have a hunger for more. I thought for the next few weeks I’d share some stories, if that’s alright.
I knew while still in high school that the Lord was calling me into the ministry. I began teaching Sunday school when I was just fourteen years old. I preached my first sermon at age sixteen. I know I wasn’t the perfect little angel that everyone may have thought, but I did have a passion for God and His holy word. And I did wait until your grandma and I were married, if you know what I mean? I know, “too much information”. I went straight to Bible college right after graduation. It was the first time I’d been away from home and out on my own. It was really a big culture shock, for lack of a better word. I wasn’t really prepared for college. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one. As an eighteen year old freshman I spent most of my evenings counseling and praying with other students who were having a hard time. The University was a private Christian school with very strict rules, and as I explained to many young men, they were only in place to teach us to be subject to authority. Subject to our parents, teachers and ultimately to God himself. But young men will be young men and we all struggled with overcoming a spirit of rebellion.
I remember one night when my two best friends, Jeff and Michael, and I decided in the name of all that was right to go devil worshipper hunting. We had heard that some devil worshippers were meeting at a local memorial battlefield park on weekends and we needed to find them and engage in spiritual warfare. Well, it was only a rumor and a very bad idea. But, being young and stupid we snuck out of the dorm around midnight and headed for the park. Jeff drove because he was the only one of us with a car. And boy was it a nice one. As we drove around we would stop from time to time and turn off the lights and just look around and wait. While parked once, Michael mentioned that one of the watch towers was reportedly haunted, well, that’s all it took for us to decide that ghost hunting sounded a whole lot more fun. So off we went. We got to the tower and by then we had convinced ourselves that we would surly see a ghost or at the least a demon. Between the three of us we mustard up enough courage to climb the stair way all the way to the top. With every hair on our bodies standing straight up, we got to the top and saw …….absolutely nothing. Nothing except and pair of headlights coming our way from a distance. Jeff was convinced it was the devil worshippers coming after us, “cause that’s what devil worshippers do”. So we ran down the stairs, jumped in his car and took off. In our minds we were out running what could have been a very bad night, but then it just got a whole lot worst. Being unfamiliar with the road which ran alongside the railroad tracks, Jeff missed a turn which crossed the tracks and ran right on to the tracks. The car was now stuck on the rails with only the front wheels touching anything. Jeff tried and tried but the car wouldn’t go backwards or forwards. As we got out to have a look Jeff admitted that his biggest fear right then was a train coming and destroying his new car. Michael was more concerned with the devil worshippers that was hot on our trail and the only thing that came to my mind was getting caught out at 2 am and getting kicked out of school. We three decided in a hurry that the most immediate concern was to get off the railroad tracks and as soon as possible.
Even though Jeff was a weight lifting champion in high school and Michael and I worked out every day we could not for the life of us move the car off the tracks. I had the idea to use the car jack to lift the car and then push it over off the jack. It took about a dozen tries but we finally got the car off the tracks and back out on the road. By then it was quarter til four and being a hot muggy night neither of us could just go right in and sleep, so we drove over to another park by the Tennessee River. We stripped and went for a swim. Afterward we starred up at the stars and the full moon and shared with each other how really blessed we are that God has our backs and watches out for us even when we do the most stupid things. Somehow that night turned out to be one that I will never forget. We shared things with each other, cried, prayed and really got close in a way that only brothers in Christ could understand. I thought of this verse of scripture, “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all his works.” Psalms 73:28
Well, that’s all for now. I love you Tucker. Tell you folks we said, “Thanks for a great weekend”. We hope to get back down soon. Keep up the good work and always trust in the Lord, you’ll never be disappointed.
Love, Grandpa
Copyright ©2012 All Rights Reserved
Dear Tucker,
I am so glad to hear of your involvement in the youth group, and all the great ministry work you guys are doing. That deserves a great big “God bless you”. I am so proud of you and your folks for the work you are doing there at the church.
I can remember in the late 80s while teaching high school, a brother in Christ and I cofounded the Good News Street Ministry. What a wonderful time of ministry we had. It all started when we were invited to go with a large church to Atlanta do witness and do street ministry. We walked for hours handing out tracts and trying to speak to people about Jesus. I walked up to one woman and tried to hand her a gospel tract and she said to me, “Do I look like I need to be saved?” The evening just dragged on, my friend Josh came up to me at eleven o’clock PM and ask, “What do you think is going on?” I thought a moment and replied, “I don’t know, here we are in what some believe to be a modern day Sodom and Gomorra and I feel like we need to be in Marietta.” Marietta, GA is a suburb of Atlanta with a large homeless population. So my friend said, “Let’s go.” We walked back to our car and drove there, arriving at midnight. As we pulled up to the square to park we noticed three teenage boys hanging out at the fountain in the middle of the park. They were dressed in all black and looked like three members of a street gang. The first thing I said was “Here’s our answer to why we were lead here.” We had learn enough that night with the others in Atlanta to know how to start a conversation. We walked up to them and introduced ourselves as street preachers and ask if we could speak to them about Jesus and began asking them about their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, to make a long story short, one of the boys grow up in church and was just acting out and vowed to get back in the youth group and start serving the Lord. We lead the other two to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and encouraged them to join their friend at his church and enquire about baptism. That was the beginning of Good News Street Ministry. We stayed together on the streets of Marietta for nearly five years. Many others began to come and help us, to the point where we had to divide up into eight groups of six, which would go out and subdivide into groups of three as we went out every Friday night. We never missed a Friday night in nearly five glorious years. We first tried to, in the name of Jesus, meet a physical need, food and clothing. We had so much food and so many clothes that we were running out of room to store things. God once again met our needs and a man offered us the use of an abandoned restaurant. It had all the cupboard space and room we needed. The large dining hall served as a meeting place for Sunday services, and Good News Baptist Church was born. With an average attendance of sixty or more we needed a leader and I became the pastor of my first church.
After meeting a physical need we believe that every person has a need in their life for Jesus and shared Him with them as the answer to all their needs. We lead, with the help of the Holy Spirit, hundreds to the Lord. With the help of other groups, we were able to get bus tickets home for run-aways, shelter, and food and clothing for the homeless and helped some find jobs. We eventually had a central meeting place in an empty lot just south of downtown. We would set up tables and serve hot food, coffee and other drinks. One team would set up to serve while others went out to invite people to come and dine. If they wouldn’t come then we would share what we had with them and tell them of the Christ. It was here on the streets that the Holy Spirit taught us to trust and believe. The Holy Spirit became very real to a lot of us. We grew up hearing the war stories of the saints that came before us, of how they had to trust God and do battle for the souls of those lost who were without Christ. As a Bible believing Baptist I remember the sick calling for the elders of the church and being anointed with oil. I remember the laying on of hands and men and women of God soaking the carpet around the alter with their tears. We have become so unfamiliar with the person of the Holy Spirit that anything supernatural scares us and we run, we run not wanting to be accused of being a “Holy Roller”. We get so far away from that bunch that we even deny the power of God Himself. We make excuses that that type of thing was for back then and our families, friends and neighbors have never been in such bad shape. The real truth is we are afraid and we don’t live with the same power that others have in the Holy Ghost mainly because we are weak and unwilling.
I have so many stories to tell, I hope you don’t get bored with it. If you do just say so, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings. After years of dealing with people at their worst on the streets as a minister, after years as a pastor and several years as an EMT it’s real hard to hurt this old man’s feelings. Trust me. I’ll go ahead and share one such story, if that’s OK. One day Josh and I walked the railroad tracks and came across a man, who when we came up to him began to curse and became quit irate for no reason. It didn’t make sense to me why he was all up in Josh’s face being so aggressive. So, the Holy Spirit led me to walk around behind him unnoticed. I walked right up to him and placed my hand about six inches from his back and began to rebuke a “spirit of anger”. Within a few minutes the man began to cry and apologize. He said, and I quote, “I don’t know what came over me, I know you are just out here to help and show me the way.” We prayed with him and he received Christ as his Savior. Just then a train came by so we stepped out of the way. After the train was gone I ask him how he felt and what he thought God did for him and he said, “I feel like all my sins were put on that train never to be seen or heard of again.” Needless to say we rejoiced with that one who was rejoicing. Praise the Lord.
Well, I better go for now. Love ya’ boy. Say hey to your mom and dad for me.
Love, Grandpa
Copyright ©2012 All Rights Reserved
Dear Tucker,
Hey, we love you kid. Your grandma says to say hello and that she loves you and is very proud of you. Hey, that thing you were telling me about with one of the coaches, honesty is the best policy. Don’t forget that “truth is the only thing that truly exists”, everything else is made up or fabricated. So, always tell the truth, I’m not talking about “does this dress make me look fat?” but in all else, tell the truth and deal with any consequences that may come.
With that said, I wanted to tell you another story from the days in the street ministry. At the same time I was director of Good News Street Ministry my day job was teaching at a Christian High School. I taught history and geography. I had some really great kids in my classes. I was only ten years older than most of them so we hit it off really well. One sixteen year old in particular name Eddie was one of my favorites. I knew his parents and his older brother, his pastor and many from his church. We spent a lot of time together, not in a creepy kinda way, but I was also his karate instructor. What? You didn’t know I taught Karate? Josh, who was also a second degree black belt, and I opened up a martial arts school in a little strip shop were we lived in a small town west of Atlanta. But, anyway, Eddie asked if he could go with us on a Friday night to do street ministry. And of course I said yes after asking his parents if it was OK with them. That Friday we were going to “seek and serve”. That’s what we called it when we walked up and down the railroad tracks looking for the homeless, in and out of abandoned building. I ask the Chief of Police about the legality of entering such buildings and was told, “As long as we went in where they went in and didn’t make any new entrances we would be just fine.” So, as was our custom, we gathered for prayer, got our marching orders and headed out. Of course Eddie came with Josh and Me. We walked about a mile til we came to an old abandoned hosiery mill. It was a large building with plenty of room for a homeless person to get lost, meaning, find a safe place to rest. From most of the people we talked to night time was the time to hide. Hide from the police or night guards, hide from trouble makers and bullies, and hide from each other. Never really feeling safe, many feared getting beat up for what little they had. We stood outside on the tracks for what seemed like an hour, just standing there in the dark, looking, watching and waiting. Waiting for God to give us the go ahead and then I saw it, a way in. A man snuck around the corner and entered through a broken window. We waited about another ten minutes and headed in. You have to sneak up on them. I know that sounds wrong or just creepy, but if they hear you coming they will run and hide or get scared and violent. It’s that fight or flight that is in us all. So, we walked slowly and silently in the dark, not knowing which way the man went or how many more there may be. At one point I could hear Eddie breathing rather loudly and could tell he was really scared. He even reached for me and took me by the hand. Hey, say what you want, but he was man enough to walk in there with us in the hopes of helping another human being while most were content with sitting on the couch watching TV. I say God bless’em and I thought it was cute. We finally reach a place deep in the middle of the factory and heard someone rustling around. We got as close as we could before turning on our flashlights and announcing, “We are street preacher and we have food, are you hungry?” We heard back right away, “Yes, please come on over.” After making that announcement four more men came out of hiding and join us. We had plenty and shared our food and water, and also got to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t think any of them became Christians that night, but they all saw the love of Christ demonstrated and it was one night that I don’t think one young man will ever forget. I know this because he text me some twenty years later and ask me if I remembered the night we braved the darkness in order to shine the light; the night He got a burning desire to win souls for Christ.
Well baby, I’ve got to go now. Your grandma’s yelling her head off that we are going to be late, again. I love you Tuck. Say hello to your mom and dad for me, we love them too.
Love, Grandpa
Copyright ©2012 All Rights Reserved
Dear Tucker,
Hey buddy, how are ya? Me and your Grandma are fine, we are in Texas visiting her sister for a few days. I remember my first trip to Texas; I had just moved back to Georgia from Tallahassee Florida and was working with a group of men trying to build a new church building. My roommate and I had visited this small store front church, which had just started and felt lead to join and help them grow. Well, it grew alright and we quickly ran out of space. Anyway, that’s where I met Josh, the guy I cofounded Good News Street Ministry with, and we heard about a big Bible conference being held in Fort Worth, Texas and just had to go. So, a bunch of us headed out to Texas. The conference, the praise and worship, the guest speakers and all the messages were unlike anything we had ever heard. It was awesome. On the last night Josh and I met for coffee and conversation, he ask, looking all starry eyed as I’m sure I did too, “What is so different about what we have experienced this week and why do we feel this way?” I thought for a few minutes while sipping my coffee and then it came to me. We had both grown up in small Southern Baptist Churches and hadn’t known anything other than that. Our world view was small, which made us think that everyone was like us, worshipped like us and not a lot was happening for the Kingdom of God apart from what we were doing. I know that may sound vain or even naive, but it’s the truth. We had narrow vision of what was going on in God’s great big world. I told him that the difference was “Life and Death”. Ok, what do you mean, he replied. Well, everything we had experienced that week was full of life. It was all about an exciting life in Christ, full of joy and hope. Everything up until then was death and despair, oh, we were Christians and on our way to Heaven, but all the songs were referencing the past, when Christ died on the Cross or when I first got saved. Or either so far in the future, “when we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun…” that it was hard to imagine. And most sermons that we were used to hearing were nothing more than history lessons. But these songs and all the messages were about life and life today. What God can and will do for you right now. That week changed both of us, I know for me I have never been content with just humdrum religion ever since. That was a great trip to Texas, now this trip to her sisters on the other hand……, not so much. It was after this trip that God lead us to do street ministry, and even then many in the church told us we were casting our pearls before the swine by going down town with those homeless people. Lord have mercy on the ignorant.
On one occasion we heard that a group of devil worshippers were meeting in the woods behind an old grocery store. Yeah, I know, here we go again. Josh and I just had to go and try to witness to them of the love of Christ. It was about an hour and a half before dark when we got there. We walked around and through the woods and found what looked more like a place where the homeless may have been staying. Just then we noticed a well-worn trail leading from the store up to a small trailer park, so we hung out about half way up the trail and waited to see if there would be someone we could talk to about Jesus. After about fifteen minutes we saw an older couple walking toward us, as they got to within hearing distance we introduced ourselves as street preachers and ask if there was anything we could do for them. Right away the old lady asks if we would pray for them, they were both in bad health. As they were facing us I took her hand with my right hand and Josh’s hand with my left, then Josh, the old man and his wife joined hands completing the circle. As we prayed Josh and I played off each other, each taking turns leading in prayer. While Josh prayed the Holy Spirit moved me to rebuke a spirit of alcoholism that was on the lady whose hand I was holding. Even as Josh was praying I spoke aloud and rebuke that demonic spirit. Understand this, while praying in that type of setting, you never really close your eyes all the way. You want to be aware of what’s going on around you at all times. So, with that said, I noticed the old lady walking passed us as if she were heading up the trail on her way back home. My first thought was that I have offended her and now she’s mad enough to just leave. And at that précised moment I realized that I still had a hold of her hand, and I almost came unglued. What I saw was that spirit of alcoholism coming off of her. If I’m lying, I’m dying. I know what I saw and I know it was real. Also knowing the scriptures, she needed to receive Christ right then and there to fill that empty space before that spirit came back and maybe brought others with him. So, Josh and I shared the gospel and gave them both the opportunity to ask Jesus to forgive their sins and be Lord of their lives. And thanks be to God, they did. We helped them to make their way home and saw what horrible living condition they were in, but as with our dealings with the homeless, we wanted to help and were able to contact people who specialized in this kind of needs. Only a few days later they were able to move into a newer, safer place and got on a meal program through a local food bank. And we arranged for a nurse to come out to check on them regularly. To me that’s part of the deal, you don’t just give birth (create babes in Christ) and leave them to fend for themselves. We called that “making dumpster babies”.
Well, I better go for now. I love you Tucker and I’m praying for you that God will not only keep you safe but that He will guide you in all that you do.
Love, Grandpa
More to come.......
Copyright ©2012 All Rights Reserved
