Category: Pop Pop Epistles

Dear Ezra,

Happy Birthday #2 baby girl. You’ve done so much growing up in the past year. I’m looking forward to watching all the growing up you will do this next year.

Here’s something that you may already know. Your name means “helper.” Now I’m not sure if your parents named you after the Ezra in the Bible or if they just liked the name, but the Ezra in Scripture was most definitely a helper. Here are two ways that this played out in his life.

He helped the people of God return home – God’s people had been a part of the Babylonian Captivity. The Jews had been deported from Jerusalem and exiled for about 70 years almost 1000 miles from their homeland.. Ezra, along with Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, were instrumental in the return of the exiles.

He helped the people of God return to Word of God – Ezra loved Scripture. And he loved passing on his love for Scripture to others. His passion for God’s Word led to a national declaration of repentance and a renewed hunger among God’s people to live lives that were pleasing to the Lord.

Ezra 7:9-10 sums up these two things about Ezra…

 For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.  For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

But note the key phrase in the middle of those verses: “for the good hand of his God was on him.”  The reason that Ezra was so effective in his ministry of helping was because God’s hand was upon him.

I will be praying as you grow up that God’s hand will indeed be upon you and that He will use you as a mighty helper among God’s people. In the meantime, it is my joy and pleasure to be your Pop Pop.

Never forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

 

Dear Grandkids,

The last time the boys were here at our house they pulled out the Where’s Waldo book from when your parents were little and we had fun looking for Waldo and scrolls and other stuff. The first Waldo book was published back in 1987 so Waldo has been in our home for a lot of years. Waldo had a great love for traveling, he seemed to always have a smile on his face, and in later books he was often accompanied by his beloved dog Woof.

But I want to tell you about another Waldo that you have probably never heard of but who is very much worth knowing about.

Peter Waldo was born around 1140 AD. He was a very wealthy, well-known merchant in the city of Lyon, France. He had a wife, two daughters, and lots of property. But something happened — some say he witnessed the sudden death of a friend, others say he heard a spiritual song of a traveling minstrel — and Waldo became deeply troubled over the spiritual state of his soul and desperate to know how he could be saved.

He started reading the Bible. But it was only available to him in Latin, so he hired someone to translate it for him. He sought counsel from a priest who pointed him to Luke 18:22, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” This Scripture pierced his heart – he realized that he had been a servant to money his entire life and he vowed from that point on to live in complete dependence on God for his provision.

He began to preach, especially among the poor. He began to develop a following that turned into a movement and spread throughout France and other parts of Europe. They became known as “The Waldensians.”

Waldo spoke out against the Catholic Church and many of it’s practices and beliefs and he began to come under fire from the church – eventually being excommunicated by Pope Lucius III. Even after Waldo’s death around 1218 the movement continued to grow – fueled by it’s love for God’s Word and it’s belief in the priesthood of believers. They were forerunners of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century and helped set the stage for everything that Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and the other reformers accomplished.

Jon Bloom says this about Waldo: “He was a merchant turned prophet who simply believed in the word of God with all his heart, which he demonstrated with all his life. And in taking God at his word, Waldo turned his world upside down.”

May it be so said of me. May it be so said of each of you.

And perhaps the next time you pick up a Where’s Waldo book you will also be prompted to ask not just where’s Waldo but who’s Waldo.

Never forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

 

Dear Haddon,

A year ago, I posted an epistle that included a prayer for you that concluded this way: “And lastly I ask that You would use Haddon to courageously teach and proclaim the Scriptures even as the prince of  preachers did many years ago – Charles Haddon Spurgeon -that You will use him to influence many generations for the sake of the gospel.”

You have a great namesake – a man who treasured the Word of God. Here is just a little about him…

Charles Spurgeon was born in 1834 and died in 1892. On 6 January 1850, when he was 15, a snow storm made him seek shelter in a  chapel. While he was there, a worker there said to him, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Spurgeon knew this to indeed be true. The worker, seeing his need, replied, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look! Look! You have nothin’ to do but to look and live.” Shortly thereafter, God opened his heart to believe the gospel and he was baptized. It was not long after that that he preached his first sermon and at 19 he became the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London where he served for 38 years.

Here are a few choice quotes from your namesake:

• There may be some sins of which a man cannot speak, but there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away.
• Bible study is the metal that makes a Christian. This is the strong meat on which holy men are nourished.
• You say, “If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.” You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.
• I believe the holier a man becomes, the more he mourns over the unholiness which remains in him.
• Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin.

It has been a crazy first year of life for you. Right about the time you were born last year we entered Covid-19 and pandemic mode. And then later in the year you moved from our house to your new house in Raleigh. I miss seeing you every day and watching you grow and even though you won’t remember much about this first year of your life I hope that you will…

Never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

 

Dear Grandkids,

Yes, today is indeed Valentine’s Day. It is a day to declare or re-declare our love for one another – and specifically for couples to express their love for each other. Hence, there are a dozen roses sitting on our table and I am fixing a romantic steak supper for Nona and I tonight. Yes, even at 62 years old we can still be romantic.

But I am sure that you are curious what the “pale blue dot” is in the title of this epistle and what it has to do with Valentine’s Day. Well I came across this tidbit of history that I found very interesting. Perhaps you will too.

Way back in September of 1977 NASA launched a space probe that was named Voyager 1. Its intended purpose was to study our solar system. It took about 1.5 years (March, 1979) for it to get to Jupiter and to begin transmitting data and photos. It took another 1.5 years (November 1980) for it to get to Saturn. Now here is what I was astounded by: The gaps between the outer planets are so vast that it was another 10 years before it passed by Neptune and arrived at the spot where it was to take a series of images of the planets, known as the “Family Portrait” of our solar system. And on February 14, 1990 (22+ years after it was launched, Voyager 1 transmitted a picture back of earth – a picture that became known as the “Pale Blue Dot.”

Earth appears as a tiny dot against the vastness of space. The photo was taken from 3.7 billion miles away.

Now there are a couple of things that I find quite amazing. 1) The technology to do this was developed back in the 1970’s. 2) The camera that took the picture was 23 years old and still working like it was brand new. 3) The photo was somehow sent to earth from 3.7 BILLION miles away.

And here are a couple of other things that I find even more amazing:

1) “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

2) “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)

3) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17)

This Pale Blue Dot that we call home is unique among all the other dots out there in space. And you are unique among all the other inhabitants of this Pale Blue Dot. As you celebrate Valentine’s Day, never forget that you have been created for the purposes of a God that delights greatly in you and…

Never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

P.S. – Voyager 1 is still traveling out in interstellar space and will continue to transmit data until around 2025 when it will not have enough electrical power to continue to do so.

Dear Grandkids,

I have had the blessing of being able to travel this earth probably more than most people. My Mom instilled the travel bug in me when I was young and it never went away. One of my most favorite places is Zermatt Switzerland. I first became acquainted with Zermatt when I was in high school. My Mom sent my brother and I to a month long ski camp in Zermatt. I have had the opportunity to return twice since then. After I graduated from college, a buddy of mine and I traveled by train all over Europe – and Zermatt was one of the spots we hit. And then in 2014 Nona and I went there when I was on my Sabbatical.

On this last trip, one of our favorite memories is a hike that we took on our last day there. We took a cable car from Zermatt up the mountain toward the Matterhorn and then spent most of the day hiking back to town. Recently I was asked if there was a day in my life that I would like to re-live if given the chance. This was the first day that popped into my mind. Here are a few pictures and a few thoughts about each one that might explain why. The picture on the right above was 34 years in the making. Nona and I were dating when I had last been to Zermatt and I came back from that trip with a promise that one day I would take her there. And then when we finally got there we weren’t even sure that we would get to see the Matterhorn because it was shrouded in clouds and rain the first 2 days we were there. When the sky finally cleared, we skedaddled up the mountain as fast as we could to take advantage of the short break in the weather.

1 & 2 – The Rocks of Remembrance are akin to what Joshua had the Israelites do in Joshua 4. They are a testimony to God’s goodness and faithfulness in our lives, specifically in regard to our kids and grandkids. You will notice that there are 8 rocks in the stack. The first 6 represent your parents: Christy and Chad, Scott and Mary, and Tucker and Danielle. The biggest rock on top represents Grayson because he was the only one of you born at the time. The smaller rock is for Bowen – though at the time all we knew was that Christy was pregnant. But the monument serves also as a reminder to us not only of what the Lord has done but also of what He is going to do – and is in fact already doing through each of you. Before we continued our hike we prayed for you and asked that the Lord’s blessing would be upon you. And even though we did not know all of you yet we had full confidence that the Lord would honor our prayer for all our grandkids.

3 & 4 – As we trekked down the mountain we came upon these two things that made us smile. The first was the cow with a cow bell. We heard him long before we saw him. The scene just seemed so vintage Swiss to us. The 2nd was a small little mountain village with a restaurant where we stopped, rested, and enjoyed a refreshing beverage.

5 & 6 – The Gorner Gorge is a beautiful crevice in the mountain that we hiked down into. It was like this spectacular surprise that we came upon on what was already a spectacular day. And as we came up out of the gorge we came across this plaque which when translated very appropriately says, “All the land adores You and sings praises to You.” (Psalm 66:4)

I hope that one day you get a chance to travel to Switzerland. It is indeed a gorgeous country. And if you go to Switzerland I hope you get to go to Zermatt. And if you go to Zermatt perhaps you can take a hike down the mountain like we did. And perhaps you will even come across our Rocks of Remembrance – and perhaps you can pick up in prayer where we left off – praying God’s blessing over your own kids and grandkids.

Never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

Dear Grandkids,

Just about the time that I was getting used to having 8 grandkids, Tucker and Danielle inform us that #9 will be joining the clan in July. It’s a good thing that I am still a young man – with the strength of an elephant and the memory of a lion. Or is it the other way around?

A couple of the things that Nona and I love is that all you cousins are reasonably close in age and that you enjoy playing together. We are going to do our best as grandparents to create experiences that will foster great affection for one another and awesome memories that you can share together.

There are at least two instances of cousins in Scripture that are specifically pointed out and worth taking note of because of the influence that resulted due to the relationship.

1) Esther 2:7 says, “Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she didn’t have a father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.” If you don’t already know the story, God used Mordecai’s influence on Esther, his cousin, to save the Jewish people from a pogrom. It was Mordecai who told Esther, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther then used her influence with the king to expose the man who was plotting to kill all the Jews. Grandkids, it may very well be your words of encouragement to one of your cousins that the Lord uses to compel them to do heroic things.

2) Colossians 4:10 says, “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him).” Perhaps you know the backstory here as well. Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas on one of their missionary journeys. Somewhere along the way he got home sick and left and went back home. When Mark wanted to rejoin the team, Paul wanted nothing to do with him. But Barnabas was willing to stop traveling with Paul in order to give his cousin a second chance. It greatly encouraged young Mark – who would go on in future years to write what we now know as the Gospel According to Mark, one of the most famous books ever written. It probably would not have happened without some serious cousin love.

So as you grow up and spend time together and even when you are grown with kids of your own – love one another and look our for one another and lift one another up when they are down. I have no doubt that the Lord will use you greatly in each other’s lives.

Never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

Dear Bowen,

Happy birthday #6 my #2 grand young ‘un. I am very much looking forward to celebrating your birthday with you and am thrilled that when your mom asked you what you wanted to do for your birthday you said “go to Durham.” I am also excited about the NERF theme, the Chick-fil-A, and the big chocolate chip cookie that will all be a part of the extravaganza.

Speaking of the NERF theme, I bet you did not know that NERF stands for “Non-Expanding Recreational Foam”. It is actually a polyester resin that reacts with another compound in the presence of CO2, which then becomes a freakishly light polyurethane material. I did not make that sentence up – it came from the internet so we know that it is true.

The original NERF ball was first marketed back in 1970 (I was 12 years old) as a 4″ ball that you could “throw indoors, but can’t damage lamps or break windows, or hurt babies or old people.” Now that I am one of those old people I especially appreciate that. It was another 20 years before the introduction of the NERF gun. (I’m thinking that you will see my mad NERF gun skills in action this weekend). Did you know that there are about 450 MILLION NERF darts made each year. And I suspect that I will get hit with my fair share of them on Saturday.

Of course there is a lesson behind all this. Ephesians 6:16 says this: “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.”

Now I don’t expect to get hit with flaming darts this weekend but for sure I have been target practice for the evil one a time or twenty. And it is my faith in the Lord Jesus that has kept me from sure and certain defeat at his hands. So I want to encourage you to take up the shield of faith every day keeping in mind that every day is another day that the evil one is looking for an opportunity to wound your soul, steal your joy, and destroy your life.

So whenever you pick up a NERF gun to play a game with your friends keep in mind that there is a spiritual war being fought in the unseen world. Fight the good fight of faith my young grandson  – I will be praying for you as you go into battle.

And never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

Dear Grandkids,

2020 has been one of those years that most people would just like to forget. And in many ways I would agree. But in other ways it has been an awesome year. Yes, a year that has created new challenges but also a year that has created new opportunities. But such is life. Every year will be like this in one way or another. Here is my annual end of the year round up… by the numbers.

0 – I am more than happy to report that I had zero kidney stones this year.

1 – I did however have 1 CAT-Scan – which showed that I DO NOT have any kind of unusual growth in my head. I had to get this checked out because I started having some hearing loss this year in my right ear. So if I ask you to repeat something sometime instead of being annoyed at your aging granddad instead rejoice that I don’t have a brain tumor.

1 – We added one more grandkid to the clan this year thanks to Scott and Mary. Haddon was born back in late February and has been a joyful delight to the family.

2 – I can officially check off a bucket list item. I can now solve both a 2×2 and a 3×3 Rubik’s Cube.

3 – As you are no doubt aware we again held the Reyner Family Disc Golf Invitational over Christmas. One day you will be included in this if you choose to do so. But this year I am proud to announce my 3rd place finish.

4 – To date, there have been 4 members of our family that have tested positive for Covid-19. In all cases, it was a very mild version of the virus. We are hopeful that 2021 will be the year of sayonara to the coronavirus.

9 – Apparently there is this thing called the enneagram that has been around for a long time. I am kind of late to the enneagram party but this year have enjoyed exploring how it works. It is a tool that is used to describe the different personality types that people have and I have found it very useful. I am a Type 9 – which probably explains why I like the Hebrew word “shalom” so much.

15 – Back in October, Nona and I went waterfall chasing and managed to see 15 waterfalls  in the western part of NC. We would love to introduce some of them to you sometime as we enjoyed the pristine beauty of nature in our great state.

18 – Back in March we started zooming with our College Age group from church but started meeting in person (socially distanced as much as possible) in July. We now meet in our church worship center so we have plenty of space to spread out and average about 18 people each Tuesday as we ponder Scripture together.

27 – I have now been serving at Ridgecrest Baptist for 27+ years. I serve with a great staff team led by a great pastor alongside great people seeking to know and follow Jesus.

44 – This is the 44th Pop Pop Epistle of 2020 that I have written. Hopefully I am around long enough to write 1000 of these to youse guys and gals.

36,600 – Back at the beginning of the year I set a goal to do 100 pushups each day. This morning I counted down my final 100 of the year and am pleased to report that I did not miss one.single.day. during the year. This tells me a few things: 1) I was healthy enough to do them every day which is a good thing and 2) a worthy goal is very motivational to me as I seek to pursue health in my advanced years.

4,717,062 – One of my other fitness goals was to keep walking and to minimally get 70,000 steps each week – an average of 10,000 steps per day. As of this writing at 4:43 PM on December 31 I have over 4.7 million steps for the year (a daily average of 12.8k). And for the 4th year in a row I have not missed a week of getting at least 70,000 steps. That works out to 208 straight weeks.

So anytime that you want to call and congratulate me on any of these numbers I would love to hear from you. But just so you know, the number that I love the most, which I did not even mention, is 8 – which represents all of you: Grayson, Bowen, Keller, Miller, Asher, Audrey, Ezra, and Haddon.

Never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

Dear Grandkids,

40 years sure does go by fast!

It was 40 years ago today that I asked Nona to be my wife. That decision made it possible for you to read this. If I had not asked and if she had not said yes then we would not have had 3 awesome kids and you would never have been born.

Here’s how it happened. It was Christmas Day 1980. We were both 22 years old. I had gone to Kernersville, NC to hang out with Nona and her family for the evening. Kernersville is where she grew up and the house was the same house that she had come home from the hospital to. Her mom and dad and one of her sisters were there. At some point in the evening we snuck back to her bedroom to privately exchange Christmas gifts with each other. I told her that I had written a poem for her and I gave it to her and asked her to read it out loud. It was entitled “This Poem Is A Prayer” and went like this:

This poem is a prayer
So as you read you ought to pray.
I thought it best the Lord should hear
These words I have to say.

This poem is a love song
So as you read you ought to sing.
You can praise the Lord our God
Who’s given life to you and me.

This poem is a dream
Which I have waited to come true.
I had been asleep for many years
But awoke when I found you.

This poem is an ending
To the two of us apart
And it culminates a miracle
Which brought love to my heart.

This poem is a beginning
To a never ending life
Where two can live as one
And both can live in Christ.

This poem is an answer
To a prayer prayed long ago
As it brings us both together
To a life we soon shall know.

This poem is a question
Which I cannot let you read
But if you’ll look into my eyes
I’ll ask you…

At this point I got down on one knee and finished the poem by saying “will you marry me.” I told her there was something in the toe of her stocking. She fished it out and found a box with a diamond ring. She looked up at me and answered my question by quoting from Psalm 34:3-4 which says, “O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together! I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”  She said YES and told me that the Lord had given her a calm assurance about us being together despite some crazy ideas that I had at this point in my life. (Remind me sometime to tell you the story about how I never became a dairy farmer).

So that’s my story as best I remember it. I will end this epistle by saying two things: 1) It has been an awesome 40 years with Nona full of incredible memories and shared ministry, and 2) 40 years sure does go by fast!

Never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop

Dear Grandkids,

Back in 1961, on this day in history, a song called “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by a group known as The Tokens topped the Billboard Chart pop list and became a wildly popular song.

And that brings me to a story I’m sure I have never told you.

Back in the Fall of 1985, Nona was pregnant with our first child (Christy) and I was the student pastor at Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh. I was sitting in my office when I received a phone call from a friend who ran a local Christian bookstore. He called me because he knew that part of my story included a Jewish background. He had received a phone call from a man who had just rolled into Raleigh by bus and was wanting to talk to somebody about how to become a Christian. He said that he also was from a Jewish background.

So I dropped everything that I was doing and rode 15 minutes downtown to the bus stop where I met Alan.

Alan was not in good shape emotionally, psychologically, or financially. His story went something like this: He had grown up in a Jewish household but had drifted away from his religious roots. He had married and then struck it big in the music industry. He was the lead singer for a group called The Tokens who had popularized the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” back in the early ’60s. He sang the opening part of the song for me and he was quite good. Since then, he had lost everything, his wife had died, he was drifting around the country by bus, he was suicidal, and as a last resort called the Christian bookstore as he was passing through Raleigh – who called me.

I listened to his story and then shared the gospel with him which he readily embraced. And then, because he literally had no where else to go, I invited him to come stay at our house. Now a wiser man would at the very least have asked his pregnant wife if this was OK, but alas wisdom was not one of my better virtues. I was 27 years old, naively compassionate, and trying to do what I thought Jesus would do.

Alan stayed with us for six weeks. We introduced him to our church where he was baptized. We found him a job at McDonald’s. And we gave him a place to lay his head and a chance to try to heal.

About week five Nona and I had a weekend out of town that we were obligated to and Alan went to stay with our friends Paul and Macon. Paul and Macon worked  alongside us with students at Providence and had gotten to know Alan. Paul was a lawyer and is currently serving as a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court. A very smart guy. As they spent time with Alan that weekend some things came up in their conversation that didn’t add up. So he started doing some research. Now keep in mind that this was before the advent of the internet. By the time we got back into town he was convinced that not everything about Alan’s story was true.

So we sat down with him and confronted him with the inconsistencies. And then he told us the real story. The Jewish background – true. The singing career – not true. The wife – not true. The down and out part – true. He had fabricated the singing and wife part of the story as a way to gain our sympathy thinking that if he was just a drifter that no one would give him the time of day. He said that his conversion was genuine. He even went before our church and confessed publicly to the lies.

We believed him. We forgave him. We invited him to stay and make his home in Raleigh and grow in his faith at our church. But his feelings of guilt about the lies made him want to leave. He said that he had people out in Colorado so we bought him a bus ticket and sent him on his way. And so I said goodbye to him at the same place that I met him.

This would not be the only time that I invited a stranger into our home. But that is a story for another day. I will leave you with this thought: Asking the question “what would Jesus do” is always a good question to ask. Sometimes people will take advantage of your desire to please God but don’t let that keep you from asking the question again and again.

Never ever forget that you are very loved!

Pop Pop