Befriended in Ruther Glen, Virginia

Traveling home on the last leg of a recent, long road trip, we stopped to eat at an Arby’s in Ruther Glen, Virginia, off I-95.   I placed my meal order with a very upbeat cashier.  Repeatedly she interjected “m’ dear,” an endearment quite typical in Southern speech, as she confirmed my selections.  The sweet expression felt good as my husband and I were in need of rest and refreshment at this point in our many miled journey.  Next to me, a handsome young Black man also placed his order and a few minutes later a woman in a cute yellow dress joined him.

Ruther Glen is big enough to have an Arby’s but too small to be named on the exit sign.  Photo by Doug Kerr, from the site Mapcarta.

Our meal came and we sat in a booth, the fast food satisfying our hunger.  Being the people watcher that I am, I saw that the African American couple sat in the booth next to us.  As they too ate their meal, I overheard playful banter in their conversation that spoke of love and a healthy relationship, nothing course or lewd about it.  At some point, her man and mine left our tables and she spoke to me.  She commented that she noticed us and thought we showed a mature and seasoned relationship.  I told her that indeed we had recently celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary.  She congratulated me with seemingly genuine happiness for us.  I asked about their life together and she answered that they were at the twenty-year mark.  “Wow,” I responded. “You look too young for that!”  Our little chat ended with wishing each other many more years of loving commitment in marriage.

About this time, the cashier from up front began circulating the dining area with a broom.  She too engaged in conversation with me.  It was almost Mother’s Day weekend and I think that’s where she started.  She shared about all the gifts she got for her mother and couldn’t wait to give her on her day off.  I think one of the gifts was a plaque or decorative family tree because she began telling me the names of her kids and siblings and step-siblings.  It was clear that she adored her mother and planned to generously express her love through gifts.

It struck me that both women initiated conversations with me.  Did I look lonely or lost?  I doubt that was the reason:  the Southern way is just warm, friendly, and casual.  The Southern way has also been associated with prejudice, yet both Black women felt comfortable and interested in talking to me, a white stranger passing through town.  Life’s commonalities drew us together.  I was a wife sharing fast food with my husband, and I was a daughter, possibly also a mother, to the talkative cashier.  We found a connection by sharing those life roles.  The connection provided a measure of kindness.

God felt the same about connecting with us.  He sent His Son Jesus to experience our humanity.  Jesus willingly gave up the glories of being God, to share life’s human realities on earth, including the eventual agony of death.  At this point, some of you will recognize these as truths from Philippians 2.  I was part of a discussion on that passage on Sunday. I love how one person said it:  God who is eternal and omnipresent (is everywhere at once) subjected Himself through Jesus His Son to our limitations of time and place.

Three years ago, at this time, our country experienced a terrible fissure.  What appeared to be an unnecessarily harsh police arrest incited an uproar of protests.   Thousands rioted in city streets to voice their indignation, even as churches and schools were shut down, parks and beaches were closed, and many jobs were suspended.  Fear of a virus and social isolation fueled the reaction and rage.

As grievous as the Minneapolis incident was, my encounters at the Ruther Glen Arby’s happen more often.  I believe when kindness or empathy occur, it is a small reflection of the great image of God’s kindness, as explained in Philippians 2; how Jesus demonstrated the ultimate emptying of His divine rights and privileges.  We can receive His saving grace (which Scripture defines below as bending the knee and verbal consent), and common grace can be imparted to those with whom we walk this earth.

~from Philippians 2                                                                                                                     In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:                                                                                                                                                   Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

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Dr. Timothy Keller: My Personal Legacy

The Christian community lost a giant yesterday.  Tim Keller, preacher and author, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 72 – we would have wished for another decade or two of his unparalleled contributions to The Church.  He pastored a church in New York City for 28 years and wrote over thirty books.

Dr. Keller significantly impacted me and three generations of my family.  My parents, who lived in the suburbs of NYC, began attending evening church services to hear Keller preach in the 90’s.  As different family members visited my parents, they joined in the late afternoon trip to the city and to Keller’s church.  Once, while with my parents on that very outing, my husband and I ran into Dr. Keller, who was leaving the coffee shop we were entering, catching a meal between church services.  The five of us had a brief chat and he was gracious in speaking to us though he had to continue on to preach again.  We expressed our appreciation for his ministry.  Dr. Keller’s intellectual giftedness and logic, his unbelievably wide scope of reading, and his keen understanding of culture and thought, brought an unmatched depth and applicability to his Biblical teaching.  My father, an intelligent and widely read man who was selective with words and not prone to exaggeration, described Keller’s influence on his own life-long faith as profound.

Tim Keller’s congregation consisted of young NYC professionals, and he was able to connect with that age group.  His preaching and writing resonated deeply with the third generation of my family.  Our family rarely took a road trip that Tim Keller didn’t join us on, as we listened to his sermons either on CD or online while we drove.  My kids have read more Keller books than I have!  So yesterday was a day of shared sorrow in our family at the news of his death.

We grieve because we feel a loss and an end, but we also know well that this is a beginning and a victory for Tim Keller.  Followers of Christ look forward to seeing and spending eternity with Jesus, the Savior they served.  Dr. Keller said recently of his expected death, “There is no downside for me leaving, not in the slightest.”  We shed tears but all is not lost.  Thankfully, he left a legacy of sermons and writings that will continue to challenge and inform us.  I trust that God will raise up others who will rightly continue to inspire His kingdom on earth … bearing the torch until Jesus returns!  AMEN

Here is a link to one of Tim Keller’s sermons   “Christ the Final Word.”    It is classic Keller:  his depth of Biblical insight, his humor, his connection to culture and the modern mindset, and landing on the Gospel!  I hope you will listen to it through to the end (and it begins with a Scripture reading by someone else).  If you get lost a little, hang on.  You’ll catch up; he goes deep, but it is real!  His website is http://gospelinlife.com

Rev. Keller’s memorial service took place on August 15, 2023 in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, NY    A Worship Service of Praise to God for the Life of Tim Keller

Living Like a Live Oak

The iconic image of a southern estate property often includes a sprawling live oak laden with cascading moss.  If you are not familiar with southern flora, you may not realize that ‘live’ does not describe the tree as not dead, but it is the name of the predominant oak variety in the south, particularly the coastal south.  A live oak inhabits our front yard, not a spectacular specimen, but other larger beauties grow on nearby properties.

The name ‘live’ refers to the presence of leaves on the tree all year long.  Live oaks shed and regrow leaves throughout the year.  But there are other good reasons for calling it live.  Live oaks are known for their longevity, easily living hundreds of years.  They also spare life and prevent destruction.  Due to their low, spreading nature and deep, strong roots, they survive coastal storms.  Early peoples knew to cling to live oaks for safety during hurricanes.  Their broad shape buffers wind and protects surrounding structures.  I find compelling beauty in the live oak’s gangly, low-spreading branches, especially when adorned with natural mossy tinsel.

The first song in the book of Psalms compares living a godly life to a prospering tree.  Psalm 1 states that a godly man flourishes like a tree planted near a good water source.  The well-watered tree produces fruit and lush foliage.  The Psalm contrasts the godly life to the “wicked,” whose life and successes are short-lived.  Psalm 1 describes right living or the righteous as separated from sinful ways and focused instead on God’s law (the Scriptures).  Whether the psalmist had in mind the elegant symmetry of a maple, or the majestic reaches of a redwood, or the unique form of a live oak, a thriving life flows out of wise spiritual habits.  Here is the first Psalm:

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

This live oak is at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, NC. The photo is from Wilmingtonandbeaches.com