Category: love

We walked to church in Denver the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Kinsey and Jordan plugged into Providence Bible Church shortly after their move this past summer. Meeting in an elementary school, this congregation of God’s people opens its arms to all.

There was a large number of African immigrants in attendance and there were many Hispanic brothers and sisters present, so the service was interpreted in both Swahili and Spanish. A person could sense God’s love before, during, and after the worship time.

I was impressed with the attention given to the poor and the homeless in the area. Denver has a fairly large population of homeless residents as do most of our American cities. The Christians at Providence know God has called them to love their neighbors in practical ways. Every individual is created in the image of God, so no matter a person’s skin color, nationality, or social status, each person is valuable. Our heavenly Father intends for His church to be a haven of love.

Where would the world be without the church of Jesus Christ? All over the world, His disciples offer a cup of cool water or a hot meal or a supporting hand to those in need. It seems that wherever I go, in our country or abroad, the beauty of the Body of Christ shines brightly.

After the service, as I stood in the school hallway waiting for Jordan to pick up two-year-old Owen from class, a young lady introduced herself to me and asked if I was Kinsey’s dad. I already knew who she was; I had met her husband earlier.

A week after Kinsey gave birth, she started feeling bad with a high fever. Susan took her to the emergency room. With IV antibiotics Kinsey fought off an infection, but she had to spend a night in the hospital. Kinsey and Jordan were both thankful that Susan was there to help, but such moments can be overwhelming even if an extra person is present. On the difficult day, this lady from their church, who has three small kids of her own, picked up Owen and kept him at her home. Susan remarked that this family’s kindness made a huge difference.

Our Savior wants His church to remember that “love never fails”… so:

• Love God.
• Love one another.
• Love your neighbor.
• Love your enemy.
• God is love… rely on Him.
• Live in love and live in God.
• Be like Jesus.
• Shine your light and let the Father receive glory.

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” I John 4:16-17

Susan probably worries a little about me as she enjoys our new granddaughter in Denver, but she knows I’m not alone as our friend Sherill lives with us. For the past couple of weeks, our friend Jim has needed a place to stay so he is also a welcome guest.

Sherill is an assistant women’s basketball coach at a local university. She played at our school, starred at the University of Georgia, then played five years in the WNBA and four years overseas. Jim is off the streets and doing well. God used His children to help Jim get clean and attain a full time job as a custodian at an elementary school.

The three of us make quite a diverse community. While I am sure we could find many differences to argue about, we tend rather to dwell on the things we have in common: Jesus, an enjoyment of sports, various struggles, and an appreciation for good food. Our dinner conversations are quite interesting.

When I told them I would probably write something about our little family, both Sherill and Jim said I could write anything I wanted… they both trust me. Surely the test of a healthy Christian community is not whether you can spend two or three hours together each week in a church building… but whether you can truly love each other every day… despite your differences.

Jim said, “We must live out what we say at church. If there is ever a need among us, we all need to pitch in and help.” Sherill said, “Coach Davis, with the season starting up, I’m going to be tied up most Sundays. Do you think we can take time to get together and talk about God one evening during the week?”

My friends remind us of what is most important: ‘Love the Lord’ and ‘Love one another.’ When our communities keep these two priorities front and center, ‘the kingdom of God is near.’

“Jesus replied: ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts. They broke bread together in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” Acts 2:44-45

Eighteen years ago I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. The doctor broke the news to me on my 41st birthday. Sometime in that first year, a friend and colleague suggested I share the lessons God teaches through trials. Another friend, Steve Wolf, has organized these messages into categories that can be found on his website. There are over 600 writings posted and categorized. I think God’s lessons are infinite.

The first message I tried to communicate was: “I Am Loved.” I’m convinced this is still the first lesson God wants to teach every man, woman, boy, and girl. “Jesus loves me, this I know…” In Christ this magnificent love is revealed. The more we know Jesus, the more we understand God’s love… and God’s love is the hope of the world.

Jesus is the Master Teacher. The Father, who loves us and has saved us, intends that each be molded into the image of His Son. The Holy Spirit guides, empowers, directs, and comforts us as we live in Christ. God’s ways are brilliant and beyond our comprehension. Presently, I am trying to merge two truths that seem to contradict one another. One truth is that I am righteous, holy, and perfect in Christ. The other is that I am weak, prone to sin, and slow to learn.

The first truth is absolute. Scripture after Scripture reveals God’s accomplishments for those who put their faith in Christ. We are new creations; we have been given the Holy Spirit; we are branches in the perfect Vine; we are the beloved children of God.

The second truth is no less true. My wife, children, and close friends can quickly confirm my flaws. If I am honest, I recognize my shortcomings better than anyone. The devil wants us to fall under condemnation with such self-examination, but Jesus wants to simply teach us and help us grow.

At the beginning of the summer I was chosen to be a part of a cutting-edge medical effort to cure multiple myeloma. I am the 6th person to enter this trial in Georgia and the 95th in the world. Over 40 people were on the waiting list at Emory and I was chosen. My doctor and his team jumped through many hoops to make it happen. Susan and I both felt this is what God wanted us to do.

The last week of school, I went through several tests to qualify. Some tests were easy; others were more difficult, but I’ve done it all before. After passing everything, the official entry into the trial was the ‘signing of consents’ which took place at Emory with my doctor explaining the necessity of following every detail of the study. The most important day after consents were signed was the ‘harvesting of T-cells’ on a date fixed in stone by the drug company financing the trial. The day was exactly in the middle of the week we were supposed to be in Ecuador… another assignment we felt God had given. Being up front with my doctor and the trial coordinator, we explained our dilemma and I promised to return early in time for my appointment. They hesitantly agreed, I signed the consents, and three days later we were on a plane to Ecuador.

I would like to boast about being so confident that everything would go super-smoothly that I was as calm as Jesus in the boat during a storm. The truth is, after landing in Ecuador a new anxiety popped into my head almost every hour that could prevent me from fulfilling my commitment to the trial. So how can a ‘new creation’ worry so much? I prayed constantly for grace, realizing I could not overcome with my own will-power. Others also prayed for me… and Jesus taught.

I was to be at Emory at 7:30 am on Thursday. The plane from Quito was scheduled to depart at 11:30 Wednesday night and arrive in Atlanta at 5:50 Thursday morning. Given my well-earned reputation for getting lost, our friend Marco volunteered to accompany me from Cajabamba to Quito. We were to leave Wednesday a little before 1:30 and take the four hour trip by bus to the capitol. At 1:40, I stood in a prayer circle with Marco’s parents and an American friend; Marco had not arrived. As Pastor Manuel prayed in Spanish, everyone was shedding tears… except me. You know what I was thinking: “Where is Marco? If we miss that bus, I am in trouble.”

God convicted me in that tiny prayer circle: “These are my saints… who love Me and love you.” In other words: “Seek My kingdom first.” In other words: “Take no thought for your life.” Marco arrived as the prayer ended; we caught the bus with 5 seconds to spare; we made it to the Quito bus terminal; I took a taxi to the airport and arrived three hours before the scheduled departure. Then I learned the plane to Atlanta was delayed by more than an hour and one person said the flight might be cancelled.

I concluded: “OK Lord, I think I was supposed to come to Ecuador. I think I am supposed to be on this trial. I’ll either make it or I won’t. I’m in Your hands.” The plane left around 1:00 am. I got to Emory at 7:45 and spent nearly eight hours at the hospital letting them harvest my T-cells. This involved placing a triple line in an artery in my neck, drawing my blood out of one line into a machine that separated the special white blood cells from the rest of the cells, then returning the blood through another line back into my body. Taylor and his kids picked me up that afternoon and took me home… and I gave thanks.

The main lesson seems familiar: I am loved… whether I catch a plane or not. My family is loved; you are loved; Pastor Manuel and all his family and citizens of Ecuador are loved. Love is the banner over God’s Kingdom and we can trust Him. (In a week or so we should know the effectiveness of the treatment…)

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” I John 4:16

Wilkes turned three years old in March; Macy turns one today; Owen turns two at the end of June. This is a picture of Kinsey and Jordan’s second child ten weeks after conception. She is due November 1… they will be living in Denver.

In all the discussions and debates about abortion over the decades of my lifetime, I’ve never heard any voice dispute an obvious fact: “If I had been eliminated at any stage of development in my mother’s womb, I would never have been born.”

As a midwife, Kinsey is particularly attuned to the stages of pregnancy and the changing life that is growing daily inside of her. As a mother, she is wondering how she’ll have the capacity to love another child like she loves Owen.

Her sister-in-law Emma can tell her she needs not worry… her love for Macy is just as great as it is for Wilkes. Susan attests to the same truth… her love for Taylor, Kinsey, and Karlyn is constant.

And my mom would share that God gives the capacity to love four children with the love only a mother understands. She has loved all four of us beyond the days we were under her roof, through our ups and downs and to this day. She is the best.

The ability a mother has to love is a God-given gift that blesses the world. When Jesus cried for Jerusalem in His last days on earth, He likened His desire to that of a mother hen’s. This love led Him to the cross where He made the ultimate sacrifice to rescue all God’s children.

Happy Mother’s Day!

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37

“I have made known to you everything I have learned from My Father.” (John 15:15)
“You must believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” (John 14:11)

Jesus’ entire life was devoted to making His Father known and to bringing God’s sons and daughters home. Jesus lived in His Father with the understanding that His Father lived in Him. Consequently, Jesus lived in Love and Love lived in Him.

The parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’ reveals what Jesus wants all to know about His Father. The late Henri Nouwen wrote a book about Rembrandt’s masterpiece entitled ‘The Return of the Prodigal Son.’ These are his words:

“Here is the God I want to believe in: a Father, who, from the beginning of creation, has stretched out his arms in merciful blessing, never forcing himself on anyone, but always waiting; never letting his arms drop down in despair, but always hoping that his children will return so that he can speak words of love to them and let his tired arms rest on their shoulders. His only desire is to bless.” (pp 95, 96)

The father is full of love, compassion, and the overwhelming desire for his children to be at his table. He longed to see his younger son come back from a foolish quest for freedom and pleasure. When the prodigal humbly returned, the father welcomed him home and threw a party, inviting others to experience his joy.

In anger, the older son refused to join the celebration, so the father went out to invite him in. He loved the older son just as much as he loved the younger. “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:31-32)

Whether the listeners comprehended or not, Jesus painted the picture of God as He is… a Father with outstretched arms. “Whether you are far away or nearby, My Father wants you to be in fellowship with Him. Whether your sin is visible or hidden, My Father wants to forgive and restore. My Father is Love and His Love is your salvation.”

“He (Jesus) came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” Ephesians 2:17-18