Author: danefowlkes

“And there came a lion.” 1 Samuel 17:34

It is a source of inspiration and strength to come in touch with the youthful David, trusting God. Through faith in God he conquered a lion and a bear, and afterwards overthrew the mighty Goliath. When that lion came to despoil that flock, it came as a wondrous opportunity to David. If he had failed or faltered he would have missed God’s opportunity for him and probably would never have come to be God’s chosen king of Israel.

“And there came a lion.” One would not think that a lion was a special blessing from God; one would think that only an occasion of alarm. The lion was God’s opportunity in disguise. Every difficulty that presents itself to us, if we receive it in the right way, is God’s opportunity. Every temptation that comes is God’s opportunity. When the “lion” comes, recognize it as God’s opportunity no matter how rough the exterior. The very tabernacle of God was covered with badgers’ skins and goats’ hair; one would not think there would be any glory there. The Shekinah of God was manifest under that kind of covering. May God open our eyes to see Him, whether in temptations, trials, dangers, or misfortunes. (Streams in the Desert)

An unexpected message on the Interstate reminded that much of life is a matter of perspective. One of the last occupations on earth I would tackle is that of driving a truck for a living. I’m not casting dispersion on truck drivers; instead, I am confessing I would fail miserably behind the wheel of a tractor trailer rig. I get nervous pulling a trailer behind anything, especially when required to go in reverse, so to do so daily on crowded highways would rank a close second to being stuck in an elevator—one of my primary fears. The last thing I would think of while driving an eighteen wheeler would be helping anyone else. Imagine my surprise when a truck changed lanes in front of me on which the owner had posted on its trailer in large letters: “If You Need a Prayer You Can Call Me,” with his phone number printed below. I couldn’t get around him, but I wanted to see if the driver was on his phone, interceding at that moment for some burdened driver who took him up on his offer. Hopefully he prays with his eyes open, but I admire his perspective.

When the lion comes, and it will, how will I view it? Will I question God’s goodness? Will I whine and miss what God is orchestrating on my behalf, or will I detect divine opportunity to serve Christ better and know Him more intimately? Like it or not, the instant I encounter difficulty of any kind becomes a test of my relationship with God.

“If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” Mark 9:23

Seldom have we heard a better definition of faith than was given once in one of our meetings, by a dear old woman, as she answered the question of a young man how to take the Lord for needed help. In her characteristic way, pointing her finger toward him, she said with great emphasis: “You’ve just got to believe that He’s done it and it’s done.” The great danger with most of us is that, after we ask Him to do it, we do not believe that it is done, but we keep on helping Him, and getting others to help Him; and waiting to see how He is going to do it.

Faith adds its “Amen” to God’s “Yea,” and then takes its hands off, and leaves God to finish His work. Its language is, “Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him; and he worketh.” (Streams in the Desert)

One of God’s choice servants entered his reward yesterday. Dr. Billy Graham passed away at 7:46 am at the age of 99 due to complications of his advanced age. His death signals the passing of an era, but because of his faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s blessing upon his commitment to preach the Word in season and out of season, the worldwide evangelistic ministry of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association continues around the world. I remember where I was the first time I heard Billy Graham preach. It was the 1968 Houston crusade held in the brand new Houston Astrodome, and I was proudly carrying the Bible my grandmother had given me for Christmas. I can’t remember what was said or who was with Dr. Graham, but I do recall that the air smelled like plastic and cotton candy, an odd but unforgettable olfactory combination. I next attended the Billy Graham crusade in Houston at Rice Stadium, accompanied by my aunt and uncle, as well as several other members of my flock in East Texas. My senior project at East Texas Baptist College under the tutelage of Dr. Potts was a study of Dr. Graham’s methods in mass evangelism. Although I never met him personally, I continue to encounter him through his books and preaching, and I have the privilege of serving with his son Franklin through Samaritan’s Purse.

The verse to be used for services in Dr. Graham’s memory is Revelation 14:13: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord…that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” The world will be watching with interest as one of God’s great ambassadors is laid to rest. His journey of faith on earth has ended. Dr. Graham has stepped into the eternal joy of Heaven and is in the presence of the One in whom we place our hope. This hope is that all intrepid believers will extend their journey through eternity; the only thing in question is what trail we will leave behind for others to follow.

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” Psalm 37:7

Have you prayed and prayed and waited and waited, and still there is no manifestation? Are you tired of seeing nothing move? Are you just at the point of giving it all up? Perhaps you have not waited in the right way? This would take you out of the right place, the place where He can meet you.

“With patience wait.” Romans 8:25

Patience takes away worry. He said He would come, and His promise is equal to His presence. Patience takes away your weeping. Why feel sad and despondent? He knows your need better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to bring more glory out of it all. Patience takes away self-works. The work He desires is that you “believe” (John 6:29) and when you believe, you may then know that all is well. Patience takes away all want. Your desire for the thing you wish is perhaps stronger than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled in its arrival. (Streams in the Desert)

The problem with birthdays is that eventually they become a mixed blessing. Actually, they have been all along, we just didn’t recognize it. I remember when I approached the annual rite of passage with great anticipation, chiefly because my parents made birthdays memorable. One year they took me to appear on Captain Candy Cane’s broadcast on a local television station. I’m not sure which made the deeper impression—Captain Candy Cane in his pink and white pinstriped sport-coat and straw hat, or the snow that fell in Port Arthur that day. Another birthday they arranged for me to be with Cowboy John for his TV program. Kids in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana crowded around their TV sets six days a week to catch a small, Port Arthur-based, NBC-affiliate TV station with the call letters KPAC. Children tuned in to watch the antics of station weatherman John Garner as he portrayed Cowboy John. Being with a real life Lone Ranger as one of the small group of children constituting a live studio was quite a gift for this young cowboy-wanna-be. Perhaps my favorite birthday memory is of my father building a wooden backboard with orange metal goal and installing it over the garage so that my friends and I could play basketball in our driveway. I spent much of my youth pounding away at that simple target.

What morphs birthdays along the way is they become a stark reminder life is fragile. Whether I want to admit it or not, I am not the man I used to be; aging introduces limitations. The good news is that with each passing year we increasingly join the rest of creation groaning for the consummation of this age. The world is snowballing to a climax in which Almighty God says, “Enough is enough;” in that moment we will pass from this fragile temporary existence onto sturdy eternity with Christ. The longer I have to understand myself, the less I like what I uncover. Praise God one day in the not-too-distant future, we will be changed to resemble our Lord in a way we can only dream about for the time being. Birthdays are a countdown to eternity.

“Nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20

It is possible, for those who really are willing to reckon on the power of the Lord for keeping and victory, to lead a life in which His promises are taken as they stand and are found to be true.

It is possible to cast all our care upon Him daily and to enjoy deep peace in doing it.

It is possible to have the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts purified, in the deepest meaning of the word.

It is possible to see the will of God in everything, and to receive it, not with sighing, but with singing.

It is possible by taking complete refuge in Divine power to become strong through and through; and, where previously our greatest weakness lay, to find that things which formerly upset all our resolves to be patient, or pure, or humble, furnish today an opportunity—through Him who loved us, and works in us an agreement with His will and a blessed sense of His presence and His power—to make sin powerless over us.

These things are DIVINE POSSIBILITIES, and because they are His work, the true experience of them will always cause us to bow lower at His feet and to learn to thirst and long for more. We cannot possibly be satisfied with anything less—each day, each hour, each moment, in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit—than to WALK WITH GOD. (Streams in the Desert)

I rolled in just after midnight following a late night class with graduate students who are eager to recover the biblical meaning of evangelism. After checking emails and calendar, I remembered that I am one day away from being officially a year older, placing me nearer my own curtain call than ever before. The term “birthday” seems obvious enough. The word comes from the Middle English byrthe, which may be related to the old Welsh word brith, meaning blemish or pimple. Now we’re getting somewhere. Modern definitions treat birthdays as the anniversary of the day on which a person was born, typically treated as an occasion for celebration and the giving of gifts. A sober view is that it marks the day from which we start counting down to the end.

A decidedly elevated perspective on birthdays is to acknowledge them as another opportunity to breathe and hope and love. I do not know what today holds, and doubt that anyone ever really does; instead, I speak in terms of expectation. I expect to brew coffee and deliver a cup to my wife in the morning before inhaling my own. I expect to complete work responsibilities on time, then settle in for the duration in comfort clothes and with comfort food. I expect that I will fall asleep in my recliner on cue, protest to my wife I was only resting my eyes, then rouse myself enough to take out the dog and collapse into bed. These are the routines and I predict, but the day will also doubtless be replete with unexpected opportunity to detect the hand of God, to observe incarnation at work, to be the evidence that God still walks among us and that the Creator cares more than just a little. Rather than resigning myself to the inevitability of the end, I will embrace the beauty of each moment as a beginning.

“And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” John 15:2

A child of God was dazed by the variety of afflictions which seemed to make her their target. Walking past a vineyard in the rich autumnal glow she noticed the untrimmed appearance and the luxuriant wealth of leaves on the vines, that the ground was given over to a tangle of weeds and grass, and that the whole place looked utterly uncared for; and as she pondered, the Heavenly Gardener whispered so precious a message that she would fain pass it on:

“My dear child, are you wondering at the sequence of trials in your life? Behold that vineyard and learn of it. The gardener ceases to prune, to trim, to harrow, or to pluck the ripe fruit only when he expects nothing more from the vine during that season. It is left to itself, because the season of fruit is past and further effort for the present would yield no profit. Comparative uselessness is the condition of freedom from suffering. Do you then wish me to cease pruning your life? Shall I leave you alone?” And the comforted heart cried, “No!” (Streams in the Desert)

A grandson announced that he was running away from home; he was done with domestic rules and responsibilities and was heading out for greener pastures. The incident that launched his tirade and subsequent decision to bolt was his father requiring him to dismantle the dome tent that he and his cousin had erected on Sunday afternoon in our backyard. I like camping as much as the next guy, but a tent is not our idea of yard art; so, I called and requested the construction foreman to return as demolition expert. That initiated a meltdown; our own Chernobyl, right next door.

Our daughter called to enlist her mother’s help. I was oblivious to the developing crisis until I saw my wife returning home down the caliche road with grandson at hand and a garbage bag in tow. I quickly learned that she had entered his bedroom and told him to place essentials in the plastic bag, excluding toys—there would be no children’s games where he was going. She faced me while rolling her eyes in his direction, and recounted his decision to leave home. I suffered a flashback to my own prodigal experience that lasted one city block, then responded by saying in my sternest tone that I would take him downtown and drop him off at ‘My Brother’s Keeper,’ the homeless shelter operated by a local mission organization. My wife was worried that our hard headed grandson would make good on his threat, and that so would I. What she didn’t know was that I was already thinking through Plan B. Fortunately for all of us, our six-year-old rebel had a change of heart. Through crocodile tears he sputtered that he didn’t want to go after all; a homeless shelter wasn’t what he had in mind when conjuring up images of striking off on his own and leaving rules behind. Call it homesickness or sudden insight, but the shock of consequence made everything about home look much better in relief. The thought of a world without love is scary indeed.

Most of us leave home and spend the rest of our lives trying to find our way back. We may not physically abandon all that is familiar, but an urge arises within each of us that insists ours is the right way; we convince ourselves we can make it better on our own. That “bent” we call independence; the Holy Bible calls it sin. In the end, the best that can happen within each of us is a lingering homesickness that finally convinces us to return home. Father really does know best, and fortunately for each of us, grace burns all bridges and enables us to see that the Father’s house is where we belong all along.

“Have faith that whatever you ask for in prayer is already granted you, and you will find that it will be.” Mark 11:24

It is so human to want sight when we step out on the promises of God, but our Savior said to Thomas, and to the long roll of doubters who have ever since followed him: “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.” (Streams in the Desert)

Faith is not financial transaction; it is relationship. Those who promote belief as the necessary portal for a desired dividend miss the point altogether. God Almighty is not at our disposal to manipulate according to whims and pleasure. The so-called ‘prosperity gospel’ lowers faith to the level of Aladdin’s lamp; rub God the right way and all your dreams will materialize. The Scriptures enjoin faith because it takes us to the end of ourselves and ushers us into the heart of God. As your understanding depends, your focus shifts upward. You no longer try to convince God to act; you believe He will because you know He abounds in love and mercy toward His children. Know the Father and you act more like a son or daughter instead of a tenant or client.

If faith is relationship, prayer is much more alignment than activity. I believe best when my heart aligns with God himself and the moment His interests begin to dictate my own. In this way, prayer consists largely of listening, granting space and thought to what the Father wants. Along the way faith becomes life, and every thought translates into divine dialogue.

“The land which I do give them, even the children of Israel.” Joshua 1:2

God here speaks in the immediate present. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in the present moment. This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The command in regard to believing prayer is the present tense. “When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall have them.” Have we come to that moment? Have we met God in His everlasting NOW? (Streams in the Desert)

My mentors lived and ministered in the everlasting “now.” My childhood pastor, T. H. Harding, introduced me to the concept of ‘practicing the presence’ of God—living in the constant conscious awareness of God’s presence. In college, Dr. Donald Potts taught by example the necessity of being qualified and available to serve as Christ in the hour of decision. Dr. Al Fasol told me in seminary that the most valuable lesson I will ever learn in ministry is to “go with what you’ve got.” He emphasized the importance of perpetual preparation because one cannot call a recess when life demands a verdict. In Kenya, Bob Allen and Vance Kirkpatrick modeled incarnation, translating Christ in the moment according to immediate context.

You and I are of little use to the Kingdom if we press pause when the heat is on. Whether we like it or not, we will always “go with what we’ve got.” There is no alternative. The secret to adding value in any given moment is our depth of character developed in the shadows beforehand. I am either preparing or procrastinating; the former lends weight to the opportunity at hand, while the latter disqualifies me from relevance. The world will not wait for us to compose ourselves. Are you ready and disposed to serve meaningfully in the everlasting NOW?

“Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.” Nahum 1:12

The great Husbandman is not always threshing. Trial is only for a season. The showers soon pass. Weeping may tarry only for the few hours of the short summer night; it must be gone at day break. Our light affliction is but for a moment. Trial is for a purpose, “If needs be.” The very fact of trial proves that there is something in us very precious to our Lord; else He would not spend so much pains and time on us. Christ would not test us if He did not see the precious ore of faith mingled in the rocky matrix of our nature; and it is to bring this out into purity and beauty that He forces us through the fiery ordeal.

Be patient, O sufferer!  The result will more than compensate for all our trials, when we see how they wrought out the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. To have one word of God’s commendation; to be honored before the holy angels; to be glorified in Christ, so as to be better able to flash His glory on Himself—ah! that will more than repay for all. (Streams in the Desert)

Your story and mine is unapologetically about leaving home and finding it again. Home always was and always will be defined by the ones who know you deeply and value you despite the truth they discover about you. “I live in my own little world. But it’s OK, they know me here” (Lauren Myracle). Home for me as a boy growing up in Port Arthur was Mother. I do not say that to take anything away from Dad, but Momma held time and space together for our family with Herculean strength. She still does even though she has been gone from us more than five years. Home was wherever Mom was, especially when she was on duty in the church library or at the Bible Book Shoppe where she worked to help make ends meet. I relate to what Elizabeth Kostova writes: “It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.” I took home for granted as a child, but went in search of it again as a young man when I went away to college. Unfortunately, I lost my way choosing the wrong road back. I eventually came to my senses in a distant land, only to realize that home was somewhere I didn’t belong. “How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home” (William Faulkner).

Credit divine intervention and a good woman with helping me find home again. I cling to it now like a drowning man clutching driftwood to preserve his head above water. Whoever opined familiarity as contemptible didn’t know beans from parched coffee about what it means to return home. Whether returning home from a business trip, vacation, or long endured emotional void—the result is the same: in a word, contentment; in two words, safe place. “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned” (Maya Angelou, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes). Home cushions every blow and points beyond the pain to eternal wholeness.

The good news for each of us is that God did the unthinkable so we may return home and stay put. “Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition” (James Baldwin). Blessed is the individual who finds unconditional love in the Father who declares us home with every embrace. Believe it or not, one day we will see that the suffering of this life helped us find our way home. The empty tomb declares with resounding voice, “You can go home again.”

“Fret not thyself.” Psalm 37:1

Do not get into a perilous heat about things. If ever heat were justified, it was surely justified in the circumstances outlined in the Psalm. Evil-doers were moving about clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day. “Workers of iniquity” were climbing into the supreme places of power, and were tyrannizing their less fortunate brethren. Sinful men and women were stalking through the land in the pride of life and basking in the light and comfort of great prosperity, and good men were becoming heated and fretful.

“Fret not thyself.” Do not get unduly heated! Keep cool! Even in a good cause, fretfulness is not a wise help-meet. Fretting only heats the bearings; it does not generate the steam. It is no help to a train for the axles to get hot; their heat is only a hindrance. When the axles get heated, it is because of unnecessary friction; dry surfaces are grinding together, which ought to be kept in smooth co-operation by a delicate cushion of oil. . . . Friction begets heat; and with the heat, most dangerous conditions are created. (Streams in the Desert)

The lowest point in my life centered on the actions of another individual and my reaction to them. My inability to manage the other’s behavior and resulting pervasive helplessness conspired to paralyze and erased any latent hope to rise above until a wise old sage jerked me to attention. He told me in no uncertain terms that we cannot control the actions of anyone but ourselves. His stern advise was to reject paralysis of worrying about what is out of my control, and instead focus my energy and attention on what can change, namely myself. Although I wasn’t exactly keen on hearing it at the time, his stern counsel arrested my downward spiral and corrected course, tacking and jibing toward hope and a future.

Commit what you cannot change to Sovereign God, then endeavor rigorously to bring yourself into step with the Spirit. Each time you are tempted to fret, admit it to the Father, then immediately turn your attention back to something within your power to improve. Worry is destructive and futile; trust is liberating.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4

It is a good thing to “rejoice in the Lord.” Perhaps you have tried it but seemed to fail at first. Don’t give it a second thought, and forge ahead. Even when you cannot feel any joy, there is no spring in your step, nor any comfort or encouragement in your life, continue to rejoice and “consider it pure joy” (James 1:2). Whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2), regard it as joy, delight in it, and God will reward your faith. Do you believe that your heavenly Father will let you carry the banner of His victory and joy to the very front of the battle, only to calmly withdraw to see you captured or beaten back by the enemy? NEVER! His Holy Spirit will sustain you in your bold advance and fill your heart with gladness and praise. You will find that your heart is exhilarated and refreshed by the fullness within. (Streams in the Desert)

Valentine’s Day is not a holiday to observe, but a sequence to savor. It is one moment to push pause among other quite ordinary moments and really see the other, and in the seeing learn something that changes yourself. . . .

I met the best part of my life at a predetermined place and time. We planned to meet outside the Navarro County courthouse in Corsicana, having mutually agreed to eating lunch together at a neutral site so that either or both of us could make a graceful exit should the experience prove uncomfortable or unbearable. I arrived first, and sat in my pickup nervously waiting for her to pull up. When she did, even from a distance I could see that she was attractive, and her arrival in a sporty Acura RSX made me feel all the more awkward and out of place. I sat frozen to the stained bench seat of my old Ford while she waited for me to exit my truck and walk over to greet her. After what seemed an eternity to us both, I garnered enough courage to make my way to her open window. We exchanged greetings and I invited her to join me for lunch a few blocks away at Roy’s Cafe on Beaton Street. The date was off to a sluggish start, largely because I proved adept at all the wrong things. She chose healthy salad-something while I doused my chicken fried steak in ketchup, but for reasons known only to her she agreed to extend our date by walking together down Beaton and stepping into antique shops. To my surprise and utter delight, we kept finding reasons to prolong the experience, extending the date a full eight hours. What was even more unexpected was her willingness to see me again. We married six months later. The attraction is stronger now than ever because it has deepened into appreciation. I recognize the value of my wife and can honestly say that I see God’s grace in her eyes every morning. . . . This is not love defined by attraction; it is far more meaningful than that. It is appreciation, satisfaction, adoration, respect, friendship, astonishment and passion enough for a lifetime. Thank God I got out of the truck and said “hello.”