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This Always Takes Me Back

/ Ken May / 1 Comment

The winter storm whistles through the oak trees outside my second story bedroom window.  The acorns pop against the roof so thunderously I swear Marley’s ghost is ascending the stairs.  The draft from the windows drifts across the room.  I pull the covers closer around my shoulders, and I tap the right side of my Kindle advancing the page.  It’s my yearly custom— reading A Christmas Carol.  Dickens creates a world so immersive that I am transported there even now as I recall my experiences of reading it.

This book has captivated me for almost fifteen years now.  When I was on my first deployment to Iraq in 2008, I decided to read it on a whim.  Dickens drew me in.  The book hooked me, and since then, every year beginning on Thanksgiving weekend, I read it again.  Often I read it twice before Christmas.  It is a short but powerful read.  I savor every sentence letting it set me in mid-nineteenth century London and letting it fill me with feelings of regret, angst, hope and redemption.  It became a companion to me at a time when I was separated from family during the most family-centric time of year.  And since then, it has become a part of who I am and who I am still becoming.

I would love for you to join me this year.  Beginning Thanksgiving weekend, I will post a thought and a discussion question twice a week from A Christmas Carol.  We will cover one stave per week (for those who are not as familiar, Dickens wrote this piece in five staves rather than chapters) and will conclude the week of Christmas.  If you plan to join the rest of us, drop a comment.  A simple “I’m in.” will  suffice…or even a “bah…humbug.”  Or you can even just like this post.  I will look for you in the comments!

Be the Plant

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

One Spring when we lived in Spring Lake, NC, I bought some flowers for our front porch. Not being much of a horticulturist, I didn’t take into account the amount of sun the plant was suited for and I got something that was fairly low light even though our porch had direct sunlight for probably close to eight hours. Needless to say, the plant died a quick and scorching death. I threw the pot behind the shrubs thinking I would take care of it later. (Don’t judge me. You know you do it, too.) Fast forward to September of that same year. I was trimming the hedges and I discovered this.

What was thought to have died sprouted new life. Remember that this is what God does with us. When we are dead in our sins, he gives new life. When we encounter hardship to the point that we despair even of life (2 Cor. 1:8-9), he gives new life and brings good out of anything (Rom. 8:28-29). What’s the lesson? Whatever you are going through right now, be the plant.

You Will Bear Much Fruit

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

John 15: 8(NIV)

Boomer Sooner!  My family and I live and die with Oklahoma University— particularly football.  We can’t wait for that September kick off.  We wear our jerseys in our home on game days.  We have a tradition where I smoke a couple of racks of ribs for game day.  When the temperature is right outside, we turn on the game, turn off the air conditioner and open the windows so we can get as close as possible to sitting in the stadium.  Even in the lean years when our team isn’t doing so well, it’s still the same.  Why?  Because we are Sooner fans.  It’s our nature.  Our actions tell the story and give the evidence of our love for Oklahoma and Oklahoma University.

That’s what fruit is— the outcome of your nature.  Why are we concerned about bearing fruit in our relationship with Jesus?  Because it’s in our nature.  Our new nature.  And if we have a new nature, we are abiding in him.  If we are abiding in him, we are giving evidence of that.  We are bearing fruit.