This article, written by Andy Philpot, was published in the July 10, 2014 issue of The Mena Star.
Each year at the Polk County Relay For Life celebration, new stories are shared on the battles, victories, and caregiving involved with cancer and our local community members.
When recognition awards were given at this years Relay, held at the end of May, Lyndell Smedley of Hatfield, was named Caregiver of the Year. For those who attended Relay, they know at least some of the story behind why Lyndell was awarded Caregiver of the Year. Lyndell's story of dedication to his daughter and his family is a testimony of true dedication to being there for his daughter, and determined to see her through until she was healthy.
Telicia Smedley, daughter of Lyndell and Michelle Smedley, is a former Hatfield graduate who has gone on to become a teacher in Little Rock. When she had gone to a doctor's appointment on Valentine's Day in 2013, she had been experiencing some issues with bruising in too easy a fashion. When she went to that doctor's appointment that day for something unrelated to cancer, she didn't expect that it would immediately change her life. Lyndell and Michelle weren't expecting the phone call that they would receive that day, which would also change their lives immediately.
The news that Lyndell and Michelle got was that Telicia had leukemia.
Telicia was immediately admitted into the hospital, and almost in a whirlwind, got started on chemotherapy to begin the fight against this aggressive condition. She didn't expect that her doctor appointment would land her in a Little Rock hospital for the next 61 days.
A full feature will be run in a future issue of The Mena Star as space permits for the full story of Telicia's battle against cancer, and her Dad's dedication every step of the way.
This is my article as published in the May 1, 2014 issue of The Mena Star.
JUMP
One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to go to the roof. A fireman stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to the boy, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see was flame, smoke, and blackness. He was afraid to leave the roof. The fireman kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, “I can't see you." The fireman replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
In life each one of us finds ourselves in the same situation as the young boy on the roof. We will be destroyed unless we do something. If we stay in our current situation we will be destroyed by fire. The biggest question in our lives is, what must I do to be saved. In the little boy’s situation the answer was jump. What is the answer in your life?
In Matthew 19 the Bible tells us that a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” The first thing Jesus told him was keep the commandments. The man said to Jesus, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
This man asked the all-important question – What must I do to be saved? But notice how he asked the question. The way he worded the question tells us a lot about him. What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? I think that many of us can relate to this man. I’m leading a pretty good life. What other good thing do I need to do to be saved?
The man wasn't expecting that kind of answer he got. He liked the “limited realm” of righteousness where people stop doing things. He was good at it. He stepped back when Jesus pointed him to the “continuous realm” of righteousness where there is no limit and no end of really caring for other people.
Many of us are very uncomfortable with this whole concept of being a Christian as Jesus explained it. We tend to be Pharisees by nature. We are very happy with negative approaches to law because we like to know where the limits are.
We feel more comfortable when we can see the extent of our obligations. Jesus wants us to see that his true followers aren't trying to see what the limits of their obligations are. He taught this lesson to Peter in Matthew 18. “Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Rabbinical law said that you were to forgive three times. Peter thought he was really expanding on that. Jesus told him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven”. Once again, Jesus points out that his true followers aren't trying to see what the limits of their obligations are.
In actuality Peter was not asking “How much can I love my neighbor?” but “When can I stop loving my neighbor?” That’s a very human question. I like that question. When can I stop loving my neighbor? That is where we are as natural people.
When can I stop all this niceness and give people what they deserve? I don’t like grace. Grace is giving people what they don’t deserve. I don’t mind getting it, but I don’t really like passing grace on to others.
Jesus taught Peter that there is never a time when he could stop loving his neighbor or stop passing on God’s grace. Jesus taught that there is no limit to Christian love. Like Peter, we are much more comfortable with the negative than the positive approach to law. We want to know when we have fulfilled our quota of goodness so we can relax and be our normal selves.
How I treat my neighbor is the acid test of Christianity. Out of that principle comes a meaningful keeping of God’s laws. Because I love my neighbor, I will not covet my neighbor’s car, house, wife, or husband. Because I love my neighbor, I cannot use him or her as a sexual object for my own pleasure. Because I love my neighbor, I will not take things that belong to him. Because I love my neighbor, I will not kill or even hate him.
Love to God and neighbor is the centerpiece of Christianity. “By this,” said Jesus, “all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Let’s go back to the story of the boy on the roof. The fireman called to the boy, "Jump! I'll catch you." But the boy protested, “I can't see you." The fireman replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
What must I do to be saved? I need to trust Jesus so much that I will jump into his arms. He can’t save me if I don’t trust him enough to jump. He can’t save me if I am busy trying to save myself.
It’s time for us to really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe enough to surrender our will and jump into his arms. Will you jump with me today?
This is my article as published in the March 27, 2014 issue of The Mena Star.
A few months ago my wife and I spent the weekend in Oklahoma City. While we were there we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The memorial honors the victims and the survivors of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building .
On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rental truck with explosives in front of the Murrah Federal Building and at 9:02am, an explosion destroyed much of the building, killing 168 people.
The site is now home to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. As we walked among the 168 chairs that represent the lives lost I began to feel a profound sadness. The chairs stand in nine rows to represent the nine floors of the building, and each chair bears the name of someone killed on that floor. Nineteen smaller chairs stand for the children who died in the blast.
The memorial is beautiful at night with subdued lights visible in the crystal bases of the chairs. In front of the chairs is a reflecting pool between two twin gates. Across the street from the Memorial, Saint Joseph Catholic Church has erected a white stone statue of Jesus that shows Him with His head bowed, standing with His back to the memorial, and with His right hand over his face. The words "And Jesus Wept" are engraved on the granite base.
I had wanted to visit the memorial because of my love for history, but never expected the experience to be so emotional. That night sleep wouldn't come as I thought about those terrible events of April 19, 1995. After I finally went to sleep, I dreamt about the bombing and woke up frequently. I didn't sleep well at all.
The memorial had done its job. You see the purpose of any memorial is to get us to remember the event and or people that it is memorializing. Before that night when I visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial I hadn't thought about the bombing for a long time. After seeing the memorial I was focused on the event and the people it represented.
A memorial is something that serves as a focus to help remember an event. Are there memorials in the Bible? There is a memorial right in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:8-12 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it”.
What are we to remember when we keep the Sabbath? That God created the heavens and the earth. When did God set up this memorial to creation? Genesis 2:1-3 tells us, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made”.
On the seventh day of creation, God blessed and sanctified the seventh day. It is a memorial of creation. Many people no longer believe that God created the world in seven days. If we deny that God is the Creator, we have no reason to worship God.
One of the main topics of the book of Revelation is worship. The first angel’s message in Revelation 14 includes a call to the world to worship God as our Creator. Look at Revelation 14:6,7. It says, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’” God wants a people who will worship Him as Creator.
To reject the literal account of creation as found in Genesis is to reject not only Old Testament worship but New Testament worship. In Romans 1:24,25 the Bible says, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
When we deny God’s creative power we end up worshiping the creation instead of the Creator. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” And Hebrews 11:3 tells us that, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible”. Faith is important to the Christian, and by faith we understand that God created the universe.
Creation is important; It is the reason we worship God, and the seventh day has stood as a memorial to God’s creative power from creation week until today.
This is my article as published in the March 13, 2014 issue of The Mena Star.
When my son was a young boy he belonged to the DeQueen Pioneers Pathfinder Club, and I was a Pathfinder leader. One weekend I took the Pathfinders on a backpacking trip. We left in the evening and headed to Alexandria, Louisiana. We made it to Alexandria at about midnight. There I took the eastbound exit off of the interstate instead of the westbound exit. I wandered around Alexandria for an hour trying to find the right road. By the time we found the campground it was 1:30 and we still had to pitch our tents.
I would have loved to have some way of knowing the right way to go to reach the campground. I'm not the only one who has wished for such a device. For centuries, navigators and explorers have longed for a system that would enable them to locate their position on the globe with the accuracy necessary to avoid tragedy and to reach their intended destinations.
The answer came about because of the Cold War. U.S. scientists began working on the GPS system because of an Air Force requirement for a guidance system to be used with a proposed ICBM that would travel on a railroad system. On June 26, 1993, the U.S. Air Force launched a satellite into orbit, completing a network of 24 satellites known as the Global Positioning System, or GPS.
This satellite navigation system was intended for military use and therefore the signals were scrambled, limiting accuracy for civilian use. On May 1, 2000, President Clinton announced that this scrambling would be turned off. Civilians were then able to use the GPS signals. Soon there were accurate automotive navigation systems available. Now smart phones come with GPS capability.
I like using my GPS; we have named her Tink. She tells me when to turn. She tells me what lane to be in. On our last trip to Houston to see our son she took us a new way and saved us half an hour.
So now that I have Tink to guide me, I never get lost. I always know where to go. Except---
When we first got Tink we were going to Shady Lake. Now I have been to Shady Lake a number of times, and I know how to get there. When Tink wanted me to turn off of my normal route I decided to see where she would take us. She took us on an adventure. She guided us to Shady Lake over forest service roads that hadn't been traveled on in a long time. There was grass growing in the road. We arrived safely at Shady Lake about an hour later than if we had traveled our normal route.
A couple of weeks ago we went to Dierks Lake to see our granddaughters compete in the Pathfinder Adventurer Cardboard Boat Race. Tink wanted us to leave the highway and travel across dirt roads. We declined. On our way home I was curious as to where she wanted to take us so we followed her advice. After travelling on forest service roads we were within just a few miles of the highway when we came to the Cossatot River bridge that was impassable because there was three feet of water flowing over it.
We had to turn around and go all the way back to Dierks Lake so we could take the paved roads. On our way back to the lake we followed Tink and were stymied three different times by locked gates across the roads. After an hour we finally made our way back.
Sometimes exploring a new road can be quite an adventure. When you are traveling a rural Arkansas road you just don’t know where you will end up. Sometimes even a GPS doesn't help.
Have you taken any wrong turns in your life? Have you been on any wrong roads? How do you know which road to take?
In Psalms 25:4, the Bible says, "Show me the path where I should walk, O LORD; point out the right road for me to follow".
That sounds like a GPS doesn't it. God will point out the right road for us to follow. You can trust him. You might not always be able to trust your GPS, but you can always trust God. No matter how knowledgeable you are, you aren't the best choice as navigator. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that, "there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death".
The whole point of being a Christian is to have a knowledgeable navigator to guide us through this life to our eternal destination. Why would we decide not to listen to the best guide there is and use our own judgment instead?
Solomon explained it very well in Proverbs 20:24 “how can we understand the road we travel? It is the LORD who directs our steps.
The only reliable GPS for our spiritual life is God’s word. The Bible gives us direction. So many Christians I meet seem to want more than the Bible. The old reliable Bible isn't enough for them and they want something new. Psalms 119:105 states, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path". If David and Solomon understood that it was God’s Word that directs our steps why should we feel that there is not enough information in the Bible and feel the need to supplement it?
I hope that you know where you are going. Have you studied the map? Do you have your spiritual GPS? Do you use it?
I hope that you and I will be able to say what David said in Psalms 73:23-26. “Yet I still belong to you; you are holding my right hand. You will keep on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. I have no one in heaven but you; I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever”.
This is my article as published in the July 25, 2013 issue of The Mena Star
A few years ago my friend Richie Owens spent a year of his life writing and recording an album. I remember his enthusiasm as he would bring me new songs to listen to. Songs just seemed to pour out of him as he focused on this project. One of my favorite songs that he wrote was titled "Like A Child". Richie ended up choosing the song as the title track of the album. Here are the lyrics
I remember the story from when I was young
Where Jesus was teaching one day
And there were some little ones come to see Him
But the men tried to send then away
Little did they know this gentle young man
Was the one by whom all things were made
He decided to make an example of them
To explain something He had to say
Let them come unto Me
For such is the kingdom of God
Come ye also like them
For unless you do you'll be lost
We have to trust fully in Him, not ourselves
Rely on his word before anything else
We can grow great in stature
In wisdom and health, undefiled
But be like a child
These are hard words in the world which we live
When dog eat dog's putting it mild
'cause some of the things Jesus asked us to do
With this world just can't be reconciled
But we know he has made the way for us
And we know he has conquered the grave
And we know that His grace is sufficient
So that all who will can hear Him say
Children come unto Me
For yours is the kingdom of God
You have conquered the world
For you followed My staff and My rod
You trusted fully in Me not yourselves
You relied on My word before anything else
And you never grew to big to stay in My arms
All the while...Welcome home, child
The other day as I was listening to the album (it is still one of my favorites) I started thinking about what Jesus actually meant in Matthew 18:2 - "Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven".
That really is a blunt statement. If I don't become as a little child I will not be saved. It is very important that I understand what Jesus meant. My salvation depends on it. As I was considering this question, an important characteristic of little children came to mind.
One characteristic of little children is that they look up to the adults around them, especially parents. They don’t want to be left alone. They feel secure when they are with their parents. That is the way a Christian should feel about God. We should want to be with God.
In our relationship with God, we adults are in the same position as our children, except that we don’t know it. We sometimes behave as if we are running our lives, and that we are in control. We feel capable, and sometimes to such an extent that we feel we don’t really need God.
We need to know, that we are not in control. Like a child, we should always be looking up to someone for security and for help. We need to remind ourselves that we cannot handle life with our own wisdom or capabilities. In Proverbs 3:5,6 the Bible tells us "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
This childlike quality was brought home to me by a story that my daughter told me about my granddaughter. While my granddaughter was attending Vacation Bible School, one of the activities that she was involved in was making a scroll like people used in Bible times. When she finished her scroll she told her teacher,"this is for Jesus. I'll give it to him when he comes to pick me up".
That is the kind of childlike faith that we all need to have. We are just waiting for Jesus to come pick us up so we can go home, and we have no doubts that he will be here soon.
Here is a slideshow that I put together with the Richie Owens song "Like A Child".
Article published in the January 17, 2013 issue of The Mena Star
After being rained out in December, the Relay For Life Sky Lanterns event was held Tuesday evening outside Rich Mountain Community College. The sky lanterns serve as both a fundraiser for Relay For Life, but also a special opportunity to honor friends, family, and loved ones who have battled cancer.
On the evening, 51 sky lanterns were purchased and launched into the night sky, glowing as they rose and floated out of sight. The evening also served as the 2013 Relay Kick-Off event. The event raised over $1,200 for the Relay For Life Polk County organization.
Published in the December 20, 2012 issue of The Mena Star
As Christmas approaches one of the things that most people focus on is gift giving. We spend a lot of money and time finding the right gifts for people that are important in our life. Sometimes we fail in our gift giving.
One Christmas when my son was a young boy, we nearly ruined his Christmas with one particular gift. One of the jobs that he was given around the house was sweeping the kitchen floor. That Christmas we bought a stick vacuum cleaner and thought it would be funny to give to him as a gift. When it was wrapped, the vacuum was the largest gift under the tree. When my son saw that the largest gift had his name on it he was very excited. His imagination went wild. What could that present be? His whole Christmas revolved around the largest gift under the tree. When Christmas morning arrived, all he could think about was that gift. When he opened it, he was so disappointed that the rest of his Christmas presents couldn't make up for the vacuum cleaner fiasco.
Have you ever been disappointed by a gift? Has someone been disappointed by the gift you gave them? What about great gifts? What is the best gift you have ever received? What made it so special? Was it the value of the gift? Was it the person who gave it to you? Was it because it was so unexpected?
As I think about this question I find it hard to narrow down one particular gift as the best. There is one gift that I received that was very special for a number of reasons. One of the reasons this particular gift was special is that I still don’t know who gave me the gift. Let me tell you the story.
In February 2004, 17 members of my church raised 20,000 dollars and went to San Pedro, Belize in Central America to build a church. While we were there we made lots of friends. We were only in San Pedro for a short time, but by the time we left the walls of the church were finished. During the following months, the church members in San Pedro finished the church building. Plans were made for a church dedication service to be held in February 2005. I was invited to come to the dedication service. I really wanted to go. This church building project had been very important to me, and I had made many friends in San Pedro that I wanted to see again. There was just one problem. I couldn’t afford the trip.
THE NEW HORIZON SDA CHAPEL IN SAN PEDRO BELIZE
One day I received a letter in the mail from Fare Finders Travel. Why were they sending me a letter? When I opened the letter I was surprised by what it said. Please come in to Fare Finders to make arrangements for a round trip ticket to Belize. Someone has paid for the ticket, but they want to remain anonymous. I couldn’t believe it. My wife immediately tried to figure out who the anonymous donor was. She still hasn’t cracked the case. It is still an unsolved mystery. The mysterious ticket has to be one of the best gifts I have ever received.
We made plans to go back to San Pedro. As we packed and attended to all the details of the trip, the mystery giver was in our thoughts. Who was this person who had given such a meaningful and valuable gift? How could we thank the giver?
Our trip to Belize was wonderful. It was very special to me to see the completed church building. The dedication service was beautiful and moving with people from several different countries participating. We got reacquainted with friends that we had made the year before, and made many new friends the 10 days that we were there. Many times friends would stop by our room with gifts such as fresh coconut water, papaya, or some small trinket. On the last day we were in San Pedro, there was a steady stream of visitors at our room. They wanted to tell us goodbye. Most of them brought a gift.
GINA AND I WITH SOME OF OUR FRIENDS IN SAN PEDRO
We received one gift that was very special to me. My wife made a special friendship with a little 2 year old boy who spoke only Spanish. Whenever he would see her his face would light up. He didn’t understand English, but he understood the language of love. The day we were leaving he and his 4 year old sister came to our door with a gift. They gave us a well worn 1941 Walking Liberty half dollar. I have no idea how this little family had come into possession of this coin, or why they gave it to me. Even though the monetary value of the coin is only a few dollars it is one of the most precious gifts I have ever received.
GINA'S SPECIAL FRIEND, ANGEL
I learned an important spiritual lesson on my trip to Belize. I learned it from the people that I met. They had such a desire to do something for us. Even though they had only meager possessions, they had such a desire to please. They wanted to see us before we left. They had to bring us a gift. It was very important to them. To me that showed how I should relate to God. God, I don’t have anything but I want to give you something. God let me know what I can do to please you. God I want to be with you.
In Romans 6:23 the Bible tells us “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord”. God has given you the best gift ever, what will you give God this Christmas?
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