Remember

The concept of remembering is replete throughout the Bible. The various forms of both the Hebrew and Greek terms translated remember appear more than 200 times in Scripture. God believed it was important for his people Israel and his children, believers, to remember. Both the Hebrew and Greek terms translated remember carry the idea of “remember, think of, bring into consideration, mention“. The idea is simple and not too far removed from our English concept. When we remember someone or something, we call it to mind and give it due consideration. We remember things because they’re important to us.

We all have things in our lives that we remember; some good and some unpleasant. Regardless of the pleasantness of the memory, remembering accurately is important. Why? Because the past events of our lives, people we’ve done life with, places we’ve been, etc. are there for a reason; they’re there to teach us. Once you’ve met someone, you’re never the same person as you were before you met them. Once you’ve gone somewhere; you’re never the same person you were before you were there. Once you’ve experienced something; you’re never the same person you were before you experienced it. For good or ill, we change and we should take stock of that change.

I’ve been studying this concept of remembering in Scripture and have identified several things God would have us remember.

1.     We are to remember God (Deut. 8:18; Jdgs. 8:34; Psa. 137:6; 2 Tim. 2:8). Specifically, we are to remember who God is and how he has demonstrated his character to us. God shows us who he is by what he does for us. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remembered God at various times by building altars and sacrificing to him for what he had seen them through and done for them. Israel was commanded to remember God’s delivering them from slavery in Egypt and making them his people. They were given many tangible things, big and small, designed to bring God to their minds daily. Christians are never to forget Jesus Christ’s ultimate sacrifice of love for us in paying the penalty sin required and raising from the dead to bring us eternal life. We are to remember God in all things daily.

2.     We are to remember who we are (Deut. 16:3; Eph. 2:11). Israel was to remember they were God’s chosen people; taken from slavery and idolatry into the promised land to serve him and be a kingdom of priest before him. Christians must remember that prior to coming to Christ we were sinners, lost, dead in our sins, and having the wrath of God abiding upon us. We should never get cocky in our spiritual memory.

3.     We are to remember the hard times (Deut. 7:18; 8:2; 9:7; 1 Thess. 2:9; Heb. 10:32). We should remember the difficult times of life; the times of wanting, hunger, loss, grief, sadness.

4.     We are to remember the joyous times (Psa. 42:4; 2 Tim. 1:3; Philemon 4). This is, perhaps, the easiest thing for us to remember. In our remembering of the joyous times of life, let us never forget the God who gave them to us.

5.     We are to remember others – specifically, those of our Christian family who hurt and suffer and those who lead us and impact our lives for Christ (1 Thess. 1:3; Heb. 13:3, 7). Our remembering of our fellow believers is best done as we lift them before the throne of God in prayer.

6.     We are to remember God’s word (Num. 15:39-40; Deut. 5:15; Jude 17; Rev. 3:3). If we forget what we have learned, what God has said, how can we live our lives for his glory and become more like Jesus in the process?

With these truths in mind, I have been spending some time remembering. I would like to recount some of my musings here and what I have and am learning. It’s a good thing to do and I pray you find it profitable to your own spiritual walk.

About 5 ½ years ago (2008), an evangelist friend of mine was speaking at the church I was pastoring at the time. As was our custom, my wife and I took a day out of the meeting schedule to reconnect with he and his wife and enjoy some long deserved fellowship. While hosting them in our home, out of the blue, he said to us both, “You two are NOT the same; something’s different.” We were bewildered, but he insisted we were not the same people we were since he’d seen us last. Then it hit me. Just 1 year earlier (2007) he’d been travelling with another evangelist friend who was at our church, but had missed the meetings with us because his wife was giving birth to their latest in what has become a long line of children. It was that year that my wife and I adopted our first child. He was born 25 weeks, 5 ½ days – 14 weeks, 1 ½ days early. His birth mother was a drug addict and had made some very poor choices in life. As a result, he was very sick and would likely not make it. At first sight, our hearts were knit to his in what can only be called miraculous. Reason would have dictated that we pass on this child – his outcome was more than bleak and chances of survival were less than 5% - but the Holy Spirit settled our hearts instantly that this was our child. Ten days after birth he had heart surgery to save his life and a week later we were called to his bed side in the middle of the night and told to say our goodbyes as his lungs filled with infected fluid. Three days later we finally went home as our son had recovered (much to the amazement of the doctors) and was breathing again. This roller coaster continued for 14 weeks – almost losing him additional times, only to see God spare his life and give him strength. We went on to see him have eye surgery, come home on oxygen, and go through three years of early intervention therapy to try to catch up. The year my evangelist friend said that to me, our son had just turned 2 and we were waiting to adopt our baby girl. So, yes, we were not the same people we had been just 2 years earlier.

Fast forward two more years (2010). That same evangelist friend came to our church to hold meetings again. Once again, he said to me, “Man, you’re really different.” When he left us two years prior, we were waiting for our daughter. She arrived in June 2009. She was all we could have hoped for in a baby girl, but not without challenges. She was born addicted to crystal meth and spent the first 2 months crying and throwing up. We took her to a neurologist because she was constantly having tremors we thought were seizures. Praise God they weren’t, but it was frightening nonetheless. Our beautiful baby girl was a challenge, to say the least, and coupled with her 2 year old brother it was a sleepless, tumultuous time. So, yep, you guessed it; we were not the same people we had been even 2 years earlier.

Fast forward two more years (2012). This same evangelist was with us again. You guessed it; same comment about us. In 2011, we adopted our third child, a son. He came to us at 9 months old with severe problems that we are still sorting out today. He had attachment disorder, PTSD, was failure to thrive physically, and had obvious underlying issues from his neglect and his birthmother’s choices. This little guy needed love and caring for, but had been denied it for the first 9 months of life. His situation sent us, again, back into the arena of therapists to get him help that continues today. We still don’t know the extent of his issues and work daily to get him the help he so desperately needs. And yes, my friend was right, we were different. That same year, 2011, a couple of other interesting things took place. I finished my dissertation and graduated with a Doctor of Ministry degree in August. Just 2 weeks after graduation I rolled out of bed on a Sunday morning with a cramp that resulted in my tearing my calf muscle of my left leg. Immobilized and in a boot, my health went down hill fast. I just didn’t feel right. A month later, I was diagnosed with a clot that went from my ankle to my knee. A day stay in the hospital, and I was released on blood thinners. I spent 6 weeks out of the pulpit and returned to teach/preach from a chair for several months. My mother and mother-in-law rotated spending 2 days a week each at my house to care for the children and watch over me. Yes, that, dear friends will change you. Try being 41 and having your mother and mother-in-law take care of you for 2 ½ months. You will never be the same. Slowly, I progressed from crutches to cane to walking. That same year, 2012, witnessed the end of my tenure as the pastor of the church I had spent the previous 11 years pastoring. It was a 2 year ordeal of prayer and seeking God’s will, but he had confirmed for us time and again that it was time to leave. So we resigned and left. It was a bitter sweet time for us. We knew we were following the Spirit’s leading, but had also devoted 11 years of our lives walking through every imaginable joy and trial with these people. We loved them dearly, and still do, but we must follow God first.

Sounds like a lot in just 6 ½ short years, doesn’t it? It has been. And yes, my evangelist friend is right, I am not the same man I was before all of this happened. God has seen me and my wife through a lot in a relatively short time. So, I asked myself what have I learned through it all. There are a few lessons I’ve identified, but I am sure there are more which I haven’t placed my finger on yet that God is still teaching me as I remember these major events of the past several years. Let me recount a few. God is sovereign. My wildest imagination could never have concocted a family plan like he has. Would I have wished for 3 special needs children? Never! Like anyone else I wanted the perfect children, perfect scenario, and perfect family. Guess what? I got it. My children are awesome! They teach me daily just how in control God is…particularly when they’re out of control. My circle of friends and people I knew, most who didn’t know Jesus, exploded as a result of the children God gave us. I never would have known and been able to build relationships with those people outside of God’s perfect planning for my family. I’ve also learned a bit about trusting God. When your child is at death’s door, you can’t figure out how to help your child, you wonder if some unseen piece of coagulated blood is going to kill you without warning, that you might bleed out from blood thinners, or that your mother and mother-in-law is going to give you a stroke (insert joke here) it kind of drives you to trust God. I’m also learning to wait. I never expected to be out of the pastorate as long as I have been, but God has opened doors and provided relationships where we’re ministering now that would never have blossomed without being made to wait. I’m learning new things, seeing ministry from a perspective I haven’t in a very long time, and building relationships with people in a different way – not as their pastor, but as their friend; not as they guy on stage, but as the next guy in the seats. It’s been freeing and revealing for me. I pray I will take the lessons I’m learning out of the pastorate into the next phase of pastoral ministry God has for me and be a better pastor for it.

These are just a few lessons I’ve learned in the last several years. There are more, and a multitude more I haven’t learned that are yet to come; complete with their own set of memories to guide me. I look forward to some and not to others, but all are necessary and for my benefit.

Let me get a bit pastoral for a moment. What about your life? I challenge you to spend a few minutes to take stock of the journey God has led you on in the past few years, months, or maybe even days and try to identify, with the Spirit’s help, the lessons you are learning or should learn from your journey.