Category: Fruit of the Spirit

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A Vision Where the Content of Character Counts

On a hot and muggy summer day in 1963 some 250,000 people gathered on the Mall in DC for the March on Washington to bring awareness to the civil and economic rights for people of color. America was in the throes of the Civil Rights Era, and the movement would reach a climax at this gathering. Ten keynote speakers, largely forgotten overtime, addressed the crowd prepping them for the final speaker who delivered the concluding keynote of the day: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And deliver, he did.

Historians rank King’s I Have a Dream speech as one of the greatest orations ever delivered. He waxed, but never wanned, as his words echoed through the crowds and throughout history. The imagery and rhetorical savvy was unprecedented. King walked a thin line by honoring the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution, while calling out the oppressive and abusive actions of America for over a hundred years. All along sowing seeds of hope.

Five times King declared that he had a dream, followed by a descriptive verse envisioning a time beyond the racism in America. The most quoted dream statement is likely the one involving King’s own children, believing that one day they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Character. Who the person is on the inside matters. The admirable qualities driving a person’s decisions carry far more weight than their job, position of power, or wealth. Truth. Faithfulness. Courage. Perseverance. Humility. Kindness. Discipline. Respect. These, and other qualities, are the virtuous lenses that Martin Luther King, Jr. was hoping society might view one another. Hoping, by the way, is a virtuous quality in and of itself.

By the end of the 1980’s the general sentiment was that the moral and ethical behavior in students was not only declining but freefalling. Believing public schools had abandoned their post of teaching the importance and virtues of character, the Josephson Institution formed the Six Pillars of the Character Counts program.

The first Pillar was Trustworthiness: being honest without deceiving others, while having integrity and keeping promises. The second Pillar was Respect: following the golden rule and accepting difference of others, while being considerate of people’s feelings. The next Pillar was Responsibility: doing your best, being self-disciplined, and learning perseverance. The Fourth Pillar is Fairness: playing by the rules without taking advantage of others. Another Pillar was Caring: being kind and compassionate. The final Pillar was Citizenship: making your school and community a better place. This curriculum was taught in many schools exposing children to the importance of its premise: character really does count.

In 1989 Steven Covey wrote a run-away best-selling book entitled, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Seeing a trend that has metastasized today, he warned about the dangerous tendency of embracing personality ethic over character ethic. Noting, prior to World War II, most American leaders were chosen because they held certain qualities in their character. No, they weren’t perfect, but their lives held a balance by their pursuit of a high level of moral and ethical qualities. Since World War II the trend has been to choose leaders owning a personality ethic. Simply put, someone with a personality ethic holds charisma that draws people and crowds to them. They look good and sound good on stage, but they very well may be morally and ethically bankrupt. Covey raises the concern of what happens when businesses, schools, churches, and the government are led and fueled by people who are charismatic without character. For him, character doesn’t just count, it matters.

Paul may have foreshadowed the tension when he wrote 2 Corinthians. Charismatic leaders infiltrated the church in Corinth, and instead of serving the church they looked for ways to control, manipulate, dominate, and selfishly squeeze the church for everything it’s got. Like the smell of a new car, they looked good. Once you looked under the hood, they weren’t that new but refurbished as their inner corroded lives were exposed for all to see.

Oh, their stories of unlimited accomplishments were told at great lengths. Their preaching drew a crowd. They healed the sick. Visions and revelations were the norm. They boasted of God’s power working through them, while noting Paul’s stage presence was lacking. Paul was weak and soft.

Paul wasn’t, at least according to their standard. He healed people, even bringing someone back from the dead (Act. 20:10). Jesus spoke to him on more than one occasion, too (Act 9:4-5; 18:9-10; 23:11). More importantly, Paul experienced at least one vision, a powerful vision, where he saw and heard things he could not express or explain (2 Cor. 12:3-4). As overwhelming his experience was, he gives us very little detail, leaving much to the imagination. He does not even fully understand what happened. He does so for very good reasons.

First, he blunts his experience by speaking in the third person (12:2-4). He says, “I know a man who was caught up to the third heaven” (v. 2). Using third person language, Paul deflects attention off himself, even when needing to share his experience. With his own credibility on the line, Paul, talking about someone else’s vision, makes no sense for the argument before him. He’s willing to share what happened to him, but, unlike his distractors, Paul is not the center of his own universe.

Secondly, Paul tells us that this experience occurred fourteen years earlier (12:2). Those in the know tell us that this vision occurred sometime between his conversion in Acts 9 and his first mission trip in Acts 13. Two conclusions can be drawn by this date. For one, if Paul had to reach back fourteen years to recount this story, then this experience was the anomaly, not the norm. And another, this very well may be the first time the Corinthians heard about his experience, which means he’s not going around trumpeting his encounter. They are, but he’s not.

Thirdly, Paul is the walking wounded (12:7). Because he experienced such a vision, a thorn in the flesh was given to keep him humble. Whatever the thorn was, and we are not told, the need for it was a reminder for Paul to trust God’s grace and not his own strength. With a knowing wink, Paul may be saying, “If I’ve had such an experience which caused me to limp away, why is their gate fine?”

All of this leads to Paul’s statement that if he spoke about his visions, he would be telling the truth. He is only talking about events in his own life. But he won’t, because, in his own words, “But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say” (v. 6b). Paul will not allow people to put him up on a pedestal because God revealed something to him. Such a trait is called, “humility,” which reaches to his own core characteristic. Contrast Paul’s words to his antagonists spewing arrogant pride, constantly boasting of their experiences. For Paul, character counts, and without character what you say or do is like offering God a beautifully wrapped present. Yet, once unwrapped and opened, nothing is in it.

We live in an era where we are easily drawn to the power and prestige of celebrity leaders. We’re captivated and captured by their charisma even when such leaders are devoid of character. We’ve convinced ourselves that good things will happen by following the person whose words speak to our hearts instead of to our souls. We expect the world to push back on the virtues underscored in Scripture, and sometimes they do. But when we listen to our own Christian voices mocking the Fruit of the Spirit qualities as wimps, or ridiculing the Beatitudes’ virtues as being soft, or deriding the “turn the other cheek” as weak, then we are listening to the wrong voices. We’re being shaped by lyrics, languages, and lives foreign to the gospel Jesus brought and Paul preached. The truth is the saint(s) who have charmed and enchanted us are really venomous snake(s) ready to bite only to satisfy his/her own narcissistic needs.

The truth is our society is flooded with leaders with little to no character fiber in their bones. At best, they’ve sold-out for fame, for control, or for the path of least resistance. At worst, they’ve abused and profited from the people they are called to love and to lead, while demanding fealty. And you don’t have to look very far to see the fallout in churches, businesses, schools, social organizations, and our own government.

In a recent article by Christianity Today editor, Russell Moore, he may have summed it up best when he said,

If we are hated for attempted Christlikeness, let’s count it all joy. But if we are hated for our cruelty, our sexual hypocrisy, our quarrelsomeness, our hatefulness, and our vulgarity, then maybe we should ask what happened to our witness . . . Character matters. It is not the only thing that matters. But without character, nothing matters.*

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

* Russell Moore, “Why Character Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” Christianity Today, March 22, 2024 (an online article).

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The Goodness of Generosity

When my daughter was two-years-old, my brother and his family came to our home for the weekend. With their daughters being three and one, it may have been the first big cousin get-together for the children. We spent the weekend navigating or refereeing the toddler “mine” phase of life. Since the time was spent at our house, my daughter’s toys were in play. If my niece was holding a toy, my daughter instinctively felt threatened and ripped the doll out of her hands, crying out, “Mine!” Like throwing a red flag on the play, Cile and I quickly intervened and gently reminded our daughter, “You share.” As if we hit the rewind button, this scenario repeated itself throughout the weekend until Sunday afternoon when my daughter grabbed the doll out of my niece’s hands to cry out, “Mine!” However, before either my wife or I could intervene, my niece grabbed the doll back out of her hands and said, “You share!”

Not long ago history repeated itself as the same song was sung to a different verse. This time friends were gathered at my daughter’s house where they were eating dinner. My daughter had made a homemade pizza. My four-year-old granddaughter loves mushrooms, and loves mushrooms on her pizza. She made it known to everyone at the table that she was sharing her mushrooms, as she reached over and took a mushroom off her “adopted uncle’s” pizza. When it was time for my granddaughter to share her mushrooms with him, she responded emphatically, “Mine!”

Something within us has a generous heart. Something within us wants to hoard our generosity, or at least restrict it, even tie it down so that it doesn’t go to everyone.

Generosity is a beautiful action motivated by the Spirit. When Paul lists the Fruit of the Spirit, he places generosity in the back third of the fruit. I can hear your mind processing, “Wait,” as you run through the list from Galatians 5:22-23, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” You’re thinking, “I don’t remember generosity being part of the Fruit of the Spirit.” Well, because it’s often lost in translation, the meaning behind goodness is actually generosity. Someone who is generous is someone who demonstrates goodness.

Generosity comes in all forms. People can be generous with their time. It’s one thing to spend a moment with someone, but it’s quite another to put everything aside to devote and focus on a person. We are all bound by our work devices and required to spend thirty minutes with our patients. Sure, some patients’ needs can be met within thirty minutes. Other patients’ needs take longer. When that happens, we put the device aside and talk to the patient. We engage them, and worry about documentation later.

People can be generous with their compliments, encouragment, and praise. “You’re doing a good job,” “Thank you for helping out,” “I’m glad you’re part of the team,” or “I like your style.” Compliments can go a long way in boosting morale, both individually and corporately. How many success stories have been shared because a teacher believed in a student and baptized the student in confidence, washing away the self-doubt. If it takes seven positives words to compensate one negative word, then positive messaging needs to be intentional. Since most people are battling hidden issues or demons, being generous with compliments can help bring healing.

When most people think of generosity, they think financial generosity. Churches, charities, schools, and any fundraising adventures are dependent on the generosity of its donners. How much generosity is offered determines how much can be accomplished. On a personal note I’ve witnessed much generosity from our hospice workers in their interaction with the patients, from Christmas gifts, to cups of coffee or milk shakes, to the Special Days events, and spending far more than the required thirty minutes with patients. Our coworkers are generous people.  

Paul was banking on the generosity of the Corinthians to help bring relief aid to the believers living in Judea who were doing all they could to survive a famine. When he brought the situation before the church, they were not only eager to help with the funds, but they were the first to volunteer (2 Cor. 8:10). Unfortunately, things didn’t unfold like Paul had hoped. Their excitement waned about the time their trust in Paul was fading. We know what happened. A group moved in to undermine Paul’s credibility. They challenged his authority and questioned his leadership. While they were suspect of Paul’s motive in this collection for the saints, they themselves were financially milking the Corinthians. Now that the relationship was on the mend, Paul tried jumpstarting the collection again.

Without resorting to guilt and shame, Paul toes the line of manipulation by describing the churches in Macedonia. The churches in that region, most notably Philippi and Thessalonica, were impoverished. Unlike Corinth and the providence of Achaia who claimed a bustling Metropolis and significant trade to fuel their economy, Macedonia faired less. And yet, their generous hearts made up for their lack of funds. Paul understood their financial situation, and yet they volunteered to give. More so, they enthusiastically wanted in on the ministry to help those in Judea. The contrast is almost too obvious to note. The wealthier churches struggling with their relationship to the apostle puts the squeeze on generosity, while the poorer churches with a strong relationship to the apostle opens the floodgates of their generosity. Or, the church boasting of the visual display of the Spirit in their lives, prevented the Spirit to move them toward generosity, while the church embracing humility allowed the Spirit to guide them in all things generously.

It is here that Paul makes a powerfully loaded statement, a statement that sums up the gospel.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich (8:9).

Everything is based on the grace of Jesus, from salvation to the ministries performed by the church to the generosity of people. Grace. Through this grace Jesus was rich but became poor. Most likely referencing to his pre-incarnation state with God or as God, Jesus had it all. In terms of wealth, he had everything beginning with the cattle on a thousand hills. Yet he gave it up. He generously relinquished his grip on power, position, and prosperity to embrace poverty. Such a move captures his incarnation where he stripped himself of his divine nature and became human. As a mortal Jesus identified, not with the wealthy, but with the impoverished, even claiming that he did not have a place to sleep at night.

Likely himself dependent on the generosity of others, Jesus freely gave. When he fed the 5000, was there really a need for twelve baskets full afterward, unless Jesus is generous with bread. When he healed the sick, did he really have to expend all of his healing power when whole cities brought their sick to him, unless Jesus is generous with healing. And when he forgave sins, was there a need to forgive as much as he did or does, unless Jesus is generous with forgiveness. The greatest display of Christ’s generosity may very well be salvation, both in the suffering and the gracious giving of his Holy Spirit. The generosity of Jesus motivates us to be just as generous as he.

Fred Craddock compares salvation to finances. He locks into the human nature of doing one big thing, as opposed to thousands of little things on a daily basis. We’d rather pick up our cross one time, than to think about picking it up today, then pick it back up tomorrow, then the next day, and so on and so on. He says we come to God and write out a million dollar check, going out in a whirlwind, and say, “This is for following you.” Believing our responsibility is over and we no longer are bothered by God again, God takes our check and goes to the bank. There he cashes the million dollars into quarters. He brings the change to us and says, “Now, spend the rest of your life giving this money away.” And the glorious whirlwind is replaced by the mundane, small acts of kindness. You sit and listen to a patient’s story, again, and to their pain, or to their loneliness. You just spent a quarter. You bring a milkshake to a patient. You just burned a whole fifty cents. You stop by the store to pick up groceries for a patient. That cost you seventy-five cents. You make a generous donation to relief aid for Judea, that’s a dollar, maybe. And when we make those deposits, one quarter at a time, it all starts to add up.

As my daughter grew and matured, she left behind the “mine” phase of her life. Entering middle school, two things happened simultaneously which held no correlation between the two. One, her growth rate ceased until eight grade where it picked up again. For three years, we did not need to buy her clothes, at least because she outgrew them. Secondly, her hair grew at an enormous rate. She was my little Crystal Gayle with brownish-blond hair. While my memory details are fuzzy, during this time we discovered Locks of Love, where people donate their hair so wigs can be made for cancer patients, particularly children. Four times in four years she volunteered to cut twelve inches from her hair to donate, highlighting the old VeggieTales motto, “If you have enough to care, you have enough to share.” It seemed she always had enough to share.

We think in terms of the bottom line, the bare minimum. God thinks in terms of generosity, because that is the standard God uses himself. Maybe that is why God is always so good.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

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CHURCH: Rooted in a Pagain World

Jesus re-counts a series of parables in Matthew 13, most of which deal with agriculture and farming. Following the story of the sower sowing seeds (v. 1-23), he tells about the wheat and the weeds (v. 24-30). Here a farmer sows good seed, but during the night his enemy sowed a weed that grows to look like wheat. In fact, this particular weed is almost indistinguishable from the wheat. Almost. More so, the weed is destructive and can devastate the entire crop, and not just this crop but corrupt the field for years to come. When the workers asked the owner what to do, they assumed the right action was to go out into the field to pull up the weeds. Instead, the owner feared for the wheat. “While you’re pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let them grow together until harvest” (v. 29-30a).

“Let them grow together” is a risky move. I’m not sure I can agree with it, either. Neither do you. We know the sayings, “Birds of a feather, flock together.” “If you lie down with the dogs, you wake up with fleas. “One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.” ”You’re known by the company you keep.” Even Paul, not satisfied with saying it once, said it twice, “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough” (1 Cor. 5:6b; Gal. 5:9). So allowing the weeds to grow with the wheat is a risky move and clearly gives bad has an open lane to overtake the good in the process.

But what is the alternative solution? If the workers go out and uproot the weeds, the owner fears that they’ll be unable to distinguish the difference between the weed and the wheat. What looks like a weed may in fact be uprooted wheat and what is passed over as wheat may in fact be weed destroying the wheat around it. Allow each scenario to play out in your mind and it’s like a catch-22; either choice is fraught with risk.

The parable gives us cause to pause. We tend to be like the workers, believing that we can clean up the field by rooting out the evil. We know and can spot the difference between the wheat and the weed, and uprooting them is possible without destroying the wheat. Or so we believe. But in our attempt to clean up the world, we do more damage and destruction than if we were patient. Allowing the wheat and the weed to grow together until the harvest provides clear distinction between the two so that the Owner himself can oversee the separation process.

God’s Church is rooted in a pagan society. The biblical story is clear and does not gloss over the reality that we live in a fallen world. Sin is prevalent and pervasive. Like a weed it takes hold of people at their roots to steal nutrients and to suck out life. We’re called to grow and thrive in a field that has more than its fair share of weeds. Our calling sets the bar very high. We’re planted in a pagan society, but the pagan society is not to take root in or lives.

Herein lies the problem. We’ve convinced ourselves that the society we live in is better, sanitized and even “Christianized;” sometimes it feels like it is while other times it’s as pagan as any other society. We’ve come to believe that we’re planted in a field without weeds or at least the weeds are minimal at best. Thus, we’re confused and disorientated when we see society acting so un-Christ-like, or see morals and ethics continue its decline. We pray for our leaders, but it feels like we’re wasting our breadth. We pray for a society that ultimately is choking us out.

So as we tend to our field, we trust in the Owner’s wisdom. We shy away from rooting out the weeds in fear of rooting out the wheat. Instead, we continue to work the ground so that the wheat will grow and bear fruit (Gal. 5:22-23). So when hate ravages, we cultivate love. When despair expands, we nurture joy. When conflict and turmoil overtake, we foster peace. When intolerance extends, we develop patience. When cruelness chases, we pursue kindness. When stinginess rears its ugly head, we enrich with generous goodness. When disloyalty and falsehood dominates, we plant truthful faithfulness. When self-indulgence influences, we encourage self-control. Because, when we’re rooted in a pagan world, we still have to grow.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

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Billy Joe Fowler (1945-2013)

They say that if the Army and the Navy ever gazed on Heaven’s scenes, they’d find the gates guarded by the Marines. If true, today, heaven has one more man to post at Heaven’s gates. Billy Fowler had to be the toughest man I’ve ever known, and it wasn’t because he was mean – there was never a mean bone in his body; it wasn’t because he was loud – because he was very soft spoken. It was because he was a Marine, and by definition, Marines are the toughest guys in America. 

In 1966 at the age of 19, he was drafted into the military. Having never stepped foot outside the boundaries of Todd County, he found himself on a bus headed south to Nashville, not knowing where he was destined to go. I believe he thought he’d join the army, when they numbered the recruits off, his number came up and he was sent to the Marines. The Marines. They trained in California.  “California?” he thought.  “Not California!” He panicked! “I’ve got to talk to someone!” And though he tried to talk, they wouldn’t listen. This poor boy from Todd County, KY became a Marine, was shipped to California and ultimately performed a one year tour of duty in Vietnam. He missed home. He missed his family. Even more so, he missed a little girl who was 14 years old; too young to date, but not too young to write love letters. And write love letters they did. 

For two years they wrote letters until he was discharged. He came home and married that little girl (she was 16 years old at the time), then built his life around her and the children they raised. And in the end, he touched many lives along the way. 

What could I tell you about Billy that you already don’t know? Probably nothing. I could tell you that he loved to play High 9, and went to Fairview almost daily to play, but you already knew that. I could tell you that he loved ice cream, any ice cream – especially Orange Sherbet, but you already knew that. I could tell you that he collected knives, old money, and even his own toe nail, but you already knew that – well that toe nail thing might have slipped pass you (and I kinda wished it had passed me by too). I could tell you that in order to impress Bettye, he simply showed her how fast he could recite his multiplication tables – and he did, and don’t laugh, it’s a lot harder than it sounds. 

Let me take a moment and try to capture some things about Billy. If I were to tell you that Billy was devoted, I’m sure everyone would easily agree. We saw his devotion in his family when they gathered at church; they always sat together and it always appeared they enjoyed coming together, as if their church family was a mere extension of the Fowler family. Not only was Billy’s devotion evident by the number of times he and Bettye were at church, but he was also our official French Fry Slicer for our Fish Fries. 

Billy took much pleasure in life. He never met stranger, and in his years of public service, finding pleasure with the general public is a task in and of itself. He certainly found pleasure in his children and granddaughters, and never missed an activity they were participating in, and since his granddaughters were cheering he went to cheer competitions and rooted as if he were rooting for the boys in basketball. The one time I saw him take great pleasure was in the Senior Olympics where he won medals in horse shoes, lawn bowling, and the washer toss. I think his greatest pleasure was winning the mile walk. Bettye wasn’t nearly so thrilled, because he all but passed out from exhaustion afterward. 

In a world that’s filled with loud noises, Billy had a way of shutting out the noise. Of course, it was easier for him because of his hearing loss. However, sometimes it was easier because he had selective hearting. I would ask him to say the closing prayer at the worship, and Bettye would jab him as to prod him to say the prayer. When you’re the Sheriff in town, your very presence can bring a hostile situation to explode, or your very presence can be a non-anxious, calming stillness. He had an ability to defuse a situation before it escalated out of control.  

If you are going to spend a full year in the midst of battle, then twenty years as a public servant, you must learn to create a high level of tolerance for people and situations. Billy once coached T-ball, and after the first practice, his patience was going to be tested as he confessed, “We won’t win a single game this season.” He worked with the players, having to hold the bat so he could put the ball on the Tee then run out of the way before they swing because they’d hit him with the bat. Yet to his surprise, they not only won one game, they went undefeated. 

The first Christmas I was in Elkton, Billy approached me and wanted to know if it was ok if he could give my boys a knife for Christmas. For some boys, a knife is a tool, and of course for others it’s a toy. Knowing how the boys view knives is an important bit of information before giving a gift. So Bettye had him ask me. Since my boys are Boy Scouts and responsible enough to handle a knife, I gladly told him that his thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated. Billy was one who shared with others, whether it was his time or his money; if he had it to give, he would gladly offered it to others. No clearer moment of this came than when he visited the Vietnam War Memorial in DC. Like so many before him, he sought out the name of a buddy who died, except this buddy was a fellow Todd Countian.  He took out the paper and pencil and carefully placed the paper over his buddy’s name and made the etching. When he returned home, instead of keeping the etching for himself, he gave it to the brother of the one who died. 

We live in time where decent men are no longer decent, and where Diogenes holds a lantern looking for an honest man. If Diogenes existed, he would have found his man in Billy. So much of Billy was about integrity and being decent. He was always kind and good to Bettye, to his children, and provided for their needs. More importantly, he always looked for good in other people. Many times he was looking for something good in the junk he brought home each day, just like any good American Picker would do. Someone who is that devoted to decency maybe they reason why Bettye was willing and proud to call him, “Stud-Muffin.” 

Loyalty is an undying devotion to someone or an organization. No matter how difficult the situation is, you can count on that person’s loyalty. They will neither abandon you nor forsake you, even if it is easier to do so.  Billy was loyal.  He was loyal to Bettye, his family, his church, and his country (which may be saying a lot since fighting in Vietnam was anything but popular). His girls, the ladies who worked for him in the office, knew that Billy had their backs. He treated them honestly, fairly, and with respect.  They knew he had their best interest at heart. 

 It’s hard to imagine a Marine having a tenderness quality. It’s even harder to imagine Billy as a tough Marine who fought in a war. Even so, he took great length not to harm people, and to listen to what they said when they came to his office. He wanted to know what they wanted and what they needed. In his soft manner, it was natural for him to show tenderness. 

Any soldier, particularly a Marine, is marked by discipline. They carry themselves by the way the walk, stand, and even talk. They watch what they say, and Billy’s own soft words meant that he did much to control his words. When the general public is angry and they want to attack the leader, a good leader disciplines his actions and words so that he/she can work for the good of the situation and the people. 

All these attributes – devotion, pleasure, stillness, tolerant, thoughtful, decent, loyalty, tender, and discipline – marked Billy’s character by defining who he was. In fact, these same words are used elsewhere to describe someone who is led by or filled with the Spirit. When God touches a person’s life, that person’s life changes to become more like God. We call it transformation . . . transformation . . . like spending four years refurbishing an old 1955 Ford truck so that it looks and runs like it’s brand new . . . like spending two years refurbishing an old 1966 Ford Mustang so that it looks and runs like it’s better than brand new . . . like spending a full year taking an old rusted out Texico gas pump and refurbishing it into a sparkling red and white gas pump that looks brand new. 

Transformation, the process of taking something old and seemingly without value, knowing the value and restoring it into its original value and then some. It’s what American Pickers do.  It’s what Billy did. Only with Billy, it wasn’t the commodities that was so important, it was the words; words used to describe someone filled with the Spirit. I said these words were devotion, pleasure, stillness, tolerant, thoughtful, decent, loyalty, tender, and discipline. Paul used different words with very similar meaning; he said the words were Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). And if these words can be used to describe Billy Fowler, I cannot think of anything better to say about a man, or add any more value to a person’s life.  Billy was man touched by God and shaped by the Spirit’s work in his life. 

It is said that when Samuel Nicholas went door-to-door in 1776 to recruit men to serve in his army and to fight the British – an army he called The Marines – he would tell those answering the door, “I’m just looking for a few good men.” Billy Fowler now takes he post at Heaven’s gates, in part, because he was a good man.