Douglas Young

As Christians, we get the opportunity to “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15). It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do that.

The other day I blogged about my sister Julie and the hardships of her last several years. She has three kids. They, too, have been affected by the pains of the last several years. I know things have been hard on them.

Today I got word that Audrey, Julie’s middle child, won the Terry Scholarship. It’s a full-ride scholarship to Texas A&M University. Things have been falling into place for Audrey as well, and I couldn’t be more elated for her! It’s a wonderful thing to be able to “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15).

I am proud of Mer, Audrey, and Brady for the people they are becoming. I am proud of Garrett, Courtney, and Gavin (Jennie’s kids) as well. I look forward to what lies ahead for all of them!

Note: For those of you who don’t know, I have two older sisters. Julie is 10 years older than me and Jennie is older by 8 years. Both are amazing women to whom I am greatly indebted. Over the last two years, Julie has experienced deep pain from a tumultuous divorce. Along the way she looked to her “little brother” for something, but it was hard to feel like I could remotely come close to helping from afar. Today, her life is working itself out and she seems to be incredibly happy. That’s good news to my ears.

Next week will be a letter to my sister Jennie, but today is Julie’s day.

Doug

Julie,

You don’t need me to tell you this, but I want you to know that I am extremely proud of you. You deserve a huge hug and if I was there I would give you one! You have shown family, friends and foes that you are immensely strong and amazingly resilient. With your dignity in tact, you’ve sent a resounding message that affirms the truth of Romans 8:28. You are testimony to God’s truth in a most beautiful way.

What you’ve experienced in the last couple of years, and your willingness to lean on your “little brother” to the degree you have, has taught us both considerably. I know that my attempts to offer counsel were feeble. More often than not, I had no words, but you had my ear. But amidst it all, I’ve come to understand considerably more about life in general.

When and where do we really find ourselves? I’ve learned, and I think you will agree with me here, that its not so much when things are good, but rather its when faith is about all we’ve got. This begs the question, “Is faith really faith until its tested?”

For years, I’ve understood James 1:2-3 in my mind. It made sense to me. But to understand it in one’s heart, it has to be experienced. You have experienced it. Are you better for it? I think so. Was it easy? Not hardly. Was it worth it to find yourself? It’s a double-edged sword to be sure, but if you didn’t know the real you before you do now! Moreover, and maybe most importantly, you are now capable of ministering to others in a most positive way.

The single most disturbing thing about my time in ministry has not been the difficulties of understanding doctrine. What’s been most alarming has been how many Christians struggle in living out their profession. I believe the difficulties that you and others have experienced are a clarion call for us to wake up. We cannot afford to fiddle while Rome burns. Other women are now experiencing things similar to what you did. They need to hear your story. They need a message of hope. My hope is that you fill that void.

May God bless you in the days to come. May God bless your children and the futures that are before them. May you know what your brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew love you and thank you for all that you’ve done for us!

A crazy weekend didn’t allow for me to finish the letter for today. I will get it done and have it posted, for sure, by no later than first thing tomorrow morning.

Doug

I’ve been having some issues as I go through another conversion process. My hope is that things here are up and running in a better way by next week.

I am taking a week of vacation, but am planning to write nonetheless.

Monday should offer the next in my Monday morning letter series. My sister Julie is next on the list.

Please continue to bear with me.

You can tell whether people are serious or not by how they respond to things. James was put to death; Peter was imprisoned by Herod, but the Lord would rescue Peter (Acts 12:1-11). Peter would venture to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. At her house many had gathered to pray (v. 12).  Peter knocks on the door and Rhoda, a servant girl, responds to the rapt at the door. She recognizes Peter’s voice and in elation runs to tell the others that Peter was back. She was so excited that she didn’t even let him in. She left him standing there outside the gate!

The group that was gathered didn’t believe Rhoda. They responded with, “You are out of your mind…It is his angel!” (v. 15), but “Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed” (v. 16).

Sometimes the news is so good that you can’t but go run and tell others. Poor Peter was left standing outside as Rhoda sought to convince the group of what was so. I think Rhoda’s excitement about Peter’s arrival said a lot about her that is good.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a similar joy and quickness to share the good news of Jesus with others?

Mom,

Let me begin by saying that I do not have a terminal disease. I promise. I know you, and I know you’re wondering why I am doing this letter business. People always seem to do this kind of thing when something’s wrong with them physically. It’s OK. Take a deep breath and wipe away your tears. Nothing is wrong with me.

Mom, you have the most amazing heart of anyone I know. I mean it. It’s why you are respected by so many. It’s why so many love you! What will you not do for others that’s within your power? I can’t think of anything.

You are tender yet tough! At times you can be very tough. Maybe that’s what’s most amazing about you. You can be tough and tender at the same time. It’s a gift that not all have. You’ve developed yours well.

I find myself frequently dreaming of the night I walked along Hwy 181 from the Griffith Ranch. Someone who had been there with me saw me walking in the ditch towards Skidmore and picked me up. They took me to Billy Beyer’s where you picked me up from there. I sense that dad was there for some reason too, but I can’t quite recall for sure. For reasons we both know, my memory would be pretty sketchy about that night, but I remember you trying to talk me into the car and me shoving you. For years I’ve wished it didn’t happen, but I am confident it did. What a thing to have to revisit every so often in a dream. To be honest, I think about it more than you’d ever imagine, not just in my dreams.

My life has been filled with all sorts of “low points” but none lower than that one. A mother, who loved me unconditionally, should never have had to experience something like that. No one trying to help another person should have to experience such a thing, but for certain not one’s mother.

So mom, in my eyes you are the personification of grace and I think the heart I am currently cultivating inside of me is yours. To me, its proof that God puts a little more in us from our parents than mere physical traits. I told someone not long ago that when I tear up while I’m preaching or reading a book or watching a movie that its a quality I get from you. And I’m not ashamed of it either. I’ve got a lot of dad in me too, and I don’t think its bad either, but this thing I’ve got going on inside of me is something I got from you. So thank you.

Mom, thank you for being you. I am proud of what you’re doing for yourself physically. I am proud of the mother and grandmother you are. But even more than that, I am proud of the wonderful, Christian woman you are. Sure you struggle. Join the club. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it (Matthew 7:13-14).

We (Myself, Tisha, Haylee, Aby & Reese) all love you! We hope  to see you very, very soon!

“But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:22-23

We know the words well, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). They keep us humble, and they should, but they should do much more than merely foster humility. Contextually, these words are liberating. Take a moment and read them in their context.

Humanity has seemingly always struggled to work “with” God, as it strove to “work out” its salvation (Phil. 2:12). It strives to find ways around confession, surrender, and submission, leaving them as a last resort. That “all have sinned,” save Jesus, is obvious. But Jesus sets us free from thinking we must craft our own senses of righteousness. God’s righteousness is by faith in grace through Christ (Rom. 3:22, 24). God declares us righteous because of the confidence we have in him. When this is the groundwork, God is able to “work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

The other day an acquaintance approached me saying, “Doug, I’ve been reading my bible more lately but it’s not making much sense to me.” This is not an uncommon frustration. More than a few have shared it. After all, scripture can be intimidating.

A root problem lies in how we read scripture. Scripture is unique among literature. It warrants its own approach in reading. You don’t read Scripture as you would The Dallas Morning News or H.G. Well’s “The Outline of History” or the works of Shakespeare.

In Eat This Book, Eugene Peterson contends,

There is only one way of reading that is congruent with our holy scriptures, writing that trusts in the power of words to penetrate our lives and create truth and beauty and goodness, writing that requires a reader who, in the words of Rainer Maria Wilke, “Does not always remain bent over his pages; he often leans back and closes his eyes over a line he has been reading again, and its meaning spreads through his blood.”

He would go on to suggest that this particular kind of reading is one “that enters our souls as food enters our stomachs, spreads through the blood, and becomes holiness and love and wisdom.”

Fundamentally, there is a difference between reading for information and transformation. Atheists frequently read the bible for information, but people of God read it for transformation. Through truth God shapes, forms, and molds us “into his workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). But this only happens when we are receptive to the truth (Jam. 1:21) and willing to be clay in the potter’s hands (Jer. 18:6).

The Philippian church sent gifts to Paul by way of Epaphroditus. Paul refers to those gifts as “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” (Phil. 4:18). It’s interesting that Paul views those gifts as God did Hebrew burnt offerings (Lev. 1).

The burnt offering, according to Edersheim, was a sacrifice of surrender. Burning flesh, which to humanity might smell atrocious, was “a pleasing aroma to the LORD” (Lev. 1:9, 13, 17).

Giving up what is ours for the betterment of another is the embodiment of sacrifice. To some, the concept stinks, but to God it’s “a fragrant offering” that pleases him. May we remember that as we live out our faith for the betterment of others!