We had another privilege of hearing from Pastor Perry yesterday. As Perry was sharing, I couldn’t help but notice 2 important details:
- As a grandfather, he is amazingly FIT!
- As a grandfather, he continues to wholeheartedly love God and pursues Him
Perry & Catherine have 2 sons and somewhere around 13 grandchildren… They know and love Jesus and continue to be in love with God and with one another. They are a couple that we respect greatly. They are a couple whose lives demonstrate what it means to love God and love Others. In other words, they are a couple whom Karyne and I look up to (1 Timothy 4:12).
As Perry was speaking, I believe he revealed a secret into their lives that has helped them run the race well. He highlighted aspects of their lives that have greatly strengthened them in their journey of faith with God. He challenged the church family in 2 ways:
- Memorization
Scripture memorization can be one of the most frustrating activities known to man! In fact, one of the reasons why I am so happy to be done with school is that I no longer need to memorize the 6 phase cycle of photosynthesis or the quadratic formula to determine the slope of a wavelength… all things that needed to be memorized in order to pass the tests and assignments of education.
Yet, as Perry encouraged us, the Scripture constantly reminds us to memorize and meditate on the Word of God. In essence, we are to memorize the Word of God so that we may pass the tests and assignments of life. Memorization takes effort, discipline, and self-control. It is not natural – but it is needed.
A conviction I had in my own memorization journey is found in Psalm 19.
The law of the Lord is perfect… They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold.
As of Aug 8, 2022 the price of gold per ounce is $1778. If each Scripture verse was 1 oz and I valued it at $1778 per verse – how much effort would I make to memorize the Scripture? I asked my wife last night, she told me she would memorize the whole Bible!
I think we have the Kingdom of God backwards – make every effort to acquire gold – yet make very little effort to memorize His word.
- Hearing God
Perry also emphasized that we are to hear God. Hearing God was once something that we would only do on a Friday night intercession, maybe a Saturday Lifegroup, sometimes through someone else during Sunday Celebration. But the time has come to hear God in our coming and in our going. Hearing God is not restrained to the atmosphere of an intercession – hearing God comes in the atmosphere of being in His presence 24/7. Perry shared that even while mowing his lawn, the Lord spoke to him to engage a neighbor. That obedience led to the salvation of an elderly man who now sits in the presence of God… forever.
Hearing and obeying God (even in lawn mowing) goes hand in hand.
Hearing God and Scripture also goes hand in hand. We can’t have 1 without the other.
Perry & Catherine have shared a secret to running the race marked out for us. Let us be wise to apply the secrets and not be foolish (to know and still not do). I have known Perry & Catherine my entire life (literally) and have never known them to NOT love Jesus. Longevity and fruitfulness does not come easy – may we take heed to their wisdom and grow in our maturity and in our faith.