Ron and Shelly Hamilton | Stray Thoughts

Here are a few good reads from this week:

To Those Who Are Frustrated With the Church, HT to Challies. “It’s easy for a critic and the cynic to come into the local church and say, ‘Look at all this that is not yet done. Look at all this that is not yet complete. How can Jesus Christ be present in this?’ Jesus Christ is present in His church as the builder. The evidence of Christ’s presence is not that everything is complete, but that everything is in process. The fact that the church often feels more like a building site than a showroom is evidence of the presence of the builder.”

Help! I Want to Read the Bible, But I Find It Boring. “If we’re honest, I think we’ve all been there. It took years before I learned to enjoy and love the word—and that was after I became a Christian. Here are a few things I learned as a young person struggling to find a love for the Scripture.”

How My Mind Changed about End-of-Life Care, HT to Challies. My mother-in-law’s decline was a revelation in many ways. At one time I would have said that food and water should be given until the last moment. I didn’t realize that part of the body’s final shutting down means losing the ability to process food. Trying to get food into a person in that condition can cause problems. I don’t agree with withholding food and water just because someone is terminal. But there does come a time when treatment causes more harm than good.

Do You Have Enough Faith to Be Kind? HT to Challies. “If we are hesitant to be kind to one another in moments like this, it may be that we have more faith in brute force than the strength of our argument. Worse, it may be that we believe the power of public shame is greater than the power of the Holy Spirit. Our instinctive response answers an important question: Do we have enough faith to believe that ‘a soft answer turns away wrath’ (Prov. 15:1)?”

Help! My Kids Don’t Like to Read. Obstacles and tips.

As I read Shelly Hamilton’s update on her husband, Ron, his song “I’m Going Home” came to mind. At my first recall, I connected it with getting ready for heaven. But as I listened to it again, I remembered it’s a beautiful prodigal son song. I thought I’d share it with you:

Here’s my latest collection of good reads online:

Seeing God’s Sovereignty in Our Suffering. “But in seasons of suffering, we have hope. Our hope is not some kind of wishful thinking that things will magically get better. Our hope is rooted in the bedrock, Bible-based truth that our God is sovereign and is orchestrating all of the events in our lives to accomplish His wise, good, and gracious purposes. ”

Calming the Soul in a Culture of Fear. How to combat fear arising from headlines and media.

Are You Storm-Tossed And Weary?, HT to Challies. “I just want them home safe—God wants to conform them to the image of his Son. I want them to be shielded from harm—he wants them to be holy. So, in prayer, I lay them at his feet, entrusting them to his care, and asking for wisdom for them and myself.”

That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief, HT to Linda.

4 Things You Can Do For Your Mental Health During the Covid-19 Virus, HT to Linda

How Do I Overcome Comparison? The True Woman blog of the Revive Our Hearts ministry is doing a series called “Ask an Older Woman.” This is the second in the series, with some good advice.

How Do We Do Church Now? We Can Start With Prayer. Several things to pray for in connection with the coronavirus and it’s affect on us.

How the World Worshipped on One of the Most Unusual Sundays in Church History. This was neat: pictures from across the globe of people doing church remotely.

Ferdi, HT to Challies. While most of us appreciate the technology that allows up to “do church” to some degree virtually, we realize its limitations. But for some, this is the first time they get to meet with other believers.

What Will We Teach Our Kids About Trusting God? “Will we trust Him with the path ahead? Will we teach our children to trust even when things get dark? Or are we offering them a faith that is contingent on whether God does what seems right to them?”

The Gospel Is Worth the Embarrassment. There’s one odd sentence here I am not sure I agree with, but overall this is a good reminder that Jesus bore embarrassment for us. For whatever reason we feel a bit embarrassed to share His truth sometimes, it’s worth it.

I’ve mentioned Ron Hamilton several times on the blog. My kids grew up listening to Patch the Pirate, and I know and love several of the songs the Hamiltons have written and performed for years. Ron and his wife, and Shelly, were grad assistants when I was a college freshman. They were active in music ministry, so they were well known. A few years after they married, Ron lost an eye to cancer. That experience resulted in one of his most well-known songs, “Rejoice in the Lord,” his Patch the Pirate ministry to children (portions can be heard on BBN Radio on Saturday mornings), and his Majesty Music ministry for forty years. Ron and Shelly also experienced the mental illness and suicide of their son, Ron’s early-onset dementia, and Shelly’s auto-immune disease. I just watched these two videos with Shelly and was blessed to hear more of the story of God’s grace in their lives and news about how they are doing now. The videos are a bit longer than what I usually share here, but I thought some of you might be interested whether you were familiar with them before or not.