Value the Vintage!

The Feb 09 issue of Christianity Today had a wonderful article on worship bands, concluding in part, that where worship appears to be the greatest is when it’s the united voices of the congregation that rises to God, not those on the platform.  Recently our church morning Worship Team led us with in a quiet hymn – the sound that swelled and echoed in the sanctuary was a moving and truly a holy offering to God.   How thankful I am that our Worship Team has a desire to value the vintage in music.

The CT article caused me to reflect on other things beyond music, and reminded me that many churches just throw out the vintage – just as many in our society try to throw out the Bible, or say that Christian faith was not at the core of our nation at its founding; or try to devalue marriage which God instituted in the Garden of Eden.  There are a few who have swayed the many to ignore marriage in-total, and along with it those vintage marriages that are so rich for us all.

We need to stand and shout STOP – and help one another consider again the value of the older vintage things.  Marriage, the ancient manuscripts, the vintage hymns, the older authors, long silent four part music, and seasoned marriages must not be dismissed and tossed.   Balance should be established so that the new and vintage are evaluated and both given their due.

Before she died, Ruth Bell Graham told an interviewer that she and Billy had been happily incompatible for sixty years.   I’ve been in a training setting with one dear couple who at that time had been married for 50 years, where they were asked, and both vulnerably shared, one of their ongoing disagreements. Yep they have them, but they also have wonderful grace to give to one another.

Robertson McQuilkin’s marriage of 40 plus years is another example of God’s extraordinary grace that showed the merits of valuing the tried and true, as he resigned the presidency of Columbia International University to care for Muriel, who’s 25 year decline into Alzheimer’s disease had progressed to a stage where his physical presence with her was the only time she felt calm.   It’s not casting aside the tried and true, or sameness that made long term marriages great.  It takes hard work, and an unworldly commitment to God and our spouse.

God did not create marriage to make us happy by giving us someone who is the same as us, or who would fill our desires.  Let me quickly add though that if we do “life” as He intended, happiness IS one of the byproducts.  He gave us someone uniquely (and sometimes stubbornly) different as a life partner, to sharpen our serve.  It would seem that marriage is designed for friction, and that the friction is designed to expose our sin and build godly character, making us fit to be a marriage partner – perhaps ultimately fit for heaven.

In his book, Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas calls marriage a sacred struggle.  We are to lean into, instead of pulling away, and embrace that struggle, and let our hearts first determine to bring glory to God in every area of our life.  We must choose to move toward one another – seeking their desires before even our own – and learn what godly servants look like to others. Our life mission will be transformed.  Don Farr is a Certified LifePlan™ Facilitator and Coach in Paradise Valley, Arizona – find him on the web at http://www.ncs-az.net/lifeplan.htm

NEW BLOG – First Post – A Must Read !

Discovering that my old blog was nearly un-discoverable by those it was designed to reach, I’ve moved to WordPress.Com in the hope of finding greater readership.

My blog is one small attempt to fulfill God’s Vision and Mission for my life.  Years ago, I determined that I was uniquely designed to help people change, but for one reason or another find themselves blocked.

In September 1986, my then pastor, Malcom Cronk, challenged us to surrender our whole lives to God, and turn our plans purposes, and desires into His hands, directed toward His plan for our lives, revealed in Jeremiah 29:11.   “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord – plans for good, not evil, for the future and hope” (Farr Paraphrase)

Those who know me, will attest to the imperfect way my life has gone since that September morn, but the intention is still there.  Along the way God showed me that my vision for life is to see America turn back to God, and that my mission is an instrument, be it ever so small, to help those who have God in their lives find His plan for them.

After 20 years in the corporate world, I entered the vast world of Management Consultants.  My father had been one, and I saw how that could be not only a generational thing, but could be a God thing as well.

After 15 years of that, I was tired – tired of those executives who wanted to change others in their organizations, but not themselves – which doomed much of the work I was doing – as soon as I departed their organization.

It dawned on me that my mission was to help influence change in those whole life followers of Jesus who truly wanted to find God’s best in their own lives – and become a godly influence in their circles.

Life Coaching, Lay Counseling and Marriage Ministry are those venues – and this blog will be my ramblings on building strong character, finding God’s best for our lives, and oh yes – with two failed marriages behind me – to help turn marriage and divorce into marriages that are a blessing to God, each other, and their world.

Mary Jane, my wife of 15 years,  works hand in hand in all three of these venues, in addition to her accounting and management practice and non-profit organization board leadership,

We welcome comments and referrals to our adventures in life, you’ll find us on the web at lifeplanningcoach.net