A Prayer For Our Nation

     Father, we acknowledge that we are a blessed people. We acknowledge that we are blessed not because of our own righteousness or our own goodness or our own deeds, but because You are good and because You are loving, and because You have chosen to bless us as You bless all people. Thank You for blessing us in all the ways we recognize and in all the ways we may fail to recognize. 

     Father, we thank You for the freedom we have to express our opinions privately and publicly. We thank You for enabling us to be people with unlimited opportunity for self-improvement. We thank You for presenting us with tremendous potential for doing good. Help us to appreciate these freedoms and not abuse them or take advantage of them simply for our own self-improvement, or to the destruction of others who interfere with our freedom. 

     Father, forgive us where we have failed to live up to our potential. Where we have taken credit for our accomplishments and failed to give You credit, forgive us. Where we have arrogantly considered ourselves better than all other people on the earth, forgive us. Where we have abused our power and influence, forgive us. Where we have neglected to use our power and influence in ways that would benefit all mankind, forgive us. 

     Father, help us to be people of integrity. From office of President Obama to the kitchen table of each individual citizen, help us to be people who desire to do what is right, people who can be trusted to do what is right, people who honor our promises, and to be people who are truthful and honest in all our dealings. 

     Father, help us to be people who respect the rights of all people. Not just the wealthy and powerful. Not just the ones who can repay us. Not just those who are capable of doing us good. All people. Help us to respect the rights of the rich, the poor, the strong, the weak, the influential, the successful, those who have failed, and those with little or no influence. 

Father, give us wisdom. For President Obama, all who sit in his cabinet, all those who sit in positions of power and authority, all those who have been elected to public office on a national, state, and local level, to all those who aspire to a public office, and to every individual who may cast a vote, we ask for wisdom that comes from You. May Your wisdom fill our hearts, direct our decisions, and guide our steps. 

Father, give us hearts of compassion. May our riches and influence be used to help all people regardless of social status, color of skin, religious beliefs, or personal opinions. May our thirst for power and influence never overpower our kind and generous hearts. May we be known as people who genuinely love people. 

Father, bring us together. Break down the barriers that exist among us. Racial barriers. Financial barriers. Political barriers. Religious barriers. Social barriers. Help us to reunite as a people who once were committed to these words: "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Father, let us be people who look to You for guidance in all we do. Father, may You bless us as we strive to people who love and honor You. 

For this nation I ask these blessings in the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. 

Tom

 

A Norvell Note © Copyright 2010. Tom Norvell All Rights Reserved.

A Norvell Note

Is Gordon Lightfoot Really 72?

My wife surprised me with tickets to the Gordon Lightfoot concert last Saturday night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. We were both excited. Gordon's music has been part of soundtrack for our dating years and thirty-four year marriage. We were ready for a evening of great music. So, why did it surprise us that he had gotten older? Why were we stunned to hear that his voice in not nearly as silky smooth as it once was? Why did it surprise us that he could not hit the low tones like he did when we saw him thirty-plus years ago?

There has been a wave of deaths in our community recently. Not our members of our congregation, but relatives of our members, and members of our community and fellowship. Seems I've been in funeral homes and memorial services more than anywhere else lately.

The most recent is the passing of Jim Bill McInteer. As a preacher in the Nashville area for many, many years, Brother McInteer has been a breath of fresh air and a positive role model for preachers and christian leaders all over the world.

I remember as a very young and very inexperienced Youth/Associate minister in the mid-1970s picking Jim Bill up at the airport and transporting him to our building where he would speak to a larger group of teenagers. Those few short minutes I was with him in the car proved to be invaluable in my development as he made me feel like I was the greatest minister ever to wear the title. So affirming. So encouraging.

Years later I heard him delivered the eulogy for Clarence Daily's father. I've not heard a more eloquent and touching message before or since. He had an amazing way with words. When I saw him last I was impressed at the strength of his voice, and the clarity of his mind. I was also a bit stunned that he had aged.

I plan to attend his memorial service tomorrow. Last Saturday I did the service for a 67 year old man, and this coming Friday I'll do the same for an 80-year old wife, mother, and grandmother.

Thoughts of my own mortality have been heightened. I have done even more thinking on these matters than normal and brought one reality clearly into focus: Time is precious.

I've wasted too much time. I spend too much time piddling. There are things that need to be done. People I need to talk to. Words I need to share. Feelings I need to express. Love I need to share.

We've wasted too much time. While we have been arguing over petty issues of opinion and prejudices and preferences, people have been living and dying alone and without hope. People need Jesus, not our opinion. People need our Savior, not our judgments. People need God's Word, not trivia. It's time to get busy with what God has placed us here to do: tell the world about His Son.

Yes, as difficult as it is to accept Gordon Lightfoot is 72, Jim Bill McInteer is gone, and I'm not getting any younger. And, by the way, neither are you. It's time!

A Norvell Note: March 8, 2010

A Simple Phone Call

By: Tom Norvell

Vol. 13 No. 10 | March 8, 2010
Turning fifty-seven recently was a pretty pleasant experience. Nothing traumatic. Nothing extraordinary. Another birthday. It was a very good day.

I received many "Happy Birthday" wishes from friends. Time well spent with my wife. Good conversations with my children. It was a good, quiet birthday. However, one thing did make it a most memorable day.

It came fairly late in the day and caught me completely by surprise. I received a note from a very dear friend asking me for my phone number. Someone wanted to call me. I sent my number and within a few minutes my phone rang (actually it didn't ring,it played a tune). The voice from miles away said, "Hang on, my Dad wants to talk to you."

His voice was slow and deliberate due to a stroke he suffered about eighteen months ago. He could not say much. But, hearing his voice was enough to transport me back through the years with tears in my eyes.

You see, we once spent a considerable amount of time together. During a very important time in my life his family became part of my extended family. His home became my home away from home. He was a mentor. He would become one of the most powerful influences in my life.

Then, stuff happened. Things changed. Our lives went in different directions. Conversations and visits became less frequent and eventually pretty much non-existent. Not because angry words were shared, not because of an argument, and not because our love for one another ceased. Just life.

With the sound of his voice all those years of no communication were erased and we were talking again. Our friendship seemed as strong as it ever. The closeness returned over a 3G network.

How is that possible? How is it that relationships that have lost connection for years can suddenly with one very brief telephone conversation be re-connected as if there had never been a break? What is it that creates a bond between two human beings that can never be broken, no matter what happens, no matter what changes, no matter what?

There's only one explanation. It is God's love. It is the love God has for us, and the love God places in our hearts that enables us to love others and to receive love from other people. John describes it:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:7-21, NIV)

Is there someone you've not talked to in a while? Are you feeling the need to reconnect? Go ahead. Make the call. It may seem like "just a phone call." Make it anyway.
I'm grateful for my call.

Tom


© Copyright 2010 Tom Norvell. All rights reserved.

Reflecting On #57

In this week's A Norvell Note I mentioned the value and importance of taking time to "Look At Your Life" and see how God has worked and is working in and through you. So, on this my 57th birthday I'm doing some reflecting, making some observations, and sharing a few conclusions. 

First, I've learned that FaceBook is worth any hassle and aggravation one may experience with unwanted status updates and strange postings, or changes in the format of the homepage, in order to experience all the "Happy Birthday" greetings one gets on their birthday. I've never heard from so many people on my birthday in all my 57 years. (I sure hope everyone gets birthday greetings on their birthday. If you've had a birthday and no one said "Happy Birthday" on Facebook, please ignore this paragraph.) Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to offer good wishes. 

Second, there are probably worse ways to spend part of your birthday than attending a monthly preachers's meeting. There probably better ways as well. 

Third, there may not be anything greater in all of life than loving people and being loved by them. Loving them is the key. Even if they don't love you back there is great value in just loving people. God can take care of giving back. Our part is to love. I know of no stronger emotion than love. I know of no stronger yearning than the desire to tell someone you love that you love them. 

Fourth, life is good. Those are not just words on a tee shirt or coffee cup. Life is good. In spite of the pain, the sorrow, the disappointments, the ugliness, and the unloving ways we treat one another, life is good. God is in control. God knows our needs and will always make sure our needs are met. At 57 life is good.

Finally, God has blessed me with a wonderful family. From those who are nearest and dearest to me, to my sister and two brothers (and their families), to long distant cousins and friends who are like family I have been tremendously blessed. 

Thank You, Father, for these fifty-seven years and the people who have made them, and continue to help make the good days overshadow the bad. 

New Blog

Welcome to Norvell's Notes

Thirteen years ago I started writing a weekly devotional "A Norvell Note" and sending it to a few friends and folks from the church where I was preaching at the time (Cameron Avenue in Colonial Heights, Virginia). My thinking was, "This Internet thing has come real potential. Although there is a lot of stuff that should be avoided, if we provide good quality writings, who knows people might actually read it." I had no way of knowing that 676 articles (or somewhere in that range) later I would still be writing, and some people would still be reading. And, sure enough the Internet thing has really caught on.

Thanks to the folks like Phil Ware at Heartlight.org and David Matthews at Faithsite.com these articles have been share with more people and in more places than my feeble mind can imagine. With the help of these guys I have met people via Internet and email from literally all over the world.

At some point along the way I began to post these articles on a website: www.anorvellnote.com. I have since learned that was an early version of a blog. When I started I had no idea what a blog was. All I knew was that it was a great way to store (archive) my articles and make them available for anyone who might want to read them, or share them. A little later a very dear friend, Dodd Hartness, began taking my articles, after I write them and send them out (usually late on Sunday night or early Monday morning), adding a photograph, doing some editing, making a few adjustments here and there, and posting them on my website for me.

Now, after all that time and all those words I'm starting a new blog. I'm still not exactly sure what that means. But, here goes.

Thanks to all these folks who have helped take what were very primitive efforts to share a few thoughts on how I see God work in my life and the world around me, to what is hopefully a less primitive effort. There are no words that can adequately express my appreciate for all who have had a part in the process of sharing these writings. I hope and pray you will continue. And, I hope you, the readers, will continue to read, respond, and share them with other people. That's what they are for. I am always grateful when one of the articles finds a good home.

I hope this effort at real blogging will be as rewarding and fulfilling as writing "A Norvell Note" has been. Oh, by the way, Lord willing and if my mind does not totally leave me anorvellnote.com will continue to exist, and each Sunday night/Monday morning a new article will appear in the mailbox of all who have subscribed.

Thanks for reading.

Tom