(jon tyson - unsplash)
I often tell particular stories that are very precious to me. I have told some of these stories for many years in sermons, talks, and speeches. Many of these stories are autobiographical. These stories often take me back to the center of who I am.
My own stories may speak of the value of authenticity, the need for encouragement, and what might go on in the heart of a person. They may reveal much about the heart of God.
One mentor, Lynn Anderson, said that stories can often go places within a person where explanation and information alone cannot go. They can go straight to the heart of another. They often carry truths that are highly significant. Jesus himself told stories that to this day are told and re-told because the truths they carry are so important. Consider the story of the “Prodigal Son” (Lk. 15:11-32) or “The Good Samaritan” (Lk. 10:25-37).
One story I have told repeatedly concerns my dad, who grew up in Granite, Ok. on a farm during the 1920s and 1930s. One day, my Grandpa Martin was doing some work in the barn and a hot cinder flew into his eye. He was taken to the hospital. In the meantime, the crops were ready for harvest. My dad was twelve years old.
My dad knew that it was up to him to gather the harvest so they would have money for the winter months. He worked hard, harvesting their crops. In the evenings, after the area farmers had finished their own harvesting for the day, they came to my Grandpa’s land and helped with the harvest.
Finally the harvest was done and my grandpa was released from the hospital. He lost sight in the injured eye. My grandpa was not very expressive, but when he saw that the crops had been harvested, he told my dad that he did a “great job.” Again, my dad was twelve years old but he said many years later that those words still meant so much to him.
During much of my boyhood, I wrestled with many of the same insecurities that my dad and my grandpa experienced in their lives. I lacked confidence in so many areas. Like my dad, I also held on to affirmations that I received through the years from various significant people in my life. Encouraging words have meant so much to me and for many years I have felt called to encourage others.
Do I regularly circle back to some of the same themes? Yes. Do I repeat myself? Absolutely, yes! Yet, rather than apologize for this, I think this is simply the way God often uses me in the life of another.
What are the themes and truths that you often circle back to?
I love the following quote from Jules Verne in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea:
I ask no more than to live a hundred years longer, that I may have more time to dwell the longer on your memory.
There are days when I wish I could have conversations with people whom I have known but have since died.
There are days when I would like to have conversations with my mother and dad. I would like to know more about their upbringing, their longings, and their faith. How did you decide to move in 1954 from Little Rock to Dallas? What was most difficult for you as parents? You really valued Christian education. What are the roots of these values? What do you wish you had done differently as parents? In particular, I would like to thank them. One regret I have is not expressing gratitude to them for what they did right.
I would like a conversation with my paternal grandparents. I would like to ask “Grandpa and Grandma Martin” about life in Granite, Oklahoma during the depression. How did you raise your three boys during this time? What was your prayer life like? How did you decide to move to Searcy, Arkansas all the way from Greer County Oklahoma? I would like to ask my grandmother what it was like to teach at Harding Academy during the mid 1950s? What did these children talk about? What were their hopes and fears?
I would like a conversation with mentors and influencers who have now died and have gone on to be with the Lord. I would like to thank Lynn Anderson for spending so much time with me and for blessing me with generous words of encouragement. I would like to tell Charles Coil (my father-in-law) about how one conversation with him, as a young man, altered my life. I was wrestling with where to go to graduate school. He and I were talking about this when he said, “Jim, you can do most anything you want in the future. You have a lot of ability.” I heard these words and then it registered with me - He really believes what he just said!
I would like to ask James Long (a shepherd at the Hawn Freeway Church in Dallas) about what he saw in me as a struggling college student when I visited the congregation in the 1970s. He was so attentive and encouraging. Finally, I would like a conversation with former teachers/professors such as Tom Olbricht, Harold Hazelip, and Paul Faulkner. I would love to talk with them about my life and ask about their thinking.
Of course, I realize that there will be a day in which I see these people again. Yet, at times, I have these longings for conversations now.
Kate Bowler interviewed author Ann Patchett on her podcast. At one point, Patchett said the following about life:
The question isn’t “how long will you live?” The question is, “Whether or not you can remember that you are alive?”
Many of us focus on how long we will live. Some seem to constantly talk about “getting old.” Yet, what is significant is not whether we are young, old, or somewhere in-between. A Christian can hear Patchett’s comment and understand that this has a particular significance.
Every Christian is called to remember that we are alive in Christ. THIS is what really matters.
Being alive in Christ means we can be fully alive regardless of our age, our physical condition, or whether or not our lives reflect material success.
Life in Christ is often experienced and expressed in small, ordinary moments.
Breakfast with a good friend. When I get together with my friend, we seem to pick up in the conversation where we left off before.
Coffee with one of the elders in our congregation. He is such a good listener!
Playing with my grandchildren in the morning while they wait on their mother and dad to begin the drive back to Oklahoma.
In Christ, I am fully alive. The past is gone. The future is not yet. The present is now and is a gift of grace.
Recently I read Margaret Marcuson’s excellent book, Sustainable Ministry: How to Lead (and When to Nap). Marcuson is a longtime ministry coach/consultant who has written this fine work based on Family Systems Theory or Bowen Family Theory.
I love the following paragraph as she reminds the reader that some of the same principles that are helpful in ministry are also helpful to parents:
If you have children, the best thing you can do is work on yourself in the context of your family. This can keep you from getting overly focused on your kids in a way that doesn’t benefit them. It can help you be part of passing along the strengths and short-circuiting at least some of the negativity that all families have. If you don’t have children, the work is a contribution to the following generations in your wider family.
Too often we parents get overly focused on our children (regardless of their age) and our thinking becomes, “If I could just get him to change then everything would be good again.” Yet, Marcuson is correct. “If you have children, the best thing you can do is work on yourself in the context of your family.” One of the most powerful things I can do as a parent is learning to manage myself. In other words, I need to address my own functioning as it relates to me as a parent.
Marcuson goes on to say,
And a systems approach means this: If you change yourself, something changes in the relationship.
What does this mean in a ministry context? When I consider my relationship to the other ministers, the elders, or the rest of the congregation, I need to first address my own functioning, my attitude, and my thinking. I find this tremendously helpful.
See this article, “Joyful Anyway,” by Kate Bowler from Life and Leadership, April 14, 2026. This is an excerpt from her book by the same title.
I have been reading The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust by Francis S. Collins. An excellent book!
Trevor Hudson has written an excellent piece entitled, “What I Miss Most in the Spiritual Formation Conversation.”
Alex Vadukul has written “Too Many Books?” (New York Times, July 9, 2026). The pictures of 10,000 books in a NY studio apartment are worth the read. (There may be a paywall).
Adam Grant has written a thoughtful post, “There’s More to the Mental Health Crisis Than Smartphones and Social Media.”
You might enjoy “The Last Museum.” Basically this is a search engine for art -(6,308,174 artworks).
Excellent article - “How Can the World Eliminate Violence Against Women?” in Church Times by Sarah C. William (November 22, 2024). Regarding the work of Josephine Butler.
I formerly served as Vice President of Harding School of Theology, Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to this, I served as a minister in various congregations for 36 years.
Much of my time is spent in conversation with ministers and other church leaders. I do mentor/coaching each week. I continue to teach and preach in various congregations by request.
I am a husband, father, and grandfather. One of my favorite things to do is to come alongside another person and encourage her or him.
My e-mail address is: jmartin9669@gmail.com. Feel free to write. I would love to hear what is encouraging. — Jim Martin
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