I’m still a fan of the birthday week. One has seven days to celebrate a birthday. I have until 11:59pm next Wednesday. So, I welcome the birthday wishes and affirmations.
I thought I’d offer some brief reflections with a tad bit of honesty.
First, I’m starting to feel old. It’s a weird feeling. When did this happen? I’ve gone from being 24 years old to 42 years old over night in a blink of an eye. Second, our kids won’t stop growing up. I knew this would happen. I can’t believe its happening this fast.
Two events have recently brought these feelings to my attention.
1. One of our sons is out of the country with some cool people serving Christ.
2. Last weekend I helped a pastor friend lead a memorial service for a wonderful husband, father, and friend.
I don’t know if I’m ready for any of our kids to grow up, but I know its GOING to happen and its supposed to happen. I think what’s difficult to grasp is that sometimes my plans aren’t God’s plans. I wanted being a parent to go slow, but it’s going way to fast. I’ve wanted the kids to take their time in growing up. They just keep growing. I’ve also become increasingly aware that there are things I’ve always wanted to do with the kids. I’m also thankful that there are things we’ve done well at as parents in raising our kids. There are things I also wish we could go back and do over. As the kids grow up it’s subtle a reminder that there’s still work to do in preparing them for whatever it is the Lord has planned for them and helping them learn how to listen to the Lord.
On this “Birthday week,” I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to God that I get to be a husband and a father. I love my wife dearly and I love our kids too. I love my life and I can’t wait to see what God has planned for me and for my family over this next year.
I’ll share some reflections tomorrow about the memorial service I recently helped with for a loving husband and father who lived as a living example of Jesus.
One of my Spiritual fathers went to be with the Lord this morning. Below I give you some personal reflections about Clark Paddock.
I can’t remember the exact year that I met Clark Paddock. I was in elementary school and we lived in Hollywood. I had started going to the church because of a boss that my father had at the print shop he worked for in Hollywood. Clark was a member along with his wife Margie of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.
Clark and his family resided in Glendale and were actively involved in ministry within the church. They had two wonderful kids in Dorothy and Barbara who were also very involved in the church in various ministries including the youth ministries of the church. Dorothy was one of my many youth leaders when I was a kid who also played a big role in my life for Christ.
Clark was a church leader, served as an elder and was a faithful follower of Jesus. As a matter of fact he was one of many who truly cared about the role that the church played within the community and helped start a ministry to neighborhood kids a mile from the church. The ministry was called SAMGAM. I can’t remember what it stood for, but I think it stood for “Saturday Morning Games.” The kinds of kids that were coming to SAMGAM weren’t your typical church kids. Some of them came from an orphanage that the church ministered to for several years. Others just lived around the neighborhood.
From what I learned from Clark over the years, SAMGAM was created in response to the church’s efforts in trying to integrate the neighborhood kids with the church kids in Sunday school. It worked so well that the Lord grew it and the church had to come up with something dedicated to serving the large numbers of kids that Clark and others helped bring to church from the neighborhood and that was part of the reason for moving it to Saturday mornings. The Lord used SAMGAM for many years and many lives were changed for Christ. Including mine.
There was this big green school bus that the church owned and that Clark drove and others would drive every Saturday morning. He and several other volunteers would drive down the streets of Hollywood to a particular neighborhood and pick up kids on street corners until the bus was packed to the rim. The church had built a reputation with the community and the kids after a while knew the “bus” would come and pick them up every Saturday morning. The bus was always full of kids. Kids from different ethnic backgrounds. Kids who were from single parent homes. Kids from broken homes, kids from homes with no parents and kids who were from abusive home environments.
I was one of those kids except I don’t remember the bus picking me up. I lived in a different part of the neighborhood. What I do remember is that I always ended up at SAMGAM somehow. I either got a ride from one of the volunteers or I walked to the church with my brothers. I just can’t remember. As I got older it was a ministry that I got to help serve in when I was a young adult in the church. It was a ministry that both my wife and I would help run and that Deb would even coordinate for a little while. We did it because Clark and others saw the importance of loving kids for Jesus.
It was a ministry that Clark and others cared for deeply and a ministry that Clark advocated for because he felt that the church should have a love for the neighborhood. Clark was so missional before the word even became the hip thing to say out loud. Clark and others were doing the mission of God as others in the church were still trying to figure out God’s mission. Clark was also involved in Christian Education at the church, taught Sunday School, was always a bus driver for anything that involved children and youth and I have no doubt involved with other things in the church outside of Christian Education.
Several years later Clark and his wife Margie invited me to come and live in one of their spare rooms so that I could focus on my education by attending the local community college which was in walking distance from their home in Glendale. Clark helped me enroll and I began attending classes regularly for what seemed like an eternity. I remember him telling me that I needed to work on my education and that bit of wisdom stayed with me for a long time.
I remember the first time I sat around the table with Clark and his wife Margie for a meal. Clark led us all in prayer and he made “potato pancakes.” He loved making potato pancakes.
He loved his wife Margie and his kids so much. He was a living example of the kind of husband and father I wanted to be.
Clark was one of my biggest cheerleaders in my life along with his family. I remember him coming with Margie to watch when Debbie and I were married in 1990. I have no doubt Clark prayed for me. Over the years he’s kept tabs on me. He’d call out of the blue just to check in. I remember telling him that I’d finally graduate from Azusa Pacific University and that I graduated from seminary at Princeton in New Jersey. I wanted him to know that I was grateful for him inviting me to live with he and Margie in Glendale so that I could begin my college education. I remember on one occasion he even wrote me a recommendation to a church that I was applying for nearby where he lived in Northern California after I graduated from seminary. I knew he was proud of me and grateful for my wife Debbie continuing to be an encouragement to me supporting me in my education over the years.
We visited with Clark almost a year ago when he was out visiting with his daughters. Clark wanted to drive up to where we lived and where he used to live in the Antelope Valley. I remember picking Clark up on a Friday morning. We went and visited our old church at Hollywood and then he and I drove up to our house in Palmdale. He loved living in the AV. At one time he and his wife owned a lighting business in Palmdale. So, Clark wanted to see his old stomping ground.
I got show him where Debbie and I lived. He got to meet our wonderful kids. He got see Deb.
I remember driving him around Palmdale and Lancaster. I showed him where his old lighting business was and how it became a new church. He wanted to see some of his old friends from the Lancaster Presbyterian Church where he and Margie attended when they lived in the Antelope Valley.
I remember taking him to the church I serve and pastor. I got to show him the sanctuary and showed him some renovations that we were working on at the time at the church.
I had so much fun telling him what was going on.
I have to confess…I was so proud that day.
I knew he was proud too.
I’ve cried several times writing this and I have no doubt I’ve mixed up a few facts. What I do know is that he will be missed by many including his sweet, sweet family.
Clark thank you for loving me and Debbie over the years and thank you for being a living example of Christ to me over the years and believing in that little kid from Hollywood. I would not be where I am at today in my life as a follower of Jesus, husband, father, and pastor if it weren’t for men like you. You truly lived out Ms. Mears vision of, “knowing Christ and making him known.”
Dorothy and Barbara, we love you and your sweet family, and we loved your dad so much. He left a legacy of faith behind and although we grieve now, we celebrate that he’s home with the Lord. No more pain. No more suffering. We praise God for Clark and his life. We praise God for you guys as well.
I’m so happy that we got be with him when he was out last.
We will miss you Clark.
P.S. Clark, I think I forgot to tell you that I was working on my Doctor of Ministry at Fuller. I couldn’t remember if I had told you. :)
Attentive Grace comes to mind when I think of the overall theme of the movie, “The Blind Side.” Seeing the potential in someone is something that many are capable of doing. Yet there are many who are afraid to practice this kind of love for fear of what could happen. ”Big Mike” and Lee Anne Tuohy actually intersect in the movie when the Tuohy family as they’re driving home from a school function, sees Michael Oher walking in the rain, wearing only a shirt and shorts. Lee Anne steps out of the ordinary in her life of success and blessings and asks Michael about his situation and whether or not he had a place to stay. She does the unthinkable and the Oher family brings Michael home and he sleeps on their couch and would eventually become part of the Tuohy family as the movie unfolds.
The movie reminded me of a dear friend in my life that both my wife and I love very much. Clark resembled for me what it means to be attentive to the grace of God in the world. Clark and his wife when I was around 18 years old offered to house me in their home. The reason Clark wanted to do this was that I needed a place to live and I needed to find some structure and stability in my life. Clark wanted me to consider furthering my education by attending the local community college which was a 10-15 minute walk from his home. He and his wife went out of their way to make it possible for me to attend, they fed me, and saw to it that I got to church when I needed to get to church. Clark was aware of my home life growing up and although couldn’t really relate to the situation I had come from, understood his designated role in my life as a follower of Jesus. Clark and his wife Margie were what the larger church should be when it comes to loving the people of God where the church resides in its context and where it is placed by God in the world.
Leigh Anne Tuohy saw the injustice of a young man who needed more than just a break. She saw a child of the king who needed grace and at one point in the movie recognizes what Michael was doing for her and how he was a blessing to her. How do we bring both worlds together that are found in the movie and that by all means exist in our churches? Being attentive to God’s grace means learning how to watch and listen. Listen for where the needs exist. Be aware of the injustices that with God’s help can be corrected and most of all being responsive to those moments in your life where you are called upon to be a blessing to someone else even if there are risks?
We finally saw the movie, “The Blind Side,” this past weekend. I have lots to say and little time to formulate. Although I never went on to become a start athlete, I will say that I resonate with the movie because if it weren’t for a few folks in my life as a youth who practiced what it meant to be the family of God, I would not be where I’m at today in my life as a follower of Jesus, husband, father, and pastor. Promise to blog some in a couple of days.
I got to officiate my brothers wedding yesterday in Morrison, Colorado. Talk about some pretty land. 7500 feet up and what a way to celerbate. Scott is a good guy. He’s been clean and sober for a few years now. Without Scott knowing we flew Deb and the kids out right before the wedding. This way Scott was able to have some support on his side of the aisle. His wife Tamara is a wonderful woman and Deb and I enjoyed being with them both to celerbate their new lives together. Say a prayer for them both.
It’s the first day of school for the family. Even Deb’s started her new teaching gig as a special ed. high school teacher. I asked her how it was going so far and she said that one of her students had already “rapped for her.” Sounds likes it going well. As for the kids? I think they’re happy, but bummed that summer has come to an end. I think all were ready for a new school year. In celerbation of the first day of school I give you Mr. Happy Feet! What parents are doing all over the AV today.
Disclaimer before I write anything else. I am fine. I love the Lord with all of my heart and soul, I love my wife Deb, and I continue to be blown away by how God continues to watch over our family. As for ministry I am blessed and I am grateful that God has given me the chance to serve as a pastor of a wonderful church with some wonderful folks. I am also grateful that God has opened up a door for me to serve as a part-time hospital chaplain while Debbie looks for a new teaching position. With that being said…
As I look at my life in a nutshell I have no complaints. I have been happily married to a wonderful and beautiful woman for almost 19 years. We get the God given honor of being able to raise some amazing kids. When it comes to lifes goals one sets, I browse through the last 40 years of my bookshelves of my heart and I must say I have met many of my goals. I also have many more to work on and I know God isn’t through with me when it comes to pastoral ministry and serving as a pastor.
I turn 41 next week. Turning 40 was strange and I must say turning 41 is even stranger. I don’t feel that I’m a 41 year old although my body sometimes looks and feels like its 50. How do some of you older guys cope with this? Someone told me last year 40 is the new 27. How I wish!
Over the next couple of weeks I will reflect on turning 41.
Let me say that as I think about turning 41 I have some mixed emotions. I am thrilled and at the same time I am beside myself that this train called “getting old,” is going way too fast.
I do know this…I am thankful…with joy and happiness I am thankful for what God has done for me.
I give you these two folks who are just way too awesome and who are leading many in the kingdom to the throne of God.
For those of you who read my blog and who know me, you know my parents died several years ago. Over the years the Lord has blessed me with some wonderful surrogate parents who have helped shaped my faith in Christ and in many ways are the reason I do what I do now as a follower of Jesus, husband, father, and now a pastor.
Our friend Frank Frankman went to be with the Lord this past Thursday.
For Debbie and I Frank on more than one occasion cared for us in so many ways. His fatherly love and his heart for Jesus ministered to us and gave to us the peace of Christ. The kind of peace that encouraged us to not give up and to trust that the God of peace is what gives us strength to get through the best and worst of times.
What I loved about Frank was that he was a surrogate parent to Deb and me, he was a spiritual father, and for this we give thanks to God. My fondest memories of Frank were sitting in his home with Jane as they regularly welcomed young adults into their home from the church. I also remember receiving some of the biggest “Frank Frankman” hugs that were the kind of hugs that I so desired from my own father. They were the kinds of hugs that said, “man, I’m proud of you kid!”
What I truly remember about Frank is that every time he talked about me with my friends or people at church, I would always hear from my friends on how proud he was of me. And every time Debbie and I would see Frank he would make it a point to tell us how proud he was of us. This always gave me hope and encouraged me in so many ways. He was our cheerleader. He was one of our biggest fans in the kingdom. He even celebrated like a father would celebrate with his kids, when I told him I finally finished seminary and that I was becoming a Presbyterian minister. On more than one occasion he would tear up when he would talk with Deb and me about the joy he had for us.
Thank you God for our friend Frank. Although we grieve, we celebrate the life you now have with God Frank. We continue to pray for your bride Jane and for your kids. We thank you for loving us as Jesus loved us. Thank you for giving us your heart. And most of all thank you for being proud of me Frank! I love you brother!
