David Leo Doran was said to be one of the greatest preachers to ever walk in shoe leather. I have said it myself and have heard many others say the same thing. He was an old time fiery preacher. He would quote more scripture in one sermon than most preachers use in a year’s worth of sermons. He could tell a story like you have never heard it told anywhere else. Most important of all, when he came to the pulpit, you knew that he had been in touch with God.

David did not have very much formal education. He had to leave school in the tenth grade to work and help support his family. Yet he always had a hunger to learn and continued to study and educate himself. He would talk to well-educated men that he admired and ask them what books they recommended. He would then buy the book and read it from cover to cover. He was much disciplined about this. I remember someone recommended Clyde Narrimore’s book, “The Encyclopedia of Psychological Problems.” They said it was a good book to have to help when you had to counsel with people. David bought the book and read it from cover to cover, word for word.

He was a preacher who studied. He would eat lunch on Sunday afternoon and then go to his study and prepare for the message that night. When he was finished, he started on his Bible lesson for Tuesday night. Tuesday nights, when he got off work, he would eat, bathe and change clothes, and then he would head for the church to finish up for Bible Study that night. He never walked to the pulpit without spending hours in study and prayer.

He took his responsibility so seriously that I recall a time or two when he would actually tell us that he didn’t have a message, although he had spent time in study and prayer, he didn’t have a message. He refused just to go through the motions or just be redundant in what he had to say. He was honest and up front and said he had nothing. Generally he would share a scripture with the Church and then call us to prayer.

I saw and heard him preach at a Fellowship Meeting which is a service with several churches gathered together. He was preaching on Jehu telling different men to come see his zeal for the Lord. David began preaching about being zealous for the Lord. He got to preaching about being like Jehu, who they said drove his chariot ferociously. David grabbed the hand of a young man sitting in the front of the church and he began to run around the building. The whole time he was pulling this young man behind him and preaching with all his might about having zeal for God.

Mind you, at this time David was about 47 or 48 years of age at this time. The young man had just returned from Marine boot camp. David ran him around that building until the young man’s tongue hung out, while David never missed a word or slowed down. The man could preach!

A Bible Study, which David taught, might last an hour or more. A sermon that he preached would be thirty minutes or so. That was his average. A Pastor once called him to preach for them for several nights and the night of the main event the Pastor requested David preach on a certain subject and asked that he preach for three hours. David did just that, he preached for three hours and although I was not able to be there, those that I spoke too later told me it seemed just like minutes.

When David was 59 years old, he found out that he had Parkinson’s disease. You might not be familiar with Parkinson’s disease so let me briefly explain its effect on a body. Parkinson’s disease is the result of a chemical deficiency between the brain and the nerve center that sends signals to the muscles. As a result of this, many of the things we do reflexively have to be thought out, step by step, in order for the person to be able to do them. For example swallowing is something done as a reflex, we don’t think about it at all. Yet with Parkinson’s you have to think through the whole swallowing process. Many people with Parkinson’s have problems swallowing food or even saliva.

Parkinson’s affects walking, talking, and standing. I won’t go into detail, but because of the lack of the signal from the brain to the nerve center it was soon evident that after twenty-five years, David’s time as pastor had come to an end. It was also obvious that he would no longer be able to preach the way that he once had preached.

David was a champion; he squared his shoulders and faced the problems before him. I must say that the most difficult thing for him to face as a result of this disease, which so disabled him, was not being able to preach the way he loved to preach. At the time of his being diagnosed with Parkinson’s I was David’s associate pastor. When he could no longer carry on the work as pastor, in the church where he had pastored for twenty-five years, He and the church asked me to step in and carry on his work. Being his son and his student, I knew how he wanted to stay involved so I encouraged him to seek other ways to minister. One of those ways was discipling young Christians.

When I became Pastor, the people in the church began to call David “The Elder” as a way of honoring him for his life time of service to that church. When we started working together with David teaching young Christians, I called it, “Sitting at the feet of the Elder.”

David dealt with Parkinson’s and all the effects it had on his life and his body for ten years. In 1999 the doctors told him and the family that Parkinson’s had taken its toll and David didn’t have much longer to live. I spent many nights, along with my brothers and oldest son, sitting in David’s living room, sometimes holding his hand. Most of those nights were spent sitting together, talking quietly and listening to him talk to us. I don’t remember a lot of the details of those conversations, I think it was more of his spirit strengthening ours than it was of words and dialog. I just remember being there with him. As the days went by, David became weaker. He became so weak that they brought a hospital bed in and set it up in his living room.

I remember on a Saturday afternoon I was sitting with him. Faye, his wife and my mother, had laid down to rest. David was a sleep and I was sitting on the couch in the living room thinking. It was very quiet and still. I watched David as he slept and seemed to labor a bit in breathing. In the still time my mind went back over the years and I began to remember the different times that I had listen to my Dad preach. I began to relive those moments and those sermons which we called “Messages.” My how he could preach!

I walked through the years. I remembered the times and the places. There were one-room school houses. There were school gymnasiums. There were Camp Meeting Tabernacles and Brush Arbors. There were nice Church buildings and other buildings that had been converted from a former life into a church building. There were big crowds, medium size crowds and there were small crowds. David had preached in them all and to them all.

I remembered sermon titles like, “Are You Asking for Trouble?” “You Know Too Much!” “Check Points on the Road to Heaven.” “Five Things I Would Like on My Tombstone.” “A Three and Two Count!”

It was a very overwhelming experience. In my heart I knew that David didn’t have many days left to live. Along with that knowledge and the memories I felt just a little overwhelmed. Then I remember a thought that came to me. Maybe it was more of a wish or even a prayer than a thought, actually. Whatever it was, I said to myself, “I wish I could hear Dad preach one more ‘Message’. I wish I could just hear him do it one more time.”

My eyes had actually been closed and when I opened them Dad was looking at me. I asked him if he had gotten some rest and he answered back appropriately. Then we both sat there somewhat lost in our thoughts. A few moments later, Faye came into the room to check on David. They spoke to each other in low tones and then Faye left the room. I didn’t think any more about what had been going through my mind because within just a few moments’ people started coming into the house to visit. There was Slim and Rose Daniel. Jean Daniel and the Petranoff family showed up. Marc and Valerie Anderson came walking in and the house was soon filled with family and friends from the church. One of the last people to come in that evening was Joe Silva. Joe and his wife Sheryl were newer saints in the Church that David and Faye had been teaching and Joe looked to David as a son does to a father.

After Joe came in, David began to talk. Suddenly he was once again the Pastor. He looked at my wife, Melinda, and asked her if she would get out the old accordion. He looked at me and asked me to get out my guitar. Then he looked at us all and said that he had asked Faye to call everyone in so that we could have a time of worship and fellowship. It was about this time that I realized the people he had Faye call in, were those people that he had pastored for so many years. These were “his people or his saints.” He had loved them, led them to Christ, discipled them and pastored them for twenty-five years. They were those who were dearest to his heart and him to theirs.

He would tell us the song that he wanted us to sing and we all gathered in and sang our hearts out. He would call the name of an individual and ask them to sing a “special” song that they had sang in church, and they would sing their hearts out. What a time we had. You could feel the Spirit of God as it began to minister to each of us.

After everyone had sung and after we had pretty much exhausted the old song book. David spoke to Justin, his oldest grandson and my oldest son, and told Justin to go into his office and bring him some things. When Justin returned he had with him some sermon notes and a chart which he set up for his Grandpa.

David turned to Joe and said, “With all that has happened I haven’t been able to teach you this lesson that I really want you to hear. I have called you all in because I have something that you really need to hear.”

My prayer was answered. My desire came to past. There on his hospital bed “The Elder” stepped up to the pulpit and preached one last “Message” to his people. I got to hear him preach one last time.

He preached from Hebrews 10:34-38 which reads:

Heb 10:34-38
34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” KJV

The words of the “Old Preacher’s” last message that stuck in my mind was this. Don’t cast away your confidence in God. Trust in God! God will always do the right thing. He said, “I don’t know why things in my life haven’t worked out the way that I planned them, but I have confidence in God that I will receive my reward and that He knows what is best.”

Yes, just as I had remembered it, the Preacher had a Message and that Message was for me. I am thankful I got to hear him preach one more time. Today, on what would have been his eighty-fourth birthday, I can still hear him say, “Have faith in God!”

Just a thought! God Bless!

Living Life!

Rain fell in sheets as inside the Church the father of the bride said, in an emotion choked voice, “What’s that Parson, who gives this woman away? Her mother and I.” The young man took the hand of the young lady and they together turned to face the preacher as he began to speak.

Someone sung another song that talked about God teaching us to love. Still they sung another song about the Tie that Binds. The two preachers shared more words. The couple exchanged vows. A Bible was given as a symbol of the foundation the marriage was to be built on.

Finally, the long awaited moment, they pronounce the couple husband and wife. A kiss is given! The couple makes the long walk down the aisle, while the miniature bride and groom jump off the stage and run behind them.

They enjoy cake and fellowship, as people wish the newlyweds’ good luck. A container is passed and many bless the couple with a love offering to help them enjoy a few days together.

Finally it is time for the couple to leave. Many have already left the Church to drive home but a few remain behind to see the couple off. The rain has stopped but the night is still very dark and wet. The couple climbs into the 1969 Mercury Montego Coupe and pull out of the parking lot heading into “a life together.”

No one could predict what the future would hold. There was no way to see all of the thrills and spills. How could anyone know the triumphs and disappointments that would come during the years to follow. That night there wasn’t a mountain that they couldn’t climb or a river that couldn’t be crossed. All that lay ahead, it seemed, was easy victories and great promises.

For life to be lived to its fullest, there will be victories and there will be defeats. A definition of life could be emotional. Like our emotions, which go up and down, so goes life. The key is to have a firm foundation, something to build on. Build life together on something that never changes. The Word of God is forever and unchanging. It is the perfect foundation on which to build a life.

Children came to the young family. First a son was born. Oh the magic of the moment when life is first recognized to have come from you and the one you love. Nothing can compare to that moment. Next a daughter is born. Daddy looks into her dark eyes and he is lost forever. Then, there is the night when she stops breathing and high speed trips are made to the hospital. Hours spent waiting for doctors to discover what is wrong. The two stands together in the hallway listening to their baby scream as the doctors run more tests. A trial! A wilderness! It is a time of learning to lean on the mercy of God.

Life is being lived! A father suddenly becomes ill and passes from life. He is so very young and so is his daughter. Again, a time of learning to lean on God and draw strength from His well. Lessons are learned from the late night times of prayer. Lessons that say that God orders the steps of a righteous man and He takes joy in those steps. You might weep during the night, but the sun will come up and with it will be joy.

Another son is born. So different from his brother and sister in so many ways. He is born during another wilderness time. It is a reminder that the blessings of the Lord come even when you don’t know where God is.

What is life? It is but a wisp of steam, a vapor. You get up every day and live life until one day you look back and realize that thirty-four years have passed since that rainy night when you said, “We will!” Years of blessings!

Children have become teenagers and then adults. They have left the nest and now have their own families. There are moments when you wish you could roll back the years and again enjoy those precious moments of yesteryear. You would go a little slower this time and spend a little more time enjoying those things that are so important. You would recognize things so important now. If you could do it again, you would make sure you emphasized how crucial a love for the Word of God is to a life. You would spend more time kneeling beside your family in prayer. Make sure they realized the importance of a personal relationship with God.

There is no going back! You’ve done the best you could do. Now you have entered another chapter of life. The foundation is still firm because the Word of God is sure. Prayers are made for your children. Precious hours are spent with them and their children. Oh the glorious times of family gathered. Listening to the laughter as precious memories are shared. Watching the grandsons as they play.

Life has a different look now. You are thinking about life from a different perspective. There was a time when it was about building and conquering. Now life is about influencing and teaching. It is about what you will leave someone else someday.

The old Mercury is gone. Other cars have been used to travel the hundreds of thousands of miles since that night thirty-four years ago. Three children have been raised. Three grandsons have been enjoyed. Five churches have been pastored through those years. Many songs have been sung and many messages have been preached. Tears have been shed, but laughter has been there all along the way. A couple, started life together and continuing on. Trusting in each other. Depending upon God. Standing on the Word of God. Blessed beyond measure. No one knows what tomorrow holds, but we do know who holds our hand.

Remember, it’s just a thought!

Dedicated to my wonderful wife Melinda! I love you . . .

The Sword of the Spirit

The Sword of the Spirit

History knows the Roman short sword as the “sword that conquered the world.” One of the most easily recognized swords of any era is a Roman short sword. The sword was known for its short, double-edged 20” blade with a diamond–point tip. The Bible distinguishes the Roman double-edged sword, for its awesome powerfulness as a weapon, by using it, as an example, of the Word of God in Hebrews 4:12. This sword is also a critical part of the Biblical description of the “Full Armor of God.”

They tell great stories of Roman soldiers’ fierce bravery in battle (never retreating). Nevertheless, historians have shown there was a strategic fighting advantage behind this resolve. In the midst of combat, your sword and shield were vital. The first person to turn and retreat had his backside unprotected and the Roman short sword was the perfect weapon to deliver a fatal quick forward thrust.

In speaking, to us about the Armor of God, Paul instructs us to “take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”: (Eph. 6:17 KJV). Of all the parts of the Armor of God, the sword of the Spirit is the only weapon that we have. All of the other parts are for protection but the sword is the weapon for us to use in attacking the enemy or to fight back with.

The writer of Hebrews gives us a brief description of how powerful the Word of God is. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb 4:12 KJV)

He speaks of the Word of God being quick or alive. The Apostle Peter tells us that we are born again by the word of God which is alive and is eternal (1 Peter 1:23). The Hebrew writer also gives us another reason to use the sword of the Spirit and that is it is powerful!

When I hear the word “powerful” I think of something that is strong or forceful. However, as I began to study the word “powerful,” I also found it to have the following meanings. It is to be active, effectual and able. It means to be powerful in action. The word, “powerful,” comes from the Greek word “energes” which is where our word energy comes from. The word “work” comes from the same root word.

So, when the writer of Hebrews is describing the Word of God as powerful, he is telling us that it is “full of power and is able to achieve results.” In other words, if I use the word of God in Spiritual battle, it is going to accomplish what needs to be done.

Another term used to describe the Word of God is it is “sharper than any two-edged-sword.” He is speaking of it being sharp enough to cut in a single stroke rather than hacking away at it.

Several years ago a man attended a Church I pastored. This man worked in a chicken plant, for more than twenty years then, as a knife sharpener. I have never, before or since, seen a knife as sharp as this man could get them. He also made knives and sold them. We would bring our pocket knives or kitchen knives to him and he would sharpen them for us. My boys and I had a saying that a knife wasn’t sharp unless it was “Staley Sharp.” Staley was his last name. A kitchen knife that was “Staley Sharp” would cut through a thick piece of meat as if it were nothing.

The Word of God will slice through the problem no matter how difficult it seems. The writer of Hebrews tells us that it is so sharp it can separate the soul and spirit. It can divide the joint from the marrow of the bone. It can tell the difference between the thought and the intent of the heart. In other words, the things that we can’t separate, the Word of God can separate. Those things that we have trouble defining. The Word of God will define. Where a fine line needs cut. The Word of God will cut it.

Why is this important? Is this going to make a difference or help in my life? Will this enable me to be an over comer in battle? Yes! How often have I needed an answer, it seemed there were no answers at all, only to have the Word of God give clarity to the situation? The question of right and wrong comes up and there’s a “fine line” between the two. However, the Word of God makes a distinction and I know which way to go.

I remember an incident several years ago. God had been dealing with my heart to do something that I really did not want to do. I had a tremendous burden that I had carried for several years and many dreams that had yet to occur. If I did what I felt God was telling me to do, it would affect my family, my church and many others. I knew I would face great opposition and questions that I couldn’t answer, if I followed the direction I felt God leading me.

After much prayer and seeking clarity for this directive from God I came across a passage of scripture. I don’t know if it would ever speak to someone else the way it spoke to me but as I read it I knew what I had to do. The Word of God cut away all of the confusion and doubt in the situation.

In the summer of 1990 I was sitting in a Sunday School class while on vacation. They had diagnosed my father with Parkinson’s disease about a year prior to this time and I was dealing with a lot of confusion in my mind. Dad was a great man of faith. He was sixty years old and just now thinking of retirement. He wanted to travel some and be a blessing to Churches with teaching and preaching. Dad and Mom planned to enjoy spending time with their grandchildren. However, now all of those plans had changed. He was now dealing with a life debilitating disease. My confusion came because of these different changes. I also had questions because, as I said, Dad was a man of great faith. I had seen him pray for people and God instantly healed them. Yet, we had prayed for him several times and nothing had changed. As I sat there that day and the Pastor taught a Bible lesson, we read a passage from the Bible as part of the lesson. Although the lesson had nothing to do with the questions that I was dealing with, this passage cut right to the heart of my questions. The answer was made clear to me in an instant. Through the following years I held onto the Word I had received from God.

In talking about the Full Armor of God, we have referred to the enemy attacking with the spirit of fear. We have established how the different pieces of armor are effective in protecting us from these attacks of the enemy. One thing that we must realize is we cannot remain on the defense all of the time. The shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness and the other parts of the armor are all defensive in their protection. Yet, if we are on the defense too long, we will become weary and will eventually fall.

I like to listen to football games on the radio. It isn’t something I do often, but a couple of Saturdays during the season I will listen to my favorite college team play. Often, during a game, I have heard the announcers say, “They have got to get the defense off the field because they are wearing out!” I have yet to ever hear them say, “They have got to get the offense off the field they are wearing out!” Why is this? Because, when you are on offensive, and you are scoring points, you are in control of the game. When you are on defense you are trying to anticipate the opponent’s next move and react accordingly. You are trying to resist and push back against the thrust of the opponent.

The same is true in spiritual warfare. If you remain on the defense, you will wear out! You are constantly trying to anticipate the next move of the enemy. You are pushing back against his advances, constantly resisting him. This is why the sword of the Spirit is so important to us. It gives us the ability to attack the enemy! We can go on the offensive and take control of the battle and we will be victorious.


The sword is also used as a defensive tool. It can block a blow by the enemy and deliver a blow. We see this happening in the account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. Twice, Satan approached Jesus and tempted Him with the temptation of turning stones to bread and casting Himself off the pinnacle of the temple. Both times, Jesus used the Word of God to block the attack of the enemy. The third temptation Satan tempted Jesus with possessions if He would bow and worship him. This time Jesus attacked by saying, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matt 4:10 KJV) In other word’s Jesus said, “Get out of here! The scripture says that you must worship the Lord your God. Worship only Him.” You will also notice that Satan left Jesus then.

Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that our faith comes by hearing the Word of God. I have found it to be very effective to read or quote scriptures aloud when I am in warfare. As I read or quote the passage I am hearing it, which in turn builds my faith. Take your Bible in your hand and begin to read scripture that builds your faith to deal with your situation! Have victory and be an overcomer.

Personalize the scripture as you are reading it. For example, as passage that means a lot to me and has helped me in many battles is Psalms 149:4-9. Which reads:

“For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.” (Ps 149:4-9 KJV)

When I am in battle I like to read this way:

For the LORD taketh pleasure in ME: he will beautify ME with salvation.
5 SO I WILL be joyful in glory: I WILL sing aloud upon MY bed.
6 The high praises of God be in MY mouth, and a twoedged sword in MY hand;
7 To execute vengeance AND punishments upon MY ENEMY;
8 To bind the PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS AND RULERS OF DARKNESS with chains, and with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour I have AS his saint. I WILL Praise the LORD! Ps 149:4-9 KJV (NOTE: All of the capitalized words are added or changed by me to make it personal).

I can be victorious and have an overcoming life! That is the will and plan of God for me, as a child of God. This leads us to the last of our resources, which is prayer.

You are Talking Like a Kid!

Aren’t children amazing? They are so much smarter than we give them credit for. I have witnessed them doing amazing things. Today I listened to a two-year-old sing the “ABC’s” song. Well he sang most of it anyway. He is just now starting to talk but he can belt out “ABC . . . !”

A while back I told a four year old boy, who asked me if I was taking him home, that I was going to take him to the dump. He laughed at me and said, “No, this is a bus. It is not a dump truck! Take me home.”

Recently I heard a child tell another child something that was a complete fabrication of the truth. The second child reacted to the lie and began to whine. One of the adults that was there reassured the second child that what was said was not true and everything was going to be all right. The child continued to whimper for a while but then calmed down. The first child then said the same thing over again to the second child, calling them by name. The reaction of the second child was the same, and they began to whine. Again the adult reassured the child that this was not true and everything would be all right.

Just before we arrived at the home of the second child, the child began to sing out that they were going to see their daddy. The first child then called the second child by name and said, “No! That’s my daddy! No! That’s my daddy!” The second child responded by collapsing in hysteria! They began to cry out that it was their daddy and could not be consoled at all. Even when we arrived at the home and the father of the child came to take them off the bus they continued to cry. All the time the first child laughed and thought it was funny.

As we left the home and began to drive down the road I thought to myself, “How foolish to become so upset by such a complete and obvious fabrication of the truth.” The child knew whose daddy it was. They were reassured by those in authority that the other child was not telling the truth. Yet they chose to believe the lie to the glee of the one that is making it up.

I was then struck by the realization of how often we allow this to happen in our lives. The enemy of our soul loves to taunt and terrorize us with lies. In fact Jesus described him this way, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44

He loves to tell us something that is obviously a lie and then sit back and watch us react to it in fear and frustration. He will call your name and taunt you! He will challenge your spirituality and authority. He doesn’t care that he is lying, he only wants to cause you trouble. He only wants to plant seeds of fear in your heart and mind. The whole time he sits back and laughs!

He will bring up every mistake you ever made and heap condemnation upon you. Then laugh while you beg God to have mercy on you and chuckle as you live in fear of the judgement of God. He will call your name and tell you that you don’t have faith and that is why you are going through the situations that you face. Then laugh when you hang your head and cry because you feel like a failure. He will tell you that you are losing your mind because of past mistakes. Then rolls on the floor in glee as you tremble with fear!

All the time this is happening, the authority in your life is telling you that these are just lies. What is being said is obviously not true! We do have power, faith and sound mind and it comes directly from God! (2 Timothy 1:7) We are children of the King and have spiritual authority as our heritage. We are God’s kids! (Romans 8:15-17)

We don’t have to worry about our past mistakes. We have the assurance that if we have confessed them to God, then God has forgiven us of them and cleansed us from all wrong doing. (1 John 1:9) We are also reassured that the only one who can condemn us is Jesus Christ and He isn’t condemning us because He is on our side! (Romans 8:31-34)

So the next time you hear that taunting voice. You know that voice that preaches to us about our failures. The next time you hear that voice, just stop for a moment and listen to the voice of authority, the Word of God! The holler back to the taunter, “You are just talking like a kid!”

Well, it’s just a thought!

Let Me Hear Him Preach One More Time!

David Leo Doran was said to be one of the greatest preachers to ever walk in shoe leather. I have said it myself and have heard many others say the same thing. He was an old time fiery preacher. He would quote more scripture in one sermon than most preachers use in a year’s worth of sermons. He could tell a story like you have never heard it told anywhere else. Most important of all, when he came to the pulpit, you knew that he had been in touch with God.

David did not have very much formal education. He had to leave school in the tenth grade to work and help support his family. Yet he always had a hunger to learn and continued to study and educate himself. He would talk to well-educated men that he admired and ask them what books they recommended. He would then buy the book and read it from cover to cover. He was much disciplined about this. I remember someone recommended Clyde Narrimore’s book, “The Encyclopedia of Psychological Problems.” They said it was a good book to have to help when you had to counsel with people. David bought the book and read it from cover to cover, word for word.

He was a preacher who studied. He would eat lunch on Sunday afternoon and then go to his study and prepare for the message that night. When he was finished, he started on his Bible lesson for Tuesday night. Tuesday nights, when he got off work, he would eat, bathe and change clothes, and then he would head for the church to finish up for Bible Study that night. He never walked to the pulpit without spending hours in study and prayer.

He took his responsibility so seriously that I recall a time or two when he would actually tell us that he didn’t have a message, although he had spent time in study and prayer, he didn’t have a message. He refused just to go through the motions or just be redundant in what he had to say. He was honest and up front and said he had nothing.

I saw him, at a Fellowship Meeting, it is a service with several churches, preach. He was preaching on Jehu telling different men to come see his zeal for the Lord. David got to preaching about being zealous for the Lord. He got to preaching about being like Jehu, who they said drove his chariot ferociously. David grabbed the hand of a young man sitting in the front of the church and he began to run around the building. The whole time he was pulling this young man behind him and preaching with all his might about having zeal for God.

Mind you, at this time David was about 47 or 48 years of age at this time. The young man had just returned from Marine boot camp. David ran him around that building until his tongue hung out, while David never missed a word or slowed down. The man could preach!

A Bible Study, which David taught, might last an hour or more. A sermon that he preached would be thirty minutes or so. That was his average. A Pastor once called him to preach for them for several nights and the night of the main event the Pastor requested David preach on a certain subject and asked that he preach for three hours. David did just that, he preached for three hours and although I was not able to be there, those that I spoke too later told me it seemed just like minutes.

When David was 59 years old, he found out that he had Parkinson’s disease. If you are not familiar with Parkinson’s disease let me briefly explain, its effect on a body. Parkinson’s disease is the result of a chemical deficiency between the brain and the nerve center that sends signals to the muscles. As a result of this, many of the things we do reflexively have to be thought out, step by step, in order for the person to be able to do them. For example swallowing is something done as a reflex, we don’t think about it at all. Yet with Parkinson’s you have to think through the whole swallowing process. Many people with Parkinson’s have problems swallowing food or even saliva.

Parkinson’s affects walking, talking, and standing. I won’t go into detail, but because of the lack of the signal from the brain to the nerve center it was soon evident that David’s time as a pastor had come to an end. It was also obvious that he would no longer be able to preach the way that he once had preached.

David was a champion; he squared his shoulders and faced the problems before him. I must say that the most difficult thing for him to face as a result of this disease, which so disabled him, was not being able to preach the way he loved to preach. At the time of his being diagnosed with Parkinson’s I was David’s associate pastor. When he could no longer carry on the work as pastor, in the church where he had pastored for twenty-five years, He and the church asked me to step in and carry on his work. Being his son and his student, I knew how he wanted to stay involved so I encouraged him to seek other ways to minister. One of those ways was discipling young Christians.

When I became Pastor, the people in the church began to call David “The Elder” as a way of honoring him for his life time of service to that church. When we started working together with David teaching young Christians, I called it, “Sitting at the feet of the Elder.”

David dealt with Parkinson’s and all the effects it had on his life and his body for ten years. In 1999 the doctors told him and the family that Parkinson’s had taken its toll and David didn’t have much longer to live.

I spent many nights, along with my brothers and oldest son, sitting in David’s living room, sometimes holding his hand. Most of those nights were spent sitting together, talking quietly and listening to him talk to us. I don’t remember a lot of the details of those conversations, I think it was more of his spirit strengthening ours than it was of words and dialog. I just remember being there with him. As the days went by, David became weaker. He became so weak that they brought a hospital bed in and set it up in his living room.

I remember on a Saturday afternoon I was sitting with him. Faye, his wife and my mother, had laid down to rest. David was a sleep and I was sitting on the couch in the living room thinking. It was very quiet and still. I watched David as he slept and seemed to labor a bit in breathing. In the still time my mind went back over the years and I began to remember the different times that I had heard my Dad preach. I began to relive those moments and those sermons which we called “Messages,” my how he could preach.

I walked through the years. I remembered the times and the places. There were one-room school houses. There were school gymnasiums. There were Camp Meeting Tabernacles and Brush Arbors. There were nice Church buildings and other buildings that had been converted from a former life into a church building. There were big crowds, medium size crowds and there were small crowds. David had preached in them all and to them all.

I remembered sermon titles like, “Are You Asking for Trouble?” “You Know Too Much!” “Check Points on the Road to Heaven.” “Five Things I Would Like on My Tombstone.” “A Three and Two Count!”

It was a very overwhelming experience. In my heart I knew that David didn’t have many days left to live. Along with that knowledge and the memories I felt just a little overwhelmed. Then I remember a thought that came to me. Maybe it was more of a wish or even a prayer than a thought, actually. Whatever it was, I said to myself, “I wish I could hear Dad preach one more ‘Message’. I wish I could just hear him do it one more time.”

My eyes had actually been closed and when I opened them Dad was looking at me. I asked him if he had gotten some rest and he answered back appropriately. Then we both sat there somewhat lost in our thoughts.

A few moments later, Faye came into the room to check on David. They spoke to each other in low tones and then Faye left the room. I didn’t think any more about what had been going through my mind because within just a few moments’ people started coming into the house to visit. There was Slim and Rose Daniel. Jean Daniel and the Petranoff family showed up. Marc and Valerie Anderson came walking in and the house was soon filled with family and friends from the church. One of the last people to come in that evening was Joe Silva. Joe and his wife Sheryl were new Christians that David and Faye had been teaching and Joe looked to David as a son does to a father.

After Joe came in, David began to talk. Suddenly he was once again the Pastor. He looked at my wife, Melinda, and asked her if she would get out the old accordion. He looked at me and asked me to get out my guitar. Then he looked at us all and said that he had asked Faye to call everyone in so that we could have a time of worship and fellowship. It was about this time that I realized the people he had Faye call in were those people that he had pastored for so many years. These were “his people or his saints.” He had loved them, led them to Christ, discipled them and pastored them for twenty-five years. They were those who were dearest to his heart and him to theirs.

He would tell us the song that he wanted us to sing and we all gathered in and sang our hearts out. He would call the name of an individual and ask them to sing a “special” song that they had sang in church, and they would sing their hearts out. What a time we had. You could feel the Spirit of God as it began to minister to each of us.

After everyone had sung and after we had pretty much exhausted the old song book. David spoke to Justin, his oldest grandson and my oldest son, and told Justin to go into his office and bring him some things. When Justin returned he had with him some sermon notes and a chart which he set up for his Grandpa.

David turned to Joe and said, “With all that has happened I haven’t been able to teach you this lesson that I really want you to hear. I have called you all in because I have something that you really need to hear.”

My prayer was answered. My desire came to past. There on his hospital bed “The Elder” preached one last “Message” to his people. I got to hear him preach one last time.

He preached from Hebrews 10:34-38 which reads:

Heb 10:34-38
34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” KJV

The words of the “Old Preacher’s” last message that stuck in my mind was this. Don’t cast away your confidence in God. Trust Him that He always does the right thing. I don’t know why things in my life haven’t worked out the way that I planned them, but I have confidence in God that I will receive my reward and that He knows what is best.

Yes, just as I had remembered it, the Preacher had a Message and that Message was for me. I am thankful I got to hear him preach one more time.

Just a thought! God Bless!



40th Anniversary of Triumphanlt Life Center Rio Dell, California

Six Little Foxes...

Have you ever noticed that it is the little thing in life that cause you the most problems? Oh I know, we watch out for the BIG things so we really don’t have problems with them. However, LOOK OUT for those little things!

I have never in my life been tempted to rob a bank or a gas station. That is ludicrous! If I were to be caught, and of course I would be, I would spend time in jail and just the thought of incarceration terrifies me. However the temptation has been there more than once to pocket the excess change. More than one time I have struggled with myself about being completely honest on my income tax filing. All of these would be considered stealing by God but I have the tendency to classify some not so bad as others. We must watch out for the little things.

This was brought to my attention today by a friend making a comment about the need to stop the problem we deal with while they are small. I was reminded of a sermon my father preached about thirty-four years ago. Let me share a bit of it with you: It was a Sunday morning much like many other Sunday mornings in the past. We had gathered in the little gray Church building for worship after coming back from our respective Sunday School classes. We had the reports from each Sunday School class. We sang a couple of songs from the songbook. It was just a typical Sunday until the Pastor got up to preach.

He asked us to open our Bibles to the Songs of Solomon and a titter ran through the youth group. This is what he read:

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes," (Song of Solomon 2:15) KJV.

From that point on you didn’t hear another covered laugh or snicker. The Pastor preached with great anointing about the little things in our lives that hinder or walks with God. He explained how the little foxes would play in the vineyard under the grape vines where they were shaded. They would run under them and knock off the tender grapes and ruin the crops. He started to list the "Six Little Foxes" but the Spirit of God began to move and long a long story made short is that he preached on the "Little Foxes" for six weeks, one each week. For the next twenty years those people who were in those services still referenced those messages about the "Little Foxes."

Little Fox Number One: "A Little Sleep" Proverbs 6:6-11 ". . . 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep . . ." KJV

How easy it is to become tired in the midst of the battle and want to stop to take a nap. How easy it is while building a house to stop and let it sit without finishing the project. How easy it is for a house to decay and fall apart because it isn’t taken care of, (Ecclesiastis 10:18). It is just a little slumber or just a little sleep.

Little Fox Number Two: "A Little Foolishness" Ecclesiastis 10:1, "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour." KJV

The spirit of our age is "Foolishness" or "silliness." It is so easy for the Christian to succumb to that spirit. Let me be entertained! Play for me, dance for me, so my mind can be at ease! For David it was a moment of "silliness" or "foolishness" that the "Little Fox" spoiled his vine. While other kings were at war, he walked on his house top with his mind opened to the temptations at hand.

How easy it is for us to make excuses for the need of foolishness in our lives. How easy it is to open our spirits to the "silliness" of this world. We allow our tender spirits to be spoiled and destroyed to the point we are no longer interested in "hungering and thirsting after righteousness . . ." or that which is pleasing to God. We are more interested in being entertained.

Little Fox Number Three: "A Little Leaven" or a little sin. 1 Corinthians 5:6-7, "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened . . ." KJV

We look at it and say it isn’t much, it is just a little thing. Moses, the great leader of Israel, missed out on the Promise Land because he smote the rock instead of speaking to it as God directed. Just a little sin! Israel lost the battle with Ai after defeating Jericho because of a little sin! Saul saved the best of the cattle for a sacrifice. Partial obedience is disobedience, just a little sin! Miriam spoke against the wife of Moses, her brother, who was also the man of God. Leprosy came upon her, just a little sin!

Leaven in the New Testament is likened unto sin. Paul said it just takes a little sin to make the whole lump full of sin. We need to consistently confess our sins to God. We need to join the Psalmist and ask God to, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," (Psalms 139:23-24) KJV.

Little Fox Number Four: "A Little Faith" Mark 4:40, "And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" KJV

Faith is acting upon what you believe. James speaks of faith without actions as nothing. The disciples had been told by Jesus they were going to the "other side" yet when the storm came there was no faith. Their confidence had left them. They refused to live through the storm as if they were going to the other side. They cried out to Jesus they were perishing.

We so often respond to the storms of life in terror! Our time is spent foolishly on things that have no eternal benefit and when the storms of life "assail us" we cannot believe that He will stand by us. Our faith is gone! Our motivation has left us! God steps in and calms the storm and we look at Him in wonder and say, "Where did He come from?" Yet just a while back He had worked miracles in our lives. Just a little faith!

Little Fox Number Five: "A Little Tongue" or a little member but big trouble! James 3:5, "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" KJV

Let me just list a few things about the tongue the Pastor said that day. (1) Galatians 5:13-15, Do not bite and devour each other. (2) 2 Peter 2:1 beware of false prophets and teachers who will bring teaching that denies God and will speak evil of truth. (3) Gossiping or being a busy body in other people’s business, Proverbs 26:20, 2 Corinthians 12:20, 1 Peter 4:15. (4) Lying, there is no such thing as a little lie! Read Proverbs 6: 16-19 and also Revelations 21:8. (5) Murmuring, grumbling or complaining and stop the disputing or fussing, 1 Corinthians 10:10-11 and Philippians 2:14.

Little Fox Number Six: "A Little Love" or Jonah a preacher without a burden! Just read the book of Jonah, he tells on himself. He was a burdenless preacher preaching damnation to a sinful nation with no care but for himself and his own comfort. They turn rather than burn, yet he sets and fails to respond to their need for God.

How easy to find ourselves caught in this trap. We become more interested in our comfort and enjoyment than in the need of our world to hear the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. How easy to become self-centered and fail to touch the life of our neighbor. Jesus said the proof of our discipleship wasn’t in how well versed we were in doctrine or how obedient we were to the rules and regulations. Jesus said the proof of our Discipleship was simply in the love we have for one another.

A few decades have passed since the Pastor stood and preached on these "Little Foxes." Fads have changed and the challenges that we face today might come in a different disguise than they wore thirty years ago. The old preacher has transferred his residence to the streets of gold yet the message is as relevant today as it was that day. I need to watch for the little things that will mess me up. I have to be vigilant for the "Little Foxes" that will destroy the tender grapes or fruit my life is producing.

Thanks to my friend for your comment and story that brought this back to my memory. I have enjoyed a walk down memory’s lane. More than that, I have enjoyed the reminder to be careful with my soul.

Remember, "It’s just a thought!"

Moses, Take Off Your Feet!

Lately I have been sharing some thoughts that were on the more serious side of life. About difficult times, you know those storms or hot spots. However, I needed a little humor myself and thought maybe some of my friends do too. My Dad was a great man and a great preacher. When he walked to the pulpit, he was serious about the Lord’s business. Yet at the same time, there were some great moments to remember that were anything but serious. I hope this blesses you as it blessed me remembering the occasion.

Dad was an "Old Time Preacher" even at a young age. When he preached he told a lot of Bible stories. He would then apply them to the lives of those he was preaching to. Dad was a very good story teller. He would tell the story his own way, putting life into the old stories that had been heard in Sunday school as a child.

If he was telling the story of Jonah and the Whale, He would have Jonah asleep in the bottom of the boat while the storm was blowing outside. Jonah wouldn't just be asleep, but Jonah would be snoring. Snoring loudly! Then Jonah would be in the belly of the whale and he would be trying to pray with sea weed wrapped around his head and neck.

He didn’t just tell the story, but he dramatized them as well. He would have Jonah gagging and choking, getting slapped in the face by the seaweed or a fish. Even now, after so many years, I can still see and hear him in my memory. Oh, what a preacher he was!

I have had people come up to me at meetings and tell me about sermons he had preached, sometimes forty years before. They still remembered those messages, sometimes in detail. They remembered the stories he told, but they also remembered how it helped them deal with things in their lives they were having hard times with. Oh, what a preacher he was!

I will never forget this one service and this one message he preached. It was at a "Watchnight Service" in Fresno, California. The Fresno Church, at that time was located on Harvey and Thesta.

A "Watchnight Service" was a special service on New Years Eve. People would come to church and worship the old year out and the New Year in, or watch it happen.

This service was on December 31, 1963. Dad had been asked to be the main speaker for the service. The choir had sung. The preliminaries had been taken care of. Time was getting toward the midnight hour and it was time for the main speaker to speak.

Dad began preaching, and my how he preached. He really had it that night. He ran! He jumped! The people responded with "Amen’s" "Preach it" and "Hallelujah's." There might have even been a “Come on little brotha! “ He was reaching out to people! He had the message and what a preacher he was that night.

He went back to the Book of Exodus and began telling that familiar story that we all know so well. The story about the baby that was found in the bull rushes by Pharaoh’s daughter. She took Moses, the baby, from the bull rushes to Pharaoh’s house where the Hebrew child was raised under the roof of the greatest enemy of the Hebrews, Pharaoh.

He had Moses sitting on Pharaoh’s knee, playing with his toys at his feet. He talked of Moses eating at Pharaoh’s table, sleeping in a bed he provided and going to the best schools in the nation. Then, he painted a “word” picture of Moses, while in Pharaoh’s house, being taught about Jehovah God by his birth mother. He explained how from that teaching a love for God and for God's people grew in the heart of Moses.

Dad told of how that love became so strong Moses was driven by a desire to free Israel from the rule of Pharaoh. He longed to see them regain their independence. This feeling was so great one day Moses happened upon an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and Moses killed the Egyptian, burying him in the sand.

Thinking that his deed was secret, Moses was surprised later when he found that others knew what he had done. So Moses fled to the wilderness. There he met a young lady, went to work for her father and lived for forty years.

Now, Dad has the congregation of people listening very intently. They are hanging onto every word. They follow along as he talks about Moses, forty years working as a shepherd. He paints as picture of him taking care of his sheep when he sees a bush burning in the field. He approaches the bush, because he notices that although the bush is burning, the fire is not consuming or burning up the bush.

Although more than ninety five percent of the people listening had heard the story so many times they could have told it themselves, they were listening with undivided attention as Dad led them with Moses right up to the bush. They were listening so close they could almost hear the voice call from the bush and say, "Moses, take off your feet you are on Holy ground!"

A hush fell over the building! Dad continued without missing a beat, "The voice from the bush, the voice of God, said, "Moses take off your feet, you are on Holy ground. And Moses reached down in obedience to God and took his feet off!"

As you can well imagine everybody began to laugh and they laughed for a long while as they pictured Moses sitting down on a rock and trying to take off his feet. Dad stopped, when he realized what he said, and laughed with everyone else. He then went on a finished his sermon. It was a night that I will never forget.

Sometimes we just need to laugh!

It's just a thought! God Bless...

Let Me Hear HIm Preach One More Time

David Leo Doran was said to be one of the greatest preachers to ever walk in shoe leather. I have said it myself and have heard many others say the same thing. He was an old time fiery preacher. He would quote more scripture in one sermon than most preachers use in a year’s worth of sermons. He could tell a story like you have never heard it told anywhere else. Most important of all, when he came to the pulpit, you knew that he had been in touch with God.
David did not have very much formal education. He had to leave school in the tenth grade to work and help support his family. Yet he always had a hunger to learn and continued to study and educate himself. He would talk to well educated men that he admired and ask them what books they recommended. He would then buy the book and read it from cover to cover. He was much disciplined about this. I remember someone recommended Clyde Narrimore’s book, “The Encyclopedia of Psychological Problems.” They said it was a good book to have to help when you had to counsel with people. David bought the book and read it from cover to cover, word for word.
He was a preacher who studied. He would eat lunch on Sunday afternoon and then go to his study and prepare for the message that night. When he was finished, he started on his Bible lesson for Tuesday night. Tuesday night, when he got off work, he would eat, bathe and change clothes, and then he would head for the church to finish up for Bible Study that night. He never walked to the pulpit without spending hours in study and prayer.
He took his responsibility so seriously that I recall a time or two when he would actually tell us that he didn’t have a message, although he had spent time in study and prayer, he didn’t have a message. He refused just to go through the motions or just be redundant in what he had to say. He was honest and up front and said he had nothing.
I saw him, one night at a Fellowship Meeting, it is a service with several churches, preach. He was preaching on Jehu telling different men to come see his zeal for the Lord. David got to preaching about being zealous for the Lord. He got to preaching about being like Jehu, who they said drove his chariot ferociously. David grabbed the hand of a young man sitting in the front of the church and he began to run around the building. All the while he is pulling this young man behind him and preaching with all his might about having zeal for God.
Mind you, at this time David was probably about 47 or 48 years old. The young man had just returned from Marine boot camp. David ran him around that building until his tongue hung out, while David never missed a word or slowed down. The man could preach!
A Bible Study, that David taught, might last an hour or more. A sermon that he preached would be thirty minutes or so. That was his average. A Pastor once called him to preach for them for several nights and the night of the main event the Pastor requested David preach on a certain subject and asked him to preach for three hours. David did just that, he preached for three hours and although I was not able to be there, those that I spoke to later told me it seemed just like minutes.
When David was 59 years old, he found out that he had Parkinson’s disease. If you are not familiar with Parkinson’s disease let me briefly explain its affects. Parkinson’s disease is the result of a chemical deficiency between the brain and the nerve center that sends signals to the muscles. As a result, many of the things we do reflexively have to be thought out in order to do them. For example swallowing is something done as a reflex, we don’t think about it at all. Yet with Parkinson’s you have to think through the whole swallowing process. Many people with Parkinson’s have problems swallowing food or even saliva.
Parkinson’s affects walking, talking, and standing. I won’t go into detail, but because of the lack of the signal from the brain to the nerve center it was soon evident that David’s time as a pastor had come to an end. It was also obvious that he would no longer be able to preach the way that he once had preached.
David was a champion; he squared his shoulders and faced the problems before him. I must say that the most difficult thing for him to face as a result of this disease that so handicapped him, was not being able to preach the way he loved to preach. At the time of his being diagnosed with Parkinson’s I was David’s associate pastor. When he could no longer carry on the work as pastor, in the church where he had pastored for twenty-five years, He and the church asked me to step in and carry on his work. Being his son and his student, I knew how he wanted to stay involved so I encouraged him to seek other ways to minister. One of those ways was discipling young Christians.
When I became Pastor, the people in the church began to call David “The Elder” as a way of honoring him for his life time of service to that church. When we started working together with David teaching young Christians I called it, “Sitting at the feet of the Elder.”
David dealt with Parkinson’s and all the affects it had on his life and his body for ten years. In 1999 the doctors told him and the family that Parkinson’s had taken its toll and David didn’t have much longer to live.
I spent many nights, along with my brothers and oldest son, sitting in David’s living room, sometimes holding his hand. Mostly just sitting talking quietly and listening to him talk to us. I don’t remember a lot of the details of those conversations, I think it was more of his spirit strengthening ours than it was of words and dialog. I just remember being there with him. As the days went by, David became weaker. He became so weak that they brought a hospital bed in and set it up in his living room.
I remember on a Saturday afternoon I was sitting with him. Faye, his wife and my mother, had laid down to rest. David was a sleep and I was sitting on the couch in the living room thinking. It was very quiet and still. I watched David as he slept and seemed to labor a bit in breathing. In the still time my mind went back over the years and I began to remember the different times that I had heard my Dad preach. I began to relive those moments and those sermons which we called “Messages,” my how he could preach.
I walked through the years. I remembered the times and the places. There were one room school houses. There were school gymnasiums. There were Camp Meeting Tabernacles and Brush Arbors. There were nice Church buildings and other buildings that had been converted from a former life into a church building. There were big crowds, medium size crowds and there were small crowds. David had preached in them all and to them all.
I remembered sermon titles like, “Are You Asking for Trouble?” “You Know Too Much!” “Check Points on the Road to Heaven.” “Five Things I Would Like On My Tombstone.” “A Three and Two Count!”
It was a pretty overwhelming experience. In my heart I knew that David didn’t have many days left to live. Along with that knowledge and the memories I felt just a little overwhelmed. Then I remember a thought that came to me. Maybe it was more of a wish or even a prayer than a thought, actually. Whatever it was, I said to myself, “I wish I could hear Dad preach one more ‘Message.’ I wish I could just hear him do it one more time.”
My eyes had actually been closed and when I opened them Dad was looking at me. I asked him if he had gotten some rest and he answered back appropriately. Then we both sat there somewhat lost in our thoughts.
A few moments later, Faye came into the room to check on David. They spoke to each other in low tones and then Faye left the room. I didn’t think any more about what had been going through my mind because within just a few moments’ people started coming in to the house to visit. There was Slim and Rose Daniel. Jean Daniel and the Petranoff family showed up. Marc and Valerie Anderson came walking in and the house was soon filled with family and friends from the church. One of the last people to come in that evening was Joe Silva. Joe and his wife Sheryl were new Christians that David and Faye had been teaching and Joe looked to David as a son does to a father.
After Joe came in, David began to talk. Suddenly he was once again the Pastor. He looked at my wife, Melinda, and asked her if she would get out the old accordion. He looked at me and asked me to get out my guitar. Then he looked at us all and said that he had asked Faye to call everyone in so that we could have a time of worship and fellowship. It was about this time that I realized the people he had had Faye call in were the people that he had pastored for so many years. These were “his people or his saints.” He had loved them, led them to Christ, discipled them and pastored them for twenty-five years. They were those who were dearest to his heart and he to theirs.
He would tell us the song that he wanted us to sing and we all gathered in and sang our hearts out. He would call the name of an individual and ask them to sing a “special” song that they had sang in church, and they would sing their hearts out. What a time we had. You could feel the Spirit of God as it began to minister to each of us.
After everyone had sang and after we had pretty much exhausted the old song book. David spoke to Justin, his oldest grandson and my oldest son, and told him to go into his office and bring him some things. When Justin returned he had with him some sermon notes and a chart which he set up for his Grandpa.
David turned to Joe and said, “With all that has happened I haven’t been able to teach you this lesson that I really want you to hear. I have called you all in because I have something that you really need to hear.”
My prayer was answered. My desire came to past. There on his hospital bed “The Elder” preached one last “Message” to his people. I got to hear him preach one last time.
He preached from Hebrews 10:34-38 which reads:
Heb 10:34-38
34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” KJV
The words of the “Old Preacher’s” last message that stuck with me were this. Don’t cast away your confidence in God. Trust Him that He always does the right thing. I don’t know why things in my life haven’t worked out the way that I planned them, but I have confidence in God that I will receive my reward and that He knows what is best.
Yes, just as I had remembered it, the Preacher had a Message and that Message was for me. I am thankful I got to hear him preach one more time.
Just a thought! God Bless!

Father's Hands

Father’s hands, so rough and scarred,
Father’s hands, so strong and bold,
They fix, they work, they are there to hold.

Blunted fingers, callused palms,
Weathered, cracked, broken nails
Missing fingers, life’s story it tells.

Rough but gentle, hard yet soft,
Familiar with a hammer, accustomed to a saw,
Used in correction, extended in love.

Hands holding a Bible, God’s Holy Word,
Hands that were familiar with the pages,
A friend, a comfort, a confident through the ages.

Father’s hands, so strong and caring
Father’s hands, treating all alike,
Helping the old with a window, the young with a bike.

Father’s hands, so much like him,
They tell who he is and how he lived.
With them, to so many, he loved to give.

They are a picture of those hands,
Nail scarred, battered, splintered and bruised,
Hands of your heavenly Father, extended to you.
　
By Don Doran

In Memory of my father David L. Doran 1930-1999