Back at the Podium

9 years have passed now since my grandma Beatrice “Lorene” Perkins left this earth. 3/11/2015.

My grandma played a big role in my first 26 years on this earth. She was my Sunday School teacher growing up. I remember memorizing all 66 books of the Bible in order when I was probably 9 or 10 years old in the living room of her home off Strawberry Lane in the southend of Louisville.

Around that time, although my memory is a bit fuzzy, but she also played a big role in me coming to Christ. I would spend the night at her home quite a bit. One of those times, I believe it was Spring Break of 1997 or 1998, our church was having an old-school ‘revival’, a nightly service for a week straight.

The week before, I would write out questions on a small notepad, hand them to her, and she would write the answer and hand the notebook back to me. I can’t recall exactly what my questions were, but they certainly pertained to the gospel, sin, judgment, and salvation.

The first night of the revival, I didn’t go forward but the second night, I did, laying my sins at the foot of the cross and was baptized shortly thereafter.

My grandma played a big role in that; from teaching our Sunday school class when I was a young boy to answering my questions about salvation, to remaining a consistent presence in my life until age 26.

For the last almost 5 years, from 2010-2015, she would invite me over to speak once a month at the senior home where she lived. It’s where I cut my teeth and learned to preach 30-40 minute sermons.

Almost 9 years later, I got another opporunity to return to the podium, so to speak, in speaking at our church’s men’s group “Bridged” Fellowship.

It was a great opportunity presented to me by Mike Bellucci and I’m grateful for it. The topic was “rejecting loneliness, pursuing community” and the focus was pushing back against isolation by pursuing doing life together.

I chose this topic because that’s something I wrestle with. I think it’s more difficult once you are married with a family. Your identity becomes wrapped up in providing for the family and a schedule revolving around the child mostly.

As men, we can get wrapped up in our work or in family events and not have any estalished friendships outside of that. We can be in survival mode or in idol mode when it comes to our work; we can become workaholics at the expense of our family or we can become so engrossed in family activity that we are blind to the needs around us.

We can put so much pressure on our spouse to be our savior or have so much of our identity as a parent wrapped up in the success or failure of our children that we neglect, first, the Lord Jesus, and two, other available friendships within the Church.

The focus is that we are not to journey through life alone, which can be easier said than done. Because friendships can sometimes prove messy and inconvenient. But if we’re not loving others, investing time and energy toward others, than how can we truly call ourselves disciples (followers) of the Lord Jesus? In short, we can’t.

If we are in survival mode or in idol mode, however we try to dismiss it…If we are not putting ourselves around others and making space for others in our lives, then there’s no way we’re going to grow towards Christ.

In closing, it was a great opportunity to get back at the podium after 8 years away. The influence of my grandma continues to live on. May I pass that same influence on to my son and to others.