Love is a mighty-purifier of mortal man.”
–Ernest Haycox (Whispering Range)
“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”
–James 4:8 (NLT)
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This is a very important date in my history. If not for this date, and the event that occurred I would not be here today. Today is the birthday of my Grandpa.
Robert James Adkisson
January 31, 1902
April 28, 1983
Grandpa was born to Elijah Elias Adkisson and Ruth Amanda Coulter Adkisson in Rhea County, Tennessee. At a young age they moved to the Fort Smith area of Arkansas and eventually to the coal-mining community of Williams, Oklahoma.
He worked in the coal mines for around thirty years in Oklahoma and Colorado. By the time I came along he was working at the Boulder Brickyards and eventually retired as a night watchman for Western Cutlery. The family moved from Oklahoma because the mines were closing down and arrived in the Waunita Hot Springs area of Colorado. For a short season Grandpa was a lumberjack before finding a job in the mines in Boulder County. The family lived in the coal community at Superior, did their shopping at the company store and lived in company housing. I’m not sure if they lived in the coal community in Oklahoma or not. He quit the mines right after a deadly accident at the Vulcan Mine. Grandpa didn’t work at that mine, but mine accidents were a worry to him. His brother, William, was killed in a mine accident in Oklahoma.
Most of the people in Boulder called him “Bob,” but to me he was just Grandpa. He took me every year to the Boulder Rodeo, to Denver Bears baseball games (Dad usually came to those), and fishing. Grandpa was a fisherman. He would fish whenever the opportunity presented it. One thing though, Grandpa would never fish on Sunday.
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Ponder This: I was going back through my devotions from last year and came across these notes I wrote down from A. W. Tozer. The title of his article was, “Christians Are So Well-Fixed, Heaven No Longer Beckons.” He said that Christians live too much in the “present now” and that the anticipation of heaven “has almost died out.” We don’t need tomorrow’s heaven; we don’t need hope for we have everything now. There are a couple of powerful statements he made that should be heavily pondered.
“The true Christian is one who is sick of this world.”
“All of the Christians I meet who are amounting to anything for God are Christians who are very much out of key with their age–very, very much out of tune with their generation.”
Tozer continues and brings forth the concept that this is a “wicked and adulterous generation.” The times are evil and if we, Christians, are in touch with the world we are definitely out of touch with the Lord. Maybe it is unbelief that keeps us tied down and why entertainment is sought in churches. One of my pet peeves (#39) is turning the lights down to make it darker in church, especially during the “worship” service. We are to be children of light, we are to be light unto the world, and we darken the church? Hmmm, something is wrong here.
However, I close moving away from my thoughts to some words in which we should rejoice. Tozer writes that we should “soar as high as you can with your Christian hope…”