Living – The Doug Ellingsworth Blog

Move Over Twitter!

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on January 28, 2021

When I was a boy way back in the latter half of the 1960’s, folks got their local news by reading their hometown newspaper. Your favorite AM radio station would keep you informed with major news headlines at the top of the hour, but if you really wanted to know what was going on in the country and around the world, you’d have to catch the nightly ten o’clock news on your black and white TV on ABC, NBC, or CBS. Other than the weekly and monthly magazines you could subscribe to or read at the public library, that was pretty much it.

When I peddled the Holdenville Daily News five days a week through the eight blocks of my hometown’s downtown for twenty cents per copy, half of which I got to keep, I figured there’d always be a need for boys to deliver the news to the inquiring crowds.

Was I ever wrong.

Insights/Living

My 2020 Story

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on November 7, 2020

I’ve not seen a vision nor had a dream, and I haven’t heard a voice from heaven giving me special insight into COVID-19 or any other 2020 surprise looming in our future. But I do have a story. My story revolves around a couple of sermons I thought were intended for a few men in Alaska. Later, I realized they were for me and our church. Early this morning, I felt to share them with whomever would stumble across this blog. They are just sermons. No flashy imagery or thundering voices to describe, and the content may or may not seem significant to you. I’ll just share my story.

In September 2019, a good friend, Pastor Lorin Bradbury, invited me to speak at a men’s conference in Alaska. I enjoy these kind of events, so I immediately began thinking and praying and studying about what I’d say in the sessions I’d lead. The conference was schedule for the last week in March 2020, so I had lots of time to prepare.

Toward the end of December, things began to come together. I was drawn to the events surrounding Jesus and His closest disciples just before He was betrayed, tried, and crucified as described in John’s gospel. The verse that first caught my attention was the fourth one in chapter sixteen. Jesus had spent hours explaining things to the Twelve, and in this verse, we get a strong hint that the world as they knew it was about to change. Jesus said, “But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Living

On Death And Dying

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on May 9, 2020

Listening to the talking heads tell us that we should never shake hands again, that the government needs to track those of us who have a fever, that churches should be closed indefinitely, and that the whole world needs to get vaccinated so Bill Gates can move on to his next project is giving me a headache. But their prattling has jarred loose a few thoughts in my frazzled brain. Here’s one of them.

Don’t be stupid with death.

You can’t cheat it by being irresponsible and outrageous.

You can’t avoid it by moving to a log cabin in Montana and ordering your food and toilet paper from Amazon.

Family/Living

Let’s Not Talk About This…

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on April 14, 2020

During this coronavirus pandemic, let’s talk about washing our hands and not touching our faces. Let’s talk about toilet paper and face masks and latex gloves. Let’s talk about who’s essential and who’s not.

Let’s watch experts lecture us about social distancing while they’re packed shoulder to shoulder in front of the tv cameras. Let’s watch endless press conferences where the same experts contradict what they said last month.

Let’s debate infection projections and recovery rates. Let’s debate pharmaceutical effectiveness and ventilator pressure. Let’s debate to-go liquor sales and drive-in churches.

But there are a few things that nobody wants to talk about. Bring up one of those subjects and the room gets awfully quiet, and folks start looking for that carry-out liquor. Since I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, I won’t say anything. But I will take a moment or two and write about a couple of them.

Family/Living

How Can A Loving God….

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on January 24, 2019

I can’t count the times that I’ve looked into the hurting, haunting eyes of a grieving friend asking that question. How could a loving God allow my baby to die? How could a loving God allow my child to get cancer? How could a loving God let my daddy feel so alone that he would take his own life?

Most of the time, about all I can do is silently share their pain because, while I have a few ideas I’ve gleaned from reading the Bible, I sometimes have a hard time understanding that, myself. Who can grasp why life deals so harshly with some of its kindest creatures? Who can speak for God? I try to help everyone as much as I can, but I’m fully aware that my presence is my greatest gift to them because I do not know the mind of God and cannot explain all that He does or allows.

But today, not being able to fully understand or explain God doesn’t trouble me as much as it did yesterday — because today I realize that I can’t even understand what people do.

Family/Living

Christmas Traditions And Family Mantles

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on January 2, 2019

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my wife’s father passed away a few months ago. This past Christmas was the family’s first one without him. He was not just a gentle old fellow who sat and observed life from the sidelines, but he was a strong and vocal spiritual leader who made sure his children and their children knew the right way to live.

Several years ago, he started a family worship service that began an hour or so after Christmas dinner. Sofas and tables were pushed against the walls, and folding chairs were set in the middle of the room. Grandpa Carl would open the service, then some of the grandkids would lead the family in a few worship songs. Next, Grandpa would asked who wanted prayer. The family would gather around and pray for each other. Finally, one of the men that Grandpa chose would end the service with a message.

Now, Grandpa and Grandma had eight children. All of them are married now and have grandchildren of their own, so there can easily be a congregation of one hundred gathered for these family worship times. Christmas 2018, about 80 folks crowded into Uncle Lynn’s and Aunt Debbie’s living room for the first Christmas service without Grandpa Carl. You can see the crowd gathering in the picture above.

Leadership/Living

Christian Essentials, Part One

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on March 7, 2017

Why does the faith of so many Christians waver? Why does their commitment run hot and cold?

A little of the blame rests on us preachers. For the past thirty years, we have feverishly responded to every person’s criticism of the church. Every time someone said they thought we were ugly, we smeared on more eye shadow hoping that would make them like us.

People said they didn’t like coming to churches that looked like churches so we built buildings that look like hotel lobbies attached to warehouses.

They said our sermons were too demanding and the preacher sounded angry, so we got rid of the pulpit and bought a three-legged stool and an iPad so we could just sit and talk about relevant stuff on Sundays.

Leadership/Living

Don’t Forget Who You Are

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on February 2, 2017

The whole world sings the praises of Martin Luther King. This man, with dignity and poise, changed the face of America. His actions forced radical changes within our country, and did more for the fair treatment and honoring the civil rights of all Americans than just about any other individual.

If you want to force change, wouldn’t it make sense to follow his pattern? Especially if you are going to allude to his memory?

But, no. All these recent protestors, many who want to align their cause with his, don’t come close to protesting like he did.

Martin Luther King clearly articulated his cause. His passionate speeches ignited fires in the hearts of anyone who would listen. The only fires today’s protesters can ignite is when they are burning down somebody else’s car or business.

Living

The More Things Change, The More They Don’t

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on November 30, 2016

12642811_1714813228805890_2769386515659496840_n When Hillary Clinton conceded to Donald Trump, the collective sigh of relief from conservatives blew a wind of hope all across our nation. Not because so many of us feel that Mr. Trump is the last great hope for America, but because we believe that re-electing the radical liberal machine would have been the last nail in its coffin.

I must admit that this election took me by surprise. I fully expected the Democrat Express, fueled by propagandists posing as journalists, to glide into the station ahead of the Trump Train, loaded with all the baggage those same media elites kept piling on it.

Living

The Language Of Losers

by Doug Ellingsworth @https://twitter.com/DEllingsworth on September 27, 2016

Words mean things. Words affect us.

While we never notice the process, our brains filter every word that we speak or hear, and adjusts our mind to comply with what it’s being told. If your brain hears “you dummy!” often enough, it assumes that it’s true, so it lowers your internal expectations to that level. And when you mess up, your mind scolds you for even thinking that you could get it right in the first place. You are a dummy, remember? And dummies always mess things up.

If you are one of those who mock that concept by saying something cute like “I’m gonna think myself seven feet tall and good looking,” then carry on. I won’t waste time trying to convince you.

But what we hear does influence us — especially if those words are spoken by someone important to us.

Category: Living