Merle Watson, Lessons from a Life that seemed too short

I went to Merlefest this weekend with a friend of mine, and let me tell ya, it was a tremendously awesome foot-tappin time! Banjos and Mandolins were everywhere. It was a festival in the bustling metropolis of Wilkesboro, NC. Great town, you should go there sometime. Beautiful area. Before we got there we stopped by another youth pastor friend of mine, Sterling Griggs' house, to have some wonderful five sided coffee. Order a pound or two, you'll be amazed at the blends created at this company.

We headed up to Wilkesboro, and we were handed a guide to the festival. As I was reading the event program guide, I was unfamiliar with the story behind Merlefest. It was put on in honor of Doc Watson's son, Merle. You can read about it here. One thing about his story struck me. Before his tragic death, he asked for help from several neighbors, all of whom knew him very well. They did not answer the door to help him. Why? The answer was not clear in the program guide. There's many layers to that onion I'm sure. But the tribute of the festival was not in the tragedy, but in the celebration of a life well lived.

But it still struck me. Why didn't they help? More importantly, are there people that we turn away that need our help? Desperately?

Our church just got through with something called "Operation Inasmuch." It was a statewide event, where churches across the state participated one Saturday, and made a difference in their communities showing acts of love in Christ's name. Some built, some prayed, some visited. Pretty awesome. Many opened their doors to the needs around them.

Maybe there's a Merle out there somewhere, waiting for us to respond. Will our door be shut? I pray not this time. Check out my friend's blog, he 's the one that went with me.

The Pulse of The Vine

What is something that grows without life? Something dead, hard, rigid and never changing it's basic starting shape--a crystal. Sure it grows, but there's no life there. It's not pliable, just breaks off with a hard enough push. There are those that have a life that's been given to them, yet their lives are just that, given, but not used. They're just....the walking dead. Their lives are seemingly purposeful, but helplessly self-focused. What can break the cycle of the same old same old? Being grafted into something alive. That which was dead, can become alive. Not the crystal. No the analogy breaks down. But for those who want life, a transformation is available to them that respond in faith to the pulsating life given by the Vine. But the work has to be "grafted". Without the graft, no growth occurs.


Get it? Without the pulsating life blood of Christ, we can do no good thing. We can live no purposeful life. Christ provides that purpose. He provides that focus of obedience. It is the constant reliance on Christ, his power through us, to live in and with and through and by, that is the same love that he gave us on the Cross!

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Abiding pt. 2

Interesting what one can come up with in a day. The word "Abide" kept popping up today. In my readings, on the web, in conversations wtih others. i am so drawn to this word and it's meaning and what Jesus meant by it to his disciples and to us, he writes:

2 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, [1] for the servant [2] does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Christ gave his life for us. This is how he calls us to love each other. To give our lives for our friends. To be willing to identify in the sacrifice Christ gave us. Abide in my love, Jesus said. He also says that our fruit--the obvious results of an abiding life, should also abide. Ever had fruit that didn't abide? Frut that didn't pass spirutual muster? Perhaps it was works done with an impure motive. Above all, Christ calls the believer to an abiding lifestyle. Day in, day out, we must stay attached to the source of life. Abide.