Stan Bell RIP

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    Despite the best efforts of VMTC to exorcise demons from some memories, I've still got a few bad ones.

    I'll never forget Grandma Thelma saying this after I hid a pack of her smokes in a vase, uh, filled with water in 8th grade, "You'll never amount to anything in your life."

    I really loved her; but that kinda bothered me when I hurt my arm and pitching for the Yankees was out.

    Moretheless, I've spent a lot of my life living down to her expectations.

    Then there was the bishop who said, "You may not regret it now; but someday..."

    Geez.

    It's true.

    While I've tried to confess and repent and reconcile in a way that would cause Luther's confessor to think he was a piker over the past 13 years for sins in the preceding..., the psalmist was on to something in 120:6-7.

    And as someone who, I confess, still loves the PCUSA and America in a nostalgic kinda way and has rededicated emotions/energies/intercessions to their revival/renewal/regeneration/rebirth - I'm as double-minded as anyone on what's really needed despite knowing Who's needed - I'm really, really, really haunted by Billy's wife's conclusion of years ago, "If God doesn't bring judgment on America soon, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."

    Help us, Jesus!

    Literally.

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    KDers know I'm not voting for the incumbent or insurgent in November because I can't bring myself to vote for the lesser of two evils (go to the right column and click on "Voting for the Lesser of...").

    I can't vote for a Joey Smith fan who can't relate to...

    I can't vote for a secularist who can't relate to...

    About the former, I can't vote for someone on the hunch that he may be a Mormon about as much as too many pewsitters/pulpiteers in mainline denominations are Christians as personified in Jesus and prescribed in Holy Scripture.

    About the latter, I can't vote for someone on the hunch that he means well and doesn't know what he's doing.

    I wouldn't have been much help to the allies in WW2 'cause I would have fought against Hitler and Stalin; knowing the lesser of two evils is/remains evil.

    Yeah, Billy's wife's conclusion keeps ringing in my...

    And did you catch the incumbent's, uh, confession/commitment to outgoing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that he was looking forward to after the November election so he'd have more flexibility in negotiating our missile defense capabilities?

    Say what?

    To the text.

    BBPBHO: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it's important for him...[viz., Putin the KGB guy]...to give me space."

    Dmitri: "Yeah, I understand.  I understand your message about space.  Space for you..."

    BBPBHO: "This is my last election.  After my election, I have more flexibility."

    Dmitri: "I understand.  I will transmit this information to Vladimir...[Putin]."

    Say what?

    Well, I guess we're in Lent when we recall other betrayals.

    Unreal.

    Not, uh, really.

    Consistent.

    Posing.

    You know what I mean; and if you don't, you've come under his spell just like...

    Help us, Jesus!

    Literally.

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    Stan Bell just went home to Jesus.

    I got the call last night.

    He was related to Billy's wife's family.

    We often quoted together what I quoted from her above.

    He loved Jesus; and told me that/He wouldn't allow him to vote for the incumbent or insurgent.

    Stan was a very simple man who loved Jesus and prayed/tried to love like Him to prove His love for Him.

    Because he wasn't your typical "Young Life" or "Willow Creek" or "Heartland" kinda youth director if you know what I mean and you know what I mean if you knew him, I had to convince three search committees to let him work avec moi.

    None of 'em regretted it; because his unyieldingly consistently passionate practice as a youth professional was to esteem Jesus and the eternal as well as existential significance of knowing Him as personal Lord and Savior.

    Some of his seminary classmates and some of my peers viewed him as Grandma Thelma viewed me; but he shocked 'em all by leading more young and old people to Jesus than most mainline pulpiteers and pewsitters that I've ever known.

    Except for my home pastor The Rev. Harold F. Mante, Stan was without peer when it came to never fudging on Christocentric faith rooted in Biblical revelation and forgiving everyone who had ever hurt him because he just believed that's a big part of authentic Christianity.

    My only regret is not insisting some of my peers spend time with him.

    He could have cured their as he tried to cure my posing Christianity.

    He could have been His best antidote for the Sodom and Gomorrah in...

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    Stan and I shared the same love for Jesus.

    He practiced it/Him better than me.

    We also shared a favorite song.

    Listen.

    Listen.

    Thank you, Jesus, for helping Stan so he can now intercede for us in a heavenly way.

    Literally.

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Blessings and Love!