By Roland Wrinkle

I like Paul Revere ‘cause he saved us from people with funny accents and bad food
I like Paul Gauguin ‘cause his paintings enthralled with a tropical mood.
I like Paul Robeson ‘cause his voice could lift an eagle.
I like Paul McCartney ‘cause he was once a beetle.
I like Paul Getty ‘cause he had lots of money and lived so lavishly.
I like Paul Newman ‘cause he was the Sundance Kid’s Butch Cassidy.
I like Paul Blart ‘cause he was a really, really good Mall Cop.
I liked Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg –that is, until his blimp dropped.

But none of these Pauls are the two Pauls I’m talking about. No siree! I’m talk’n ‘bout my two good friends, Paul Aijian and Paul (actually I don’t know his last name but it was something like “Theapostle”). Perhaps I stretched it a little with the former Saul of Tarsus but definitely not with Paul of Santa Clarita—he was a really good friend of mine. So, here’s just a few of the things I learned from each of them:

ON CHILDREN
THE APOSTLE: And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
THE PASTOR: We cannot grow up loving unless we have love poured all over us and we are a washed in love—even from the womb…. We think our children are our own, but they’re not. They belong to God. He just uses us…. We need to sit our children down and tell them about the infinite possibilities God has inside of them…. If you live long enough you get to bask in the reputation of your children.

ON FAITH
THE APOSTLE: Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
THE PASTOR: Faith (ideas in our heads) is not about doctrine. Faith is what we do—faithing. Faith is about connections, connections with other people.

ON GOD’S LOVE
THE APOSTLE: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. THE PASTOR: God loves you so much that, if you give it half a chance and get yourself out of the way, man, you will have wings to take you off the planet.

ON WHAT GOD LOOKS LIKE
THE APOSTLE: God… made all nations to inhabit the whole earth…so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
THE PASTOR: You ask me what God looks like. He looks like my father.

ON HUMAN BROKENNESS
THE APOSTLE: For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
THE PASTOR: Each of us needs something to speak to our brokenness—something that touches the pain that we have spent most of our lives running away from. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if when we walked out of church, instead of saying “How are ya?” we could say, because we trust each other, we could say to each other, “I’m hurting. Can I talk to you about it.” “Can you hold my hand and tell me it’s going to be OK because this Jesus is nearby.” I stand before you in my 88th year to tell you that there is nothing in heaven or hell or any of the created order that can separate us from the love of God. [OK, he got that last one from the other Paul]

ON TRUSTING GOD
THE APOSTLE: For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Dr. Paul Aijian 1917-2015 Paul the Apostle c. 5-65 AD
THE PASTOR: Children leave home and spouses get old and we die and we leave dear ones. There’s only one hand that never lets us go. Please dear ones, this may be the last sermon I ever get a chance to preach and I am determined to let you know what I believe from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes: Let the love of God that will never let you go hold you close so that you will never need to be scared of the dark again. God bless you dear ones and have a wonderful, wonderful Christ-filled life of love.

ME: Amen!