March 2026 – Jerry Lout ⚬ Writer ⚬ Speaker ⚬ Mobilizer

March 26, 2026

Wings Of Assurance

The “training wheels” metaphor often serves well in life. No one gains much headway in growth skills apart from the element of training.

Equipping. Tutoring. Apprenticing. All are treasured words in the training enterprise.

Without guidance and up-close assistance in our learning process start accumulating a nasty assortment of bumps and scratches and bruises. Like many-a-kid who excitedly took up bike-riding for the first time. Plunging in with an eager self-confidence – but all alone. Left to ourselves, things seldom end well.

When a believer sets out to grow in their earnest hope of taking on the character and likeness of Jesus Christ, a simple adjustment in approach can make a telling difference. Assurance finds wings. Confidence in the Christ’s “with-ness” replaces feelings of being stranded without fuel or compass. And, God’s very engagement with us lessens the prospects of our getting ambushed by the fear of failure or of succumbing to the boredom of a purposeless existence.

In a pilgrimage that is shared among people marked by a growing love for one another, words like boredom and drudgery simply drop away. In their place come robust terms like adventurous. . . invigorating.

Receiving heaven’s grace that transports a Christ-follower more fully into “life in the kingdom”, means that something called partnering practices are summoned. Engaging the practices is anything but cumbersome.

“Whither Thou Goest” is a lyric my brother sang at my wedding. The years that followed saw my bride trekking with me from her Montana home, on then to Texas. After that, New York and Africa and places beyond. Our wedding vows held substance for Ann and me.

New (and routinely renewed) union in Christ bears similar features. Unrelenting love is marked by choice. It is orienting one’s life each day to keep walking in step with the beloved.

Growth in grace (God acting in our life), explains Dallas Willard, “is something we must plan for by regular engagement in activities that enable us to receive God’s grace in all areas (of our lives)”. Professor Willard’s statement brings clarity to what is fundamentally called for in the life of a Christian convert. And, all through the remainder of the disciple’s life.

In truth, a lifelong journey of deepening companionship with Jesus is the thing a disciple longs for. It is what they are fashioned to live into. Nothing less will sustain a person on the long path of flourishing to which we are called in the faith pilgrimage.

March 19, 2026

Training Wheels

“A happy marriage is built on love, trust, and the ability to pretend you didn’t hear that last comment.”

A quip from an esteemed Indian author* can lighten the mood when considering the challenging union called married life.

The training process factors into much of the arenas of life.

Once our “I dos” and “I wills” were offered and the rings assigned their respective homes on appropriate fingers, my eighteen-year-old bride and I were off to the church fellowship hall.

It was in this warm, festive environment that I gained my first appreciation for smiles in their affects on facial muscles. From the nonstop smiling. . . toward photographer and camera – toward well-wishers – toward happy gift-givers as we opened yet another brightly-wrapped present. Hours passed before my face returned to its natural, “unfrozen” posture.

Good and Long marriages are characterized by just that. Long. Ann and I would learn that we had embarked upon a lengthy journey marked by pleasure and pain, conflict and harmony.

Long celebrations –long excursions (Montana, Texas, Africa, etc.) – long conversations (some marked with tension). One fellow presumably confided, “Me and my lady, we have never argued; we have, however, had some loud discussions”.

Days and weeks and years of learning. Whether married or single, a person discovers that life itself becomes it own trainer.

As a grateful spouse in these sunset years, I count myself still a novice in becoming the “ideal groom” to the bride from my youth. God has honed and formed and grown us both through our years together – all the way up till now – training wheels yet in place.

March 12, 2026March 11, 2026

Milestone Thresholds

*note. The entry posted is copied from a column in The Okmulgee Times, December, 2025.

While the 52nd week of another season fades in the rear-view mirror of our marathon lives, my own week features an added, and quite special, milestone. . .

Penning this column two days ahead of the Times launching her inaugural 2026 publication, I ‘today’ (Dec 30^th) am reflecting on the fifty eight years of married living with Alice Ann Lout. My Montana bride.

What a memorable moment that chilly late-December evening of 1967. My (preacher) father-in-law administered the vows – his declaration of days earlier fresh in my ears, “Once I tie the knot it, it’s tied!.

A biting north wind had swept into Okmulgee and along her North Oklahoma Street where the modest church facility was hosting our matrimonial union. The wintry blast brought with it intermittent sheets of icy rainfall – Brrr.

The parsonage – home of the host pastor – lay beyond the church parking lot. The wedding photographer, a resourceful and energetic personality, ventured a suggestion: “How about we get a shot of the groom carrying his bride across the threshold!”

That image – me in my spiffy J.C. Pennys suit, bearing my breathtaking beauty up to an open doorway and through the entryway – ranks, in my books, as a photography masterpiece. And, the teasing calls of, “don’t drop her!”, echo till this day.

Thresholds. Yes, they are a thing.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Happy Anniversary, darlin’!

March 5, 2026March 4, 2026

Senior Access

Rocket science isn’t required for this brand of boot camp. Nor is youthful age! A quiet army of apprentices to Jesus (millions of ordinary people dotting our planet) enter their mornings in quiet resolve. Taking up practices that, bit by bit, lead to character change, they find that a deepening joy ensues.

These people are not hero saints. They do, nevertheless, strive to keep a clear goal in mind. . . to grow to be like their Lord. Taking in an ancient prayer (portions of which may provoke a smile) helps underscore the wisdom of ‘training’ even into the sunset years.

Growing Older
Lord, You know better than I myself
that I am growing older and will someday be old.
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking
I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to
straighten out everybody’s affairs.

Make me thoughtful but not moody;
helpful but not bossy.
With my vast store of wisdom,
it seems a pity not to use it all;
but You know, Lord,
that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;
give me wings to get to the point.
Seal my lips on my aches and pains;
they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them
is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

I dare not ask for improved memory,
but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness
when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet, for a sour old person
is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places
and talents in unexpected people;
and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so. Amen.

The prayer (snippets of which might provoke a smile) was penned by a Carmelite nun of the 16th century.* New habits can replace old ones bringing a person to noticeable transformation.

Change into Christlikeness beautifully grows when habits that were found in the routine life of Jesus become the disciple’s aim and practice. Entered into in prayer and reliance upon the Holy Spirit.

An occasional trip down Self-inventory Lane is recommended.

Do I often measure myself as the brightest bulb in the room? Do I have an inflated sense of self-importance? Am I given to talking too long and too much? Am I stingy with compliments? Do others possibly view me as the whiner, the grump?

Are there things about yourself – attitudes, behaviors, moods – that could do with some renovation? If your list – like mine – is long, don’t despair. Habits are replaceable. And, the Spirit is present to generously lend aid.