O.K. I know if you were in our Sunday school class last Sunday you have already heard most of this. But it impressed me and I want to write about it.
We discussed the story of Saul and the witch at Endor from I Samuel chapter 28. You probably already know the story but if you don't then grab your copy of the Word and read it. I won't take up your time trying to tell the story to you.
One of the points that the lesson writer made and Robert brought out so clearly is the fact that Saul had made a proclamation that all those who were witches and fortune tellers, etc were to be destroyed. Get them out of the country and don't let them practice their false trade. That sounds pretty wise of Saul. That sounds like a king who is doing what's best for his people. But when Saul got in a bind, when he could not call on Samuel or any of the other prophets, he turned to the very thing that he had stood against. He sought out a witch and depended on her wisdom.
We point accusing fingers at Saul. He was not being a good leader. He was doing the right thing but for the wrong reason. He was doing the thing that seemed popular. He was doing the things that people thought were right but he was not doing them because he believed in them.
And just about the time I started to get really down on Saul, I was reminded of a time in my life when I did the same thing. I had served God since early childhood. Through elementary school, and into high school and even through my time in the military. I had taught for Him and sang for Him and even preached for Him. If you would have looked at my life you would have said, "Good ole Bill, he sure is doing the right things". But I was doing them for the wrong reasons.
I came to a place in my life where I said to myself, " I've done what my Mom and Dad have wanted, I've done what my family has wanted, I've done what my church has wanted and sometimes I have done what God has wanted. But I'm tired of doing what everyone else wants, I want to do what I want". And so I did.
I told God to leave me alone and let me do my own thing. I had been doing all the right things but for all the wrong reasons.
I'm so glad for the mercy of God. I'm so glad that He didn't let me go as far as Saul went. Saul died on a lonely battlefield by his own hand. I could have gone that far but God's grace was poured out on me. I've told you before but can I tell you once more?
I was on the side of a hill down at Higgins Ferry Park. I was clearing brush. I lived there and worked there. As far away from people as I could get. As far away from God as I could get. My Dad had always taught me to fix the things I had broken and messed up. But as I worked out there on that hillside that morning I knew and acknowledged to Him that I couldn't fix the mess I had made.
Because of my sin I had lost my wife, my family, my job, my teens and my church....and worst of all my relationship with my God. "I can't fix it Lord, I just can't make it right or fix it" I cried out.
There were no angles singing, no thunder from heaven. There was no whirlwind, rushing mighty waters or lightening bolts. But as sure as I live and breath the sweet, kind and merciful Jesus spoke to my heart and said, "You don't have to fix it, I fixed it 2000 years ago on an old rugged cross. Follow me".
Can I tell you it touches me just as much right now as I sit in front of this computer as it did that morning. I started following Him and over the years He has given me back, family, friends, church, children and my relationship with Him.
My prayer is that the things that I do, and "the things that happen unto me will fall out to the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ". I want to do the right things for the right reasons.
Don't get caught in the trap. Satan will be more than happy to let you run on and do good stuff as long as you do it from a sinful heart or a heart that is selfish. But he will shake in his boots when our heart is forgiven and clean and we work for the glory of God.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
WHEN JESUS PLAYED A REALLY MEAN TRICK
You've heard the story. You've read the story. You could probably tell the story. But have you ever noticed what a really mean trick Jesus played on the poor woman?
Let me cut this up into some little pieces so you can chew on them. Go to the last part of the 7th chapter of John and let's ease through it together.
John 7 ends by telling us that after the men of Jerusalem, the officers and Pharisees had completed a very heated discussion regarding this Jesus guy, that "every man went to his own house" or went home. But chapter 8 beings by saying "Jesus went to the mount of Olives". It just kind of struck me that when everyone else had a house to go to Jesus instead went back to His favorite place. He went to the little hill on the East side of Jerusalem and spent the night there. He alluded to that fact at another place in scripture. Remember in Matthew 8:20 when He said, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nest; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head"
Verse 2 tells us that "early in the morning". I like the fact that Jesus didn't lay around and sleep till noon don't you? Oh, I don't think there is anything wrong with sleeping in from time to time. The older I get the more I realize that I look forward to going to bed more than I do getting up. It didn't use to be that way.
"Jesus came again unto the temple". He had been there before. It was a common place for Him to visit. Let me say the church house shouldn't be a place that we just visit on holidays or special occasions. You should be familiar with the house of God.
So while Jesus was there at the temple teaching, the big shots of the church brought a woman who had been caught committing the act of adultery. The law of Moses said that she could be stoned for this. Even thought the scribes and Pharisees didn't have on one of those WWJD bracelets, they all wondered "what would Jesus do".
If Jesus was anything He was "cool". He stooped down, He doodled in the dirt, and acted like He didn't hear them. There have been many discussions as to what Jesus was writing in the Jerusalem dirt that morning. I have no idea. He may have begin listing the names of those in the group who had also sinned. (No doubt a lengthy list). He may have written times and dates where those scribes and Pharisees had failed. He may have just doodled.
After being pressed to answer their question Jesus finally stood up and said "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her". He stooped back down and continued His scribbling.
You know how the story goes. You've no doubt heard the rocks falling or dropped a few rocks yourself. They all turned away and left Jesus there alone with the woman.
"Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee"? She said, "No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more".
Did you catch that? What a mean trick to play on a woman. She had already been caught doing the dirty dance with someone. She had already been publicly embarrassed. She had already been very close to being killed. And now Jesus plays this trick on her.
What trick? Jesus forgave her! There is no trick to forgiveness! Oh, but there must be. Jesus said, "GO AND SIN NO MORE". Obviously He had never heard that one must sin every day. Obviously He didn't understand the excuse that "we are only human and can't live a sinless life". What a nasty trick. To forgive a woman and then tell her to do something that she could not do.
You know Jesus is not that way don't you? You know Jesus would not tell us to do something that He does not give us the ability and help and strength to do. If Jesus told that woman there in the street that day to "go and sin no more", do you think it's His intent for you and I to "continue in sin"? The God who hates sin in the sinner must despise it a thousand times more when He sees it in the life of those who call themselves by His name.
Sinning Christians have done more harm to the cause of Christ than all the bootleggers and and prostitutes in the county. When He saved us He saved us to sin no more. It's not a trick. He promised that if we "confess our sins that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness".
Additionally, He promised us that "If we being sinners know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him".
I believe with all my heart dear reader that God came to same us from our sins. He came to free us from the guilt of sin and from the chains of sin. He meant what He said. He didn't play any tricks on us. It is possible and it is expected of us to "go and sin no more".
Let me cut this up into some little pieces so you can chew on them. Go to the last part of the 7th chapter of John and let's ease through it together.
John 7 ends by telling us that after the men of Jerusalem, the officers and Pharisees had completed a very heated discussion regarding this Jesus guy, that "every man went to his own house" or went home. But chapter 8 beings by saying "Jesus went to the mount of Olives". It just kind of struck me that when everyone else had a house to go to Jesus instead went back to His favorite place. He went to the little hill on the East side of Jerusalem and spent the night there. He alluded to that fact at another place in scripture. Remember in Matthew 8:20 when He said, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nest; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head"
Verse 2 tells us that "early in the morning". I like the fact that Jesus didn't lay around and sleep till noon don't you? Oh, I don't think there is anything wrong with sleeping in from time to time. The older I get the more I realize that I look forward to going to bed more than I do getting up. It didn't use to be that way.
"Jesus came again unto the temple". He had been there before. It was a common place for Him to visit. Let me say the church house shouldn't be a place that we just visit on holidays or special occasions. You should be familiar with the house of God.
So while Jesus was there at the temple teaching, the big shots of the church brought a woman who had been caught committing the act of adultery. The law of Moses said that she could be stoned for this. Even thought the scribes and Pharisees didn't have on one of those WWJD bracelets, they all wondered "what would Jesus do".
If Jesus was anything He was "cool". He stooped down, He doodled in the dirt, and acted like He didn't hear them. There have been many discussions as to what Jesus was writing in the Jerusalem dirt that morning. I have no idea. He may have begin listing the names of those in the group who had also sinned. (No doubt a lengthy list). He may have written times and dates where those scribes and Pharisees had failed. He may have just doodled.
After being pressed to answer their question Jesus finally stood up and said "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her". He stooped back down and continued His scribbling.
You know how the story goes. You've no doubt heard the rocks falling or dropped a few rocks yourself. They all turned away and left Jesus there alone with the woman.
"Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee"? She said, "No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more".
Did you catch that? What a mean trick to play on a woman. She had already been caught doing the dirty dance with someone. She had already been publicly embarrassed. She had already been very close to being killed. And now Jesus plays this trick on her.
What trick? Jesus forgave her! There is no trick to forgiveness! Oh, but there must be. Jesus said, "GO AND SIN NO MORE". Obviously He had never heard that one must sin every day. Obviously He didn't understand the excuse that "we are only human and can't live a sinless life". What a nasty trick. To forgive a woman and then tell her to do something that she could not do.
You know Jesus is not that way don't you? You know Jesus would not tell us to do something that He does not give us the ability and help and strength to do. If Jesus told that woman there in the street that day to "go and sin no more", do you think it's His intent for you and I to "continue in sin"? The God who hates sin in the sinner must despise it a thousand times more when He sees it in the life of those who call themselves by His name.
Sinning Christians have done more harm to the cause of Christ than all the bootleggers and and prostitutes in the county. When He saved us He saved us to sin no more. It's not a trick. He promised that if we "confess our sins that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness".
Additionally, He promised us that "If we being sinners know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him".
I believe with all my heart dear reader that God came to same us from our sins. He came to free us from the guilt of sin and from the chains of sin. He meant what He said. He didn't play any tricks on us. It is possible and it is expected of us to "go and sin no more".
Thursday, July 19, 2012
GROWING IN OR GROWING INTO
Over fourty years ago a young pastor of the Galveston Church of The Nazarene gave me a book which he recommended I read. It was written by a Quaker woman named Hannah W. Smith. The title of the book was "The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life". I read the book back then and over the years have continued to read the book on various occasions. Each time I read it I seem to find something new.
I am in the process of re-reading that sane old book now and came across a concept this morning that I wanted to share with you. I've said many times before that I doubt I ever have an original thought. If there is something in my writings that seem insightful or something that seems to be an intelligent thought, it probably didn't come from me. But let me share this with you. I think it will be worth your time to read it.
In the holiness doctrine that we teach in the Church of the Nazarene, we speak of two definite works of grace , salvation and sanctification, and then the process of "growing in grace". This concept is often confused and confusing. But I believe Ms Smith clarifies it for us.
She explains it by comparing it to a plant. For instance, this year I decided not only to plant tomatoes in my garden but to also plant a few in buckets and leave them on the back deck. My thinking was that I could keep a close eye on them, keep them watered and keep a little "miracle grow" on them from time to time and that they would grow in that specialized care. It's worked out pretty well.
But what if I had this idea? What if I planted the tomatoes on the back deck and said, "I will plant these tomato plants here on the deck, but before the summer is over I trust that they will grow into the garden" What if I went out every morning and was discouraged because the plants were still on the back deck and not in the garden? That is a stupid story I know but look how it applies to some Christian's way of thinking.
Some folk believe that just because their grand-parents and their parents were Christians, just because they were raised in the church, just because they read their Bible every day, pray every day, go to church every time the doors are open...that they will "grow" into being the Christian God wants them to be without ever experiencing those "crisis experiences" of salvation and sanctification.
Wrong thinking. One can no more grow into being a Christian than my tomato plants can grow into being in the garden. The plants must first be planted in the garden before they can grow in the garden. One must first be planted in Christ (by confessing his sins and accepting Jesus as his Savior) before he can grow in Christ. One must first be made free from the guilt of sin (salvation) and the chains of sin (sanctification) before he can grow in his Christian life as he was meant to grow.
And before I go let me apply a little more garden thinking. In order for a plant to grow there must be plenty of water and fertilizer. Too little water and the plant will dry up. Too little fertilizer and the plant will be weak and stunted.
If we as Christians don't get enough of the water of the Holy Spirit, that living water, we will dry up, become legalistic, jump through all the hoops but for all the wrong reasons. Likewise if we don't get a little fertilizer from time to time we become stunted.
So the next time you get "dumped on". The next time you feel like someone has given you a load of ........fertilizer. Just take it for what it is. Use that "fertilizer" to help you grow. Without it you will live a weak, dried up, stunted life.
I hope you will make sure first of all that you are planted in the right place. And I also hope you get plenty of water and "fertilizer" this week. You may not want it, it may not be pleasant, but remember it will help you grow "in" grace.
I am in the process of re-reading that sane old book now and came across a concept this morning that I wanted to share with you. I've said many times before that I doubt I ever have an original thought. If there is something in my writings that seem insightful or something that seems to be an intelligent thought, it probably didn't come from me. But let me share this with you. I think it will be worth your time to read it.
In the holiness doctrine that we teach in the Church of the Nazarene, we speak of two definite works of grace , salvation and sanctification, and then the process of "growing in grace". This concept is often confused and confusing. But I believe Ms Smith clarifies it for us.
She explains it by comparing it to a plant. For instance, this year I decided not only to plant tomatoes in my garden but to also plant a few in buckets and leave them on the back deck. My thinking was that I could keep a close eye on them, keep them watered and keep a little "miracle grow" on them from time to time and that they would grow in that specialized care. It's worked out pretty well.
But what if I had this idea? What if I planted the tomatoes on the back deck and said, "I will plant these tomato plants here on the deck, but before the summer is over I trust that they will grow into the garden" What if I went out every morning and was discouraged because the plants were still on the back deck and not in the garden? That is a stupid story I know but look how it applies to some Christian's way of thinking.
Some folk believe that just because their grand-parents and their parents were Christians, just because they were raised in the church, just because they read their Bible every day, pray every day, go to church every time the doors are open...that they will "grow" into being the Christian God wants them to be without ever experiencing those "crisis experiences" of salvation and sanctification.
Wrong thinking. One can no more grow into being a Christian than my tomato plants can grow into being in the garden. The plants must first be planted in the garden before they can grow in the garden. One must first be planted in Christ (by confessing his sins and accepting Jesus as his Savior) before he can grow in Christ. One must first be made free from the guilt of sin (salvation) and the chains of sin (sanctification) before he can grow in his Christian life as he was meant to grow.
And before I go let me apply a little more garden thinking. In order for a plant to grow there must be plenty of water and fertilizer. Too little water and the plant will dry up. Too little fertilizer and the plant will be weak and stunted.
If we as Christians don't get enough of the water of the Holy Spirit, that living water, we will dry up, become legalistic, jump through all the hoops but for all the wrong reasons. Likewise if we don't get a little fertilizer from time to time we become stunted.
So the next time you get "dumped on". The next time you feel like someone has given you a load of ........fertilizer. Just take it for what it is. Use that "fertilizer" to help you grow. Without it you will live a weak, dried up, stunted life.
I hope you will make sure first of all that you are planted in the right place. And I also hope you get plenty of water and "fertilizer" this week. You may not want it, it may not be pleasant, but remember it will help you grow "in" grace.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
THE NEARNESS OF ETERNITY
Doing the work that I have done for the last 42 years it has been my duty, task, opportunity, privilege...I'm not sure what to call it, but I have had the occasion to be with many people when they died. I'll tell you about a few of them. Many of whom I don't even know their names.
* He was elderly, I judge about mid 80's. I was a rookie EMT in my mid to late 20's. My driver, who is now the Probate Judge for Chilton County and I were handling the midnight ambulance shift. The call was for shortness of breath. The location was a considerable distance from the hospital where we were based. We were a long way from "real" medical help.
He looked frail as I walked into the room. He was definitely struggling for breath. I introduced myself and asked him about his problem. "Young man", he said firmly, "You had better do something or I'm going to die".
"You just take it easy now. I"m going to take care of you". I always acted like I knew what I was doing even when on the inside I felt like things were completely out of control.
We got him in the ambulance and transported him to the hospital. As we assisted the doctor and nurses in the ER I watched him fight for every breath and in just a few moments of his arrival there, he simply stopped breathing. He died as I stood beside him.
** I was jerked from a sound sleep by the fire pager. It was 3-4 am. There was a wreck on the interstate highway just a few miles from my home. Lights and siren and a bit of too fast driving put me on the scene before the fire crew arrived. A small pick-up truck had rear-ended a slow moving truck and trailer hauling scrap metal. The young driver, about mid 20's, was pinned between the steering wheel of the smaller truck and the back of the seat. He was conscious and in lots of pain.
I climbed up into the bed of the little pick-up and opened the sliding back window. From this position I could reach in and examine the young man's upper body. His lower body was compressed by the steering wheel and dash board and I could not even get my hands below the wheel to check on him.
Naturally he was frightened and begged, "Get me out'a here".
I could do nothing until help arrived with the "Jaws of Life" to try and extricate him. As soon as the crew arrived they immediately begin spreading the "jaws" and trying to make a hole so we could get him out of his predicament. There was a lot of noise and movement of the truck. The young man was even more frightened.
I leaned in through the back window and held his head next to mine. "It's ok", I told him, "It's just a lot of noise. We have to do this to get you out". He seemed to calm down a bit.
The condition he was suffering from is called "tamponade" and the prognosis is usually fatal. This case was no exception. As soon as the pressure was released from his body the young man died.
***She was a motor bike rider. Along with her husband she was riding and enjoying the hot summer day. Enjoying it that is until a car pulled in front of her and she crashed into it sending her body into the handle bars and onto the asphalt. He right leg was badly broken. She had cuts, scrapes and bruises. But she was conscious when I arrived. I worked feverishly to stabilize her but she fought me all the way. The asphalt was burning her back, she wanted to get up. She was not comfortable at all.
I looked her in the eyes and called her name. "You are badly injured, I'm trying to help you but you must be still and cooperate. Now lie down and let me do my job".
She lay back on the hot roadway and in just a few minutes died. Her spleen and liver had been lacerated by the handle bars.
**** My Mom was dieing and she knew it. She had told me so earlier in the week and told my wife that very morning. She had been very agitated and nervous for about two weeks.
I stopped work early that Saturday evening and decided to just spend some time with her. We rode around town, we rode down to the river. She commented on how pretty things were. She listened to the gospel music on the radio and patted her little wrinkled hand on her knee as we rode along.
"Sing" she said as a song came on she knew. I sang along as we rode together.
She ate supper and went to bed. In an hour or so I lay down on the coach across from her bed because she didn't want to sleep alone that night. In a few minutes as I lay there across from her, she took her last breath on this earth and stepped into eternity.
Four incidents among many over the years. Four times when I walked right up to the door of eternity with someone. They went through the door and I stayed on this side. "If I would only have known that moment was their last one on earth, I would have acted differently, said something more meaningful. If I would only have know how close eternity actually was...."
But we DO KNOW. James tells us that our life is but a vapor that appears for just a short time and then vanishes. In Job we are told that "...they die in an instant, in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and they pass away".
We know that fact but refuse to even contemplate that the people we walk and talk with each day are just seconds from eternity. Oh, how differently we would act, how much more we would say. If we would recognize the nearness of eternity.
* He was elderly, I judge about mid 80's. I was a rookie EMT in my mid to late 20's. My driver, who is now the Probate Judge for Chilton County and I were handling the midnight ambulance shift. The call was for shortness of breath. The location was a considerable distance from the hospital where we were based. We were a long way from "real" medical help.
He looked frail as I walked into the room. He was definitely struggling for breath. I introduced myself and asked him about his problem. "Young man", he said firmly, "You had better do something or I'm going to die".
"You just take it easy now. I"m going to take care of you". I always acted like I knew what I was doing even when on the inside I felt like things were completely out of control.
We got him in the ambulance and transported him to the hospital. As we assisted the doctor and nurses in the ER I watched him fight for every breath and in just a few moments of his arrival there, he simply stopped breathing. He died as I stood beside him.
** I was jerked from a sound sleep by the fire pager. It was 3-4 am. There was a wreck on the interstate highway just a few miles from my home. Lights and siren and a bit of too fast driving put me on the scene before the fire crew arrived. A small pick-up truck had rear-ended a slow moving truck and trailer hauling scrap metal. The young driver, about mid 20's, was pinned between the steering wheel of the smaller truck and the back of the seat. He was conscious and in lots of pain.
I climbed up into the bed of the little pick-up and opened the sliding back window. From this position I could reach in and examine the young man's upper body. His lower body was compressed by the steering wheel and dash board and I could not even get my hands below the wheel to check on him.
Naturally he was frightened and begged, "Get me out'a here".
I could do nothing until help arrived with the "Jaws of Life" to try and extricate him. As soon as the crew arrived they immediately begin spreading the "jaws" and trying to make a hole so we could get him out of his predicament. There was a lot of noise and movement of the truck. The young man was even more frightened.
I leaned in through the back window and held his head next to mine. "It's ok", I told him, "It's just a lot of noise. We have to do this to get you out". He seemed to calm down a bit.
The condition he was suffering from is called "tamponade" and the prognosis is usually fatal. This case was no exception. As soon as the pressure was released from his body the young man died.
***She was a motor bike rider. Along with her husband she was riding and enjoying the hot summer day. Enjoying it that is until a car pulled in front of her and she crashed into it sending her body into the handle bars and onto the asphalt. He right leg was badly broken. She had cuts, scrapes and bruises. But she was conscious when I arrived. I worked feverishly to stabilize her but she fought me all the way. The asphalt was burning her back, she wanted to get up. She was not comfortable at all.
I looked her in the eyes and called her name. "You are badly injured, I'm trying to help you but you must be still and cooperate. Now lie down and let me do my job".
She lay back on the hot roadway and in just a few minutes died. Her spleen and liver had been lacerated by the handle bars.
**** My Mom was dieing and she knew it. She had told me so earlier in the week and told my wife that very morning. She had been very agitated and nervous for about two weeks.
I stopped work early that Saturday evening and decided to just spend some time with her. We rode around town, we rode down to the river. She commented on how pretty things were. She listened to the gospel music on the radio and patted her little wrinkled hand on her knee as we rode along.
"Sing" she said as a song came on she knew. I sang along as we rode together.
She ate supper and went to bed. In an hour or so I lay down on the coach across from her bed because she didn't want to sleep alone that night. In a few minutes as I lay there across from her, she took her last breath on this earth and stepped into eternity.
Four incidents among many over the years. Four times when I walked right up to the door of eternity with someone. They went through the door and I stayed on this side. "If I would only have known that moment was their last one on earth, I would have acted differently, said something more meaningful. If I would only have know how close eternity actually was...."
But we DO KNOW. James tells us that our life is but a vapor that appears for just a short time and then vanishes. In Job we are told that "...they die in an instant, in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and they pass away".
We know that fact but refuse to even contemplate that the people we walk and talk with each day are just seconds from eternity. Oh, how differently we would act, how much more we would say. If we would recognize the nearness of eternity.
Monday, July 9, 2012
BIRTHDAY RAMBLINGS (JULY 9 2012)
Today is my 61st birthday. I was up at 5:00 a.m. the sun was not. The sky was a grayish misty sheet hovering above the earth. The only light was from the half moon that stood at straight up 12 o'clock in the sky and the morning star, Venus, scouting the trail that the sun would soon follow.
I left Gracie in the kennel, it was too early for her to get started. I slipped on my jeans and t shirt, picked up my boots and sat down on the front steps to put them on. That's funny, it didn't use to be this hard to get my boots on. Mr. Ed Cole has a saying that goes "I ain't never been this old before". I"m feeling it this morning.
I walked down to the "tabernacle" dropped down on my hands and knees in the moist dirt there in the pre-dawn stillness. Peace poured out of those woods and that sky and rolled over me.
Have you ever noticed how the folks that love you find ways of doing things that make you happy?
My sister and I have developed a little habit. We take each other out for lunch on our birthday week. She came down last Friday and we ate at Heaton's. She brought a shoe box full of goodies for me. My sweet wife has given me gifts for two or three days already with the promise of more to come tonight. I got to spend the day yesterday with Renae, Andi and Perrin. It was his first time to get to go to church with us and stay all day. He did great. Kimbery called this morning and she and "Strawberry" sang "happy birthday" to me while Josiah yelled in the background. Chris has already called to wish me "happy birthday" too. Betty Cofer and Mary Floyd are coming down today to take me to lunch at the Peach Park. What a great birthday already. I like these birthday weeks much more than just one birthday day.
As I looked around and soaked in the blessings this morning I realized how God too, just seems to know exactly what I like. There were birds singing all around me. As I walked from the tabernacle to the garden it seemed as if He had stationed different birds with different songs all along the way to sing just for me. And as I worked my way down the rows of the garden picking beans, some little morning doves cooed their little ditty from the elm tree.
Yep, He knows just the things that make me happy. Relatives calling and remembering you on your birthday, the birds singing, the quietness of the morning, Granny's barn all fixed up and in use, the grass all cut and neat, the rain on the garden, the cool morning breeze.
If you know me you've got to know where I'm going with this. He made me, He knows me, He understands what I like and He left me a promise.
"Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him".
And Jesus Himself said, "I go to prepare a place for you." He's gone to get me a place ready. A place "for me". If he loves me enough to set up my little 30 acres this morning for me to enjoy on my birthday, just think, JUST IMAGINE, what He's got in store for me, at my homecoming!
My birthday is just getting started this morning and I've already gotten more than I can say grace over. When people get old and have birthdays they start thinking about death. They frequent the doctors and worry about all the maladies that might befall them. But I can tell you this, as much as I love birthdays, and the stuff my loved ones plan for me and give to me, I'm going to love homecoming a whole lot more. Afraid of dying? Dreading death? Shoot, I'm looking forward to it. I get to go Home and Jesus is already busy putting up the decorations.
I wonder what my "Welcome Home" banner will look like hung across gates of pearl and written in stars.
I left Gracie in the kennel, it was too early for her to get started. I slipped on my jeans and t shirt, picked up my boots and sat down on the front steps to put them on. That's funny, it didn't use to be this hard to get my boots on. Mr. Ed Cole has a saying that goes "I ain't never been this old before". I"m feeling it this morning.
I walked down to the "tabernacle" dropped down on my hands and knees in the moist dirt there in the pre-dawn stillness. Peace poured out of those woods and that sky and rolled over me.
Have you ever noticed how the folks that love you find ways of doing things that make you happy?
My sister and I have developed a little habit. We take each other out for lunch on our birthday week. She came down last Friday and we ate at Heaton's. She brought a shoe box full of goodies for me. My sweet wife has given me gifts for two or three days already with the promise of more to come tonight. I got to spend the day yesterday with Renae, Andi and Perrin. It was his first time to get to go to church with us and stay all day. He did great. Kimbery called this morning and she and "Strawberry" sang "happy birthday" to me while Josiah yelled in the background. Chris has already called to wish me "happy birthday" too. Betty Cofer and Mary Floyd are coming down today to take me to lunch at the Peach Park. What a great birthday already. I like these birthday weeks much more than just one birthday day.
As I looked around and soaked in the blessings this morning I realized how God too, just seems to know exactly what I like. There were birds singing all around me. As I walked from the tabernacle to the garden it seemed as if He had stationed different birds with different songs all along the way to sing just for me. And as I worked my way down the rows of the garden picking beans, some little morning doves cooed their little ditty from the elm tree.
Yep, He knows just the things that make me happy. Relatives calling and remembering you on your birthday, the birds singing, the quietness of the morning, Granny's barn all fixed up and in use, the grass all cut and neat, the rain on the garden, the cool morning breeze.
If you know me you've got to know where I'm going with this. He made me, He knows me, He understands what I like and He left me a promise.
"Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him".
And Jesus Himself said, "I go to prepare a place for you." He's gone to get me a place ready. A place "for me". If he loves me enough to set up my little 30 acres this morning for me to enjoy on my birthday, just think, JUST IMAGINE, what He's got in store for me, at my homecoming!
My birthday is just getting started this morning and I've already gotten more than I can say grace over. When people get old and have birthdays they start thinking about death. They frequent the doctors and worry about all the maladies that might befall them. But I can tell you this, as much as I love birthdays, and the stuff my loved ones plan for me and give to me, I'm going to love homecoming a whole lot more. Afraid of dying? Dreading death? Shoot, I'm looking forward to it. I get to go Home and Jesus is already busy putting up the decorations.
I wonder what my "Welcome Home" banner will look like hung across gates of pearl and written in stars.
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