MAMA LOVED CHRISTMAS

Mama loved Christmas.  Oh, I don’t guess there are many people I know who don’t love Christmas, but Mama especially loved Christmas.  She told stories about when she was a child, her Dad had died and her Mom was trying to raise 7 children by washing clothes for people on a scrub board or wash board.  She said then they didn’t get anything but an apple or an orange that her Mom put in their shoe by the fireplace.  Or perhaps some “rock candy”. But that didn’t stop her from loving Christmas. 

When I was a child, Mom and Dad made Christmas a big deal for us.  Some of my earliest memories are of the wonderful times we had as children because of Dad and Mom’s attitude and efforts at Christmas.  I don’t ever remember asking “Santa” for anything that I didn’t get.

One of my fondest memories of Mom and Christmas was after I had left the Coast Guard and returned home and Mom and I were going to get a Christmas tree.  Back then you didn’t drive to a Christmas tree lot and pick one out.  You were almost a communist if you used a “fake” tree.  So we would go out into the woods and find a cedar tree.  That’s the only kind of Christmas tree we ever had back then. 

We lived in South Calera and Dad had a friend and co-worker named John Lejoue (I guess that’s how you spell it) .  John was a Frenchman and he and his wife owned some land not far from us.  Their land was full of cedar trees and John was nice enough to allow us to go over and cut down a tree for our Christmas.  Mom and I got the ax and headed out, really not paying much attention to the weather. 

Finding just the right tree with Mom was a chore.  This one wasn’t large enough.  That one was too small.  This one isn’t full enough and that one looks crooked.  It seems now like we walked those woods for hours.  It was almost dark and then it started to snow.  (Yes, snow in Alabama.  It had to be early December, I guess.)  The snow begin to “stick” to the trees and ground so I assume it must have been pretty cold, although I don’t remember it being that cold.  The cedar trees looked wonderful and we had a blast when we finally found the right tree and I cut it down and carried it back to her house. 

Well, as you know, Mom died about 3 years ago.  She had lived with Keva and I for about 5 years before her death.  We tried to make Christmas for her as special as she had made it for me and Anita when we were kids.  On Christmas morning she would have her little pile of gifts that Santa had left her and we would take pictures and video of her opening her treasures. 

The Christmas after Mom’s death Keva had a wonderful idea.  Mom had a little saying that she always used when folks would leave.  She would say, “I love you, just a little bit”, and make a sign with her little fingers showing you how “little” she loved you.  So Keva had handkerchiefs made for those who knew Mom, and on those handkerchiefs she had embroidered that little phrase, “I love you just a little bit”.  She gave them out and everyone seemed to love them.  But that was three years ago.

This year, we continued our tradition of stockings and presents and family. Keva has continued the tradition of making everyone’s Christmas special. But on Christmas morning it is just Keva and I, Gracie (the dog) and the three cats (Bubba, Sissy and Runt).  So we opened our gifts and then I took down our stockings.  Keva had placed some little stuff in my stocking and I had placed some little stuff in her stocking.  I opened mine and smiled and commented on them, then it was her turn. 

As she emptied her stocking and “made over” the little stuff I’d put in there, I thought we were through with the presents.  But she reached down into the toe of the stocking and pulled out a special gift. 

There, stuck down in the  toe of the stocking was a little yellow handkerchief with the phrase “I love you just a little bit”.  I hadn’t put it there.  I guess the logical explanation would have been that three years ago it got placed in her stocking when we were giving them out to the family and for the last two Christmas’s it had gone unnoticed. But as her eyes glistened with a tear or two and I looked away so she couldn’t see mine, I think we both had the same thought.  Mama will always love Christmas.   

KEVA'S CHINA

Almost 29 years ago a beautiful young lady agreed to be my wife.  There were all sorts of activities that went on during that time.  Decisions had to be made about the location of the wedding ceremony, the dress, the after rehearsal  dinner, the preacher, the brides maids and on and on.  All things that had to take place for this wedded bless to come to fruition. 

 I remember one of those activities was the occasion when Keva went down to Wright’s Drug store in the Dixie shopping center in Clanton to pick out the china. Now I wasn’t clear on just exactly why we needed china. We lived in the Ranger station, a little 4 room building at Higgins Ferry park.  Not like we would be entertaining distinguished quest.   But she looked at the books and pictures of knives and forks and plates and cups and all sorts of things and at long last picked out the pattern that was to be our china. 

Kind people, who knew us and wanted to get us gifts, went to Wright’s and paid good money for overly priced plates and saucers and cups and at the wedding shower we became the owners of a beautiful set of china.  I guess that happens to lots of people when they get married.

But I want to tell you about this stuff called china. China is no more than clay which is mixed with other raw elements.  It is put in a fire and become something useful and beautiful.   It is heated and shaped and instead of being a lump of clay it is re-born, remade into china.  China that is beautiful and useful to the owner.

Look out here comes the spiritual connection.

The Word tells us that you and I are, just like the china, initially clay, dirt.  But there is a little thing called Salvation, or being born again that can happen to us when we confess our sins and accept Jesus as our savior.  Instead of being just clay, we become a dish, a plate, a cup that can be used for God's glory.

Well, we got all that china.  We took it home and because it was “special” we put it in a special place.  We didn’t want it to get broken or chipped. So we stacked it all up neatly in a couple of drawers.  “We will take it out and use it on special occasions”, we said.  You know what happened don’t you?  I bet you’ve done just about the same thing.  We have NEVER used that china.  It’s made to be used.  It’s set aside to be used.  But it’s never used.

Christians, when you and I got saved we were remade in order to be used.  We were born again.  No longer clay, but beautiful vessels.  But we are sitting in the drawer and not being used. 

That's why there is more.  There is what I call a “churchy word”, SANCTIFY, which means to set apart for a specific use or purpose.  That’s what we did with the china. We set is apart from the rest of the dishes for a specific or special purpose.  

So we are re-born, constructed in the image that He desires for us.  We are set apart for the work He has for us to do……but we are also made clean, which is the second part of the definition of the word sanctify or sanctification.

Can you imagine us taking that nicely molded and decorated china, putting it in the cabinet and setting it apart for a special purpose and never cleaning it?  We decide to have, let’s say a Thanksgiving meal with friends, and we want to use the china, so we take it out and put it on the table but it is dirty and stained and has left over butter beans on it.  It can’t be used.

Do you get it?  We are remade, set apart but if we are not cleaned, if we are not free from sin we are just a dirty ole cup or plate and can’t be used.  That's not what God had in mind when He created us. 

Lord, I want to be made in your image, set apart for your glory and clean so you can use me.  And, and, when I am clean then and only then can He fill me up with good stuff so that He can be glorified.  Fill that plate with good food.  Fill it with the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and let the banquet begin. 

How’s your china?

THREE SENTENCES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (LUKE 2: 10-12)

There are many quotes that have gone down in history.  Many of us can  quote famous “sayings” that are important to us.  A couple that come to my mind are:

•   "Ask not, what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country”…JFK
•  "One is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose”….Jim Elliot
• "Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty”…Samuel Adam  
• Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other….. John Quincy Adams

 These are just a few, I’m sure you have others.  But I want to share with you three sentences that I believe changed the world.  These sentences were delivered by a most trusted messenger, supported by the grandest background choir and presented in a most miraculous manner.  After all, the occasion of their presentation was a pretty big deal.  God’s Son was being born.  The sentences I am referring to are found in Luke 2: 10-11.  I hope you have read them and that they are familiar to you.

Let’s break them down a little and see if you agree with me.

 A SAVIOR WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD.  Who actually needs a Savior?  Let’s see, those who are lost.  Those who can’t help themselves.  Those chained to or trapped by something.  Those oppressed by a stronger power.  All of these people need someone to help them.  They need someone to act on their behalf and help them overcome their situation. 

 Until we realize and admit that we are in a situation or condition where we need a Savior, His coming is not good news to us.  Until I understand that I can’t do this alone and that I need an advocate, a rescuer, a deliverer or a knight in shining armor then any proclamation of the arrival of a savior is not good news to me.

•  If my house is on fire but I feel like I can handle this situation with a garden hose and a few more buckets of water,  I won’t call 911. 
• If I am driving around looking for a particular place and feel sure that after a few more laps around the neighborhood I’ll be able to put this all together,  I will never stop and ask for directions or help.  
• If I am sick but am sure that by taking just a few more aspirin I can cure this malady, I will not go to the doctor.

But if I am enslaved by sin, held by chains of habit, oppressed by the will of others or of my own will and come to the realization that I can’t make my life  work…..then the announcement of the coming of a Savior will be world changing for me. 

Who needs a Savior?  I do…and I bet you do too.

 GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY.  I’d almost guarantee that you can’t find it a 5, 6 and 10 on the nightly news.  If you still get a daily newspaper, it won’t be in there either.  If you can wade through all the commercials on the radio you still won’t find any of it there. 

Good news.  It’s hard to find anywhere. Oh, you can find plenty of folks who will talk to you about the problems that are happening around the block and around the world but not many who will greet you each morning with “good news”.  How would we be changed if we could?

One thing that should change about us would be our attitude.  If we could hear and accept the good news that was presented by the angels on that night so long ago, shouldn’t our attitude change?  In church, at home or on the job, people would be able to see a difference in us because we have heard the “good news”, the “gospel”, the “good tidings of great joy” and we would possess that joy in our lives.

I just stopped by to tell you this morning that the coming of the Christ child, the appearance of Jesus Christ the Lord on this planet is some very good news and should fill you and I with much joy and peace.

YOU SHALL FIND THE BABE.  So if the coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior is such good news, how do I get in touch with Him?  Show me where He lives.  How do I find this Savior?

 God is faithful in showing the way. 

 

·         Initially, on that night, He used the angels.  Their message was unmistakable.  The shepherds stood there in that open field and their knees knocked together as they listened to the instructions. 

·         Later on He used the disciples.  Twelve ordinary men who believed the good news and were committed to sharing it with others, like themselves, who were in need of a Savior

·         The Apostles were also a means to this end.  No doubt you have studied about Paul and his unselfish sell-out to this Christ and the promotion of His kingdom.

·         Common folk back “in the day”, Stephen and the other seven men whose job it was to simply “wait tables” but whose passion it was to tell about that Savior. 

·         There have been countless more “common folk” who pointed the way.  I can name those who told me about the “good news”. I bet you can name those who pointed you in the right direction as well. 

 Shouldn’t it be our intent, no more than intent, shouldn’t it be our unquenchable thirst, our unending hunger our fervent passion to stand in the path and point the way?   Shouldn’t you and I do our part, especially during this time of the year, to share these world changing words and their meaning to a lost and dying world?

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger”.

 Three pretty good sentences if you ask me. 

 

 

 

 

HOME FURNISHINGS

Recently we had the opportunity to drive over to Tuscaloosa and help our pastor and his wife move to a new home.  I imagine you could tell a few stories of your own about your moving experiences and may understand our situation.   Although we volunteered to help, and although we love to be able to assist our pastor in “just about” anything he wants to undertake, he almost killed a large portion of his congregation that day. 

I thought I was in pretty good shape and could out-work any man half my age.  But if there had been just one more box, one more piece of beautiful antique furniture that I had to move…I think they would have just had to call the undertaker and let him move me.

We can accumulate a lot of “stuff” in just a very short time.  I guess it all comes from the fact that as days and weeks and months and years go buy we find things we “think” we just can’t do without. So, a chair here, a picture there, a rug, a couch a book shelf…and before you know it, you have an 18 wheeler full of furniture or more arranged, stored, stuffed into the four walls of your dwelling. 

The apostle Paul must have understood the concept of furnishing a home.  In II Timothy 5:17 Paul told Timothy to make sure his house was thoroughly, completely, furnished, now get this, so that he could be a perfect man of God.

Paul wasn’t talking about the place where Timothy “hung his hat”.  Instead, he was speaking about his heart and soul.  Now, I’m sure I will have some who will disagree with me.  I have no desire to debate my next statement with them although  I believe I have significant scriptural evidence to prove this convection.  I believe with all my heart that a pure, clean, perfect God intends, no demands, people who call themselves Christians to be pure, clean and perfect as He is.  That condition, that state, is not set aside for someday nor is it meant only for heaven when we walk the streets of gold, it is meant for the here and now while our feet walk the dirty streets of our cities and towns. 

He has provided a way for that to happen.  Because He is omniscient and knows everything. He knew that you and I would not be able to live a Holy, clean, perfect life by ourselves.  So, thank God, He provided us with a Comforter, a Helper who would be “with us” and “in us” as we negotiate this experience we call life. 

Just like the ocean, if broken down, would be H2O and a tiny drop from that same ocean, if broken down would be the identical H2O, not as big, not as mighty, not as powerful but the same. So we as Christians can be Holy as He is Holy.

I could really get into telling you about the infilling of the Holy Spirit here…but I would be chasing a big rabbit and so I will leave that for another place and time.  For now, let me tell you about a few pieces of furniture that you need to have in your spiritual house.  These items will help you, not only to enjoy your stay but will also help you to be useful in God’s kingdom and be a perfect man of God.

First you will need a good table.

I have plans to build a table soon.  I envision a nice long, rugged, wooden table with long benches on both sides with two chairs that sit at each end.  You know, kind of like a Walton’s family table.  I want to build a table like that for times when our family comes over for Thanksgiving or Christmas or birthdays, we can all sit together and eat together.  It might be more difficult than I first thought however.  Problem?  We live in a very small house with a very small kitchen / dining room.  I think I could build the table.  I think I have the materials on hand now.  But when I get the table built, I don’t think it will fit into the house. I might need to re-think this project. 

A table is where you can sit down and be fed nourishing food that will make your body strong and healthy.  Sometimes the food we eat is not all that healthy but it is enjoyable.  Our spiritual table is the same.  It is there that we sit and feed our souls from the Word of God.  I love it when I can just pull up a chair to the Word and eat until I’m full.  Some of the things I consume are words of wisdom, things that are healthy and will benefit me spiritually, now and in the days to come.  Some of the spiritual food I eat is for my enjoyment.  I leave the table smiling, rejoicing, grinning because I just filled my soul with “comfort food”.  Let me encourage you to make sure you have this great piece of furniture in your house.

You will also need a desk. 

To me a desk is a place to study.  I have spent many an hour at my office, sitting behind my desk studying various plans, policies and procedures.  I think the desk in your spiritual house is a place where you not only read the Word of God but also study the Word of God.  There are so many “helps” available to us today.  Bible dictionaries, concordances, study Bibles and translations abound.  Many great men of God have taken much time to expound on the Word and share their understanding in commentaries.  We miss out on so much that God has for us if we fail to study God’s Word. 

Paul told Timothy to “study to show thyself approved unto God”.  It would be very difficult to be the man or woman God intends for you to be if you do not spend time at your spiritual desk studying God’s will and Word for you.

The last piece of furniture that I want to mention to you is a bed.  I believe for many Christians this is a piece of furniture that is not used as it should be.  Beds are for resting and relaxing.  It is there we gain the strength we need to fight another day. 

Many nights I drag myself to bed, tired, sore and unable to go much farther and after a good nights rest in bed, I'm up and at'em once again in the morning ready to work another day.

 

Many Christians use this piece of furniture way too much.  A hard working, diligent, laboring Christian needs a place to rest.  Jesus Himself said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”.  But that place of rest was for those who actually labor and are heavy laden, not for slackers who sit on their good intentions and don’t work.  (Gospel according to Bill, chapter one).

I have seen good, hard-working, Christian men and women work themselves into the ground and become useless to God or anyone else because they failed to utilize the place of rest.  We need time to rest.  But don’t submit to the trick of the devil to get in bed and stay there.  Rest, then get up and fight again.

These are just three pieces of furniture that you need if you want to have your spiritual house in order and make sure that it is completely furnished.  There are others I am sure. Don’t fail to be the best you can be, with the help of the Holy Spirit by not having your house thoroughly furnished.   

LOST PILGRAMS

If you are 60 years old or older, I don't have to tell you about the pilgrims.  You already know the story of William Bradford and the Puritans or Separatist, later called Pilgrims and how they left England and landed at Cape Cod. You remember how that within the first few months over half of them had died.  You are familiar with how the Indians help by teaching them new ways to farm and raise crops.  And the first Thanksgiving time when they celebrated and worshiped God for His blessing to them.

As a child in school I remember cutting out pilgrims from construction paper and making "place markers" for the people who would be at your Thanksgiving meal.  I especially remember the high black hats and the square buckles that the "men pilgrims" were supposed to wear and the long black dresses, white aprons and white hats that the "lady pilgrims" were supposed to wear. 

I remember gathering with my family and the community on Thanksgiving Day in Calera at a different church each year for the annual Thanksgiving Day service.  Our focus was on "giving thanks to God" for His blessing to us.

But this morning, as Keva and I sat around the breakfast table, I was reminded of something that shocked me. I have always tried to keep the holidays traditional.  We buy those little glass or plastic pilgrim figures at the Dollar Tree and I place them around the house.  We found a cornucopia  and I place it out on the mantel with various kinds of fruits and vegetables. Just stuff to remind us of the Thanksgiving season and it's meaning.

But so far this year I can't find our pilgrims.  I looked in the attic, I looked in the closet, I even looked in the barn....but no pilgrims. I know I'm getting old and forgetful but how could I have lost the pilgrims. We just had them here a year ago.   But I'm reminded that our little pilgrims are not the only ones that have been lost.

Thanksgiving today has almost been overshadowed by the Christmas season.  It's only the 8th day of November and the City of Clanton along with many other cities have already put up their community Christmas tree.  "Happy Turkey Day" is heard all around instead of "Happy Thanksgiving".  To be honest, we have forgotten as a nation and as individuals how to be thankful and Whom we should be thankful to. (I hope that sentence made sense.)  After all, Thanksgiving doesn't "market" nearly as well as Christmas. Basically, we have not only lost the pilgrims from Thanksgiving but we have lost the "Thanks" from our Thanksgiving. 

I'm going to look again this weekend.  I'll go to the storm shelter, I'll dig through some boxes, I'll look under the bed and I will find our pilgrims.  But I'm not as confident about our nation finding our "thanks". 

Hey, do your part this year.  Go on a scavenger hunt and seek out the pilgrims.  Find them and remember their story and then somewhere and sometime this holiday season, give thanks for what the Giver has given you.

MAKING SENSE OF LOVE

I had been doing a little reading and Bible study in the back room.  Softly, quietly an aroma drifted down the hall, past the doorway and into my room.  Immediately I could tell the coffee pot was in operation mode and that coffee was ready to drink. 

Now we are not as advanced in coffee preparation as some are.  We do not have one of those fancy coffee makers that you can fill the night before and program to make your coffee just prior to your waking up in the morning. (Although that might be a good idea for a Christmas gift to myself).  In order for us to get coffee, someone, (and that would be either Keva or myself since Gracie nor the cats neither likes coffee nor are capable of making it) has to go into the kitchen, pour in the water, scoop out the coffee, place it in the coffee maker and hit the button. It takes effort. 

Since the morning was early, I knew I hadn't made coffee.  So the wonderful fragrance drifting down the hallway had to be of her doing.  It had to be by her efforts.  To me, on that morning, it was what loved smelled like.   

 



*******

 

Perrin was spending the night with us.  I had placed some cushions on the floor of the bedroom and a nice warm sleeping bag on top of them for his bed.  He had dropped off to sleep in my big chair and so I cradled him in my arms and gently laid him down on his make-shift sleeping arrangement.  He slept there for a few hours and then I was awaken by his whimper. 

 

I rolled over and saw him hunched down in the floor, with a look on his face that told me he was lost and needed help.  I stepped over to him, scooped him up in my arms and snuggled him in beside me in my bed.  Sometime during the process of going back to sleep he said,

 

"Gwump"?  "Yes, son what is it", I whispered.

 

"Gwump, I wuv you". 

 

"I love you too, Buddy", I said. 

 

To him it was a simply statement.  To me that was what love sounded like.  

 

 

*******

 

My Mama was well known for several things.  One of which was her dried butter beans and corn bread.  Most anyone who ever stayed or visited with "Granny" knew that sooner or later there was going to be a big pot of dried butter beans on the stove and a pone of corn bread in the oven. 

 

If I was going to be at her house at lunch and she knew it, she would inevitably have "butter beans and corn bread" on the table when I got there. 

 

Oh, perhaps not the most elegant meal one could eat.  But to me, it was what love tasted like.  

 

*******

 

Chris and his family live in the old house now.  But when I was a boy it is where we lived.  I could take you back the exact room, the exact place where I used to sleep as a boy.  I can remember on several occasions becoming sick with the maladies that children get.  I'd run fever easily.  You must understand that this was the days before everyone ran to the ER or the "Doc-in-the-box" for their medical problems.  Usually Mom or Dad was the doctor unless it was a problem beyond their scope of training. 

 

It was on such an occasion, as I lay in the bed running a high fever that Dad went into the bathroom, reached up into the old medicine cabinet and took down the bottle of rubbing alcohol.  He would place it in a saucer and kneel down beside my bed.  Then gently he would rub my body with the alcohol.  This was supposed to help reduce the fever. 

 

The thing I remember most about these times is the feel of my Daddy's hands.  They were cracked and rough like dried leather.  Beneath the sandpaper like skin was solid steel, muscles and sinew. How could such rough, dry, cracked, rock hard hands be so gentle?  To me that was what love felt like.  

 

*******

 

I've never physically been there.  I probably couldn't even point toward it. But I've heard the story a million times. A young man, in his early 30's, beaten to within an inch of his life, stripped of his cloths and hanged on a tree.  Not for crimes which he had done but for my crimes, my wrong, my sins.  He suffered there, and died there and at that place and at that time He purchased my salvation and by that single act He provided a way for me to go from here to Heaven, sin free.   To me that is what love looked like. 

 

   



PRAISE HIM HERE LIKE YOU WILL PRAISE HIM THERE

I have consigned myself to the fact that I am a creature of habit.  I do the same thing at the same time every week.  Case in point, every Wednesday, I stop by the church before I go to work for a time of quiet prayer. Then take the cloths to the cleaners, hit the flea market at the cattle barn and then sometime around 9 o'clock make it to work. 

I did that again this week.  The weather was great and as I walked into the sanctuary I noticed how quite it was.  No TV's or radios blaring, no one needing anything, just peaceful and quiet.  I walked down the center isle and noticed that through the window on the East side of the church a beam of sunlight shone through and fell across the altar.  It happened to be in the exact spot where I usually kneel. 

I dropped down on my knees and begin to talk to the Father.  There were several things that I wanted to thank Him for and praise Him for today.

• Our pastor's mom had been miraculously healed and instead of the prediction from the doctors that she had only a month to live, she was now back home doing great. 
• Matt's mom had been in a coma for a week from unknown causes and after much prayer had come out of the coma with a clear mind and doing well.
• A hectic situation at work in which I had lost my employee and had to quickly find another had been rectified
• A financial situation had been satisfied

So I knelt there quietly and under my breath I thanked God and I said "I praise You Lord" and then I stopped......

Was I really praising Him? 

Is this the way praise looks?

Is this the way praise sounds?

The thought came to my mind.  I should be praising Him now like I will be praising Him when I get to heaven.

My attitude on this side of the river should be the same as it will be when I get to the other side of the river.

Praying by faith if praying as if the prayer has ALREADY been answered.

Praising by faith is praising as if you have already received. 

Oh, I'm aware that many times all the praying and praising I can do is to bow quietly in God's presence and weep.  I know that sometimes just to "be still and know" that He is God is what He desires....but there are times we need to be verbal about our praise and our prayers.  There is a place for passion. 

When I stand in that place, before God the Father and Jesus the Son, with the Holy Spirit of God saturating the atmosphere, I don't know how I will behave.  But if I will shout then, I should shout now.  If I will cry then, I should cry now.  If I will praise then and there, surely I should praise Him here and now.