INVITING GOD TO MY MEETING

The sun apparently had a rough night.  Its flaming head didn’t seem to want to get out of bed this morning.  I was up over an hour ahead of it.  I tolerated my bowl of Cheerios by sprinkling a few chopped dates over them, soaking them with a little 2% milk and pretending they were bacon, eggs and toast. 

Gracie was anxious to get out and kept pushing me, her nose poking against my leg as I strapped on my boots and headed toward the kitchen door.  As I stepped off of the porch I reached for my walking stick which I keep next to the steps.  (I’ve begin to call this old stick my prayer stick. Almost like a little kid, I feel like I am Moses with his rod as I take it along to the tabernacle each morning).

This morning I was on a mission.  While I always go to meet with God when I go into the woods and walk the covered trail I call my tabernacle and although I always expect Him to hear my prayers as I kneel at the little pile of rocks I call my altar,  this morning was different.  I had determined that today I wanted to focus on God and hear what His Holy Spirit had to say to me.  I wanted to “be still and know”  that I had been with God.

I stopped at the edge of the little rise just before entering into the woods, closed my eyes and listened as if I expected God to give me a big “Good Morning”.  It’s amazing what you can hear when you close your eyes. 

There were two crows, one toward the Southeast and one somewhere in the trees of to the Northwest.  They seem to be “squawking” out warnings to each other of my presence.  I noticed what seemed to me, a larger number of cars and trucks than normal, on the interstate off to my east.  Somewhere down toward the south of town a worker dropped a large rail, wheel, or other object and I could hear its echo resonate through the trees.  But I didn’t hear a word from God.

I opened my eyes and walked on trying to focus on God’s presence.   A bushy tailed squirrel scampered up a tree on the trail just ahead of us.  Gracie’s attention must have been somewhere else because she didn’t even see it.  More birds, flittering from tree to tree sang to welcome the morning and warn that there were intruders walking in their world.  My eyes wondered to an opening between the branches and I saw a carpet of already fallen leaves.  “Autumn is only a few weeks away”, I thought to myself.

A few more paces and my mind traveled 30 or so miles to the North where my oldest son was most likely getting in his old Chevy truck and preparing to drive to work in Birmingham.  Across the field my middle son would be staying home today, “The gout” has taken up residence in his feet and he has decided to take a few days’ vacation in order to rid himself of his unwanted visitor.  I thought of my daughter there in Danville.  The kids would be up in a little while and Matt would be making his hour long drive to work.  Her day, as always, would be full of babies and all they have to bring to the table.  Still, there was no word from God. 

Gracie sniffed at the leaves where an old armadillo had been “rooting” around last night.  She has such a nose; she can smell something a mile away.  Way off in the distance, it has to be more than two miles; a train whistle blew as it neared a crossing.  I can picture some engineer sitting in the cab of the engine with his cup of coffee as he pulled his load toward Birmingham. 

After a short walk I arrived at the altar.  Surely God will be waiting here for me.  Surely He will welcome me and give me some word for the day.  I dropped the stick and knelt in the spot where my knees usually come to rest.  My eyes considered the small stones lying all over the altar and around it on the ground.  I touched them and reminded myself of the people they represent and the problems and needs they have.  I closed my eyes and bowed my head.  I prayed for them, calling them by name.  I waited for the heavens to part and God to walk out in all His majesty.   But when I opened my eyes there was no one there but “old faithful” Gracie, standing in her “watch dog” position as she “protects” me from any “buggers” that might attack me when I pray. 

The sun finally peaked over the horizon and wiggled its bright red rays in between the trees.  I continued to wait a while…… nothing.  So with the aid of my stick I walked back down the hill and across the little dry weather branch and headed toward the house.  The day was not waiting on me it was time to go. 

Some thoughts occurred to me though as I walked back toward the house.  Consider them with me if you will. 

·         Satan will do his utmost to distract you.  He will use good things, beautiful things, normal thing or whatever he has at his disposal to divert your attention from God.

·         If I can “take the wings of the morning” and go into the woods to be alone with God and still be distracted…..how much more will the diversions present themselves if I remain in the house, in the office, in my car, with the TV, radio or other people blaring out the noise of the morning and demanding my attention?

·         How often do I, like Elijah, look for God in the big things, flashes of light, majestic songs, strange occurrences, profound messages when instead He speaks in a still, small voice in the sweet chirp of a morning bird or the smell of decaying leaves or even the sound of a distant freight train? 

I can’t put God in a grocery sack.  I can’t orchestrate a meeting with the Omnipotent.  My time with God is not "my" time  it is His and if I listen He will speak and make Himself mighty to me, in His time.   

DON'T GO TO THE TABERNACLE!

Do you know, dear reader, that good, well meant, seemingly right things can have mediocre, useless or even bad results? 

Case in point. If you know me or have sat in many of my Bible study classes or read very much of the stuff that I write, you know that I have a habit of waking up early in the morning and walking in the woods back behind our house.  Gracie (my little dog) and I walk down into what I call the "tabernacle" (tent).  It is a place where the limbs of the trees form a tent like covering over the trails and provide us with a wonderful place to pray.

I have made a big deal in my teaching, over the years, about Christians needing to have a certain place and a certain time to pray.  I have said that a specific place like that is set apart (sanctified) as a place where you can meet with God and He can meet with you. Good stuff.

I have constructed a little altar upon a ridge there in the tabernacle.  It's made of 12 uncut stones (small as they may be) on which I place smaller stones that represent my family and friends and their needs.  I kneel there each morning, and reach out and touch "your" stone and pray for you and your need.  At times, when God has answered my prayers, I have felt I needed to let the person know that I have been interceding for them.  So I will take their rock and give it to them with an explanation of what I have been doing and more importantly what God has done for them. Admirable intents. 

But I've discovered that even when I do this meaningful and peace filled act each morning, sometimes I still have trouble staying as close to God as I want to be.

(Can I just chase a rabbit for a moment.  As I was praying a few days ago, I mentioned to God that I wanted to be closer to Him.  He seemed to say to me that I can be as  close to Him as I "want" to be.  Can you imagine one of my little grand kids coming to me and saying "Grump, I want to be close to you" and me pushing them away and saying "No, you have to stay at a distance from me today"?  It would never happen.)  Today, right now, you can be as close to the almighty God of the universe as you want to be.  Don't that just butter your bread this morning?  Where was I?

So I discovered some truths.

• Prayer must be more than a ritual, it must be a relationship
• Prayer must be more than habit, it must be honest communication
• Prayer must be more than copying what I've heard prayed before it must be compassionate (fervent)

I had become satisfied and complacent with my walking in the quiet tabernacle and kneeling by my altar and reaching out and touching those rocks that represented the needs but my personal, relational, passionate time with God had become stale. (Maintenance of your Christian relationship.  Does that speak to anyone this morning?)

So I will not walk to the tabernacle this morning.  I will kneel here at my chair and converse with a personal God.  I will call out to Him for the needs that I have and the needs of those I love.  I will stop going through the motions of prayer and try to really pray honestly and personally with my God.

No, I'm not going to throw your rock away.  And I still will enjoy my times in the tabernacle.  But I will remember why I am there when I go.  I hope you will remember this little lesson when you go to God in prayer. 

TWO BATTLES

As I was thinking and praying for my children a few days ago the thought came across my mind of how Jesus must have felt while He was preparing to die for us.  I have often wondered that if Jesus knew everything and knew how it would all turn out, why was He so fearful and in so much agony.  I know that His death on the cross was an awful event.  I know that it hurt terribly but He knew it would be over in just a matter of hours. He knew His suffering would be turned into glory and that He would not experience it any longer. 

In those last few hours, at least from what we are told in the Word, He was in anguish.  We know that he resorted to that special place where He would go to pray.  We know that He asked His friends, whom He loved and whom He knew loved Him, to pray with Him.  He tried His best to get everything arranged so that they would know what to do and how to do it when He was gone.  And yet still He stressed, and fretted and went through unbelievable torture in His mind. 

Jesus was no wimp.  He would undergo some of the worse torture that human beings could invent and do it without cursing his tormentor or saving Himself when He could. But Jesus was fighting a battle in two worlds. 

The human Jesus naturally feared the torture and humiliation and suffering that He would experience on the cross and He clawed the ground of Gethsemane because of that.  But it was the Devine Jesus who clawed the ground there outside the gates of Jerusalem and He did that for His lost children.

He knew which of them would make a choice not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  He knew which of them would refuse to accept Him and would be eternally lost in spite of all that He could do or that He would willingly go through for them.  It was the pain that the Devine Jesus felt for the loss of His children that caused Him to sweat blood in the garden.

It would be very difficult to lose a child or a grandchild to death.  But many have gone through that, many will go through that today.  Although I pray that I will not have to lose a child or grandchild I know God will give me strength when and if the time comes.  But I cannot imagine how it would be or how I could deal with it if I were to lose one of those loved ones eternally. 

My old evangelist, pastor Paul J. Stewart made a statement that went something like this:  “When I get to heaven, and look around and my children and grandchildren are not there, God will call a mighty angle to fly back down to earth and with a fiery finger write “FAILURE” across my tombstone”.  Brother Paul Stewart felt that if his loved ones missed heaven it would be a direct reflection on him and his efforts or lack of efforts and he couldn’t stand the thought of that happening.

I don’t want to let a single chance go by, not one minute that I spend with my children or grandchildren or any of the people whose paths I cross, that I don’t do my best to interject Jesus into their lives.  If I casually let them miss heaven they will die eternally and suffer in an unimaginable place but it is I too who will be a failure. I too will suffer because of their loss. I must do anything I can to reach them.

I think that is why the loving Jesus was in so much agony in Gethsemane and on Calvary.  He came for the lost. He suffered for the lost.  He died for the lost and He knew that some would not accept Him.

Can you just slide through this day without telling someone about Him?

CHOOSE TO OBEY

The numbers on the mail box are 1219.  The sign next to the driveway says "Double Six Farms" (that's a whole other story in itself).  Derek calls it the "Ponderosa".  You will have to ask him why.  When we drive in the yard, Kinsley simply says, "We home". 

It's about the most beautiful 30 acres I've ever seen, although I might be a bit prejudice. It is bordered on the East by I-65.  On the South by the REA high tension lines and their "right-of-way".  To the West is the creek and to the North is the deadly Poplar Springs Road.  It is there where many of our pets have wondered and died.  It is there that I have warned Gracie not to go. 

She can play anywhere on theses 30 acres but she is never to go toward Poplar Springs Road.  It's not because I'm being mean.  It's not because I don't want her to enjoy herself.  It's not because I just want to be "God" and tell her what to do.  It is simply because I know that if she wonders up there it will most likely mean death for her. 

Of course Gracie doesn't understand my reasoning.  She can't comprehend cars, trucks and asphalt. She just knows that I said "No" and she will be yelled at severely if she goes in that direction. 

So, I was working on the Ranger a few weeks ago.  The started went out and I was trying to be a good mechanic and keep from having to pay someone to replace the starter.  Things were not going smoothly.  The longer I strained and grunted and smashed my knuckles the more I thought paying that money to someone who really knew what they were doing would be a wise choice. 

Gracie was playing around in the front yard when suddenly she went ballistic.  She let out a shrill yelp and headed toward the road.  I yelled at her.  She didn't stop.  There was a big white dog walking down the road and Gracie knew he was not supposed to be there.  She charged up the hill, totally ignoring my yelling for her to stop.  It made me angry.  It made me afraid of what was going to happen to her.  It made me sad that she would not obey me.

I knew what most likely awaited her on the road.  I knew she did not understand but I expected her to obey.  She didn't. 

Does this story sound familiar? 

Man was established in a fine place to live.  Everything he wanted was given to him.  Nothing was withheld, nothing that is except these "two little trees".  "Don't go there", God said." Don't eat of the fruit of those trees"

He knew it would hurt us.  He knew it was bad for us.  He knew it would lead to our spiritual death.  He wasn't being mean.  He didn't do it because He didn't want them to enjoy themselves.  He didn't even do it because He wanted to be God......heck, He was God.  He did it because it was best for them.

But one day, as God was working out in the yard, an old black snake came down the path.  Suddenly, man was overcome with the temptation of doing what he wanted to do.  He ate of the fruit and he died. 

How angry, how sad and how afraid God must have been on that day.  Death was waiting on the man he had created and that he loved and even with all His warning....man ran after the thing that would ultimately kill him.  And because He is God, and because He gave man this wonderful, frightening, powerful thing called "choice".  God didn't stop him.  And man died. 

I realized what God felt to a small extent that day a few weeks ago.  I saw the little dog that I loved and cared for charge head-long toward something that I knew would kill her and I couldn't stop her. 

No, Gracie didn't get hit.  She finally listened to my yelling and came back into the safety of the yard.  She learned a lesson...I hope.  I learned a lesson about how God felt that day in the garden. 

I hope when you are tempted to do something that God has forbidden that you will remember Gracie's little experiment.  I hope you will realize that God says "no" for our own good.  I hope you won't run into the  road of sin.  There is death there. 

Mind your Master.  He knows what's best. 

GRACIE AND THE HORSE FLIES

I was mowing grass down by the creek last week and of course Gracie my little dog went along.  Sometimes it seems that she follows so close that if I ever stop suddenly Gracie runs into me.

So on this particular day, it was hot and down close to the creek the horse flies or deer flies were abundant.  I didn't pay a lot of attention to Gracie as I was cutting but she has a way of letting you know she wants to ride the mower.  She will run along side the mower and raise her head and look at you like "Can't you see I'm trying to keep up with you".  If that doesn't work she will run ahead and then turn around and just stop in front of you. That is her way of "asking" can I ride. Usually I'll stop and turn off the blades and allow her to climb on and sit in my lap and ride for a while. 

Several times on this day she would play her little game.  I would stop the mower and she would jump on and we would ride and cut grass.  But like I said, it was hot and Gracie (like her owner) could stand to loose a few pounds.  Her presence in my lap was making the mowing uncomfortable. So I would stop and put her down expecting that she would go and find other things to do. 

But in just a few minutes she would come back.  Give her little look, dance her little jig and want back on the mower.  Then I realized what she was doing.  The horse flies were getting on her and Gracie hates any kind of bug or fly or "critter" to get on her.  Sitting in my lap she knew that I would knock the horse flies off of her back and she wouldn't be bothered with them.  Once or twice I even let them get on my arm and I swatted them and killed them.  I was taking care of her little problem. 

This wasn't a life threatening problem for Gracie.  The worse that could have happened is that the horse fly would have bitten her and she would have had some discomfort.  She could have ran back to the house and the fly would have left her along.  But at that present time she was bothered by the old fly and she wanted me to solve the problem. So in her way, she came to me with her request.

I on the other hand had plenty of other stuff to concern myself with than swatting horse flies off a little black dog.  But you know what I did?  Every time she ran up to the mower and wanted on, I stopped and let her on, because I cared about her little problems and her discomfort.  It was then I realized something that Jesus said in Matthew 7:11.  Listen to this verse.

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

In Luke 11:13 this same statement is made but in that verse it is related that Jesus said, "how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?

Can I share my take on those two scriptures?  Luke said that when we ask The Father will give us His Holy Spirit.  This is a very important need that we all have.  Being filled with God's Spirit is of utmost importance in the life of a Christian.  It is not a trivial thing.  And Jesus says if we ask, The Father will give us the Holy Spirit. That's enough to make your day if you stop right there.

But Matthew says it a little differently.  He says "how much more will your Father in Heaven give "good gifts" to them that ask Him"?  Not necessarily life threatening things,  not necessarily important things, not things we can't live without but things we want, good things.  Do you see that?

Oh how we need to bring those horse flies to the Father.  I will admit that many times I will try to swat my own horse flies by myself.  I'll fret and worry and run back and forth trying to get shed of them when all I really need to do is to run to my Father and "ask".  And if I, being evil give good gifts to Gracie when she wants to ride the mower even though it's an aggravation to me,  how much more will a loving, Holy, perfect Father give good gifts to me when I come to Him with my request. 

TRIP WIRES

I believe one would be safe in saying that I am not much of a planner.  Although, in working with the Emergency Management Agency for many years, it has been a large part of my job to plan.  I have pretty much tripped and fell into most everything I've ever done. 

When graduation time was approaching in high school many of my friends had plans of what they were going to do with their lives. "I'm going to this college".  "I am going to work for this company".  "I am going to get married".  "I am going into the military".  Me?  I planned no further than graduation.  "Just get me out of here and I'll be happy". 

But there was this little thing called the Viet Nam war going on and God had an idea.  Without a plan of my own, God placed a "trip wire" in my path.  I stumbled over it and fell right into the U.S. Coast Guard. 

Boot camp in the Coast Guard was interesting to say the least.  At the conclusion of that little event they put us through a battery of test, questions and interviews to see what we were qualified to do in this outfit.  I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was a teenager who had done nothing significant but work on the family farm, tinker with hotrods, and play ball a little. I had no interest.  So God stretched out another "trip wire" and I stumbled into diesel engineman's school.  Upon the completion of this school I assumed that I would be on a ship or on a base somewhere with the primary duties of working on engines. But no, another trip and I fell into a search and rescue unit at a little place called Galveston, Texas.  It was an island resort of such where people went to vacation and relax and where there was a great shrimp fleet and a booming shipping business.  So with a splash, I found myself on a small boat with two other young men and we were suppose to save lives and property on the water. 

After I left the Guard, still with no plan, I found myself back at my home town of Calera as a member of the Calera volunteer fire department.  I guess because I had been taught to fight fire and save lives in the Guard, I thought it was something I could do at home.  One night a man named Neil Harkins came up to me at the fire department meeting and asked if I would like to go to EMT school.  I had no idea what and EMT was but said sure.  Another stumble, another fall and I find myself a few weeks later with a state of Alabama Emergency Medical Technician's license. 

Immediately, I was offered a job working for the ambulance service in Chilton County and fell face first into another rewarding and challenging job.  Working midnight shift with Bobby Martin as my driver I did a lot of on the job training and tripped and fell into EMT II school and Paramedic school.  I had always hated school but now I found that learning this stuff came easy.  I was offered a job teaching EMS and when I got up off the floor, found that I really liked sharing what I had learned with others. 

As good as God had been to me and as many blessings as He had given me, I still turned my back on Him and sinned against Him, my family and my loved one's.  I tripped again and found myself working as a Ranger on the river as far away from people as I could get.  I spent many lonesome days and nights just me and the river and the woods.

But a job came open and with the encouragement of Charles Cupp I tripped and found myself hired as Director of the Chilton County Emergency Management Agency.  I could go on and on with other examples of "trips" I have made.  Buying a home, extra jobs, more training, churches and friends I have met and worked with.  But honestly, none of it was planned, at least not planned by me.

And today I find myself at another "trip wire".  I have worked for Chilton County for thirty years and today will be my last day working for them.  As I walked back from the tabernacle this morning I realized that I had tripped over something else called retirement.  I certainly don't dread it.  When I have contemplated about it, it has seemed a good thing to do.  I think others have worried more about it than I have.  I'm not worried because you see when you have tripped as many times as I have you learn something. I have learned that there is a loving, caring God who is always there to catch you and soften your fall. 

Derek stopped by the garden on his way to work last week.  I think he was concerned that I might be concerned that I was getting old and feeble and useless because of my retirement.  As I tied up my tomatoes (which are doing great I might add) He said, "Old man, this retirement stuff ain't the end, it's the beginning".  I think I see that and I am excited to see where I land. 

SO YOU WON'T HAVE TO ASK

It's a common question.  You hear it all the time.  I've asked it myself over this past year, since I knew I was going to retire.  I would meet an acquaintance who had already retired and I would say "Well, tell me how are you liking retirement"?  Some would share a positive response but most would admit that they are bored and would go back to their old job if they could. 

I am not even officially retired yet, that happens on June 30th, 2014, but Derrick Wright the young man who was hired to replace me told me he  would call if he needed anything.  I think that's just his nice way to say " Go home old man and get out of my way".  So for several weeks now I have pretty much enjoyed myself cutting grass, bush-hogging, and working in the garden.  (The best garden I've had in years.)  Those who know me know that is the way I have fun.  But let me share a few more things I have done that should keep you from having to ask the old "How are you liking retirement question". 

One evening, after Keva got off from work, we drove up to Lloyd's on 280.  I ate their fantastic salad, a BBQ plate, and topped it off with lemon pie.  It was great.  That food has tasted the same for I know over 35 years. Since the time coach Danny Alverson and the Calera Eagles allowed me to work with them and enjoy that weekly experience during each football season.  The waitress told me that the same cook had been working there for years.  Nothing beats a good meal with a wonderful friend and a beautiful lady especially when they are one in the same. 

Another afternoon, Derek, Lauran and Kinsley came across the field and ate burgers with us.  After dinner Kinsley and I decided we needed to go out and put a little water on the garden.  She accompanied me there dressed in her little pink sun dress and her Dora The Explorer shoes. After a good time in the garden giving the plants a little drink, I returned her to her parents, wet, muddy and with her princess shoes covered with crud.  We both enjoyed our little task, and mom and dad didn't even yell.

Two large trees crashed in our front yard a few weeks back. So last Saturday as James Sanders cut them up with his big chain saw, I swung the old log splitter and loaded firewood on the truck then unloaded it and stacked it under the wood shed for the winter.  At almost 63 I put in a very long, hot day and slept like a baby.

We have spent time with Chris, Juli and their family watching them slide down the homemade slip and slide,  made of a large sheet of plastic covered with Dawn dishwashing soap and water.  We shared a meal together under the big Black Walnut trees at the old farm place. 

Perrin spent the night not long ago.  He work up about 5:00 a.m. and climbed into the bed beside me. After Nana went to work the next day he and I rode the "big tractor" and the "little tractor", we made a boat out of tree bark and sailed it down the creek (which he called a river).  We sailed that "ship" over and over again. Out in the barn, he found some old toys that his dad use to play with and spent a long time enjoying them.  I planted a maple tree, given to me by Betty Cofer, while he was playing and took his picture next to it.  We laughed and played like two little kids. 

"You are going to be bored", they said.  "You will go crazy the first week", they predicted.  But just in case you are one of those who feels like I won't make it.  Just read my short list of activities above.  You can save your breath and not have to ask the old retirement question.  Cause this old guy is having a blast.