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. 

YARD SALES

Keva and I love to go to yard sales and flea markets.  About once a year we travel to Collinsville, Alabama and spend hours walking through the make-shift booths of the Collinsville Flea Market.  Usually on Wednesdays I’ll make a trek through the local Clanton flea market and on Saturdays it has become a tradition for us to do yard sales and then visit the Clanton flea market again. We “think” we find all sorts of treasures. 

But I went to an estate sell this past weekend and it really made me think.  Apparently, the old couple had passed away and the family was selling their belonging.  We drove up to the simple little wood frame home.  The yards were neat and orderly.  As we walked into the modest little home we saw beautiful but humble furnishing. 

We plundered and in one of the back rooms I saw some things that made me think.  There on a table were boxes and boxes of baseball cards.  Now if you know me, you know I am just like a little kid when it comes to baseball cards.  I have cards that I have saved from when I was nine or ten years old. (Yes, they are antique.)  I have cards that I have bought at baseball card shows when we took the boys to them back in the 90’s.  I have cards that I considered “must haves” and purchased from Ebay.  So when I saw all these cards I thought I was in baseball card heaven. 

This old gentleman had left behind unopened boxes, unopened packs and completed sets of cards.  He had been a very methodic collector.  These things had meant a lot to him.  He had apparently spent hours organizing and cataloging them. But now he was dead, and now his family had no use for these treasures that their dad had saved over the years.  Sets worth anywhere from fifty to twenty dollars a set sold for two dollars a set.   And honestly, some of the cards were not even purchased.  Nobody wanted them.  They were useless. 

I walked on into the back of the home.  There on the wall were some great old antique farming equipment.  Yep, just like the ones I have hanging in my house.  I collect them and treasure them and hang them all over my house because they remind me of the way things were in the past.  I’m sure he did the same.  They were valuable to him.  But now, he is gone and the things that were important to him are being sold to the highest bidder. 

Could it be said that this dear man had spent a lot of his time and hard earned money on flea market junk?  Could it be said that I do the same? Could it be that we are majoring on minor stuff?

I don’t think there is anything wrong with collecting baseball cards.  I don’t think it is wrong to collect antique farm implements.  But I do think I am misguided if I think that these things that are important to me, the things that I choose to spend my money and time for will be important to others when I am gone.  

I believe I should remember that I should place value on things that are eternally valuable. I think this little trip to the yard sale has shown me that I may be placing too much emphasis on the minor stuff that will one day pass away. 

Instead of leaving behind baseball cards, farm implements, houses, land, saving accounts and insurance policies I should focus on leaving behind for my children and grand-children the heritage of a forgiven life and a clean heart.  I don’t care what they hang on their wall or save in their closets, but I do care very much where they place their faith and trust. 

Lord, may I live my life so that what’s important to you…is important to me, and may I leave those things in the path that I travel so that some day when I am with you and they walk along and trip over them  that those things will become important to them as well.     

CAVES OR CROSSES?

I will tell you about an area to which I have never been.  (You know I'm not a world traveler.  I think driving to Birmingham is a major road trip.)  But in the nation know as Turkey today there is an area once known as Cappadocia.  It is a plateau area surrounded on the North, South and East by mountains and rivers.  These natural barriers form a type of protection for the region and made this area a safe haven for those who wanted to escape persecution of various rulers or kingdoms or to simply disappear from the mainstream civilization. 

It's earliest mention is from the 6th century BC.  In Acts chapter two it is mentioned as part of the group hearing the gospel in their own language on the day of Pentecost. 

A unique feature of this region is the rock-like substance formed by volcanic ash, lava and basalt deposits which can be easily carved, shaped and utilized as homes, structures etc. into the sides of the mountains. 

It was to these carved out, caves-like "hide-outs" which the outcast, rebels, and almost 1700 years ago, even a group of Christians, retreated to in order to live out their beliefs in God without persecution. 

As I read and studied about these events for a recent Bible study that we are doing at Heritage church a thought came to me that has troubled me.  Should those Christians have been there in the caves of Cappadocia?  Naturally, our first instincts are to save ourselves and our families.  It is a common response.  It is an expected response.  But consider this with me, if you will.  Is our job as Christians to be normal and to do the expected?  Were we saved and changed to be like Christ so we can hide out in safe places?  As much as I admire these people for wanting to move to a place where their families can be safe and they can worship God as they desire, so they can live like Jesus.  I wonder is that what Jesus did?

The Jesus I have been taught about since Mrs. Irene Lee and Mrs. Novis Tate and my own Mom taught me, in a back room of that little block church in Calera, was a man who did not run from adversity.  Instead, He walked head on into it.  He could have safely gone to places like Cappadocia and taught His disciples and sent them out and His life on earth may have lasted much longer than a short thirty-three years.  But He didn't. Is that what Jesus would want? Were we not called to tell the story? Were we not call to spread the gospel?  Were we not called to live the Christian life in front of the lost so that they can "see our good works and glorify the Father which is in Heaven"?

Should these people have been hiding in the caves or should they have been carrying their crosses?

But wait.  Before we go and criticize these early Christians lets look at our situations.  Where are we hiding?  You and I attend our churches on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday nights.  We gather together with others of like faith and sing and pray and worship our God.  In our minds this is the correct and proper thing to do.  We are not threatened here.  We are safe and free to "do God's will". But is this God's will?

Were we not called to "go" and not "stay".  Were we not told that if our gospel is "hid" it is hid to them that are lost?

Christians, I believe in our day and time we have resorted to our caves.  Oh, we don't call them that.  We call them churches, small groups, worship centers but are they not the places where we go to hid?  I am free to pray here, sing here, worship and read the word here but if that is the only place where I do these things I have become a "hideaway Christian".  His gospel, His good news must be shared with those who are lost, even if you and I are "persecuted" for it. 

I hide in other ways.  Instead of being up-front, instead of being open, instead of being vocal about my belief and my faith in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world I just kind of let things go on by and "hide out" but not participating in them or resisting them. 

Where are the Christians who will stand for what is right and fight against what is wrong in spite of ridicule or persecution?

Now I doubt that you have undergone very much persecution for your religious beliefs lately.  I recall the words of my high school football coach Richard Gilliam.  We were talking once about sharing our Christian faith with others.  Coach Gilliam said, "If no one is shooting at you, you must not be flying your flag high enough.  If you run your flag high enough, someone will shoot at it". 

Our day of persecution will come.  It may come, I dare say sooner than any of us think.  And when it does, what will we do?   Will we run and hide or will we run up our flag and stand for right even though it means we suffer for it?

Let's live our lives in the open.  Let's choose the cross and not the caves.