Month: September 2019

For the word of God is living and active – sharper than a two edged sword piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joint and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12

Randy and I recently took a fabulous cruise to the Baltic Sea countries.  One of our stops was St. Petersburg, Russia.  We took a tour of the churches, palaces, and museums, and I was awed by the opulence and beauty.  Every structure we entered was huge, trimmed in golf leaf, and dripping in wealth and affluence.

One of the buildings that had been a church in years past was now a museum.  The guide said that in these countries, you don’t ask people if they are religious, it is not discussed.  It appears churches and religion have become irrelevant to many people in this country and in many other places.  Irrelevant is defined as not important or not connected.  It’s hard to believe that those beautiful places no longer connect to people or are important to them.

On our return, I was thinking how fortunate we are in this country that churches are still relevant.  However,the next day as I was talking to a neighbor of mine, I discovered that he is in the art production business.  He was telling me how his million dollar job at this moment is in a church where  they are replacing all the beautiful windows with new lighting and sound equipment, remodeling the altar, and making the church more relevant for the times.  He went on to say that it has to be done because the old way of doing things is irrelevant and that churches can’t make any money unless they keep up with the times.

I’ve got a couple of problems with this so called irrelevance.  First, when did churches exist to make money?  Secondly, who decides what is irrelevant or relevant?  Is it society, media, culture, or maybe the churches themselves?

It is disturbing to me that church attendance has become optional in this day of electronic access.  We are made to feel that it’s okay if we stay home and stream the service, but we are missing the point that the church itself is God’s place of encouragement and strength.  If we only attend fifty per cent of the time, we are missing the bond that binds us as Christians.

I actually can’t think of a time in our society when the need for churches and religion has been more relevant.  People are hungry for truths that are the same yesterday, today and forever.  Before we brand churches and religion as irrelevant, we need to remember that it’s the job of Christians to spread the good news to everyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear.  It’s up to us to help insure that churches and other places of worship are never branded irrelevant.

God’s grace is sufficient for us anywhere His providence places us.  Unknown

The words mercy and grace seem very similar, but if you look carefully, their meanings are different.  Mercy is God’s compassion when we deserve punishment thus delivering us from judgment.  Grace, on the other hand, is God’s blessing us even when we don’t deserve it.  Last week, I received both.

A traffic ticket has been haunting me for months now.  The citation was for a “move over law” violation.  I felt that I was wrongly charged, but after my court day, the possibility of this dragging on endlessly, and points on my license to consider, I ended up giving in.  I admit to feeling frustrated with the whole thing.

I grudgingly wrote a check for $500 (which is so outrageous, but it’s standard for that offense), and taking a defensive driving course to remove points from my license.  The lesson learned, I moved on, but the whole thing was never far from my mind.

Arriving home, a couple of weeks later, I got the mail.  Included in the mail was a note to me, so I opened it expecting a thank you for a wedding or baby gift.  Imagine my surprise when five crisp one hundred dollar bills fell out along with an unsigned note.  The note was so heartfelt, kind, generous, amazing, lovely, merciful, and so many other adjectives that I felt myself crying in spite of myself.  It ended by saying, “You don’t need to know who this is.  Just know it’s somebody who loves you and thinks you were treated unfairly.”  Who would do that for me?

I immediately began to list folks who might do this, so I could return the money or at least thank them.  It is so much harder for me and most of us to accept gifts rather than give them.

God talks about every good and perfect gift being from above in  James. During our years in ministry, there have been countless gifts which have come our way in many different forms, but this time the gift had a sense of mercy and grace.  Mercy because it wasn’t their punishment but mine, and Grace because the gift certainly wasn’t deserved.

In the course of trying to understand the two words and the power behind them, it seems the only true course is to accept the mercy and grace God offers through the actions of others.  It also seems to be the recipient’s duty to pass that love, mercy and grace on to others.  My prayer is that I can show the same mercy and grace to someone along the way.

Just when you think nothing good can come from a bad situation, God steps in and turns it around!  I’m so grateful for His angels that do His work.

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.  Phil.  3:14

In the last few weeks, we have loved watching the hummingbirds from our porch.  There are three feeders, and they hungrily go from one to the other filling up for their long migration flight.  The males are gone I hear, but the females and babies are still here for a couple more weeks.

The other day, I opened the garage door after returning home to find a baby hummer who was trapped inside frantically trying to get out.  No matter how I encouraged him to fly low enough to be successful, he kept flying higher and higher.  These birds are supposed to have the largest brains and be among the smartest of the birds.  They can remember their routes of migration, and every flower they have visited.  It is said that they even recognize humans, yet he couldn’t find his way out.

Exhausted, he finally lit on the top of the garage door.  Randy climbed the ladder, and the hummer let him pick him up in his cupped hands.  I stroked his head, we took him outside, let him go, and watched him soar higher and higher and away.

It seems that the instinct to raise ourselves higher and higher is instilled in all of us.  In our everyday world, we strive to attain higher goals for ourselves and our family, attain higher status in our respective careers, attain a higher salary, and the list goes on.  We all seem to seek something more beyond our daily life.

In 1898 Johnson Oatman, Jr. felt the same way about the need to reach higher and higher in his spiritual life.  He wrote many hymns, but one of the favorites is Higher Ground.  I believe the lyrics tell the story of our need to achieve something higher than what this earthly life can offer.

I’m pressing on the upward way;  New heights I’m gaining everyday.                         Still praying as I’m onward bound; Lord plant my feet on higher ground.                 Refrain:                                                                                                                                               Lord life my up, and let me stand; By faith on heaven’s table land.                               A higher plane than I have found; Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

As we seek to rise above all the distractions of life, I pray that like our hummingbird, we will just keep rising higher and higher.

Photo by Donna LaChance

The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.  1 Cor. 13:13

The long awaited football season is back and in full swing.  College teams already know their preseason ranking, have played at least one game, and are busy evaluating the most important changes, improvements, or goals for the new season.  The baseball season is providing some excitement, and all in all it’s all good.

I began to think about different sport teams and the different positions that are most important on each one.  Everyone on the team plays a different place, but which one is really the most important to the team?

It all depends on the player upon whom you focus.  If you are talking football at our house, the center is the most important person to us.  Not because Randy played center, but because Coop, our grandson is playing center now.  We watch every snap he makes, every tackle he makes, and every huddle he calls.  Our focus is on him.

If you are talking basketball here, then the guard is the most important person to us.  Drew, our oldest grandson, plays this position, and we watch every shot he takes, every rebound he gets, and every time he takes the ball down the court.  We are focused on him.

If it is lacrosse, then the middie and the goalie are the most important. (He plays both). Mason is all into this sport, and we watch the energy and skill he uses as he runs up and down the field and blocks those shots.  We focus on him like a ball in a tennis match.

Now,  in soccer, the newest player is the most important person on the team. Our youngest grandson, Reese, plays this sport. He’s new to soccer and he hasn’t decided where he needs to play, but he’s serious about wherever he plays.  We all focus on wherever he is.

The interesting thing is that every other parent, grandparent, or friend in the stands is focused on their most important person.  It’s not so much about the game as it is about the person upon whom we focus.

So it is in life, families, churches, and the world.  It all depends on your values, traditions, and your focus.  In our fast paced society, it’s easy to all focus on different most important things like work, finances, errands, social gatherings, and so many more.  We tend to forget that all of us should have one main focus – the most important things as God sees them.

I think He would have us start our day with morning devotionals and prayer.  I think He would have us limit distractions which take away from life as He would have it be for us.  I think He would want us to serve others and make them the most important .

In the aftermath of Dorian where so many have lost family members, homes, and their way of life, the most important things become obvious.  The anniversary of 911 is also upon us, and it would do us all good to stop and remember the losses suffered during that time.  At that time, our country, patriotism and unity were America’s most important things.

There is no one most important person on a team.  Everyone on a team needs to have one goal and work together to achieve it. Christians are a big team, and as such, it is important not to focus on so many different most importants, but rather to listen to God’s voice and work together to make His will the most important thing.

Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  Isaiah 40:31

When I was growing up in Donalsonville, our home was full of things which we considered important.  There were family pictures on the wall, china in the hutch, silver flatware in the drawers, special trinkets, etc.  These things were each special to us in their own way.  My Mama treasured most of these things and treated them with much care.  We were encouraged to do the same.

There was an occasion where a neighbor of ours had a small fire in their home, and I remember asking our Mama, “What would you save if there was a fire?  What is the most important thing to you?’  I was making a mental list of material items, but she answered as a mother should, “I would save the three of you.”  I was thinking material things, but she had an understanding of what was truly important.

Recently, my cousin and his family had a house fire.  It was classified by the insurance company as a total loss.  They did lose the structure, the pictures, the dishes, the clothes, and many more material items, but it was not a total loss.  They were able to get everyone out safely, and so they are most fortunate.

The words total loss are used for many things such as cars, investments, businesses, careers, lives,etc., but nothing is a total loss if you can come out of it with your life and your dreams.

There are so many times when we consider everything we have done in this life, and we begin to brand it as a total loss.  At that point, we will feel as if nothing we can do or say will ever pull us out of this despair.  The truth is that nothing is a total loss and no life is over until God says it’s over.  At our lowest point, there is always hope, mercy, and grace from God.

In my cousins’s case, they never considered their life a total loss, just the opposite.  This tragedy has ended in triumph.  They have experienced generosity of friends, help from people everywhere, a new appreciation of family and friends, a sense of God’s hand from their church, and even a new found appreciation for relatives!!  The most important parts of their life are still there,  and they are rebuilding slowly but surely.

My lesson from this is to hold on, God is coming to your aid.  He’s coming to bail you out and set you free.  Never settle for a total loss.