Month: January 2022

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Our family lived and grew up in a small rural south Georgia town where most everyone knew each other. Almost every business in town was owned and operated by at least an acquaintance, if not a friend or extended family member. For example, my uncle Wallace owned People’s Supply, a tractor dealership and supply. My uncle Hudson owned the Firestone dealership in town, my Mama owned and operated Mi’s Cards and Gifts, several of my good friend’s parents owned the Piggy Wiggly, Woody’s Oyster Bar, and Davis’ Jewelry and Gifts as family businesses.

We had maybe four gas stations (which we referred to as filling stations) in town, but we always frequented Mr. Woodrow Jernigan’s Gulf filling station on the corner of Highway 84. When you pulled into the filling station to fill up with gas, Mr. Woodrow (or Steve) always checked your oil, checked your tire pressure, and cleaned your windshield. They kept track of your maintenance schedule, and when you drove away, you knew everything was full and had been checked out! That was the service they offered for everyone! Oh, how far we have come from those days!

When the tank in your car is full and you’ve had a full check up, you tend to feel safe and secure because you know that you should be equipped to reach your destination.

The fruits of the spirit represent a destination to which we all should aspire. These fruits are a list of the characteristics which those who belong to God should display. The first three- love, joy, peace -are inner qualities which reflect our relationship to God. The next three – patience, kindness, goodness – reveal themselves in our attitude and actions toward our neighbor. The last three – faithfulness, gentleness, self control – reflect how we should conduct ourselves in view of the duties, opportunities, and obligations that arise in our daily lives.

Sometimes our “tank” of these fruits becomes empty, and we need to visit the filling station to replenish them. Running on empty in our daily lives can lead us to feeling distanced and removed from God’s influence in our lives.

There are things that can prevent us from visiting the filling station in our daily lives. First, we “forget to remember” to pray every day and specifically ask to have our lives filled with the spiritual gifts. We forget that God is always there waiting for us to refill the things we are lacking.

Secondly, we often say “no” to God when He is dealing with us about a specific area in our lives. I can’t help but snicker at parents and grandparents (us included) who allow the children to say “no” when they are told to do something. We know what’s best for them, yet, sometimes we allow children to make grown up decisions. We need to remember we are God’s servants, not His advisors.

Next, if we aren’t filled up, we allow doubt and fear to paralyze us in our efforts. God is the driver when you are on this journey of life. Take the fruits of the spirit with you. He knows where this life is leading us and how long it will take to get there! Don’t doubt him or question him. His destination is worth the trip!

Consider the consequences of not filling up when we are in need of the fruits of the spirit. Could we consider ourselves a Christian if we were completely lacking in love, always unhappy and miserable, always racked by worries and fears, always impatient, always unkind, completely dishonest, completely untrustworthy and disloyal, aggressive, bullying, unstable and completely lacking in self control? This would be our lives without the grace of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.

Eugene Peterson expresses it best in The Message. But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard–things like affection for others, exuberance for life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what every one else calls necessities is killed off for good – crucified. Galatians 5:22-24

My prayer is that we visit the filling station often and come away full of the fruits of the spirt.

Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of heaven, feed me ’til I want no more. Fill my cup, Fill it up and make me whole. Jessy Dixon

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27

This past summer our family had an unexpected chance to visit Jamaica for our family vacation. It was a last minute COVID induced trip, and although, we were a bit skeptical, it ended up being one of our favorite trips.

Included in our plans was an excursion that was billed as “Swim with the Dolphins”. I’m not sure about the others, but when I pictured this dolphin swim, I saw a white sandy beach, crystal blue water, dolphins swimming around, and our family swimming along with them.

Then reality always set in. When we arrived at the entrance to the Dolphin Swim, we entered through a building and were led outside to a bay like area where a hoard of people were donning lifejackets and being told to wait on benches in groups. Can you say, “tourist trap”? As I looked at the faces of our family, I knew they were all thinking the same thing.

When our time came to enter the water with our dolphin trainer, my impression began to change. All around us in a huge area were other groups of people in small groups with their own trainer. There was laughter, dolphins swimming everywhere, applause, and exclamations of “Wow”!

The very first thing we did with our dolphin was swim out a little way from the group, turn and put out our arms in front of us. The trainer instructed us to hold our arms there until she swam into them. That dolphin swam right into our arms and stayed there while we held and hugged her. The visions I had of swimming with the dolphins quickly became the reality of dancing with one, holding one in my arms, and riding holding her fins!!

When that dolphin swam into my arms and patiently waited for me to hold her and let me hug her, I thought how much God would enjoy us doing the same with Him. The picture of Him holding out His arms and waiting for us, but not pushing us, so He can enfold us there came to life for me!

God’s everlasting arms are found beneath us, before us, and around us in this life of ours. When we picture God’s outstretched arms, we can see arms of protection. Just like a mother or father puts his arms around their child to protect them from danger, God protects His children. It’s sometimes hard to live in this crazy world where there are dangers everywhere it seems, but the scripture above assures us that God is our protector.

God’s everlasting arms also offer affection. As mothers we know that when our children or grandchildren have fallen or are hurt, we pick them up in our arms to comfort and love them. The Bible speaks of the shepherds who carry their sheep in their strong arms to offer protection and affection. I picture God embracing us with his strong arms and telling us how much we are loved.

God’s everlasting arms offer strength. The arms of God are strong. In times of need, it’s amazing how God sends special friends whose very presence give us strength and security. We can lean on the arms of friends with confidence that they are offering their strength when our own strength is failing.

The everlasting arms of God offer endurance. The human blessings of arms of protection, affection, and strength will not last forever, but we can be assured that God’s everlasting arms will never weaken or grow weary. The arms of God are underneath His children in times of sickness, sorrow, even death. When every earthly thing is gone from beneath us, when hands that we have held are unclasped, and we sink into what seems like darkness, we will find ourselves in the everlasting arms of Christ. copied

Just like our dolphins who were perfectly at peace in our arms, one day we will all have that same feeling resting in God’s everlasting arms.

What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Leaning, Leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, Leaning, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Lyrics by Elisha Hoffman

Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

The image above was posted to Georgia Football social media pages late Monday night, and the only caption it needed were two goats (the goat emoji symbolizes the acronym for greatest of all time) and a handshake emoji! It’s an image that will live forever in Georgia Football history, and it came just moments after the University of Georgia won their second National Championship title Monday night in Indianapolis.

Vince Dooley, who is 89 years old, coached the Bulldogs for forty one years, and he was the only coach to win a National Championship. Now Kirby Smart, 46, will join him. The two met moments after the game to share a handshake and a few words! Dooley coached the Dawgs from 1964-1988, and he coached so many greats including Kirby Smart who played for him from 1995-1998. Oh the excellence we see here!!

It’s impossible to believe that forty one years ago, we were listening to Larry Munson call the Sugar Bowl game between Georgia and Notre Dame which would determine the National Champion. Great names such as Buck Belue, Hershel Walker and Lindsay Scott were players of excellence at that time! On Monday night, other names joined the list of excellent players. We will long remember and talk about Bennett, Mitchell, and Davis. Their spirit, determination, and desire will remind us of what it takes to achieve excellence.

Excellence is defined by Webster as the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. The Bible’s interpretation of excellence; however, is to be the best we can be with God’s grace. Excellence is not a gift, it has to be desired and sought after. God might give us the desire for excellence, but we have to cultivate it within ourselves. People aren’t born with excellence, they work for it!

Just as athletes work to attain excellence, so should we as Christians strive for it. Why should we even pursue excellence? According to the Bible, we should strive for excellence not because we are motivated to boost our ego or achieve success, but because God deserves no less. Just as there is no “I” in team, we do it for Him not ourselves. He has created created us for excellence and to pursue it for His glory.

I love hearing stories of athletes, business folks, lawyers, doctors, ministers, who pursue excellence because they follow the lead of those who have come before them and set goals they want to imitate. What better way as Christians to achieve excellence than to imitate Christ in this world, not for our own glory, but to point others to Him.

We need to pursue excellence to show others what a spirit of excellence can do in our lives, and in the lives of those around us. We’ve all had experiences with folks who sign on to do a job for which they are trusted, but they then disappoint us by doing the job half way. Professionalism or dedication to the job we undertake leads us to develop this excellence which others want to emulate.

We pursue excellence by living a life with integrity. We will all make mistakes, but if we have integrity, we own up to our mistakes and take the consequences. I loved that after Bennett’s incomplete pass was ruled a fumble, he commented, “I will not be the reason we lose tonight.” He took responsibility. Just as Martin Luther King led with integrity, we as people of God are called to live a life of integrity regardless of our situation, what others around us are doing, or who is not watching!

Excellence is fostered by resilience. Life is hard and hands us mountains to climb and in order to overcome these obstacles, we have to be resilient or tough!! That’s where faith and hope come in. Faith and hope links our present circumstances to our vision for the future. Resilient people have the capacity to move ahead in the midst of difficult circumstances.

In a post game interview with Alabama’s Bryce Young and Will Anderson, they tried to take the blame for the team’s loss, but Coach Sabin stepped in to set the record straight. Sabin said, “We would not be here without these two guys. These guys have brought us to this point, and our team is not defined by one game.” Now, that’s excellence!

It’s inspiring to know that excellence is being taught every day. The Georgia and Alabama teams are examples of this. Life is hard. Work for what you want, love the people around you, and bet on yourself. Give God the glory for your excellence. copied

Congratulations and Go Dawgs! Thank you for a great year!!

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential, not many of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things, and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before Him. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

We live in a world today where people are consumed with love of self and self promotion. If we aren’t lifting ourselves up, we are lifting up our children, grandchildren. organizations, or businesses with the intention of earning bragging rights. It seems we’re always seeing stickers on cars that brag about something. Often the sticker is associated with a child’s honor roll status, a particular sport in which that child or grandchild excels, a promotion for a business, or a political statement. It’s human nature to want to share pride in or for something.

A sense of brag, as it was called in the 17th century, arose to mean declare or assert boastfully. Webster defines it these days as the entitlement to boast about something or a temporary position of ascendancy in a closely contested rivalry.

The closely contested rivalry happens for this household tonight. Tonight is the night The University of Georgia and The University of Alabama come together in a contest for bragging rights in the National Championship game. There is so much hype over this game no matter who plays, but this year is special!

Our Bulldogs have already lost once this year to the Crimson Tide, and as staunch Dawg supporters, we feel that the time has come for a win! There is a sense of allegiance that everyone feels to our own personal alma mater, but honestly, we would love nothing more than to win bragging rights for our Dawgs this year!! I’ve heard it said that nobody likes a bragger, but just this once, it surely would be sweet!

The only person I can recall who could get away with bragging about Alabama around Randy was Grace Bunke. How can you argue with an allegiance such as she had for the Tide? There was a special kind of sweet rivalry they shared, and even bragging rights were allowed between them.

It’s so easy to fall into the bragging trap even though it might start innocently enough. It seems that even in Jesus’ day people liked to brag. The above scripture reminds us that God didn’t choose those of wealth or power, the statesmen, or the orators to publish the gospel of grace and peace. He judges what men and what measures best serves the purposes of His glory. God doesn’t need us to brag about ourselves or our team, and He probably doesn’t like bragging at all unless we are bragging about Him and what He is doing.

In the 1950’s the question was asked on a game show, “What do people fear the most?” The answer then was polio, communism, nuclear annihilation, and not being loved. If we asked that same question today, the answers would probably be COVID, corrupt government officials, the power grid, pollution, and not being loved.

No matter the time, people fear not being loved. If we need to brag about something, let’s brag about the fact that God loves and accepts us. Eternal life starts right here on earth. Everywhere we turn His love surrounds us. When we brag on His love for us in our prayers and our life, conversations will open for others to see and feel that love.

The other question people long to be answered is, “Can I be forgiven?” In this life, we often do or say things to others that we regret. It would be wonderful to be able to brag about our power to forgive those who have wronged us by word or deed and to be assured that they would do the same for us.

We can brag about His forgiveness. God sent Jesus to do what we can’t do for ourselves. On the cross, He forgave us all our past, present and future sins. In Christ, we are put right with God, made holy, and set free.

This world seems to be set on dividing us, polarizing us, and underscoring our differences, but God’s people understand that it’s not necessary for people to believe the way we do in order for us to love them. It’s not necessary for the world to act like we do. We can brag about God’s people and how they serve Him.

This world isn’t bragging about the right things. Rather than bragging about our accomplishments, our wins, or our material possessions, let’s try bragging about God’s love, God’s forgiveness, and God’s encouragement. Then, the world will know we are Christians by our love, encouragement, strength, and forgiveness.

A big apology to all our Alabama friends and relatives, but we have to say, “Go Dawgs”. It’s not bragging (yet) just encouraging!!! Hopefully, when the dust has settled after this game for the ages, the chapel bell will ring all night long!!

We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord; And we pray that our unity will one day be restored; And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love; Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love.

The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

The Christmas season is behind us, the calendar has flipped to a new year, the Bulldogs are winners, COVID is still among us, and we are standing in anticipation of what the New Year will bring. It’s a bit like the Price Is Right game show where three doors are presented to the contestant, and they must choose one not knowing what lies behind any of them. This new year can hold joys, challenges, opportunities, and even sorrows, but none of us really knows what is behind the next bend.

One of the highlights of the Christmas season for me is hearing a great choir sing the Hallelujah Chorus by Handel. He wrote the entire Messiah in only three weeks even though his eyesight was failing, and he was facing the threat of dying in a debtor’s prison because of a mountain of outstanding bills. He said the music literally “came to him” in a flurry of notes and motifs, and Handel credits the completion of this masterpiece to one thing, joy. He lived to see his work become a cherished tradition as he learned the joy of the Lord being his strength.

Many of us tend to confuse joy with happiness, but there is a difference. You can’t be happy without being joyful, but you can be joyful without being happy. Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness, while happiness is defined as the state of being happy.

Rick Warren says, joy is the assurance that God is in control of every detail of our lives. No matter the uncertainty of our lives right now, joy is the quiet confidence that ultimately everything will be all right.

Now God is blessing us with a new year, and with it, a chance to find our joy! Joy came unexpectedly to us this past Christmas when our extended family gathered to celebrate on the day after Christmas. It had been over a year since we had seen our nieces, nephews, and their children. All ten of our Mama and Daddy’s great grandboys were here, and as we grabbed them from their game of basketball for a quick picture, I was reminded of the joy and pride that would be theirs if she and Daddy could have been here to seen them! They range in age from seventeen to almost three, and each one is special in their own way! As one of our neighbors commented, “It warmed my heart to see all those boys enjoying each other.”

After much thought, I wondered, How do we keep our joy this year? Each year seems to bring resolutions which end up being broken as we promise each year to do better, but resolutions only happen when we resolve to keep them.

Making resolutions is a good thing because it gives us a goal for which to work and hope to keep moving toward them. In the spirit of resolutions to keep our joy this year, first, we need to take time for what really matters, tackle one thing at a time, and start small and get the job done! Things like Bible Study, spending time with family and friends, helping others, and giving of our time to make things better for those who can’t do it alone.

Secondly, we keep our joy by relinquishing the things we cannot control or change and give them to God for resolution.

Next, we keep our joy by resolving to remember. It’s a year to remember all that Christ has done for us and to remember that we can never repay Him for all that He has done. In this new year, we should all resolve to do our best for Him.

Finally, we keep our joy by resolving to make each day the first day of the rest of our life. Jonathan Edwards, the great theologian, began each day with two resolutions: “First, I will live for God. Second, if no one else does, I will.”

This new year our prayer is that the day will come when the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord. This year keep that pure joy! Happy New Year!!

The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord; And of His Christ, and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever. King of kings (Forever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!) And Lord of Lords (Forever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!) And He shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Excerpts from The Hallelujah Chorus by Handel