Thank God For His Blessings

I just want to thank God for his blessings--especially in how he's blessed Hannah. Every night (or nearly every night) Hannah and I pray together, and I always pray that God will send His angels with her each day and that they will surround her and keep her safe. When I started praying this, many of her fears became less intense. I also pray that she will be able to listen, pay attention, and learn at school. I pray that God will help her to do the right thing each day. I pray for her teacher and pray that God will give her wisdom and patience to teach the kids. Somedays we pray for particular kids depending on what happened that day.

Today we had parent teacher conference and Hannah received all A's, the Principal's Award, and Perfect Attendance. I am so thankful that God has allowed me to take care of Hannah and have her in my life. Just as he allowed me to be in the lives of Will and Andy, he was also in control of placing Hannah in my life and she is trully a blessing. Not that she is perfect, because she can be grouchy and difficult with the best of them, but I do love her dearly. She always strives to do good. She wants to make good grades and do the right thing. The other day one of her friends "quit" being her friend and found some new friends. I told her to just keep being her friend anyway. A week or so later, this little girl's "friends" left her, and as Hannah said "she came back to me". She told me, "Mom, God had a plan for me and Alexis all along." It is funny to listen to her process these "minor" problems with such sincerity. For her, these problems are her entire world. I am glad she is learning to find God's hand in every situation. Which brings up the subject of Bible Study. Hannah is also doing well there. Her teachers think she's brillant, and I've already learned that she retains the Bible better than I do. Oh, to be a child again!

Death Will Come For Us All

It seems that I've been surrounded by death lately. Several days in a row, we were called to go and do wills or estate planning for people who were either in the hospital or at home dying. Terry and I went to the home of one particular lady, and she was very pleasant and seemed quite content. She was very clear minded, and to be quite honest I thought she would probably last a few more months; she seemed fairly healthy. She told us she had cancer, and this was the third time. She had beat it two times before. She had seven children and three of them were there. I had to go back to her house on Friday of that week and I had her sign some papers and spoke to her. She was sitting up and seemed very chipper. We discussed that she was a member of the Church at Crossgate and the fact that she believed in God. She died a couple of days later.

A member of my church, Lois Hibbs, died early Monday morning. She was older and living in the nursing home, but actually seemed to be in fairly good physical health for her age. I've discovered that age and health have nothing to do with life really. When God decides your life is over, then you had better be ready.

Still another lady that I knew passed away this week. She was a sister of a dear friend, and her sister had prayed so earnestly for a miracle and that God would spare her. But God had other plans, and she instead has gone home. I've seen God take the young and the old, but the fact stands that death will come for us all. Are you ready to meet Jesus? Who is your master?

What If. . . .

I was listening to the radio the other day and the song "Fifteen" by Greg Long came on. It is a very moving song which poses the thought that it may take as many as fifteen times for someone to hear about Jesus before they will believe. Therefore, if that's the case, we must tell everyone, because we never know if we're the first, the fourth, or even the fifteenth. This is a gripping thought to me, because what if it takes that many people telling someone to convince them that Jesus is real and worth serving, and what if I fail in the line of things? What if it all comes down to you or me? I read a statistic one time that it takes something like five invitations to someone before they will agree to attend an event. There was the story about a man who was invited to a special church event and the first time he was invited he said "absolutely not". The second time he said, "no, I don't think so". The third time he replied, "we'll see." The fourth time he said, "I'll think about it." Then the fifth time he said, "sure, I'll come." I guess we can bug them until they come, but the point is that we should never give up. This time just might be the time they decide to come to Jesus.

Tribute to Will

Ten years ago today, I had the pleasure of listening to Will preach his first sermon. It lasted all of 12 ½ minutes, and I thought it was the best sermon I had ever heard. He was very brave, because he used as his text the scripture which speaks of Paul and Epaphroditus–which is a very difficult name to pronounce.

I will never forget Sunday, August 10, 1997, when Will surrendered to preach. He was just 14 years old, and I have never been more shocked. Will had gone to church camp the week previously, and after coming home that weekend he seemed to be quieter than normal. I just blamed it on the fact that he probably had gotten very little sleep at camp, but apparently not. At the end of service that Sunday, he came forward and announced he felt God calling him to preach. Since that time, I can say that Will has always had God as his top priority. That does not mean he was a perfect teenager who always cleaned his room and treated his brother with respect, but he was never ashamed of the gospel of Christ. He would take his Bible to school every day and they called him "preacher boy". He did his research paper on the life of Paul, and was always studying the Bible. Watching him, made me want to study more.

I thank God he has allowed me to be in Will’s life and watch him grow into the man and preacher he is today. I have to say that every time I hear Will preach, I think, "Wow, he is a really good preacher." Although, I have been known to offer "constructive" criticism at times. At present, Will is the director of the Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship located on the campus of UALR. He is married to Ashley Diggs and they have a very beautiful daughter named Gracie. I pray God’s blessings on them all.

Martha Gets a Bad Rap

I have had busy weekend working at the church. We had a big meeting and had to provide three different meals, and then we also had lunch after Sunday School today. I feel a little like Martha in the Bible. She was stuck in the kitchen, and Mary got to hear all the teaching. I am not complaining, because I wanted to work and help in the best way needed. I do think that Martha gets a bad rap though. If I and the other women had been sitting and listening to the teaching this weekend, and not preparing the food, I am sure we would have heard some grumbling from the others concerning this. I am sure Martha understood this concept and had probably dealt with grumbling appetites before, but Jesus told her that she worried needlessly and that Mary had chosen the better thing. In my work for God, I have come to realize that there are times that I have to miss out on worshiping while I am taking care of other preparations. I just spend other times in worship and study--it may be just me and Jesus meeting together--but I find time to spend with Him. I would encourage you to take notice of the people in your church who are playing the piano, teaching Sunday School, helping with children’s programs, and cooking for church meals, and remember that Marthas need to learn and worship too. There may be a Mary out there who is soaking up all the teaching and needs to give Martha a turn.

Wisemen Teach Us To Worship

Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his
star in the East, and are come to worship Him. Matthew 2:2

Some of the first people to worship Jesus were the wisemen, and if we follow their example, we can also learn how to worship.

• Search. First we must search for Him. The wisemen had studied the Bible and knew that the star meant something special. They also knew that the baby was the Christ. They knew He was worthy of their worship, and went seeking Him. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 4:29, "if. . . you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." How do we search? We study His word which tells us all we need to know about God.
  


• Bow. We must also bow our hearts to Him. We must give him the honor and remove ourselves from the equation. In order to worship, we must bring Him glory and not ourselves. When we bow, we show reverence and a removal of pride. In almost every verse in the Bible that speaks of worship of the true God, it also speaks of bowing.
  


• Give. The wisemen also gave to Jesus. It was sacrificial giving; it was the best they had to give. Hannah sometimes goes through her toys, at my behest, so that we can make room for more. She always says, "I will give these toys to kids who don’t have any", but she never gives them her best toys, she gives the ones she no longer wants. God wants us to give him the best, not the stuff we have no use for or are broken. He wants our very best.
  


• Change. After worshiping Jesus, the wisemen left and went back a different way. Their eyes were opened, and they realized that Herod was not telling the truth. They were changed by worshiping Jesus. Our worship should change us. We should also have a better understanding of Jesus after worshiping Him.

Mary Said, "Yes"

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that are highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: belessed art thou among women." Luke 1:29

Although Mary was highly favored of God, she was not given a break. Being highly favored of God usually brings you greater responsibility. I cannot even imagine the pressure Mary was under when she discovered that she was going to have a child. She knew what people would think and who would blame them–we would all think the exact same thing. I am sure the gossip mill was working overtime, and I can hear them saying things like, “good, straight-laced Mary, look at what she’s gotten herself into.” “I would have never thought Mary would do such a thing.” “Joseph says he’s not the father, I can’t believe he’s going to marry her anyway.”

When God sent the angel to give Mary the scoop, he goes through the whole spiel, and Mary does not argue or complain or weep uncontrollably, all the scenarios I imagine myself doing, but she simply says, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said." Matthew 1:38 She didn’t beg him to use someone else like Moses did, she didn’t run away like Jonah, she didn’t come up with a “better” plan like Abraham, she just said, “let it be”. I long for that peace and security that I can say, “God it doesn’t matter what you ask me to do, I’ll do it.” I pray that I will listen to God and hear when he speaks, and when He says go, I hope I will say, “I am the Lord’s servant, let it be.”