PastorTim

LOVE IS IN THE AIR….

 

Oh is it ever and bigger than life. Let me just begin by telling you that Chad Loves Brittany. Who’s Chad and Brittany? I don’t have the slightest clue, but he sure does love her. How do I know? Well, on the way to the church early Sunday morning I and the rest of the Eastbound lane of US 52 were greeted with a 12 foot high ala solo cup in the chain link fence display of the message. On the fence that lines the traffic lanes that travel the Jessie Stuart bridge nearest the Ohio side, visible to traffic heading East, “Brittany must live in that direction is all I can figure”, are the words Chad loves Brittany. It is today’s version of John Deer green on the water tower of ones love I suppose. Being Valentines Day and all, I thought it very appropriate, and not as vandal like or that expensive. I wonder if the solo cups were on sale? Who cares if you’re in love, right Chad?

Last fall on a trip to Kansas City my son and I rented a car and took in some of the sights. One of the stops on our little junket was the Harry S. Truman museum in Independence Missouri. There we were treated to a plethora of presidential artifacts complete with a life-sized version of the Truman Oval office! What struck me was that throughout the building were the letters, many of them to his wife. In fact A few years ago, the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, MO made public 1,300 recently discovered letters that the late President wrote to his wife, Bess, over the course of a half-century. Mr. Truman had a lifelong rule of writing to his wife every day they were apart. He followed this rule whenever he was away on official business or whenever Bess left Washington to visit her beloved Independence. Scholars are examining the letters for any new light they may throw on political and diplomatic history. For our part, we were most impressed by the simple fact that every day he was away, the President of the United States took time out from his dealing with the world's most powerful leaders to sit down and write a letter to his wife. Man that’s love, eh Chad?

As I reflected on the in your face for all to see expression of Amore’ God’s love for you and I came to mind. For God so loved the world, No greater love hath any man than this, I have loved you with an everlasting Love… all these verses swirled in my head as I thought of how God has loved us. One of my favorite descriptions of God’s love is found tucked away in the letter Paul wrote to the church at Rome. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” One of the things I like most about that verse is the word “commendeth”. It means to put on display, kind of like hanging a picture in a room for all to see. God, in the picture of Christ on the cross, hung it in the room of mankind for all to see. What an amazing Love this is! A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say. C. S. Lewis, who I love to read and quote writes, “To love at all is to be venerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell. 

Dick Hills in “Love is a costly thing” talks about an incident experienced on the mission field, “She was lying on the ground. In her arms she held a tiny baby girl. As I put a cooked sweet potato into her outstretched hand, I wondered if she would live until morning. Her strength was almost gone, but her tired eyes acknowledged my gift. The sweet potato could help so little -- but it was all I had. Taking a bite she chewed it carefully. Then, placing her mouth over her baby's mouth, she forced the soft warm food into the tiny throat. Although the mother was starving, she used the entire potato to keep her baby alive. Exhausted from her effort, she dropped her head on the ground and closed her eyes. In a few minutes the baby was asleep. I later learned that during the night the mother's heart stopped, but her little girl lived. Love is a costly thing. God in His love for us (and for a lost world) "spared not His own Son" to tell the world of His love.” Love is indeed in the air. The love of a young man for a young woman, the love of a creator for his creation. One heart sees the solo cup artwork and is touched in her heart with affection. We all behold the undeniable Love of our God for us on a cross and are called to come and freely accept this Love that can if allowed, change us forever.

Chad & Brittany.....don't think so, that's Terri and I, Oh uh about 28 years ago! Like the hair?

I’M MY OWN GRANDPA!

         Terri says its my hair, I say it’s the miles, but for whatever reason it happened again. For the second time in the last six months it happened. We were in a church service last week when during a time of shaking hands and greeting visitors an older woman came up to me and asked if my name was Throckmorton. I gladly responded in the affirmative to which she posed the question, “do you have a daughter who has a booth in an antique store on Second Street?” Now I gotta tell ya, since this did actually happen a few months back I quickly suspected that this was a set up. You know, the kind of thing some buddy of mine would pull just to get old Pastor Tim’s goat. As I looked at her I quickly realized that she was indeed sincere and serious so I painfully uttered the words “No, but my mother has a booth in the store you are thinking of!” she was a bit embarrassed and I, well I was a bit humbled. Humbled to think that I have now twice been mistaken for my MOM”S DAD! Don’t get me wrong; my mother is a beautiful young looking mom who doesn’t look her age but my daughter? I guess that old song by Lonzo & Oscar from 1947 comes to mind. In the song written by Dwight Latham the narrator marries the older woman. This results in the woman's daughter becoming his stepdaughter. Subsequently, the narrator's father marries the older woman's daughter. The woman's daughter, being the new wife of the narrator's father, is now both his stepdaughter and his stepmother. Concurrently, the narrator's father, being his stepdaughter's husband, is also his stepson-in-law. The narrator's wife, being the mother of his stepmother, makes her both spouse and step-grandmother. The husband of the narrator's wife would then be the narrator's step-grandfather. Since the narrator is that person, he has managed to become his own (step-)grandfather……. Whew! My predicament however is simply because I just look old!

"The real Mom's Dad KAK Grandpa with Joe & Terri"

         All this brings to mind the reality of how others see us. Someone wrote, “My life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done; Leave countless marks for good or ill, ere sets the evening sun. This is the wish I always wish, the prayer I always pray: Lord, may my life help other lives it touches by the way.” Always remember that others are looking our way and will form opinions of us and our faith by the way we live our lives. Secondly I am reminded of how we see others. In John three we see a man by the name of Nicodemus and immediately we see a little of how he saw Jesus. “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” Perhaps he had seen and heard of the miracles of Jesus. Whatever the reason, he had in his mind who and what Jesus was. He had thought it through and with the evidence fresh in mind he began to draw close to the Lord. 

How we see others and how others see us pales in comparison to the grand truth of “How the Lord sees us!” Jesus responds to Nicodemus with this penetrating fact, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” WOW! In spite of the opinion of this Jewish leader, Jesus looked past his power influence and pride to spell out his real need, “You must be born again. And if anyone can look into the heart of man and see the real need of our lives, Jesus Can! Now here’s the good part, though he sees us as we really are. With all our faults and failures, our weaknesses and shortcomings we find ourselves overcome with His love for us, which we cannot explain. Jesus goes on the tell Nicodemus and us as well, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Ronald Reagan once wrote, “No one denies there was such a man, that he lived and that he was put to death by crucifixion. Where...is the miracle I spoke of? Well consider this and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- possibly to your own hometown. A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal, so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who...left no written word has, for 2000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors; all the conquerors, generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that?...unless he really was who he said he was." So how are you looking? Not just to others, but most importantly, to Jesus?

RUNNING ON GENERATOR TIME

Cabin Fever, which was first recorded in 1918, is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in, for an extended period. Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, forgetfulness, laughter, and excessive sleeping. Sound familiar? Memories of 2003’s ice storm had almost vanished from the recesses of my memory banks until an uneasy creepiness settled on me as I awoke very early Wednesday morning. An eerie silence that usually lends itself to a power outage coupled with a loud snapping sound that only accompanies a yellow pine tree as it breaks like a matchstick in the hands of a giant. The giant in this case was the onset of ice accumulation coupled with the previous days snow and yep, there was no power. As the morning progressed it became apparent to me, “and most of the tri-state” that we would be without this creature comfort for some time. hence the term “Generator Time”, The first step in the process having some electric would be of course to find the generator. Don’t know about you but it’s just one of those things you don’t think of often until you really need it, know what I mean? According to my dad, it would be found buried under the aforementioned ice and snow somewhere close to a few other small implements kept close to the stand of yellow pine trees which form a nice neat line on the rear of our adjoining properties. Remember the snapping sounds I referred to earlier in my writing? Some of the snapping was due to the excessive weight of ice and snow that had caused more than a few of these majestic firs to take a bow for the last time, thankfully none had bowed in the general direction of the generator. After locating the long lost treasure I pulled it a good 150 yards to the front of my garage where I would try to get the old boy which hadn’t been started for a year or two, “possibly 2003” up and running. This 4000-watt generator, which would be used to keep food safe from harm for our two homes, would do us no good if it wouldn’t start.  So I began the task of filling it with gas, checking the oil and plug, making sure the power switch is on and of course, pulling the rope! Of this list of necessary things, pulling the rope was the most un-fun. Did I mention it hadn’t been started for some time? All of this to this point I had accomplished on my own, dad was on his way but I wanted to get it going myself. You know, the old pencil pushing Pastor writer guy showing the older outdoorsy who can fix anything Dad I could “get er done” so to speak. I pulled and I pulled, I pulled until my back suggested that we take a short coffee break! Still able to make coffee and find a comfortable chair I was sitting down when dad came by on his way to the garage where mechanic Tim was “gettin er done”, or not! He strolled over to the generator and as I saw him approach I quickly made my way back to the workstation so I could update him with big mechanic words as to the situation at hand. My sore back and my sad heart ached as he bent down and said, “I think you have to turn the gas on right here under the tank”. Turn the gas on…. TURN THE GAS ON? There’s an on off switch for the gas!!!!! Needless to say, with the gas handily turned on we were on our way to generator time in no time at all, which we remained on until Saturday a little after noon. And yes the definition I shared at the beginning fit well, especially the laughter!

          Sounds a little like a story I heard once about Henry Ford. The automaker asked electrical genius Charlie Steinmetz to build the generators for his factory. One day the generators ground to a halt, and the repairmen couldn't find the problem.  So Ford called Steinmetz, who tinkered with the machines for a few hours and then threw the switch. The generators whirred to life--but Ford got a bill for $10,000 from Steinmetz.  Flabbergasted, the rather tightfisted carmaker inquired why the bill was so high. Steinmetz's reply: For tinkering with the generators, $10. For knowing where to tinker, $9,990. Ford paid the bill. Theodore Levitt once said, “Experience comes from what we have done. Wisdom comes from what we have done badly.” I’ll say amen to that! I learned a lesson or two amidst the snow and ice this past week, lessons that I hope to not soon forget. Lesson number one, “Being prepared is more than just a catchy slogan for the Boy Scouts!” I must confess that we were woefully unprepared for all that we faced last week. Oh we had food enough to eat, LP Gas to cook and heat with, but batteries and flash lights… uh, not so much! Are you prepared for the unplanned things of life? Not just a power outage or two, but how about the eternal part of who you are. God created you to live forever, the question is where will that forever part take you? This life we are now living is the very brief part of that forever. What happens after death will be the extended stay! Lesson Two, “You can crank the engine till the cows come home, but you you’ll get no power until the gas is turned on!” is there anything that’s keeping you from being what God has made you to be? Any small switch that need thrown in the direction of your creators will for your life?  James had some good advice for us, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”  What time are you running on, temporary generator time? Or are you plugged into God? Awe man, gotta go, according to the Weather Channel, another winter storm is on the way! Now where did I put that generator?