PastorTim

GIVE THEM ROSES…..

Salute a: to address with expressions of kind wishes, courtesy, or honor b: to give a sign of respect, courtesy, or goodwill to. : to honor

 

If you find yourself driving eastbound on U.S. 52 through New Boston Ohio you have seen him. You may not know his name, you may have never waved at him but you have seen him. I promise if you do wave, he’ll wave back. I don’t know his name or where he came from, but it appears that he is a veteran of the armed forces. I do not know what branch of the military, that doesn’t matter at all. But I wave, and he waves back. His wheel chair prevents him from walking about the yard, mowing grass or raking leaves. It has become his only piece of furniture he really needs, and to most, that would have long since taken away the joy in their life, but it doesn’t appear so in what I have seen in him. I wave; he waves back with a smile. Veterans Day is a long way off, but Memorial Day is upon us. Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (on May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. Yet many forget, many ignore and some even protest such displays of respect and recognition. Why? It’s beyond me.

It was ordinary men and women with everything they held dear to loose who for simply the love of God and what is right wrote, “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Not the most quoted line of the Declaration of Independence is it? They not only wrote those words, they lived them. And as well, all those who voluntarily following in their footsteps gave, as Abraham Lincoln said, “their last full measure of devotion” for what we enjoy and cling to today, freedom. A freedom that the rest of the citizens of the world still today long to enjoy. Let me encourage you this year as you plan the picnics, celebrate with graduates and enjoy this precious freedom that you take the time to remember, give thanks and display respect. I recently found a quote from Actor Jimmy Smits, who at the 2007 National Memorial Day concert shared this fitting reminder, “All of us who have lost loved ones know the searing pain of grief. We know how difficult it is, even impossible, to let go. Grief is our wound, the hole inside us left by each precious life that has been taken from us, an emptiness that indeed can never be filled by anyone else. We go on with our lives; we must. But tonight as we remember those who have died for our country, let us be reminded that grief is a sacred wound. So let us respect our own grieving; for it is, after all, an expression of our love. And it is an honoring of those who died for us. Let us be assured that the feeling we call grief -- its shock and sadness, its anger and confusion, and most of all its loneliness -- is our way of saying, “We love you.” Abraham Lincoln spoke from his heart and the back of an envelope on November 19, 1863. “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people and by the people shall not perish from the earth.”

As we remember lives given for freedoms cause let us not forget the greatest sacrifice of all. Jesus said, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” And oh how he loved his friends! He did lay down his life for them and each of us. The deserving and the undeserving, the caring and the uncaring, the good, the bad and the ugly of heart were on his mind as he died on the cross. And the battle he fought was not just to give us physical freedom that would only last to the end of our brief existence, but eternal freedom from the struggle and the bondage of sins grip. So as we remember those who died for our freedom let us never forget the one who gave his life for the liberation of our soul. It is said that Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, once had captured a prince and his family. When they came before him, the monarch asked the prisoner, "What will you give me if I release you?" "The half of my wealth," was his reply. "And if I release your children?" "Everything I possess." "And if I release your wife?" "Your Majesty, I will give myself." Cyrus was so moved by his devotion that he freed them all. As they returned home, the prince said to his wife, "Wasn't Cyrus a handsome man!" With a look of deep love for her husband, she said to him, "I didn't notice. I could only keep my eyes on you- -the one who was willing to give himself for me."            Salute!

YOU REAP WHAT YOU THROW…..

Who would have thought, certainly not me, not back then anyway? We do so many things in those wonderful years of youth that we just take for granted we will never regret, never remember, and never think of again. But from time to time there they are, right before us like that goofy little stack of money in the Geico commercial just starring at us with those beady eyes as if to say, “thought you were rid of me didn’t you my pretty!” I just added the my pretty for effect, anyway, there they are starring us right in the eyes reminding us of the sobering truth of acts committed oh so long ago that that still remain.

The past wrong that I am referring to in my life that was recently revealed centered around the wise counsel of a grandfather and the erratic throwing arm of one overconfident teenager. The year was probably 1975 and I was enthralled as many were with the amazing “Big Red Machine”. The likes of Rose, Bench Morgan and Perez occupied the mind of this 12 year old boy most of the time as I with glove and ball seemingly permanently affixed to my being wandered the property that I now call home finding hard fixed surfaces to bounce said ball of off thus simulating a fly or ground ball. In other words, I was bouncing balls of any wall I could find! As I found my way to the front wall of my Grandpa’s garage where McDermott sandstone lay in place to the height of the 12 feet or so to the point where asbestos siding finished the front of the garage wall. There I stood practicing my Don Gullet windup only to be interrupted by Grandpa warning me to be careful because siding would break if I was to toss a pitch that high. Brushing his advice off like a high and tight fastball I proceeded with my endeavor until, you guessed it, with a dull crackling thud an errant pitch mashed sharply into the second tile up just to the left of a window. The damage was done, a Grandpa was angered and a teenager learned a lesson. Or at least I thought the lesson was learned that day. As I have mentioned before I now own the house my grandparents lived in those days and just a few weeks back spent the afternoon pealing of the ivy that covered the front of that same garage. Along with siding and sandstone that no one had seen in years there was a familiar broken tile that brought back to my mind a warm summer day when a wild pitch tough me a lesson. Problem is, it’s still teaching me.

         That little dent in the siding teaches me that Listening today prevents future regret. The writer to the Hebrews said “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” Every time I see the broken piece of siding I am reminded that I need to pay attention to what God says to me. Through his word, through his leading and through his still small voice. I need to listen. That broken tile teaches me that covering up never erases past wrongs. An Old Testament writer reminds us, “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” you can sweep it under the rug or let ivy grow over it, but it’s still there until God takes it away. Lastly that broken piece of wall covering reminds me that, You reap what you sow, or in my case throw. Paul wrote, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” I don’t believe Paul was referring to a high outside fastball, but how many of us have made a wild pitch we wish we could throw again or not at all? We need to listen and remember that our actions of today will affect our tomorrow.

         There is however a larges difference between a cracked piece of siding and the wages of sin. The same Paul that talked to us earlier about reaping and sowing reminds us that, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Talk about a payday you DO want to miss! Few college football coaches have made a point against drugs as effectively as Erk Russell of Georgia Southern College. He arranged for a couple of good ol' country boys to burst into a routine team meeting and throw a writhing, hissing, six-foot-long rattlesnake onto a table in front of the squad. "Everyone screamed and scattered," Russell recalls. "I told them, 'When cocaine comes into a room, you're not nearly as apt to leave as when that rattlesnake comes in. But they'll both kill you!" Sin is the same way; you don’t want it near your life. F.B. Myer wrote, “This is the bitterest of all--to know that suffering need not have been; that it has resulted from indiscretion and inconsistency; that it is the harvest of one's own sowing; that the vulture which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of one's own rearing. Ah me! This is pain! There is an inevitable Nemesis in life. The laws of the heart and home, of the soul and human life, cannot be violated with impunity. Sin may be forgiven; the fire of penalty may be changed into the fire of trial: the love of God may seem nearer and dearer than ever and yet there is the awful pressure of pain; the trembling heart; the failing of eyes and pining of soul; the harp on the willows; the refusal of the lip to sing the Lord's song.” Who’s song are you singing? Or better yet whose team are you pitching for? May your heart know the freedom of sins forgiven and the peace of Gad that passes all understanding. Nothing hidden but all forgiven. That’s the way to live, and the way to die.

THIS COULD BE BAD!

MEN COOKING just doesn’t have the same ring to it as MEN WORKING now does it? Yet every year the proud men of the Plymouth Heights church doe it proudly. We cook, we serve and we clean up for the Ladies Spring banquet just to show the women of the church how much they are loved and appreciated. No one can make a kettle of green beans and bake 150 potatoes like Roger. I can order fried chicken and rolls with the best of em and my associate Pastor Shady, yes that’s his real name, and this year put together the tossed salad. Ironically, Pastor Shady is the best cook among us! Anyway, you couple all that with drinks and dessert and the women of the Plymouth Heights church are well on their way to a great evening of fun. Speaking of dessert, that was the only hitch in an otherwise uneventful evening just last weekend. A few years back someone, not sure who but someone brought to us a simple yet tasty recipe for dessert that even preachers and ex N&W workers can put together with ease. It consists of layering angel food cake, “all crumbled up”, vanilla pudding, cherry pie filling, chunked pineapple, banana’s and cool whip into large punch bowls until they are filled. Even we can’t mess that up! Want to bet? Now here where it coulda gotten real bad, quick! After the bowls were filled and we were awaiting the arrival of our guests I was carrying the large plastic spoons we had used to prepare the delicacy back to the kitchen for cleanup when I noticed that one of the prongs on a large plastic salad spoon was er uh missing! Yep, somewhere in the four punch bowls filled to the brim with tasty delight was an inch long spear of plastic. Oh how this could be bad, on so many levels this could be bad. It was almost time to serve and there was really no other option than to run to the local gas station and buy up a selection of ice cream sandwiches and popsicles! With no time on the clock I opted for the “let’s warn them about it, and offer a prize to the one who finds it strategy and see what shows up.

In the end the dinner was a success and the dessert turned up nothing to my relief, but as I watched with great interest enjoyment of the last portion of the meal I was reminded of how God is interested greatly in what we consume as well. Not just in our bodies but in our hearts. Did you ever just stop and think about what you are feeding your heart? The culture is offering a very unhealthy diet of misdirection and false security on a daily basis. It’s available on demand 24 seven and if one is not careful it can be dangerous and deadly even! So what do you feed your heart and mind? What is it that you allow to fill the thought processes of your life? Paul advised us to have a mind like Jesus, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Think like Jesus, how can we do that? And why does it even matter you may ask. Frank Outlaw wrote “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” Paul also gives us some direction we should heed…. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” I wonder what the spiritual health of the world would be if everyone was on a diet such as that?  Someone wrote, “Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind.” What great advice.

As I was driving home later that evening I was thinking, perhaps the tong was already missing from the salad spoon and we all just worried for naught. I was in the middle of that thought when my cell phone rang. It was Pastor Shady, “You are not going to believe this!” he said. He had taken home a sampling of afore mentioned dessert and was taking the last bite when, you guessed it, there in the bottom of his bowl was the missing plastic missile. It was no longer a mystery, no longer would I not be sure, the evidence was in hand and all that was well, you know the rest. I breathed a sigh of relief and thankfulness that no one was hurt and the Lord watched over the “Men Cooking”. Still I was thinking, I wonder how many are still in danger of swallowing something more dangerous than a sharp piece of plastic. You are what you eat, the old adage goes, and it’s true in more ways than one. A former park ranger at Yellowstone National Park tells the story of a ranger leading a group of hikers to a fire lookout. The ranger was so intent on telling the hikers about the flowers and animals that he considered the messages on his two-way radio distracting, so he switched it off. Nearing the tower, the ranger was met by a nearly breathless lookout, who asked why he hadn't responded to the messages on his radio. A grizzly bear had been seen stalking the group, and the authorities were trying to warn them of the danger. Any time we tune out the message God has sent us, we put at peril not only ourselves, but also those around us. How important it is that we never tire of the soul nourishing truth of God’s word. Bon Apatite!

 

 

 "The Fork in Question and the ladies we served and survived!"

YOU HAVE TO SPEND IT HERE!

Easter Sunday was an amazing day as always. After two services at STAR Community Justice Center, I was ready to enjoy the morning worship service at Plymouth Heights. As I was making my way toward the front of the sanctuary I saw a grandma with beautiful little granddaughter sitting on her lap sitting in the front row surrounded by the rest of her family, proud as could be I might add. She called me over to share what her granddaughter had just informed her. Seems that grandma had given the wee lass a dollar bill for the offering later in the service to which the precious little one replied, “You now Grandma, you have to spend that here!” I love kids! Not just because I can already see in her a great supporter of the church. Hey, maybe I need to get her to help me with our next pledge drive. Anyway, I love kids because they are so honest and transparent. We’re good at hiding; they’re good at revealing. We’re good at weighing our words and they’re good at “letting them fly!” She was honest, she was sincere and she was RIGHT! She was right, not just about the dollar, but about life. You’ve got to spend it here!

Your time, your life…. however you want to observe it, the truth remains you can’t take it with you! Some have chosen to embrace the fanciful Idea that this isn’t the only dance we are invited to. In other words, this life is just one of many which will eventually lead to eternal bliss. The bible says it his way… “It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment”. You won’t be recycled; you have to spend it here!!!! So now that we have that out of the way, let’s proceed to the two things that I believe make this the most important issue you will ever wrestle with.

First thing to consider is this, Life is short! In an average lifetime, the average American spends 3 years in business meetings, 13 years watching TV, Spends $89,281 on food, consumes 109,354 pounds of food, Makes 1811 trips to McDonalds, Spends $6881 in vending machines, Eats 35,138 cookies and 1483 pounds of candy, Catches 304 colds, Is involved in 6 motor vehicle accidents, is hospitalized 8 times (men) or 12 times (women), Spends 24 years sleeping. Looks a little different when you sum it all up that way doesn’t it? If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000 that carried over no balance from day to day...Allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent every day, of course, and use it to your advantage! Well, you have such a bank, and its name is TIME! Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever of this you failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances, it allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. The psalmist reminds us, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

The second thing to consider about your life is, you choose what you will do with yours. Carl Sandburg wrote, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” Perhaps that’s what the prophet Isaiah was trying to convey when he wrote, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thought. Let him return unto the Lord for he will have mercy and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.” It’s not just the fact that you have to spend it here but also remember, it’s vitally important as to what you spend your life on! Benjamin Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.” Tat great theologian Erma Bombeck once offered, “Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.” Seneca wrote, “We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there would be no end.” And Martin Luther penned, “I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first 3 hours in prayer.”  Quite a few profound perspectives to ponder eh? Bottom line is, this is your life, you only get one, and it matters much to God and to you whether you realize it or not what you do with it. But remember, you have to spend it wisely here if you are to enjoy eternity there!

Someone wrote, “More time is wasted not in hours but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over.” If we would put as much thought and concern into our eternal souls as we do the economy and our 401 K’s I wonder what our lives would be like. We do have to spend it here, in fact, we will!

 

What a great day!

THEY JUST DON’T BUILD EM LIKE THEY USED TO…

A few weeks ago I had some old dead trees cut down in my front yard. Everything was clear for the trees to fall except an old birdbath built by my Grandpa Cecil whose house Terri and I now own and live in. The men who cut the trees down moved the birdbath and just a day ago I went out to move it back to it’s original place in the yard since the tree limbs had all been cleaned up. I thought I’d just pick er up and man handle it back its former residence but, WOAH there Nellie! That thing weighted a ton! Well not really a ton, but it was almost more that I could lift. You see my Papaw Cecil had a knack for building things that last. The house for example I live in was built in the late forties into the first year or so of the fifties, and believe you me it’s still just as strong and straight as it was when he built it. Throughout the house and property are signs of grandpa’s design on a myriad of things including said birdbath. As I grunted, heaved and hoed the old boy back into place I though, “you know, they just don’t build things like they used to!” Now I’m not one who lives in the past, nor am I one to criticize the use of new technology in any way, I’m a muli-tasker with the best of them. But many things these days are just not made to last. From cars to homes, from marriages to partnerships, and from computers to commitments. Most these days trend toward the temporary instead of the permanent. Take marriage for example The concept of throw away convenience has edged its way into matrimony to such a degree that when you see a 25^th wedding anniversary notice in the paper you find yourself thinking, not to many of them anymore. “Terri and I just celebrated 28 years by the way” We live in a world of disposables. Disposable diapers, cell phones, cameras, plates, laptops, everything seems to be designed for the short term. According to our friends at Wikapedia, A disposable product is a product designed for cheapness and short-term convenience rather than medium to long-term durability, with most products only intended for single use. There are things however are made for forever…. US!

Near the end of his life, Jean-Paul Sartre told Pierre Victor: "I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God." For those of us who have not bowed to the evolutionist theories of the day, we firmly believe that, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” We believe this to be true! And when God does something he does it right! In fact you and I will be who we are, somewhere forever. That’s how we are created. The plan God had in mind was for us to be with Him. Enter the problem of sin. Because of sin, or man choosing his way ever God’s, we found ourselves separated from God, His presence and eternity with Him for that matter. Not the plan, but God made a way through Faith in His Son Jesus that we could, if we choose experience forever with Him. Listen to Paul’s “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Did you catch the “so shall we ever be” line?

Thinking of the fullness and duration of this wonderful life, W. B. Hinson, a great preacher of a past generation, spoke from his own experience just before he died. He said, "I remember a year ago when a doctor told me, 'You have an illness from which you won't recover.' I walked out to where I live 5 miles from Portland, Oregon, and I looked across at that mountain that I love. I looked at the river in which I rejoice, and I looked at the stately trees that are always God's own poetry to my soul. Then in the evening I looked up into the great sky where God was lighting His lamps, and I said, ' I may not see you many more times, but Mountain, I shall be alive when you are gone; and River, I shall be alive when you cease running toward the sea; and Stars, I shall be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great down pulling of the material universe!' What a thought, you know man may not built things like they used to, but God does! The only sad note in this tune is the fact that everyone will be somewhere forever, the problem centers on the question of where. If God really is who He says he is, and if faith in His Son Jesus is the only way to Heaven. If heaven is a reality then so to is hell. And we were made to last forever remember? The aforementioned question again is where. Where will you be, forever?

 "A glimpse of the yard from years gone by"