A Recipe From The Pastor's Pantry

I love to cook! I like eating, also, but that's not where the real action happens in a kitchen. Beginning with the very first time I burned my nose on a cake pan I had been warned to stay away from, I had the desire to create wonderful foods for folks to enjoy. My grand daughter and I made some wonderful discoveries in the freezer after school today! Did you know that most glasses of milk won't accomodate proper dipping of cookies? We decided a cereal bowl with about 3\4 of an inch of milk in it was the perfect way to dip a cookie. More than the creating of epicurean delights I enjoy watching people enjoy what I have created. As they put that first bite in their mouth I can't wait to hear what they think. Puts me in mind of how God must feel in each of our lives as we grow and begin to experience the creation that He has blessed us to enjoy. I can see Him watching us as we invariably burn our noses, scrape our knees and try new things for the first time. Man does not live by bread alone, though, and I imagine that God truly relishes the time we spend feasting on His Word and seeking the answers for questions that only He can provide the proper illumination. The most important part of any excursion into creating food for others, though, has got to be the love that goes into it. Even a simple circle sandwich can be a work of art prepared with huge amounts of love. That's the same love that has gone into the preparation for the manna we have been provided for our minds. Whenever there are tastes we hunger for that the pallette cannot satisfactorily provide, perhaps there is a spiritual food that is needed. One thing you can rest assured of is that the love that comes from God's written Word will provide a meal that your spirit can rejoice in. God bless(oh yeah, green pepper and a little pimento would be a welcome addition to the hotdish)Preacher.

Beating The Drums

 
I have a couple of these little wind up toys, this one and another that crashes cymbals together. They still work just fine and they're nearly as old as me! Amazing when I think about them that what comes to mind is the self that continues to beat the drums and crash the cymbals announcing the acceptable time of the Lord. There are times when what I really need is a monkey that, once wound up tight, beats his head against an imaginary wall. That's how I feel some days as I consider new ways to tell the same story that the faithful have been sharing for a few thousand years. Writer's block comes to mind as a possible descriptive phrase, but it runs deeper than that. It is almost as though the unheard notes of a familiar song are playing over and over inside my head without ever completing the passage that I really want to hear. I know, in a few hours, or another day, or a week from now the answer will be entirely clear and I'll be sitting down looking at another poem\lyric sheet\song, or idea for promoting faith in folks. The truth is, I may as well relax and not worry so much about it, because that is how it works with me. I've known myself for a long time, but more importantly, God has known me even longer, and knows exactly what it is He will have me doing tomorrow. As long as I keep trusting, and talking with Him, everything will work out according to His will. Is that a strange way to see one's faith worked out in terms of direction in life? I don't think so! It is the same truth that jumps off the pages of the Bible when we are taught to "not worry" about what we shall wear or eat. We have to show a mature concern for our responsibilities, of course, but even they must take a backseat to being "right" with our Creator. My wife said the same thing on the phone this morning and we both agreed that it is most important to "seek first the kingdom of God" in our daily walk. After that everything will come according to His will. Far too often I want to hurry the process up by fretting over the nuances of how something is going to happen. Herein is found a secret. I can't make anything "happen" without God's direct input, and when I worry it only slows the process of getting things done. How about in your life? Have you ever wanted to "not worry" so much? It's much easier to get the drums and cymbals working together when we let God do the winding. In Christ's Love, Preacher. 

Who Knows The Answer?

Last night I posted an E-mail that was about a young lady that was missing. It was entirely false. One of the folks from my Harely Owners Group(to whom I sent the same thing I blogged)wrote to inform me that I had been "taken in" by an E-mail designed to corrupt my computer and relay all of my pertinent information to someone somwewhere. They could have Eed me and I would have given them everything I've got in this 'puter. The point is, tonight, that this is really at the bottom of the "sick" list. In the penitentiary where I worked for 8 years the bottom of the barrel were the inmates who had perpetrated crimes on children. Thinking about it I now believe that this is the same personality type that sends out a false E alert like this one for the purpose of obtaining information. Even when you are in the midst of the worst of the worst that society sees fit to incarcerate when caught and convicted this is the bottom of the sleeze pit. That said, and we do forgive as God forgives us, the question remains, as to why this is done. The frightening part is that there are people out there seated at keyboards right now that are doing even worse things to their fellow human beings. If you are among these persons, I would encourage you to contact me. I'm not hard to find. There is a better way to live, and a better way to invest your time. Please get in touch. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!

An E-pal in Canada just forwarded this to me:

"We have a store manager(Wal-Mart)from Longs, SC who has a 9 year old daughter who has been missing for 2 weeks. Keep the picture moving on. With luck on her side she will be found.
I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone you know, please. My 9 year old girl, Penny Brown, is missing. She has been missing for now two weeks. It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone anywhere knows anything, please contact me at: zicozicozico@hotmail.com"

That is the message as I received it and I would add that I am in prayer even as I tap out this message for the little girl and her family. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Sharing Is Good!

This shot was taken prior to losing the winter coats and donning the swimsuits. My grand daughters(two of them, anyway)both about the same age, sharing one father and one grandfather. Ironic how life comes around to bite us sometimes. What a week it has been! Thank God tomorrow is Sunday and I can just relax and worship for awhile. The time of preparing is past and now I get to take everything I've learned about life this past week and pour it forth from the keyboard. Some of it will be really happy, and some of it will be truly sad, but it will all be part and parcel of the offering of gifts I bring to my Savior. I guess when I see my self tap it out like this there is an apparent truth. God accepts everything we bring Him because He wants our all. Not just the "good stuff" and the happy things we have to be thankful for, but the pains and sorrows as well. If we take anything less than all of ourselves to the altar we are not giving back what God has given us. He has given us life with all of its pitfalls and problems, and everything that comes with the simple joy of being alive. Need I say more? Probably not, but I will anyway. As I view the worship that we offer to our Creator I see us as being enabled by Him to feel confident in His desire for us to give all of ourselves. So much of what people assume they should give to God is absolutely meaningless. God has no need of our money, position, authority(we really don't have this one for sure), goods or anything else that is fully tangible. What God wants is you and me! Sort of like a spousal relationship thing where we do the "for better or worse" and mean it. To live a worshipful existence is not hard if you consider we have been given everything needed for our pursuit of happiness in America. The element that is lacking is our ability to return thanks for all and share the sum total of our experience in life. For sure God is there to share in our joys, but He also wants the parts of our lives that are not so joyful. Maybe it's in giving those not-so-great-things about us to Him that He helps us to change and become more what we might ought to be. Here I go thinking on screen, again. When you're 5 life is so sweet! When you're 55, life is so sweet! Maybe it all has to do with how we share it. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

The Moment!

 
I've been wandering around through my pictures tonight. I guess I never really caught up after the Christmas season and the church programs and the other things that just went on and on. Amazing how much stuff can happen in a matter of a few weeks! Babies are born, people pass away, parties come and go rapidly and someone is always in need of your attenion. I think the babies are the most fascinating for me. Having spent a whole lot of years baptizing them and then coming to full knowledge and understanding that it is not enough to simply be "baptized" as a baby to receive the fullness of God's offering for our lives, I get sort of locked in to this mental rut that has me trying to remember every baby and get back to them about their salvation. I've managed to do that with a lot of them, now. The list, though, seems endless at times, and there are those that have moved away, and worse yet, the ones that have passed away without ever having been informed of the truth of God's plan for their lives. There are things in life that we must not leave "undone" simply because we never may get another chance at that moment. In ecumenical circles we often refer to "sins of ommission, and sins of commission" as different breeds of the same animal. We all walk a path toward the(for the most part)unknown. Even when I am certain of what lies ahead I still don't know the particulars. If you ever want to get together and pray about this or other matters, let me know. I'm in God's service, today, and tomorrow, and until I get a release notice or "fair-thee-well" I will continue. In Christ's Love, Preacher. 

How Much Do Things Really Change?

 
This photograph was taken a week or so ago and then worked on to make it appear very old. As I reconstructed the focus of the picture I reconstructed my thoughts concerning spiritual focus as it impacts my life day to day. Reading about the manner in which God's people have been in the process of persevering throughout history has helped me to place recent happenings in perspective. Quite often in our lives we get caught up in the brilliance of events that surround us, so much so that all else fades into the background. I've been in some wrecks on two wheels and four during which everything did the "slow-mo" for a moment. It's strange how our minds work when something is occurring beyond our control. Some folks are immobilized completely, and yet others in the same circumstances are in total motion to do something. What this helps me to understand is the nature of me and how I interact with my world. During the entire history of God's people(the rest of the world, too for that matter)there have always been two different types of individuals, those who take action and those who don't. We are called to actively take part in our world at a level that is commensurate with our individual abilities. When we offer ourselves to God there is a desire born within us to share with others our revelation. I do not think that is an accidental thing. I believe that God placed that desire within us as sure as He placed within us the curiosity to seek answers to questions that only faith can answer. The world has been in a constant process of falling away from God and then fervently seeking God, forever. We happen to be living during one of the times when God seekers had dwindled in number to the near point of being an endangered species. All that is left in terms of true believers is the very strongest and most agile. Those who have managed to survive by means of their faith and hiding away in caves and forgotten backwashes of humanity. Now the time has come when we are resurfacing because the world needs God to perform a miracle. A rescue mission is needed! The true goals of humanity have been blurred to the point that people lave lost the ability to focus their faith in truth. As law after law has been established in our country to diminish the importance of God in our society, calamity after calamity has befallen us. Mere coincidence? I think not! While even the leaders have been drawn away to foolishly follow after idols and false gods the faithful have been in the process of being "honed" to a razor sharp edge in preparation for the battles to be fought with Satan's emmissaries. If my language sounds strong that is the result of knowledge gleaned from history that there is nothing new under the sun and this is how things have always been. Yup, everything was blurred for a long time, and the lines were all crossed as people followed after their own desires. Now is the acceptable time of the Lord, and He has prepared His faithful to once again call this nation and the world to Holiness. It will be only slightly different than last time. This time we will be united under a single flag and the color of one's skin will not play a part in determining who stands for God. It's the same song, and the same dance, but now there will be only one drummer, my Lord and Savior. Truth comes around, ya know! In Christ's Love, Preacher.