Faith In Music!

 
I'm an evangelist. I do a lot of stuff, but first and foremost I seek to serve the Lord in every way possible. Tonight we had a gathering for a young lady's graduation. Following the fun, food, and fellowship time together(about 20 of us with the youngest at 2 and the eldest at 60+)we sang Christmas songs of every genre. Laughing through many childhood favorites, and sharing the story of our Savior's birth in hymns that are very familiar. This particular group was one of our "all unchurched" people. We'll host groups like this many times throughout the season, not to attempt to get them through the doors, but as a way of sharing faith in a different way than we do on Sunday mornings. Amidst the singing this young heart was touched in a very real manner. She took the lyric sheets home with her, and I've got a hunch we'll be seeing her entire family in church next Sunday. Christmas is an opportunity to share God's love and make it come alive for people where they are in their life's walk. We had a wonderful time! The cleanup is done for the evening, and another day awaits to share God's grace. Sometimes the best sermons are found right in our seasonal songs of faith. In Christ's Love, Preacher. 

Dang, what do I give this year?

This is the real beginning of another week. There are only 12 days left 'til Christmas morning is upon us once again. Whoosh! what a busy time to be getting things together. We knew it was coming! Back in July we were busy enjoying summer and having as much fun as time would allow. Now, here it is again, that time of the year when we are expected to remember others as well as we did back then. Here is a hint that may make your holiday shopping easier...give a gift(no matter how large or how small, the best gift has already been given!), that you would like to receive, and you are going to hit a homer!) In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Whatcha Got!

Time is an amazing thing! It waits for no person, and yet it has the ability to pass either far too quickly or slower than we could have ever imagined. Many folks who have visited our home get the impression that I am concerned with time because of all the clocks I keep. What they don't know is that my fascination is not with time, per se, it is with the various mechanisms that have been created to keep track of it. Yes, I do have a sundial! Yes, I love watches(I've got about fifty of them)and rarely wear one! When I was much younger serving a church as music director and youth pastor I had a senior pastor who was about the age I am now, an old guy! When he would step into the pulpit on Sunday morning he had a habit of taking off his wristwatch and setting it at the very top of the pulpit next to his glass of water. After about six months of working with him and observing this action from the director's postion with the choir I asked him about it. His reply was so funny I have never shared it, nor would I until his passing. His eyes were a lot like my own. After he removed the watch and set it down it was virtually invisible to him. Like many others I first thought that he set it there to keep track of the time he spent preaching so that none of the ladies would get fidgety about burning a Sunday chicken. When I finally mustered the courage to ask him about the removal of the watch and the "time" he spent so carefully placing it down he replied, "That's to put the folks out front at ease so that they don't have to look at their own watches. Have you any idea how infuriating it is to have folks looking at their watches after you've been preaching 15 or 20 minutes? There you are trying to help them to improve the quality of the time they have on this earth, here and now, and they're worried about me running late! It's like a "popcorn parade" out there if everyone(1st service was about 200, 2nd close to 300)is checking their watches at different times! I'm trying to share with them the Word of God for their lives right now, today, and they're worried that I'm going to take too much of their time! What they don't know is that time is all they have, right now, every moment, every second, to understand the good news that God has sent to them. No, that watch isn't for me, I can't see it anyway, that watch is for them, to help them settle in and relax a little." I can see him now in my mind's eye seated in his leather chair behind the walnut desk with a big smile on his face. Lord, I loved that man dearly. He taught me much in the time that we shared. He was right, you know, all we have is the time that we are given, and we need to be able to do the best that we can with it. I pray for his family this Christams, and the time that they still have together. I also pray for their reunion, which will come, in time! And in case you ever wonder, I've got the time to pray for you and yours, too! It is God that has given me that time, and I do my best to give it back as best I can. Merry Christmas!!! In Christ's Love, Preacher.

A Dozen Roses All In A Vase

Christmas will touch our hearts this year as it does every year with opportunities to go beyond thinking of ourselves and consider the needs of others. My life was totally blessed yesterday with the gift of one dozen roses. They were unexpected and certainly undeserved. The young lady who gave me the lovely flowers made sure it was okay with my wife before buying them for me(she is one of the singers that shares the stage with me from time to time). What can I say? I really love getting flowers! I'm sure it was alright with her hubby, too, he is one of the best Guys I know. They are off to Jamaica for a weeks holiday before the Christmas crunch. I offered to go with them and play piano, but they didn't think they would be needing a piano player. Alas, I am stuck here on the Great American Desert in the snow and cold while they are winging their way to a sun & fun filled holiday. No, I am not being jealous! Quite the contrary, I'm thrilled that they can be there with one another(they've only been married two years). Thanks so much for the roses, though, they are a reminder to me that people care. That's the big thing about gifts, ya know, the caring. No matter what the gift is, someone cared enough to give it. That's where the gift of our Savior enters in. God so loved each and every one of us that He gave His only Son that we might attain to the greatest gift of all, eternal life in Christ. Pretty cool when you think about it! And it isn't a gift just given to a few, it's given to everyone who believes and receives Christ as their personal Savior. I'll get some ties again this year, and some socks for sure, but the roses, even though they last but a short time(I had to divide them into two vases 'cause it was way crowded for them in just one)will have given me a memory that brings about a smile. I like to smile! As you go about your Christmas business that is the one gift you can give everyone you meet, a smile. The returns are wonderful! If you want to get yourself something special this year consider the gift of salvation that you can have for free. Now there is a gift that will keep on giving eternally. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Flowers of Friendship

I thought the Christmas tree made a nice backdrop for the roses. I know, it's all a matter of one's taste, but for me these will mean far more than many of the tangible gifts I receive this year. God bless, Preacher.

A Glimpse Of Glory

Sunlight crept slowly above the horizon as I sat sipping my morning coffee, Irish Creme, my personal favorite. I took note of the increasing light and with it came an astonishing surprise! Nature had clothed our world in a fresh, dazzling coat of frost. I observed in fascination the tree limbs coming alive as the morning mists dissipated. Suddenly I realized that I was losing the moment! I threw on a coat and headed toward the patio door with camera in hand. Stepping out I was greeted by chill, frosty air. Limbs that I had not finished cutting down were alive with a brilliance with which a million diamonds could not compete! I clicked the shutter over and over as the light glimmered and danced across the trees. Beautifully wrapped in ice crystals the limbs, both the ones that should have been cut away this past fall, and the ones that are vibrantly alive were glistening together. It seemed for a short time as though no outstretched vestige of folliage was immune to the encrusting beauty. So it is in our lives, no person is beyond the reach of the transforming love of God to be found in the gift of His Son. Not even ancient dead wood such as myself is able to resist that love once the heart has been touched. December 7th was transformed by nature's hoary breath into a sparkling celebration of God's perfect plan for our lives. I realized in an instant that the worthless dead limbs I had neglected to cut away were totally transformed. The ice knew no distinction between living and dead, only immersion. This brings me to tonight's thought. No life is so totally without value, so distraught, that it can't be transformed by our Creator through faith in His Son. Many of us are as utterly entangled in one another's lives as the overhanging branches of these trees, and yet God has chosen us in all of our stages of growth to offer the gift of being made "white as new fallen snow!" I pray your life has an opportunity to be recreated by the transforming and renewing grace of our Lord. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Clothed In Light

We know that when He returns to us that there will be a judgement of the living and the dead. God bless, Preacher.