Changed Expectations

Expectations of Thanksgiving include things like turkey and dressing, family get-togethers, joy, football, and a thankful heart to God for all of my blessings.  We fully expect the day to go well.

That didn’t happen to some extent for our Thanksgiving day.  It began with my mom calling this morning with news that she had injured her leg somehow while trying to get some cookware down out of a cabinet to prepare lunch for us.  Instead of her cooking, Ellen cooked our dinner.  She did an awesome job. 

 After the meal we decided that mom needed x-rays.  We spent a couple of hours at the ER.  She did not have any breaks and no torn ligaments as far as they could tell.  She will see her orthopedic doctor on Monday. 

She came home with us.  We had called the kids earlier to check in and thought it sounded like something was up.  It was.  They had begun putting up our Christmas lights.  They had done a beautiful job.

I thought the day would end happily ever after.  Satan was not through, however, because there was a confrontation between siblings.  It was not pretty.  I ended up saying things I should not have.  I just prayed about it with Danielle only to hear from her mouth these blessed words.  She said, “God has already forgiven you and so do I dad.”  What a moment!  There are still issues that I hope will be resolved tomorrow, but that really helped me.

Do you ever doubt your doing a good job as a parent?  Do you wonder if all that you’ve done that was right will override all that you’ve done wrong?  In the end, I guess it is still a walk of faith that God will intervene and overrule and see them through all of the mistakes we’ve made and that they will make.  It can really be difficult.

All in all, it’s been a good turkey day.  Though there are things I would like to change, I am truly thankful for my wonderful wife and four beautiful children.  I am thankful for God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness.

It Never Gets Old

It doesn’t matter how many times we hear it, the story of the love of Jesus on the cross never gets old.  It is the centerpiece of our lives as Christians.  It is the realization that He did all of that for me so that I could have new life.  Not only did He do that for me and all who read this–He did it while we were yet sinners.  He did it so that we could become righteous.  (2 Corinthians 5:21 NCV) “Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God.”

Check out this video on Youtube called “New Again.”  It is just another reminder of that love for us. 

Humbling Experience

Mom called last night and asked if I could come to the hospital and look after grandmother for a while.  She said she needed me around 7am. 

I am here now as I write this.  Grandmother is resting easy at the moment.  She just finished her breakfast.  It’s not every day one gets to feed their grandmother breakfast.  To me it was an humbling experience.  I usually don’t do well with these kinds of things.  But this morning it was somewhat easy to do.

I guess one of the reasons it’s humbling to do this for her is because of her situation.  At 88 years of age she is living in the nursing home now and has to have nearly everything done for her.  Simple things like dressing herself, walking, going to the restroom, and feeding herself are things that she can’t do any more.  It can be really tough to watch.

I remember my grandmother teaching me how to plant things in the garden.  She took care of the garden by herself growing corn, cucumbers, peas, beans, tomatoes, pepper, ocra, and more.  I remember a completely independant woman.  She outlived two  husbands and lived completly in control, running the house business to perfection.  She was heavily involved in church ladies’ organizations, drove herself everwhere, and even would pick up friends that she hung out with to drive them places because they were too feeble to do so themselves.  She went to church socials and participated in them with excitement.  She gathered the family together around Thanksgiving and Christmas and helped cook (her fresh garden corn was the best) and serve the meals. 

Thoug it’s tough to see her this way, I consider it an honor to help her.  I pray that God take care of her because she has taken care of others for a long time.  God bless our elderly.

Lunch With The Puckster

The day before yesterday I received a phone call from one we all know and love, Steve Puckett.  He is in town visiting with his mom.  Ellen and I got to enjoy lunch with our good brother yesterday.  Thanks Steve for calling and meeting up with us.  I hope that we can all get together at Pepperdine this coming year.  Maybe Greg will let us come and work at the funeral home installing some kind of death apparatus.

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On a serious note, please pray for Jody Hanback.  He was involved in a car accident this morning on the way to work and is in the hospital in serious condition.  He is the nephew of the Sheila Swindle, Charlie’s wife who comments on this blog many times.  We are praying for Jody Charlie. 

Also pray for Sharon’s (“harleyrider” to our blog world) mother, Reba Draper, who is not doing as well. 

My grandmother, Omie Jones, is in the hospital here locally and has pneumonia.

Thanks for all of your encouragements and prayers.

Children

Sunday we had a great day.  We focused on our children and their vision about God.  We called it, “Seeing God Through The Eyes of Children.”  Normally we have children’s Bible hour and we separate the kids from the worship time and they have a lesson more on their level.  Many of you do the same thing.  I think it’s a good thing, but on occasion I like for them to be a part of what we are doing.  This is a huge issue with many and I can see good and bad about separating them.  Whatever the case, Sunday our CBH guys were out of town and so the children were with us.

Children seem to have an insight into God that we can only admire and wish to have.  When we say we prepare a worship time for them “on their level,” I wonder if we know what we are talking about.  Sometimes I would like to get on their level and really worship.

One of the things I talked about Sunday was the fact that kids at a young age are uninhibited in their ability to celebrate God.  They have no preconceived notions about how worship should be and, therefore, they have no baggage and are able to let go and dance, clap, shout, laugh, and more in the name of worship and there are no strings attached and I believe that God is smiling at that kind of spirit.

My prayer is that we can somehow tap into that kind of spirit in our worship as adults.  Let’s stop looking around and wondering what others will say as the “watch” us worship.  Let’s do like the father of the prodigal–let’s get excited in the fact that we were once lost and now we are found and the Father wants us to celebrate in that.

Remember that Jesus said,   ”…Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these children.  I tell you the truth, you must accept the kingdom of God as if you were a child, or you will never enter it.”(Luke 18:16-17 NCV)

Anger Management

“A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.” Proverbs 29:11

“Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered.”  Proverbs 22:24

“The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.”  Psalm 145:8

Isn’t it amazing that we have the problem with anger and so many time attribute that emotion to God as though He were ready to crush us because of sin.  Yet, He is the one with compassion and slow to anger.

Maybe anger managment and the key to control is to have the mind of God our Father.