Getting Home Alive

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, has become important to many families again with all the involvement of the Armed Forces throughout the world in recent years. The drafting of young men into service was a way of life when I graduated High School. Lucky for me I graduated at just barely 17 years old and spent some time in the world before entering service at 19. At night during the first few weeks of basic training it wasn’t uncommon to here away-from-home-first-timers crying in their pillow, scared to death, right out of High School and feeling alone. But, everyone finally came to their senses to form a bond of unity and learned to help each other, seeing that that was the only way to survive in the unfamiliar environment. The biggest impression the DI’s had to bring about in training was, “Pay attention and you’ll go home alive!”
I’ve never been there in person, but I’m told that visiting Washington, D.C. is an awesome experience and to take in all that is worthwhile, cannot be rushed. The U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian) alone can absorb two days easily. Then to visit all the various monuments and such, dedicated to past Presidents and American heroes who fought to uphold the principles of democracy, takes some traveling, but well worth the effort. This time of year the three draw cards in D.C. are, Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier and the Vietnam War Memorial. Near the memorial site stands a statue of three soldiers searching for lost comrades. I’ve seen on one of the Discovery Channel stations, that to this very day gifts, letters, pictures, metals, artifacts and flags are being left there by friends, family and inspired onlookers to honor those who were lost and never accounted for. A few years back a letter was found that had been written by a very distraught mother, who still held hope in her heart, to her son: Dear Jimmy, Dad’s gone now. I miss you a great deal and am waiting for you to come home. I love you. MOM. Unfortunately, Jimmy has not come home and never will.
[Ephesians 6: 10-12 &1 Timothy 6: 6-12] There comes a day in everyone’s life when we meditate on and question the meaning of life. During our examination we tend to feel we’re all alone and some become so overwhelmed with the trials and conflicts of life they just sit down and cry. Paul tells us that most of us are simply fighting the wrong battle. The meaning of life is deep within us. The battle we wage is not to save a dying body of flesh and blood, but a spirit not wanting to spend eternity in a place of constant distress. With or without your help the spirit will put up the best front it can against the evil one and the conscience guilt you feel is the pain expressed by your spirit as it battles on. You’re not alone here away from your spiritual home, and joining forces in unity with others, the church, which strive to live a righteous life before God will rid you of guilt and strengthen your spirit. I recently had someone tell me that nobody is able to live a righteous life. We searched God’s Word and discovered that statement to be false. Just one scripture alone, Luke 15:7, states that there are righteous people living in this world, free of guilt and shame before the Lord. If it were not so, Jesus would have never said it. The Word of God is a message of love and hope to you and I that we might, “Pay attention and get home alive!” Help your spirit fight the battle of good and evil. Put on the full armor of God, Ephesians 13-18. All of heaven is watching for your return home.

Spiritual Nourishment

Not long ago I moved my home office to a different location and I’ve got to tell you I’d almost rather take a beating than to move things from one place to another. How in the world do we manage to accumulate so much stuff? I mean the room is smaller than 12x12 and I think I filled two large trashcans with nothing but junk found stuck here and there. I never had a home office until after the kids were gone and the personal computer entered my life. I’ve gathered what seem like volumes of stories, of which I regularly share with you, my weekly readers. I’ve been trying to categorize them for easier subject matter access and am finding that to be rather challenging, but that’s another story all together. Well most of the stories I remember as I begin reading them and filing them away for future use, but some I must have laid aside with good intentions to read later because I don’t remember them at all. It’s great to have so much material to work with and that’s going to keep me writing for a good long time.
A church member wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper complaining that it made no sense to continue going to worship every Sunday. “I’ve been going for thirty years now” he wrote, “and in that time I’ve probably heard something like 3,000 sermons, but for the life of me I can’t recall a single one of them. So, I think I’m simply wasting my time and all the preachers out there are wasting theirs by giving sermons never to be remembered.” This started a real controversy in the “Letters To The Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor of course. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher. “I’ve been married for thirty years and in that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. Now for the life of me, I cannot remember the entire menu of a single one of those meals. But I do know this one thing. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work each day. If my wife hadn’t given me these meals I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to worship for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today.”
[2 Peter 1 & 2 Timothy 2] Peter and Paul wrote about the importance of teaching and being taught the Word of God to preserve the truth and to continually bring to remembrance even the very rudiments of the Christian faith. From the very beginning, people wandered from God’s Word through unbelief, misinterpretation and failure to apply its principles to everyday living. No matter how much we crave to sustain our physical body, one day it’s going to fail and be no more. God has sent us word through the Prophets and finally through His own son, that you and I, all of us, possess a spirit, which will never die, but live for eternity. My question to you is this. How strong will your spirit be as you lay on your deathbed? How strong will your spirit be when you’re faced with a life or death situation? Face it! The body will fail one day and the spirit will birth from it. How well have you nourished the spirit growing within you? When your spirit is released from your body at death, will it be strong and mature enough in the knowledge of eternal life to enter into the presence of God or will your spirit be weak and ignorant, finding itself being dragged off to the pits of hell? We work hard to give ourselves the best in this life, but ignore the consequences of a poor education for the next life. Feed your spirit with God’s Word regularly and you’ll be a lot healthier for it.

Are You Jesus?

At a young age, delivering newspapers door to door, my older brother taught me, good service and personal attention to customer needs will reap special rewards in the long run. I’ve never experienced that to be untrue throughout my life. Going out of my way seeking customer satisfaction has profited me over the years with a constant source of income and a good reputation in the community. Hey, what more could a person ask for out of life? I mean, by loving and helping others through life, my life is justified.
A group of salesmen attended a regional sales convention in a large metropolitan city. Each had assured their wife they would be home for Friday night dinner, but as things sometimes go, speeches and demonstrations ran longer than anticipated. With no time to spare, their scheduled flight home had them speeding to the airport in their rental vehicle. With tickets in hand the group barged through the terminal to catch their flight home. In their rush, with briefcases flailing through the air, one of the salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table displaying several baskets full of apples, which flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back they managed to reach the departing gate just as the last boarding call was being made. But at the door leading to the boarding ramp one of the salesmen paused, dropped his arms to his side and took a deep breath. Experiencing a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple table had been turned over, he told his buddies to go on without him and to call his wife when they got home explaining why he would be taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal area where the apples were still all over the floor, and he was glad he did. The sixteen-year-old tending the table was blind and with tears running down her cheeks she was helplessly groping around on the floor for her spilled produce, while angry harried travelers swirled about her. The salesman knelt on the floor beside her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets and helped set up the display once more. He asked if she was all right and when assured she was he gave her twenty dollars along with his deepest apology. He then gathered his belongings and began to walk away. “Mister!” said the girl. He paused and turned to look back. She continued, “Are you Jesus?”
[Luke 18: 35-43] Like the girl at the airport, a blind man sat on the side of a well-traveled roadway begging for his daily needs. He heard a crowd coming and asked what was happening. When told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by he got excited and called out for help. He knew Jesus would give him sight if he asked and his life would change to become self-sufficient. The world is spiritually blind wandering around asking, “Where is God?” To those who know the answer, this question to them is like a fish asking, “Where is the water?” or the bird asking, “Where is the air?” God is everywhere! Are you Jesus? That’s the charge of a disciple of Jesus isn’t it? To be so much like Him that people cannot tell the difference as we interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. Does the world see Jesus in your works and daily actions? Do you show God in all you do and say? Does the world experience God through you? Have you ever opened the eyes of a spiritually blind person? When someone sees the love of Christ for the first time, they go back into the world rejoicing for now they can see the love of God everywhere and the bliss of eternal life is at hand.

Unforgetable Mother

The young mother set her foot on the path of life. “Is this the long way?” she asked. And the guide said, “Yes. The way is hard and you’ll be old before you reach the end of it, but the end will be better than the beginning.” The young mother was happy and she could not believe that anything would be better than these years. So she played with her children, she fed them and bathed them, taught them to tie their shoes and ride a bike, do their homework and brush their teeth. The sun shone on them, and the young mother cried, “Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.” Then the nights came with the storms, and the path was sometimes dark. The children shook with fear and cold, but the mother drew them close and covered them with her arms, and the children said, “Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near and no harm can come.” The morning came, and there was a hill ahead. The children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary too. But at all times she said to her children, “A little patience and we’ll get there.” So the children climbed, and as they climbed, they learned to weather the storms. Through this, she gave them strength to face the world. Year after year, she showed them compassion, understanding and hope, but most of all ...unconditional love. And when they reached the top they said, “Mother, we could not have done it without you.” The days, the weeks, the months and the years passed. The mother grew old and she became little and bent. But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage. When the mother laid down at night, she looked up at the stars and said, “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned so much and are now passing these traits on to their children.” And when the way became rough for her, they lifted her and gave her their strength, just as she had given them hers. One day they came to a hill, and beyond the hill, they could see a shining road and golden gates flung open. And the mother said, “I have reached the end of my journey and now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk with dignity and pride, with their head held high, and so can their children after them.” Her children said, “You will always walk with us, mother, even when you have gone through the gates.” They stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said, “We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A mother like ours is more than a memory, she is a living presence.” Your mother is always with you. She’s the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street. She’s the smell of certain foods that you remember, flowers you pick and perfume that she wore. She’s the cool hand on your brow when you're not feeling well. She’s your breath in the air on a cold winter's day. She’s the sound of the rain. Your mother lives inside your laughter, and she’s crystallized in every teardrop. A mother shows every emotion, happiness, sadness, fear, jealousy, love, hate, anger, helplessness, excitement, joy, sorrow and all the while, hoping and praying you will only know the good feelings in life. She’s the place you came from, your first home and the map that you follow with every step you take. She’s your first love; your first friend, even your first enemy, but nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space, not even death. My wife and I each buried our mother this past year and share the hurt of no earthly mother to hug and hold this Mother’s Day, but mom will always be with us in spirit and unconditional love.