Come, People of the Risen King

Joyful Kids!

Yesterday, Grandanny and I enjoyed one of our favorite things- we spent the day with the two precious grandchildren with whom God has so graciously blessed our lives. We love to hear them laugh and they laugh alot. At the restaurant, while awaiting our food, we were playing the game "Guess the animal." You have heard of that one, haven't you?  Someone thinks of an animal and gives one clue at first and the one who guesses wins. Simple enough, right? When it was Alicia's turn, we were up to two clues, this animal is gray and you might see it in the air. Landon's answer, in not his "inside voice"----" An ephlenant." (Yes, I see spellcheck but this is how he pronounced the huge mammal.)  Alicia said, "Landon, you are silly, you don't see elephants in the air."  "You might," he exclaimed, "if they had been jumping on a trampoline."  He has inherited his Daddy's quick wit, I believe.

Prodigal: An Animation

"A Man Had Two Sons."

We refer to the story that Jesus told in Luke 15 as the parable of the prodigal son yet the Master Teacher, Himself, begins with "A man had two sons." While recently studying the first two beatitudes in Matt. 5, this portion of Scripture came to mind because I see the younger son returning "poor in spirit" and comforted because he mourned over his sin. John MacArthur entitles these first two beatitudes "Happy are the Nobodies" and "Happy are the Sad."  I think the young prodigal realized both of these facts about himself while he was on his journey.

Rock of Ages

Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit

At the dinner table on Christmas Day, sports being the topic, Amy remarked that she could hardly stand to watch professional football players as they pump their chests, flex their biceps, and "strut their stuff" as they make plays. Really, after all, shouldn't men who are making millions of dollars to play a game catch passes and sack quarterbacks? I remember the day when athletes played because they loved the game and they left the cheering to the fans in the stadium. In fact, those are still my favorite players. Watch them, though they be rare- they excel at what they do and walk back to the huddle.

A God For All Seasons!

Yesterday on FaceBook, I posted this simple message:  "38 years ago today, while most of Georgia was reeling from the effects of an ice storm, we were warm and safe in Northside Hospital welcoming our new and beautiful baby boy. Happy Birthday, Mark!"  A friend commented that it was a good story and at first I thought that I had merely related a happy time in mine and Danny's life. Then, it hit me that there was a "good story" to be expounded upon and this Scripture from Ecclesiastes 3 came to mind.

Yet Will I Praise Him!

Following up on yesterday's thought from the ending Hallel Psalms, while looking for a song to go along with the blog, I ran across- no, let me rephrase that- I believe God directed me to it called Yet Will I Praise Him!. I had never heard the words to this one and am blessed as I hear it sung.  The song comes straight from one of those books in the Bible that we don't find so easily when the Pastor directs us there. Just last week on the way to Knoxville, Alicia and I were playing "Bible Questions." She loves to do this when we are in the car and when she asked me to name all the Books in order, I quicky confessed that I get those minor prophets turned around most times. She soared through all with great ease, I might add.

Yet will I praise him

"Let Everything That Hath Breath Praise the LORD!"

Amy and I laughed yesterday when we were talking about losing phone service in the middle of a call  without realizing it. I told her that my last 2 minutes of my "mini-sermon" to her was not even heard when I realized "Failed Call" was appearing on my phone screen. My humorous remark to her that I had wasted my breath led to a serious reflection on how much we really do that exact thing, using our ability to breathe air and articulate words to do everything but praise the LORD.

You Heavenly Father Knows!

When we attended Northside Baptist Church in Roswell many years ago, our Pastor, Billy Wallace, had an evangelist come a few times named Lavon Boatner.He was, I believe, from Kentucky, wearing cowboy boots and a bolo tie and he could preach. He would read his passage from the blessed Book and then say these words, words that I have never heard any other man of God say- "I'm interested in this phrase" and that would launch his sermon in that Southern drawl and we, the listeners, would go home blessed and challenged.  I thought of Bro. Boatner who may now be with the Lord- God knoweth- this morning as I was reading the Sermon on the Mount. I love to imagine sitting on that mountain as the Master Teacher expounded on kingdom principles. In chapter six, "I became interested" in the phrase repeated twice by our Lord and thus, the thought for this blog.

After Jesus Was Born, Wise Men Came!

On this first day of 2011, I was reading and meditating on the magi's visit in Matthew, chapter two, and thought I would share a few insights into a lesson that, I think, their example can teach us.  When the Christmas season is over, there is still a Savior to be worshiped! These wise men were from the east,( and we don't know the number and there is much speculation about who they were,) and I imagine it was a large caravan, traveling probably thousands of miles to see Jesus, now a young Child in the house with His mother, Mary. "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy," and when they "saw the Child, they fell down and worshiped Him."