Reminiscing

Last night (Christmas Eve), Mary and I went to Longhorn Steakhouse for our “Christmas Feast” and we fell to reminiscing about past Christmases.

When we first met and married, Mary’s folks lived in Jackson, TN and we used to go home all the time. All of her family was still home then, except for her older brother, Ronnie, who was off at college (Jackson, MS). And he would come home for Christmas. After we had been married a few years, her parents began moving again. They lived in Arkadelphia, AR, Jackson, MS, Natchitoches, LA, and Hamilton, AL. Meanwhile, Ronnie, Mark and Debbie also married and we all began having children. But every year at Christmas, we all trekked to where they were living for our family get-together. And none of these places was close to where we lived!

Hamilton was where they retired to and built their dream house. It wasn’t quite the “bunk house” her Dad had talked about building for his growing family, it was much nicer, but it was a place intended to be large enough to accommodate most of us and our kids. And let me tell you, Hamilton was in the middle of nowhere! A very small town in a sparsely populated corner of Alabama. And a very hard drive! Yet, that was where we all gathered for Christmas. There were so many of us by then that we had to rent a couple of hotel rooms.

One year, when they were living in Arkadelphia, we were living in Pensacola, FL. We woke up Christmas morning. It was extremely cold and there was a dusting of snow on the ground – in Pensacola! Yet we loaded the car and headed off into a blizzard because it was time for the family Christmas gathering. We left early in the morning and didn’t arrive until late that night. The roads were covered with ice and the town was practically locked in. Yet the entire family made it.

One year, I want to say it was when they were in Jackson, MS, it was so cold that their pipes froze (the Pearl River froze as well). They had no water and yet the family was a-comin’! I remember jumping in the truck with her Dad and going up to “the place” (he was Food Service Director for Belhaven College and that is how he referred to the cafeteria) to get and bring back water to the house!

Eventually, we began to gather at each other’s houses, but the Christmas gathering tradition continued. Slowly this tradition died out. We thoroughly enjoyed the gathering, the food, the fun, the chaos. For some reason that was not something we were able to pass on to our own children.

We also talked about one of our activities at our gathering. In the beginning, it was just  Mark, her younger brother, and me. He and I would go out to the back yard and play “punt return.” We would line up at each end of the yard, opposite each other, and one of us would punt the ball to the other one. The receiver would try to return it for a touchdown, while the punter tried to tackle him. Or we would play basketball at the goal in the backyard. I remember one afternoon running full tilt in an attempt to catch a pass from Mark when I was suddenly laid out in the yard. I had run into that pole!!

When Ronnie came home we would play “goal line stand.” One on offense and two on defense. Four plays to make it into the end zone. Tackle. In those days, Mark was all elbows and knees too. When Dave joined the family we would play two-on-two tackle football. Slowly, as time crept up on us, we began to grudgingly play touch football. But that was only because it was taking too long for us to get up from each play. Ha!

The year of the blizzard in central Arkansas is also the year of the famous “Ice Bowl.” I’m telling you, there was so much snow and ice that the town was shut down. One night we were out at midnight sliding down the frozen streets! Well, we wanted to play some football, so we layered up, put on our big coats and our gloves and Ronnie, Mark, Dave and I headed off for the field. Yes, we had to walk a ways to get to the field. Mary and I laughed as we recalled her Mother’s parting words as we were going out the door, “If you get hurt, don’t come back here crying!!” We all laughed thinking, We won’t – get hurt or come back crying. And we didn’t. And we had a blast!

What wonderful memories. We gathered for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and we even took vacations together. I will admit, some of the gatherings turned into small disasters, but overall they were good times. A good tradition. I’m sad that it came to an end and sadder that we were not able to continue it in our family. But I am grateful for the times that we do get together and enjoy each other and our own growing families.

Ah, another post with no point. Just assorted and random Christmas memories on this Christmas morn.

Where did they go?

I’ve been thinking about people who used to be but who are no more.

Like the Mayans. This came up when I made a post about the supposed “Mayan apocalypse” of 2012. One person said they had been "exterminated" (ouch!) and another commented, “It seams to the most of us that they just got up and walked away.”

Which one is it? Are they no more or did they just move?

And there are other ancient people who used to be but are no more: Incas, Aztecs, Persians, Babylonians, Ammonites, Philistines, Moabites, Sumerians, Akkadians, Hyksos, Celts of Britain and Indian tribes of North America. And many, many more.

Where did they go?

Some of these people are truly no more. 

Many Indian tribes along the Atlantic coast completely disappeared shortly after European contact. George Catlin spent a lot of time among the Plains Indians and seems especially fond of the Mandans. Their population is reported as 3,600 in the early 18th century. In 1836, there were over 1,600 full-blood Mandans, but this number was estimated to have dropped to 125 by 1838 because of a small pox epidemic. The last full-blood Mandan died in 1971. They are no more. The Edisto Indians have a similar story. They were and they are no more. Oh, there are a few who claim to be related to these tribes, but they are mixed and mingled with other tribes. They are no more.

And it is the same with many others. Incas, Aztecs, Ammonites, Philistines, Moabites, Sumerians, Akkadians, Hyksos. Gone. I realize that there is also a matter of civilization, but these people seem gone. But this does lead to the next possibility

Some of these people were once great civilizations, but were diminished and basically absorbed by another people.

Take the Celts. They were conquered by the Romans and became part of the Empire. Then the Romans left. Long story short, then came the Angles and Saxons. They took over the joint and the Celts were no more. Or rather, they were totally subjugated, and those who did not flee to Wales or Brittany were wiped out. Not every single individual perhaps, but as a people. Those who were not exterminated were absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon civilization, culture, and language.

Or Persia. The civilization collapsed and is gone. But many of the people in Iran are called Persians. There also seem to be people called Persians in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They have been absorbed.

Some of these ancient people were once great civilizations. When their civilization ended they continued, but were absorbed by other civilizations. This rise and fall is explained by Acts 17:26, And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. They are no more as a civilization, a world power, but as a people they can still be found.

Well, back to the Mayans. Clearly their civilization collapsed. And relatively quickly. Did they simply move? That answers nothing because logically the next question is, Where to? And if no one knows, isn’t that essentially the same thing as saying exterminated? But what about the nearly 7 million people in Central America who consider themselves Mayan? It seems that whatever constituted Mayan back then still exists today.

I have no real point to this post, or argument to advance. I’ve just been thinking about people who used to be but who are no more. Some of these were ethnic groups that were truly “exterminated" or blotted out from under heaven. There are unique people groups who used to be, used to walk on the earth, and who are no more. And as I think about it, I find that kind of sad. Others were not so much a single ethnic group, but a collective term that embraced many distinct populations, societies, and ethnic groups, who together formed Mayan or Persian or Inca etc. And this I find interesting. They rose to power and prominence for a season. Then, for some earthly reason, this dissolved and they are no more. The parts are there, but as a whole, they are no more. I believe that reveals the hand of God.

As I said, I’m not trying to prove anything, just writing down what I’ve been thinking about.

Happened again

It happened again this morning. The pastor told us to turn to 1 John 4:7-11. As soon as he started reading, Mary and I both looked at each other and I began to sing (inside!):

Beloved, let us love one another: 
for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, 
and knoweth God.
He that loveth not (clap clap clap) knoweth not God; for God is love.
Beloved, let us love one another
1 John 4: 7 & 8

When I mentioned this after church, I discovered I wasn’t the only one! It’s neat to be able to sing the Scripture.

A little later he read 4: 19, We love him, because he first loved us. And guess what? Ha! Yep:

O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
Because He first loved me!

On the way home I mentioned this to Mary. We talked about how we learned two other choruses that went with this. And we worked it out and sang them all – much to the delight of Isabelle and Jack. “Sing it again.” That’s right, I was asked for an encore!! The three together are:

O how I love Jesus (3x)
Because He first loved me!

To me, he is so wonderful (and I love him) (3x)
Because he first loved me

Wonderful, wonderful, 
Jesus is to me,
Counsellor, mighty God,
Prince of peace is He.
Saving me, keeping me
from all sin and shame,
Wonderful is my Redeemer.
Praise His Name.

Hope this set you to singing. What? You don’t know these songs? Come hang out with me and I can learn you to sing them. And Mary will make sure we hit all the right notes!

Unto you is born a Savior

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord

What glorious good news – a Savior! I heard this verse read in church last Sunday and I have been meditating on it since then.  How does He save us? By His:

INCARNATION
By the incarnation the door to heaven is opened.
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same…For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

LIFE
By His life he revealed the Father, He taught us the ways of God; He lived a life of faith and obedience.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

CROSS
His death on the cross He purchased salvation for us.

RESURRECTION
This man took on death and overcame it. For us!
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

ASCENSION
Jesus Himself is our hope and our Hope has entered heaven.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus

EXALTATION
The Son become a man, who lived among us, died for us, rose again, and ascended into heaven. This Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, where He makes intercession for us, pleading His blood for us, that where He is we might be also; waiting to return in glory.

RETURN
When He returns Jesus will bring the promised salvation with Him!

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; 
for he hath visited and redeemed his people

And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us 
in the house of his servant David

A well-beloved Christmas Carol

This is one of my favorite Christmas carols. Even though I never tried to introduce it to the congregation, I enjoyed it every Christmas, out of the hymn-book or at the piano. You can hear it here 

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!

At His Word the worlds were framed; He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean in their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun, evermore and evermore!

He is found in human fashion, death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below, evermore and evermore!

O that birth forever blessed, when the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bare the Savior of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore!

This is He Whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord, evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven adore Him; angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing, evermore and evermore!

Righteous judge of souls departed, righteous King of them that live,
On the Father’s throne exalted none in might with Thee may strive;
Who at last in vengeance coming
Sinners from Thy face shalt drive, evermore and evermore!

Thee let old men, thee let young men, thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens, with glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the heart its music bring, evermore and evermore!

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, and, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving, and unwearied praises be:
Honor, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory, evermore and evermore!

Aurelius Prudentius, 5th Century

translated from Latin to English by John M. Neale and Henry W. Baker

A Poem

the fire burns
the gift is there
now he speaks
into the air

will there be
in time to come
the grace to bless
or is he done

by His grace
the soul, restored
for the spirit,
healing implored

does the kindling
of the flame
mean he can work
for His Name

Observations from behind the counter – EBT

This year we began accepting EBT. That stands for “Electronic Benefit Transfer” and is basically food stamps.

I always thought EBT was for essential food stuffs, but I was wrong. The only thing I figured you could get at my store by EBT was bread and milk. Not so. You can get candy and soda and chips with your EBT card! Back in November I posted this on fb:

EBT run amok. Last night, a man and a very pregnant woman came in and purchased:
a large bag of Cheetos
a large bag of Munchies chips
a 2 liter Sierra Mist
2 packs of sunflower seeds (regular, dill pickle)
6 Firecracker Red Hot Pickled Sausages
1 Giant Slim Jim 
a bag of Hostess sugar doughnuts
a package of Uncle Al's Lemon Creme Cookies
2 Apple Danishes
And all this as an approved EBT purchase. Ludicrous.

So distressing and irritating. Such an abused gov’t give-away. Oh, they can’t get fountain drinks or coffee with EBT because that is considered “prepared food.”

My manager told me about a woman who came in the other day with her little girl. They both had a handful of candy. As he began to ring them up, the woman said, “This is not together. Mine is on EBT. She will pay for her own.” Oh, he was livid when he told me this!

Then he reminded me, “Never ring up candy on EBT and then give them cigars.” I was flabbergasted! You know, “they can afford tobacco and alcohol but not food??” But I just told him, “So you will know I would never do that, I hate selling candy on EBT, I would never give anyone tobacco on EBT!!”

And just so you’ll know that I am not some hard-hearted, uncaring person. I don’t mind helping people eat who for good reasons, temporarily, need assistance. But it should be essential food stuffs: flower, sugar, beans, meat, fruit, vegetables, dairy, etc. Y’know MEAL stuff. It is ridiculous that they should be able to buy candy and chips and sodas and doughnuts. And I think it is totally out of hand if their EBT assistance frees up their cash to buy alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets!

Is it tomorrow yet?

I am either fascinated with “time” or obsessed with it. I think about it a lot and have written about it often. And since I work 3rd shift, I regularly have a conversation like I did tonight, around 12:30:

Me: Thank you, Sir. Have a good night!
Customer: It’s not night. This is early morning! I need to get to bed.
Me: Ohhh-Kay.  (But I’m saying to myself, It’s night to me)

When does tomorrow begin? I know, I know, "Tomorrow never comes, because as soon as it does it’s today!" And I also know that our day, for some strange reason, runs from midnight to midnight. So that means, that technically, tomorrow begins at midnight.

Isn’t that strange? The new day begins at mid-night? I admit, I have never understood that.

There have been people who had their days set up differently. For them the new day began at sunset. Thursday ended at sunset and Friday began. The Jews understood it this way. That’s why the Bible says, Evening and morning were the first day. The Celts and Anglo-Saxons understood it that way. Christmas Eve was not the Night before Christmas Day, it was the night that belonged to Christmas Day because every day began with the night: December 24th ended with sunset and the 25th began with the darkness or night time (that is why the Christmas story is read on Christmas Eve and yet we say that He was born on Christmas Day - Christmas Eve belongs to the 25th!!). I like that. I would be comfortable with that.

But, as a third shift person, I look at it this way. I go to work at 11 pm Wednesday night and get off at 7 am Thursday morning. So, until I get off (or really the sun rises), it is Wednesday night. I think a lot of 3rd shift people think this way. If I am talking to a police officer at 3:30 am Thursday and he asks me, “Are you working tomorrow night?” we both immediately know this means, Are you working Thursday night? Makes it hard to talk to first shift folk.

So, for me, as long as it is still dark outside, it’s Night, no matter what the clock says. And I will wish people a good night. But once the sun comes up, Day has begun and my parting words often go like this: “Have a good night, uh, it’s day now, Have a good day!”

Is it tomorrow yet? I got off at 3 am tonight. It's still dark outside. So, No, it is still Thursday night! When I wake up it will be Friday morning.

That much being said, I will confess that working nights begets confusion. I have my way of viewing time yet the world runs by a different clock, so I am never quite sure what Day it is!

Bury me with my glasses

This is from Chapter 57 of Tertullian’s book, On the Resurrection of the Flesh. He is writing about those who deny the resurrection of the flesh and upholding the apostolic faith concerning it.

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Hence now comes the well-known quibbling of vulgar unbelief; "if," they say, "the selfsame substance is brought back with its own shape, outline, character, therefore it must be in company also with its remaining characteristics. Therefore the blind, the lame, the paralytic and all others marked by some special characteristic at death, will return also with that characteristic."
What is belief in a resurrection, if it be not belief in a complete resurrection ? For if flesh will be restored from a state of decomposition, much more will it be brought back from a state of torture. The greater lays down the law for the less. Is not the amputation or crushing of any limb the death of that limb? If the death of the whole is annulled by resurrection, what of the death of a part? If we are changed into glory, how much more into soundness? Damage to bodies is an accidental character, soundness is their rightful character.
As life is brought to us by God, so also is it brought back. We who get it back are the same people as get it at the beginning. It is to nature, not to injury that we are restored: we recover again our original life, not our injured life. If God does not raise us whole, he does not raise the dead. For what dead man is whole, even if he dies whole ? What dead man is entire ? What body is unharmed, when it has been killed, when it is cold, when it is ghastly pale, when it is very stiff, when it is a corpse? When is a man more maimed than when he is maimed in every part ? When is he more paralysed, than when he is immovable ? So for a dead man resurrection is nothing but the becoming whole, lest he should still be dead in that part in which he has not risen again.
God is competent to restore what He made : this sign both of His power and of His generosity He already sufficiently promised, or rather fulfilled in Christ, who is not only the resuscitator, but also the renewer of the flesh. And besides the Apostle also says: "And the dead shall rise again uncorrupted." How can this be, except as whole, though previously they had wasted away alike through the fault of ill-health and the long time of burial ? For in making both statements earlier also, that " this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality," he did not repeat the thought, but commended the difference to their attention. For by separating the two, and making "immortality" refer to the annulment of death, and " incorruption " to the blotting out of corruption, he adapted the one to resurrection, the other to renewal. I fancy he promised to the Thessalonians also the renewal of their whole being. Therefore in the future bodily blemishes will not be dreaded.
So the flesh will indeed remain liable to suffering even after resurrection in virtue of the fact that it is itself and the same, yet incapable of suffering in virtue of the fact that it was liberated by the Lord for this very purpose - that it should not suffer any more.

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Amen! In that day, old one-eyed Jeff will be able to see out of both eyes! I tell you again, bury me with my glasses - I want to stomp on them and crush them to bits when I am raised from the dead and no longer need ‘em!!! Hallelujah! Maranatha! 

Can any thing good come from Jeremiah?

I have made a few posts about my recent trip through the prophet Jeremiah. This is the last one.

Jeremiah lived and prophesied around 600 BC. He lived in Jerusalem. He lived under the Law. He prophesied of judgment - doom and gloom, maybe he could even be called a ‘hellfire and damnation’ preacher! – and he is known as “The weeping prophet.” So why, when so much of the church today is concerned with being fun, positive, cool, and culturally relevant, would anyone want to read the words of someone known as the Weeping Prophet (“Not fun”), who spoke so much about judgment (not positive – "We like to talk about the love of God”), who lived 2600 years ago (completely irrelevant to our culture)??

Can anything good come from reading Jeremiah?? To quote the apostle Paul, much in every way.

First, Jeremiah is part of the Word of God. And we know what the Apostle said about that. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And all this profit can be gleaned from Jeremiah.

Second, We learn a little more of the history of Israel. Why is this important or how is this helpful?
1 Corinthians 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
Romans 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Third, we see God. What do we see about God in Jeremiah? He is Holy. Righteous. Faithful. Love. Judge. Savior. I know, there is a heavy emphasis on judgment and wrath and that these are attributes we would like to forget. But these same attributes are spoken of in the New Testament. We just ignore them there, too!
I realize there are folks who like to represent God, as He is found in Jeremiah (and the whole Old Testament), as an angry, petulant God, so different than the God of the Gospel. But this is such a distortion of the truth. Why was God angry with Judah? Did He just wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Was He unreasonably irritable? No. First Israel, then Judah, had sinned for generations. Idolatry – in your face idolatry, in the temple idolatry – was everywhere, immorality abounded, injustice was the law of the land. The princes, the priests, the people, were wholly given over to sin. To make matters worse, they maintained a facade of keeping the covenant:

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

And, God has sent them prophets warning them, calling them, exhorting them to return to Him so He could bless them. And they refused. Judgment was all that was left. I admit, it was severe: the land was emptied, the city was burned, the temple was desecrated. But God had mercy even in wrath. When they were in Babylon He raised up Ezekiel to speak to them (still rebellious) and then Daniel. And after 70 years they were restored to the land. We don’t like this story, but do we think we can sin and rebel with impunity and God will not judge us? We need Jeremiah!

Fourth, we learn what God wants from us, His people. I have already written about this . We can learn from Jeremiah how to maintain a strong walk with God.

Fifth, Messiah is spoken of. 
Jeremiah 23:5-6  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jeremiah 31:31-34   Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…

Amen! This is the New Covenant. Our Covenant! Jesus speaks of this. Hebrews spends a lot of time on this.

Six, not only is it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, but I believe a couple of times Jeremiah sees down to our day. Obviously in the promise of the New Covenant, but I also believe in chapter 33 Jeremiah sees beyond the restoration from Babylon to Messiah, and the times of Messiah, and that’s us.

Seventh, preachers can learn a lot from Jeremiah. There is the obvious prophetic ministry: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Jeremiah was full of the Word of God. But he was also full of the love of God. He wept for the people because these were the people of God, the beloved of God, and through their sin they brought such destruction on themselves. And it broke his heart because if broke God’s heart. There was no delight in his message. He wanted salvation, deliverance, rescue, restoration; and when the Jews would not return to the Lord, he wept. It was the Spirit of God weeping in him. Preachers need the love of God poured out into their heart, they need the heart of God, so that they will weep over their flock, their city, even as they boldly warn of the coming judgment.


This is the good that comes out of Jeremiah. We need Jeremiah. We need to hear his message and feel his heart.

Could this be me?

As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth . . .

Jeremiah 44:16-17

People often say that because the Bible is so old, it is irrelevant today. But this certainly sounds timeless to me. In fact, this sounds like the campaign slogan for western culture today: “We will NOT do what the Bible says, but we WILL do what we say. In fact, we are working on making it illegal for you to even TELL us what the Bible says.”

I have been sitting on this post for some time. I was going in a certain direction with it and every time I came back to it, I felt a hindrance. Perhaps I was guilty of having a thought and then tacking a Bible verse to it to make it sound better.

At any rate, I read this passage last week. It is stunning. Shocking. Pure willful, intentional, rebellion.

We recognize this attitude in unbelievers. The question believers need to ask, that I need to ask is, “Is there any area of my life where this attitude reigns?” That’s a fancy way of asking, “Do I have any behavior or thoughts that I know are contrary to God’s Word that I have refused to change?”