Shoe Shine Boys
Fathers Day 2013

I have had the good fortune to live every day of my life knowing that I have an earthly father who I can count on. I do not recall a single moment when he did not act in my best interest, always above his own. If this required a sacrifice, he made it.

I realize that it is not that way in everyone’s life and I feel fortunate that God chose to bless me in this way.

Tonight as I was putting the fin...ishing touches on tomorrows worship service, I couldn’t help but remember what Saturday nights were like when I was growing up.

My father had a Saturday night ritual which at the time seemed peculiar. Each week he would go to his closet and return with an old black shoe shine box, full of polish, brushes, and several old socks. My guess is that the box probably belonged to his father at some point.

He would gather my brother and I and the three of us would sit together in the living room and shine our shoes. After a while there was an inspection. Sometimes I failed the inspection and had to sit back down and do some more shining. Sometimes, after I had made my best effort, my father would end up putting the finishing touch on my shoes. When it was all said and done, our shoes were ready for church the following day. We were eventually dismissed to go do whatever other activity two boys did on Saturday night in the 1960’s.

To be honest, at the time, I thought the man must be crazy. My shoes looked fine to me. They kept feet in and rocks out. What was the big deal? And with all that shoe polish, by the time they wore out looked to be two sizes bigger than they were on the day he bought them for me. It was like putting monster truck tires on a tricycle.

But I have since come to know that there was more going on there than a shoe shine on those Saturday nights. You see, instead of going out drinking or spending money on himself, or living foolishly, my father chose to get the three of us together on a weekly basis to learn a little bit about things such as stewardship, respect, and completing a task, no matter how mundane it seems to be. I don’t know what we talked about but the point is, we talked. It wasn’t really about a pair of shoes at all.

The number of times and reasons when I have challenged my father over the years are many. But I have never had an occasion where it even crossed my mind to challenge or doubt his ethics and his love for me. For this I will always be grateful and I will always regret the times that I did not show the respect that he has earned.

I wear a bigger shoe than I did back then but I doubt I’ll ever be big enough to fill his.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

 If It wasn't for "Pneumonia" I could blog without spell checker.

Several people have recently asked me to include the text of a message I recently preached in my blog. This week I have become aware of several situations where I think this will apply. I hope that God uses this to encourage you.

Ephesians 5:15-17 says:

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

In today’s typical household, somebody always needs 5 bucks and a ride somewhere. We constantly have meetings and doctor’s appointments, or other places we need to be. We struggle to leave work in time to pick up our kids from school and drop them off at baseball practice. At the end of the day we rush home and prepare something to eat, wash dishes, take a shower, and then we get ready to do it all over again tomorrow. On weekends there’s always a car or a leaky faucet that needs work. We’re late for work and church and we regularly miss other deadlines. We work longer and harder to bring home a paycheck that barely meet our needs. A recent study found that 20 years ago, the average work week was 43 hours. Now it is 47.

As Christians, we also understand the importance of serving in ministry, spending time in Bible Study, and in fellowship with each other.

And for the next 6 months we mow grass…except for me. So far all I’ve done is work on the lawn mower. I’ve always said that there is no greater risk to my testimony than a lawn mower.  As a precaution, I usually take off one of my socks and put it in my mouth when I’m working on a lawn mower.

In an attempt to balance our busy schedules we are opting for quick meals, fast food, instant rice, energy drinks, and trying to get by with less than what can be considered as a good night’s sleep. There are some days when I feel like a cup of coffee is the only thing keeping me going.

Single people are even trying something called speed dating in an effort to meet that special someone without investing a lot of time. The basic idea is that instead of going out on a date with one person at a time to look for love, groups of singles are gathering at the same place where they register and then pair up and have a conversation with a stranger of the opposite sex. In five or ten minutes a bell rings and then they get up and go have a 10 minute date with someone else.

I went on a speed date a few years ago. Yes, you heard me correctly. I cheated on DeDe. I'm not proud of it but before you judge me, please understand that I did not know that I was cheating on DeDe. In fact, I did not even know that I was on a speed date.

My son Jake, who is a musician, was performing at the Red Light Cafe in Atlanta. We decided to go see the show. We arrived and took a seat on a sofa located at the back of the room and waited for the show to begin. I kept hearing a bell ring but I really didn’t pay much attention to it. In a few minutes a girl, who looked to be in her late twenties, came over and sat down on the other side of me and introduced herself. She looked directly at me and said “Hi! I’m Kara…so…do you come here often?” I mumbled “NEVER”. I glanced over at DeDe and she was laughing. I looked across the room and my son, who was about to go on stage, was in hysterics. He was laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes. In a few minutes a bell rang and the young lady stuck out her hand and said “It was nice to meet you. I sarcastically said “yeah me too” My son walked over after the show and said “Hey dad, how did your date go?” and broke into laughter again. I was kinda puzzled. Dede finally explained to me that I had been on a speed date. I had a real hard time living that one down.

There are all sorts of things we can try to help save time. If you don’t already have one, you might buy yourself a smart phone. Then while you’re sitting in the drive thru at McDonald's you can also check your email, do your banking and other important things such as updating your Facebook status, all at the same time.

There’s a popular word for that…"multitasking"… which simply means…do multiple things at the same time. As a word of caution, be careful when you multitask. You may have mastered text messaging but when you’re in morning traffic with a hot cup of coffee between your legs, singing along with the album version of ‘Free Bird”, it’s probably not the best time to multitask. Brothers and sisters, can I get an LOL out of that!

Wouldn’t life be easier if we just had more time?

But all there will ever be is 24 hours in a day. All we can really do is try to make sure we are using the time we have available in the best possible way.

There’s a popular word for that too. Have you ever heard the phrase “Time Management”?

There’s an entire industry based on Time Management software and products. By tracking appointments and schedules, you may find opportunities to eliminate some of the less important items on your schedule, and make more time for activities with a higher priority.

Some of the children at my church are already practicing this. They have discovered that they can increase their playtime if they simply eliminate baths from their daily schedule.

Considering the pace we’re trying to live at, it’s no wonder that there are Sunday’s when we would rather stay home and catch up on other things or rest instead of attending church services, let alone finding enough time to read our Bibles every day. And yet as Christians, if you ask any one of us, we would all agree that an active church life and spending time in the word of God is essential to our lives.

I bet we would also agree that putting on an air tank is essential if you are going to go scuba diving.

The point I’m trying to make is that even though we say that we know the importance of God’s word in our daily lives, we are more likely to get up everyday and live our lives deprived of God’s word than we are to go scuba diving without first strapping on an air supply. Obviously, if you go scuba diving with out air it’s not going to go very well.

We must understand that God’s has priorities for our lives that are as essential to us as the air we breathe if we expect to live the kind of life that we are promised we can live, in grace, free of conflict, and wrapped in the peace of God.

If I came over to your house, opened your garage door and began to look at your messy garage, you would probably say you have been meaning to clean the place up but have just been too busy.

What if, instead, I came to your house and asked you to go fishing? It’s likely that you haven’t cleaned your garage because it’s not really a top priority to you. Our real priorities almost always get done because we find or make the time for them.

To set real and meaningful priorities in our lives we first need to understand what our purpose is. We live in different family situations, work different Jobs, and face different challenges in our lives but our utmost purpose is the same.

We were created to Glorify God. In Isaiah 43:21 God told Jacob:

The people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.

Life is a gift from God to be used for the purpose of glorifying God.

Life can also be defined a period of time.

Therefore, I think we can conclude that time is also a gift from God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says:

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God

So our TIME.. meaning our words, our thoughts, our actions, our songs and dance, our jobs, when we nourish our bodies,…whatever we do, our time is to be spent Glorifying God.

We glorify God by loving him, obeying him, trusting him, serving him, and by walking with him in all that we do.

We can best do this when we begin to let God’s priorities order our days instead of a unit of measurement…like the number of HOURS IN A DAY.

Our intent is to live life to its fullest but when our priorities are out of line with God’s priorities, we find ourselves feeling unfulfilled, frustrated, tired, and cheated out of the kind of life we’re supposed to have.

I want to talk about a few things that will help bring order to our lives when our life has overwhelmed us. Before we start we need to remember two things.

The first thing to remember is that we will always have enough time to do God's will. God’s plan for us will not include anything that is impossible through Him.

The second thing to remember Is that God is the author of time, therefore, the 24 hour day is not a mistake.

Time problems occur when we try to do more than, or something different than God’s Will for our lives. When we regularly find ourselves overwhelmed and unable to accomplish all that we planned to do we should take notice and view these feelings as a red flag.

1 Corinthians 14:33 says:

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

God’s perfect will in our lives also includes God’s perfect peace in our lives. Anything other than peace means that we still have some work to do.

In order to properly manage our time it helps to develop a list of daily priorities that agree with the priorities that God has established for us in His word. In particular,  Ephesians tells us a lot of what we need to know about our relationships with each other, our families, and our jobs, just to name a few.
I created a basic list for us to look at. We won’t try to rank the items on our list in any particular order other than to say that everything in our lives falls under our relationship with God.

Our goal is to simply look at a short list of some God pleasing priorities that we can use as a tool to help bring order into our daily lives. As we begin to manage our time, looking at priorities instead of the number of hours in a day, our priorities will serve to filter out some of our activities. We take control of our schedules by looking at each activity that presents itself in our lives to see if they fit within our list of priorities.

When we begin to create schedules that are in line with Biblical priorities rather than the amount of hours in a day, the result will be the desired order and peace of God in our daily lives.

Guided by Scripture, A basic list  of priorities might look like this:

Our relationship with God
Our families
Our jobs
Our ministry to each other
Our ministry to the lost
Rest

Did you notice that this could also be a list of our blessings?

As you read the Bible, you will likely find other items you’ll want to add to your list.

My testimony today is that these things I have written are extremely important in our lives.

In 1979 I stood up in a church and I promised God that I would love DeDe in sickness and in health. In October of 2011 I learned what that really meant.  DeDe was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia that will kill a person in 4 weeks without treatment.

In two days, our lives forever changed in ways we could not have imagined. In less than 48 hours we lost %40 of our income and Dede moved to Emory Hospital for the next 31 days. She came home for 2 weeks and then left again for 21 more days.

My first reaction was to do what I always do.

I googled the facts...

I embarked on a reading marathon of research papers and clinical trial journals from the USA, China, and France. I didn’t understand a word they said but I read them anyway.

I quickly learned that I as much as I wanted to, I could not fix this.

So we made a decision that no matter what happened; we would accept God’s will. As hard as it is to think about, I know that DeDe belongs to God and someday He will call her home at a time of His choosing. But through God’s grace we also know that her life will never end in death. I love her very much but I know that God does too. I also know that He has something really awesome in store for her someday. I wanted to resent all that had happened to us but I couldn’t. I have come to understand that to truly love someone, you must also be willing to give them up. After this acceptance we were able to focus on the day at hand.

In keeping the promises I made to DeDe, it meant that I had to continue working and do all the other things that I am responsible for as well as take care of her and all the things she normally takes care of. I found myself living on as little as 3 hours sleep each night. When she finally came home, new challenges replaced the ones that disappeared. It became my responsibility to care for her at home and maintain her PIC line for several months. That was some pretty scary stuff.  I practiced several times on a dummy and soon realized that I wasn’t much smarter than he was. We both had the same stupid look on our face. I’m sure the instructor was great but all I heard was “Here’s a hose that goes in here and runs from here to your wife’s heart. DON”T MESS UP!”

DeDe, of course, faithfully cheered me on with helpful comments such as “YOU”RE KILLING ME”. Dede is not like one of the computers I work on. If I mess up I can’t just reboot her and start over.

Life showed no mercy just because DeDe was sick. The little unexpected issues that come up in everyday life still happened.

One day I made the mistake of trusting my youngest grand dog, Maynard to stay inside because it was raining. Maynard is big for his age but his brain is more like a BB rolling around in a beach ball. Like his grandfather, Maynard also has a sinful nature. He spent the entire day destroying a 12 pack of toilet paper. I opened the door at 1:30 in the morning and it looked like it had been snowing in the house.

I didn’t see my boys very often but I knew they were still alive by the forensic evidence they left at the crime scene. Finally, in desperation, I opened a Facebook account and posted a description of the washing machine and dishwasher along with some operating instructions on their Facebook pages.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would become of our family and what our lives would look like when all this was said and done. I recall several times when Leukemia first appeared in our lives when I said that it had changed our priorities.

But that was an untrue statement.

In fact, we found that it was our priorities that gave us a compass to use to help us find our way through some very unfamiliar territory.

What Leukemia actually changed was our daily activities.

Ordinarily when I get home from work, we eat dinner, do chores, talk about our day, or watch one of our favorite TV shows. For the most part, whatever we do, we do it together. Suddenly, I was leaving work in a hurry and eating dinner in the car while driving to see DeDe. I would call her and if she felt like eating, I would go wherever I had to go to get whatever she would eat. When I arrived we would have dinner together.

She took full advantage of my desire to go the extra mile for her and usually picked something from a restaurant on the left hand side of an eight lane road in the middle of a construction zone.

When I finally arrived at Emory we talked, relaxed and watched TV like usual. If I didn’t stay the night, I washed clothes and cleaned the house after I got home.

But none of this was a burden for me because our time together is a priority in our lives. It turned out that the location and the logistics of where we were didn’t matter so as long as we were together. I feel like God particularly blessed this time in our marriage. Our marriages and family relationships are also one of God’s priorities.

When Dede contracted a severe blood infection and was admitted to Emory for the 2nd stay, our time together was anything but normal. For nearly a week, I wasn’t sure that if I left Emory that I would ever see DeDe again in this life. She did not speak for several days. Severe Pneumonia set in and it literally took every ounce of her strength to simply breathe. I spent much of our time together praying for her while she rested. I read the Book of Ephesians five days in a row. This is when God began to write this message.

One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do is to go to work while DeDe was so sick. It was torture. But I had to keep some income flowing in. Our jobs are one of the ways God provides for us so our work is also one of His priorities. God intends for man to work.

In Genesis 2:7, God made man. The next thing he done was put man to work.

Eight Verses later in Genesis 2:15 it says:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

God helped me with this priority by providing people I trust to advocate for DeDe while I worked.

Ministry is another priority in our lives. We all are commissioned by Christ to minister. Did we miss church events? Yes. But throughout this illness God gave both of us numerous opportunities to minister. Even when God placed us in this difficult circumstance there was still an invitation to join Him in the work He was doing around us. There was no change in what God expects us to do in our lives. Once again, our normal activities and the venue changed, but not our priorities.

One night I stopped in little five points. It wasn’t for a tattoo. Do I look like I’d be hanging out in little 5 points? But I needed gas. I met a young man who was living on the streets and he was hungry. I bought us a cup of coffee and a honey bun and I hung around for a little while and we talked about his situation. Maybe my job that night was simply providing a meal for a young man who had lost his way. But I promise you that had DeDe never had Leukemia, I would have never been in little 5 points at 1 o’clock in the morning. I would have never been so burdened to pray for this young man as I have been. I assume that I was part of God’s plan in a work that God has in process in this young man’s life.

I arrived one afternoon to find a group of several nurses in DeDe’s room. The conversation that was taking place went something like this. “I don’t know what you have but other people on this floor need whatever it is. Please spend all the time you can out in the hallways and be seen” and as long as she could, she did.

I met the family of another Cancer patient who didn’t have a Pastor. For the next few weeks I prayed with this family on a regular basis. A few weeks later that he passed away. The love of my life was three doors down fighting for her own life but it was still my job to minister to the needs God placed in my path.

Chemo infusions are administered at night. With the nasty side effects associated with the type of chemo that DeDe required, her room was a pretty busy place at night. DeDe and I had the opportunity to get to know a young man named Isaac who was one of the nurses who cared for her. Isaac revealed that God was calling him to become a medical missionary. His gifts for that became evident one night during Dede’s 2nd hospital stay. After battling the blood infection and severe Pneumonia for several days, her pulse and oxygen fell to critical levels and a succession of 3 separate emergency codes were called over the next 2 hours. The other nurses and the physician assistant on duty were more than willing to step aside and let Isaac take over. During the second code event, I believe Isaac saved DeDe’s life. Isaac’s care always included prayer. Day after Day, I observed Isaac praying in the hall just outside of his patient’s room. The three of us prayed together several times. Before we left Emory, this calling was shaping up to something that looked more like a plan. We both know we were sent to encourage this young man.

Our Ministry gave us purpose in an otherwise confusing period of our lives. A purpose in all this was something that we desperately needed.

In the days following October 1st of 2011, DeDe spent a total of 52 days in a hospital. I was there all 52 days.

Today by the grace of God, DeDe is cancer free at this time, and no matter what the remaining complications and circumstances may be, we’ve learned that God doesn’t change His priorities for our daily lives so neither can we. And we’ve also learned that following God’s priorities was the thing that provided stability and kept the peace of God in our daily lives.

When we made our wedding vows, God was not merely a witness to our marriage. He as been a participant. And God has been there with both of us every step of the way… In sickness and in health….

And we now know that God’s has priorities for our lives that are the same…In sickness and in health.

I am writing today to testify that throughout this trial in our lives we have known the incredible peace of GOD in every step along the way.

And without God, That’s not who I am. Those of you who know me best know that. Have you ever watched an Episode of Monk?

By nature, I’m all but OCD when it comes to scheduling my activities. I like to do things on time. I get rattled when I’m late or things don’t go according to plan. I have methods for everything that work for me. I like order in my life and if every day was exactly like the day before, I’d be OK with that, especially if I could pick the original day. I’d probably pick a day when I was smoking ribs.

I have a system for that too. You can’t rush ribs. If you want good ribs then you have to let them take their time. I have a kindred spirit with ribs. I don’t like to feel rushed either. When I’m rushed I also get tough and dry. So I offset my allergic reaction to spontaneity and tough spare ribs by starting activities on time and scheduling enough time to achieve the desired results.

But unfortunately, I didn’t have a plan for Leukemia.

We didn’t have time for Leukemia. We were working, living life, and going to church and serving. We were doing our best to obey God. We were taking care of my mother in law. Miss Joanne who has Alzheimer Disease. Miss JoAnne lives on her own schedule and she would wonder around the house at all hours of the night. If I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night she would suddenly appear out of nowhere. She was scary…scary as in crypt keeper scary.

And now you are telling me that DeDe is leaving to deal with cancer?

DON’T LEAVE ME WITH THE BABIES!

We didn’t know what or how to do Leukemia and we still don’t… But God DOES. We didn’t know how we were going to pay for it. I quit looking at medical bills and insurance claims when they topped 1.2 million dollars. God says “I WILL HANDLE IT” See Matthew 6…

And then I stood by DeDe and she stood by me. I went to work and she fought cancer. And we continued to worship God and to minister whenever God put a need in our path. 

And Everything Else?....This time we had to give it all to God and in turn God put the peace of God in our lives. God made what was impossible for us possible. To God be the glory!

It’s such an awesome thing that DeDe is sitting close by while I write our story. She has a head full of beautiful thick hair.

Let’s take a moment and consider the testimony that I have written while we take one more look at our priority list.

Our relationship with God
Our families
Our jobs
Our ministry to each other
Our ministry to the lost
Rest

I believe that all the changes that have occurred in mine and DeDe’s life circumstances, including Leukemia, are the way that we were deployed to places where God wanted us to be.

Why else would God suddenly call us away from two 12 year ministries at one church and move us to another ministry seven days later? Why would he then bring BOTH ministries we worked at together to plant a brand new church with people who have been brought together from all over the world to join God in his work? Why else would God place both of us in new jobs within a 5 month period that we weren’t looking for? Who saw that coming?

Was God just throwing his weight around when we ended up at Emory Hospital for 52 days? Or was DeDe sent to Emory hospital to touch a life? I would ask you how can DeDe be anywhere and not touch a life?

As scriptures clearly state, we all have the common purpose of glorifying God, where ever the Will of God takes us. The only way we will understand the Will of God in our INDIVIDUAL lives is through not only reading, but by applying Gods word to our lives and circumstances.

When the activities that present themselves in our daily lives are opportunities to glorify God then he will bless them!

When we feel stressed and conflicted then the activities that have presented themselves in our lives are something other than God’s will.

God’s will leads us to something that is good for us.

Conflicted lives and priorities lead to confusion, frustration and heart attacks.

Jeremiah 29:11 says:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

Isn’t that what you would plan for your own children?

So if life gets out of hand, change your plan!

God has a better plan and you have your own copy. If you don’t I will give you one. If God loves us so much that he gave His only son so that we should not perish…then he surely wants us to experience the full life that Jesus came to give us while we are here in this life, completely free of stress, anger, frustration, conflict, and above all, free from the shadow of death.

God priorities are unchanging and once our priorities match them we are no longer limited by the number of hours in a day on what we can accomplish in our lives. Those same priorities bring the peace of God into our lives in any circumstance.

We don’t know what tomorrow brings. James, brother of Jesus, said:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I'm going to wrap this post up with six ways we can find God’s will and priorities for our daily lives.

1. Invest Time In Reading God’s Word

I chose to use the word invest because it implies that there is a payoff. God’s Word will never contradict God’s will. There is no better way of knowing what’s important to God than by reading His Word.

Joshua 1:8 says
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

2. ASK, BELIEVE and RECEIVE!

James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does

Matthew 7: 7 – 11
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

3. Chill Out Dude!

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:25 and 33
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

4. WORSHIP and TRANSFORM

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.

5. SEEK GODLY COUNCIL

Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.

Proverbs 19:20
Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.

Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

6. Lick Your Wounds And Keep On Trucking!

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Many times the things we view as crisis or failures are just course changes on the road to finding God’s will in our lives.

I hope this helps you find it in yours.

Nana the Warrior

Nana the Warrior

My grandmother, Bessie Evelyn Swofford, passed away early yesterday morning at the age of 93.

Some of you know her as Evelyn.

When I was growing up in East Atlanta, my brother Scott and I, and my cousins, Greg and Andy, called her Nana. A little later on, for a while we thought we were too big to call anyone Nana, so we called her “ELV” which was a nickname my Grandfather called her. Over time, she eventually became “Nana” again.

My Nana was a blessing from God for every one of the 19,665 days of my life that she was here with us. Today, as we celebrate Nana’s life, I thought it might be appropriate to tell a story about Nana that I remember from my childhood.

I don’t have any grandchildren but I have two sons and a mother and father. Through that, I understand that there is something special between grandparents and grandchildren. When grand kids act up, most grandmothers are willing to look the other way and are reluctant to scold their grandchildren except in extreme cases.

Nana was different….You see, Nana liked to be in control.

Unfortunately, I do too and this made things between us "interesting" at times.

At a young age I quickly learned that My Nana was not one to mess with. Nana had a backhand and an uppercut like “Smokin” Joe Frazier and she would not hesitate to use them.

Still, I knew that the only way to fully understand where the limits were with Nana was to test them. One afternoon mama and daddy left me with Nana while they went to Sears and Roebucks. This was my chance to test her tolerance threshold and the scope of Nana’s power.

I’m told that as a child I made a lot of noise. Because I knew that Nana was deaf, I believed that this was probably irrelevant. But I needed to know for sure. I waited for about 5 minutes to make sure mama and daddy was really gone and then I set out on a mission to make the mother of all noises. I hooped and hollered for about two minutes before Nana finally exploded and dragged me across the floor to a kitchen chair and told me to SIT DOWN AND SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

Through this it appeared to me that in spite of what I had been told about Nana’s hearing, that my Nana could actually hear on some level. Still, I had to be sure. So I looked her in the eye and I boldly went where no man has ever gone before (or since that day) and I said… "MAKE ME".

She did....

To my credit, I quickly patched my wounds and pulled myself together. In spite of the overwhelming defeat that Nana delivered to me in the first round, I wasn’t about to let one setback railroad my plans to test Nana’s limits. I waited a few minutes and I began to Chirp…I sat in the chair exactly like she said and I began to chirp with an occasional caw of a crow tossed in...

"Chirp” “Chirp” “Chirp” “CAWWWWWWWWWW”  "Chirp” “Chirp” “Chirp” "Chirp” “Chirp”

On the 7th or 8th” chirp, Nana came after me like a Saturn rocket on the way to the moon.

I TOLD YOU TO BE QUIET. NOW I MEAN IT …NOT ANOTHER WORD.

Still undeterred from my quest, I stood up and looked Nana in the eye and without making a sound, my lips formed the words...

“MAKE ME”.

When I regained consciousness, I was sitting in the same kitchen chair. I don’t know if she put me there or if I somehow I managed to crawl back to the chair under my own power. All I know is that on that afternoon I discovered that not only could Nana hear on some level, but that she could also read lips.

At that point I had an important decision to make. Things were not looking good for me. But my family has always been baseball fans and true baseball fans know that you’re only out after three strikes, not two. I decided to swing for the fence.

So after a few minutes of silence, I began to buzz…softly at first…and incrementally louder until Nana finally looked at me. Bracing myself for the worst, I found myself a bit off guard by what happen next. I was approached by a kinder, gentler, Nana who laid her hand on my head and with a half chuckle she smiled and said “Please be quiet or go out in the back yard and you can make all the noise you want to”.

I really liked my Nana’s smile and I wanted to be good. I really did, but I didn’t really know if I could help myself. Finally, my heart melted and with my mouth closed tight; I turned my eyes up toward Nana’s and smiled. I looked at her that way for what must have been all of fifteen or twenty seconds when suddenly a little voice inside my head said ...

“MAKE…”.

Before I got to the “ME” part, Nana’s hand was already upside my head.

That day I learned not only that could Nana hear sounds and read lips, she was also a mind reader.

Pastor Tew called me last night to discuss today's service. Mama had told him that I had asked to take Nana’s Bible home with me for a few days. When I asked her for the Bible she handed me not one, but a sack full of Bibles. In our conversation, Pastor Tew asked me if I knew of any scriptures that was a favorite or meant a lot to Nana. I couldn’t answer that last night however I can answer that today.

The answer is ALL OF THEM.

What I found is that Nana’s Bible was more than a center piece on her coffee table or something to keep pencils from rolling around in a drawer. Nana’s Bible is a living journal of her life and her walk with God, where she took all of her pain, sorrows, stress, and worries and laid them at the feet of Jesus. Her Bible was also where she praised and glorified God for the things He has done in her life and the in the lives of the ones she loved. I was blown away when I realized that this simple girl from the farm, who married my grandfather when she was in the 8th grade, has taken the word of God, turned it upside down and inside out and marked daily readings for years on years .

She constantly prayed for every one of us, daughter, son, sister, brother, grandchild, niece, nephew. If you knew Nana then you are mentioned in Nana’s Bible.

So is Bill Clinton.

Written on the back page of a green Living Bible are the words “See my old Living Bible for more notes. I wore it out and had to get this one."

Here are a few excerpts:

Sept 28, 1996 - Ted (Nana’s Sister) died today.

June 7 1997 – Jacob (my Son) graduated from Stockbridge High School – (a true miracle)

March 11 1998 - Bobby Martin died today. (my aunt from the other side of my family)

November 20, 1996 - Sandy (daughter in law) had surgery – Betty (my mother) was sick all week and
Greg (my cousin) was burned bad on the job

March 20, 2000 – Rocky (Nana’s granddog,- also my baby brother if you ask mama) died today

May 2nd 2002 - Jacob (my son) in Hospital in Athens - ICU

May 3rd 1992 - Little Lee (my son) went to Sunday school for the first time

Jan 18, 2000. - xxxxx came home today.  Praise the Lord! - Thank You Lord Jesus!

Jan 23, 2000 - Little Lee Joined First Baptist Ellenwood

Feb 20, 1992 - Little Lee was baptized

May 11, 1992 – Don (my Father) fell out of a tree into the creek.

May 14, 1992 - Don came home from the hospital. Thank you Jesus

Sept 13th 1993 Allene died today (my other grandmother who may as well have been Nana’s sister)

Dec 25th 2000 - xxxxx was home for Christmas - Thank You Jesus

Easter Sunday, 2001. Ruffin (My grandfather) is so sick so we read this at home today - 1 Corinthians

November 3rd, 2001 – Our car was stolen

Sept 3, 2001 – Ruffin (My grandfather) went home to be with the Lord at 5:15 am. I loved him all my life and I always will.

November 2, 2001 - I am packing to move today. This is not home anymore without Ruffin. I miss him so much

November 16, 2001 - I am living with Betty and Don and I am so thankful they took me in. I am trying not to be so much trouble but it is a big chore for me.

and hundreds more...

________________________________

Long after Nana couldn’t write anymore, she kept praying and praising. At my house while we battle leukemia, we always knew that though she might be bed ridden, Nana was still praying for us.

So if you ask me, "Are you sad that Nana’s not here?...

I am.

It breaks my heart and I know that we are all going to miss her in our own way. But through this example that Nana left for us, certainly we know where we can find comfort on the hard days in our lives and our worries, no matter how big or small.

I found something I thought was very interesting in Nana’s Bibles. There are places where squares of scripture have been cut out of a page. Sometimes you find them somewhere else in one of her Bibles with other clippings from the Bible or other sources.

I mentioned earlier that Pastor Tew asked me if Nana had some favorite scripture. I’m not sure but I found a clipping and I believe that this scripture was important in her life. It comes from 1 Corinthians, 13. It says:

"Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.

" So some may have called her Nana, some Evelyn, and some “Elv” but last night I gave her a new name.

Nana the Warrior. ...

and I one hundred percent believe that without me even knowing, that many of the blessings in my life are a result of my Nana’s relentless faith and prayer.

Well, it's been a while. Sometime ago, I finally broke down and got myself a Facebook page and I have been posting there for the last year. Someone suggested that I put some of those posts here for safe keeping. I logged into the site and they have upgraded the enviroment with some cool new features, including a format suited to mobile devices. I decided that I would give my blog another try.

I must warn you in advance that there is a possibility that these post contain names that have not been changed to protect the innocent. Having said that, nothing here is worth hurting anyones feelings over and I have made efforts to anonymize the characters mentioned in my blogs. You'll especially appreciate that if you look funny or have any unusual ticks.

At this point I'm not sure if I can date these post to appear in the order they were written, thus I will keep the original name, "Random Thoughts" for this blogesphere.

blogesphere is a cool word I saw on the Internet. If I spelled or used it wrong I will claim creative rights, thus inventing a new word.

There aren't any members here yet and you won't see a lot of comments. Don't feel obligated to join or make any but feel free.

(I have elected to violate your right to free speech and have my blog set so that I can censor your comments before they appear on my blog.)

So.... Enjoy!

or not....

 Daddy Sang Bass.      

A few days ago I was on the web looking at worship songs. It’s a regular thing for me to go online and locate scripture references or scriptures that relate to a characteristic of God expressed in the songs we sing at my church. It’s just part of the way I prepare to lead worship in our weekly services. This particular night the song I was looking at was “I am nothing without you” by Bebo Norman. I launched Google and keyed in the phrase “I am nothing”

 

The results that came from that search broke my heart.
Included were hundreds of links to random message boards where people in despair from all over the world were crying out to anyone for answers to some pretty tough situations.

Here are a few samples:

I'm 21. I'm living in the basement of my in-laws with my husband and 3 month old daughter. I have zero self-esteem and self-confidence. I'm not very attractive and I have no talents. In fact, I'm not good at anything. I don’t trust anyone and I don't know why. I can’t concentrate, which makes me appear to be stupid. I can't afford a counselor so I will never be able to get help and I'm too much of a coward to kill myself. I'm a total loser who should have never been born. I am nothing...

I have an addiction and as a result I now have a ton of other physical problems. I think perhaps that my guilt and shame about myself may be creating many of them. BUT: when I even think of stopping I feel really empty and I have nothing inside. If I am not distracted by the drug then I feel nothing but misery and pain....AND EMPTY!! The truth is that without the buzz I am nothing...

My husband of 19 years died. Now I am a 39 year old single mother of four teenagers. I realize he’s never coming back but I didn't think it was possible to think about someone as many times a day as I think of him. It's been almost two years but it never gets better. I almost cried in front of my boss today. My husband was a part of me. Actually, there was no me. We were us and now, I am nothing...

I also found a Facebook page named “I am nothing without my friends”

Have you ever felt like this?

I have.

There was a time when I measured my value by things like my social status, where we live, my friends and relationships, my job, or the kind of car I drove. I became resolved that there were limits in my life that were set by my biggest mistakes.

Let's just say that after blasting off like a rocket after High School for the next 20 years, I finally ran out of rocket fuel and found myself in a free fall for a while.

But through my Lord Jesus Christ, I have come to realize that even though I still know pain, I still get hurt, I fear (not any of you of course!). I experience grief and disapointment... and all sorts of other despair. But in these things I also understand that I am far from being nothing. I know that I am always worth something to God.

That goes for you too. We're all the same.

One of my favorite singers sings a song that says:

If you judge us by our elements then you might think He failed.
We're not copper for one penny or even iron for one nail.
And a dollar would be plenty to buy 20 of us
until true love is added to these handfuls of dust.

God’s love makes the worthless - priceless.

and he Loves all of us.
 
Through God’s very own words we learn that we are so valuable to the God of the universe that he would lay down his own son to save us so that we can be with Him forever.

Read John 3:16 and see for yourself.

And we also learn that not only does he save us….when we honor God with our lives, He honors us.

Those who honor me I will honor
1 Samuel 2:30

Think about that….God will honor you.

What does that mean?

Psalm 91:14-15 reads:

Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

God promises to honor us by delivering us, by lifting us up, answering our prayers and being with us when we are in trouble.

I don’t know about you but after reading that I can hardly wait to get into trouble!

Part of our worship of God  is a celebration of our deliverance from our nothingness to a fellowship with the Almighty God who offers us far more than anything we seek.

BUT WAIT... There’s more!

God also celebrates this fellowship with us.

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord Our God is with us, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you and he will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.

I think it would be really cool to hear God sing.