Like Father Like Son

When I was in my last year of college, I took a course entitled, Psychology of Education with Dr. Nat P.  He was a smart man and I learned from his wealth of knowledge.  I was also a friend of his son, Steve P. who went to church with me in Hixson, Tennessee.  I was intrigued by how the father and son were so alike.  So, one day in class, being the distracted student that I was, I observed 18 specific mannerisms that Steve and his father shared!  Of course, I couldn’t tell which were learned as Steve mimicked his father, or which he inherited from his dad.  Hey, can the same be said about me and my heavenly Father?!  Am I more like Him every day?  There are several characteristics that I got when I was born again into God’s forever family, and there are others that I learn as I become like the dear Lord.  Hey, what about you?  Are you becoming more like your Father?  Paul said in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  Are you becoming like your heavenly Father?  I hope so.

 

Stained Glass

Here is a stained-glass cardinal that I made for a neighbor widow.  Miss Sarah lost her husband five years ago, and a cardinal will remind her of her dear Wally.  But I was thinking as I made this piece.  I planned how it would look.  I made a scale drawing and then copied it on card stock as a template.  I collected the colored glass, the tools, and the supplies to make it.  Then I marked out the glass using the pattern.  With a glass cutter, I etched and snapped the glass to size.  Each precise piece was edged with copper tape, fitted together, and soldered using a special flux.  It took a lot of planning and careful execution to produce the finished product.  Hey, God is exactly that way with my life.  God has planned my story from the beginning.  My parents heard the Gospel a month before I was born and began taking me to church when I was three weeks old.  God orchestrated our move to Maryland where I would meet a pastor from Tennessee Temple, where I would go to college, and where I would meet my future wife (who came to the same school from Michigan).  She heard about Tennessee Temple from her uncle and aunt, who had moved to Chattanooga to teach at the school from Arkansas.  Can you see God’s planning and pattern for our lives?!  While a student, I attended a church nearby that started a Christian school where I taught for two years.  Because our pastor left, I took a job at Calvary Christian school and joined Calvary Independent Baptist Church, where I have been for the last 42 years.  Hey, God puts an awesome plan together!  Paul said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  Just like my cardinal, God put together and executed the plan for my life.  Hey, did you know that God has a wonderful plan for your life too?!  Turn your life over to the dear Lord and watch the beautiful events in your life unfold!  Much more beautiful than a stained-glass cardinal, yes they are!

 

Blackberry Pie

In 1987, I went to Dunnellon, Florida with Ron K. His dad was living there, and we stayed a few days in a camper on their property. Ron’s dad had heart problems for years and his wife, Ron’s stepmom, was helping him to eat healthy. The second afternoon that we were there, she made a blackberry pie. It had the traditional crisscrossed pie crust on top with luscious blackberries oozing out between. But when I took one bite, I was shocked and disappointed. She had not used any sugar! Now some fruit in a pie may be used without sugar, but not blackberries. They are so naturally tart that sugar is a must. I could not eat the rest of the piece of pie. It made me shudder. What looked appetizing, simply was not. Hey, have you ever been disappointed by a certain dish? Were your taste buds ready for one thing and they got another? Like the time I mistakenly got whipped cream off the salad bar thinking it was sour cream. My first bite of baked potato was a shock … like the blackberry pie. But with Jesus Christ, you are never disappointed. The dear Lord will never let you down. The old apostle John said, confidently, in I John 5:11-13, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Hey, there is not a shadow of doubt in these verses! If you have Jesus, you have eternal life. And you never have to doubt!

Behind the Scenes

I like to build things.  I started out years ago framing houses.  I worked for Dick M. and his crew in the summer when I was not teaching school.  It was hard work but rewarding.  In the morning we would arrive on the jobsite to a pile of lumber, plywood, and a keg of nails.  In three days, we would leave a two-story house ready for roofing.  I have since moved on to trim, complicated stairs, and handrails.  After I nail boards and trim together, I caulk and paint everything.  My goal is to paint and never see the nails that hold the piece together.  So, how do the nails feel about me covering them up?  It’s the nails that hold everything together, but it’s also the nails that I am trying to hide.  “Not fair!” the nails could say.  “Here we are doing an important job, and no one sees or appreciates what we are doing!”  But the nails never say that.  Nails just go on quietly doing their job.  Just like many members of our church.  Hey, who cleaned the bathrooms at church last week?  Who vacuumed under your pew the day before you put your feet on the clean carpet?  Solid Christians are like that.  They serve the Lord, not for recognition, but for God’s kingdom.  Paul said in I Corinthians 12:18, “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”  God has pastors and singers up front in church, but God also has janitors and prayer warriors behind the scenes.  And all are important in God’s kingdom.  So, do your job, not for recognition, but for the dear Lord.  And someday, you will hear the Lord say, “Well done!”  What a day that will be!