Monthly Archives: October 2016

I Am Listening God

As Sure As The Hands Of Time

 

 

clock-tower

 

As a child I attended Sunday School every single Sunday morning. It was as natural and expected as weekly chores. What I mean is that it was something you knew you participated in because there was never a choice. We rose early and we ate breakfast without a television on.  Your clothes had been ironed and your shoes shined the night before. Your dress was hanging neatly on your bedroom door. Your parents only crossed the threshold of your bedroom one time to announce it was time to get up and begin the rituals of a Blessed Sunday Morning.

I honestly do not think one realizes what they have learned as a child in Sunday School for quite a long while. It’s not until we become teenagers and we grow into a spirit of conviction. It’s the very moment when we choose right or wrong. As a teenager I often chose wrong.

For some reason our consciousness  of going to Heaven or Hell has yet to bloom during adolescent times. We are living in the moment and caring  less about tomorrow. We are free to live life to the fullest and salvation can wait until another time.

Typically it is not until sickness, death of a loved one or other challenges within our early adult life that we begin to truly foster a relationship with God. We are fully aware that He is there just waiting for us to pay some attention to Him. We  assume God is real because we were taught about Him in our early days of Sunday School. We take for granted the story of Jesus because we only relate it to our Church Christmas plays. We associate Him with Santa Claus and Christmas gifts. For some they are simply characters in a book.

Some of us throughout childhood have a greater awareness of God and His Son Jesus. We tend to grow up with a slight conviction of some day having to answer for the hidden secrets not yet uncovered by our parents.

As for me I have always known God was real because I could feel Him all around me. I had witnessed the things He had miraculously done in my life. I had benefited from His twins grace and mercy more than once.

But not until……. I sat at the bedside of several dying loved ones  as they transitioned did I really get the tangible truth that Heaven is REAL. To watch someone begin to talk to persons I was unable to see. To watch the light of grace show upon a dying loved ones face. To sit in awe as they reach up towards the Heavens with a passionate smile upon their face. To watch their eyes dart from side to side as deceased loved ones that I can’t visibly see begin to surround their sick beds. That is when the TRUTH is graciously revealed that there is a True Heaven and God will take you there. It’s a rare time that human beings are allowed to witness the Spiritual Realm. It’s a time to remain still and very quiet. It is a priceless VIP Seat  to witness the Glory of God Revealed.

God and Heaven are REAL my friends. My late Grandmother two days before we even realized she was dying proved it. She sat quietly in her wheelchair and gave me specific orders. She advised me who would come and what I should do. I without hesitation asked her where she had gotten this information. She calmly replied as she stared at the TV  “ the Lord was here last night and He is coming back  soon for me.” I admit I was a little shocked but curious at the same time. So I pushed her further and asked her jokingly “ where do you think you are going?” She just giggled and gave me a quick sharp stare. “ I am going to Heaven honey. The Lord has shown me the road and all I have to do is take a step up on to the road and walk on there . God is gonna meet me there.” I must admit I was very curious then. I mustered up the courage to go further and I said “ Grandma you don’t have legs how are you suppose to walk there?” She just patted her hand on her knee and turned and smiled at me. “ In Heaven Child, God already has new legs for me.”

It was after that conversation that I learned to pay attention to what was constantly going on around me. Four years later I would witness God’s Glory again as my Mother transitioned to Heaven right before me. She spent her last week in peace. Quietly crying and silently but visibly  talking to people unseen. Occasionally there would be a wave. Often times there were big smiles. Sometimes she would point and let out an AWWW. It was another reminder that Heaven is  REAL and God will be waiting. We seem to have entered a season of death and it relentlessly seems to be all around. I write this blog this week my friends to encourage you and bring you some reassurance that ……No matter what we will face in the days ahead. Please my friends realize that our time is not long but if we continue to pray, trust and believe in God………when our earthly clocks or our loved one’s earthly clock expires …….we are truly going to find that Our God will be WAITING THERE!! Our Sunday School lessons were not in vain my friends! HE is really THERE!!

Blessings Upon Blessings

 

Wow Wow Wow

An Unbelievable Season

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It never ceases to amaze me how Mother Nature works. She ever so gently transistions us from one season to the next. Often times we wake up to crisp fall weather when yesterday we would not have dared to consider a sweater. We mow lawns and sometimes it takes several weeks for us to realize it no longer needs mowing. Such is life in the changing of seasons.
We often times experience Spiritual Seasons. God gently nudges us from one season to the next. Often times He accomplishes this without us ever even realizing it. Yet there are sometimes when God has needed to open the door to my new season and literally place his foot in the middle of my back and kick me on through it. I lie to you not. I could see  what lay before me as I stood in the doorway, but I couldn’t bring myself to walk on through it. He had sent all the necessary warnings that enough was enough in a particular situation but I was unable to see it.
 We often experience a  Physical Season. We look into our mirrors and we see the grey hairs of a weathered storm. Our hearts begin to beat a little slower to the beat of life’s drums. We long to rush and jump  up from our seats to grab a ringing phone. Suddenly we realize our take off requires some rocking and swaying to exit the chair upon which our bottoms rest on. The idea of hopping out of bed has suddenly changed into a gentle roll. There is a gospel hymn that says “My hair is turning,  turning silver, and my eyes are growing, growing dimmer, and my footsteps are getting, getting shorter, and I know my time ain’t long”. For us it is a humble acknowledgement of the changing of a Physical Season.
I am truly trying to find the presence of God in our  Political Season. Desperately trying to figure out how we arrived in this  Embarassing Season. I cannot help but feel that for our Country this will be a very Defining Season. Perhaps God has the United States of America standing in a doorway,  anxious for us to leave this  Shocking Divisive Season. May it be a  Season of new found compassion and new found common decency within the moral values of our beloved Country. We must come together for the greater good.  Honestly realizing that we must never live a life again that leaves us looking like this center stage before billions of eyes of those in other countries.
My prayer for us all is a deep breath and a hard look at ourselves personally. Could it be that for each and everyone this is a Spiritual Season? We must search deep within our souls, our homes and our communities to see how we can make a difference in this country. We all are better than this and we can find a common ground. Let us desperatley seek to embrace a New, Brighter,  More Loving and Respectable Season for our Country. We can do it my friends. Prayers for us all are desperately needed  this Political Season. If we come together and put God first perhaps after November 8th our leaves on the Family Tree of the Citizens of the USA will began to come back much greener.
It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle we all choose to sit on. What is more important is that we come to the harsh realization that our aisles happen to be deeply rooted within the confines of the same COUNTRY!!  A Better Season is coming for us all. We just have to transition through the doorway of Civility to IT!! Let US all pray that we can find a way to march into a new  Season of Greatness in our Country!

Blessings Upon Blessings

Wow Wow Wow

Life’s Storms

hurricane-matthew-convection

 

Hurricane Matthew is headed straight for the East Coast of the United States. It has already pounded Haiti and the Bahamas. I can’t help but to feel sadness as well as worry. Sadness for the lives already lost and the lives yet to be lost in this massive storm. My heartaches knowing that beautiful beaches, homes full of joyous memories and businesses built upon lots of sweat and tears may very well be destroyed. Matthew is a very strong and ugly storm. I find myself grateful for technology that God has blessed humankind with. It enables us to prepare and protect ourselves before the storm.

Oh how I wish that God would bless our hearts and souls with the technology of preparing for  Life’s Storms. Often times we float through life unaware of the potential for mighty storms. We often walk directly into the path of life’s storms unprepared. No warnings, no projections and no satellite pictures of our particular storm. Would it not be great to have a doppler radar or an early storm warning alert on our cellphones to notify us of our impending  life storms.

Just imagine if we knew ahead of time that we would become sick. What if we knew ahead of time that in the days or months to come we would suddenly lose a loved one. What if we got an alert that our jobs would be lost or we would have a fire and lose our homes. Would it not be great to be allowed to brace ourselves before those horrible storms. What if we could sandbag our hearts to protect us from the pain. What if we could tie down our souls before the strong winds of disappoint could come. What if we could have extra time to stock up on our faith before being hit by our storms. I don’t know about you but I might perhaps attempt to move my life to higher ground before my storm. Storms of life come at us quick.. Some of them feel like tornadoes others like thunderstorms. I can guarantee you that as sure as you are born at least one hurricane will appear at your front door.

” And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.” Matthew 8:24-27 NAB

I don’t know about you my friends but all I know to do when I am in one of Life’s Storms is to call for Jesus. He is the only One to calm my storms. Perhaps we can call on Jesus to save our citizens from this ugly storm. While we are at it perhaps now would be a great time to pray for an abundance of faith to handle our own personal storms. We have no radars or live early doppler warnings perhaps a heaping of Wisdom from the Man above could better prepare us for Life’s Storms. I guess I better begin working on stocking up additional faith daily. Perhaps a few of you might join me in preparing for our Storms. By the way did you notice this storm happens to have the name Matthew? That fact alone has me encouraged already.

Blessings Upon Blessings