Things My Mother Always Forgot

As many of you know, my mother is in a nursing home.  She will be 98 on her birthday, June 19th.  The older she gets, the more she forgets.  Recently I went to see her and she did not recognize me.  I told her that I was Tim, her youngest son.  She quickly replied that I could not be Tim.  She said, "You are too good looking to be Tim!"  Honestly, I did not know what to think about that statement!  Was that a compliment?  You decide!

As I sit here on Sunday afternoon of Mother's day I decided to write a tribute to her that she will probably never read.  It's about her forgetfulness.  There were some things that she always forgot and I am forever grateful.

1.  Mother always forgot how tired she was because there was always something else do.  She would get up at 4:30 a.m. and cook a full breakfast of biscuits, bacon, eggs and gravy.  Then she would work all day around the house, in the garden, sew, "put up vegetables," work in her flowers and then come in the house and cook a full supper, clean up the kitchen and get Daddy's lunch ready for the next day's work.  

2.  Mother always forgot to do things for herself.  She was always doing something for someone else.  She would help my grandmother, teach Sunday School, (she was my teacher until 5th grade) make clothes for my sister and for me, take food to people in our community, serve as a room mother, and so much more.

3.  Mother always forgot to think that there was something that she could not do.  She would tackle a project and see it through to the very end.  There were days when I would come home from school and she had moved a wall in the house.  I will never forget the day I came home from school and found her in the side yard building a round BBQ pit.  She mixed the mortar and laid the bricks.  We had some good food cooked on that thing!  She was always creative and took up painting in her 70's.  I have some of her beautiful paintings as proof that she could DO ANYTHING!

4.  Mother always forgot that she never finished high school. When she did get to sit for any length of time she would read.  She loved to read.  We had a set of Compton Encyclopedias.  She would sit and read them.  I gained a love for geography and travel from sitting with her while we visited far away places "in the encyclopedia."  

5.  Mother always forgot that I was her favorite!  After all, I am the baby of six children.  I recognize the fact that if my brother and sisters read this, they will be unhappy!  However, when we would be at family gatherings and start talking about how spoiled I was she was quick to remind them that I was the baby and that THEY helped spoil me as much as she did!  Actually she loved us all unconditionally.  She was tough on us sometimes, but I'm really glad.  There is not telling where I would be if she had not been tough. She prayed for me everyday.  

6.  Mother always forgot how strong she was.  She is one of the strongest women I have ever met in my life.  NO!  She IS the strongest women I have ever met in my life.  I know that she had a tough life.  I know that she grew up in the Great Depression.  I know that she lived with difficult people in her family.  I know that her marriage to my daddy was not healthy.  Yet, she remained strong.  She remained strong in her faith.  She remained strong in her love and dependance on the Lord.  One of her all time favorite hymns was, "I Must Tell Jesus."  The last few words to the first stanza of that old hymn says, "Jesus will help me, Jesus alone!"  

Because she forgot so many things, I will remember so much more that she taught me through her forgetfulness.  I'll write about those for another blog post.

Happy Mother's Day Mother!

Your good looking baby son!

Tim

Go ahead! JUMP!

I attended a small rural school in Alabama.  Some of my greatest times of my childhood are from my days at Roy Webb School. One of my strongest memories is “the wall.” One of the true tests of “manhood” was if you could stand on the wall and jump off. I remember the first time someone dared me to jump. I walked over to the wall and stood there. I held my breath………and then I “chickened out.”  I was paralyzed with.  I could not move forward. Some of the boys made fun of me for being afraid, some of the girls just giggled!

The next time someone dared me I went through the same routine but this time – I DID IT! I jumped. The feeling of victory was great! Everyone cheered and I felt like such a man.

About 30 years later, I visited the school.  Everything looked the same. Well, not everything. I went down the hall remembering the smells, looking into the rooms and then I remembered the wall.  As I walked down the steps the memories rushed back to me.   There it was. I found it!!  It was about three feet tall! I took one step off the wall and the rest is history. I did not get the same exhilarating feeling but the memories were great…memories of the day when I conquered – THE WALL!

As you walk with Jesus you are going to face “walls” every day! Those seemingly impossible situations rise up and impede your forward progress in your walk with the Lord.  In order to experience all the blessings God has in store for you; you must take a leap of faith.  It is scary to jump into the unknown.  “For we walk by faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

God’s plan for your life is not based on what YOU can see.  God’s plan for your life is based on what HE already knows! 

God has a plan for you.  (Jeremiah 29:11) Seek Him first and that plan will be revealed to you.  (Matthew 6:33)  Trust in the Lord and He will make a way. (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

JUMP!!!

Still Waiting......

Waiting is SO hard for me.  I really do not like to wait on anything.  I am of the opinion that ALL traffic lights that are red should be for someone else!  I also believe that I should have my own private lane for driving.

When I was a kid growing up in Alabama there were wild plum trees growing next to our house.  I love plums!  Spring would roll around and the plum trees would be loaded with beautiful while blossoms. It was at that time I knew that it would not be long until I would be filling my pockets and my stomach with plums.  After the blooms were gone tiny plums would appear, then the waiting would begin.  I don’t remember exactly how long it took for the plums to become eatable but I do remember what would happen if I rushed to eat a green plum before it became ripe! (Don’t worry; I will not share the details!)
 
Have you ever taken a bite of a pre-ripe, still green plum?  I have.  The taste is an explosion of bitterness!

The older I get, the more God is teaching me to wait on Him.  My problem: I do not like waiting.  God is teaching me right now.  I am learning as much about the past as I am about what God wants for my future.  For instance, take this plum thing.  God brought back this memory of my childhood to illustrate some occurrences in my life when I rushed ahead of Him.  There have been some times in my life when I rushed ahead of God, without waiting for a clear “go ahead.” (Green plum city!)  It was during many of those times that I experienced a hardship, a disappointment, a further delay, a sadness or even chaos.  In many cases, God blessed me anyway, but I wonder what could have happened if I had simply waited on God to complete HIS work.  I admit it – I bite into green plums! However, God is teaching me to wait on the sweet juicy nectar of His will!

Isaiah 40:31 – HIS strength.
Psalm 27:4 – Courage
Psalm 37:5-12 – Trusting and feasting on my inheritance in Christ
Galatians 2:20 – Identity in Christ

Just like the plums of my childhood.  I cannot rush the ripening process.  Ripe is ripe and not one day before.  So I wait because I know what rushing ahead of God can produce.  I wait because I do not want to miss the sweet, sweet nectar of His will and blessings for my life!  I am waiting.

To be continued……..

Still Waiting on God to Blink.....

Yesterday I wrote a blog post called “Waiting on God to Blink!”  Today, I am still waiting.  You see there are some major hurdles in my life right now.  There are the usual ones that everyone faces, but I have some unusually big hurdles to jump.  Yesterday I closed out the blog by saying that “GOD CAN DO MORE IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE THAN I COULD EVER DO IN A LIFETIME OF TRYING.”  So here I sit waiting on God to move the mountains or give me super strength JUMPING POWER!  

Proverbs 3:5-6 are some of my most favorite verses in scripture.  It goes like this: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (NKJV)  The part of these verses that always gets me is the “lean not on your own understanding” part!  This is the place where trust and action meet up with each other and test our willingness to “rest” in Christ!  My pattern of action is to panic and jump into short term fix mode for anything that is not going right in my life.  Always, always, always when I jump in REACTION  instead of quietly RESPONDING I find myself in trouble. I do not mean that I get in trouble with God, I simply mean that the natural course of panic always leads to hasty decisions and regrets.

So here I sit today.  I am still waiting on God to blink!  I’m waiting on a major breakthrough.  I know that God can do more than I could ever think of imagine.  I know that He is working.  I just want Him to blink! I am trusting in HIM.  I am not trusting in my feelings, emotions or even what I “think” – I am trusting in God! I am listening to God and following the path of Psalm 37 – “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…..”

So I will keep you posted on this blog.  I promise, you will be the second to know when God blinks! Debbie will be first, of course!!

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A NEW SERIES OF VIDEO MESSAGES FROM THIS BLOG!!  I appealed to my Facebook friends to help out with this new series.  I asked them to share the ONE word from the scriptures on which they would love to hear a short teaching.  I am compiling the list and will begin here next week!  It will be in video format.  Please pray for me as I prepare these 5 minutes messages and launch them into Cyberland! 

Thanks for joining me here today!!  Share, tweet and FB this blog to all of your friends.  Let’s spread the GOOD NEWS of God’s grace and truth to as many people as possible!

"Waiting on God to Blink"

Recently after a long week of sales calls but no sales for our magazine, Coastal Christian Family Magazine,  I found myself very tired and discouraged.  After talking with Debbie for a long time we both decided that I needed to take the rest of the afternoon and “rest.”  So I went back to my office feeling beat up and discouraged. BUT! I love that word!  But, what happened was a real blessing.  It was a time of renewal, trusting, resting and understanding who God is and who I am!

I took the first few minutes to “not think.”  My little ADD brain was about to explode and I just needed to stop thinking about anything.  It took a while but when I was ready, God began to speak through the quietness, the stillness and the “rest” of the moments that followed.  It was almost as if I could hear him saying “Come unto me Tim – you are tired and heavy – I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:25-30). 

In the hours that followed something wonderful happened.  God began to bring scripture to mind that I had been memorizing for a couple of years.  I heard Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”  I could hear Him saying, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount of with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)  Then of course Psalm 37:4—6, “Trust in the Lord and do good……feed on His faithfulness…….He shall bring it to pass.”  Read the whole passage – it will bless you!!

As I meditated on these verses I began to feel my spirit rising!  The clouds of worry and discouragement dissipated and God began to me again through the remembrance of Jeremiah 32:17:  “Ah, Lord God!  Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.”  He just stretched out His arm and created planet earth!  When I thought about it for a minute or two, again, God began to show me a thing or two.  This thought came coming to me over and over again: “God can do more in the blink of an eye than I can do in an entire lifetime of “trying!”  I had been focusing on what I thought was impossible and not on the one who makes all things possible!

So what happened?  What happens next?  The answers to those questions are simple:  I don’t have a clue.  So here I am today waiting on God to blink!  What am I going to do while I am waiting?  I’ll let you know next time.  HINT:  Read Proverbs 3:5-6

Cranking it Back Up!!

Yes! It's been a while, but I'm cranking the blog back up.  It's time to get serious about getting God's Word out there and sharing HIS life with thousands of people on the internet.  So I need for everybody to subscribe to this blog and share it with your friends, etc.

Thanks for your support!! 

Jeremiah 32:17

Against the Wind

I have started working on my body again.  It seems that after all of that hard work I did a couple of years ago that I have now gained most of the weight back.  It seems to be a never ending cycle with me. 

I joined a free gym at a local church which is about 5.25 miles from our house.  This morning I decided that my cardio work out would be to ride my bike to and from the gym.  It’s a beautiful day here: sunny and about 70 degrees.  I started out on my journey and made it to the gym just fine.  It was actually a very relaxing ride.  There are not many hills in Panama City Beach.  I worked out at the gym and was looking forward to riding back to the house.

I started the ride and crossed Front Beach Road.  Then it happened.  I turned the corner.  I turned into a very strong wind.  Suddenly I was pedaling much harder.  I kept going.  As the wind blew stronger it became increasingly harder to move forward.  “I’m Not Giving Up” was playing on my iPod.  I pedaled harder.  Then I started talking to myself. (I have heard that brilliant people talk to themselves!) “Tim, you can do this.  Put one foot down at a time.  That pain in your legs is nothing.  Keep going! Don’t give up!”

I spent much of my life trying to live the Christian life the same way. I pedaled harder and harder and it seemed the harder I pedaled, the slower I moved.  There was something wrong. It was like pedaling against the wind; the wind of self sufficiency!  Then it happened. I turned the corner.

God brought me to a place of brokenness in my life.  I am so thankful that I turned that corner! It was during that time that I discovered what it was like to live with the wind at my back:  the wind of the Spirit of God always moving me where HE wants me to be.  Oh, believe me, I have turned and gone against the wind of the Spirit.  Every time I move against the will of God, live according to my flesh, or just plain rebel against what God wants for me, I experience going AGAINST THE WIND – and it just wears me out!

God designed the Christian life so that the wind blows from behind.  Our job is to go with the flow of the wind of the Spirit.  Life will be less stressful, more enjoyable, and abundant!  (John 10:10)

Isaiah 40:29-31

New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁹ He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.