Month: January 2023

He has made everything beautiful in His time. Ecclesiastes 3:11

The other day while attempting to water what’s left of my outdoor potted plants, I realized that not only was I getting wet carrying the watering can back and forth, but also I was arriving at the plants with a small amount of water. Upon further examination, it became clear that there was a big hole in the bucket!

This situation took me back to the “around the circle” song that I remember singing as a child and also using in my kindergarten classes entitled There’s A Hole in the Bucket. This song is a two person scenario where Georgie and Liza attempt to solve the problem of a “hole in the bucket”.

The song begins with Georgie saying, “There’s a hole in the bucket, Dear Liza, Dear Liza, There’s a hole in the bucket, Dear Liza, a hole.” Liza then responds, “Then mend it dear Georgie, dear Georgie; Then mend it dear Georgie, dear Georgie, mend it.”

The song continues in the cycle of questions and answers with Georgie’s question, “With what shall I mend it?” Liza replies, “Some Straw.” Georgie replies, “The straws are too long.” Then, “Cut them,” says Liza. “With what shall I cut them?” asks Georgie. “A knife” is the reply. “The knife is too dull,” continues Georgie. Then, “Sharpen it,” says Liza. “With what shall I sharpen it?” Liza answers “With water” (wet stone). Georgie then inquires, “How shall I fetch it?” Liza’s answer is “With a bucket”. George replies, “There’s a hole in the bucket.” We have made a circle back to the beginning!!

Sometimes life is a bit like this song. We go round in circles trying to fix parts of our life, but one thing seems to lead to another and before we know it, we are back where we started. Each of us carry a bucket through this life that we should use to help us collect all the things we need to get through the day or even through life. We are constantly adding things to our buckets. Most of the time we add good things such as promises, assurances, scripture readings, smiles, memories, and many other things. Other people add to our buckets with sweet thoughts, kind words, or maybe even a card or message that is affirming.

Buckets get filled a lot of times just when we need it most and that is what makes us know that life is worth living and that God can be trusted. People show up and fill up the bucket.

I have noticed, however, that there are those whose buckets never stay filled. No matter how hard they try to fill them, the good things come in and seem to drain right out. It seems there is never enough in their bucket. Others add affirmation, accolades, prayers, and concern, but the bucket just keeps leaking. It’s like there’s a hole in their bucket that is never fixed. Others can help, but they can’t do it without the bucket holder’s help! Just like Georgie, some folks just can’t seem to mend the leak!

How can we mend the leak and keep our buckets full? First, I believe our attitude is important in mending our bucket. Our attitude can be an asset or a detriment in the way we look at ourselves, others, and situations. Keep it positive.

Secondly, confess there’s a hole in the bucket, and something in our life is wrong. It’s easy to look over our own failings, inadequacies, or selfish attitudes. When we confess our shortcomings and ask God to intervene, we start mending the hole.

Finally, repent and say that we don’t want to be repeat the behavior that got us here in the first place. It’s easy to continue our hectic lives and leave our buckets empty of God and His blessings while all the goodness we need continues to leak out. Without adding God we just continue to go around and around and repeat the actions that got us here in the first place.

If we are content to live the same way without an attitude adjustment, a confession, and repentance, then we will find our buckets sprouting new leaks that can never be permanently fixed. Let God help mend the leak!

Everything is as God made it, not as it appears to us. In Matthew Henry’s commentary he says, “We have the world and so much in our hearts, but we are so taken up with our thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither the time nor spirit to see God’s hand in them.”

You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. James 2:10

During the young years of my life, our small town never afforded an opportunity to visit a cafeteria for lunch on Sundays (or any other time). However, by the grace of God, there was one in a nearby that we frequented, and it was here that I learned the art of picking and choosing from a wide variety of foods! My Daddy was an expert at the cafeteria method, and besides his meal, he always managed to take home a whole buttermilk pie as a bonus for making the trip!

There are few dining experiences I enjoy more than a visit to a good cafeteria such as Morrison’s, S & S, or Piccadilly. The walk down the line of salads, meats, vegetables, breads, and desserts is so inviting that it is hard to pick from the scrumptious selections. On these occasions, I can easily pass by the salad and head straight to the liver and onions, cabbage, sweet potato soufflé, corn bread, and (always) a slice of one of their delicious pies! The great news is that in a cafeteria, we can take just what we want and leave what we don’t.

I do wonder, however, if being able to choose everything we would like whether it be food, decisions, or our life path is really good for us! Especially when it comes to our faith. The world around us is becoming ever more “me” oriented, and many of us have important decisions to make about how we view the world and our faith.

I have a friend who refers to this world of different denominations as being filled with Cafeteria Christians. He was speaking of people who pick and choose what to believe. These are the folks who pick and choose what is right or wrong in their own minds without any thought of what Jesus has to say on the matter. These folks walk through the cafeteria line of faith and choose a double portion of grace, but skip the whole judgment section. They take heaping amounts of blessings, but they skip the Bible study and learning section.

These Christians think they get to pick and choose what God is like and what He expects of them, but they ignore all the hard lessons in the Bible. They like to treat God like He is created in their own image rather than the other way around. These people say they believe in God, but they live like He doesn’t even exist.

Cafeteria Christians want heaping helpings of forgiveness for themselves, but they are reluctant to try the new item of forgiving those who trespass against them. The result of a cafeteria Christian is that they end up with all the things they like about Christianity and leave behind all the things they don’t. The end result is a faith with much to be desired.

James argues that whoever doesn’t keep the whole law is a transgressor of it. So, what does it take for a cafeteria Christian to try a bite of something new in this life and reap the benefits of a full life? What would it take to fill our plates with everything that is included in the teachings of Jesus?

First, it seems that to try a new item in this cafeteria, one would have to be willing to obey and submit our will to His. Following Him doesn’t mean we get to live independently of his instruction and example. In other words, faith without works is dead.

Next, one would have to step outside our comfort zone and try something new. Christians are called to seek justice, defend the helpless, and serve the poor. Jesus calls us to a willing and obedient spirit that follows wherever He leads. We have to abandon ourselves, show compassion, and listen to God.

Finally, one should be prepared to love. Following His example means to love unconditionally, and let the world see something different in us! “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The story is told of a young boy struggling with packages on a busy sidewalk with his Mom. A gentleman in a huge hurry bumped him, and he dropped all the packages. The man shouted out over his shoulder, “Watch where you are going!” At that moment as he and his Mom were trying to pick up the packages another man stopped and began helping. The little boy looked up at him and said, “Thank you mister.” The man said, “This is the Christian thing to do.” The little boy’s mouth fell open, and he said, “Wow, are you Jesus?”

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone mistook us for Jesus in this world of so many choices? The choice is ours.

The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior, He will stir up his zeal; with a shout, he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. Isaiah 42:13 God is my strength and defense. Exodus 15:2

This past Monday, the Georgia Bulldogs became the reigning National Champions of college football for the second consecutive year in front of a packed house, millions of viewers, and huge gatherings of supporters. The team played with amazing skill, precision, teamwork, and heart. There are so many individual stories on this team which exemplify the word, Champion, that it would be impossible to share them all. The real champions are the collective team, coaches, support staff and supporters who worked together to find a way to travel this road again.

The word, champion comes from the Latin word, campionem which means gladiator or fighter. A champion is defined as one who has defeated or surpassed all rivals in a competition or one who fights or argues for a cause on behalf of someone else. When the word is used as a verb, it means one who defends or supports the cause of someone or something.

Champions do not have to be part of a sports team, in fact, there are champions all around us in our everyday life. Sadly, most of the time we are too caught up with our own lives to notice. There are the champions of the countless men and women who serve in our armed forces keeping watch day and night so we can sleep safely at night. There are champion teachers who deal with our children and grandchildren daily helping them to become knowledgeable and respectful citizens. We have medical champions, personnel who work tirelessly to care for the sick and handle emergencies. There are parent champions who work daily to support their families and raise their children. We have unsung champions such as those who care for our elderly and feed and house the homeless amongst us. There are so many everyday champions.

Our country is fortunate to have had champions such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and others who worked to establish this country on Christian standards. We have modern day champions such as Martin Luther King, Billy Graham, and so many others who set standards to show us how to live in harmony. However, when it comes down to it, for the Christian, Jesus is the undisputed champion of our life.

What does it take to be a champion? More specifically, what does it take to for us all to be champions for Christ. First, I believe being a champion takes passion. Two teams which get to this point in their season must have a burning desire or passion to win. The Apostle Paul was a spiritual champion who said, “I run to win.” He had a burning desire or passion to serve his God .

A champion must possess discipline. Tom Landry, legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys, once said, “The job of any coach is to make his players do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.” For a Christian to grow, we need discipline to grow, excel, and gain strength in our beliefs. Paul talked about the training we need to press on to the goal that is before us.

Champions have commitment. Just as a great team commits to the game, a Christian has to be 100% committed to their mission and completely focused on Jesus. Vince Lombardi was right on target when he said, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence.”

Finally, champions practice self sacrifice in order to develop character. There is a price to be paid to be a winner. Paul urged us to throw off everything that hinders us and run the race with endurance, Character for teams develop within the context and value system of their structure. For the Christian our character is simple, Christ likeness.

It’s a great time to celebrate the champions all around us and to develop the spiritual traits of a champion so that we can one day cross the goal line of glory.

Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months, and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character. Alan Armstrong

The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

This past New Year’s Eve the intriguing term, status quo, seemed destined to describe the seemingly unchangeable outcome of the game between UGA and OSU. Ohio State dominated the game from the middle of the second quarter until the end of the third. In his column Jeff Schultz said, “The defense was being shredded, and the offense was sputtering.” the status quo was becoming reality. Suddenly, with 2:36 left, the team huddled, and a spark was ignited as they realized they still had a chance to change the status quo of this very important game!

The term status quo is defined as the existing state of affairs. On December 31 as we approached midnight, the Georgia Bulldogs opted to change the status quo of the Peach Bowl game and said, “Yes, we can change the outcome of this game” rather than “no, we can’t.” Georgia rallied for a 14 point fourth quarter comeback to stun the Ohio State team. It was precisely as the ball dropped in New York that we watched the winning field goal try for OSU go wide left.

Life can be just like this game. We can fumble around miserably and accept our non productive path, or we can ignite a spark and change the direction of our lives. The status quo of life can be best described by author Jon Gordon who said, “There was a time (as children) when we jumped from a jungle gym and went on roller coaster rides. No goal was unattainable. Then when we grew up, the doubters dissuaded us from going after our dreams. They instilled their insecurities in us, and with so many people saying we can’t and so few saying we can, we let fear enter our lives. We are so afraid of losing what we have that we don’t go after what we want!”

How is the status quo in our lives as we begin this New Year? Just as in this game, some people are very happy with the status quo in their lives, and they would like things to stay just the way they are. Others are wanting more and are working hard to change things in their lives and shake up the status quo. Everyone goes through a time in their lives when it just seems easier to accept things as they are rather than put forth the effort to change them, but where does that get us?

David said, “The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Fear is the main thing which prevents us from moving forward and changing the status quo of our lives. David urged us to use our strength in God to conquer this fear.

Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills football player who collapsed on the field last Monday night is making a remarkable recovery. When asked at an earlier time about his career and its status quo, he said, “My faith is in God. So whatever He has planned for me, that’ll be it.” These are statements of faith which negate fear and demonstrate a mindset of never giving up. The status quo can be changed.

Sometimes faith is about obeying God in our lives and setting out on the journey He calls us to take even though the answers we seek might be a little murky at the beginning. We have to hold on to the assurance of things hoped for and cling to the conviction of things unseen.

Living a life of faith means overcoming fear and adopting a play to win mindset. One that says even if we fail, we won’t give up and let our dreams die. Success isn’t automatically given to any of us, it is pursued with all the energy and sweat we can muster. Obstacles and struggles are part of life, and they make us appreciate success. Obstacles were meant to be overcome. Fear was mean to be conquered. Success was meant to be achieved. These are part of life, and those who succeed are those who change the status quo and refuse to give up till the game is over! Go Dawgs!

You let the distress drive you to God not away from Him. The result was all gain, not loss. Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 selected

Some time ago, I read or heard about a statement that was made to a group of people. It is one of those statements where you fill in the blank. The statement is “I Once Was..”. There are as many individual answers here as there are people, but the idea stuck with me as I pondered the best answer to put in the blank. The answer could be something we have overcome, something we have changed in our life, or maybe even a transformation.

The words I Once Was come from my favorite hymn, Amazing Grace. The hymn was written by John Newton who had such a transformation in his life that he was moved to write the well known and loved hymn. Newton was a ship’s captain and a former slave trader. He was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1725, and when he was just a boy, his mother died while his father was away at sea. Times were difficult. Later in life, he turned to the family business of slave trading and sold many fellow countrymen and even family members into slavery.

Newton had lived a life at sea from the time he was eleven, but on one occasion, he found himself tied to the helm of the ship during a horrific storm at sea trying to hold the ship on course. He cried out to God saying, “Lord have mercy on us.” The ship and crew survived. Of that day, Newton said, “On that day, the Lord came down from on high and delivered me out of deep waters.” Only the amazing grace of God could and would take this wretch of a man and transform him into a child of God.

Newton went on to become a minister and spent 43 years preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, writing hymns, and helping to abolish the slave trade. In later years as his memory began to fail, Newton said he could remember two things; “I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior”. What a story of grace; Amazing Grace in fact!

If we each completed the sentence I Once Was…,what would be our story? Paul says, “Even though I was once a blasphemer, and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.” (1 Timothy 1:13) Each of us can go from being lost to being found. There’s such hope in knowing that being lost doesn’t have to be permanent. Thoreau said, “It is not until we are lost that we begin to understand each other.”

When I think of being lost, I always remember a story from our Bowdon days. Randy and I were downtown picking up a few things when a friend who was supposed to be watching our children came riding by in his truck by himself. He rolled down the window and said, “Hey, do ya’ll have the kids?” I said, “No, I thought you had them.” Without any sense of alarm, “Jimmy replied, “Well, I’ve lost them right now, but I’ll find them.” Thankfully, he did. We might be lost spiritually, emotionally, or physically, but we are never too lost that God can’t find us. “I once was lost, but now I’m found.”

Newton’s hymn tells of being blind, but now I see. There are all kinds of blindness which are not physical in nature. We can be blind in that we don’t see the whole picture of what God is doing in our lives, but rather we only see part of it. We can see the world from only our viewpoint, and be blind to the views of others. We can even be blind to God’s grace and the great love He has for each of us. The good news is that God doesn’t have a finite amount of grace or love, He won’t run out! We have all sinned, and we are all in the same condition. We are sometimes blind.

Newton did horrible things, but he found grace. If grace can be poured out on him and Paul, it can be poured out on us. It’s God’s grace, not ours. We all get to celebrate God’s grace. It’s truly amazing!

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found; Was blind, but now I see. John Newton