WHEN CHRISTMAS CAME IN THE SUMMER

I have always loved to tell stories of my childhood experiences and one of my favorite stories to tell, is of the time that my Daddy got the Christmas Spirit, in the summertime. It was a very hot and dry summer afternoon one Friday when Daddy got home from work. Often times on Fridays after he got paid and cashed his check, he would give us kids a nickel or dime and we would walk barefoot down the gravel road that we lived on to the old country store that our family patronized. I can recall many a time where I would struggle, trying to make up my mind as to what I wanted to buy with my nickel or dime. Sometimes it would be a pack of three white snowball gumballs, or an RC or double cola sometimes it was a moon pie or some gingersnaps, but more often than not, it ended up being one of those huge lemon cookie from the old glass cookie jar that sat by the cash register. Whatever I did end up with, I am sure that it had taken a lot of thinking over before the decision was made because it was not that often that my parents had the money to spare, during those days; so the times we did get some change, believe me, we all put much thought into how we would spend it.

However, on this particular Friday afternoon, it was different. I remember on this day as Daddy got home, he was in somewhat of a hurry to leave and go somewhere else. He did not have the time to hand out our weekly allotted spending money, but was in a hurry to leave again to go some other place. How some of us kids ended up going with him, I cannot recall. But I do remember going down that old gravel road with sacks of groceries in the back of our Station Wagon. For that was something that I can assure you seldom ever happened; our car having sacks of groceries in the back of it. I especially remember a ham the size of a tire sticking out of one of the sacks. I can still hear the gravel as the rocks went through the tread on the tires throwing them to the side of the road as they fell to the ground; as my Dad hurried down that old gravel road. If you grew up in the country on gravel roads you know exactly what that sound was like.

There was some discussion going on in the car, but I don’t remember it involving me. I was so intrigued with the groceries in the back, that I couldn't recall at the time how my Daddy came to the decision, to give someone else groceries better than what we usually got ourselves. Even though we were poor and did not have much at all, it all seemed very much, as we topped that hill and Daddy pointed to the house in which we would be stopping at. I don’t know why I was so surprised to see this family, for neither of my parents were ever prejudice towards anyone, especially the poor. For how could anyone be prejudice against their own kind.

Growing up poor gave me a great appreciation for having plenty and taught me many things that have added to who I am today. When I was very small I use to think; that people who had lots of material stuff, must be good people. But that day, I came to understand what made people great. I had so much pride in my heart for my Daddy as I saw him reaching out in a tender way, to someone who needed a helping hand. By his goodness, he not only made me feel great, but he made those that we were to visit, feel his love, worth and value as well. He gave to them what I thought we did not have to give; yet, it was not that we had it in excess ourselves, but, it was in the spirit of “forfeiture of self” to meet the needs of someone else that my Daddy gave.

As we pulled up closer to the house, there sat a big black man on the porch, in an old cane chair that once had a back. The man did not have his shirt on and across his chest was a big white bandage. I remember being a little scared at that point. But my Daddy’s reassuring voice soon gave explanation to the man’s dreaded condition. He told us that the man had a hole in his heart. One can only image how that engraved a vivid picture in my mind, as a child. I cannot describe the pity in my heart upon finding out that terrible news. For I had never heard of anything like that. I could not imagine what a hole in his heart looked like except to picture a big hole in his chest behind that big white bandage that covered it. I remember praying and hoping that he would not remove the bandage while we were there and expose that huge hole in his heart. Daddy had told us while turning in their driveway that he was a co-worker and had to have surgery and was unable to work and because he could not work, he was unable to feed his family that week; and that was why we were taking our groceries to them, so that they would have plenty to eat. For they like us, had a large family with many mouths to feed.

The only joy in my lifetime that I can compare to what I experienced and felt that day as I saw the faces of that family, was the joy that I felt when the church brought us food boxes at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I cannot tell you in full everything that I learned from the benevolence of my Daddy that day, but I can say this: I know for sure that Christmas does not only come in December!

Happy Holidays!
Bren

IN MEMORY OF A GREAT MAN

It has been said that a man’s character is like a tree, his reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it, and the tree is the real thing. One cannot dream their selves into a character, but they must hammer and forge themselves one. I can think of no better description of Louis Barrett, than of one that had forged his character, after his beloved savior and master. In memory of a man that was loved by everyone that knew him, I can think of no better way for me to share my love for him than to speak of his godly character. Brother Louis or Papaw, as I have affectionately referred to as long as I have known him; had a code of honor that he lived by. That code was born out of his great faith and love for God. He taught his values by the life that he walked before men and lived daily in front of his family and friends. Many a men succumb to failure in life because they are unwilling to stick to their principles, allowing themselves to be guided by them. Nothing in his life ever reflected failure, I can assure you. His resistance to compromise in what he believed was undaunted. Like other great men that achieved great success in life, Brother Louis believed in living by the Golden Rule. He not only believed in it, but he practiced it as well. His success as a husband, father, and friend were measured by how he loved and treated them. If you knew him, you knew that this was true of his life. He loved his Lord, his family, his church family and everyone else that had the fortunate privilege of crossing his path. He was concerned for the lost, he helped those that he could, and was the least judgmental person I have ever met in my entire life. It is a well-known fact within the Barrett family and to their precious mother as well as to all who knew him, that he was the most self-less person any of us have ever known. His life was a life of sacrifice and servitude. He was the kind of man that lived a life that others looked to and aspired to be like. If ever I have met a human being that was Christ like, it was Brother Louis. He never horded material possessions and he gave generously so that others could have as well. I recall working on special events at church and it never failed that Brother Louis was one of the first people to always ask what he and Mrs. Martha could do to help, no matter what the project was. His age never stopped him from serving the Lord, nor others. His humor will be cherished and his laugh will remain a sound that I shall never forget. He was a father figure to me, one that I never had, and I will always be in debt to him and Mrs. Martha for taking and loving my family as their own. He was one of the most successful men that I have ever known. His success was in his great character, in which few men ever achieve his level of. I could more than likely spill out pages of gratitude for what he has done and meant to us all. But I believe the best thing that I could say about him and that he would want men to say of him, is that he did what he could do….and because he did, He will hear Jesus Himself say to him, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant", to which there is no higher esteem!

With an everlasting love for you Brother Louis, we will see you soon!
Your family and friends

THE HARM MISMANAGEMENT BRINGS

“The soul of the sluggard desires and hath nothing:

but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” Proverbs 13:4

We live in a time when we are slaves to the urgency of schedules and appointments, where our meetings and outings dictate the use of our time, and even relationships. We over-commit and over-schedule, and do not give it a second thought. Yet, time is important, and our management of time will give others a glimpse of our priorities and character. While some entertainment as well as leisure is most needed in our busy lives, we need to be very careful that we do not become preoccupied with leisure so much that we failed to meet our obligations to our necessities. Actually, we can be a pain to others when we are stingy with our time, and overbearing when we disregard it! We are to modals, having a Christ-likeness before others even with our time.

The saying, “everything in moderation” runs true in most things…except for sin. When we allow ourselves to become preoccupied with anything that leads us away from what God ask of us is sin. If we read too many novels and neglect God’s Word, those Novels, as good as they may be, become idols or gods in our lives. If we choose to spend all our time in front of the “One Eyed God” known as the TV and neglect to spend time with God, then the TV becomes our priority and a god to us. Anything that takes the place of God or our time with Him, reveals their importance over God’s importance to us. God has but one desire for us and that is to have a personal relationship with Him, and that is not possible unless we spend time with Him. Don’t misunderstand here…I am not at all saying, that reading books and watching TV is a sin. Those things can be a big release to us in order to relax from the stresses in our daily routines. I am however, saying that choosing those things over spending no time with God is not good.

Some people struggle with too much leisure, while others struggle with no leisure at all. Those that suffer with too much are those that Proverbs is talking about….their character represent a spirit of laziness and mismanagement. They are happiest when they are not bothered with anyone or anything.

The sad thing about laziness, is that it robs us of blessings and relationships. The book of Proverbs paints a contrast between the lazy individual and the diligent one. The lazy person does not get out and work but rather lies around the home. He is pictured as one who sleeps when he ought to be working. Proverbs.6:10 He is admonished in those verses to learn from the diligent ant. A great example of a diligent person is found in Proverbs 31. She is a woman that found balance for her life and was blessed for it.

In Gal. 5:1 we are reminded to stand fast in our liberty where Christ has made us free…(to choose) and not be entangled again to the yoke of bondage. Self-discipline is essential to walking in obedience. As we practice self-discipline and begin to abide in what we know, the Spirit of God in us, produces the fruit in us that others will see and desire as well. You see, that is really what our jobs are as God’s Children, to reflect Him to others.

Making a practice of examining ourselves will aid us in becoming better managers of our lives over all. We need to evaluate ourselves to see what areas that we are lacking in and focus on those to bring them under our subjection as Paul said he did in I Cor. 9:27.

Our laziness stems from one thing….our attitude …to conquer it we must learn to actively make it pursue God’s will.

Loving On You Today,

Bren

"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction."—Proverbs 24:30-32    

No doubt Solomon was sometimes glad to lay aside the robes of state, escape from the forms of court, and go through the country unknown. On one occasion, when he was doing so, he looked over the broken wall of a little estate which belonged to a farmer of his country. This estate consisted of a piece of ploughed land and a vineyard. One glance showed him that it was owned by a sluggard, who neglected it, for the weeds had grown right plentifully and covered all the face of the ground. From this Solomon gathered instruction. To a spiritual mind nettles have their use, and weeds have their doctrine. Are not all thorns and thistles meant to be teachers to sinful men? Are they not brought forth of the earth on purpose that they may show us what sin has done, and the kind of produce that will come when we sow the seed of rebellion against God?– C. Spurgeon

WALKING DEAD MEN & WOMEN

In Ephesians 2:1-10 Paul contrast life before Christ to life in Christ. He reveals a future to not only look forward to, but also to live for. He makes clear distinction between the two. He wanted the Ephesians to understand that salvation would have a radical impact and make a distinct difference between their past; before they accepted Christ, and their future, after they received Christ into their lives. He was saying to them, it is not about a change of status, but a change of life!

Paul started out by reminding them of how bad it was before, when they were simply dead men and women walking around in their transgressions and sin in verse 1, and went on to remind them of how they use to live, following the ways of the world and satan…that which is opposite of God’s ways….he went on to remind them that, that is how we all use to live, gratifying those sinful cravings that our sinful nature longed for, thinking about and having desires to please those inward cravings that separated us from God.

Paul was also saying to them that life before Christ led to death in every way…..matter of fact, he viewed death as a spiritual tyrant that dominates all unredeemed humanity….Elsewhere in Romans 6:23 the scripture reminds us that the wages of our sin is death…..Paul uses this word death to the Ephesians strongly because he wants his readers to understand what they were, without Christ….just a bunch of dead men and women walking around waiting to die in their transgressions. He so wanted them to understand that we are only really made alive when we come to Christ. Then he continues to tell them that there is nothing within themselves that they can do to buy this great salvation that is offered to them, but that they must simply accept God grace and mercy through their faith, and be willing to become His workman by doing right and living right. He tells them that once they receive Christ, God takes care of the rest….it is even God that enables them to be His workmen and will help them to accomplish the things that now would be expected of them.

Once a person receives Christ, though they continue to struggle with the old nature that is still in them, that nature that whisper in their ear to do wrong, they now have an advantage over their temptations that they did not have prior to their conversion. That advantage is that they now have the Spirit of the Living God that dwells in them to do His good pleasure in them…and that good pleasure is to do His will, live right, serve Him….however, every child of God must learn to work out their own salvation through their own personal walk in Christ. That means that each one must learn how to walk…the right way as God gives us direction to walk, through His Word. The scriptures tell us that while the old life in us is gone once we become a Christian (all is forgiven and God remembers them no more), we must learn how to manage the sinful nature that continues to war in us. Once we become “born again”, we must always be aware that the old nature or dead man or woman in us will often times raise it’s old head and we must be spiritually sensitive to this and learn to control it….and the way that that is done, is through feeding the spirit in us and denying what the flesh or old nature wants to do or have. Once we learn acquire the ability to reason properly from the Word of God we make great headway in overcome our wrong thinking, and before you know it….your actions show an attitude of someone that walks with God.  

Your perception or reality is distorted because of your fallen nature. The natural fallen mind in us is led by the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes and the pride of our life. But when we commit our minds (our way of thinking) to be submitted to what God wants, then we can discern between right and wrong and determine the paths that we should take. Romans 12:2 tells us that we are to transform our minds (or our way of thinking) by: NOT conforming any longer to the ways and patterns that the world leads us to follow. That, simply put is keeping the dead man/woman in us at bay….keeping that old man in us down and keeping their mouth shut, their hands tied, and their wants and desires controlled making that old nature, our slaves….

Before Christ we are carnally minded, our thoughts and ways are not God’s thoughts and ways, but, the Child of God’s thoughts and ways should be set on the things of God and should be, spiritually minded. Paul tells us about this in Romans 8. The natural mind is corrupted by sin. Believers are not to walk like unbelievers. Romans 8:5 makes a very serious statement to us and says,  “Those who live according to the sinful nature, have their minds set on what their nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit, have their minds set on what the Spirit desires”….at this point, I should say, “Choose you this day, whom you will serve, but for me and my house we will serve the Lord”!

To renew your mind means to daily exercise the truths that you are learning from the Word of God. Our thoughts are like building blocks and as we build our thoughts, they develop into attitudes regarding to the use of our time, work, family and relationships. Sinful attitudes will always bring bondage, hurt, disappointments and pain, while biblical attitudes always liberate us even if there is pain and disappointment. As we learn to look at those disappointments through God’s eyes, they too liberate us. While we may not always see clearly, God insure us with His peace that He is in control and that He sees the bigger pictures…and that alone is enough for us, when we are looking through His eyes and we do that by knowing what His word says.  We gain the mind of Christ as we gain to know His word. Philippians 2:5 says, ”Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”…and that mind was…the very mind of God!

Loving you today,

Bren

WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE WILL YOUR HEART BE ALSO

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” Matthew 6:21

Greed is the insatiable desire to have more. When we commit or practice this sin, we are saying in essence to God, “Your provision for me is inadequate….and I want more than you are willing to provide me with”. To conquer this sin, we must evaluate wrong motives in us and be willing to eliminate any desire that does not line up with God’s provision and will for our lives. Being content is not easy but it is possible. Coveting what others have, or things that we don’t have and want will always draw us away from God. Greed is such an easy sin to commit because it is one of those behaviors that we learn in our early childhood and master it as we are older. It is simply the concept of "having more". Greed has driven many people to do wrong things. It drove Judas to betray Jesus as he ask the chief priest in Matt 26:15 “what will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” His love for personal profit and his love for money was much stronger than his love for Christ. Judas was a fan of Christ….not a follower. In Acts 5, the church in Jerusalem was growing and experiencing great acts of Christian fellowship amongst their believers. They were eager to share with each other out of their material resources and possessions. Out of wrong motives Ananias and Sapphira sold some property and made a gift to the ministry there. They pretended to give the entire amount on the sale of the property. Their act of greed resulted in God’s strong hand of discipline. You see the adversary was very successful in seducing them into drinking the toxic poison of greed that would end up costing them both their lives. Their greed led them to lying, by allowing their fleshly pride to overshadow the goodness and blessing that could have come out of what they wanted to do. But by desiring unworthy recognition within their church and getting caught up in their lies, before they knew it, their sin had overtaken them. While their intentions to give a gift like that of Barnabas may have started off with a sincere intent, it quickly gave way to greed which kept them from giving a sincere offering. Jesus summed up the whole word of God by saying, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself” Luke 10:27, He was not saying - that you must have one car and it need be a used older car. He was not saying that it is a sin to have a 4 bedroom house…the key issue and point that Christ made all through His ministry and runs through every page of the Bible is simple to make sure that you are putting God before everything else. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with having wealth, God is the one that gives that as well….but if we have 4 coats and our neighbor needs a coat, then give it with the right heart attitude and not a haughty spirit, knowing that if it were not but by the grace of God it would be you that needed the coat. We are to set our affections on heavenly things, especially since that is where the end result of everything really counts. For Ananias and Sapphira, their hearts or should I say treasure, was on earthly things by the attention and recognition that they desired to have by what they did…We would do good to consider our every action or thought as to how it will affect us in eternity and not the momentarily pay off.

 1Timothy 6:6-10 But godliness actually means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.
1Timothy 6:17-19 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and willing and ready to share, Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity!

Hold Fast Sweet Friend,

Bren