Tag Archives: protector

” I Need to Go to the Bathroom, Get a Drink of Water and Blow my Nose!”

” I Need to Go to the Bathroom, Get a Drink of Water and Blow my Nose!”

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Every family has their routines, anytime you have a family larger than 2 people, and you are planning on going together to an event somewhere, if someone asked anyone in that family, they could probably tell you which one, is going to be ready early, which family member is going to be late, and which one will be heading the group and getting everyone out the door.

 

When my children were at home, I have been known to begin a countdown about 30 minutes out. Now, of course I would have given the family plenty of warning well in advance before that , sometimes even days, but when it comes down to about an hour out, I would start mentioning  to my kids what they need to start doing to be ready, and about 30 minutes before we need to leave, my voice gets a little louder as I start walking around checking on where everyone is and how much longer it will be before they will be ready.

Then about 10-15 minutes out, I am going to start hollering out as I walk down the hall. “10 minutes, 10 minutes we are leaving in 10 Minutes”  which is the sign to my children and husband they better be getting their last minute things on and start heading for the car, then “5 minutes, 5 minutes we are leaving in 5 minutes” at this point my family knows they better be finding their shoes and start getting in the car, because if there is one thing I can’t stand, it is being late. I think it is disrespectful to the people who planned the event where ever we are going and personally, I believe in the old adage, “If you are 5 minutes early you are on time, and if you are on time you are late”, even if that means I arrive somewhere and sit in the car for 5 or 10 minutes before going in. That doesn’t bother me, in fact I kind of like the opportunity to not be rushed and just take a deep breath before going in somewhere,  instead of rushing in somewhere all disheveled .

My whole anxiety about being late probably stems from my mother. No, not that she ever cared about being on time, it didn’t matter how much notice we would give my mom about what time we were leaving.  It never failed, when the time came for us to walk out the door, She would say ”Okay, wait just a minute, I need to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, and blow my nose.” I lived at home for 18 years before I moved out, and cared for her another 23 or so years before she died and it never failed the story was still the same every time except as she grew older, it took longer for her to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water and blow her nose,  the older she got the later we were. That is why I started telling her we needed to be where ever we were going 30 minutes before we actually had to leave, because I knew if I didn’t we would of been even later than we were. In fact momma was known for being late so often, that my father used to say we are going to bring her casket in 30 minutes late, just to keep up her tradition when she dies. (we didn’t by the way but it was tempting)

You know this got me thinking, my mom is a lot like a lot of people today. They have been warned that Jesus is coming back, they have been told that they need to live their life for Him so they will be ready to go,  but they procrastinate and don’t do it, just like my mom procrastinated getting ready to go somewhere. They are all busy just doing what they want to do, when they want to do it. Not concerning themselves, with anything but what they want. They can even see the warning signs that the bible tells us about, similar to me hollering out to the children and giving them the 5 and 10 minute warning, they ignore all the signs of the crazy weather, the brother hating brother, the world being more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:26-30) , and all the issues happening in Israel.

All these are signs that Jesus is coming back again, to get His children,  just like He said he would in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” He also warned us “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. (Matthew 25:13) Now I am not naming any dates or times because I know the bible says “ No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.: (Matthew 24:36) But doesn’t that verse alone tell us that we need to be ready because it could be any moment and He tells us in Luke “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:40)

My mom always had an excuse why she was late, she always justified her reason, but when we stand before God excuses won’t matter He has given us ample notice. With many opportunities to get it right. It is time we stop making excuses.God isn’t looking for perfect people to come to Him, He is looking for people who are watching and waiting for His return.

Many times people think they need to clean up their act before they come to Him. But God told us in His word.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

God wants us with all our baggage disheveled mess we are in. He calls us daily to come to Him. The question is, will we come? Because the 5 minute warning call is about to come and unlike I did for my mother, God hasn’t given us an extra 30 minute cushion. Once He calls come to get us, that is it. There is no one let in late to heaven. We may get by down here with going to places in our own time frame, but we have no control of when Jesus will return to take His children home.

So won’t you get ready today? To make sure you are ready, all you need to do, is as simple as A, B, C,  Admit that you are a sinner, Believe in Jesus Christ and Commit your life to Him. start, going to a bible believing church, start making Him a part of your everyday life, by talking to Him in prayer and letting Him talk to you through His word.

That is what that scripture is talking about, If we will come to Him, and follow Him as 2 oxen in a Yoke, one more experienced than the other,we will learn from Him and we’ll find rest for our souls, And we won’t miss the most important event of our life, Heaven!

Daddy’s Girl

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When I was a teenager my daddy was the pastor in a small Mississippi community where we lived. I was raised with strict rules not to drink alcohol. But of course I had some friends that did drink and in my effort to try to be in the cool crowd I wanted to hang out with them. But I had a quandary. See, I didn’t want to hurt my daddy. I loved my daddy more than anything and I respected him. Because I loved him I wanted to honor his reputation in the community and if the Pastor’s daughter of the Assembly of God Church would of been seen underage drinking or worst yet been arrested, that would of just killed him and his reputation. But…… I also wanted to be cool, So I devised a plan of how I could save my daddy’s reputation and still be cool.

See,  I knew my friends would hang out in front of the arcade in the small town I went to school in (9 miles away from where I lived) For those of you that don’t know what an arcade is, it is a building full of video games, foosball machines and pool tables. They were much more popular in the 80’s before Nintendo and X Boxes came to our homes. As a teenager the Arcade was the place to hang out, and meet up with friends. Today we just know the Arcade as a place, maybe in a room at the Movie Theater or the Pizza Parlor.

Since the Arcade was the place to be, after I got my drivers license I would drive the 9 miles over to the next town where the arcade was and would hang out with my friends,  now not all of my friends drank in fact my best friends didn’t.  But, I wanted more, As many schools, towns, and even work places are today there were clicks in my school there was a pecking order and I wanted to move up in the pecking order and it seemed to me at the time to do that I needed to drink, but how could I do that and not break my dads heart. I knew it would kill him if I ever took a drink and I respected my dad to much to want to hurt him. So I devised a plan.

See I knew that the I.B.C Root-beer bottle looked an awful lot like the beer bottles my friends carried around. So I figured I could just pick up a bottle of I.B.C Root-beer on my way to the Arcade, I mean after all we usually got something to drink before going over there anyway, and if I just happen to have that bottle in my hand and hid the label with my hand when I walked up to my friends drinking, maybe just maybe this new crowd would accept me. So I did, and I felt pretty good until one of my other friends who didn’t drink and knowing the horror it would be to my family if I did drink, walked up to me in shock and asked “Alesa, are you drinking?” As I looked innocently at her and said, yea, Root-beer!

I couldn’t help but remember this story this  past week because it was my daddy’s birthday and even though he has spent the last 28 years celebrating his birthday in heaven, what I remembered most about him is that I loved and respected him so much, I never wanted to do anything that would hurt him. This got me thinking how many of us feel like that about our Heavenly Father?

Do we love our Heavenly Father so much that we don’t want to do anything to hurt him. Now the truth is, if my daddy had seen the compromised I made that day.  Even pretending to drink but acting like it was just an accident when it was really a conscious decision to disobey,would of been a terribly disappointed in me.

I don’t think he even knew about this story before he died but I still remember it because I think it was one of the times that I consciously choose to disobey. But how many times have we blow off something that God’s word says not to do just because we wanted to. How many times do we just ignore what we have been taught is right just because it isn’t convenient for us. Because we want more and we are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. How do you think your Heavenly Father feels about that? I guess I can relate to my Heavenly Father because I had an amazing daddy. He was my rock, my provider, my protector, He loved me with an everlasting love and there was absolutely nothing that I wouldn’t do for him. Why, because all that He had done for me. See my daddy didn’t have to love me, he didn’t even have to take care of me. But he choose to, see I am adopted. So He didn’t have to love me.

You know what? You have been adopted too! If you choose to follow after Christ the bible says that you are adopted into His family. In Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) the bible tells us “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Now, I don’t know about you but after all Christ as done for me I don’t want to disappoint Him either. So, I don’t live the life I live striving each day to please Him (and yes there are still plenty of times I mess up) because I don’t want to go to Hell. No, I live this life to please Him because of the gratitude I feel toward Him.

The same kind of gratitude I felt for my earthly father. Because of what my daddy had done for me I knew He loved me and trusted me. He disciplined me too. plenty of times.  But I knew when my earthly father did it, it was because He loved me and wanted the best for me. When my earthly father told me to not to walk across the street before looking both ways. It wasn’t because he didn’t want me to cross the street it is because he wanted to protect me. That is the same thing with God’s word, When He tells us not to do something in it He is telling us because He loves us and wants to protect us. 

So this week Let’s seek to please our Heavenly Father, Let’s consciously choose to please Him, Remember if He tells us no about something,  it is because He loves, not because He wants to harm us.

The Love of a Father

The Love of a Father

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I recently spent an extended period of time at my oldest son’s home
and you know what I noticed? I noticed he does the same thing his
father does every night before he goes to bed. What is it you ask? He
goes around and checks all the doors to make sure they are locked and
turns on his security system, turns off the lights in the house as he
walks through the house assuring everyone is in their bed and we are
all safe and sound in our home.

This is something that makes my heart flutter every time my man does
it, just to know he is watching over and protecting our family in his
own little way. It is a big deal to me and means a lot. Honestly, locking up the house
is something I have never thought of in all the years of our marriage.
He just takes care of it without me asking or saying a thing. I
believe my son has learned from his father. Not because Jeff took him
aside and gave him any lessons, but just because he knows what his
father did when he lived at home. So now my son follows after his
father in this way

Jeff has always been a protective kind of parent. He was the one that
always wanted to call and check on the kids if we were out on a date
and they were with a babysitter. He was the one that stayed up till
they came home from being out with friends when they became teenagers. All the while I was
sleeping in the bed without a care in the world. Jeff was waiting till
all his children came home and was safe in the bed.

The fact is we never had a curfew, with our kids, as long as we knew
what they were doing and who they were with and we trusted those
around them, we didn’t worry . We trusted our kids to come home at a
reasonable hour because they knew daddy was a waiting. Well, I say all
of them knew but our youngest Chad, apparently he didn’t get the memo
that daddy stays up and waits, because the first time he went out, he
stayed out till 2 am. We trusted him and was not worried so everything
was okay,  but not according to his sister. No! When she found out her
little brother had kept her daddy up till 2 am, she called him up and
gave him a tongue lashing. Informing him that “You never stay out past
midnight because daddy is waiting on you so you get home” See
apparently, that is what she had determined in her mind to do and
perhaps her older brother before her, because neither one ever stayed
out much past that.  So Chad has never done it again, we didn’t have
to say anything. Each of our kids knew, they were loved and protected
by daddy. And the last one learned it real quick after his sister gave
him a talking too!

You know all these fond memories got me thinking…….

Isn’t that just like God, He watches over us sometimes never saying a
thing just being there protecting us. In some cases I am confident we
don’t even know the disasters that He has averted from us. The bible
says in 2 Thes 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen
you and protect you from the evil one. Just like Jeff who is there to
protect and provide for His children, So is our heavenly father.  Matt
7:11 says “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give
good gifts to those who ask him! See all my kids have to do is ask
their father and if Jeff feels it is best for them, then he does his
best for either help them get it or provide it for them. If my husband
who is a human man can do that, how much more will our Heavenly Father
do for us. The bible also says “How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)
We are His children and we can trust that He is working all things for
our good.

I am sure there is some reading this, that could never understand the
love of a father. In your life, you may not of either had a father or
you were abused or mistreated by yours. Perhaps your father never knew
how to love, because he himself never received love. I want you to
know today, that no matter your background or what you have or haven’t
seen, There is a Heavenly Father that loves you with and ever lasting
love and nothing you ever do is gonna make Him love you anymore and
nothing you do is gonna make Him love you any less. Your worth isn’t
measured by what you do, but by the price He paid for you when He gave
His life for you on that cross, That was the ultimate father’s day
gift. He gave His life for you!

I hope today if your reading this you grasp just a taste of the
amazing love our Heavenly Father has for you.  I hope you will know
that you are loved with an everlasting love that none compares too.
But mostly, I hope you have chosen to live your life for this amazing
father that gave His life for yours. I hope somehow and someway, you
desire to want to reciprocate a little of that love back to Him for
all He as done for you. Just like our daughter who decided to inform
her brother of what her daddy had done for them, I hope you have heard
my hearts cry in telling you how much our Heavenly Father loves us.

If you have never accepted Christ as your Heavenly Father, I hope you
will say this pray with me, then get into a bible believing Church and
begin to grow in more understanding of all that He has done and will
do. Let’s Pray : Dear God, I never realized all that you have done for
me and I want you do know that today, I want to accept you as my
Heavenly Father, Help me in all that I do, I know that without you I
am a sinner but I know with you, my sins have been cast as far as the
east is from the west. So, come into my life and help me to love like
you have loved me. In Jesus Name Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, Know that this Father’s Day you have a very
special Father watching over you and caring for you and I hope will
honor Him with the life you now live for Him in everything you do.
Because just like my husband and son who watches over their families,
so is your Heavenly Father watching over you!

Get A Life!

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John 10:10 (KJV) says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

John 10:9-11 (NIV) puts it this way:

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

God wants us to have life to the full, or as the KJV says, have it more abundantly.

The question is, “What do you consider to be abundance?”

For some it may mean a lot of money and material things. For others it may mean good health.  But the real question is, “What does God mean by abundance?”

The scripture in context is talking about a shepherd in the literal sense. If you study shepherds you know that at night when they are ready to rest for the evening they will usually back their sheep up against a wall or cliff in the corner of some mountain somewhere and then they will build a fire in front of the sheep and will sit there during the night guarding their sheep from any predictor.  Therefore the shepherd makes himself the gate of entry to his sheep.

Jesus is our gatekeeper and whenever we feel like our backs are against a wall and the world is closing in, we don’t have to fear because our God (the gatekeeper) is with us. He is watching over us and, just like the shepherd does for the sheep, he supplies all our needs.

Who is your shepherd today? In what are you putting your trusting? I believe God promises not the abundance of riches or things, but the abundance of His care and provision to supply all our needs. He is our provider and our protector; the gatekeeper of our life, if we allow Him to be. … Are you allowing Him, today?