Celebration to Come!

When I was 11 years old, my baseball team won the City League championship in Longview, TX.  We were the Colonels and my brother Andy was the bat boy and was so excited about the win that he did a flip on the pitcher's mound.  The celebration for a group of  11 year old boys and their parents was so exciting that I have considered that year to be one of my favorites memories and my favorite age.

That one championship became one of my accomplishments that I cherished in my heart.  One of my teammates passed away as a result of a car wreck he suffered later in his teens.  Bruce Fisher was a friend and I have been thinking about him and the rest of the team who I wish I could see again.  We grew up, and now as men we have our own lives that were all shaped by the events of that summer.

However, several years later, I became a Christian by being immersed for the forgiveness of my sins and there are several people who were there as a part of that are no longer living in this world. I have lost my mother, several of my close friends who became a part of the team that I knew at that time as a result of my decision, and the preacher who immersed me, J.D. Lancaster and many who encouraged me to become who I now am in life.

Today, I live and work with a team of Christians who are living to win the championship of life.  Heaven is our goal, the celebration will be sweet, and I know that my brother Andy will do a flip for me at the thrown of God as a celebration of being home. (Well, maybe!) My Christian team was and is my favorite team and many memories have surpassed those baseball memories some 40 years ago. I have lost many of my friends and church family to death, but I know that they are waiting for the final celebration to come in eternity.  I too, with my physical and spiritual family, can't wait to celebrate with Jesus who "pitched a perfect game" in this life and is waiting for us to come home.

I hope you are ready for that celebration.  I would love to see you Sunday at the West Freeway church so that we can worship and praise Him who was perfect in this life so that we would have the chance to join Him for that celebration.  He lived the perfect life to be the perfect sacrifice for us.  "Come, now is the time to worship." 

God bless you.  See you Sunday so that I will be to possibly see you in heaven.

My Bucket List

It has been a while since I last wrote here so my apologies if you were waiting (no one mentioned it but just thought I'd say it)!

Bucket Lists are popular right now so I thought I would give you my top 10 things I want to do before I die.

10 -- Live more spiritually in the moments of everyday life.

9 -- Live at peace will all men.

8 -- Know that all whom I have hurt or offended have forgiven me.

7 -- Study more diligently to be more helpful to others.

6 -- Lose enough weight to make a difference in my health.

5 -- Write my story in a way that would lead others to a closer walk with Jesus.

4 -- Love my family the way they deserve to be loved.

3 -- Share my faith regularly.

2 -- Share countless blessings with my wife.

1 -- Be who I need to be for everyone I meet.

Honestly, this is my bucket list.  I hope you are thinking more spiritually than you are physically in your quests in life.

God bless you! 

Loving Our Christian Brothers

The beauty of what we believe is our faith that holds us and molds our hearts into God's grace and mercy. If we allow ourselves to be immersed in the world we will find our faith tested from the realm of the world.

Sad, but even with good intentions we must realize that some of the things we do in our lives may not be a problem for us as much as it may be for those who are not of our same mind set. Small steps for some in their faith may be giant leaps for some of our brothers and sisters. We need to consider them when we begin to take steps that they are unable to match with ours if we are leading. We may be leading in a direction we believe God is wanting us to go, but there are others with just as strong a faith who believe that they are being led not to go where we are heading.

How do we blend the two?

It takes two. We must be so in tune with our brethren in our spiritual family that they believe that they can disagree with what may be proposed and not be alienated by the decisions or feel forced to accept it without loving consideration. Too many times we believe that leaving those "more traditional" or "more conservative" brethren behind may be a good thing. Leaving anyone behind is not what a shepherd or minister does. There are those sheep who just will not follow, but are we sure we are leading them in the right direction?

My faith is not shaken when brethren come away with a different take on what I consider a change for the good. I am challenged to make sure that they understand why I see it the way I do. I realize that my baby steps may be those great leaps of faith for some. They may think that my approach is unloving if I do not consider them in the decision and handle them with love and concern.

I have had to repent for moving in directions I felt the church I was serving needed to go without thinking of how some would feel about it. When we do something that affects everyone without considering everyone, we are not being the family of God. We are being like children in the marketplace, wanting what everyone else has. Feeding on the sugar of the world, leaving the family to wallow in doubt and some feeling the need to fit in accepting what is proposed just to fit in while shaking their faith.

I am all for moving forward and reaching out, but we must be careful not to destroy the family of God for the acceptance of man. This is for anything that affects our spiritual family we meet with each and every week. May God bless His church and those who lead it into the future. May God bless us all as family.

Landon Tyler Farmer

Born at 27 weeks into his mother's pregnancy, May 14th, Landon came all of a sudden to the surprise of every person in the family.  Heather, Landon's mother, and Tim, his dad, knew Landon was a boy and they had already been using his name when speaking of him.  We, as a family, were all excited that the youngest of our family would soon be a daddy.  Heather's family with Heather being the oldest reminded us of the excitement of that first grandchild, nephew and an additional cousin in the mix of family.  We were all looking to August.  I prayed daily and multiple times each day for this new family unit being united in love and joy.

Landon, as of this writing, has been through the things that premature babies go through.  He was diagnosed with Patent Ductus Areriousus (www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/pda/).  The surgery went well and everything is pointing right now towards a continued stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care at St. Paul's hospital in Dallas.  Other things could come up as his stay continues, but those are things we just will have to deal with as we have so far.  Needless to say, Heather and Tim have been strong because of a bond of love that exists between them.  They have been strong when others have been brought to tears of worry and anxiety. Now, I am not saying that they aren't worried, they are.  I know that they are.  But today, Landon reached out and held his mother's finger.  The first time that this has happened, and it wont be the last, but that is the time that she will remember forever and share with anyone who will listen.  She will cherish that in her heart and will be forever changed by that moment.  She is a mother.  She is a strong mother.  She is a proud mother and as far as I am concerned, a great wife to my son Tim.

Landon is my sixth grandchild.  He is the first born to my youngest son Tim.  He is my grandson and I am so proud to be his grandfather.  He has five cousins on our side of the family who are praying for him as he continues his life.  He has uncles and aunts along with so many others who are praying for him and waiting patiently for him to be able to be out of the hospital where we can all hold him and love him as a part of our family.

Heather's family has also been so supportive and I am so proud that Tim has Heather's family to give them strength as well. Please thank God for them for me if you would.

I know that I am writing this with an understanding that as you read it you read this through my eyes as a grandfather.  Yes, I am!  I am proud to be the grandfather, father in law, and father to this family.  I am proud that my children are concerned for their youngest brother and are keeping close tabs on what is going on.  May God bless them all with the grace He has to offer.

Thanks for reading this.

I'll see you later!

Jesus and Your Talents

Michael Hollinger wrote once: It’s a good thing that God is less concerned about our ability to value resources than he is concerned about our ability to use them. In our lives, however, we tend to have the reverse problem. Sometimes we overvalue ourselves. Generally instead of overvaluing our own resources, the problem tends to be that we overlook what we actually have.It’s very easy to think that because we don’t have as much money as the guy down the street that it should really be up to him to fix it. 

We think that the other guy is smarter, so he should be the one to solve the problem. We think those folks are more spiritual, so we’ll let them pray about it. Therefore we believe that since that church has more people, they are the ones responsible for evangelizing this part of the world, I’ve done my part.

The point is pretty simple actually: Don’t focus on what you do not have. That’s not important. Focus instead on what you do. As a child of God, you have a loving Master who, from the beginning of time picked you as his special child, worthy of doing good things for him. As Ephesians 2:10 says: He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do. I know that the One who gives us a job to do is never going to put his own child out to pasture without the resources needed to do the job.

We just need to remember that ultimately it’s the Master’s resources in the Master’s time that bring the increase to our church families and our own personal families.  We are actually sitting on a spiritual gold mine as children of God. We have a great pool of talent and resources that just needs to be used.  It may mean that we shift our focus to the people in our neighborhoods or in our areas. There are people herein your neighborhood and with whom you are friends who need the Gospel, and you have it. You just need to use what you have to get it to them. 

We can sit around here all day doing assessments of what we do and do not have, silently mourning our state, or we can get out there and use what we have to the glory of God.  We can't sit and say, "I'm the only one doing anything.  Others help would make it go that much better." 

In the end, the results are up to our God, Jesus and our choice. He isn’t going to hold us accountable for the numbers or the money that we do or do not have – just our faithfulness in using what he’s given us. 

Are you ready to be a part of something new and exciting? 

It is time to use your talents for God. 

Seeking New LIfe

“Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation’s deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do." - Steve Goodier, Quote Magazine, in May, 1990 R.D.

I am amazed a how our so called "Christian Family" can be at peace with themselves when they are constantly on the lookout for the rotting meat in a desert of sinful brothers and sisters.  Yes, we have people in our churches who sin and make mistakes.  Some have gone on to be great men of the church.  Paul would be one example, and he was a murderer.  Peter was accused by Jesus as an agent for Satan.  I believe that they were forgiven.

Those who cast stones and feast on the death of the past need to remember that God is a forgiving God.  He takes vengeance upon those who attack His family.  If you are the one determining the validity of a Christian brother or sister's relationship with God and their sincere remorse for their sins by attacking their past you are a vulture who craves to dine on death and putrid rottenness.  

We, those of us who are in Christ, need to repent and turn back to God and once we have done this, live for Him.  We can never go back and change the past, but we can, with God's help, move forward in the knowledge that we are still children of God and forgiven.  We seek a new life everyday.  I am so thankful that I have no man to answer to for my salvation.

When we attack a brother in Christ, no matter the reason, we sin!  Love keeps no record of wrong is what Paul told the church at Corinth.  How are we doing? 

My Prayer for the Christians of America

The sad thing today is that many Christians live their lives based on their status and well being in this world. Don't get me wrong, God has blessed us to live in this nation and we are a blessed people for it. But, when we see this world as the most important part of our existence, we are not walking in the Light. Sure, less taxes and better living conditions, the less threat of gun violence (or any violence at all) would be nice. But, isn't that the heaven we are looking forward to? I believe it is the next world we are promised the beauty we are seemingly seeking here on this earth.

I am really concerned about the lack of knowledge and the lack of desire for the word of God.  We have to become more studious in our lives and in our desire to walk the paths of God.  We need to be concerned about our nation, our freedoms, but truthfully in the end, our spiritual lives are so much more important.  

We as a nation are sacrificing our children, not just through abortion, drug abuse, free and open sexual disobedience, but through negligence in our sharing the spiritual nature of life.  

It is time we stand together and truly share what we believe about God.  Or maybe, we already are! 

Sad to think and even sadder to say it.  But, I believe that statement may be truer than any other. We are showing the world what we believe about God by our concern more about what is wrong with our economy than what is wrong with our society and it's lifestyle.

My prayer is that God will take away from us whatever is keeping us from being His children in the way we need to be in this world.

Then, my favorite verse 1 John 5:17 will be true for not only the few but the many. "...in this world we are like Him."

How are you doing?

I'll see you later!