TUESDAY TRUTHS

Funerals offer truths that one can really take to heart---especially funerals of the faithful. (Psalm 116:15)*

Joe Black---Uncle Joe's funeral was such an event. His granddaughter, Rachel, added proof as she recalled her grandfather's continuous love and encouragement for her from when he first bounced her on his knee until his last hug from his deathbed. Family knows the real truth about ones life not just what the world sees. In this instance, the two matched. (Romans 10::9-10) A letter from son Joey shared more examples of this life well-lived and son Jeff strumming his guitar and singing, "How Great Thou Art, brought many to tears.
From boxing and body-building  to railroad man, this meek man with quiet power, power under control, gave respect to others and therefore received respect from all whose paths he crossed. He enjoyed fun times with others---especially his SAW meetings near his Oakland home. Seniors Against Work.

Joe Black was Mommar's only surviving sibling, the one who watched after sibling Charles when she (Mary) and her sisters, Liz and Maxine, had all passed away, and even before that. How fitting it was that Joe put the urn of  brother Charles' ashes inside his own coffin for his final resting place as well. A brother who was faithful to the very end. Joe knew though his "earthly tent was being destroyed that he had a building from God, an eternal house in heaven." (2 Corinthians 5:1)

Do I hear an "Amen"?

*While attending this family funeral another friend in the faith passed away. A godly man. A faithful husband. A devoted father. A respected lawyer. 
His passing is precious to the Lord but it certainly leaves a big hole in hearts of our entire church and others who knew him as he fulfilled his vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people. (Psalm 116:14)

How appropriate was the verse on the front of his memorial service bulletin---because everyone who knew Lance could see that he "had been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13) Even the quote on the back gave insight into this lifelong Memphian's faith as He trusted God's plan for his life regardless of the struggles. Like Eldon Roark, former Memphis Press-Scimitar "Strolling"columnist from 1933-1979, Lance believed Scripture to be the final authority for all faith and practice.

Be of good cheer. God is in the plan. (Mattie Dear) A frequent contributor to "Strolling".

Each believer can be of good cheer knowing that both his/her earthly life and eternal life are in the hands of a loving sovereign God.

Do I hear another "Amen"!

WITHOUT COMPLAINT..........

6/15/09 Without Complaint
That’s just another way of saying, “no whining” or no pity parties. It’s a choice---an attitude of gratitude. That phrase encapsulates Larry’s mother----our Mommar. Year after year I have watched her endure what ever comes her way without raising her voice or allowing negative words to flow forth. We all loved Grandaddy, Robert Thomas Liles, and he will be sorely missed but he was a corker---Mommar was the “saint without complaint.”
I wish that could be said about me. How ‘bout you? Will others see you as one who counted your blessings or as one who not only wallowed in self-pity and suffering but also gave a complete account of all the misery?
For three days I was hacking, sneezing, dripping mucus uncontrollably----because I couldn’t feel it coming out of my new nostril----my throat was raw, my body ached with fever, I was too tired to read and too miserable to sleep. See how easily I can blather and drivel about my own misery. FINALLY, I began to thank God that this was a cold, it wasn’t cancer. I could breathe through my mouth this time and that’s a big praise. Then, I was so grateful for the timing of this infirmity---after the surgeries, after hospital visits, after Grandaddy’s final days.
I have so much to be thankful for and so do you. Gratitude is seeing life as a gift.
Today’s meditation is from I Thessalonians 5:16-18. I was only going to include verse 18 and then I saw how they all tie together. In order to rejoice, there’s going to have to be some focused prayer and gratitude. Prayer holds the two together---with prayer we can be thankful, when we’re thankful we can praise easily and that increases our prayers which results in an overflowing of joy. That’s the way I see it. Let me know what you see….because tomorrow I’m going to start meddlin’ about having a grateful spirit.

• v. 16 Rejoice always;

• v. 17 Pray without ceasing;

• v. 18 In everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Hospital Visits

5/17/09 Hospital Visits There are good hospital visits and those that aren’t so good. This time last week, I was at Baptist Women’s Hospital awaiting the birth of a great niece. Today I was at a different hospital holding my father-in-law’s hand and praying for him as he had just received a rather grim prognosis. Fear of the unknown was somewhat quieted as he was encouraged to “trust an unknown future to an all-knowing God.” Various doctors were in and out all afternoon and more tests and scans were done, charts read and reread and a time of waiting set in---his body seemingly fading but his mind as strong as ever. In that time, I saw him grab the hand of his wife, his Mary, our Mommar, and squeeze it so that she began to relax and feel better. While she might not realize where to go when she walks out of that room, she knows where she is at that moment. I venture to say that she wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else in the world. When he has hold of her hand, as frail as he is, she feels secure. What confidence she has in him to make everything all right for her. There is indeed a security in knowing the one whose hand you hold---sometimes it’s more of them holding yours. I think that in room 551 at St. Francis Hospital, while Grandaddy held Mommar’s hand with his right hand, he was trusting the Lord to hold his other hand and to give him a little more strength, just so he could pass it on to her. As I was leaving, a lullaby played over the hospital intercom---a signal that a baby had just been born. What a way to celebrate life. Even Grandaddy holding on to his wife’s hand was in his own way celebrating the life he has had with her for almost 65 years.