Orange

Wow two posts in one day! I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, but just haven’t had the time to put it down on paper. Today has been a rainy messy day, so I’ve spent a lot of time around the house and I’ve had time to think and also time to put my thoughts down. God has really been speaking to me about simplifying my life and slowing down. We spent last weekend with some friends of ours and it was just a slow weekend, we had lots of laughter, lots of time strengthening friendships, time creating new ones and time just putting things into perspective and all this was done around a camp fire, games were played with spoons, strings, sticks and a old ball and ropes. No special computer programs, no in depth rules, it didn’t matter who won or who lost, no scores were kept just plain and simple old fashion fun with friends.
I’m guilty of wanting all the newest, latest and greatest gadgets and wanting to stay in first class accommodations when I go somewhere. I say the newest, latest and greatest doesn’t matter but I catch my self letting it sometime.

I had an experience Wednesday night that just won’t leave my mind. It is just a small simple act from a child, but it has had a huge impact on me. As I said in some of my posts before I work with the boys of our church on Wednesday nights. This past Wednesday night one of the boys ran up to me and handed me an orange. He didn’t say much just here you go Mr. Barry and then off he went. I had always heard my Mom and Dad talk about just getting an orange and maybe an apple for Christmas and that they were proud of it. That has always been hard for me to put into perspective until now.

I must confess before I go any further though. I am eating the orange now as I’m typing this and yes it is good, very good and I must say this is the best orange I’ve ever eaten. It’s not the taste though that is making it so good. Like I said until now I have had it hard putting it into perspective that an orange could be such a good gift. You see the young man that gave the orange to me is very special to me, he always and I mean always speaks to me and says hi, no matter where we are at it doesn’t have to be at church, I’ve seen him in restaurants, down town and at ball games etc. and he always speaks to me. What he doesn’t know is that some of those times I have been having a bad day and I mean a really bad day and just his smile and the attention he gave me picked me up. I know this is in reverse I’m suppose to be the mentor/role model for him. He told me later on that night as we had a chance just to talk for a minute, that I was one of his three best buddies, I can’t remember the name of the other two, but I was one of his three best buddies. If I don’t get another gift this Christmas season it won’t matter I have already gotten the best gift I could and it was just a simple orange, but it was from my best buddy! God bless my little best buddy.

Mark 10:16 “And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”

Writing Letters

With my new job one of my duties is to read the incoming and outgoing mail. Oh in case I haven’t told you I work at a correctional facility now thus the requirement to read the mail. My attention has been caught by what is written in the mail. Some stuff I would never think of writing about, but then again for some this is the only way they have to communicate so I guess they have no choice. The one thing that has really gotten my attention is how the letters can change from talking about how God is the only way they will ever be able to get through what they are going through , talking about how they are going to be involved in church when they get out, to how they have really changed this time. Then in the very next paragraph they may switch and talk about they can’t wait to use drugs again or maybe they will give the person they are writing to a cussing. Then at the very end of the letter they will close with something like God loves us or maybe close with a bible verse. I’ve caught myself asking the question how they can do this. Then the other day I was thinking that I’m writing a letter everyday with my life and you know, I know sometimes God has asked himself how can he do this. I challenged myself to try and remember that each day I’m writing God a letter by how I live my life, by what I do and I say and even by what I don’t do or say. How about you what kind of letter are you writing God? Is he asking how can you do that?

Large and Personal (Soda?)

I haven’t really had time to write lately, my retirement job has turned into a more than full time job, but that is not what this is about. I was reminded tonight how awesome and wonderful our God is, I was reminded about his magnitude and also how personal he is. I help teach the 4th through 6th grade boys at our church on Wednesday nights. Tonight we talked about Lottie Moon being a missionary and what an impact she has had on missions and about how important missions are in order for us to reach all the lost souls all over the earth. We talked about how God loved them just as much as he does us and the fact that there are literally millions of folks out there. This got me to thinking about what a large God we have and about how millions of people seem like so many, but when you add all the animals, birds and the other inhabits of the earth then you add all the stars, the planets well I guess when you add everything God seems so big so large and I seem so small. Then God reminded me in his own way that he loves me personally and is concerned about every minor detail in my life. Here is how he did it. After class one of our kids hung around and at first I was thinking dude you need to leave and go play with the other kids because I really needed to talk to one of my friends about a situation I’m facing right now. Anyway it was clear that this young man had something on his mind, so we asked him, what’s up man can we help you with something? He said I need you guys to pray for my Mom. My first thoughts were rut row is she sick, what kind of problem is she having? Then he said ya are going to think this is silly but my Mom has been drinking this certain brand of soda and she is trying to stop and it’s hard for her and can you guys pray for her. Proud of this kid does describe how I felt. This kid gets it, he understands it I guess he is really not a kid hunh?

I’ve been thinking over the experience again and again. God just seems to be speaking to me and saying see Barry I am with you in everything , I do care about all the minor details, Barry I am here all you have to do is call on me, Remember I gave my son so you could live….Barry don’t worry about the small stuff I’ve got your back……just follow me…….don’t forget follow me……….be obedient ……don’t say you will be obedient, be obedient and remember…….For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Oh yea and Barry don’t forget I do care and I do understand even if the battle is a can of soda!

Sights

It’s opening day of gun season for deer here in Alabama. What am I doing here sitting at the computer this morning instead of out in the woods? Well let me tell you, it’s simple I haven’t sighted my rifle in yet. I have been so crazy busy I simply forgot to. I remembered it yesterday and tried to make it home before dark to go and do it but I didn’t make it. I was tempted to go anyway, but what if the scope had been bumped what if it was off and I fired a shot and missed, I’d be laughed at by all my buddies. What if it was off and I made a bad shot and just wounded the deer real bad and did kill it. It was a chance I just couldn’t take. Maybe I’ll get it sighted in the next day or two and then I can get in the woods. As I was thinking about this, I couldn’t help but think about me as a Christian how I have to keep my sights set on the King. I really don’t think a lot about my sights getting bumped and maybe just being off a little or even worse a lot. It could happen though, I could let small sins creep in, start entertaining certain thoughts, jealousy, anger etc. there are so many ways we can get bumped and not even realize it. That is why it is so important to pray and talk with our father daily to get into his word daily to ensure our sights haven’t been bumped!

1 Corinthians 15:58, Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Peter 1:13-16, Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

1 Thessalonians 5 16-18, Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Prayers

I’m requesting your prayers for the Frog Comm ministry. I’m really having time management issues with it. I know that this is a ministry that God has for me. It just seems that I have so much going on with my new job (had some more work added to it), with my family, with my church. I’m really sensing a need to realign some things so I can focus more on the Frog Comm ministry. Please pray for me to make the right decisions on where slow down and to manage my time better with it.

Thanks,
Barry

What am I/You filling your tank up with?

Last Saturday was the opening day for college football. I was lying in the bed that afternoon after taking my Saturday afternoon nap and I realized I was watching a home improvement show instead of football. What is wrong with me? We’ll that is not what this post is about so we’ll talk about that later. I didn’t mention that I was woke up from my nap, my wife was actually watching a home improvement show and she had an idea of how we could rearrange our bedroom and she woke me up to tell me about it. After she presented her idea I just started watching the show without thinking about it.
My wife use to watch this show regularly and when she did my “to do” list was very long. She was always coming up with home improvement ideas from just rearranging our furniture, to those that required a hammer, nails and a saw. The past couple of months for some reason and I didn’t ask, she stopped watching it. I was enjoying the break (I guess it’s over she has started watching it again). What hit me though was that while she was watching it, home improvements were always on her mind all the time. When she stopped watching it I heard very little about home improvements.
That is what I want to talk about what we put in our minds through music, TV, conversations we have with our friends, thoughts we entertain etc. I didn’t realize what an effect the music I listened to had on me until a few years ago. An old song would come on and it would send my mind back it time and I would catch myself entraining thoughts I shouldn’t. I would be entertaining thoughts of its message on how I should handle a situation I was going through etc. TV shows have gotten to be something else. I’ve caught myself wanting my family to be like a TV family, I’ve caught myself getting truly mad at the officials of a sporting event. Conversations with old friends about the “good old days” bringing back thoughts I had no business thinking about.
I heard a old preacher talk one time about coming to church on Sunday to get his gas tank filled up, so he would be able to go out and face the devil during the week. Whiter we like it or not what listen to on the radio, watch on TV, the friends we hang out with effect our thoughts and effect what we are filling our tanks up with. I really do believe that the ole devil can and will use these to tempt us and try and lead us astray. The bible tells us in Colossians 3:1-3 since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. And in 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled….. I guess my question is what are you regularly filling your tank up with? Have you thought about it, I didn’t realize what I was putting in mine through the radio till I stopped and took a look at it. Take some time this week and step back and see what you’re filling up with.

Match

I struck a match this morning (I don’t smoke for the record) watching how fast it burned and was gone made me think of few scriptures. The first one is Psalm 39:5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. The other one was 1 Peter 1:24 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.
I guess since I’m at the halftime of my life (the 40s) I’m realizing how fast our lives do pass. Something God has really impressed on me the past few months is best said in the words I heard Dr. David Jeremiah use, he said: “Everything we go through here on earth is temporal and because we have Jesus none of it can effect what we have in him as it is eternal”. That may not be the exact quote, but I think you get the message I hope.
Our Pastor preached this past Sunday on Heart and Soul (check out his Monday morning blog on the subject by hitting the link) about misplaced passions. What hit me was how much emphasis I tend to put on temporary things. While Dr. Jeremiah’s words were meant to encourage us when we’re going through trials here on earth. I can see that temporal also applying to those passions my preacher preached about, those that I/we think are so important and go to extremes just for the moment. Yet that which is eternal I seem to want to put it on the back burner. God thank you for the peace and hope I have in you of an eternity that is unimaginable and Father forgive me when I get caught up in the temporal stuff, help me to focus on the eternal.

True Friends

I use the word friend a lot the time to describe an acquaintance of mine. I had an experience last night that got me to thinking about friends and actually how many true friends we have. I know I have had plenty and you have probably to that I thought were friends , but when things got ruff they were no where to be found.
There is this guy that I do consider one of those true friends, that has a friend who has cancer and is in the final stages of his battle with it. My Friend asked some us that have been praying for his friend to go over last night to his house and pray for him. On the way over my friend keep sharing experiences he and his friend have had over the years and there was no doubt about the closeness of their relationship. I’ve told a few people today that I have felt like I needed to pray for forgiveness for jealousy because I wished I could have had him as a friend also.
Hearing about their friendship got me to thinking about a few of my close friends and an experience we had back in 2005. One of my buddies got tickets to a practice round for the Masters Golf tournament. For those of you who aren’t into golf this is the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Final Four, the NBA Finals of golf. You can’t just buy tickets you are in a lottery and my friend had been in it over ten years before his name was drawn and can you believe he picked me for one of the four tickets he got. Ok back to the story I was getting fired up thinking about it. We went over a couple of days early to pick up the fourth of our foursome that worked as a house parent at a children’s ranch just north of Atlanta.
We were spending the night at the ranch, that afternoon after we had played a round golf our buddy gave us a tour of the ranch. We stopped by their small chapel (the above picture). We were inside just looking around and we started to talk and before you knew it we each had opened up and shared some tough struggles we each were going through individually. We prayed for each other, encouraged each other. I’ll have to stop there because I do not have the words to describe the experience it was one of the spiritual moments that are indescribable. Let’s just say, man this is hard to say, that experience that happened in that little chapel on Chestnut Mountain in Georgia towered over the Masters. It was the highlight of the trip.
Those true friends are blessings from God, let your true friends know how you fill about them today don’t wait till tomorrow, we are not guaranteed tomorrow.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

Sentenced

With my new job I get to see folks who have been charged of a crime, those you have been sentenced and those who have been found not guilty every day. A few days ago I had an experience with one individual that has really stuck with me. He was sentenced and was just waiting in our facility to be moved and serve his sentence. He got frustrated and made some statements to the effect of just move me I’m ready to go to prison and used other expressions to describe our facility that I won’t use here. The very next day I got a call that he was to be moved the next day. I called him in to tell him and the expression on his face was indescribable. It clearly showed disbelief and fear. I was selected to do his transport the next day and during the whole 4 hour trip he was speechless which was totally out of character for him. It was so evident that the reality of sentence was upon him and he was not ready to deal with it. Even though he had made statements he was ready and tried to be tough about it, when the reality set in he was full of fear and defiantly not ready for it.
I couldn’t help but think of the sentence that I have been given as a man. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. Romans 5:12. Then I couldn’t help but think of the amazing grace of my God, and the fact that I will not have to serve that sentence. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Oh Father, be with those who know of our sentence as man, but do not take it serious like the guy I talked about above. Father forgive me when I take the “pardon” for granted and lose sight of your amazing grace that let’s me know I will not have to serve my sentence. Amen

Why am I up?

Why am I up at 2:21 AM on August 2, 2007? I’m not really sure. My wife got a call this afternoon that they don’t think her Grandmother will make it through the night. She is staying up there tonight with her family. I’m not sure that may be what is keeping me up. While I have been lying in the bed I couldn’t help but think back to the night my Ma Jack died. She had Alzheimer’s and had been sick for a while. What really amazed me through her last years (literally years) was her faith in God, her mind would go and there were some days I would go by to see her and she wouldn’t know who I was. She never forgot who God was though and what he did for her. She loved to sing and I would go by and sing with her, there would be days her mind would be bad, but once we started singing she would remember all the words. In her last days she would talk about going home. I can’t help but think about the song Beulah Land. I know her body was tired, but oh how her spirit must have been so hungry to see Jesus. My mom said many nights she would hear her saying the lords prayer out loud when she was having trouble sleeping. The night she died we sang with her, she didn’t have the strength to sing, but she held her hands up has high as she could. Oh to have that desire that longing to see Jesus to use all the strength you have. God forgive me when I get things messed up and lose focus of what is real.

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

The picture is of the mailbox at my Grandmother’s house

Flowers

The flowers in the picture were my responsibility. Yea rut row, I was out of town for a couple of weeks and I didn’t remind my wife or daughter to water them. From the looks of the picture, now that I have been watering them again the past few days two are going to make it, one might and one doesn’t look so good. Looking at those plants got me to thinking about how we as a church and fellow Christians do.
We went to the store and brought these flowers, watered them and took care of them. Then the new wore off and I was distracted by something (going out of town). The flowers stopped getting the attention they needed and now look at them.
Don’t we do that with new Christians, when they make that decision we love on them, hug on them, then when the new wears off we stop caring for them. We get distracted and leave it for someone else to do and usually don’t check and make sure it’s done. Then when they end up like the flower on the left in the picture we try and figure out what happened and course it’s not because of something we did…I believe the answer is something we didn’t do, don’t you?

1st Hit

Well here’s my first post on our Frog Comm Blog. Not a lot has been going on lately with Frog Comm, I’ve been real busy my last few months with the Air Force and getting started with my new job. I guess I did it the hard way I over lapped the two, but that is not what this is about so we won’t go into that.

I had my first speaking opportunity with Frog Comm back on April the 29th it was the 1st Annual Dialysis Patient Family Fun Day at White Creek Lake in Eupora, MS. It was a great day and I thank God for the opportunity to share with and encourage them. I’m excited about what God has in store for us and have some new ideas for tracts that we’ll be working on real soon.

The picture above is a lesson God taught/reminded me of this week. It was almost dark one day this past week and I had to run down to the barn for something as I went out the front door I couldn't see the clouds because of the big oak trees across the road in front of our house. Our barn is only about 50 yards behind our house. When I turned around there was this beautiful view (the picture does not do it justice) the sun was setting and those huge white clouds were coming up in the east and the lights from the sunset was like a bright spotlight on them, then as you can see in the picture the moon was coming up also. It was just one of those times when you experience God's creation and can't find words to describe it. I thought to myself if I had never turned around, wow I would have missed it. Then God kinda thumped me on the head and said Barry if you only knew how many blessings you have missed because you tried to go your way and didn't turn around and go the way I was calling you!