Most of you are aware of Dickens's classic story, 'The Christmas Carol', Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts, one of them is the Ghost of Christmas Past. Oddly enough, I was recently visited by the ghost of Christmas past as well. I am not sure what exactly caused this ghost to visit me. Maybe it was because I drove back to my boyhood home and the community where I grew up, Shady Grove, located on top of Horse Shoe Mountain. This is a place where cows are still to be found in what could be a yard, houses are built in groves of trees and are referred to as home-places of certain families. In these parts you see more Game Wardens than Policemen. There is a smell in the air of wood burning fires from fireplaces. The winter landscape is mostly open fields and groves of trees that are barren this time of the year, except for the mistletoe that grows in their tops. Most people there drive pickups and have gun racks. Tail-gating and horn blowing better be for true emergencies or it is almost certain there will be altercation for such rude city behavior. To the contrary, everyone waves when you drive by. Maybe it was seeing the church that I attended as a boy and remembering the endless games played in its yard and hiding and being sought in its many hiding places. Maybe it was just thinking about all of the people I loved in that place. Seeing these familiar sights smelling familiar smells and seeing some familiar people may have caused the Ghost from Christmas Past to visit me.
Or it could have been sitting in my parent's home where childhood memories pour forth in my mind that the Ghost of Christmas Past began to haunt me. My memories of home as a child were the place where Dad's chair was located, a throne of sorts that no lowly surfs were allowed to sit. Mom's kitchen was decorated with the standard dècor of the late 60's early 70's with a large fork and spoon on the wall next to the Ten Commandments located over the statuary of the praying hands and the plaque of the Prayer of Serenity. An avocado colored fridge and matching sink were in our stylish kitchen as we were, of course, a modern family. Important pictures and letters were kept in Prince Albert cigar boxes. The smell of country cooking was always lingering in the house from the last meal. A slop bucket was kept for dogs, or hogs, whatever was appropriate at the time. These thoughts may have conjured up the Ghost of Christmas Past for me.
Maybe it was rather the thoughts of Christmases past that brought forth its ghosts. Thoughts like a real Christmas tree that was always cut from the family farm. After several cedars were cut and brought into the yard for my mother to inspect. The only one that was acceptable was one with no bird's nest, cob webs, not too tall, too short, not funny shaped or with a large hole. Finally, after much searching, our perfect tree was put in the living room and decorated with lights (multi colored of course), and then that silver icicle stuff was thrown all over it. Christmas time was a sweet time and most of the gifts given were in the realm of necessity. A crock-pot for Mom, Aqua Velva and Vitalis for Dad. Underwear, tube socks, a shirt and new blue jeans or corduroy pants, maybe a leisure suit for my brother and I. Then of course the real stuff, a new basketball or football, perhaps even a walkie-talkie, or a new GI Joe with a kung fu grip or something for hunting like a night-light or a hunting dog leash. Then the best gift of all one year... The Jr. Trooper 410 single shot shotgun, for with that gift I was officially in the club, the man club. I have been a card carrying member of the man club ever since that faithful day. I am not sure still what a metro-sexual is, but I am certain that he never received such a gift as the Jr. Trooper 410 single shot shotgun, or he would be nothing of the sort. The ghost of Christmas past was catching up to me then an event sent me over the edge.
As I think of it, maybe I do know what summoned the Ghost of Christmas Past for a visit. There we were in my parents home this Christmas and out came the home videos. Not from my childhood but from my children's childhood. My mother made hundreds of hours of video of our girls when they were wee bits. There they stood in footy pajamas singing Christmas songs and talking about Christmas presents on the family TV. The TV that had previously showed things like ball games or reruns of Bonanza, Gunsmoke, or Hawaii Five O. There, instead, were my girls complete with hair-bows, big eyes and sweet little faces. And in one video April and I had been gone and upon the announcement of our arrival they jumped for joy in their footed pajamas and yelled 'yeah!' Running to the door to greet us as if we had been away for 6 months. That just did it. The old Ghost of Christmas Past was now fully haunting my life. Where had we been that night? Probably trying to make some people happy that we wouldnít even remember their names now. Perhaps it was on business that could have waited for another time. But in our absence we had missed a sweet concert of little girls in footed pajamas singing and dancing with all their might. There is something about watching home movies and seeing years of highlights of birthday parties and Christmases past, blow by in digital speed to make a man realize how much life just gets by so quickly.
I am a little melancholy over this visit from the Ghost of Christmas past, but I have determined to wake up and ask 'Is it Christmas Day Yet'? And if so, I am calling for the exorcist of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Today is a new day, it is a day that we are alive, and alive to love tenderly, talk softly, and care deeply and to make new memories, memories worthy of our best time to the ones we love the most. To speak the words our family and friends need to desperately hear. And finally a note of memory from my Grandfather, by way of my uncle who was leaving our house carrying someone a meal who was without family and in desperate medical need on Christmas. He said Dad always said, 'Do as much as you can for as many as you can, for as long as you can.' Now that is the Spirit of Christmas past, present and future. Go tell it on the Mountain!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A Monster or a Turtle?
A group from our church was recently in Scotland and mentioned to me that they drove out to the famous Loch Ness. Most of us are only familiar with this body of water in the Highlands area of Scotland due to the world famous folklore of what is called the Loch Ness Monster. The famous pictures and videos that most all of us have seen showing a prehistoric looking creature emerging from the fog covered waters and disappearing into its murky depths have captured thousands of imaginations.
As I was reminded of the Loch Ness Monster story it reminded me of another story from my youth. I grew up in the recently made famous, Conway, Arkansas, now famous for the new American Idol winner, Kris Allen. When I was a youth this now bustling town was pretty slow paced and lacked in the excitement category, unless you count eating at the Dandy Dog or playing putt putt at Frank’s Drive-In “exciting.” I recall a couple of people that I know who were fishing on Lake Conway, which is very similar to Loch Ness in that there is water in both locations. As the men were fishing one of them caught a very large snapping turtle and due to the lack of better things to do in those days their imagination got the best of them and an idea was hatched. I am not going to say who these men were to protect the guilty and I hesitate to say they were my relatives. But here goes -that same morning they had a calf to die on the farm and had put its body in the back of their truck to dispose of the carcass after they finished fishing. One said to the other, “I am going to skin the hide off that calf and take some of this fishing line and sow it on this big snapping turtle.” Before I go any further let me say that no turtles were harmed in this little scheme, just one was highly irritated from it. So the men meticulously sowed the calf hide on the turtle and released him back into the water.
The turtle went back to doing what turtles do. He crawled up on half sunken logs and sunned himself. He swam by other fishermen in their boats. He popped his head up occasionally to breath and to see his surroundings from the murky waters of Lake Conway. With just a little imagination you can picture what this poor creature must have looked like to unsuspecting fishermen. These folks began to see this strange creature crawling up on logs and witnessing this strange image swimming past their boats. It appeared to be turtle like but with a long tail. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen and it quite frankly began to scare and trouble many of the local fishermen. As the fishermen would come back to the local watering holes and bait shops there began to be quite a story surrounding what was now called “The Lake Conway Monster.” Some had seen it but at a distance, others had heard about it and reported it to yet others with warning of the strange creature right out of the book of Revelation. It had hair like a woman, a long stinger like a scorpion and swam like a fish. It quite possibly could turn over a medium boat and eat a small child.
Now truly it was only a snapping turtle with a calf’s hide sown on him; a hide that would quickly rot off the turtle and life would be back to normal for the turtle but not before human imagination went running wild. I suppose there can be a lesson or two learned from this:
What you think you see is not always what you see. Things are not always what they appear to be. It is easy to see some thing, some person or to see some event and to have preexisting fears in your own life run wild with imagination.
To say a thing is a thing does not make a thing a thing. I know that is a very deep statement but stay with me. In my story you can say that you saw The Lake Conway Monster and you can tell others that you saw it. But it still would be just a snapping turtle with a calf’s hide sown on it. No matter how many times you say it, it will always and only be a turtle.
Be careful what you tell for fact because the next person who tells it will make it fiction. What was only a large snapping turtle could be a monster by the second helping of gossip. Things told twice are seldom things told accurate.
And finally there are truly two sides to every story. What was a horrible troubling sight in the eyes of several people was simply a funny joke to others. The Spiritual principle here is simple. When Satan fills us with fears, wicked imaginations, and hearsay gossip, he is the one that is laughing. Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear and certainly be careful little tongues what you say. Satan would love to divide friendships, families, ministries and churches over what appears to be monsters, but are truly only turtles being turtles. Give it some thought.
As I was reminded of the Loch Ness Monster story it reminded me of another story from my youth. I grew up in the recently made famous, Conway, Arkansas, now famous for the new American Idol winner, Kris Allen. When I was a youth this now bustling town was pretty slow paced and lacked in the excitement category, unless you count eating at the Dandy Dog or playing putt putt at Frank’s Drive-In “exciting.” I recall a couple of people that I know who were fishing on Lake Conway, which is very similar to Loch Ness in that there is water in both locations. As the men were fishing one of them caught a very large snapping turtle and due to the lack of better things to do in those days their imagination got the best of them and an idea was hatched. I am not going to say who these men were to protect the guilty and I hesitate to say they were my relatives. But here goes -that same morning they had a calf to die on the farm and had put its body in the back of their truck to dispose of the carcass after they finished fishing. One said to the other, “I am going to skin the hide off that calf and take some of this fishing line and sow it on this big snapping turtle.” Before I go any further let me say that no turtles were harmed in this little scheme, just one was highly irritated from it. So the men meticulously sowed the calf hide on the turtle and released him back into the water.
The turtle went back to doing what turtles do. He crawled up on half sunken logs and sunned himself. He swam by other fishermen in their boats. He popped his head up occasionally to breath and to see his surroundings from the murky waters of Lake Conway. With just a little imagination you can picture what this poor creature must have looked like to unsuspecting fishermen. These folks began to see this strange creature crawling up on logs and witnessing this strange image swimming past their boats. It appeared to be turtle like but with a long tail. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen and it quite frankly began to scare and trouble many of the local fishermen. As the fishermen would come back to the local watering holes and bait shops there began to be quite a story surrounding what was now called “The Lake Conway Monster.” Some had seen it but at a distance, others had heard about it and reported it to yet others with warning of the strange creature right out of the book of Revelation. It had hair like a woman, a long stinger like a scorpion and swam like a fish. It quite possibly could turn over a medium boat and eat a small child.
Now truly it was only a snapping turtle with a calf’s hide sown on him; a hide that would quickly rot off the turtle and life would be back to normal for the turtle but not before human imagination went running wild. I suppose there can be a lesson or two learned from this:
What you think you see is not always what you see. Things are not always what they appear to be. It is easy to see some thing, some person or to see some event and to have preexisting fears in your own life run wild with imagination.
To say a thing is a thing does not make a thing a thing. I know that is a very deep statement but stay with me. In my story you can say that you saw The Lake Conway Monster and you can tell others that you saw it. But it still would be just a snapping turtle with a calf’s hide sown on it. No matter how many times you say it, it will always and only be a turtle.
Be careful what you tell for fact because the next person who tells it will make it fiction. What was only a large snapping turtle could be a monster by the second helping of gossip. Things told twice are seldom things told accurate.
And finally there are truly two sides to every story. What was a horrible troubling sight in the eyes of several people was simply a funny joke to others. The Spiritual principle here is simple. When Satan fills us with fears, wicked imaginations, and hearsay gossip, he is the one that is laughing. Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear and certainly be careful little tongues what you say. Satan would love to divide friendships, families, ministries and churches over what appears to be monsters, but are truly only turtles being turtles. Give it some thought.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
I Pledge Allegiance
Our nation watched this past week as we inaugurated our 44th President. The changing of power in a democracy is a wonder for much of the world to watch. No tanks surrounded the White House and soldiers were not deployed to the streets of our capitol because one power was not going to be threatened by the other. Two men, one incoming and one outgoing, enjoyed coffee that morning before the swearing in of a new president.
I was with a group of people this week who work in many places in the world. I heard a woman from Somali give her testimony and story of how she came to Christ. She has lived here in the US for many years. All of her family lives in Somali and she has not seen them for years. They are unable to leave and she is unable to return. I am a little over 40 years old and all of my lifetime that place has been a living hell. We can be glad to be a part of such a great democracy that has given us peace. We pledge allegiance to the flag of our great nation and we hold the principles of freedom dear.
As Christians we have another allegiance, an allegiance that is not in conflict with our nationality, because this allegiance is not pledged to a country, or a state, or a people. This kingdom does not have elections, and there is no transfer of power, for in this kingdom – The Kingdom of God, we have but one King and His kingdom is eternal. Jesus calls us to this kingdom and when we walk in that kingdom we represent His character on the earth and that is the way we bless others.
Now that our new president is in office the business of “politics as usual” will begin. The left and right are already swinging and most of the country is still unengaged in knowing anything about how government works. The average citizen does not know what it really means to be a contributor to their society. Too many Americans have become takers and beneficiaries of government and not contributors and participants in the freedoms our great nation provides. Too many are waiting on a check and not earning a check. Sadly, that is about the way many Christians go through life with one Christian group swinging at the other Christian group. Too many Christians are just content receiving the blessings and are not interested in being a blessing. The majority of all who name the name of Christ do not really understand what it means to be a part of His Kingdom. Jesus calls us to His Kingdom and goes to great lengths to describe it. Jesus, describing what His kingdom is like, used many pictures to help us understand. He said, It is like a sower who went forth to sow, it is like unto a mustard seed, it is like unto leaven, it is like unto a treasure hid in a field, it is like unto a pearl of great price, it is like unto a net cast into the sea, it is like unto a householder. There are some deep and great mysteries about this kingdom you and I are called to follow Jesus into.
We need to look again at what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and to walk in His Kingdom. That is the only way we can bless the world and touch the world for God. We will never find true peace and enjoy real freedom in any other government on this earth no matter who or what party is elected. Our prayer “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)