My Pap-paw

My Pap-paw, my mom’s dad, was an angry alcoholic who was hard on his family and his wife, my Granny. Although he was originally from Kentucky, his family sent him to Oklahoma to live with his older brother Ed. They were concerned, since he was the youngest son, that he would be killed in all the feuding there in Kentucky. His mom died young, and his sister was the one who had to raise all the children. Pap-Paw was severely depressed and tried to self-medicate with alcohol. At times, my Pap-paw would just disappear from his family. He would hop on a freight train and ride it back to Kentucky. His family there would call my Granny and let her know he was there and that he was ok. When my mom visited their home place in Kentucky, they had to park the car and walk back into the woods. She said there were bullet holes in the house, and she was afraid to stay there as a child.

My mom and her siblings lived in fear of him, and once he even had a gun and told them if they did something, he would kill them. They hid out in the barn for a while. Their mom, my Granny, took the brunt of his anger, and they never knew when they came home from school what they would find.

Three men from the Baptist church in Blackburn, OK kept inviting Pap-Paw to church, and one evening he went as they were having revival services. A miracle took place in his life, and Pap-paw surrendered his life to Jesus Christ and took Jesus as his Savior. He never drank alcohol again. He totally changed in a moment. My Pap-paw was the Treasurer of that church when I came to know him, and he rarely missed a service there. Now in that church, the men had to sit on one side of the church and the women on the other. There were a few times in his later years that my Granny sure wished she could elbow him as he slipped into a deep sleep and began to snore.

My Pap-paw wrote in my little autograph book that he hoped someday I would receive Jesus as my Savior. When I was born, he gave me a little Bible with verses marked in it for me to read when I was old enough. He said to start with the book of John. His message to me in that little autograph book helped me make the decision to follow Jesus and be baptized. We lived in Cuba, NM when I was in the sixth grade, and I was baptized in a little Baptist church there.

Some day when I get to heaven, I am going to look up those three men from that little Baptist church in Blackburn, OK and tell them thank you! Thank you for caring enough to rescue my family from the pit of despair. Thank you for inviting my Pap-paw to church, so I could know to give my life to Jesus, so that I could raise my kids to know to give their lives to Jesus and so that my grandchildren could know how important it is to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

If you desire to know how to have a personal relationship with Jesus, I will tell you. First in Romans 3:23 it says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We need to know that we are all sinners. The Word says all have sinned. We need to ask God for forgiveness for our sins.

Romans 6:23 says that the wage of sin is death; BUT the gift of God is eternal life. (I just love those BUTS in the Bible.) Romans 5:8 says that while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for our sins. Jesus paid the price on the cross for our sins. This is a gift from Jesus. All we must do is receive this gift by repenting of our sins, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross, and three days later, He arose. Romans 10:13 says for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Here is a prayer to pray if you would like to receive the free gift of eternal salvation. Dear Jesus, As your word says, I have sinned and I ask for your forgiveness. I confess with my mouth that you are the Son of God and you died on the cross for my sins and that you rose again. My desire is to accept your free gift of salvation and let you be the Lord of my life. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name. Amen. Pretty simple and amazingly easy to do. If you need any help, contact me and I will show you the way.

“Grandfathers are just antique little boys.” –Unknown

My Granny and Pap-paw were always incredibly special to me. My Granny took me to Vacation Bible School as much as she could and to Sunday School. I loved going to church, and I still do. Both sets of my grandparents were very influential in my life. They both showed me the love of Jesus and how through the most tragic times of life, Jesus will carry you through.

“Grandparents, like heroes, are as necessary to a child’s growth as vitamins.”—Joyce Allston

My Hiding Place

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun”. – Mary Lou Cook

An old threshing machine was a delightful plaything for my cousins and I. We made it to be everything we could possibility imagine. It was also a great place to hide in games of tag or hide and seek. It used to be very useful in agriculture but they had outlived their day and were just sitting in pastures and along roadways everywhere. Combines pulled by a tractor had made them obsolete. My Pap-paw and Granny were the most fortunate people that I knew with one in their pasture just past the old chicken house. When my cousins and I could gather at the old ranch and traverse through the old cotton field we found that old threshing machine. My, it turned into a spaceship, a battleship, a pirate ship, and anything else our imaginations could think of. We spent hours there just enjoying our own creativity and using our imaginations. We invented so many ways to use this equipment. We took tremendous risks and we broke some rules and we made mistakes and we had some fun.

The more we could stay away from the house the better. Back at the house our parents and grandparents probably had green beans for us to snap, or Pap-Paw had use take a sample of wheat and vetch and had the cousins and I count the quantity of each in that sample. (I think it was his way of keeping us busy!) Or maybe there was an ice cream freezer that needed cranking. We loved that ice cream but not the cranking part, although the end result was worth it.

Today my hiding place is any place I can get alone with the Word of God and allow Him some time to speak to me. He speaks to me much but I don’t always take the time to listen. How can I not take the time to listen?!? How can I not listen to the Almighty God! When I do listen, I am amazed at His goodness and His kindness to me. He is no respecter of persons and He will and does speak to you also. I am not special as He loves all His sons and daughters and His desire is for us to hear Him and follow His heart.

Psalms 119:114 TPT You’re my place of quiet retreat, and your wraparound presence becomes my shield as I wrap myself in your Word!

Psalms 119:114 ESV You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

“Come Up Higher”

Come Up Higher!

“Beloved! Come up higher! I have more for you.”

Tommy Tenney says that God is calling you to a higher level of commitment. Forget the plans you made for yourself. Die to self. (Jer. 50:14)

Claim your upgrade. Perhaps you have been asked to move from the normal section of the airplane and have been upgraded to First Class. Would you refuse the upgrade? Come and accept a move to the upper level.

Is 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Eagles fly higher than any other creature. As they catch the wind, it carries them even higher. The eagles’ eyes are sharper and keener than any other. Eagles are discerning. Eagles know just how to make the wind currents work for them and they have the highest view of all that is happening below them.

IS 43:18-19 Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

As we embrace the beginnings of a new year, 2025, a powerful message from God resonates: God is urging us to embrace the new beginnings that lie ahead. There are new dreams, new visions, new beginnings and new adventures with the Lord ahead of us. But as Paul says in Phil.3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things with are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

There it is “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God!” God is calling us to come up higher. This will require us unloading some of the baggage we have held onto for years. Do we have hurtful words stored in our memory banks, unforgiveness, shame, unrepentant hearts, wounds and other heavy memories? Our Lord says to cast our care on Him. That will certainly lighten our load and set us free to accept the call to come up higher with Him. We can’t take the next step higher if we are loaded down with the burdens of the past.

Accept the upward call of God. Accept the upgrade.

There is an interesting story in the Bible in Judges 1:14 and Joshua 15:15-19. Caleb’s daughter Achsah was offered as a pawn by her father. She was offered in marriage to the man who could attack and capture Kiriath Sepher. Caleb’s nephew Othniel captured Kiriath Sepher and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah in marriage to him. One day she asked her father for a blessing. She asked for the upper and lower springs of water on the field that he gave to them. She knew she had her father’s favor and she did not see herself as a victim but as an heir of her father, a favored heir. She had every reason to have the attitude of a victim. But she had the attitude of an heir. What if she asked only for the lower springs then the upper area would have been dry and unusable. We can’t receive an upper springs inheritance with a lower springs mindset.

Understand who you are in Christ.

“Come up higher!” This is a word that has the power to pull you into the more God has for you. We must know that we are heirs in Christ. Rom. 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory

Mornin’ Glory

Morning Glories have graced the gate of this yard for many years. They climb up the trellis and cling to the frame to cover the gate and welcome visitors or turn them away. Our new UPS delivery man was hesitant to come in the gate as the Morning Glories had completely covered the gate. The Glories love the morning and bloom at that time of day, closing up in the afternoons. Morning glory vines bring old fashioned charm and a quaint cottage feeling to this yard.

“Where flowers bloom so does hope.”

Lady Bird Johnson

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”

Francis Hodgson Burnett

“Every flower must grow through dirt.”

Laurie Jean Sennott

When I hear the word glory, I always think of my Savior. Glory and honor is what I desire to bring to His name. His glory is what we need in our world. It’s so like Him to create all the beautiful colors we enjoy with the Morning Glory and all the other flowers around us. As we head in Autumn I think of how He is so creative. He could have made our world just in hues of gray. But He couldn’t as He loves beauty, too. His love for us caused Him to create such colorful things for us to enjoy.

Psalms 50:14-15 Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

Glory in Hebrew is kabowd or kavod. There is more than one meaning. God may have designed this beautiful language of Hebrew to give dimension to our understanding of Him and His love for us. It is from the root word for weight. It can mean glory, honor, respect, distinction and importance. It is abounding in honor and reverence. Exodus 24:17 is a prime example of this.

“Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.”

Our God is so worthy of reverence and praise. His glory should activate in us a response of praise and worship so full of the recognition of His mighty strength and the honor that is due Him. When we encounter the majesty of God, we must respond with reverential worship, awe and devotion.

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” Exodus 40:34-35

We must embrace His glory and let this fill our lives and our world. Only then can we understand fully the difference the glory of God brings to us individually and corporately