Aunt Maudie’s Buckaroons

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…

Hebrews 8:1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, …

Jude 1:25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, both now and forever, Amen.

Strongs Concordance says that Majesty is for greatness, divinity, God himself. Majesty describes the splendor, greatness and extreme power of God. The word attempts to describe His divinity. It helps us to have the true awe and reverence we should have for Our Lord and Savior.

Majesty, Worship His Majesty by Jack Hayford

Majesty, worship His Majesty: Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise.
Majesty, kingdom authority, Flow from His throne unto His own, His anthems raise.
So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus.
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus, the King.
Majesty, worship HIs Majesty, Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all Kings.

Aunt Maudie was Pastor Curly’s wife for many years. The ministry they had to their flock was a sight to behold. They gave all to serve their little country church for many years. I think 40 to be exact until Curly graduated to glory due to a battle with cancer. Aunt Maudie was the perfect wife for the pastor of the church. She was full of hospitality, could teach classes on the spur of the moment, and she could lead a choir and most importantly … she could play the piano. And she could play every hymn in the hymnal at the drop of the hat. Any request for a favorite hymn would not challenge her. She raised three children of her own, raised a garden, ministered to a whole community and as most pastor wives do… she lived in a fishbowl. In the parsonage beside the church where everyone knew everything that went on in their home.

“Life is better with fresh baked cookies!” – Anonymous

Aunt Maudie was Aunt Maudie to us because her sister was the mother of the Farmer. They lived one half mile apart on a country road called the redline. The church was also on that dirt country road and people came from miles around to worship their Majesty. That was Aunt Maudie’s favorite song. I know because I used to help lead worship and she told me several times that she loved that song and her life demonstrated that she surely did love her Majesty.

Aunt Maudie was a good cook and her Buckaroon cookies were always a hit and that sweet recipe made it into my recipe box and I want to share it with you.

1 C. shortening
1 C. granulated sugar
1 C. brown sugar
Cream together, well.

Add 2 eggs
½ teas. Baking powder
1 teas. Soda
½ teas. Salt
1 teas. Vanilla
Add to the mixture:
2 C. sifted flour
2 C. oatmeal (quick oats)
1 pkg. chocolate chips and chopped nuts if desired.

Roll small amount of dough in a ball and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until light brown.

The recipe in Aunt Maudie’s writing says, “Happy Eating”!

Aunt Maudie personified the adage of a servant of God. She served her Majesty in every way possible. Enjoy her cookies and find someone today to serve.

Epipipto

I am reading a book by Tim sheets on “Come Home.” It is about the prodigals coming home. And in Luke 15:20 Jesus says that when the father saw his lost child coming, he ran to him and fell on his neck, kissing him. He fell on him, he fell on his neck. This is the Greek word EPIPIPTO. And then when they talk about the Holy Spirit falling on them during Pentecost, it is the same word in (Acts 2:3) And then when the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, it’s the same word. (Acts 10:44) That is so beautiful that the Lord sent the Holy Spirit to come and fall on our neck in such a wonderful embrace.

“ As I read Phil. 4:6-7 I learned that worship and worry cannot live in the same heart. They are mutually exclusive.” Ruth Graham Bell

Saturday I saw my 17 year old grandson after a very difficult race fall into his dad‘s arms and fell against his neck. He was so sad and worn out after that race and needed his dad. Oh my we need our dad right now our wonderful Heavenly Father to wrap us in his warm and wonderful embrace. Just the thought warms my heart. That’s how much He loves us and desires to give us the same gifts of the Spirit He gave them at Pentecost.

I prayed with a lady on the phone the other day that is 77 and she is so lonely. She has church but she has no one to love her. Her husband has passed her son has passed and she has no family and she has no one to love her. She knows the Lord loves her, but she sure would like to have someone with skin on to give her a hug.

We are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father that gives us such love and support.

Wonder

I need to worship because without it I lose a sense of wonder and gratitude and plod through life with blinders on.
John Ortberg

The Heavens declare the glory of the Lord.

Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?
Francis Chan

How will we ever be able to thank our God enough for all He has done for us? How will we ever be able to thank Him for saving us from what we deserve? His gift to us of His Son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross to redeem us, is priceless.

Worship is how we can express our love, adoration, admiration and gratitude for His presence in our lives. “The Christian breathes in God’s goodness and exhales worship,” says Brandon Hadley. Worship is much more than singing. We can worship God with unlimited creativity. We can worship with dance, painting, writing, trusting, there are no limits to the ways that He can be worshipped. Romans 12:1 says I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

We must develop a worship vocabulary. Meditate on the name, nature, attributes of the Lord. I love to practice using the alphabet to speak his attributes as I try to drift off to sleep. It is much more fulfilling than counting sheep. For A, one of the attributes of God is approachable, B is benevolent and so forth.

That childlike sense of wonder is vital to the act of worship. Are we awestruck by His goodness and the richness of His blessings and His love? Are we able to comprehend where we would be without His intervention in our lives and without His mercy? When we experience a life changing encounter with God, worship is the natural impulse. Our only job is to surrender to Him on a daily basis so that he can daily give us more of Himself.

Worship is the single most important thing in life. AW Tozer writes, “Why did Christ come? Why was He conceived? Why was He born? Why was He crucified? Why did He rise again? Why is He now at the right hand of the Father? The answer to all these questions is, ‘In order that He might make worshippers out of rebels, in order that He might restore us again to the place of worship we knew when we were first created.”
John S. Miller

Toto, we are not in Kansas Anymore

Toto, I’ve got a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore.”
Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ

The farmer/windmill man and I are not in Kansas anymore. We arrived at Ridge Haven Cono camp in Walker, IA yesterday. We are on another one month mission with the SOWERS (Servants on Wheels Ever Ready) group. We have met the great couples we will be working with this month and are delighted with the range of experience and talents. The Lord knows how to put together a good team.

This country is beautiful farmland. This is right up our alley. The farmer/windmill man loves to take pictures of barns. This area has an ample supply of models for his creative juices. The camp is located next to a soybean field and across the road they are raking hay.

Today we learned the interesting history of this camp as it began as a school and took in lots of missionary kids for their education while parents were overseas. International students were also educated in this place. They have a sister camp in the Smokey Mountains. The differences in these camps and terrain is extreme.

“If we walk far enough,” says Dorothy, “we shall sometime come to someplace.”
Dorothy from Wizard of OZ

Our time during shelter at home was productive and enjoyable. I spent time putting together quilt blocks and finished a quilt top while the farmer was also assembling pieces of wood to make a butcher block for his bride and a long work table for himself. We were finally able to see most of the grandchildren (not all together but a few at a time). We had four of them spend a week with us before we left and we camped with some of the others. We were so thankful for Facetime and other means to keep in touch.

Our church family was able to start attending together again two weeks ago with several precautions and I didn’t realize how much I missed worshiping together with fellow believers in the church setting. Tears flowed the first Sunday we were able to have some of us gather again.

“Toto did not really care whether he was in Kansas or the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him; but he knew the little girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.”
Dorothy of the Wizard of OZ

2020 has been an interesting year full of surprises and troubling times. Maybe this year has taught us much. Maybe it has shown us that faith, people, family and friends are more important than anything else. Maybe being with those we love no matter where we are, is more important than where we are on the ladder of success and that the happiness of others makes a huge difference to our happiness.

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”
the Wizard of OZ

We attended church this morning with a delightful flock at a drive in service. The pastor had a powerful message for us all. The farmer and I decided we could come to this church again and hope to while we are in the area. It is so precious to be with like minded people who love the Lord.