Faithful Dad

Well Dad, its been 22 years when Diana and I, Hilda and Gene said our goodbyes. The day before you left us, I told you that it was only the medications keeping you on this planet. You told me, “I’m tired and I’m ready, so please let me go.” That morning, I signed the papers telling the doctors and medical staff to stop the drips, remove the restraints, and prepare for departure. Your favorite gospel song was, “Keep on the firing line”. Well Dad, you were, and you did. Perfect? Shoot no way. But, faithful, OH YES! Mistakes? Yes, don’t we all have them. But I remember that Thursday night at a revival at First Church of Christ, Lake Charles, LA, when you walked down that aisle and you gave your life to HIM. I remember as if it were today, when you and Bro. Hollins, dressed in white robes up in the baptistry, you were baptized into Jesus. So, on that day 22 years ago, when you gave your final breaths on this planet, to walk that golden stairway to see the one who you have only seen by faith, but then on that day, face to face with the King of kings and Lord of lords…well done, faithful Father. Oh, how I miss you! But one day, when I too will breathe my last, what a great reunion that will be. A plaque on my wall says, “Every father should remember, that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice”. Well for me, it was your example AND your advice, John W Navarre, that I follow on this Father’s Day!!!

Strawberry Cake and my Mom

Strawberry Cake and my Mom! My Mom wasn’t perfect my any means, like most moms. She was the worry wart champion of the world in my opinion. If she wasn’t worrying about my Dad, her kids, she would involve the entire neighborhood or our church in her high level worry. My Mom played the piano by ear…that means she had no formal note classes but could play just about anything. She was our church pianist and organist. She played for our church youth rallies, monthly church wide singspirations and informal singing around our home piano. In my mind I can still hear those grand old songs and see my Mom at the piano. I remember much about my Mom, but one thing really stands out. She died in 1985 at the age of 60. Very young for then and in terms of today’s medical community, very young. Her epitaph reads “born to serve”. And, boy she did. Whether playing the piano/organ, making gumbo for the church socials or sandwiches when our church hosted the monthly singspiration. She was ever busy in serving. However, I believe her most famous “born to serve” activity was her famous strawberry cake. Whenever there was a family that lost a loved one whether in our church or not, like magic, a strawberry cake would appear at the house of the bereaved. Or if someone was celebrating a birthday or anniversary, yep, there was the strawberry cake. Serving was her middle name. She didn’t ask for or seek out praise or gratitude from the recipients for the strawberry cake but simply, out of love for her community, she did it. And of course, I got to lick the spoon. Ha. I can still drool today thinking about those luscious strawberry cakes. I remember Jesus saying he didn’t come “to be served but to serve”. (Matthew 28:20) I believe most moms fall in the category of serving others. Love does that to folks. When we love we want to serve and help meet the needs of others rather than our own. So, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, may each of us take on this servant quality. Not to be served but to serve. Love does that. Serves others. My Mom, Marie Berneice Granger Navarre, pictured at the very top, has been gone now 39 years…oh how I still love and miss her. Happy Mother’s Day. Honor and love our moms.

Before you open your Bible: PRAY!

5 Prayers befofre you open your Bible:

1. Ps 119:130 Break open your word within me until revelation-light shines out! Those with open hearts are given insight into your plans.

2. Ps 119:105 Truth’s shining light guides me in my choices and decisions; the revelation of your rd makes my pathway clear.

3. James 1:22 Don’t just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let his Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life!

4. I Cor. 2:10-12 But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things.  After all, who can really see into a person’s heart and know his hidden impulses except for that person’s spirit? So it is with God. His thoughts and secrets are only fully understood by his Spirit, the Spirit of God.  For we did not receive the spirit of this world system but the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and experience all that grace has lavished upon us.

5. Proverbs3:5-6 Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.

May I Pray for You?

Will you pray for me? This individual had jusr stopped me and asked if I would pray with them about a specific need. So I did. Right then and there. But that was not the end of it. For you see I keep a little prayer book where I list all the names and situations that I come across thru the day. It's important when you agree to pray for an individual or a situation that YOU DO IT. Do not just say you will and then forget about it. DO IT!!! Here's a few thoughs about prayer and praying. 1. Have a specific place. A quiet place. The evil one specializes in distractions. So find that quiet place to really talk to God. 2. I have found digging into God's Word especially the Psalms to be helpful for me to quiet my soul and clear my mind. Remember the devil specializes in division and distractions. 3. Go thru your prayer book. Name after name lifting up your requests and supplications before the Lord. According to Donald S. Whitney, prayer is simply talking with God. It is an opportunity to share our thoughts, feelings, and desires with the divine. Prayer is acceptable to God only in Jesus’s name. All access to God, including prayer, is possible only through the merits of who Jesus is and what he has done Prayer is a lifelong desire in all those indwelled by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit indwells a person, he gives him or her the voice of a child. The Holy Spirit not only prompts prayer in all believers but also helps us pray rightly. 4. Time. Find a time to adequately give your list the time those requests deserve. Take your time. Slowing go over every name and situation. 5. Remember to whom you are talking. The creator of the universe is in your audience. You are not talking to yourself not to anyone else but to almightly Jehovah God. Remeember, you are in HIS PRESENCE. YOU ARE CONNECTING WITH THE DIVINE! 6. To help center our thoughts on Biblical prayer, here are some scriptures on prayer: Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Mark 9:29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” James 5:14-16 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Matthew 21:21-22 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” I am praying for you and your families, Leonard

YOU ARE SEEN!

You are seen!! Feeling like an outcast? Depressed? No one cares? Lonely? Disrespected? Remember: “Beer Lahai Roi”. It’s a well named by an Egyptian slave woman. You may remember the story in the Old Testament where Abraham’s wife, Sarah, gave her slave girl, Hagar, to her husband for her to bear children as Sarah was barren. However, after Hagar gave birth, the wife, Sarah, mistreated Hagar and despised her. So, Hagar fled from the house and into the desert. She sat down at a spring in the desert and an angel of the Lord appeared and told her to return and submit to her mistress. The angel promised Hagar that she would give birth to a son and name him, Ishmael, and his descendants would be too numerous to count. So at the well Hagar named it, Beer Lahai Roi - “the living one that sees me”! Read her story in Genesis 16. So friends, take the cue from Hagar; no matter what you are going thru, no matter what desert you are in, remember there is ONE, the God of all creation, who SEES YOU!

After Easter now what?

AFTER EASTER NOW WHAT?? The Easter clothes, baskets and colored eggs have been put away for now. Easter Sunday is over and most of us are back to the routine. Some to work, some to school and some to another day or two of relaxation. But, what really has Resurrection Day i.e., Easter, done to us or more specifically IN us? After Jesus rose from the dead He told his disciples to meet Him in Galilee. In Galilee Jesus gave them His last discourse of instructions. These instructions took several years to play out but eventually these disciples took the directive to heart and moved out from Jerusalem to Samaria to the utter most part of the world. However, the campaign wasn’t mass revival meetings in large arena’s nor super crowds in large convention centers. It was a simple instruction…”as you go, make disciples”. It was mainly a one on one, house to house campaign to touch others with the message of hope…the gospel. The message that the Messiah had come, lived, died and rose again. It was the message of hope…because of the resurrection we could have life after death thru this same Messiah, Jesus the Christ. So, has Easter made a difference in our lives? Has the celebration of Resurrection Sunday awakened us to the message of the resurrection Lord Jesus Christ? Or as Paul says, “arise O sleeper”. Has the excitement of Easter and the message of the resurrection turned into a massive surge of God’s children hitting the streets, taking to our neighborhoods to do exactly what the Messiah, said…GO!!!!!!!! Strike up a conversation at work, at school, in the marketplace, in our circle of influence about the meaning of Resurrection Sunday. It is the meaning of heaven or hell. It is the meaning of life or death. One to one. Person to person. Going forth to tell others what Jesus the Christ has done for us. Has He made a transformation in our lives and if so, what? It will probably take more than a few meetings with deep conversation for us to covey what this Jesus, this Resurrection Day, this Easter has done for us. If the meaning of Easter has touched US and transformed us…then the message is very clear…”as you go, make disciples”! So, who will be the first person you touch? Come on! You can do it. As you go, who will be the first person you need to tell them this Resurrection story. One on one. Person to person. Who needs to hear; Jesus loves them, came for them, died for them, wants to give them resurrection life and will one day come for them? The one person is _______________! You fill in the blank…then GO!!!!! I am praying for you and for your family

WHY of Holy Week

WOW! HOLY WEEK and what a week it was. From the excited adulations of the the multitudes when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey to the crowd shouting ‘crucify him, crucify him’. Gethsemane to the cross to the empty tomb…wow what a week. However, this was a week planned and scripted before the foundations of the world were ever laid. (Isaiah 40:21) also see I Peter 1:20)This was God’s plan; “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 When Jesus stated in Matthew 20:18, “behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death”, He knew what was coming. A week of final instructions, ridicule, scorn, beatings, trials, then death on a cruel cross – a crucifixion. All this planned, prepared and purposed from the foundation of the world. WHY?? All we like sheep have gone astray and sinned. There is none righteous NO NOT ONE. So we are covered, saved “not by something that ruins like gold or silver, but by the precious blood of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb selected to redeem us by His precious blood. HOLY! “Set apart”. That’s what makes this week “holy”. A week “set apart” from the beginning time for God but back our freedom from the slavery of sin and wickedness. So, do rejoice in this Holy Week BUT don’t ever forget the WHY of this Holy Week. JESUS THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD. YOURS AND MINE! Praise to the one who redeems. I John 2:12, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name sake.”