Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Be all that you can be…

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Hi Journal,

What a day of mixture. All I can say is, ‘No more cracklins for awhile.’?

My sweet Betty brought me a bag of cracklins this morning, and I set about to eat a goodly portion. Decided to? finish up the ‘bringings’ around lunchtime. Big mistake. Man, I had to wrestle with queasiness? all afternoon. Too much pig is just too much pig.?

Think I’m finished with cracklins for a while. First the buttermilk, then the pig. What is this world coming to? Next thing you know I’ll have to stop eating pickled pig’s feet. Where does my suffering end??!!

Kidding. Been working in my parsonage office off and on. The off and on is because of weakness. It really is strange. I truly feel good all the time, but, boy, do I tire easy.

Thank the Lord for Nathan. He came by to help Betty move some furniture around. Now my office has two easy chairs. Betty and I will? able to watch the church services in full comfort. Course tomorrow I am supposed to speak to the congregation via a web cam. Think I’ll let the folk see CJ. If I can get him to put his snoot close enough to the cam. Right now he is snoozing at my feet. Poor dog. He has such a rough life.

Received a good report. My brother-in-law, Reza, came through open-heart surgery with flying colors. I am so thankful. And I certainly want to thank everyone for your prayers.

Got a call from my ‘littlest’ sister this evening. Julia is not the youngest, just the littlest. I really love that girl. She is one of those ‘give-you-the-shirt-off-my-back’ peoples. It is always a joy to talk with any of my sisters. Course I was spoiled by my mom since I was an only son.

Let’s see. What else happened today? CJ and I walked up to the church this morning to get the paper. Had a light drizzle. But we’uns bundled up real good and made the trip just fine. Betty was still asleep. Naturally she did not appreciate me getting out in this weather. But since I am the boss of this house, I can pretty well do what I very well please.

You believe that? Naw. My Betty has a very special way of dealing with me when I get out of sorts. As a wonderful godly woman, she gets on her knees, and says, “Come out from under that bed and fight like a man!” (Don’t ask me to interpret that. Just ask the Lord to give you a sense of humor.)

Would it be all right if I share a bit from the Bible? Thanks. I was going to do it anyway.

Did you know that the Hebrew word for sin, that is,? chayt, simply means to miss the mark? As one rabbi said, “Sin is a matter of missing the mark of what you might have been, could have been, and should have been in your relation with yourself, in your relation with your fellow human beings, and thereby, in your relationship with God.”

That is a good definition. However, it needs one more qualifier. Sin is to miss the mark in our relationship to God through Jesus Christ His Son. I recall Jesus saying to Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:11)

Jesus actually wept over Jerusalem and over the leadership for their rejection of Him.? How great did they miss the mark of God. John said that He came to His own, and His own did not receive. But John continues with the plus side, in saying, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:11,12)

This brings me to another Hebrew word. The word for repentance in Hebrew is the word teshuvah. It comes from the word shuv. Teshuvah means to turn around, to try again, to try to improve in what you are doing. With regard to Jesus, it means that we need to turn our full focus on Jesus. And rather than miss the mark, we find ourselves in the very arms of redemption. The cross is God’s target for the whole human race.

The apostle said, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”? John also said, “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (John 2:2; 4:10)

Propitiation here simply means that the whole masses of the sins of the whole world were placed upon Jesus. He suffered in our place. So now all any person on this planet needs to do to be saved is to teshuvah, that is, to turn from the world and turn to Jesus. Receiving Jesus as our own Lord and Savior puts us square in the mark of God.

The only qualifier to be saved is to recognize? that we are lost without Jesus, and thereby, we take Him to ourselves as our Lord and Savior.

Just something to think about.

Let’s see. What else? Not much. I’ve already fallen in love with my parsonage office. Got me two easy chairs side-by-side. Now Betty and me can watch services, holding hands.

Ok — Guess that is it.

Sending much love your way.

Later.

Buddy

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