Have you ever seen an angel….
Filed in NHL |Morning Journal,
Up and about at 7 a.m. CJ and I got? the paper.
Heading back to the parsonage, CJ spied a black dog on the hill behind the church. Both dogs froze and stared at one another. The black dog wasn’t that large. I took her to be a female. She did not move a hair.
Course I knew what to do. CJ would have run up the hill to meet her. He is such a social animal. Chances are she would have taken off at a fast clip. CJ is so huge.
Anyway, I snapped the leash on CJ and walked him to the house. He kept glancing back over his shoulder. The she-dog disappeared.
I’ve shared a lot about CJ in my journal.? I just keep discovering wonderful traits in my buddie. He is never an aggressive dog. CJ surprises people with his gentleness.
In fact if you? place? anything in front of an open door in the parsonage, CJ will not go pass it. Everything has to be clear and open for him.
I read something in my ‘Great Dane’ book that bothered me a bit. It said that the normal life span of a Great Dane is seven or eight years. Anything past that is grace. But they have been known to live to twelve years.
General Claudius Josephus was a gift from my children on Father’s Day, June 2001. That means that this June, CJ will be six years old. This is why he has a lot of gray around his muzzle and on his ears. Don’t want to think about that too much. We gray heads are getting along just fine.
Read something very interesting in Billy Graham’s column this morning. Someone had asked him about angels. This is what he said:
“God created the angels, and the Bible tells us that they are his servants, sent by him into the world to carry out his will and work for our good. The Bible says, ‘Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?’ (Hebrews 1:14)
“Although they may take visible form on occasion, the angels are spiritual (not physical) beings, and their work is largely invisible to us. I’m sure that when we get to heaven we’ll be amazed to discover just how often God’s angels protected us or intervened on our behalf, although we were unaware of it at the time…”
Billy said some more but this gives? a synopsis.
So, have you ever seen an angel? Quite possibly you have? without knowing it was an angel.
I’ve had angel appearances. Of course these appearances are not an issue of faith with me. This is why I hesitate even to talk about ‘appearances.’
One time when Betty and I had retired for the night, I was lying in bed just thinking. Had my hands behind my head. Betty was turned towards the wall.
That is when it happens. Suddenly in the door of our bedroom, the angel appeared. It was not a vision. It was not an overworked imagination. There he stood.
I will never forget what he looked like. His eyes were a piercing blue. His hair was blond and hung down to his shoulders. He was clothed in a white garment that went down to his feet.
I sat up in bed and said, ‘Hey!’ It was a startled expression.? The angel looked at me for a moment, said nothing, and then ascended right through the ceiling. Betty just lay there frozen. Because she was turned towards the wall, she did not see the angel. Guess it was just for me.
I’m sharing this for one reason alone. I don’t believe the Lord wants us looking for angels. That would be an unneeded distraction to a true faith walk. However, it is important for believers to understand that angels are very much involved in their lives. The Bible teaches this.
The ancients believed that each Israelite had a special angel that attended to their life. These angels were called ‘malaki panim’, which means ‘angels of the face.’ They taught that these special angels were always the closest angels to the throne.
Did Jesus teach this? Yes, He did. He said, “See that? you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven, continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10 nasb)
In the New Testament the term ‘little ones’ is used both for children and also for believers. It would seem to me that these special angels are part of our lives from birth.
Ok, enough on angels.
Last evening we had out 36th School for Christian Worker’s banquet at Fire Mountain restaurant in Pineville. I wasn’t able to be there in person. Betty was.
Nathan had me address my class via? his cell phone on speaker. The turn out was really good. You could hear all the laughter and the clapping of hands. I gave my congratulations to the graduates.
Had another interesting devotion this morning. Again my attention was arrested with one Scripture. It says,
“They found written in the law how the Lord commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast of the seventh month.” (Nehemiah 8:14 nasb)
The people were totally unfamiliar with the Law of Moses. Here they make another discovery. And here I found my devotion.
How many times do God’s people need to go back to the book for themselves? We need to get back to ’self discovery.’ I’m not talking about discovering ourselves. I speaking of receiving personal discoveries from God’s Word for ourselves.
My experience is that many of God’s people need to? sweep the foundation clean. They’ve had so much ‘bad’ doctrine pushed down their throat, that their spiritual life is malnourished. I think a lot of this comes from a ‘herd’ mentality that the people of the Lord can get in to. That is not a good place to be.
The only way to get on God’s page is to begin again, that is, come back to the basic truth that Jesus Christ is truly Lord of their life. And then begin adding the true building blocks of proper doctrine.
Paul addresses the issue of bad teaching verses good teaching. Listen to this portion:
“For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones [true doctrines of Christ], wood,? hay, straw [doctrines of men], each man’s? work will become evident;
“…for the day will show it because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire? itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15 nasb)
Paul is dealing with the judgment of rewards. We can have bad doctrine in our lives and yet be saved because of our faith in the Lord Jesus. But we can lose much of our future reward if we build our lives up on bad teaching.
One point needs to be made. Paul is actually addressing this to the teachers and not to the laity. James tells us that the ministers will bear a much heavier judgment than any one else. Just something to think about. Are you listening, ministers?
Memories. Memories. You would have to be around my age to remember this. How about the movie house? I remember when the Saturday matinee was only ten cents. You would see two full-length movies, one or two cartoons, and? a newsreel. Nothing much to add to that.
Oh well. Been? awhile since Betty and I’ve gone to a movie.
9:45 a.m. Had my good laugh with Lane and his mom. Lane called and I was bragging on the chicken and dumplings. Lane said that mama only did that for sick folk. I quickly reminded him to put me on her list. You could hear laughter in the background as Lane passed the message.
Laughter is good for the soul. I love to laugh and pick on folk. Guess it comes with my Carver blood. The Martins laugh but on a different level as do the Carvers. My Martin kin tend to be a bit more sober. Thanks mama for passing on your laughter.
10:45 a.m. Call from one of my favorite three sisters, Bertie. Boy, I really love talking to my sisters. Bertie always calls me ‘mama’s favorite son.’ Course I ham it up. Everything fits into that category. I was my mom’s only son. Sort of like the monogenes in an earthy manner. (Uniquely one of his kind.)? 
It is interesting how my mind goes back to my California youth so much nowadays. Guess I’ll always have a love for California. (Course I’m not leaving Louisiana that I know about.)
I remember when WWII ended. All the horns blowing, people gathering in the streets, the shouting and the jumping around. What a country we were. The spirit of patriotism? bonded us together as a? nation.
But the ending of WWII also saw a change for us. Hard to put a finger on it. Guess it was just the times. Our warriors came home. Women had found the work place for themselves. Don’t know. Just different.
It’s 11:25 a.m. Guess I’ve rambled enough. Think I’ll close out and work? on my book, ‘Saddle Your Camel.’
Sending more love,
Buddy
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