Journal,

Looks like I’m on memory lane again today. You’ll just have to put up with me.

As a child of the 40s, I have some sweet memories from that era. Some of these memories have to do with the music that came out during and after WWII. But before I share a bit of that music, let me share a bit of personal information on my youth.

I was born August 21, 1940. On September 21, 1940, we were moving to Portsmouth, Virginia, where mom and dad would work in the Naval ship yards. Passing through Mississippi, we had an automobile accident. Mom had me in her arms. When she looked at me, I was covered with blood. However, the blood was her own. I was not harmed. We did make it to Portsmouth.

February 1944, mom and dad began separation proceedings. Mom received legal custody of myself and Bertie. (We had been in Virginia about 3 1/2 years.) Mom left for California to secure employment and then arrange for us to come. She stayed with Uncle Holiday.

We lived in California from March, 1944, to February, 1949. (5 years) Those were my formative years and the years of my childhood memories. I really don’t remember anything about Virginia. (I was 3 years when we moved to California.)

It was April 27, 1946, that mom married Ross Figueora. Julia was born in 1947. It was during mom’s marriage to Ross that I fell in love with both the Mexican culture and Mexican music. After mom’s divorce from Ross we returned to Louisiana in 1949. So the first nine years of my life I was a misplaced Louisianian.

It seems the music of that era was much more laid back than much of what you hear today. One that I remember was titled ‘My Adobe Hacienda.’ Here it is if you care to hear it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qv2l2M5MCYw&mode=related&search=

Well, so much for the music. I’m really not into music that isn’t gospel.

Now for the memory. What I did not realize is what while I was a wee lad in Virginia, a beautiful blue eyed baby girl was born on May 27, 1943, in Bennington, Oklahoma. This blue eyed girl was destined to become the wife of my dreams. Of course at 2 years of age I wasn’t much interested in wifey things.

Isn’t it interesting how God weaves lives together. Betty and I had both been engaged to different people and had broken off the engagements. She was waiting on her true love. And when I got out of the Navy in 1963, one of the last things I said to my shipmates was that I was going to find a good girl and settle down. I was tired of being a rambling rose. (The boy kind that is.)

And it happened. I first set eyes on Betty in a church service. She was sitting next to one of her brothers. Thinking they were a married couple, I simply glanced elsewhere. But there was something about her that struck me. I think it was her eyes. Naturally when I found out that she was not married, all bets were off.

Yep - You guessed it. Three months after we met, we were married. That was nigh 44 years ago and I love her more today than I ever have. And now we have three children on this side of heaven, one son with the Lord, and ten grandchildren.

Well, there’s just the two of us at home now, plus, of course, General Claudius Josephus. (My great dane.) But all our kids and grandkids are never far away. In fact we get together with our kids each Thursday for a luncheon. There is nothing like a family of love.

Guess I’d better leave memory lane alone for awhile. It isn’t the past that we are to cling to. It is what lies ahead. Our future is wrapped up in the love of Jesus. Betty and I often thank God for our marriage. We both know what has kept us together. Not only do we love one another, but we each love Jesus deeply. And He loves us beyond words.

And this is why I love the song written by Dottie Rambo, titled ‘If That Isn’t Love.’

Perhaps you would like to hear it as sung by Jeanne Johnson. Here it is:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PIAgK_yd1T8&mode=related&search=

Well, I’ll mosey on down the road. Good talking with you.

Much love coming your way,

Buddy

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Posted: July 31st, 2007 under Devotions & Studies.
Comments: 2

Journal,

It seems? my last entry, ‘For Those Tears I? Died’,? has touched the hearts of several people.? I am very grateful for this. But it is as I said in the prior entry: “Sin is sin and it has to be dealt with? as sin.”?

The point is that God did not overlook sin at the cross.? He dealt? with it. And how He dealt with it is a wonder in itself. The Lord actually separated sin from the sinner by taking sin to the cross. Jesus took all the sins of the world upon Himself.

This is why when a person comes to Jesus in repentance, believes in Him and accepts Him as their own Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit? takes the blood of Jesus and sprinkles it upon that person’s heart.? Out of the cross comes something precious, the redeemed child of God. This new heaven’s child is given the very righteousness of God and has a perfect standing with heaven.

Of course we know? that life can throw us some curves at times. Even the most? sincere child of God can have a failure and? enter? a time of straying.? This does not mean that the cross is no longer effective. Just the opposite. The cross will always be the working principle of salvation and deliverance and cleansing during our sojourne in this life.? Like the song says, ‘It will never lose its power.’

This brings me? to the work of reaching out to both the lost man and to the straying child of God. (Yes, a child of God can stray, but never from the Father’s love.)

I was reminded of? something? the Lord said to Jeremiah. Jeremiah was? perplexed over Israel’s sad state before God. Israel was not only in a backslidden state but she was deeply involved in idolatry. She had what Isaiah called “a deceived heart.”

The Lord said two things to the prophet concerning Israel’s state that I wish to key in on. They are important to us today. Listen:

“Therefore, thus says the LORD, ‘If you return, then I will restore you– Before Me you will stand; and (1) if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. (2) They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them.“ (Jer15:19 nasb.)

Extracting the precious from the worthless is the message of the cross.? The fallen race remains precious in God’s sight. John 3:16 makes this quite plain.? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (Jn3:16)

This is worth repeating — We must always keep in mind that the salvation of any sinner is precious in the sight of God. But also precious is the restoration of the child of God who has gone astray. We must never treat the child of God who has gone astray as a pariah. [A pariah is a person? rejected as an outcast.]?

I don’t think we’ve ever reached the depth of understanding God’s love for fallen Adam.? He provided the answer. Once again it was at the cross that God separated? sin from? the sinner. This is why there is no salvation but by way of the cross. The cross is always the answer for both the sinner and the straying child.

But Jeremiah received another instruction concerning being God’s messenger to straying Israel. Listen again: “They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them.”

The message is about ‘returning.’ God’s messenger must never agree with? the? sinful mind set of the? world or allow the straying child of God to think that their sins are alright in the sight of God.? Sin must always be dealt with as sin. Yet the messenger must always express God’s lovingkindness towards those who are turning to Him or who are returning to Him.?

Over the years the Lord has given me songs that express His heart towards the Adam race. One of my personal favorites is entitled, ‘What Kind of Man is This?’ Perhaps you would like to hear it. Click on:

http://www.christianchallenge.org/audio/music/04_What%20Kind%20of%20Man%20is%20This.mp3
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Extracting the precious from the worthless will always be the? working principle of the cross.? It is? exacting work. It has to be? conducted in lovingkindness and? gentleness.? God does not want His people damaged by careless? words and actions.

Remember the parable where the? servants asked if the master? wanted them to remove the tares from among the wheat?? He said,? “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (cf. Matthew 13:24-30)

Extracting the tares from the wheat is God’s work. He alone knows how to do it without damaging the wheat.? What? needs to be pointed out with this parable is that the tare looks so much like wheat that only someone with a trained eye? would? know the difference. (Think about that.) ?

Notice carefully that? the people? Jesus? rebuked most often were the religious minded leaders.? He rebuked them mainly because of how they treated the common people.? In fact Jesus? told the Pharisees that the? tax collectors and the prostitutes would get into the kingdom of God before they would.? (cf. Matthew 21:31)

A good example is when the men dragged? the woman who had been caught in adultry in front of Jesus. They said, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultry, in the very act. Now in the Law? Moses commanded us to stone such wolmen; what then do You say?” (cf. John 8:3-11)

You know the story — Jesus wrote on the ground and remained silent. They kept pressing Him for a response. The Lord simply said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

The crowd dispersed and that left only Jesus and the woman. Jesus spoke to her saying, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus said to her, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” (He meant that she should get out of the sinning business that had caused her dilemna.)

Let me share just a bit more about the straying child of God. Does it happen? Most certainly. All of us have been as straying sheep in our lives. The Lord always seeks us out to restore us in His faithfulness.

But again we need to address the attitude of the one that the Lord would use with regard to restoring the wandering sheep. Here are two Scripture portions that address this:

“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” (2Ti2:24-26)?

Some may wonder if this is speaking of a misled child of God or if Paul is speaking of an unsaved person.? The context appears to have the believer in view who has come under some deceptive influence.

Then we have this concerning? the brother who had been caught up in a deviation from a true walk with the Lord.? Paul says,

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Gal6:1-3 - The Greek for ‘trespass’ means, a false step, a falling aside, that is, a deviation from righteousness.’)

In both portions we find the word ‘gentleness’ being used. Why such a stress on gentleness? It is because gentleness is the true nature of? Jesus Himself. David said, “You have also give me the shield of salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great.” (Psa18:35)

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.? For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt11:28-30)

See? how often the term gentleness is used. What think ye?? Do we need to learn how to? extract the precious from the worthless?

Blessings,

Buddy

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Posted: July 21st, 2007 under Devotions & Studies.
Comments: 4

Journal,

It was August, 1971. I had? closed out my last revival. My evangelistic ministry was at an? end. Our last revival had seen? twenty-five people baptized.? We had no more revivals scheduled.

This was? when my former company sent word that they wanted me to come back to work with them.? But they wanted me in South Louisiana. After prayer, Betty and I decided this should be our next move. It seemed to have the Lord’s witness on it. And there weren’t any other doors opened for us at the time.

Here is where it? gets quite interesting. As I’m nearing Lafayette, I pick up a? couple of hitchhikers,? a boy and a girl.? When? I? asked where they were going, they said to a place called the Maranatha House across from USL. (University of South Louisiana.)? Since I was in no hurry I decided to take them to their destination.

Well, that little side venture became? my introduction to the Jesus movement. The Maranatha House (over time also called The Mustard Seed) was an unofficial sorority house for Jesus kids, a number? who were college students.

What an introduction it was. I quickly? fell in love with these young people. They had such an? unrestrained love for Jesus. Of course they were antiestablishmentarianism, which means they were pretty much against the social and political order of the day, which in turn included little use for the established church.?

Oh yes, they had lots of strange ideas, some not so very good, but their genuiness and their freshness? was disarming. So we quickly became friends.

The leadership began to ask me to? share some Bible studies with them. Of course that was my delight. What a privilege. Not long afterwards one of the leaders asked if I would baptize them. Here is where it gets funny.

The pastor of the church we were? attending gave me permission to baptise the Jesus kids in the church baptistry.? It was a Saturday afternoon and several of the church people wanted to see the baptisms.

Sure enough, I had failed to give the kids any instructions. To everyone’s surprise they? came into the church in all sorts of attire, not to mention skimpy bathing suits.? I don’t think the Lord was embarrassed, but some of our church folk certainly were. Eyes began to pop. I just had to laugh inside. I think it is funny when we get our religious toes stepped on every once in awhile.?

But there is much more to the story of the Jesus movement at large. It has to do with the title of this entry. During the Jesus movement some of the greatest songs you would ever want to listen to were birthed. Some of those? songs continue to be? recorded by major artists today.

One of the songs? was entitled ‘For Those Tears I Died.’ It was written by Marsha Stevens and has since become one of the most recorded songs in the Christian music industry. The Gaithers sing it all over the world. It has been picked up by an untold number of Christian groups and singles, and has been translated into various languages around the world.

The story is that Marsha Stevens wrote this song when she was the age of 16. (June 1969.) She wrote it because of her love for a younger sister who wasn’t a Christian. Marsha wanted to bring her to the Lord and felt like a song would be the best approach. (Marsha didn’t really know how to talk with Wendy so she wrote this song for her.)

If you would like to see what the Jesus kids looked like and would like to hear Marsha’s original rendition of ‘For Those Tears I Died,’ take time to see it at this YouTube site: (In fact it is important for you to see it because of other things I wish to share.)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Np8GJGZ3Vv8&mode=related&search=

Did you see it? Did you see the pureness of faith of these young people? Did you sense the Spirit of the Lord in this song? Did you feel like this song may have come from the Lord? Did you know that this song was placed in hymnals and in just about every evangelical songbook around? Good, if you said yes.

Now is where I must make a major point. The Jesus movement? began to break down.? Their emphasis on ‘free love’ with? ‘no boundaries’ and their ‘anti-social’ behavior served to give the enemy a place to work among them.?

But the story gets? sadder. The lady that wrote this wonderful song ‘For Those Tears I Died,’ in 2002, openly declared herself to be a lesbian. This set off a? reaction. Some congregations ripped the song out of their hymnals and sent the page to Marsha. How dare she? even? think to sing such a song of praises to Jesus!? She was an outcast! A pariah! She was now unclean!

Was Marsha a pariah in God’s eyes??

I realize that I am into a delicate area, but it needs to be confronted.? Yes, homosexuality is a sin. But Jesus died for the sins of the world, including those of homosexuals. In fact Jesus never treated people who were caught up in various forms of immorality as ‘untouchables.’ And? this is where the church needs to be very cautious.

When we treat people (including fallen Christians) as pariahs, we have removed ourselves from the true spirit of the Christian faith. When we hold people at a distance because of their sinful life style, have we not failed to bring God’s love-message of redemption to the world? If we fail to reach out and touch the untouchables, how will they ever know the love of God?

Please don’t misunderstand me. Sin is sin and it has to be dealt with? as sin.? But this is where Jesus gave us the pattern to live by.

One of the charges made against Jesus was that He was a friend of sinners. Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke 7:34,35 nasb)

Why did Jesus say that wisdom is vindicated by all her children? One reason is because the truly wise child of God knows how to love the sinner while hating the? sin that destroys. Sometimes we Christians are unable to make this distinction.? We sometimes seem unable to separate sin from the sinner.?

We often forget that we? ourselves were once on the outside looking in. Had someone not put their arms around us, where would we be today??

Have you ever noticed how Jesus dealt with people who had fallen into various immoralities? He sought them out. He communicated with them. He crossed social boundaries. He gave them answers for their lives. But He never treated them as being untouchable.

Of course the argument can be heard, “But these homosexuals try to justify their lifestyle before everyone!” Perhaps they do, but that is between them and God. On the other hand, perhaps they are not as happy inside as we may think. Maybe they are caught up in a net of sin and don’t know how to get out of it. Only Jesus can break the net.

But who does Jesus use to bring His love message to the fallen man or woman? He uses our arms.

What do you think? Is the song ‘For Those Tears I Died,’ still anointed of God? Did anything change even if Marsha took a wrong turn? Why not listen to it again, this time by the Gaithers. Click on this site:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uP8bO7jBIao&mode=related&search=

Perhaps you would like to sing this song for your own devotion to the Lord. Here are the lyrics:

For Those Tears I Died?

You said you’d come and share all my sorrows
You said you’d be there for all my tomorrows
I came so close to sending you away
But just like you promised, you came there to stay
I just had to pray.

CHORUS:

And Jesus said, “Come to the waters, stand by my side
“I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied
“I felt every teardrop when in darkness you cried
“And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died.”

Your goodness so great, I can’t understand
And dear Lord, I know that all this was planned
I know you’re here now, and always will be
Your love loosed my chains, and in you I’m free
But Jesus, why me??

Jesus, I give you my heart and my soul
I know that without God, I’d never be whole
Savior, you opened all the right doors
And I thank you and praise you from earth’s humble shores
Take me, I’m yours.
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Well, did it work? Did Wendy come to the Lord? Yes she did. This song made its contribution to Wendy’s salvation.

Just something to think about.

Much love coming your way,

Buddy?