“Cold Hands Billy Joe”

HT: Larry Hehn

The snow, untouched, lies on the ground
Peering out the window, no one is moving around

The snow falls blowing in the wind
Covering tracks if they’d never been

The animals in hiding and the birds no more aflight
the people indoors gathering around the fire

The village is silent as if asleep in the day
Almost hibernating waiting for the flowers of May

Winter can seem long and many view it with dread
Bundling up with covers not wanting to get out of bed

But looking at the wonder of winter’s painting the town white
I marvel at old man winter’s artwork that colors everything bright

Though the village is sleepy and people taking shelter inside
Winter is not that long, soon, very soon, spring will come to life

-Danny Cheney-

Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve them to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserves the very best.

We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there,
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.

We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To Him the remnant of our life.

—Author Unknown

Yesterday, one of my friends from Southeast Texas sent me some pictures to remind me of times we have had together.  Phil is an inner-city pastor doing an incredible job reaching Port Arthur for Christ.

He made an ad for our once thriving band:

Please don’t ask about the nicknames…not sure how we became Pudding and Cupcake.

Here we are at a Convoy of Hope outreach.

Miss you Phil aka Cupcake!

Since moving to Northwest Arkansas, one of my favorite times in winter is to wake up to an overnight snow.  The simple beauty of the untouched snow.  Seeing it before tire tracks make their grooves or foot prints mar the untouched beauty. 

It is picturesque to say the least and as I witness such wonder I can’t help but notice the purity of it all.  Almost as if it is a glimpse of innocence soon to be lost.  For when the world awakes it will trample through the purity of the profound whiteness.  The sheer beauty of untraveled fields and untouched lawns. Oh, the wonder of nature and the marvel of it’s Creator!

My mind races to an Old Testament passage that describes the purity of a Savior mixing with the impure soul.  The blood that causes us to be pure again.  What an amazing picture of redemption!

Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”

The multitude of our impurities were made pure.  Covered by the unspotted blood of the Lamb of God.  We were born in innocence but guilt and shame soon overtook us.  We were born into sin and would quickly learn its grip.  Yet provision was made by the Redeemer in which He would declare us innocent again.  New creations in the image of God.

I walked to work this morning through the snow, leaving my mark on this beautiful ground.  I had marred the perfection of untouched snow.  A couple of hours passed by and I looked out at where my tracks had been.  They had been covered again by fresh snow.  My footsteps were remembered no more.

This is the way it works with our Savior.  Our lives stained by sin. Our transgressions mar our lives and the purity of our hearts, yet when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cover the tracks which we left.  Though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.  As far as east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins from us.  Oh Great and Glorious Redeemer!

Though I was born in the days after Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight for de-segregation, I can still remember reading about this great champion of equality.  He wasn’t looking for superiority but equality.  He believed in the premise that God created all men equal and they should be treated as such.  Our nation today remembers this great man. A man who died for the principles he held.

As a preacher, I have admired the great oratory skills of MLK.  He was a master of the pulpit.  His communication was above most of our greatest orators today.  This wasn’t because of his training.  It wasn’t just because he was gifted.  His speeches were great because you could feel his speeches.  All great messages must be tempered with passion.  A passion for the subject in which we speak.  MLK believed in what he spoke about.

My favorite speech of his was his last.  It was delivered on the eve of his assassination.  If you read it in its totality, you can sense the prophetic nature of its content.  He knew his time was short.  He knew that he would die in the fight for the freedom of his people. 

When MLK spoke of going to the mountaintop, you knew that he had already been there.  You could sense it in his voice.

He was murdered the next day.  Most of us remember this man for what he did for his people and in reality, for our nation.  America is a better place because Martin Luther King Jr had a dream.  A dream for freedom!  A dream that all people, regardless of race, would be treated the same.

Many years have come and gone since these days in 1968.  Yet, his legacy lives on.

For us, do we have a cause worth fighting for?  Are we willing to give our lives to lead people to Christ?  Are we willing to stand firm in the midst of the demoralization of America or will we stand up for morality?  Would be willing to stand in the face of  persecution for the cause of Christ?

Just read this on Justin Buzzard’s blog.  Great challenge for all of our lives.

“You are building your life on somebody’s words.

Words form the foundation of every life. Whose words are you building your life on? There are many options. You can build your life on:

• Your non-stop negative self-talk
• What a false friend says about you
• The lies Satan whispers
• The idea that you can earn enough credit to get God and other people to love you
• Belief that there are many gods, nobody’s truth claims/words are true in an absolute sense–what  you believe doesn’t really matter, there is no ultimate accountability in this universe

Those are just five of the options. These days most people are building their lives on a mixture of words.

Words matter. You’re standing on words right now. Do you like where you’re standing?

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” –Jesus”