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If you see me riding my riding lawnmower you might notice that I occasionally cry. I’m not sad about harming the grass but it is a time when I’m engaged in a mindless activity and can reflect on things. This morning I was reflecting on my mother… Naomi Geviene Norris Perkins. I guess growing up I didn’t really fully appreciate how special she was. We kind of got to grow up together. She had me 4 days before her 17th birthday.
A lot of people were always attracted to mom. She was always the most beautiful mom but the best part of her was her engaging personality. She was always full of life and fun. She made friends at the drop of a hat. . We lived all over the country (California, Utah, Alabama, Virginia and Texas) and she made life-long friends wherever we lived. Many people coming to Houston for treatment at MD Anderson stayed in the home of my parents. One summer two college students were selling dictionaries and they ended up living with us for a summer. We also had a foster child living with us for a while
She was always interested in things. She grew and cultivated African Violets, she designed and modeled dresses and she loved to cook.
She was our Bible class teacher, our Den Mother and was active in the PTA. She would whip us when we were bad and laugh with us and hug us. There was a lot of love in our family. She taught us early on how to cut up a chicken. And she was hospitable. It seemed like every Sunday after church she and dad were bringing someone home for lunch. And every Thanksgiving and Christmas we had company.
She loved my Dad’s family. She called Dad’s parents “Ma and Pa”. All the nephews and nieces, because they couldn’t pronounce “Aunt Geviene” very well, call her. “Aunt Weenie”.
We never missed church… ever! In fact when mom was a new Christian and I was in the hospital to get my tonsils out… left the hospital so she could attend Wednesday night Bible study. Of course now she can’t believe she did that.
A lot of people wished my mom was their mom. And for a lot of them she was.
Mom is incredibly compassionate and forgiving and always wants to believe the best in people. Some people have treated her awfully but she forgives and forgets.
She has buried two husbands who loved and adored her… Bob Perkins and Darrel Roberts.
And now as she has aged and weathered all these years and can no longer live in her home. A home full of memories and treasures must be said goodbye to. I’ve hauled a lot of things to my home that some would consider junk but each item, like the old pogo stick, has a special memory for me. To say it’s traumatic would be an understatement. But the two most important things in Mom’s life are family and church. She’ll live just down the road from Greg and Kristi and many grandchildren and be able to go to church with them three times a week. And she’ll have family to take her to the doctors and care for her.
I have an incredible mom and today is her birthday. A large part of who I am is because of her and I know it very well. Happy birthday to an incredible Mom.
I turned 61 the other day. For perspectives sake when my Dad was 61 he was fighting cancer and had about a year to live. When my mom was 61 she was completing her first year of widowhood. No one had anticipated this huge change in their lives. It all started when Dad had a cough that wouldn’t go away and went to go see the doctor. Of course the doctor told him he had 14 months to live.
As I contemplate these things I realize I could wake up one day and have a doctor give me equally life changing and devastating news. I’ve got a year to live or Julie has a year to live.
So for me that means not to get too caught up in life and pleasure but to keep all things in perspective and live a life that emphasizes godliness and service to others.
Life is a big school and has taught me how to deal with the abrupt loss of an active parent at a relatively young age and now is teaching me the lesson of slowly losing a parent through the aging process.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Matthew 25:42-45 demonstrates a principle that when we do good for other people it is the same as doing good for Jesus Christ. For example, if we go visit a widow… it’s like visiting Jesus. If we buy someone a hamburger… so forth and so on.
Acts 9:4-5 demonstrates a similar principal… when we mistreat other people it’s like mistreating Jesus. For example, you let a widow wallow in loneliness, ignore the hungry, etc… you did it to Jesus. Jesus I’m too busy and important to waste time on you.
OK, generally we get those principles but as is sometimes said “the devil is in the details”.
It’s easy to help a kindly well-kept old lady who has fallen on a run of bad luck. Why? Because she kind of looks like Jesus.
But how easy is it to help someone who looks bad and smells bad or who because of a low I.Q or mental illness or drug cooked brain continually makes bad decisions? Maybe, who is in some ways, like a modern day Lazarus. Could that be Jesus in disguise?
Whether we treat someone well, ignore them or mistreat them the reality is that they are Jesus Christ. Don’t ever forget that because Jesus won’t.
Before we can select Elders in our day and time it is imperative as students of the Bible that we understand how Elders were selected in the day and time of the early church.
One thing is clear to me… they were not selected by the congregation as we typically do today.
Paul instructs the young Evangelist Titus to “appoint Elders in every city” (Titus 1:5).
Paul also gives the young Evangelist Timothy authority to determine which Elders should receive financial support from the congregation (1 Timothy 5:17) and he gives him authority (not the other Elders) to receive “accusations” against an Elder (1 Timothy 5:19)
In fact, Paul was doing just what he instructed instructed Titus and Timothy to do… He and Barnabas “appointed Elders in each church” (Acts 14:23)
In conclusion, in the New Testament Elders were selected by knowledgeable, spiritually mature men (Evangelists) based upon qualifications (1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1) given by the Apostle Paul.
God wants us to be healthy. He instituted food laws in the Old Testament that were designed to make his people Israel enjoy good health. In Deuteronomy 7 God promised that if his people would obey his laws he would “keep you free from every disease”.
In Daniel 1 we find young Jewish captives who were commanded to eat the King’s food (Babylonian). They negotiated a food trial and were able to pass the trial because God’s food was better for them than the food of Babylonia… they were noticeably healthier than the others and therefore better servants to the King.
We no longer live under the Old Law but God still wants us to enjoy good health. 1 Cor. 6:19 states that we are to “honor God with our bodies”. 1 Tim 4:8 states that physical training is profitable for God’s people.
Why would God want us to enjoy good physical health? Perhaps the most important reason is that we are better servants when we are healthy. When we feel good and look good we are happier people. Happy people have fewer anger issues and more friends. Happy healthy people are more confident about spreading the good news of salvation.
Part of being healthy is eating the right kinds of foods. I know the bad (healthy) foods don’t taste as good as the good (unhealthy) foods but good, healthy and productive servants taste better to God than bad, non-productive servants do.
Prepare your hearts and bodies for service to God.
