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In the middle school class that I teach we have been reading about manna and how the Israelites got tired of eating it. I asked the kids if they ever got tired of eating the same thing over and over. One of them raised his hand and said he got tired of eating Hot Dogs. Later his mom told me that he went through a spell of just wanting Hot Dogs. In the pm class he told me that he would never get tired of eating Pepperoni sandwiches that it would be impossible to get tired of those. When Lauren worked at the Chicken Shack she brought home fried chicken every night. I loved it for a while then got tired of it.
Have you ever noticed about God that when his people complained about something and grumbled that he gave them exactly what they wanted but in such quantities that they got sick of it. He was teaching them a lesson.
I’m sure if the Israelites had been more polite that on Mondays he would give Manna, Tuesdays - Hot Dogs, Wednesdays - Quail, Thursdays - Friend Chicken and Fridays - Pepperoni sandwiches. But knowing the complaining nature of the Israelites they probably wouldn’t be happy with that either… they didn’t have the confidence in God that’s called faith. People of faith shouldn’t complain and then we wouldn’t have to learn lessons from God the hard way.
I got a notification on my Veterinary class of 1981 Facebook page that one of our classmates passed just the other day. I hadn’t seen him since 1981. When I saw his photo on Facebook I barely recognized him.
I figured out the other day that I remember people like the last time I saw them. I remembered this classmate as young and energetic and happy.. That’s how I remembered him. I can still see his face.
Here’s the thing… our physical features are not the only thing that changes… the way we think, the things we believe, our emotions, our accomplishments… everything changes.
We have to be careful that we don’t categorize people according to their past and don’t give them the benefit of the doubt. Someone may have offended us years ago and maybe we didn’t get an “I’m sorry” so we still hold a grudge. Let that go… let it go… people change.
In 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 a spiritual mirror is revealed. As we turn to Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit and look in that mirror we see the reflection of our spiritual selves. We see our spiritual face slowly but surely transformed into the face of Jesus Christ.
Those who know us closely can also see the transformation in us. Some folks can’t see it though because they have closed their minds. They’ve been offended and can’t get over the past. They can’t see past the end of their nose… and have short noses.
If you’re in that situation just don’t worry about that… it’s not your problem it’s theirs.
I looked at the photo of my deceased classmate and I thought I saw happiness and contentment and a good life lived. I wish that I could have sat down with him and heard his story and his life’s experiences but whatever they were I choose to believe the best about him because I want to have people believe in the best in me.
Julie and I went to Christine Torno’s (1926-2023) funeral yesterday. On the drive over to Sinton, Texas we were guessing on who might be there.
Parkway was well represented but one of the nice things about funerals are the old friends you see who you don’t expect to see. My old friend and former member Ron Guzman was there. Seems like I only see him on Facebook and at funerals. We get along together like peas and carrots.
We got to see Brad and Beth Roach and we also got to see Steve Torno (Ray’s cousin) who we had known since college days. Also my old friend Richard Besselman who lives north of Dallas. He came a long way for someone he’s not related to.
Warren Miller who is married to Joy Torno Miller emceed the whole thing. I was impressed that he referred to Christine Torno as “our mother”. Nothing says love like that does.
Warren also said something I liked… “we preach our own funerals by the way we live our lives”
Glen and Christine Torno were just everyday small town working people.
Christine’s dad was an oil field worker who bought some land on Papalote creek and farmed and raised a few cows. There are a lot of Rattlesnakes on Papalote Creek and one of the games Christine and her siblings played was “jump the snake” (If you can imagine that)
The other story I liked about Christine was she had to walk about two miles to the bus stop and she would walk barefoot no matter the weather carrying her shoes. When she got to school she would use the school water hose to wash her feet and legs off then put her clean shoes on and go to class.
One of the grandsons said his grandmother had taught him five things… how to fish, how to grow things, it’s okay to have an opinion and to change it, to dream big and to love the Lord big.
Tim Rogers (who I know well) had a speaking part and I really felt for him. I’ve been in the position where I’ve been asked to speak for someone who I greatly loved and knew that I couldn’t get through it without crying but did it anyway because I knew no one else could say the words that needed to be said and that I was the only one who could say them. I guess tears are the currency of love. If so then Tim Rogers is rich.
I heard that during the depression there was a Veterinarian in the community and if you couldn’t pay your bill he would waive the fee if you would visit at the local Church of Christ. That’s how the Torno’s became members.
I looked at that great gathering of Torno’s… sons and daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews and marveled at their love for each other and their great spiritual legacy that started because their ancestor was too poor to pay a Veterinary bill and too proud to not pay a debt.
I was talking to one of our members today who knows about Papalote and sharing some of these stories with him and I told him… in your spiritual journey you need to start attending some of these funerals… it will make you better and he agreed (I knew he would).
Certainly Julie and I go to funerals to comfort the family and to see old friends but the real reason we go is kind of selfish I guess. We go because it makes us better and I guess thats kind of hard to understand unless you go and share some tears and laughter with the loved ones of the deceased.
God bless you Christine Torno.
From time to time for various reasons Elders are going to need to find a Preacher to serve the congregation. Elders should not be caught by surprise by this and have to scramble around at the last minute to trying to find someone. Elders should develop a list of Preacher prospects and develop a relationship with those Preachers.
I had a Preacher tell me that he got plenty of offers but invariably declined because he was not familiar with a particular congregation. So its not just developing a wish list of Preachers its also about investing in a relationship.
Since I have been at Parkway we have had six men preach for the congregation. The longest one was here for thirty years.
Many years ago when I was a Deacon and the Elders were looking for a man an Elder told me… “Rob, we don’t want to look for a guy that is looking for a position… we want to find a guy that is doing a good job somewhere and make a run at him”.
Also an Elder told me years ago that you don’t want a guy that stays with a congregation for a few years and then moves on. The same Elder told me that we should take a look at all the congregations where the man has formerly preached to see how they were doing. Were the congregations growing or declining?
At Parkway we have in the past brought in younger Preachers to preach three lessons on a Sunday. They didn’t know it but they were interviewing for a future job. In fact anytime we have a Gospel Meeting its like a secret job interview. That’s one way to develop a prospective list of Preacher candidates.
FYI, there are no perfect Elders and there are no perfect Preachers either. There is such a thing in baseball as a “Five Tool Player”… hitting for average, hitting for power, base running speed, throwing arm strength and fielding ability.
Generally a “Five Tool Preacher’ is good in the pulpit, good in classroom settings, is hospitable and is good at personal work. Those guys are as rare as hen’s teeth. If you have one hold onto him.
A Preacher told me once that a lot of times a Preacher will move to another congregation because that’s the only way a Preacher can get a raise. So often times, if Elders are not taking care of their talent the talent will move on. The Elders helped create the problem through neglect.
I also had a Preacher tell me that most Preachers he knew were on some kind of psychological medication… like maybe they couldn’t live up to the congregations expectations and were continually criticized with little positive reinforcement and it had an effect.
When the congregation selects Elders they by commandment have to look at the behavior of the Elder candidate’s family… do they respect his headship, etc. Makes sense to apply that rule when considering a Preacher as well.
Elders most important work is the local congregation and the Preacher position is vitally important to the health of a congregation. Let’s not take that lightly and lets not shoot ourselves in the foot by neglecting out current Preachers and lets also be prepared and not get caught short when it comes time to find a new preacher.
All my life I have been taught that as Christians we don’t celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ because… no one knows the exact date when Jesus was born and there is no authority in the Holy scriptures to celebrate Jesus’ birthday… we celebrate his death (Lord’s Supper) not his birth.
These arguments began to fall apart for me especially when one of my employees who visited services asked about why we didn’t celebrate Christmas and I trotted out my well rehearsed answer… well know one really knows when Jesus was born so we can’t celebrate it. She responded… I don’t know when my dog was born but we still have a birthday celebration for him.
Then I got to considering just what happened when Jesus was born… an Angel of the Lord appeared to Shepherds and told them about the birth of Jesus and they went to go see the newborn Christ. Their experience caused them to glorify and praise God at the sight of the new born baby boy. On that same occasion (along with the Angel) a “multitude of the heavenly host” praised God.
God led the wise men from the east with a star to go see the newborn King. At the sight of baby Jesus they fell down on their knees and worshipped him and gave gifts… gold, frankincense and myrrh.
So it does seem to me that their is authority to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. God (after all) orchestrated it. The celebrants of the birth of Jesus were the Angel, the Heavenly Host, Shepherds and wise men. Their celebration included words and acts of praise and gifts.
So in my opinion there is general authority to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We are at liberty however in regards to the specifics of how that celebration plays out.
In Corpus Christi, beginning in November, 93.9 am radio plays nothing but Christmas music until after Christmas. When I hear “Silent Night”, “Oh Holy Night” and the “First Noel” my emotions are stirred thinking about the birth of my Lord and Savior and I usually join in with the singing. What a wonderful thing.
I wonder if Jesus would be offended if in Heaven one day I knelt before his throne and sang “Oh Holy Night” to Him?
Mary and Joseph had at least seven children together; Jesus (the oldest), James, Joseph, Simon, Judas and sisters (Matthew 13:55). More children if Jesus had more than two sisters.
Imagine the dilemma of Mary and Joseph… do you have a conversation with Jesus’ brothers and sisters about Mary’s impregnation and the events that took place at Jesus’ birth or do you leave that topic alone?
Apparently they chose not to tell Jesus’ siblings because there is no evidence that the siblings believed in Jesus until after his resurrection. The real question is did Joseph and Mary have those conversations with Jesus?
My guess is that Mary and Joseph (especially in Jesus’ formative years) never had that conversation with Jesus.
Would it be intimidating having a son who you knew to be the future Messiah? Would you be worried about showing favoritism? How could you suppress those feelings so you don’t do a parental disservice to your other children?
Luke 2:52 says that Jesus grew in body and wisdom, i.e. he didn’t have instantaneous knowledge and wisdom. It grew in him as he grew.
Philippians 2 states that Jesus “emptied himself" (of his deity). Just how much did he empty himself? All of his deity or some of his deity? Could Jesus have performed miracles before his Baptism and his reception of the Holy Spirit? My guess is that he could not and even if he could it wasn’t the right time to do so.
Consider that Joseph must have died at some point. He might have gotten sick and died or he might have just died abruptly making Mary a widow. Joseph was the only earthly father Jesus had ever known. That event must have been very traumatic. Certainly Jesus would have cried and shared tears with his mother, brothers and sisters. Nothing binds a family together like the loss of the patriarch of the family.
Here’s the question… if Jesus had the power to heal or restore life prior to his baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit then why didn’t he do so for Joseph? Why like at the wedding feast didn’t Mary say… do it… save him?
My guess is Jesus had to lead a perfectly normal human life (including the loss of a parent) to be “tempted in every way that we are yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) and that must mean Jesus emptied himself of his deity (Philippians 2) and his power to work miracles.
Jesus had at least six brothers and sisters. I suspect he never played the deity card with any of them or with his earthly parents. His true nature was ultimately revealed when he was resurrected and seated in glory at the right side of God the Father. Then Jesus’ brothers and sisters could clearly see the deity of their brother and like Mary become believers.
I was wondering the other day just when Satan figured out that Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God. The case can be made that Satan didn’t know until Jesus was Baptized, received the Holy Spirit and was announced by God that He was his beloved Son.
Certainly in the revealed narrative of Jesus’ early life Satan is not mentioned even once... not once. One might think that if Satan knew Jesus was the Messiah that his attempts at temptation might have occurred sooner than when Jesus was thirty years old.
So either Satan didn’t know who Jesus really was or God was protecting Jesus from Satan.
What we do know for sure about Satan was that he really didn’t understand God’s plan or the nature of Jesus’ Messiahship. If Satan had known he would never have been complicit in manipulating people like Judas to effect the death of Jesus Christ.
Satan had great delight seeing Jesus tortured and dying on the cross. It was a really good day for him but when God raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right side (in great triumph and victory) and poured his Holy Spirit upon all believers Satan’s day went from “good” to disastrous. Sad Satan.
Jesus’ first thirty or so years of life were normal and uncomplicated by Satan but his last three years (or so) of life had Satan actively campaigning against him… campaigning in a war of futility. Satan can never win against God and he can’t win against us either if we have God’s Holy Spirit protecting us.
