Memorial Day. It’s a day to remember, with honor, those men and women who have given their lives for the freedoms we experience in our country. The Lord said to give honor where honor is due. Certainly we need to appreciate the lives that have been given on our account and honor their memory. Those who have given their lives aren’t aware of our efforts to honor them, but the holiday serves to create a focus on what it means to be free and the price that it costs at times. America continues to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. And for that, I salute our military and pause with gratefulness within my heart, to reflect on lost lives and the memories they’ve left behind.
As my thoughts turn in these directions, I can’t help but think of the lives that have been given to service in the Lord’s Army. Men and women have given up their own personal agendas to serve mankind in the various capacities as the Captain of the Host directs. And as I pull these memories from within, I am blessed beyond compare. There was the couple I knew who gave up every Sunday afternoon for weeks, to serve two lost souls who needed eternal life. They gave up their “only day off from work” that others might live in the freedoms Christ brings. There have been countless men and women who gave of their time in order to teach a classroom about the things of God. In my mind’s eye, I see all the different faces that I’ve known over the years and think about how I honor their dedication to the cause of Christ. Hours have been spent in preparation to minister, hours that could very easily have been spent elsewhere. I honor the memory of those who have dedicated themselves to this ministry. Then there was the time a whole congregation united and built a new temple across town. The pastor was sick. So they gave their lives to see that the job got done. Then those same folks worked and worked to help the pastor’s wife with a purchase she made just before he got sick. That same “army” of people turned around and worked and worked to help that pastor with the medical bills. They could have done any number of things with their time that would have been pleasurable but they gave up their “lives” to conduct a service as unto the Lord. I remember a lady who couldn’t walk around with a group to pass out tracts. So she sat in her truck and passed them out to those who walked by. And then there was the older lady, who couldn’t sit at the table, so she filled half of it with her baked goods. And then there’s the time several came to help a lady move. I remember the young lady who stayed fairly busy with her career but faithfully cleaned her church. The list could go on and on. Instead, just let me say:

I salute you, Word Worship Center!
Thanks for giving your life so that Freedom can reign.

The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help Acts 11:29

The advertisements that are seen daily on television not only reflect our society but they also promote paradigms within it. A perfect example of this is the commercial for VISA credit cards. The scene is a fast food restaurant where people are being assembly-lined through at a very quick pace. The music is fast, the fast order cooks are furiously flipping hamburgers and everyone is moving at break-neck speed. All of a sudden one man pays cash for his order and everything stops. The commercial is telling us that when you pay cash, you are disrupting the flow of our society. The man receives disgruntled looks from the other costumers and it is obvious that the only way to go is with the card. Other commercials flit from scene to scene so quickly that the viewer barely has time to take in what he has just seen. Our society is a fast paced life that says, “If you can’t keep up, you won’t succeed.” We have to find out what works and “just do it!” Our Internet service must be instant. We have to know and we have to know right now! We have to be at the top of our game right now, we cannot tarry in second place. Have you ever wondered why we find it necessary to live life at break-neck speed? Could it be that we are afraid to take a minute to contemplate our moral condition? If we are busy with our health, careers, sports and leisure, then we won’t have to take time to think about our position on issues like same-sex-marriages and whether they’re really all that wrong? You see, if the “train” is kept running fast, no one will dare jump off to see if it is running in the right direction.
If you are a Christian and you are thinking that I am really out in “left field” here, I would like for you to answer just a couple of questions for me. Do you ever wonder why God takes so long to answer your prayers? Do you find you want to be a dynamic Christian and you want to be one right now? Folks, God is not in a hurry and He never will be. Men may frantically move to and fro, but God will always move in God’s time. The Apostle Peter reminds us that God is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understand slowness. But He is patient with us, not wanting even one of us to perish but all of us to come unto repentance. It is time for us to jump off the “train” of this fast moving vehicle of destruction and just sit still and know that God is God. We need to let Him show us what is important, what is right and what is wrong. We cannot afford to allow society to dictate to us what we place as important. Taking time to worship God, taking time to pray, taking time to read our Bibles and taking time to be still and know that God is God should be the top priorities of our lives. Slow down and enjoy the abundant life that Jesus Christ has given you. And while you’re at it, think about those things the world tells you are important and then concentrate on what God thinks is important.

No one knows for sure where the term, “mother lode” originated or who it was that coined it, but we use it today to describe any abundant or rich source. The term “mother lode” is a mining term. A lode is a metallic vein especially of silver or gold that fills a fissure within a rock formation. And the word “mother” is used in the sense of source or origin. When James Marshall discovered gold in Central California in 1848 it began the “Gold Rush of 1849.” This area is located east of the Sacramento and San Jacquin Rivers and west of the Sierra Nevada and rightly named, “Mother Lode Country.” Today, we use the term figuratively to describe an abundance of just about anything.
Seeing how it’s Mother’s Day, I thought it would be nice to let you all know that I’ve found the “mother lode” of all goodness, mercy, love and grace. I know where to get wisdom, knowledge and good counsel. I’ve found the Source for all the riches of the glorious treasures that man desires. I’ve found the “Mother Lode.” When I see the kindness of mothers shown to their children, when I see the love that they share unselfishly to their families I have to believe that those virtues must come from somewhere. I didn’t search intently; neither did I search with all my heart. Actually, I found it by accident. You see, I had always felt that something must be wrong with our societies of men, when our technology could take us to the moon, but we couldn’t live at peace with one another. I knew virtues existed and many different people manifested different virtues. No one, though, manifested all of them. Some manifested grace and mercy while others manifested wisdom and knowledge. Some people manifested love at times and at other times they seemed to be barren of any virtues. Well, it just so happened that God searched me out and found me in 1985. And it just so happens –He is the “Mother Lode!” “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who knows the mind of the Lord? Or, who has ever been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” For all you wonderful mothers out there – God is the mother lode of all that you want to be and He gives to all without finding fault with you. Seek and you will find. Ask, and you will receive. And when His Spirit lives in you –you will have the “Mother Lode!”

Here’s a riddle: What is too much for one, enough for two and nothing at all for
three?

The answer is a secret (except for the one who knows the answer) and it is your job to rack your brain to figure out what it is. Some riddles are very simple and some are so complicated you don’t even spend time trying to figure it out. Robin put a puzzle together a few weeks ago and it gave her fits. It was designed to give her fits; the pieces were so much alike that they could have fit in one or two places. Often times she would have to undo what she did and redo it another way. This puzzle wasn’t for the novice! What was exasperating was when I came and just picked up a piece and stuck it right in! At one time she even turned the puzzle upside down in order to get a different perspective.
Now, if this doesn’t sound a lot like life, I don’t know what does. So many people think of their lives as one big puzzle or riddle. They have a need to know the answer and to figure out how the pieces of their lives fit together. Why did they have to go through this hardship? Why couldn’t they win the big lottery? Why did this one have to die so young? These are just a few of the questions that haunt mankind all over the world and at every age. The bigger questions are more complicated: Where did we come from? What is right and what is wrong? What is my purpose and what is my end? If we get the answers to these five questions, the tens of thousands of other intrusive questions that have plagued us throughout our lives can be “fitted” into the “puzzle” we call life. The answer is a secret to most folks. It is a stumbling block for the Jew and foolishness for the Greek. Oftentimes the Answer is right in front of our face but we fail to see it. Or, better said, “fail to see Him.” It always tickles me when I read the account of Jesus standing before the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate. Pilate asks Him, “What is truth?” But as soon as he asks, he walks away. Either he didn’t want to hear the answer or he figured that it was too subjective for any hope of a conclusive reality. But the irony of it was that Truth was staring him in the face. Pilate was speaking directly to Truth. If you can receive this, Christian, it will answer so many of life’s difficulties: Jesus didn’t just speak truth as if to say, truth was something that He knew. No, He is truth and He is all that truth is. He is why man is! He is the purpose of all our lives! He is what is right and everything else, outside of Him, is wrong. And He is the end of all things. So, in other words, when I find something crashing into my life that I do not have the answers to, I can go to Jesus and He will be the answer and ultimately supply the answer for my present dilemma. So, many folks miss the enjoyment of a successful life because they fail to see this Answer that has been right in front of them all along. It’s kind of like the answer to the riddle we began with. Do you know the answer? Why not, I’ve told you the answer twice within these few paragraphs. Have a blessed week!