Life is Tough, AND THEN, you die, AND THEN???

Life is Tough, AND THEN, you die, AND THEN???

                                     

...the anvil and the hammer to tear my soul;
the fire and the metal to mend my holes;
the blacksmith forging straight ahead;
to create this man before you instead;
the truth is my body is strong and pure;
seems the sculptor had given the cure;
but the sculpture is still an unfinished piece;
no eyes to see and no heart to beat;
to become the masterpiece I have to become;
the sculptor is myself and my hands must be strong;
cause self isn’t made by greater powers;
it must be forged in fire with an anvil and hammer.
https://allpoetry.com/poem/11760800-The-Anvil-and-The-Hammer-by-The-Marcellian

Often when you think your life is over, you may just be getting started. The anvil wears out many hammers. God is still on his throne in spite of the world, flesh, devil. Truth is truth whether anyone believes it or not.

I have been thinking much recently about those who simply refuse to believe in God. I have recently developed a painful/aggravating hernia on my abdomen (a bulge about the size of a large egg, my oncologist tells me that no surgeon is going to use a knife on me at my age and in my cancer condition). It brought on the thoughts of a family who lived near us and my talking with the oldest son in the family who, with his wife and 2 boys, lived in a house near his father's house. He had brought his wife to me as a patient. She attended church along with the boys but he never did, like his own father. Here was his excuse for not believing in God; I grew up seeing my father drive his car down to your church to take my mother who was a devout believer and then he would go back to pick her up. In my father's house, I had a younger brother (whom this writer remembers sitting in the sun on the front porch). He died at age 14, never having spoken a word, just a biological organism who was changed and fed by this dear woman. This older brother of this unbelieving father said, "the pastor of your church never went to our house the first time and never showed any interest in my mother's plight in caring for this totally invalid child and, the so-called Christian community showed little concern when our family's house burned down. How does a God of love permit such unloving acts and can this excuse my father's unbelief and consequently my own unbelief."

This son had a very painful hernia, which, as far as I know, he lived with his whole adult life, doing hard work. The thing aggravating him constantly and he, unable to come up with the funds to have anything done about it. On a farm, working in rain/heat/cold, with the insidious pain that irritates any protrusion, such as a hernia, one can easily understand why you could easily hold God responsible for problems which people from the beginning of time have endured and, why would one child of a perfectly normal loving mother, never speak, never enjoy anything that normal children would enjoy...just a burden and more important, everyone at that church saw her faithfulness in going to church; knew about her unbelieving husband and yet, no one, not even the pastor ever showed she or her family, Christan benevolence.

Dealing with suffering is a great teacher. Only a very small percentage of the population of the world never experience suffering, often used as an excuse for unbelief. Dr. Victor Frankel, himself a Jewish doctor prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, said it was only the inner man, the want for survival, that got you through this life. The prisoners in the concentration camp knew that all they had to do was run towards a gate and a guard from the guard tower would shoot them dead and their suffering would be over.

Once we know the 'why' of living then we can concentrate on the 'how' of living. Those who are disabled, those who understand inequities, know that God is ultimately in charge; it is just a matter of trusting Him. Blindness has been my greatest blessing because I am much closer to God now than when sighted BUT I have the mental ability to understand this. Who would have ever known Helen Keller if she had not overcome both blindness and muteness? When Hitler started his book burning her book was at the top of the list to be destroyed. The first people to be destroyed were the disabled/gypsies/hospitalized. God put the first man and woman He created in a perfect world, a perfect environment. He made only one provision in His dealing with mankind "don't touch that tree!". Man has always rebelled, and mankind has always paid the price.

How can anyone doubt God any more than you can doubt history or the world around you? We could easily use Pascal's wager instead of attempting to persuade the unsaved about the love of God. Pascal said "what do you have to lose by believing, if you believe and it is true you have inherited eternal life with God in His Glory. If it does not turn out to be true and you do not have a soul, your body just becomes fertilizer, what have you lost? You lived a life of beautiful absolutes. The absolutes of right and wrong, of loving one another, you win either way".

Christianity is not completed, just tough. Belief in God is a matter of the heart. He will draw you if He wants you and He is perfectly willing to accept you just as you are, willing to forgive every sin which you are willing to give up.

August 12, 2019

DR. THOMAS R. MORRIS HONORED AT UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT OLIVE

MOUNT OLIVE – Longtime friend and benefactor of the University of Mount Olive, Dr. Thomas R. Morris, was recently recognized by the University for his generosity, encouraging spirit and Christian heritage. A retired Goldsboro Optometrist, Morris was born and reared in Wayne County with strong Free Will Baptist roots. He graduated from high school in Nahunta and financed his way through UNC-Chapel Hill and the School of Optometry in Memphis by working at night and selling books door-to-door during the summers. After college, Morris returned to Wayne County and became not only a successful optometrist but also a noted speaker.

Commissioned a medical officer in the U. S. Army during the Korean Conflict, Morris retired as a Lt. Colonel. Diagnosed with glaucoma, he decided to travel and enjoy seeing things while he could and has toured in more than 150 countries and been on eight around-the-world trips. Totally blind for nearly 40 years and unable to follow his chosen profession, Morris has turned to real estate and other investments. In reflecting over these investments, Morris feels that “God has blessed me abundantly.”

In response, Morris contributes generously to Christian causes associated with the Free Will Baptist denomination, including the University of Mount Olive. Through his generosity he has funded various awards at UMO designed to encourage and reward excellence for student academic achievement, faculty teaching, pastoral work and lay services to the FWB church. Knowing the hardship of financing a college education, he has also established an endowed scholarship fund in memory of his parents, Joseph T. and Sallie Pittman Morris.

Morris has contributed $100,000 to the University for a ministerial loan fund. Additionally he has given $100,000 for the Free Will Baptist Heritage Room located in the University’s library. The Heritage Room houses the largest collection of historical resources and memorabilia of Original Free Will Baptists in the United States.

For all of his gifts to the University and in recognition of his unwavering support of the OFWB denomination, the University recently held an event to honor Morris. Present at the event was the leadership for every ministry of the OFWB denomination. In a special ceremony which included a litany of dedication, a portrait of Morris was unveiled and now currently hangs at the entrance to the Heritage Room.

Dr. John Blackwell, vice president for Institutional Advancement at UMO, said, “Dr. Morris is a true friend of the University of Mount Olive. He understands the University’s roots in the Free Will Baptist Church and its humble beginnings, and he appreciates its Christian mission. His generosity has provided scholarships and awarded excellence to many students and faculty, and we are pleased today to honor him in this most special way.”

Gary Barefoot, curator of the FWB Historical Collection said, “I have no doubt that the gift that Dr. Morris made for the housing of this Collection of FWB materials was and will continue to be one of the most significant gifts to the library of the University and to the denomination that could ever be received, because the gift supports an element unique to this place – the Free Will Baptist Historical Collection, a gem for posterity. Thank you Dr. Morris, our mutual friend.”

The University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The University, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Research Triangle Park, Washington, Jacksonville, and in Smithfield at Johnston Community College. For more information, visit old.umo.edu.

August 7, 2019

Will-o'-the-wisp And Rush Week

           

"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him."

            You would think that I am smarter than that, but there are days when I am so overwhelmed with the "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it become unfruitful" (Mark 4:19). Even this committed, convinced, concerned, real Christian man falls into the paroxysm that effects so many men...earth travelers. We want God to fit into our world, rather than staying in God's world. We live in a world of "likeness," just floating...letting Satan fill our souls with doubts and fears.

            Anyone who has ever had an answer to prayer knows that his life is never the same again. Perhaps my first real answer to prayer, it was not a matter of extreme anything, such as a near death experience; I was a freshman student fighting the battle of conjured fears at the University (UNCCH), who had come from poverty in impoverished Eastern North Carolina. I was unprepared for any college experience, in having to compete with young men from wealthy homes with superior preparation in large prep schools. Yet, in order for me to remain a student, I had to work and pay my own expenses. I could take you to the spot, a stone fence at the rear of the Wilson library, just across from the Bell tower; I had not eaten for two days, I know what it is like to be hungry and penniless. I asked God to arrange for me to go home where I knew there was food on the table of my poor country house, or arrange for me to have things a little better. He said to me, almost audible, "In that medical school where you work, those large leather chairs in the library, money falls out of men's pockets." That night, on the job working in this library, I searched those chairs and found so many coins...quarters and fifty cent pieces. I was able to eat until payday, when I got my check for working at the University. This same thing has happened over and over throughout my life...even in this world of blackness I live in after losing my eyesight. Why don't we believe him when he tells us (those who believe in him) "[Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

        Just think, the one who created the world and everything in it, who threw the stars into space, he actually cares about my welfare....cares about my every thought on this earth; and then, almost beyond comprehension, desires a relationship with me forever. There are those in this world who would burn a city down in order to rule it, who believe in killing even the most innocent babies as population control or as a matter of convenience; even ravaging innocent, developing children whose lives are measured by greed...and think they are successful.

            It seems almost incomprehensible that God, in his mercy, would choose a country boy from "nowhere" to travel EVERYWHERE. He wanted me to sense this great Earth, and be willing to tell you all about it. He knew that in my life experience, I had known so many children who had never enjoyed a nice piece of cake, had seen so many adults who had never worn a proper fitting pair of shoes. I still remember old men in the poor community where I was raised wearing shoes that were sliced in many places to accommodate growing feet and bunions acquired by the ill-fitting shoes. He wanted me to tell you about children in Africa and Asia whose parents had chopped off their limbs in order to make them "professional beggars" (their methods of survival).

            At the time, this same University, running/walking fast to get from one class to another while keeping up with my job, I would ponder what went on at the fancy fraternity houses where young men of my age were always having a party/enjoying life. One great writer once said, the purpose of college is to "network," to meet people, people who will/can help you. He failed to say that 90% of all the forces that effect your life are deceptive...that most of your friends are just pretenders. Perhaps I felt I was left out by the "technocrats" of rush week when the élites' sons of politicians and wealth chose their fraternity brothers for initiation. I now realize that so much of the selective/prestigious life is just will-o'-the-wisp...alluring/misleading, gratuitous...deceptive.

            This world is a matter of electricity. From the gravity of the two poles at either end of the Earth's surface (and I have traveled to both the North and South poles). Everything is a matter of gravitational forces, from the chemical equation to the power current that "lights up" the city, or the electricity of your body. When the electricity of your body dies, you are clinically dead. Life is more of a will-o'-the-wisp, an alluring fantasy. Chosen for life, every hair on your head is numbered, there is not a maverick molecule in your universe. 

Subject: Fwd: Ramblings of an Old Mind

    

    

I found this timely, because today I was in a store that sells sunglasses, and only sunglasses. A young lady walks over to me and asks, "What brings you in today?"   I looked at her, and said, "I'm interested in buying a refrigerator.”  She didn't quite know how to respond.

 Am I getting to be that age?

 I was thinking about how a status symbol of today is those cell phones that everyone has clipped onto their belt or purse. I can't afford one. So I'm wearing my garage door opener.

 I was thinking about old age and decided that old age is when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too tired to bounce it.

 I thought about making a fitness movie for folks my age and calling it 'Pumping Rust.'

  When people see a cat's litter box they always say, “Oh, have you got a cat?” Just once I want to say, “No, it's for company!”

 Employment application blanks always ask who is to be called in case of an emergency.   I think you should write,‘An ambulance.' 

The older you get the tougher it is to lose weight because by then your body and your fat have  gotten to be really good friends.

 The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

 Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are XL.

 The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble..

 Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words ' The'   and ' IRS ' together it spells   'Theirs...'

 Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

 Some people try to turn back their "odometers." Not me. I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.

 You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

 Ah! Being young is beautiful but being old is comfortable.

 Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.

 May you always have Love to Share, Cash to Spare, And Friends who Care.