"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

Well, it happened last week.  It is an annual event and I knew that unless the Lord came back or He carried me home, that I would become 67 Classic.  That’s right.  I turned 67 on December 13.  I out lived my mom by twelve years.

Speaking of mom, annually she asked if I wanted a birthday present or a Christmas present.  She could not afford both.  It puzzled me for a long time how she could afford birthday and Christmas presents for by sister and two brothers, but not me.

It made me wonder how she afforded to have me in the first place.  I never thought to ask if she got a Christmas present twelve days after my birth.  I must have been her Christmas present in December 1952.

You know there have been plenty of changes in the world since 1952.  “In 1952 despite the war in Korea Americans considered themselves to be prospering with average worker earning $3,400 per year, a college teacher could expect to earn $5,100 per year. Three out of 5 families owned a car, 2 out of 3 families now had a telephone, and 1 in 3 homes had a television. The average woman in America would be married by 20 years of age looking forward to raising a family but few continued with a career after children were born. Fast Food restaurants were growing in popularity, but the scourge of Polio hit many thousands of families (@50,000). Many more cars in America were now fitted with automatic gearboxes and gas cost 25 cents per gallon. The worlds first passenger jet The Comet is produced in UK signaling the start of faster and cheaper air travel in later years.”

In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican) defeated Adlai Stevenson (Democratic) for President of the United States. The first roll on deodorant is introduced under the brand name Ban-Roll-On.  The first Holiday Inn opens in Tennessee.  There is the world’s first successful use of a mechanical heart in the US. MAD Magazine publishes its first issue. The Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fried chicken franchise opened. The "Today" Program debuts on NBC, the first of it's kind hosted by Dave Garroway. The Big Bang Theory of the creation of the Universe first propounded.  Gary Cooper won Best Actor for High Noon.  Norman Vincent Peale publishes his most popular book, The Power of Positive Thinking, and it sells more than 20 million copies in 41 languages.  Mrs. Paul's introduces frozen fish sticks. TV first acknowledges pregnancy on I Love Lucy. Considering that TV will not portray married people sleeping it the same bed.  Sony, a brand new Japanese company, introduces the first pocket-sized transistor radio.  There were 37,794 motor vehicle related deaths. While in the air, there were 5 accidents resulting in 140 fatalities.  Mr. Potato Head arrives!  Boy, I love French fries.  Kelloggs introduced Sugar Frosted Flakes, 29 percent sugar. Unemployment was 3.1%.

Favorite songs in 1952 were Frankie Lane’s High Noon(Do Not Forsake Me), Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable, The Mills Brother’s Worm Glow, and one of my favorites, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Jimmy Boyd.

This hit is most remembered for, a cute novelty given him by Mitch Miller at Columbia about a kid who can't understand why Mommy is cheating on Daddy with Santa! It seems innocuous now, but the Catholic Church actually managed to get this one banned in several major markets (including that old standby, Boston), claiming that the implication -- however mistaken -- was all wrong for a religious holiday. It took a special conference between the 13-year-old Boyd and the Council of Churches to clear the song in those markets, where it finally enjoyed success year after year.

I wonder what mama thought when I was born.  When I think about my birthday and all the change, I am reminded of Mary at Jesus’ birth and the ban execution Herod placed on baby boys in an effort to kill Jesus.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. . . But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 26-7, 19 NIV).

Stressed Spelled Backwards Is Desserts

Why is it that Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday eating causes weight gain?  It is hard to understand how an ounce of cake turns into a pound of fat over night and that same pound of fat takes two weeks of hard work in the gym to remove.  Five Christmas parties equal ten New Year Resolutions that are broken by the time Valentine’s Day arrives.

Things like this make the holidays depressing.  I do not know about most people, but when I get depressed, I eat.  A super-sized order of Big Mac, fries, and diet Dr. Pepper help my depression.  If I cannot get the Big Mac, desserts will help drive depression away.  You do know that stressed spelled backwards is desserts.

Preaching is a stressful job.  Just think of all the eating invitations that preachers receive.  I know I do not look like it, but I am a picky eater.  I always try to please cooks and people who prepare meals for me.  One can never afford to make the cook angry.  I get stressed thinking about what be in my Big Mac if the cook is angry.  I have heard horror stories about foreign object allowances in our food during processing.  It is depressing and Big Mac time.

I have had a few occasions where I have worried.  One time Mama Green invited our family over for Sunday dinner.  Before being a pastor I was supply preaching at Mama Green’s church.  Mama Green was a short, bent, lady.  She had a contagious laugh and infectious love for the Lord.  As she readied the table, my family, along with another couple from the church, looked at all of Mama Green’s earthly goods.  She had some neat stuff in a slightly unkempt house. 

She filled her table with large bowls of good old country cooking.  It was a table right out of Miss Manners or Dear Heloise.  Gathered around the table, Mama Green asked the husband of the other couple to say grace.  We started the feast.  Did you know that kids could embarrass you? M daughter Angela tried that day.  She spotted a large roach crawling among the victual bowls.  She said, “Daddy, there is a big roach on my plate.”  Boy, I’m glad Mama Green was hard of hearing.  When Mama Green asked what the dear little girl wanted, I think I patched it by saying that she wanted some pig roast or a big piece of roast.  I motioned and whispered to Angela that it was okay.  It made the meal a little more difficult to eat.

That’s almost as bad as the time we were eating green beans and my son Aaron found a worm.  I told him that the worm was full of green beans and the worm added a little more meat flavor.  Angela removed it from his plate and Aaron does not eat green beans.

One Sunday afternoon  we were frying some French fries.  We kept smelling this foul order and could not find the source.  That was until we dumped the fries along with a French fried green lizard.  Aaron responded, “I wondered where my little lizard was hiding.”

I have always had the fear of being on a mission trip to a foreign country and having an exotic meal.  I have heard of missionaries who have been served camel eyeballs, goose intestines, and fish heads.  I rather have roaches and worms.

Stuff like that reminds me of a cousin returning home from a hard day’s work, entered his kitchen, and found this delicious aroma.  He removed a lid from a boiling pot and discovered the contents and source of the aroma was a beautiful pink meat.  He used a fork to get some of the tender meat.  It was delicious.  As his wife entered the kitchen, he quizzed her about the meat.  As my cousin chewed a large mouthful, his wife said, “Hog lights (lungs).”  My cousin spit them out, but his wife loved them.

On another invite to a home after church, we gather around a beautiful arrayed table.  It had all the amenities of fine dining.  The silverware, utensil, and napkins were an etiquette masterpiece for American dining.  I worried how to act, but my worries quickly subsided.  There on the placemat was cat hair.  While we were at church, Old Tom decided he would take a nap on the elegant place mats and napkins.  I glad I did not get a hairball.

 As you can tell, these things have only slowed me, not stopped me from eating.  If you are depressed from reading this, go get a Big Mac or some desserts.  Remember when invited to a home for dinner; do as Paul told the Corinthians about meat offered to idols.  Do not ask, just eat it.

But fortunately God doesn’t grade us on our diet.  We’re neither commended when we clean our plate nor reprimanded when we just can’t stomach it.  But God does care when you use your freedom carelessly in a way that leads a Christian still vulnerable to those old associations to be thrown off track (I Corinthians 8:8-9 The Message).

But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak (I Corinthians 8:8-9 NIV).

"You Need This More Than I Do"

God calls men into the pastorate to build and make disciples.  Unfortunately, many pastors are guilty of using people and the platform God gives them for self-promotion and self-ministry.  God divinely assigns people to His pastors to whom the pastors are spiritually responsible before God.  The wise pastor is a good steward edifying believers entrusted to him.  He cares for them as a “shepherd” cares for his sheep.

The same is true for the church.  Churches are sometimes guilty of not caring for God’s man.  The Holy Spirit sends a man into ministry.  The church recognizes this and releases him to do the work God calls him to perform in the framework of the Lord’s local church.  The pastor does more than work a couple of hours a week.  When people ask me how can they get a job where they work only two, maybe three, hours a week, I say, “Get right with God and you can.”

The pastor’s job is not simply to preach, to administer the ordinances, perform funerals and weddings, or simply lead the staff and administer the affairs of the church.  It is the pastor’s solemn and signal duty to care for his people, to “shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

Part of the pastor’s appreciation is furnishing him with generous resources to shepherd.  There are those who have the philosophy, “Lord you keep the preacher humble, and we will keep him poor.”  There is a difference between modest living and poverty. 

I had affiliation with a church that was guilty of holding back a love offering for a visiting preacher.  The church announced that a pastor would be coming to preach for a week of revival.  The host church’s pastor and members of budget and finance committee agreed to pay a certain amount for each service and to take a love offering for the visiting pastor.

The revival came.  It was a wonderful revival and the love offering was very generous demonstrating true revival.  The member of the budget and finance who wrote the checks informed the pastor that the visiting pastor did not get the love offering.  When asked why, the member said that budget and finance chairperson told her not to do so.

The host pastor investigated.  The chairperson told the pastor that the love offering was more than the visiting pastor deserved.  The pastor reminded the chairperson that the church voted to designate the love offering to the visiting pastor and that that was where it was going.  The chairperson refused until the pastor explained the legality of the situation.   The pastor said one call to the State Board of Missions, the Internal Revenue Service, or to the legal counsel of Samford law school could make the chairperson rethink the situation.

The chairperson asked if the visiting pastor had a church and if that church paid him while in revival.  The pastor said yes to both questions, but reminded the chairperson that was immaterial.  The pastor told the chairperson that the amount of the love offering was irrelevant.  The pastor said that there was a man in the congregation known to place a $1,000 check in the love offering designated to the visiting preacher.  If the love offering was $1.00 or $10,000, it was going to the visiting preacher.

Had the visiting preacher been aware of the conversation of the pastor and the chairperson, he would have refused it.  Knowing the visiting preacher as I do, he would have authorized the check and given it back to the church.  The visiting preacher would have said, “Here you need it more than I do.”  I know this because the visiting preacher had a pastor friend who did just that.

Most pastors trust that the church will do the “right thing” in the matter of compensation.  Many pastors live frugal lives to afford some of the good things of life.  Some churches act as though the pastor is to be a “hireling” of the church.  A God-called pastor does not work for the church.  He has a higher calling than that.

“But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.” (John 10:12-13)

Be generous to those called to shepherd you.

What was your first reaction to the finance chairperson’s response?

How much time do you think a pastor should spend time in preparation to preach?

What can you do to help educate your church concerning care for the Shepherd?

Prayer: Father, help me in my calling as a pastor to be a good steward of the time, monies, resources, and people who have entrusted me.  Help me to be generous with my time, money, and talents.  Father please open the eyes of those who, like the finance chairperson, do not understand the Biblical principles or the legal ramifications of donations when providing for your servants.  Grant us the wisdom to educate those who lack understanding.

"Oh Worship the King"

“I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord God that cost me nothing.”  2 Samuel 24:24a

David would not give an offering to the Lord that did not cost him.  Worship without sacrifice is not worship. Lack of preparation, prayer, or planning limits the possibility of worship.  Sunday school without study is boring.  Music without practice suffers.  Sermons without preparation are repetitive.  When we do not give anything to worship, we do not get anything in return.  King David of the Old Testament knew how to worship.

If you want worthwhile worship, it is not by attending a church with a professional team of worship leaders and performers.  Worship is taking up the cross that God has given you, and sacrificing yourself in the service of worship. Those whose worship costs them nothing are to be pitied.  From Jesus’ lips come the standard for all sacrifice:  “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We do many things to hinder worship.  Crying babies, fidgety children, talking teenagers, and snoring men are not hindering worship.  They may be distractions, but they do not hinder worship.  They are symptoms, but the source has deeper roots that King David understood.

"Sharecropper Theology"

Everett did not have time for God.  He spent Sundays working on his work car.  The pleas of his wife and mother-in-law to attend church with them were answered with “I have to work on my car so I can make a living.”

Everett was about to get a startling revelation from his mother-in-law, whom he, and everyone else, called Granny.  Granny was a God-fearing widow and sharecropper who raised nine children during the Great Depression.  She had lived by faith.  Her revelation for Everett: working on the old car was reward for not spending time with God.  She was not a name it and claim it person, but through her hardships, she learned to depend on God.

Her challenge to Everett:  Trust God and serve Him.  Granny was using Jesus’ words from Matthew 6:3-34; “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Frustrated with the endless task of car repair, motivated by the prayers and loving compassion of wife and mother-in-law, and drawn by the Holy Spirit, Everett decided to put his faith in the Lord.  He accepted the salvation found in accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.  He made a public confession of his sins and committed his life to serving Jesus.

Everett committed to reading the Bible, joining and attending the local church, and tithing.  Granny challenged Everett to stop spending money on the old car and giving to God. 

Everett never looked back.  Serving the Lord for the rest of his life, he never missed an opportunity to share his testimony.  He wanted people to know God, His promise to care for His children, and the love of a God-fearing mother-in-law and wife. 

Everett admitted that when he spent more time with God he spent less time working on his old car.  God did not give a new car or more money.  Everett became a better steward of what God gave him.

That is what knowing God is.  It is seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness and believing God will meet you need.