If You Don't Write It Down, It Never Happened

 Have you ever had this brilliant thought or idea but did not take the time or have a means to write it down?  Sometimes I will read or hear something that gives me an idea for an article or sermon thinking I will remember only to forget it when I need to recall it.

The great theologian, preacher, and writer Hershel Hobbs grew up in my home county Chilton and was the principal writer of the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message.  He said that he would take time to write himself notes when he heard or thought of something inspiring.  He had a great system writing books.  He wrote his books one thought, or sentence, at a time.  Sometimes he wrote a paragraph a time.  My system is I write at one sitting.

I often get inspiration from reading, from everyday occurrences, from hearing sermons, and from observing people.  Sometimes things happen that I never forget and at other times, I quickly forget them.

Year ago, as I entered the carport, I reminded myself that I needed to purchase some new filters for the air-conditioner system for our home in Jemison.  I stopped and giggled, remembering that the house was no longer there losing it to the fire in July 2012.  I remember minute details of every part of the house.  Now these things are memories of something that no longer exists.

I can close my eyes and see the cement plant and the area where I operated the cement kilns.  I see the handrails, the overhead hoists, the catwalk, and the kilns rotating as a roaring flame blazes within them.  These no longer exist.  Now, they are images of my mind or details of something that I write.

There are multitudes of things I experienced that I wish I had captured them on film, in a recording, or just took the time to write about them. Often, there was no availability of pencil and paper.  Words of inspiration need to be penned or etched in our minds, but also written down.

Failure to pass down words of inspiration deprives society of motivation, stimulation, and encouragement.  Reading this article you may recall the words from people long ago that inspire you today.  Remember, if no one takes the initiative to write down an occurrence, over time it is lost, embellished, becomes legend, or is distorted.  Most nations fail because they do not read history.

Have you ever noticed how you cannot recall an event or a person then suddenly something triggers your memory and all at once your minds floods with total recall of the experience.

Many Sundays ago, I preached homecoming at a former church.  While I was pastor there, the church built a family life center.  The congregation did most of the work.  The church experienced some electrical problems.  A member of the buildings and grounds called me to see if I knew where the schematics for the electricity were located.  I helped do the wiring.  There was no electrical blueprint.  What we had were hand drawn by a member, Richard, of the building committee 29 years ago.  Richard died several years ago, and no one knew where they were.  I told the building grounds member that Richard had folded them and placed them on top of the control panel.  There were unsuccessful in locating them.

The Sunday of my visit, they inquired again as to the schematics whereabouts.  I went to the control panel and over the past 29 years, someone moved them to an adjacent piece of ductwork.  I could see Richard folding the schematics and saying to me, “I’m putting these here so if we have to work on the wiring, we won’t have to look for them.” 

God created us to respond to sight, sound, touch, and smell which trigger or memory.  Every time I smell fresh cut pine timber, I think of cutting and loading pulpwood or helping frame a new house.  When I smell yeast rolls cooking, I think of the lunchroom at Jemison High School or Ms. Ruby Smith’s, a friend from Houston, Texas, cinnamon rolls.  Now that I have written of them, once held captive, these moments are released to create encouragement.

Transferring a thought or an idea to someone or making a hard copy takes a moment.  We live life in magnificent moments.  Those that capture those moments provide us with guidance and tangible snippets enabling us to face the uncertainties of life.  A moment of collecting thoughts can become a way of life or the change of course for those that are inspired by it.

One time I was looking for information for the insurance company in settlement of losing the house.  I found momma's last will and testament.  For a few moments, I revisited some things momma wanted done at her death.  Captured with ink on paper by my sister were some of the last words that momma spoke.

Hand drawn schematics, last will and testaments, notes scribbled on paper assist to jog our memory.  Words of inspiration are diverse in origin.  God’s Word is the greatest source for inspiration.  I am glad that the writers of our Bible took time to scribe God’s Word for us to read.

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (John 20:30-31 KJV).

PS:  When I started this article, I could not recall any thing inspiring.

 

Be Sure To Write It Down

At a men’s rally, the speaker told of a poster his daughter made for her college dorm room.  Her favorite posters are those with Tim Tebow on them.  I would say of all the posters that college girls could have a Tim Tebow poster is pretty good choice.

To the dad’s surprise, the poster was not of Tim Tebow.  Instead, the poster was a list of the things that the dad had told is daughter as she was growing up.  He said it made him think, what I have told her and what he should have told her.

At the 100^th Anniversary of Dixon’s Mills Baptist, a representative from the Alabama Baptist Historical Society said people should write down the words of church members because so much is lost after a long period of time if it is not recorded.  With a hundred years behind, there had to be many tremendous events of Dixon’s Mills Baptist Church that future members need to know.

Very few people spoke at 100th Celebration.  I think it was the magnitude of the moment and trying to remember what had been said and what had been done.  Pastor Richard Martindale’s granddaughter took notes where at future celebrations there would have a recorded history of words from those who did speak.

I remember one of my history professors at the University of Montevallo saying, “If you do not write down an event, it never happened.”  Word of mouth will turn to hearsay, tale, fable, or legend if events are not documented.  There have been events in our lifetime that proved to be false when people discovered documented evident to the contrary of hearsay

As I reflected on Mother’s Day, I thought of a list of things that my momma told me and decided to write them down.  As I reflect, some are humorous, some are profound, and some prophetic. Here it goes a few:

            You reap what you sow.

            You cannot go swimming until you learn how to swim.

            You can do anything you put your head to do.

            You need to pray that God leads you to girl to be your wife.

            Be sure to wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident.

            If you fall out of that tree and break your neck, I am going to whup you.

            If we were picking our nose she would ask if we were cleaning out the dance hall.

            If you get hurt, don’t come crying to me.

            If someone else can do that, you can do it.

            If you runaway from home, I will beat you to death.

            If you run while I am trying to whup you, I beat you when I catch you.

            If you don’t do it right the first time, you will have to lick that calf again.

            Never kiss a girl unless you are serious about her.

            Good girls don’t call here and ask for you.

            I may not can see you, but God does.

            I got little eyes everywhere so that I can see you.

            I am going to beat you till you cry.

            I hate the name Roe. (Roe was her first name.)

            I been so mean the grass will not grow on my grave when I die. (It does not by the way.)

            What is said in this house stays in this house.

            What ever you do, do your best.

            What you’re doing will come home to you one day.

            What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

            Payday comes one day.

            Don’t let the sun go down being mad at someone

            You may never get a chance to say you’re sorry.

            Use good words, they taste better when you have the eat them.

            Don’t let nobody tell you that you are not good enough.

            Mama told my sister not to wear a dress to the garden because the potatoes had eyes

            “Say Calf Rope” (When she was wrestling us and holding until we said, “Calf Rope.”

            Go cut me a switch!

            Just wait to your daddy gets home.

            When you have kids, you will pay for your raising.

            Ya’ll will probably have to hire people to come to my funeral.

            Nobody may love us, but we love one each other.

            Read your Bible and pray.

            One day I gonna be gone and you will be sorry you said that to me.

            Stick you nose in that corner and stand on your tiptoes until I tell you to stop.

            God will take care of us.

These are only a few that brothers and sister could remember.  There were some others, but I cannot write them in this article.

I remember one Mother’s Day, I preached at Pine Hill and I mentioned Coach “Bear” Bryant’s Bellsouth commercial.  When taping the commercial, he said, “Be sure and call your mom, I wished I could call mine.”  The producers that it was corny, but the more they played it the more genuine it was.

After the service, the sermon and the commercial went viral.  Viral means it was on the internet.  Words I said and words of the late “Bear” Bryant captured for all to read, see, and hear in a matter minutes.  I am glad I took time to write down things momma said.

Proverbs 31:1 sums up the word of a mother pretty good.  The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him (KJV).      

           

 

           

           

Heritage Not Hate

I inherited my love for history from my daddy.  Dad loved antiques and loved to talk of the way things were.  Visiting Perry County Alabama dad would point out old sawmills, gristmills, and whiskey stills in places where grass, bushes, and weeds covered.  We visited Old Cahaba, the first capital of Alabama when there was nothing but old foundations and pieces of brick.  We would visit the Brierfield Iron Works with only remnants of coke and broken-down furnaces.  At one time Brierfield was the third largest city in Alabama.  I had the honor and privilege of pastoring the Historical Brierfield Baptist Church.

I fell in love with Alabama history in the fourth grade.  The Massacre at Fort Mims, Andrew Jackson and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Daniel Pratt and the cotton mills of Prattville were interesting.  I loved Alabama history under Dr. Jesse Jackson and Dr. Justin Fuller at the University of Montevallo.  When Dr. Jackson described the sawing in the removal of General Stonewall Jackson’s arm sounded as an Angel playing a violin was so vivid, I felt as though I was there.  When Dr. Fuller talked of Montevallo and its role in Wilson’s Raiders and General Nathan B. Forrest and the battles of the Brierfield Ironworks, at Ebenezer Church in Stanton, and Selma it made me proud of the men and women that believed in the Constitution of the United States that they would fight for Alabama in the War of Northern Aggression just as General Robert E. Lee had for the State of Virginia.

Each year Dr. Fuller in his “Introduction to History” class would poll students as to their greatest historical figure, Jesus Christ excluded.  For years the number one answer was General Robert E. Lee.  There is not another general with Lee’s integrity, faith, and character.  It is a shame that those ignorant of history are tearing down General Lee’s monuments along with other monuments that are testimonies to our heritage.

General Lee did not own slaves and turned down Lincoln as commander of the Union Army to stand with Virginia.  Lincoln confiscated Lee's farm at Arlington turning into a cemetery.  Lee suffered defeat with Christian character and it is a disgrace to dishonor him and others who took up the Southern Cross to defend state rights which is part of our Constitution of the United States.

I am proud to be an American and pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands.  I get chills when the National Anthem is played and I stand at attention with my hand over my heart.  The United States is imperfect because it is made of imperfect people, but it is the greatest free nation in the world and if idiots want to protest, it is their right, but remember I have rights also.

I think is ironic that those that are government assisted and do not work are the ones that protest while those that work pay for them to march.  It is also moronic that protests follow at the heels of a perpetrator being arrested and being mistreated.  I often wonder what the "victim" was doing to be arrested in the first place.  As a lawyer friend of mine said of divorce, “There is the husband's story, the wife’s story and what actually happened.”  It is true today in the irresponsible journalism being spewed from liberal media.  There is the arrestees' story, the police’s story, what the irresponsible reporter tells us that happened, and what actually happened.

I am proud to be from Alabama.  I love our state flag.  The is something about St. Andrews Cross, the red X on the white background.  Being from Scot-Irish ancestry I am doubly proud of our flag.  It reminds me that the message of Christ remains the only home for mankind.  Morality cannot be legislated.  There will always remain cultural differences and injustices as long as sin reigns and exists in the heart of humankind.

I am proud of the Confederate Flag and my Southern heritage.  I hate slavery and those that initiated it will suffer the consequences.  The fact is that African tribal lords practiced it, as did societies throughout the history of the world. Every ethos has suffered the sin of slavery.  It exists today in human trafficking, forced labor, sexual exploitation, and sweatshops.  It is estimated that there are 40 million people in some form of slavery, but today the target is something that is history.

I have a Sons of the Confederacy tag on my pickup truck.  I have a Rebel cap. I have several confederate flags and the more people tell me I cannot have one, the more I will buy.  It is part of my heritage and my form of protest and my right.  I love to see the giant Confederate flag on I65 north of Montgomery.

Social issues will remain if every Confederate Monument is removed.  Cultural differences will continue until the Lord returns.  Today it is Southern heritage, tomorrow it may be national monuments.  Will the American Vietnamese protest the Memorial Wall?   Will American Japanese boycott the Pearl Harbor Memorial?  I think you see my direction.  I saw a cartoon of the Statue of Liberty hiding wondering if she were next.

We create monuments to remind us of history.  Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeat it just as the Hebrews did throughout the Old Testament.

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. (Proverbs 22:28)

Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? [Some] remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed [thereof]. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. (Job 24:1-3)