The Feud of the Hatfield's and McCoy's

Romans 12: 19 “Dear Friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it.”

Many of us have forgotten about the great family feud in West Virginia and Kentucky that began in January of 1865 and did not end until February of 1890.Twelve killed, ten wounded, and eight stood trial for crimes leading from the feud.

Until we read the events and its petty beginnings, it is difficult to grasp how costly vengeance can be and how long it can last. If you have the time, take a look at the story at the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfield-McCoy_feud   

In growing up in a small town, I have heard people say, “Something like that will never happen around here. We are more civilized.” Yet time and time again, we have all witnessed character assassination. Political campaigns and newspaper tabloids sometimes destroy the lives and reputations of innocent people.

Even in our churches, people are often discussed in gossip groups, and sometimes told not to come back to that church. Those who know me are aware that I have walked through the pain and consequences of a divorce. When I announced that the divorce could not be avoided, leaders of the church I had attended for 38 years came and advised me that I could no longer worship there simply because I was going through with a divorce. They knew nothing of the background that brought me to this decision but because I announced the words, I was not longer welcome.  To say the least, I was angry, hurt, confused, disappointed and ready to take my vengeance out on them. After weeks of hurt and anger many scriptures flooded into my mind.  Romans 12 reminded me to try and understand their thinking, ask forgiveness, and then refocus on what the Lord wanted me to do with my life.

It was not my job to convince them of anything or to develop a “payback” scheme. Not knowing any facts they did what they thought was right.  They did not interpret the scripture with grace but by the letter of the law.  Again after about six months I learned that it is by grace that I am saved and forgiven.  With that understanding I felt called by the Lord to love and forgive them.

We should all examine ourselves and see if there is someone we have been vengeful towards. Is there someone today who needs your grace and not you wrath?   

 Understand the innocent start to the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud.  Someone signed up for what they believed by the other family as the wrong side of the army and the anger gave way to murder.

From that and the bloody outcome this should give us insight into our own lives and help us to love and be patient with each other. We may not murder literally but don’t we with our attitude, tongue, and heart?

Know about the grace you received and pass it on to others.  Even when someone takes the first shot.

Blackberry Pickin'

Genesis 3:18 “The ground will produce thorns and weeds for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.”

Last night as I was brush cutting, I recalled events of my youth and it seems the only things I remember these days are the good times. One of the old memories that had dulled in my mind was that of picking blackberries. My nose can still smell the aroma of fresh blackberry pies, preserves, and cobbler on a warm summer evening.

What I had forgotten was the work it took to get those fresh berries to my mother. Usually it was the hottest time of the year when the blackberries would be ripe enough for harvest. Dressing for the event included jeans, boots, long sleeve shirts, and a straw hat. My dad and I would head towards the patch right after the morning chores were done carrying two five-gallon buckets, a small picking bucket, and a jug of water. The patch was loaded with beautiful red and black berries.

Our task was to only pick the ones that were quite black and had no rotten places on them. As I began filling my bucket, I remember that the ones along the edge were usually small but easy to pick. Looking deeper into the bush, I’d spot the biggest berries in the patch. You know, the ones that would fill my bucket quickly. Reaching in, without thinking or being careful, my hands would grab a berry … and then my arm would catch a thorn. Jerking my hand out only caused more thorns to dig into my skin. One discovery was that if I just kept my hand inside the bush I didn’t get stuck. But then I would miss out on the best part of the experience, eating the wonderful deserts. I’d pull my hand out slowly and place the big berries in the bucket. From that time on, I would be careful and not go near the thorns.

Temptations we encounter remind me of the big berries inside the bush. On the outside, things look sweet and we rationalize that we can take part and not get hurt. Even though we know that God is not a part of the situation, we venture in deeper and deeper. It is when we move into the middle to find what we think is the best looking fruit, that thorns engulf our lives.

For those of us who have experienced this, we know that no one comes away without great wounds. If you have experienced the thorns of life and walked away, you can then taste the sweet knowledge that the Lord was there to heal each pain. You can help others who may be thrashing in the midst of the thorns or those who already have thorn-ridden hands.

The blackberries are just at the beginning to ripen for harvest and it looks like it will be a good year.  I will have to get stuck by a few thorns and once again learn my lesson to proceed slowly so I do not get caught in the thorns.

The lessons you learn today will help you resist the thorns that life has yet for you to discover.

Robbers of Your Joy

Growing up in a stern German family meant that you did not show a lot of emotion for happiness, pain, or much of anything because, to the father, it showed weakness.  As a young boy I would get a bump or scrap and one of my father's comments was, "If you can't see the bone, then you will be alright." 

I recall that I was allowed to cry for a limited time on my father's schedule.  No matter whether it was an injury, or hurt feelings, or for any reason, my Dad would say, "Dry the crying up or I will give you something to cry about."    My father learned that from his father, who learned it from his father, so this part of their life  was passed on.

So I learned to swallow feelings and emotions so that my father would not see me express my true feelings.  In fact I did not shed a tear from 1961 until 1974 which was at my grandmother's funeral.  I still did not show it at the funeral but when I was alone.  I am not complaining but I did learn to keep my emotions shut down.

Thanks to my mother allowing me to show emotions in my older years and not get condemned, the results have been that I can now show emotional feelings for things like emotional programs and movies, death of a loved one, or pain in someones life. But I do not show happiness openly. 

I can get excited about a success, but the feeling wears off quickly and one "you're wrong" kills any joy that was created.  Now I know how wrong I can be and beat myself up constantly over my daily errors.  But just hearing the words which sometimes is said to make someone else think the are "Superior" makes me emotionally run.

Do you know people who rob you of your joy?  They can suck the very life out of you. 

As for me, I still try to get some time alone with the Lord and cry before him.  I know that I can show my emotions to Him and he understands. 

So how do you deal with the robbers?

Hot Summer Days

Psalms 42:1-2 “As the deer pants for the water, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. . .”

Baling hay was probably the worst part of summer on the farm. Three times during the summer, we had to bale and load the 60 lb. rectangular hay bales into the top of the barn. Why did I not like it was because of the hot dry days when you had to bale the hay and keep it dry.  Dad could not begin to rake the hay until after the dew was gone being about 11:30 a.m. with the temperatures in the upper 80’s and low 90’s. And that’s outside in the field.  Then the fun began!

When we brought the first load into the barn we had enough energy to have some fun in the barn. Stacking the hay went quickly we’d grab a glass of sweet tea and head to the field again.

After about the third load, and with the temperature in the barn reaching over 100 degrees, the tea never satisfied our thirst. Then there was the hay dust which got into our mouths, hair, and eyes.

By the fifth load, we came in from the field panting for water. The problem was that water never satisfied our thirst. We poured it on our heads and if we drank too much we went back to the field with a stomach ache. It was not until we finished for the night and headed to the spring fed lake for a bath, that we really felt relieved.

When was the last time you were really thirsty?  Then again when was the last time you were thirsty for the Word?    When did you last search for the Lord in a personal one on one time? When was the last time you called out for Him?

The best time in life is not when everything is humming along effortlessly from our own actions, but when we are seeking the Lord.  Don’t just wait until things get so hot that we look for any type of relief.

Each day we should search for the Lord in His Word and in our prayer time. The blessings will overflow so the rest of the day will be cool and comfortable no matter what the temperature is outside.  Are you thirsty?

What To Do at 4:00 in the Morning

What do you do when your night's sleep is over at 4:00 a.m.?  It seems our Golden Retriever sleeps during the hot days in the house and then by 3:30 a.m. he is ready to play.  He goes out of the bedroom and picks up his bone and brings it back on my side of the bed and drops it.  Most of the time the sound wakes me up but if it does not he starts a sigh.  First in low tone and then gets louder.  If you don't address it, he goes into a low bark, then louder and louder.

You see my problem is that when my eyes open at that hour, my ADHD mind begins processing the day, so even if I put the dog outside, my night is over.  I begin going over my "To Do" list in my head and what needs to be done first, second, and so on.

This morning at 4:15 a.m. I went outside and sat in the rocking chair, petting and brushing one of our other dogs, listened to the whip-or-will call for its mate, heard the rooster next door forget it was the middle of the night and begin crowing, and finally feel the cool 67 degree breeze sweep across the porch.

Upon going back in the house and sitting on the couch, the Golden Retriever jumped up on my lap (yes, our 70 lb. lap dog) and promptly went back to sleep.  Since he has me trained for this event, I take the quiet time to talk with the Lord.

As I mentioned about my adventures last week, my reflection is on God's Favor.  No we still do not have that big order we have been waiting for, but in retrospect, God's Favor was all over the trip.  To be five minutes to thirty minutes ahead of five destructive tornadoes in six cities demonstrated God's Favor over my every move.

So God's Favor does not have to be a new job making a ton on money, or a new house, or car, or health but instead it is being aware that in a personal relationship with God know that He watches over you every hour of every day.  So my prayer this morning was simple and to the point.  First I asked the Lord to defend me over Satan and keep him away from my day's activities, health, and my family (comes from the Book of Job Chapter 1 & 2),  then ask for God's Favor in His blessing the small things of today.

Please give it a try to seek God's Favor and have the Faith that He can really move mountains in your life.  Once you do that, you are really ready to go after your "To Do" list.

In the Swing of Things

Do you ever recall being in a tree house or swinging on a rope bridge?   Those memories were brought back as I set foot on the 480 foot long suspension bridge that was 230 feet above the Capilano River in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The bridge was full of people and with each step the span would bounce about three feet up and down and sway over five feet from side to side. There was a bridge guard at each end of this bridge to rescue people who froze from fear while trying to cross. Those who did not would never know what was on the other side.

Arriving on the other side a wood walkway led to an fully operational tree house. The difference was that the material used for this house was so much stronger than the ones I had built as a child. Standing at a window looking over the forest just flooded my memory about those days when life was so simple and there were few cares in the world..

Upon exiting the house I entered smaller suspension bridges. These bridges were connected from Douglas firs to Hemlock firs where you were walking over eighty feet off the ground. Examining the platform around the trees we discovered that at eighty feet off the ground, the trees were still enormous with a circumference from twenty to forty feet. Looking out over the tree tops and down into the canyon where bears feed, it was a time to reflect on the source of all this majestic beauty. Everything looked so small below and so large looking up. 

Definitely it was a time to seek God and to know Him once again. Among these trees I understood that I was a miniature to God’s creation and just a speck in the riverbed below. It is so easy to look around and think that everyone had little to no value in the world today.

Do you know someone who may talk down to us, ignore us, or just avoid us because of their busy lives?   Aren’t there times in our lives that we feel like the old adage of Eeyore who says, “Guess I'll just eat worms and die”? God's word in 1st John 4:7-10 we are to love others when we don’t feel like they need to be loved. This direction is tough when we are going through major traumas in life. Yet as we read on, we discover that we should look at the example God gives us every day.

He loved us so much that he gave His Son, Jesus, for our losing our cool and yet He wants to have a relationship with Him. 

Take a quiet walk and absorb God once again. You will again be amazed that in spite of our small stature, that YOU are the most important thing on earth to God. Once you are connected again to God, it will be easy to get into the swing of a productive life without the fear of suspension bridges, people, and troubles. 

 

1st John 4: 7-10 “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love - so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about - not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.”

Are You Following Your Vision?

Yesterday I hope you considered to be appreciative and notice the little things around you.  Today, The question is asked, "Are you following a vision that the Lord has laid upon your heart?" 

Many say this is terrible time to be starting a new venture, but what if you had been praying for the Lord's guidance and felt he spoke to you to step out in faith.  Today most of us want a "sure thing" whether it is an investment in the stock exchange, a raise at our work, a great relationship with someone, or anything else that comes to mind.  But the reality is that there is no "sure thing".  so what do you do when you feel like the Lord is giving you a vision? 

Many of us park the vision in the back of our mind and just prod along doing what we feel is safe.  So there is no faith involved and you continue doing what you have already done. 

It was when I lived in Ocala, FL that the Lord gave me a vision one night and I felt like I had to follow that vision.  Our church had grown so rapidly that we were running out of temporary locations.  There was a Kash and Carry in town that had been vacant for several years and it was ideal.  The Food Lion real estate manager for the property noted that Kash and Carry still had the lease for another ten years but would sub-lease it for what they pay.  Now this was way beyond  what we could afford.  There was literately no place else for us to go as a church. 

Then on one Tuesday night, I felt God say that I needed to got to Salisbury, NC and make an appeal in person.  "Why me Lord?  I am just a lay person in the church."  None the less I remember trying to find every reason in my thoughts why I was not the person to go.

Wednesday morning came with little sleep and I knew I had to go.  First I called Food Lion Corporate for an appointment but could not get through to her office.  I called the pastor and told my then girlfriend what had taken place.  The pastor gave me a pictorial history book and Lynnette and the pastor prayed over meat 6:00 p.m.  just before Wednesday night service.  As I drove all night, about midnight I felt like I needed to pull off the interstate and get an ice cream.  I was off the highway for about five minutes but on getting back on the highway, I noticed the traffic was stopping.  A wreck had occurred just one mile ahead of me and the timing would have had me in about that position if I had not stopped. 

At nine a.m. the next morning I was in the lobby at Food Lion and asked for the person I had left the message.  The receptionist asked if I had an appointment and noted that I had not but would wait all day if necessary to see this lady.  Before I could sit down, they called me to met her on the fifth floor.  Our meeting was divine as I was talking to another believer and we soon became friends.

In order for this to not drag on, I will tell you we were told no by her boss but the Lord led me to write a letter to the CEO of Food Lion explaining our situation and need for the building.  Just before Christmas, I got a phone call from the lady at Food Lion.  Her conversation went something like this:  "Merry Christmas Gary.  I got a phone call from the CEO this morning and he personally approved you you having that building for the cost of insurance and upkeep."  (A side note is that the CEO retired twenty days later)

If the Lord puts a vision on your heart, NEVER make excuses, or take no for an answer.  It is the Lord's vision on your heart and you must follow it to the end.  Bathing your vision in prayer with those prayer warriors and seeking wisdom only helps your faith become stronger and to witness how the Lord is REALLY in charge. 

Is He using you for see a vision come to reality?  Trust me, you will have giant leaps of faith when you  look at God working in people's lives.