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| All our children at the sea June 2015 "Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live... He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the seas, and everything in them... Praise the LORD." Psalm 146 |
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| illustration from Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer By my friend and talented artist, Dawn Copeland "I have opened a door for you that no one can close." (Rev. 3:8b NLT)
I must confess that I'm hurrying today as I write this post. Because the door opened to submit Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer to LifeWay Christian Stores, I'm eager to get Mr. Greenleaf in the mail.
LifeWay's Nashville corporate headquarters receives thousands upon thousands of submissions. So what are our chances of being selected? 100% or 0% - one hundred percent if God opens that door, and zero if He doesn't.
Never forget that our God is the almighty, powerful, in control, sovereign, omnipotent. Job said to Him, "When You give quietness who then can make trouble" (Job 34:29)?
Beloved, what door of opportunity stands before you today? Go for it! "If God is for us, who can ever be against us" (Romans 8:31 NLT)?
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| Classroom reading of Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer |
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| the Fruit of Phillip's garden |
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| Mr. Greenleaf and I with precious children N. Avondale Library |
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| L-R three grands: oldest to youngest and tallest to smallest
"Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand." (Phil. 2:3-4 The Message)
"Me first!"
"I get the front seat!"
"It's my turn!"
Nobody had to teach me to be selfish; and for 59 years, Somebody has been and still is at work teaching me not to be.
"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second..."Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 22:36-38)
"I give you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are." (Romans 12:3a NLT)
"Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too." (Phil. 2:3-4 NLT)
Scripture clearly defines God's pecking order:
God first,
Others second,
Self last,
an order designed for His glory and our good.
Proper priorities take practice, and today is dress rehearsal, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next, and the next...
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| My daddy and me, 1977
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)
John Watson fathered John Watson in 1753
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John Watson fathered Calvin Watson in 1801
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Calvin Watson fathered William Alvin P. Watson in 1831
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William A. P. Watson fathered William Clayton Watson in 1861
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William C. Watson fathered William Winfred Watson, in 1895
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William W. Watson, Sr. fathered William W. Watson, Jr. in 1921
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William Winfred Watson, Jr. fathered Tamara Jill Watson in 1956
Down through the ages, new moms and dads have bemoaned the fact that their babies did not come with an instruction manual. I beg to differ. God's "Everything You Need to Know about Parenting A to Z" has been around for centuries. It's called The Bible.
"My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don't neglect your mother's instruction. What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck (Prov. 1:8-9). Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take" (Prov. 3:5-6).
"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses... Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long...." (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
"Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Beloved, are your kids driving your crazy? Are you at your wit's end? Read the Bible. It's good for the soul - yours and theirs!
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| Our oldest grandson,
"You will be able to tell wonderful stories to your children and grandchildren about the marvelous things I am doing." (Exodus 10:2 NLT)
One of my oldest grandson's creative stories:
One day, I ate ice cream, and I turned into a wizard and I could do anything. One day, I missed being ordinary so I ate that same kind of ice cream, and I turned back into a normal human. I never ate that kind of ice cream ever again!
Jesus was a storyteller. To clarify truth, He painted marvelous word pictures on parable canvases.
One of my Savior's lovely stories:
"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep!' In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine who are righteous and haven't strayed away!" (Luke 15:3-7)
Beloved, have you wandered away from God? Jesus, the Great Shepherd, is earnestly looking for you!
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| (seated) My Rebecca AKA Pearl Shellfish
"Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up...For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as slaves because of Jesus. For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:1,5-6)
Last week, while my Rebecca sparkled on stage as Pearl Shellfish, a second grader leaned over to his teacher and whispered, "They must pay her a LOT of money." "No," she replied, "actually, she does this for FREE."
In the New Testament, Peter, Paul, Timothy, Epaphras, and even Jesus' own half brother, James, referred to themselves as slaves of Christ or bondservants bound in service to God without wages. These holy men did not serve Jesus because they were forced to or paid to. Out of hearts of love and devotion, they served Him because they longed to.
Paul wrote, "Don't you realize that you become a slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living...Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using this illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy...now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life." (Romans 6:16-11)
Beloved, whose slave are you?
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| My great-grandparents: William Clayton and Mentie Cox Watson pictured with 10 of their 12 children and a relative, Emma Hamilton 1909
"Do you see what this means...all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running, and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who began and finished this race we're in. Study how He did it. Because he never lost sight of where He was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with God - He could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now He's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourself flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility He plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!" (Hebrews 12:1-3 The Message)
I found treasure hidden in my attic last week - a Watson history book written in the 1980s with family stories recorded back as far as 1740 when Watsons immigrated to the United States from Wales and Berwick, Scotland. The author, Shirley Watson Bain, wrote, "I have not found any royal blood, nor have I found any sorry people. The majority of them are just good, hard-working, and God-fearing people."
Someday, the readers and writer of this little blog will be history. Will those who come behind us find us good, hard-working, and God-fearing people?
Keep running, beloved! Don't quit! Set your eyes on Jesus and the exhilarating finish line with God!
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| My grandson and pals VBX 2015 "A cheerful heart is good like a medicine..." (Proverbs 17:22)
Smile for the day:
Yesterday at the Harpersville Library, I read Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer to lively preschoolers through fifth graders. Kids say the cutest things!
When one little fellow answered a question correctly, I said, "You are so smart," to which he replied, "Yeah, I'm a genius."
After reading chapter seven where Mr. Willowkins attempts to explain one God in three Persons by comparison to a water molecule, I asked, "So children, a hydrogen atom, plus a hydrogen atom, plus an oxygen atom makes what?" A little girl raised her hand enthusiastically and said, "A woman!" (Well, maybe 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen "Adams" might, sorta, kinda make a woman. Hehe.)
Beloved, give yourself a face lift today - SMILE!
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| (Picture from Cousins, Watsons and Relations by Shirley Watson Bain) |
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Our Rebecca, AKA Pearl Shellfish
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| My favorite son-in-law baptizing his daughter - my precious granddaughter Summer 2014 |
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| Miss Daisy, 5 weeks old
"And they began to weep aloud and embrace Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again." (Acts 20:37-38)
Well, the time has come. Bell's precious puppies move to new homes this week. Tonight, Boomer belongs to a family on the Coosa River. Tomorrow, Chance moves to a family-owned cattle farm in Wisconsin. Friday, Buck travels to a family in north Alabama; and Saturday, little Daisy goes home with a young couple in Mississippi.
Parting is such sweet sorrow.
As Roy Rogers and Dale Evans used to sing, "Happy trails to you [little ones], until we meet again!"
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