Archbishop Gregory Holley

Time's A' Wasting, Your Life Is Ahead Of You!

 Mose was the church janitor in a backwoods country church somewhere it Southeastern Oklahoma. While cleaning the church for Sunday he heard the buzz about the young preacher that was coming. The young preacher had never preached outside of a youth meeting or a Sunday School class.  But the Pastor was promoting and people were listening.  It was going to be a full weekend.

On the weekend as was his custom, Mose would arrive early, check on a few last minute items and settle in for the service.  Coming through the sanctuary he saw the young man sitting in the pew nearest to the organ looking quite bewildered.  A nod, a smile and Mose was on his way tending to his duties. The church began to fill up.

The choir sang and swayed their way to glorious fulfilling.  Announcements were made of the upcoming chili supper and ice cream social. Awards were given to a graduate of High School. Then it was time.

The Pastor rose from his seat and strode to the pulpit as he had done so often before.  His voice boomed of the young man, the influence on the youth and their complete happiness of the opportunity to have such a fine young specimen of the ministry of the future. Admonishments to all to listen carefully and receive were given. The stage was set.

The pulpit was empty.  The walk from the front row to the steps leading up to the platform seemed like miles. With feet weighing like boxes of lead the young man shuffled forward. Each step looked like Mt. Everest. The carpet leading to the pulpit, time worn and tested, stretched endlessly.

The arrival at the pulpit was anti climatic. He was there. Years of praying, dreaming and believing and he was there.  The crowd set quietly waiting for seemingly hours for him to begin. Somewhere on the left side a baby cried and the fold chair creaked as the mother pushed toward the nursery. Dad smacked Johnny on the third row and you could hear it like a shot on the first day of squirrel season.  The young man opened his mouth but nothing came. He was frozen. Some call it stage fright but he was frozen.

Turning ever so slightly he moved toward the edge of the platform as he shuffled down the steps and in his ears were ringing the words of the Preacher. “Folks our young preacher is not able to continue but I have a word….”  The words trailed off as the young preacher found a chair in a darkened classroom and slumped down.  Church ended and no one knew where he had gone. He hoped to sneak out and never be seen again.

The door to the classroom opened and light switched on revealing the young preacher in all his depression.  It was Mose, the church janitor, closing up and preparing to leave. “Well, there you are!” 

There was nowhere to hide. Then the invitation came. “Young man, won’t you come home with me and have some lunch?” Before he could say no, the doors were closing behind them and the quick walk to Mose’ house was over. Lunch was ready on the table and sitting down the young preacher was asked to pray.

Without a thought the young man prayed and lunch began. With dishes put away the afternoon found the two on the porch on two cane bottom chairs enjoying the afternoon.  Little was said of the morning until just before he was ready to leave when Mose approached the subject. The tension filled the air but this was what was said.

“Young man, God has called you to preach. You will never be happy doing anything else so go back to it and He will give you strength to do just as you did when you prayed Grace over the meal. Now go on now, times a wasting and your life is ahead of you.”

Years later the church was enjoying an annual anniversary service and the Bishop was in town preaching.  The pastor had not been there long and many people invited him and the Bishop for lunch.  The Bishop, cordial and caring asked if Mose was still the church janitor. The reply was yes, but he was on up in years.

To this the Bishop replied to the puzzlement of the Pastor, “If it would be alright, I would like to have lunch with Mose alone.  Tell him to sure to have time sit on those 2 cane bottom chairs we sat on so many years ago.  We have a lot to catch up on!”

 

Well, It was like this...

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw some times, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e. Coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE .. and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option, I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our spanking.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got spanked there and then we got spanked again when we got home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T; SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.

(author unknown)

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My Friend, Chuck, Sent These Thoughts to Ponder

Some minds are like concrete
thoroughly mixed up and
permanently set.

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Peace starts with a smile.

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I don't know why some people
change churches; what difference
does it make which one you stay
home from?

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A lot of church members who are singing
"Standing on the Promises"
are just sitting on the premises.

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We were called to be
witnesses, not lawyers or judges.

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Be ye fishers of men. You catch
them - He'll clean them.

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Coincidence is when God
chooses to remain anonymous.

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Don't put a question mark
where God put a period.

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Don't wait for 6 strong
men to take you to church.

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Forbidden fruits create many jams.

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God doesn't call the qualified,
He qualifies the called.

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God loves everyone, but probably prefers

"fruits of the spirit" over "religious nuts!"

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God promises a safe landing,
not a calm passage.

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He who angers you, controls you!

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If God is your Co-pilot - swap seats!

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Prayer:

Don't give God instructions -- just report for duty!

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The task ahead of us is never as
great as the Power behind us.

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The Will of God never takes you to
where the Grace of God will not protect you.

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We don't change the message,
the message changes us.

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You can tell how big a person is
by what it takes to discourage him.

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The best mathematical equation
I have ever seen:
1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given.

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Don't let your worr ies get the
best of you; remember, Moses 
started out as a basket case.

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Some people are kind, polite, and
sweet-spirited until you try to sit in their pews.

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Many folks want to serve God,
but only as advisors.

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It is easier to preach ten sermo ns
than it is to live one.

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The good Lord didn't create anything
without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

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When you get to your wit's end,
you'll find God lives there.

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People are funny; they want the
front of the bus, the middle of the road,

and the back of the church.

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Opportunity may knock once, but temptation
bangs on your front door forever.

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www.gaylasmagazine.com www.rolemodelsofamerica.org

Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win

Somewhere in the back of my mind during a phone call this week the familiar phrase rang in my ears.  "Winners never quit and quitters never win." The words fell from the lips of Vince Lombardi who made several passionate statements about winning in his coaching career. Like, "Winning is a habit, unfortunately, so is losing." Or, "We didn't lose the game, we just ran out of time." And the unforgettable, "If winning isn't everything, then why do they keep score?"

So what knocks us out of the game of life. Are we passionate about some thing and simply lose easier at others? Do we not forget that we are sum of whole of life in all of it's dignities and indignities? I hear the old marketing phrase, "Every winner knows a loser and every loser knows a winner." It is one of the platform quotes of marketing director seeking to have no one overlook a possibility.

Not sure who said, "The winner says, " I will risk for what I might gain while the losers says, I won't risk for what I have."  This seems to be the climate we live in and walking by faith is ghost of gospel laborers gone by. The whispers of the night cry out seeking to bring fear into the heart of the adventurer.  But, God is my witness, we have gained more in hard times than in good times.

Why is it so?  Do we relax into the humdrum of the enjoyable? When the pain of life singularly brings assertion of difficulty do we head for the shade tree to see if the lemonade is ready, made by someone who has squeezed the lemons and prospers from our desire to "rest for awhile?" Do patterned lifestyles rob us of opportunities clothed in brier patches of residual harvest? Are we bored of the same old, same old until we forget the reaping is in the continual?

Zappos online shoes has an interesting outlook on finding folks who will be dependable, trainable winners. Here's the offer made after a four week training program of new hires. "If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time worked, plus we will offer you a $1000.00 dollar bonus." You read it right. One thousand dollars for quitting!

They figure this will sort out the winners from the losers. When they started the offer was $100.00 but the bait had to sweetened so the loser in the winner would be drawn out. About 10% take the offer.  The reasoning is that if the employee takes the offer he or she wasn't fit for the company in the first place and they were money ahead to entice the feint in heart to go and ahead and quit making a fast buck in the process!

The question that remains is, "What does it take to strengthen the resolve of the winner in one's self or what does it take to entice one to just go ahead and quit?"

My father said he would rather drink creek water and eat cornbread than to have a glass of milk and a steak if it meant quitting!  The challenge is to be the winner everybody knows and not the quitter everybody shrinks away from!

The Political Fight for Preeminence

Col. 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

"Aw you go first!"  "Naw, you go first!" "Naw, you!"  This was the game we played as we feigned humbleness in college.  The teacher had taught steadily on being humble and preferring your brother in all things. We freshmen, seeking to make light of everything, began the contest of who could appear to be most humble. The joke wore old and soon we were pushing and shoving to get in the cafeteria line like always and peeling rubber to burn out of the parking lot to be first.

Preeminence.  That unused word in the English language. It is the condition of being dominant.  The need to be first in all things. Ladder climbing. And you know what comes next.

Pushing. Shoving. Wrestling. Arguing. The age old art of seeking to best those we would wish to dominate.

The Political forces are at it again in a big way. With the velvet hammers put away to await back room agreements the ice hammers are out seeking to put the eyes out of every opponent around.  Bragging of the best record.  Boasting of who would make a better leader. And anything goes. No ground is sacred.

Yet in all of this I have not heard anyone refer to the head of the body.  We, who claim to be a Christian nation must have remembered at some point that Jesus is the head of His Body!  He is the beginning, the first born from the dead so that he might have preeminence.  Yes, dominance.

While most Americans still claim the Bible as their favorite book, is it out of obligation or desire?  What will we do to get ahead?  Who will we crush on our way to the top?  Who will we forgo on the subject of who will be next in preeminence?

My recent wrangling with the Service Department of a Company with $400 million dollars in annual receipts proved that unless humanity fights to be heard it will go ignored.  This is not as it should be. One of the greatest arguments of the consumer is the feeling of having to fight for what should be understood as given in this economy. I found myself involved in "fighting for my rights and the rights of our charitable organization!"

What a gritty feeling!  In the end it may actually turn out alright with the Bus, the Presidency, with whatever is being fought for is "won over."  But did we really win?

Companies smudged with lack of quality craftsmanship.  Nations plagued with politicians chewing up and spitting out each other in the bid to be the "big boy?"    Massive amounts of money will be spent, hearts will be wrenched until someone wins.  But then what?

No, until Christ is celebrated as the head, until He has the preeminence nothing that is won is won.

An Old Farmer's Advice

The author is unknown on this piece. Chuck Ruppert afforded me with the laughter of it. Enjoy!

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong. 
* Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
* Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
* Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
* It don't take a very big person  to carry a grudge.

* You cannot unsay a cruel word.
* Every path has a few  puddles.
* When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
* The best sermons are lived, not preached.
* Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
* Don't judge folks by their relatives.
* Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
* Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
* If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
* Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
* The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.
* Always drink upstream from the herd.
* Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad  judgment.
* Lettin'  the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
* If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
* Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Leave the rest to God.

The North and the South of New Hampshire

A lot has been in the news of the recent political races in New Hampshire. Some win, some lose.  Some spin the bad news. Some just ignore that there was bad news. But there is an interesting story told 20 years ago in the Atlanta Constitution-Journal by a local reporter named Mike Christensen.

" You can drive north and south on interstate highways in New Hampshire, but not east and west. Ask someone in coastal Portsmouth why there is no four-lane over to the boom towns of Salem and Nashua and he will look puzzled. The response will undoubtedly be, " We never needed to get there before."

The truth is it is about two hours at most from New Hampshires east to west borders.  It is about 4 to 4 1/2 hours from north to south.   About 100 miles at its widest point and 200 miles at its longest point. Indirectly we in Texas could sniff at this because the City of Houston alone is over 400 square miles.  It is hard for anyone here to dream of driving in any direction without an interstate. We, unlike the story above, have a need of going everywhere!

From Maine to Massachusetts its an easy drive.  And now there is a four lane from Concord to Lebanon going northwest up into the state.  93 kinda goes northwest up out of the top of the state.  But the rest of the cities big and small have two lane farm roads still as the major travel lanes.

Why all this thought about a north and a south New Hampshire?  Well, like the response twenty years ago it is still the same. Not many people have a need of a four lane highway to their town in New Hampshire.  They "never needed to get there before," twenty years ago and still pretty much don't need to get there in a hurry now.

Is this your attitude? We tend to build major thoroughfares to where the masses want to go.  But the road to places we never go are left as paths and difficult to travel. Are the destinations of your heart four lane?

You can be sure of it.  What we want to do we do. What we talk about doing we tend to not make the sacrifice to lay out the way and make it quick and easy to get there.  John Maxwell said it correctly, "If you always do what you always do, you will always get what you always got!"

Now, how verbally correct that is I do not know but I do know the meaning is correct.  We are for the most part like the north and south of New Hampshire. Where we go is well traveled and and where we do not feel a need to go is neglected. Then we our land is flooded the roads are clogged like a political  convention and no one goes anywhere.

The writer of old wrote, "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."  The glory of this word is in plain view and the way is already made. Are you missing the Interstate that leads to holiness before God and not men?  Have you made a way that seems right to you?  Maybe its time to see the forest and not the trees!  It's worth it, the New Jerusalem is just over the the way down that highway and runs north and south, east and west! Get on it!

Questions?

I was reading an article in the Idiot's Guide to Negotiation the other night. I was intrigued by type of questions that give the questioner more control over the tone and flow of the negotiation. Discovering information that only your opponent knows or that which is difficult to get to. The article referred to several kinds of special- purpose questions, and each has a different purpose and place in negotiation. Here they are:

• General questions about anything and everything
• Specific questions about the matter at hand
• Leading questions to get the opponent in fluid conversation
• Suggestive questions for reactive action
• Obvious questions when looking for time to think
• Questions that imply a choice
• Successive questions that go on and on

It seems to me that this is not needed to be taught to most Americans. We question about everything around us. Inquiring minds need to know. Could it be we have grown just a bit nosy?  A little too interested in that which does not concern us?

Celebrities run from photographers every day.  Dogging the every step of the celebrity is a hope by the photographer that something can be made to happen that is image proof of an unbridled nation hungry for gossip. Now a documentary has been made about a lady in England who gives the papers what they want.

And that is? Well the image of a celebrity that we have in our mind. The image that questions have drawn and the conclusions thereof!  She has made quite a packet of money staging look alike actors doing the things the public thinks the particular celebrity or well know individual might be engaged in.  And with a straight face she feels she has answered the questions by giving the public the answer to their unsolicited questions of another's life!

So I ask a leading question.... Would not we be better off sitting at the feet of Jesus in prayer and supplication exchanging question for answers by His loving kindness and gentle love?  You be the judge.....

How Jacob Gave The Gift That Prospered 3

Wave after wave of gifts flowed toward Esau from a heart of wisdom chiseled from 14 years of labor and obedience.  Jacob, if he is not seen to be afraid of Esau, Esau, it may be hoped will not be a threat to Jacob. Left to last by the leading servants Jacob settles down to a troubled night of sleep. He wrestles with and wins over the angelic visitor and rises to gather his wives and children.

Across the river they travel, early in the morning. Jacob is limping from the supernatural battle but unafraid for he now has the blessing of Almighty God! The success of the embattled engagement would be his until his death. He had been successful in persisting in holy importunity and did not let go until he had been blessed.

Jacob had given a new name to the place of blessing.  It is Peniel or the face of God for truly he had obtained the appearance and favor of God. It was God's mercy that he had originally escaped with his life and now it is with God's favor that he returns able to deal with the inequities of his relationship with Esau.  Now, as feet touched the shoreline he sees Esau approaching.

Bowing seven times deep to the ground he came near to his brother. The Bible says, "And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept."  The years of bitterness gave way to the sweetness of God and peace enveloped the brothers.   A lifetime of pain had broken into the joy of forgiveness.

But notice the picture of the two men and their separate entourages. Jacob is coming, preceded by 580 head of livestock as gifts, followed by his wives and children and their families and the remainder of the servants and livestock. Esau is coming with a guard of 400 men, and looks big, ready to fight, ready to annihilate.  Jacob looks tender and familial, full of the birthright and was to have dominion and in every way the better man.  Esau, bitter and angry, read to satisfy his angry urges.

A humble submissive caravan goes a great way toward turning away the right. And as one wise man said, " Many preserve themselves by humbling themselves, for the bullet flies over him who stoops." Esau embraced Jacob. They both wept. And the gift that was given prospered!

How Jacob Gave The Gift That Prospered 2

Jacob, coming home from a far off job, is nearing the river where he must make an unprecendented move to shift the danger of a threatening brother into a peaceful reunion.  He has marched through the mental and physical corridors of the warehouses of blessings gained on the journey and has chosen to give his aggressive brother a gift suited to his character. A mixture of livestock, 580 head in all and the number suited his calculations of that which would provide a gift that would prosper.

He did not need a job.  He did not need a loan. He did not need property or a house. He need needed a negotiating platform for peace from the old rivalry of two brothers.  Now Esau would see what resulted in his having sold his birthright to Jacob and with eyes ablaze would react with jealous rage at the inventory of Jacob's blessing.

Jacob needed to turn this event into prosperity. That which threatened all evidence of the blessing must not be dealt with properly.  The gift is chosen.  580 head of livestock.  Now the choice must be made as to 'how' to give the gift.  'Where' to give the gift.  'Who' would give the gift.

Upon rising early in the morning he decides to send his servants ahead with a nimble message with waves of livestock.  Each servant was to say when asked by Esau, 'Whose are these?', "These are your servant's Jacob's, and they are a present to you and behold, he is behind us."  This simple message was to come time after time until Jacob would appear empty handed and fall before him hoping that Esau would accept the gifts and turn years of fear into a future of prosperity and brotherhood.

So the first wave of  200 female goats and 20 male goats left the camp. Upon their heels came the second wave of 200 ewes and 20 rams. The third wave of 30 mulch camels and their 30 colts rambled along. And then the fourth wave, 40 cattle and 10 bulls and lastly the fifth wave of 20 choice horses and 10 foals.  580 head of livestock in all plodding toward Esau as the gift that is meant to prosper.

Then Jacob steps into his place in the dramatic procession of benevolence and begins to march toward his fears. He hopes the servants will remember their instructions.  They must call Esau, "Lord."  They must call their boss, Esau's 'servant.'  They must tell him the livestock was a small present from his brother Jacob, a sample of his acquisitions while abroad. They must wait their turn and let each phase of the gift settle in on Esau.

There is a pattern that will bring you prosperity. There is a gift that prospers.  Tomorrow we learn the outcome in this amazing proposition!

Have a blessed day and may God richly reward you!