Memories

Saving the Best for Last

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

And Last He took the Cup

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:25-26 ESV

While we listened to quiet music, preparing to receive communion last Sunday, my mind turned back fifty years to memories of a farm where we once lived. In those days, my mornings began at a quarter to five. In the chilly darkness, I would stumble out to the barn where, our cow Blondie waited for me to bring her ground corn and hay. As I went about my work, she contentedly munched on ground corn and Kansas City, our cat watched expectantly hoping for the few drops of milk I sometimes sent her way. Twenty minutes later I would return with a bucket of warm fresh milk. This was poured through cheese cloth and allowed to settle, till the cream rose to the top. That cream we skimmed off and set aside. That very best part of the milk we saved for last.

And saving the best for last, is exactly what Jesus did at the very first communion table. While the disciples were still arguing over which of them was most important, Christ took the precious bread and the cup to try and show them what must soon happen on a terrible cross, waiting just up the road for Him. After three years, during which they had shared countless adventures, sailed through storms and seen miracles, the disciples still had much to learn. So, as they sat together at the Last Supper, Jesus gave thanks, then took the bread saying, “This is my body,” and then the cup, saying, “This is the new covenant in my blood.”

Two thousand years later it is no different. We still have the privilege with uncounted millions of others who have believed before us, to drink His cup, and remember that for Jesus, it meant the cross. For Him that cup was filled with suffering, but He drank off its bitterness and left for us the sweetness of the best for last. This New Covenant cup, bought with His blood, for us is filled with mercy, love and eternal life. All that Jesus asks us is that as we receive, we remember Him – until He comes again!

No Wallet – No Cell phone- No Keys!

/ pastorpete51 / 16 Comments

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:9-10 NIV

Last night in a forgetful moment, I went for my walk around the neighborhood sans cellphone, wallet or keys. In fact, I didn’t even don a baseball cap to ward off the stray shower which in Florida, we are so prone to have. I breathed in deeply of the air, now clean from the recently ended heavy thunderstorms and cool by August standards as the sun had almost set. Then my mind turned back to my exploring days as a ten-year old out on a summer afternoon.

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Then, I had no wallet, mainly because I didn’t own one. If I needed money for the Saturday matinee, Mom would slip me a quarter for the movies and if I was lucky, another dime to buy some popcorn. We kids didn’t even have Social Security numbers, and if anyone needed to know our identity, they just asked our parents. And of course, we had no cell phones. They weren’t even invented yet and even our house phones were pretty much reserved for adults. The most I ever got to say was, “Thanks for the swell Christmas present Gammy” and then, “Gotta go. Here’s my mom.” Maybe most amazing of all to our modern readers, I had no keys. Who needed them? Our house was never locked!

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When we were out at the beach, the neighbor even sometimes stopped in to borrow an egg or a cup of sugar when she was baking a cake. No, our lives were far from perfect, but we possessed a treasure of trust that we didn’t even know we had and is now lost forever. We trusted that whatever we had was enough and that our parents knew who we were. We depended on our friends to get help if we got in trouble (which was pretty often) and we believed that we were safe enough to leave the house unlocked because the bad guys had been defeated in the war and now the good ones were in charge.

And God reminded me this morning that, though that world has disappeared forever, He has not changed. He always knows exactly what we need and will take care of us even in the farthest corner of the earth. And our true identity is safely hidden with Christ in God. Even when we forget, God remembers who He has made us to be. And last and best of all; God listens. When our cell phones go dead and the internet goes down, we stay connected to God. There is no place on earth where we need to ask, “Can you hear me now?” because He is with us always and forever. Finally, we must believe that the cross of Calvary has unlocked the door to God’s house and that it stands open for all who will come. He is always home. God is waiting for us to grow weary from play. He watches for us to come safely home with the assurance that we are welcome, we are expected, and that our place is set at Heaven’s dinner table for all who put their trust in Him!

Good-bye Doug

/ pastorpete51 / 16 Comments

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17 NKJV

When the news came last week that Doug had been in a bad accident on the farm, I wondered if this might be his last. The week that he survived gave us all some time, not only to pray for him and his family but to remember this simple man’s kindness, loyalty to his friends and willingness to help. Doug didn’t read much. Besides repair manuals, the only books I think he ever read were the Boy Scout manual and the Bible. All his life, Doug had struggled with learning. His slight speech impediment also made it difficult for those who were not friends to understand all he said. But at 6 AM on Sunday mornings when the church furnace didn’t come on, Doug got the call. When someone’s car broke down and they couldn’t afford to take it to the garage, he fixed it at his house. Over the thirty plus years we knew him, Doug had rewired two of our homes, and replaced most of the plumbing in one. Doug also helped take care of the farm I managed. When the pipes leaked, the irrigation wouldn’t come on or the fields needed mowing, Doug was there.

But age wasn’t kind with our friend and after a few accidents falling asleep at the wheel, heart surgery and a fire that took out his big garage, Doug was hurting. But just as always, he assured me that he could cut the fields one more year, once he got the old tractor running again and bought 100 gallons of diesel at the crazy high prices of 2022. Then came the phone call that Doug was in intensive care, with nine broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Throughout the last week we all prayed that God would work a miracle and bring him back one more time. But it was not to be. Jesus had made other arrangements for our friend. He had a schedule to keep with the almighty and a home prepared by grace that would never need the furnace serviced. There would be fields to walk through, but never mowed. There is fresh living water that doesn’t run through pipes that freeze up in winter and a place prepared at a table.

No, my friend wasn’t perfect, but he had put His faith in a Savior who was. Despite his failings, he kept hoping to get his kids pointed back in the right direction or help out any neighbor he could. I can hardly believe I can’t call him up today or send him a thank you note for whatever work he had done lately at the farm. Goodbye Doug. May the Lord watch over us both until we meet in that city where there will be no more night, neither tears nor suffering. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for letting us have such a wonderful faithful gentle friend who will be sorely missed.