Where The Rubber Meets The Road
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Love
- Fiction No
Poppa married at an early age and I have never been sorry for it. My first child was born when I was at the grand old age of 19, it was a girl and all I wanted to do was hold her in my arms and gaze at her for hours at a time. I nicknamed her Tootie and couldn't get enough of her. Not much has changed in that department; she still fascinates me because she is so much like her mother. Whom was and still is the love of my life. Jesus called my wife home some years back but I can still see her in my mind, Long beautiful black hair that seemed to flow forever that always smelled like fresh cut roses, her eyes were as black as her hair and so kind and sweet they melted my soul even when I was angry. Tootie is 47 now and could pass for her mothers twin sister with the exception of one thing. Her mother was a quiet gentle woman, quick with a smile and loved to sing and play the piano, a girlie girl from head to toe. Tootie is a jeans and boots kinda girl; her life is wrapped up in God, rodeo and horses. She drives a four-wheel drive four-door pickup truck and most of the time has a very long horse trailer behind it that even has sleeping quarters in it. She looks like her Mom but took after her dad in her interests, a true blue Texan with a soft heart and loves to sing, play the piano and talk about the love of God. The short of it is, she always was and still is the model daughter, never causing concern or grief to her mother and me. As a daughter she has made me proud, a well of sweet, living water, bringing much joy, and happiness. I often said I probably should have nicknamed her Buck.
Once as a four-year-old, normally a quite obedient little girl, she was having an attack of stubbornness - a disease endemic to the species. Still, it was surprising to see such a severe case in one of such tender years. Her mother had asked her to do something, but she was much too absorbed in her own activities to take time out for that. I watched as her mother went over to impress on her the importance of minding her parents promptly - to which she responded with a right hook to the jaw of her surprised mother! I realized that her behavior was completely unacceptable and would become dangerous not only to my wife but also to Tootie if it were allowed to continue, something happened and that sweet little river of living water had become stopped up! So Poppa intervened at this point by giving the would-be boxer the correction of her young life, all for the sake of removing the debris that caused the hindrance of the flow, after which she was sent to her room. Minutes later, she was back, tears still streaming down her cherub face, and crawled sobbing into my lap as she put her chubby little arms around my neck. What followed is one of the warmest and tenderest memories in this father's heart. What she said was not "I'm sorry, Poppa," or "I won't do it again," but - with a wisdom and perception far beyond her years - "I love you, Poppa!"
Discipline is 'not' God's way of saying, "I'm through with you," or a mark of abandonment by him. Rather, it is the loving act of God to bring you back. Every one of us knows that there have been times when we would not listen to God or pay any attention to what his Word was saying, until finally he used a severe discipline to get our attention so that we would listen. When I worked with Teen Challenge I got a phone call at 2am asking me for help. A young lady overdosed on sleeping pills. On the way out the door I called a doctor that worked with us. The doctor instructed me to keep her awake by any means necessary...including the pain of slapping if necessary...That was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, I was the one that had introduced her to Jesus, but the pain was necessary for the child's survival. So, too, in the Christian's journey: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it"
"The water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life." (John 4:14)
"And Isaac digged again the well of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them up..." (Genesis 26:18)
The Word makes it clear that from the Lord's side the life of the Holy Spirit, with all its up-welling and outflowing, should be a spontaneous thing. On God's side there are no difficulties. As far as He is concerned there is nothing more to be done to make possible the reality of the well within. The very fact that when the Lord Jesus ascended to glory in the power of a completed and perfected work, the Holy Spirit spontaneously came down from heaven, and is proof that from God's side there was nothing remaining to be done to produce the flow. The Lord had made full provision. On the other hand, though, such spontaneity of up welling and out flowing of the waters of the Spirit is not as general among Christians as it should be. The well is there; the spring is provided. If we have believed into Christ and truly belong to Him, His Spirit is there and the well is within. There can be no doubt about this if we are true believers. But we may have seen all the evidences of water but no freshness or flow, and have discovered that although a spring existed, its water was interrupted by obstacles, which hindered its flow. This can happen in human life. The spring of the Spirit may be present, but with obstructions preventing the outflow. Abraham was noted for the wells which he dug. He was a man of faith, and faith always digs wells. The Philistines, however, blocked them up with rubbish after he died, so that his son, Isaac, had to unstop them. Isaac speaks of the power of a risen life in union with heaven, and this gives a good indication of the meaning of the opened wells. The Old Testament type finds its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus, the greater Isaac who, in the power of His resurrection, ascension and heavenly life, has opened up anew those fountains of the Spirit, which had been blocked and choked by many things, which were contrary to the will of God. The wells are opened in His resurrection. The Spirit is now freely given. But we have to see that no obstacles are allowed to hinder the flow.
Judges 13:5..Talking about Samson..
"He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines "
Notice the writer said that Samson would begin -- and nothing more. His would be a life of promise that would be unfulfilled, a life that failed to attain to the real purpose appointed for him. In the words of the parable of the sower, he would be the seed sown among thorns, which brought no fruit to perfection. Without wrongly judging, we can all think of people who fall into that category, Christians who ran well and then began to fall away. Some may have fallen morally, but others have just fallen from spiritual usefulness; at first they gave great promise of fruitfulness but later they were found, spiritually speaking, on the shelf.
Samson began so well. He was a great and loveable giant of a man who lived life with tremendous gusto. At the end, however, we find him blind, bound and buried under the rubble of a Philistine temple. "The Philistines laid hold on him and put out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison house" (Judges 16:21).
We need to ponder his story lest we come to the place where we have to confess that although we are true believers who made a good start, we are now bound, not by brass chains but by mini-bondages which threaten our spiritual usefulness and our ability to bring fruit to perfection. Is it possible that this could ever be our divine epitaph: "He began -- but he never finished"?
(Heb 12:5) And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them, which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands, which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
One of the problems of being an adult Christian is that we no longer think we should be corrected or disciplined. It's just not like that Beloved! For truly whether we like it or not He loves us enough that He will exercise that right.
A little boy's toy boat went out of reach on a lake one day and started floating away. A man on the side started throwing rocks at the boat and the boy became horrified at what might happen. But then he realized that the rocks were going over the boat and making ripples that finally pushed the boat back to shore and into the boy's hands. Sometimes, when we float away from God, it appears that he is throwing rocks at us. But he is really using the ripples to bring us back home.
And that is where the "Rubber meets the Road"!
God Bless You
Poppa
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
State:
Texas
Country:
United States
Email:
jerryleekay@suddenlink.net
Website:
www.jerryleekay.net
Profile:
Click here!
|
|
Most Recent From This Writer
Inspired Still - Designs by LaVellaK
Design Challenged? No worries! Among many design services I offer, I'll gladly design hats, t-shirts and more for you or your organized Special Event. Email me at justask@worthfinding.com for details!
Photgraphy & Design by LaVella Kraft
|
Select Article or Story
|