Good Golly, Miss Molly!

Good golly, Miss Molly; this is the last day of 2008 and I ain’t near finished—not even close! I mean, heck, the clothes are still hangin’ on the line; the hogs ain’t been kilt the yards ain’t been swept; the cemetery ain’t been cleaned; the barn ain’t been painted; the pigs ain’t been cut; the wood ain’t been chopped; the fence ain’t been mended; the soap ain’t been made; the eggs ain’t been gathered; the hay ain’t been kevered; and of all things the cow ain’t been milked, so we ain’t got no milk, cream, or butter. Shoot, I ain’t hardly got time to finish by the end of the day. I shore am glad that someone else done figured out that “what don’t get done today, will still be there a waiting tomorrow (although I do feel sorry for the cow)!” I shore hope the sun will be a shinin’; otherwise, I ain’t never gonna get all caught up!
Even so, I am trusting that, during 2009, you will not allow all the stuff of life to distract you from the simplicity and purity of knowing Christ, whom to know is eternal life; that you will find yourself consistently resting in His finished work and, thereby, avoiding spiritual burnout; that you will have ears to hear what most miss—His still, small voice—and, thus, be clued-in to what really needs to be heard; and that you will have eyes to see what many cannot see—the miraculous truth of the one True Gospel—and, thus, not be deceived by the well-intentioned religious, who would rob you of the joy and freedom of knowing Him!
I have truly enjoyed writing these perspectives this year and, even more, I have appreciated all the comments you have made (both positive and negative!), but most of all, I appreciate you and your love and friendship!

May He continue to bless your life with the riches of His lavished grace,

Mac Goddard
12/31/08

Confused? Missing the point?

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 [CHRISTMAS EVE!—a bit sunny and 470],
Maybe the entire universe is confused! As I sit at my computer, thinking about what I want to say to you today, it suddenly dawns upon me that I am watching a most unusual happening: there are about 50 robins pecking around in my backyard, looking for worms. Folks, this ain’t springtime; it’s Christmas Eve and 470F!
As if that were not enough, as I watch the robins, I also watch as a golfer walks to the edge of the small lake on #16, to approach his ball. In order to hit it, he has to stand in the edge of the water and he does (he can only be my friend, Travis; no one else loves golf that much)! Folks, this ain’t springtime; it’s Christmas Eve and 470F!
Today is Christmas Eve and that means that tomorrow is Christmas Day, and unless I am confused (which is entirely possible!) this is the time we (Christians) celebrate the Birth of our Savior, aka Jesus; however, the part of the population I can see is just about as confused as the robins and the golfers. Yes, I realize that not everyone “celebrates” His birth the same way I might celebrate it, but Robins in December seems a bit strange to me. Surely, golfers standing in water in December is more than a bit strange (well, for everyone but my friend, Travis).
Yesterday afternoon, I took my granddaughters from our house to their paternal grandmother’s house in Byron, via Gray, which meant that I was privileged to travel the highways for quite a spell. Trust me on this: it seemed that everyone was taking somebody someplace and they all chose the same time I chose to make the trip. In other words, the traffic was horrendous!
As you might imagine, I was in no hurry, as I just don’t hurry much anymore, espe-cially at Christmas. At this point in my life, I am designed more for comfort than I am for speed, or so one of my friends told me, so I was just tooling along, enjoying Sydney and Caroline, as we sang various Christmas songs—celebrating Christmas—and wondering why everyone was in such a rush to get someplace. Didn’t they know it is Christmas?
Later in the evening, Annis, Michael and I decided to go out to eat, as no one wanted to cook, and Annis needed to pick up something at one of the stores at the new mall. Eating was a piece of cake, but EVERYONE in Georgia had gathered at the mall (or so it seemed) and EVERY ONE of them was in a HURRY to do what they apparently did not want to do, in the first place (or so they acted!)—buy Christmas presents for people they apparently didn’t even like.
I don’t know for sure, but it surely seemed that they were missing the point, aka confused, as to what this season is really about, namely Him, not us! Maybe the entire un-iverse IS confused! Slow down! Take a deep breath! Celebrate Jesus!

The Forerunner of Jesus

Saturday morning, December 20, 2008 [cloudy and 670],
During this Christmas season, let us not forget John, the son of Zacharias and Eliza-beth; you probably remember him as John the Baptist (although I don’t remember reading anything about him ever joining a Baptist church!). Actually, it is probably a bit more accurate to call him John the Baptizer, but, then, that will probably make all the Baptist folk angry, because some of them really do think he founded the Baptist church. Oh, well—
Call him whatever you choose, but this is the truth of the matter: God was rather emphatic that the folk call him John: “And it came about on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. And his mother answered and said, ‘No indeed; but he shall be called John.’ And they said to her, ‘There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.’ And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet, and wrote as follows, ‘His name is John.’ And they were all astonished (Luke 1:59-63).
In case you have forgotten, this is what Gabriel (the angel) said to Zacharias prior to the aforementioned meeting: “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while he is yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17; emphasis, added).
Sometimes (all the time, really!), it is best to stop arguing and fussing and making excuses and to simply do what God says do—even if it doesn’t make any sense. Heck, I have no idea why it mattered so much to God that this child be named John; as far as I am concerned, He could have named him Zacharias (at least it would have made more sense). Actually, I would have been completely satisfied with “Little Bo Peep,” or even John Calvin, but the fact of the matter is that He wanted Him named John, and that is enough for me.
If you will go back and read the third paragraph, you will readily see that God had a very specific and quite wonderful purpose for John; I mean, this is awesome! Were it not for the last sentence, one could confuse him with Him! There was, however, this one drawback: “And the child continued to grow, and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel” (Luke 1:8; emphasis, added). Why would God want this handpicked “John” to live in the desert, eating locusts and wild honey and wearing leather skins, for such a long time, prior to his actually doing all those important things? Hmmm, I thought you would want to remember him during these days!

He Touched My Friend!

Thursday night, December 18, 2008 [warmer, PTL!],
This afternoon I visited someone who has lung cancer and is presently living in a rehab facility. He is trying to regain the strength that both the illness and the treatment have robbed from him. The mountain he is attempting to climb is much too high, every step leaves him almost breathless; yet, he looks forward to being released from this facility and returning to his home, where he lives—alone.
When I walked into his room, he had a visitor, but he interrupted their conversation to tell me that he had been meaning to call me, but just hadn’t done it, then he motioned for me to have a seat in his wheel chair. He obviously wanted to talk about something that was important to him. To be sure, I already knew that I was there by Divine appointment because of the circumstances that led me to him, so I sat down, waiting for the other visitor to leave, so he could say whatever he need to say. He didn’t wait; instead, he started right in with his story. Soon the visitor excused himself, and I think he did so because he knew that our friend had more to say than he was saying in his presence.
As soon as the visitor left the room, my friend got up out of his bed, took the several, labored steps necessary to reach his chair, and plopped down, looking directly at me. I knew he had something on his mind, a burden that he needed to release. He was fighting tears, as if men aren’t supposed to cry. Then these words came forth: I can’t tell you when it happened, all I can tell you is that it happened; I have truth in here (pointing to his heart), but I need to know how to pray; I need to know how to pray so that I am not sounding selfish. I knew what he meant, what he was asking.
I find it so sad that so many have been taught such erroneous things about God, things that say I am being selfish, when having been diagnosed with lung cancer, I am asking God for healing; things that say I am being selfish, when I am scared to death (not of death, but of dying), and I am asking God to take away my fear; things that say I am being selfish, when my life is completely out of my control, and I am asking God to bring some sense of hope and security to me.
As you might imagine, I told my friend not to worry about sounding selfish because God already knows that he is, and it doesn’t offend Him one bit. I told him to tell God whatever he wanted to tell Him, and He would understand. I told him to yell and to scream at God, if He needed to, and He would gather him up in His big arms and hug him. I told him to tell God that he wanted Him to heal him, that he really wanted Him to heal him, and God wouldn’t see it as selfishness, but as honesty.
Before I finished that piece of this conversation, I told him that most of my prayer life has to do with my getting to the place, where I desire His will for me, more than I desire my own will, and I told him that it was hard, very hard. Then, of all things, He asked me to pray for him. I mumbled something, probably something asinine, but I know God heard me and I know that He touched my friend! I really like it when He touches my friends!
Have I told you lately how blessed I am to be able to spend my life doing this? Talk about grace!

Be It Unto Me According to Your Word

Friday morning, December 12, 2008 [clear skies, and 470; too cold for me!],
To say the very least, these words of Mary should capture our attention : “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). On the surface, they might not seem like much, but the next time an angel leads you into a place where “angels, themselves, fear to tread,” try them on for size, and, then, let me know what you think.
This is the “where angels fear to tread” place that Gabriel (the angel) was leading Mary into: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will over-shadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God” (vs. 35). You think about this: Mary is a virgin, engaged-to-be-married, but a virgin, none-the-less—no hanky-panky, whatsoever (what a novel idea!); although she was probably looking forward to having a quiver filled with children, who would be the sons and daughters of the man to whom she was engaged, aka Joseph, she had no idea (none, nada, zilch!) that God had chosen her to give birth to, of all people, the Son of God (her “how can this be” question evidences this!) and certainly NOT before being married (As you know, in her day adulterers were not looked upon very favorably; to say the least her “political future” would be placed in serious jeopardy, not to mention that she would be stoned to death. Can you imagine her trying to convince anyone that this conception was, well, that it was Immaculate?); and, finally, she saw herself as God’s bondslave, which was a good thing—a very good thing—otherwise, she would have “cut and run” faster than a beagle hound chasing a rabbit through a sage field on a cold winter morning (Of course, running would have been futile because God had already made His decision and His decision always stands, regardless of how fast we run!). Yes, I can see why she would have “double clutched” with “how can this be” before she came through with these words that will live in infamy (Yes, I intended to use that word!): “. . . be it done to me according to your word.”
Oftentimes, the Lord leads us (maybe it is angels!) into places where “angels fear to tread,” places where we would NEVER volunteer to go, places we know we have no business being in, places that scare the wits out of us, places that move us so far out of our comfort zones, that we feel completely out of control, and when He does, it becomes OUR time to say, “Be it unto me according to your Word.”
Don’t think you will escape this, as Jesus Himself could not! Remember His words: “Not my will but Thine be done!” Need I remind you that these words did NOT come easily for Him, it took the sweating of blood, and, I might add, they will not come easily for you, but they will come; He will see to it!
I hope you will think about this-

The Seed of God

Wednesday afternoon, December 10, 2008 [raining cats & dogs!],
Listen carefully to these words, spoken by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary: “And behold you shall conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus” (Luke 1:31). Then, as you remember, she responded with, “How can this be, since I am a virgin” (vs. 34)? His answer was clear—very clear: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God” (vs. 35).
As you also remember, Gabriel told Mary of Elizabeth’s unexpected pregnancy: “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month” (vs. 36). I want to encourage you to read this entire story, beginning in verse 5 of chapter one, continuing through verse25, as I think it will be meaningful to you. Anyway, as you can see in verse 23, Zacharias, Elizabeth’s husband, returned home, which is key in this story. Verse 24, unlocks the door to the secret: “And after these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant . . .” In other words, after Zacharias’ meeting with his angel, he finished his priestly duties and returned home to enjoy a bit of hanky-panky with his wife, hanky-panky that proved to be productive, much to his (and her) surprise!
I said all of that to say this: there is a significant difference between these two pregnancies: on the one hand, Elizabeth conceives as the result of hanky-panky (sexual intercourse!), but Mary conceives without any hanky-panky whatsoever! The seed (spermatozoon!), that produced the zygote that became the embryo that became John, came from old Zack; however, the seed (spermatozoon!), that produced the zygote that became the embryo that became Jesus, came from, well it came from none other than the Holy Spirit! Wow! Talk about threading camels through the eyes of needles!
Why is this so significant? Simple! This means that those who are born into the family of God are born without any of Adam’s seed whatsoever; instead, we are born with the Seed of God, the Holy, blameless, perfect, righteous, imperishable, sinless, eternal seed of God! No longer Adam’s kindred, but altogether children of God!
Now you give this some thought, especially if you are a preacher, but even if you aren’t a preacher, give it some thought, as it will bless you abundantly. If you do give it some thought but still cannot see the blessing, ask the Holy Spirit to take the blinders off your eyes, so you can see. I’m telling you, this is good stuff!

Nothing is Impossible with God!

Tuesday morning, December 8, 2008 [Sunny and 670!],
An angel came to Mary and said, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:30-33). And Mary thought, “Yea, right!” Then she said (probably before she thought again!), “How can this be, since I am a virgin” (vs. 34)? Then she thought some more: “I am not married, I have never had sexual relations with anyone; truth is, I am a virgin and proud of it. Something is wrong with this picture—terribly wrong! How CAN this be?”
The angel’s response makes it evident that he (that is correct, as every time the word “angel” is used in the Scriptures it is in the masculine NOT the feminine) came equipped with extra-sensory perception, i.e., he could sense the anxiety and fear in Mary’s heart, so he said to her (my paraphrase), “You haven’t heard anything yet! Listen to this: Your cousin Elizabeth has also conceived (past tense!) a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month!”
You know, sometimes God can come up with some outlandish ideas, ideas that make all of us nervous, anxious, and afraid, and these are two very good examples! I can understand why Mary might have been just a tad nervous, even anxious. In the society in which she lived, this could only go in one direction—DOWNHILL—or so she thought.
Then the angel reveals the punch line to Mary: FOR NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! As you remember, Jesus spoke these very same words to His disciples in response to His telling them that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I don’t know who was most relieved to hear them, Mary or the disciples, but I do know this: THEY ARE POWERFUL WORDS, WORDS THAT BRING FAITH—INCREDIBLE FAITH—THE KIND THAT MOVES MOUNTAINS FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, THE KIND THAT THREADS CAMELS THROUGH THE EYES OF NEEDLES, AND THE KIND THAT ALLOWS FOR A VIRGIN TO GIVE BIRTH TO THE SON OF GOD! To be sure, His ways are not our ways, not even close, but aren’t we all glad, as in very glad!
Now, listen up: because nothing is impossible with God, it is entirely possible and highly probable that you will make it through this Christmas season without being distracted from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus, the same Jesus who was conceived in a virgin womb, who moves mountains, and who threads camels through the eyes of needles. If my prediction is true, you can say on December 26, I have just witnessed a mountain-moving, miracle!

This is the Gift from God!

Friday afternoon, December 5, 2008 [sunny and still too cold for me!],
This is what Solomon had to say: “There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. And this also is a grievous evil—exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So, what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind? Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger. Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift from God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart” (Ecclesiastes 5:13-20; emphasis, mine).
This is what Jesus had to say: “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Luke 12:15; emphasis, mine).
He also said this: “Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these” (Luke 12:27; emphasis, mine).
I really wish you would take the time to meditate upon these passages, especially during these days of our lives.