Harry Whitt on the Journey with Jesus
A grateful heart begins with seeing eyes to perceive God’s bounty. We see the blessings given to us as gifts beyond our efforts and intelligence.
A grateful heart hears with an ear of mercy to those who cry. We are moved with compassion just as our Savior was moved to heal and deliver.
Continue reading “Anatomy of a Grateful Heart”
Yep, nanner sammij, you heard it right! To those of you in the northern latitudes, I am not speaking in tongues. Nanner sammij is the correct term, pronunciation, and spelling (perhaps) for banana sandwich.
My years in elementary school were in the sixties. Only the spoiled kids had metal Roy Roger lunch boxes. Most of the kids who brought their lunch to school carried it in a brown paper bag. This made for a combination of memory-making aromas.
Nanner sammijes was the frontrunner of the aroma generators. The fruity nanner smell, the aroma of bread, and the microbial growth in the mayonnaise had a multiplied effect. Then all of that Petre dish combination was filtered through a brown bag. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. It was a unique smell that put wrinkles on my gray matter. When I think of the lunchroom at Duck Springs Elementary School, this peculiar, yet fragrant smell returns.
Continue reading “A Southern Delight: Nanner Sammijes”
“Fake fruit on a dead tree”, is a phrase my pastor, Bro. Bradley Petrey, recently used in a sermon. It describes the look some folks try to portray in Christian circles. I told him, “I do not like the condition it describes but I loved the phraseology.”
Jesus used something similar when He said, “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. / A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matt. 7:17-18 NKJV).
The fruit depends on the tree. Said another way, the tree determines the fruit.
Continue reading “Fake Fruit on Dead Trees”
Jesus used salt as an analogy to show the importance of being a true disciple. Salt performs two basic functions; it enhances taste, and it preserves. As Christians we bring flavor and meaning to a hopeless world. We also preserve society and order to a fallen world. How do we lose our salt factor?
Salt does not in itself deteriorate. Salt without its saltiness is contaminated salt. Salt is derived from the sea or from salt deposits in the earth. The substance we buy today is consistent and mostly free from contamination.
In the time of the New Testament it was not so pure. The water from the sea was evaporated leaving a residue of salt but the residue was not pure. It was often contaminated with other minerals and substances of the sea. If it became too contaminated, it lost its flavor or saltiness.
Continue reading “Saltiness of Christianity”
I find choosing a paint color a little frustrating because there are just too many options. I ate in a foreign restaurant where I had a choice of meat but no option for the side dishes. When it came to the side dishes, you either ate them or left them. Of course, I usually ate them!
When it comes to being a true disciple of Jesus Christ, why do some folks think they have options?
Continue reading “True Discipleship Means No Alternatives”
Let us be the fragrance of Jesus, by being Jesus to others on our journey of life. “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place” (2 Cor. 2:14 NKJV).
As this scripture states, the fragrance of Jesus is diffused through us in every place. We journey through life in the power of the Holy Spirit. The lives of others are touched by Jesus through us. We need to understand that we can be Jesus to someone, somewhere, somehow.
Continue reading “Be the Fragrance of Christ”
We exist for God’s purpose not our own. Sure, we existed in the mind of God before He said, “Let there be light.” What a crazy thought but true. Yet, God does not exist so we can live happy, contented, and fulfilled lives. We exist for His pleasure and the fulfillment of His plan in and through us.
Continue reading “Finding Joy in Surrender: Embracing God’s Plan for Fulfillment”
Children are the most vulnerable humans on the planet. They are very dependent upon adults for provision, shelter, protection, and education. Through the course of world history, children have been neglected and worse of all targeted for exploitation or even destruction. Why?
In our present age, we see children used as slave labor, sex slaves, so-called collateral damage in endless wars, starved by abject poverty, and easy fields for organ harvesting in less humane societies.
Then in our more so-called civilized cultures, we see children harmed in sex abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, objects of child pornography, sexual mutilation, destructive drug therapy, warped by dysfunctional families, and killed by abortion.
Continue reading “History-Long Hatred of Children: A Ploy of Satan”
The controversial 2024 Olympic opening ceremony has created quite a stir. It seemed quite obvious to me that it was a shameful parody of the Last Supper. Some say not. Sorry, but we have become accustomed to people telling us that we did not see what we saw. And that we did not hear what we heard.
I was not shocked. Nor did I expect some well-crafted apology. By the way, real apologies do not start with “IF.” One thing I do know for sure! There is a demonic current in our world that hates Christ and His followers. Why would we be surprised? Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. / If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19 NKJV). I find myself in good company.
Continue reading “Surprised by the Hatred Against Christ?”
It was a hot July day in Alabama in 1966 and my mother made me wear a shirt I hated. It was one of those shirts that was square bottomed with buttons for adjustment on the two sides. We were headed to our church just up the road, the little caravan was my Mama, my brother Steve, and me.
Summer revival meetings were in full swing with morning and night services. Our country church building was larger than usual. It was built with concrete blocks covered with plaster. It had a tall ceiling. There was no air conditioning at church or home so sweat was the normal life of a Southerner.
My Daddy was at work. Mother never learned to drive, so we walked the short distance to church. I was miserable. The short walk was not my problem, the July heat was just life, the awful shirt was only a secondary torment, because I had been wrestling with God. In our church jargon, we called it conviction. I was under conviction of sin.
Continue reading “Life-Changing Decision: My Salvation Experience at Eleven”
Pathway Journey 