Harry Whitt on the Journey with Jesus
Old men are not what they appear to be. They look weakened, wrinkled, frumpy, and a little dazed but that is not what they are at all. Inside is a spirit that can still run like lightning, pick up a rock and throw it beyond reason, and make some giggly girl tear off his chatty ring at recess in the Spring. He is old but still a boy deep inside.
On a recent Sunday, I preached using as one of my texts, Psalm 119:32 (NKJV), “I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.” God works to enlarge our hearts so we can embrace the Kingdom of God and our place in it. The Lord has touched my heart once again to stretch my faith so that we can stretch our reach in the name of the Lord. I don’t know yet what more He has in store for us but I feel the rumblings of the Holy Spirit within me. The Lord will enlarge our hearts to encompass His leading into the furtherance of His Kingdom into this world. Stay tuned…
Do you have a knot on your head from the last wall you hit? Frustrating isn’t it, to be headed somewhere and then you run into a roadblock. Frustration is the feeling of discouragement coupled with anger when we don’t get our way. Life is not always easy and it becomes even more difficult when we plot our course without consulting God.
(Pictured is my mother, Frances Amelia Lee Whitt at the age of 16, soon after she married my Daddy on December 13, 1936.)
A debate has gone on in the world about when life begins. There is no doubt in my mind that it begins at conception. In a spiritual sense, it began before the beginning of the world. The one verse that draws water from this depth of mystery is Ephesians 1:4 (NKJV), “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4 NKJV). Continue reading “Mother: Our First Touch of God”
My last time in Cuba was seventeen months ago, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect as far as the people, accommodations, food, and the like. My traveling partner this trip was Gerald Hubbard. It was his first time to touch foreign soil and his first time to fly, so I was excited for him and interested in his fresh-eye perspective.
When I leave my home I travel a little over three miles before coming to a “T” intersection. I have a choice then of going north or south; that is my only choice. If I turn north, you could say I’m going toward the city of Boaz or Albertville but if I turn south, you could say I’m going toward Attalla or Gadsden. Our direction of travel indicates our destination. How foolish people would think me to be, if I traveled north hoping to arrive at a city to the south. So it is with life, too many folks are traveling north with the thought of arriving somewhere south.
When I visited a slum area in India, I witnessed children living in squalor and it dawned on me, they were still smiling. I then thought about the thousands of children I have seen in Haiti and other places—in spite of their abject poverty, they continued to smile. Their smile has kept me smiling. There is something captivating about a sweet, innocent, smiling face. I love to see children smile (grownups too).
Today is Good Friday. It is the day we commemorate the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. I read somewhere that the “Good” may have begun as Holy; we are really not sure. It is good for us but it was a terrible day for Jesus. The night before, He had been betrayed and arrested. Then the humiliating trials began, before the Jewish High Priest and Council, Pilate, Herod, and back to Pilate again. He was mocked, spit upon, and scourged. Would this mockery and torture ever end? Hardly, now he had to endure the death march to Calvary and then the horror of crucifixion.
I am not sure if this is a sermon or a confession, because of the sins I will describe I have also been guilty. The thoughts of empty words have been rumbling in my heart for some
time now. This rumbling is not just for a sermon or post but is also the conviction of the Holy Spirit to bring me into a better alignment with the image of Jesus—to be like Him. So, let my lesson of empty words be your lesson as well.
