THINKING OUT LOUD!!!
AT THE BEGINNING OF: THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2016
My mother's brother's, re: my uncle's, used to have an expression they used when they thought somebody did something that was psychologically challenged. just thinking back about it, they used it in my presence often. "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" It was always spoken at a higher decibel range than their normal voice.
(SPECIAL NOTE: PSYCHOLOGICALLY CHALLENGED MEANS, STUPID)
I have to admit it usually meant what I was doing was not well thought out or there was a much easier way to do it. Come to think about it, I think that is the way most people feel about what is happening in our world today. It is hard for a person to keep his own porch clean when he is spending time trying to keep others porches clean. I have been to villages in Great Britain where row house owners sweep their porch off every morning wether it needs it are not. I have seen neighborly ladies stand and talk to one another on there front stoop, as they call it, while keeping there own porch clean.
In the beginning of every year for over nearly 4 decades we have started our year with corporate prayer and fasting in the churches we have served. It is the threshold a new year for us, to follow on to know the Lord. This year is different than any previous year of fasting and prayer, in that I have specific things that the Lord is dealing with me about. I have found after all these years that God usually speaks to my heart at the end of the fast but this year it has been as though the windows of heaven are open and even before God has chosen to speak with me as a friend speaks to a friend.
I woke up this morning to this old expression and the memory of my uncles, both of them at the same time saying in unison loudly, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!
Everything they believed, is being challenged today, not only by the politico but also by some of the message's being preached today. If there is a Sound Doctrine to be preached, then this means there can be a UNSOUND DOCTRINE which can be preached. What is being preached in some camps today is not far from some of the self indulgent cults of the 60's and 70's. Where people were taught you could sin with your body and worship God in your spirit. Please forgive me while I say, LOUDLY, "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!"
Do your remember the story of Elisha's Bones resurrecting a dead man? What about, "Cain being dead yet speaketh". I conducted a funeral service for a veteran this week, who was a victim of agent orange. As we followed the hearse into the beautiful well manicured Veteran's Cemetery in the rolling hills of Kentucky, I realized that all those who were buried there, had the honor of defending rights, that we consider fundamental to our peace and most of them would gladly do it all over again inspite of the hardship, suffering and stigma which marked them for life. Their service means something to me. As we drove into the entrance, my friend and veteran who was riding with us, along with his wife to the internment, said under his breath, "OH, GOD!" and tears filled his eyes. You see he was a veteran of the Vietnam era himself, and he knew something from experience that made the sacrifice of those whose final resting place was there, far more precious to him. If they could speak now, most would have this to say in regard to what is happening in our world, 'FOR CRYING OUT LOUD"!!! They can't but let me say it for them in regard to what is happening in the world we live in: "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!"
Pastor Cleddie