Don't Forget the Baby!

 

January is a time of year when people spend time putting things away!    A few weeks ago,  those Christmas decorations were front and center in our homes and our hearts.   Yet, now those Christmas decorations are going back to the places where we put them for the other days and weeks of the year.   A few weeks ago,  Christmas gifts were on our minds.   First, we were buying the gifts followed by wrapping the gifts and putting them under our tree.   Finally, there came that time when we gave gift or opened our gifts.   Unless we chose to send them back, now we are putting those gifts into the newfound place they have in our homes or in our lives.  

 There is one thing that I hope you will not put away, and that is Jesus.   I remember back in the 1970’s when friends of mine had their first child.   That little boy  was certainly wanted by his parents and lavished with attention.     A few weeks after that,   these new parents were on their way to church or some other familiar destination.    After they were a couple of miles down the road, they realized to their horror they had forgotten something really important-  THEIR NEWBORN SON!    

 As you advance into the new days and weeks of this new year,  take Jesus with you!    Do not put the child/ King away like you do the Christmas decorations that will remain dormant and hidden for the next 10 to 11 months.     Do not put Jesus in your closet like you do new dress pants or a new sweater.    Keep Jesus front and center.  Keep him close, even in your own heart!     Let Him have a prominent place not just in your home but in your life. 

 There are folks who seek to have Christmas without Jesus.    I am not sure how they do it, but they try.     There are some folks who trot out Jesus at Christmas to display when they have not given him much attention since last Christmas.    The Lord Jesus does not want to be someone who comes to mind for only a few weeks every year.  No, he wants to be a part of your world and in your life 365 days a year.   

Thanks for reading.    I hope that this new year is your best year yet!   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall  

PRAYER --  O God,   I celebrate in these days the good news that Christ has come and is coming.  Help me, God, to make Christ a part of my life each and every day; through the King of Kings,  Lord of Lords I pray.    Amen. 

 

 

S.D.G.

 

I love Christmas music.     One of the challenges I faced when serving as a local church pastor is that there is so much great Christmas music and it is challenging for any local church pastor and church music director to share all of it during the Sundays of December.     One of the ways that I found to share more of the good Christmas music was to incorporate a “Service of Lessons and Carols”  into some worship experience during the Advent or Christmas season.

Most every year,  my wife Ann and I will make plans to go to at least one musical experience during the days leading up to Christmas.   In 2024,  we had the experience of attending a presentation of Handel’s Messiah in downtown Charlotte.    Whether the music of the Messiah is “your cup of tea” ,  it is a beautiful piece to experience.   If you have never heard the full version of the Messiah, know that it is filled with Scripture and has three parts as follows:  the first part focuses on the prophecies of the Messiah;  the second part focuses on the passion and redemption of Christ Jesus; and the third part focuses on the resurrection of Christ Jesus. 

As I prepared to attend the Messiah last year,  I did a little study of the background of the piece of music that was written in the 1700’s.   One of the things I was reminded of is that at the end of his composition of the Messiah,  Handel  wrote three letters:  S.D.G.      Those three letters are an abbreviation for a latin phrase:  “Soli Deo Gloria” which in English means “To God alone the glory”.     

Several years ago,  I came across a copy the Westminister Catechism that had belonged to my Grandparents.      They attended the Presbyterian Church and it was used in the process of becoming a member of the church.   In that catechism, persons learn a series of questions and answers.  One of the first questions is:    “What is the chief aim of mankind?”       The answer to that question is this:    “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Whether we be a musical composer like Handel… a pastor preparing for a Christmas Eve Service… or a parent trying to maintain their sanity amid the fever-pitch stresses of  daily life  with young children,   are we living our life to give glory of God?      In these December days,  surely many of you will hear that passage of scripture that says “Glory to God in the highest” or perhaps you may sing that song whose chorus says “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.”      Glorifying God is not just a song to be sung at Christmas or a portion of scripture to read this time of year.      No,   it I a way of life that all those who bow their knee at the babe of Bethlehem are called to aspire to.     Let it be in these days and everyday.   Merry Christmas-   Pastor Randy Wall

 PRAYER --  O God,   I celebrate in these days the good news that Christ has coming and is coming.  Help me, God, to seek each and every day to give praise and glory to you, the King of Kings,  Lord of Lords.    Amen. 

Kings and Queens

 

She was the Queen.   That is what her  name tag told me as she checked me out at a local  convenience store.    One of the things I try to do as I encounter people who take my order… check me out at the store… and the like is to acknowledge them.   Most of the time, I will mention their name when I speak to them.    They are more than a server or a cashier;  they are a person.    As she told me the sum of my total purchase, I said to her:   “So, are you queen of this place?”     She replied,  “No, Queen is my real name.   When I was young, some of the kids would make fun of it and I would fight them about it.”   I told her:   “Why, that sounds like a strong name.”    She smiled as she listened to my reply and took the money for my purchase.  

As I went on my way out of the store and got in my car, I thought about royalty and queens.   I thought about the days when our children were young and our daughters would dress up like queens or princesses.   Yet, I also thought about a passage of scripture from I Peter 2: 9-10 where we read these words:

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.     I Peter 2: 9-10

 For the follower of Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords.   If we are followers of Christ and baptized in His name, that means that you and I are royalty too.  In other words, you and I are kings and queens, princes and princesses.    We might not have   a name like my friend “Queen”, but we have royalty in our legacy because we are a part of the body of Christ.    

If you are like me, there are times when life is hard and tough.     When life is hard and you are feeling down, remember that you are a child of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords.  You are a part of the royal family because you are in Christ and Christ is in you.   Have a blessed day!-   Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER --  O God,   I celebrate today that royal blood goes through my veins because I am a follower of  the King of Kings, Christ Jesus.   Help me to open my heart more fully to allow Him to live in me;   through Christ our Lord.     Amen.  

The Autumn of the Year, and the Autumn of My Years

 

NOTE:    The essay below was written several months ago and was entered into the North Carolina Senior Games finals for 2025.    Enjoy.-   RW

I love this time of year!   I love Autumn and Fall.    I particularly love the month of October.     As I have said before,   October is the month when I fell in love with Jesus and fell in love with my wife, Ann.   October often brings us cool morning and warm days….the sight of fields being harvested and the feel of a frosty morning… the smell of burning leaves and of freshly cooked barbecue at a church fund-raiser.  Another thing that Autumn brings is the glorious splendor of leaves as they change to colors of red, orange, and yellow.    What a wonderful experience to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway under a colored canopy of trees above you or to look from a mountain vista this time of year.    

I am now in the autumn of my life.     I think that is fair to say that I have more years in the past than I have in my future.      Since I am on social security and medicare now,   the government has officially declared that I am old.     I wear my age with a badge of honor as I can name you friends who have gone on to the reward God has for them that I still miss.    I sometimes ask at restaurants if they offer a senior citizen discount and am quick to accept them if they are offered.    I have less hair on my head than I used to, and it is not sandy and blond as it once was.    It is not unusual for me to hear on social media or to read in the obituary pages the names of people who are my peers.      

Despite the fact that I am in the autumn of my life,    I can also declare this:    as the autumn of the year is a beautiful time,  so the autumn of my years is also a beautiful time.    It is nice some nights to stay up late if I want to, and some mornings to sleep a little later.     It is nice to look at my bank account and see retirement monies or social security being deposited into my bank account.     It is flattering when our children or grandchildren ask me about something in the past years ago  that I seem to be able to remember when sometimes I struggle to remember what I had for dinner 3 nights ago.     It is a joy to still be healthy enough to live on my own, and to some days walk for more than an hour.     It is  a real blessing to leave home for a few days and travel to destinations a few hours away by car or a few hours away by plane and see family, friends, or this beautiful world that God has given us.     Most of all, it is a gift to me to be able to have my wife, Ann, by my side and to share these  days and experiences with her and to have children, grandchildren, and other family that we love and that love us.  

I see and hear once in a while someone making critical  or condescending remarks about senior citizens and the elderly.   I am certain I use to make them also, but now I look in the mirror and realize that person looking back at me is an elder.       And despite the critical remarks I sometimes hear,  I can say with gratitude what a blessing God gives me each day to wake up and live this life in the autumn of my years.      What a beautiful time of year is Autumn, and what a beautiful gift is the autumn of my life.    Have a joy-filled day.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer-   God, thank you for the gift of life.    Help me, O God, to live each day with joy and wonder;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.    Amen.

The Loss of the Family Farm

 

See the picture below.     It is a photo of a painting that hangs in the living room of our  home.    

It is a picture of the first home where I lived after my parents brought me home  from the hospital after I was born.   The house where my parents lived at the time of my birth was actually my maternal Grandparents home.   It was located outside of my hometown of Burlington North Carolina.   In the land behind the farm was a small family farm where my grandfather farmed the land.   That land is not a farm anymore.   In my toddler years was when the interstate highway system began in the United States.    Today,  8 lanes of Interstate 85 and Interstate 40 goes through the middle of the land that was once my grandparents family farm.    Another portion of the old family farm is where a Home Depot welcomes customers today.  

I see the loss of farmland also  in the community outside of Charlotte where I currently live.    My wife and I live in a subdivision that once was part of a family farm that was once owned by a man who I had the privilege to officiate at his funeral when I served as his pastor back in the 1990’s. .   Down the road,  a local public school sits on land where cattle once grazed and roamed.   

I share these observations and truths to make a point:   farmland and family farms are disappearing across the United States.   Yahoo finance reported in 2022 that the 2020 census showed that 1.9 million acres of farmland in the United States had disappeared largely through urbanization.    The article reported that the leading states where this has been happening is in Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma.    In 2023, the American Farmland Trust reported that in my home state of North Carolina that 55 acres of farmland is lost EACH DAY.   At this rate,   they believe that 1.2 million acres of farmland will be lost by 2040 in NC.  

Perhaps some of you are wondering why this loss of farmland or family farms should concern you.   Am I just being  nostalgic and seeking for the clock to turn back to a former time?    Is the loss of farmland simply something that has to happen for progress and community growth to happen?  Perhaps the loss of farmland is progress, but what price is being paid for that progress?

This farmland was used to produce crops and livestock that feed us.   Will the loss of farmland mean that someday that the only producer of our food is a large corporation or conglomerate?     Will the future hold the prospects of importing the food we eat like we do the clothing we wear and the textiles we use?      This farmland is also home to wildlife like birds,  deer, rabbits, and creatures.   Where will these creatures of God go?       Do we really want to live in a world where our children can only see crops or livestock in a grocery store or a can, and cannot have the experience to experience the sight and culture of a farm?      These are a few questions that I have, and I suspect there are only the tip of the iceberg of questions that could be raised by church, local, state, and national leaders.    Thanks for reading.   Have a joy-filled day.   -     Randy L. Wall

Prayer-   God, you have created us and all creation.     Give us wisdom as we face the challenges of these days of how to be good stewards of this world you have given;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.

LEAVE IT IN HIS HANDS

 

As many of you know,  one of the things I am doing in this season of life is doing counseling and therapy on a part time basis  with individuals and couples as a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina and a licensed professional counselor in South  Carolina.    I generally see persons virtually in different locales across the Carolinas.  I am enjoying the opportunity to continue to help persons and see it as a ministry.    One of the things I see quite often i.. s people quite often is people feeling stress and anxiety.     There are all sorts of  reasons it seems that people are anxious:   job… relationships… world events… and the list goes on. 

As I pondered the stress and anxiety I see in my clients recently,   I was reminded of a place in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.    Many years ago when I was a pastor in the Burlington NC area, the late Barney Davidson invited myself and other pastors to several retreats at a home he owned off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Ferrum Virginia.     It was a quiet, beautiful place with farmland and woods around it and a distant  view of the lights of Martinsville Virginia in the distance at night.  In front of the farmhouse that Barney owned was a pond.    Barney told that there were several large fish in the pond though I never saw any.    In the middle of that small pond was an island with a walkway that allowed persons to walk from the banks of the pond to the island.    On the island, Barney had posted at a sign.    Since it has been almost 30 years since I visited the spot,  I am not sure I remember the exact words on the sign but it was something like this:     “If you come to this island with troubles or stress, leave it here on the island in the hands of the Lord.”  

I suspect that there are more people who feel stress and anxiety than those I see as clients in my therapy and counseling practice.     Sometimes,   I feel it myself.   Oh, for the willingness to leave what stresses us and makes us anxious in the hands of the Lord.   Have a  joy-filled day.-  Pastor   Randy Wall

Prayer-    God,   help me to leave the things that trouble my soul in your hands.   Remind me, Lord, regularly that you able to do more for me that I ask or even imagine; through Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

"I Knew It All Along"

 

NOTE:   This is a piece I wrote several years ago.-   RW  

            Many of you will remember the late Tim Russert, former NBC News political reporter that died several years ago.  In his book, Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons,  he shares a story told by a woman whose Father was ill and was taken to the hospital.  The woman shares that she rushed to the hospital not just because of her concern for her Father, but because she felt that she needed to tell her Father that she loved him because she had never done that before.  When the woman arrived at the hospital, she found her father in a hallway because the Emergency Room was so busy.  With a combination of passion and urgency, she leaned over to embrace her father and said to him, “Oh, Dad, I love you. I love you so much and am sorry that I have never told you.”  As she embraced her father, he whispered in her ear, “That’s okay, Honey.  I knew it all along.” 

            That Father is not the only one who knows he is loved by his child without being told.   Christ Jesus says the same thing in John 14: 23-24,  Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  You see, love in Christ is not so much something we say as something we do.   If your father is living, take time in these days to show your love to them.   Your father will be glad you did and you will be glad you did.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall 

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PRAYER   Lord,  through the power of your Holy Spirit help our love for you to be seen and  not just said.   We pray these prayers in the name of the One whose name and nature is  love, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.