Back Porch Break

This is My King

March 30, 2024 by Nancy Leave a Comment

Friends, it’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’! Many of you may have heard this classic sermon from Dr. S. M. (Shadrach Meshach) Lockridge (March 7, 1913–April 4, 2000), but there’s no better time to listen to it again. He was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, a prominent African-American congregation in San Diego, CA. Read his powerful words below, then search for “My King” by him on YouTube to hear his awesome, Spirit-filled delivery of this and other sermons.

The Bible says my King is the King of the Jews. He’s the King of Israel. He’s the King of Righteousness. He’s the King of the Ages. He’s the King of Heaven. He’s the King of Glory. He’s the King of kings, and He’s the Lord of lords. That’s my King.

I wonder, do you know Him?

My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define His limitless love. He’s enduringly strong. He’s entirely sincere. He’s eternally steadfast. He’s immortally graceful. He’s imperially powerful. He’s impartially merciful.

Do you know Him?

He’s the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He’s God’s Son. He’s the sinner’s Savior. He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He’s unparalleled. He’s unprecedented. He is the loftiest idea in literature. He’s the highest personality in philosophy. He’s the fundamental doctrine of true theology. He’s the only one qualified to be an all sufficient Saviour.

I wonder if you know Him today?

He supplies strength for the weak. He’s available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He strengthens and sustains. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick. He cleansed the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers the captive. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent. And He beautifies the meek.

I wonder if you know Him?

He’s the key to knowledge. He’s the wellspring of wisdom. He’s the doorway of deliverance. He’s the pathway of peace. He’s the roadway of righteousness. He’s the highway of holiness. He’s the gateway of glory.

Do you know Him? Well…

His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His Word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. And His yoke is easy. And His burden is light.

I wish I could describe Him to you. Yes…

He’s indescribable! He’s incomprehensible. He’s invincible. He’s irresistible. You can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your hand. You can’t outlive Him, and you can’t live without Him. Well, the Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him, and the grave couldn’t hold Him.

Yeah! That’s my King, that’s my King.

I pray you know Him! Have a blessed Easter.–Nancy

Facing Future Fears

January 12, 2024 by Nancy 15 Comments

Just over twenty-four years ago we were all in a panic over what might happen when the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1999, and we plummeted into a new millennium. Yes, it was two dozen years ago that we were told to store up gallons of water and batteries before January 2000, and everyone everywhere was talking about all the bad things that might happen in Y2K. Guess what? The clock struck 12:01 AM and nothing significant changed.

It’s true there was some reason for concern that what was dubbed the “Y2K bug” would keep our computers from moving from 1999 to 2000 and we might find we all reverted to 1900 instead. Banking, telecommunications, and energy systems could have been affected. So computer experts updated software and replaced or modified existing systems to avert the crisis and it worked. A lot was learned about proactively preparing for technological challenges in the months leading up to that fatal tick of the clock. So the hard work may have paid off, but all the fear we found ourselves swimming in didn’t contribute to the smooth transition at all.

Besides jugs of pure water and batteries, consumers were encouraged to stock up on medications and first aid supplies, flashlights, cash, fuel, battery-operated radios and basic necessities like toiletries and hygiene products. My husband and I gave in to fear enough to buy a stock of batteries and about five jugs of water. Over the years we used up the batteries but when we moved eight years ago we found a couple of jugs of Y2K water still in our crawl space. We laughed remembering that we went out to dinner on New Year’s Eve 1999 to a very expensive restaurant we hadn’t been to before (nor since). As my husband paid the tab he quipped, “Well, we can come back here next millennium.”

No doubt there will be attempts to whip us all into a frenzy of fear in the year to come. Certainly we see events in our country and our world that concern us deeply, but as in Y2K our fears won’t contribute to solving the issues, only our hard work and optimism will make a difference. Fears can paralyze us, making us feel powerless over our lives. Better to choose faith over fear and slam the door on fear mongers. The Ark Encounter in Kentucky sells sweatshirts with the motto “Faith Like Noah.” That’s what we need.

Worry seems to be a basic failing of humankind, however, and we worry about what we fear. Speaking to believers in the sovereign God, Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “We are allowed to plan for tomorrow but we are not allowed to worry about it.”

Jesus also encouraged us not to worry in Matthew, Chapter 6, often called the “mental health” chapter of the Bible. He asks, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27). He speaks of how God cares for the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field and then says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

I need these reminders as much as anyone. Psalm 121:3 says, He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber. Let’s resolve to move into 2024 facing any fears we have for the future head on and remembering that faith always overcomes fear. May you have a happy and fearless New Year!

(This was first published in The Country Register, January-February 2024 Edition. Reading it again now I suppose my word for 2024 is FEARLESS!)

Mary, Did You Know?

December 21, 2023 by Nancy 17 Comments

“Kissing the Face of God” by Morgan Weistling.

“Mary, Did You Know?” is my husband’s very favorite Christmas song, and I love it, too. It was written in 1991 by Mark Lowry, with music by Buddy Greene, when both were part of the Gaither Vocal Band. Since then it has been recorded and performed beautifully by many artists.

One reason it captures us so is that it takes us right back to the moment described in Luke 1 when Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her, “Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:30-33).

The lyrics in the song go on to outline all the things Mary couldn’t possibly have known as a teenager in Nazareth, surprised and frightened by the appearance of God’s messenger. Things she couldn’t even know as she held her newborn son after he was born: That He would one day walk on water, save our sons and daughters, give sight to a blind man, calm the storm with His hand…that He was, in fact, the great I Am! Perhaps the most touching line in the song is, “When you kiss your little baby, you’ll kiss the face of God.”

No, Mary couldn’t possibly know all the joys and sorrows that this assignment from God would bring her. But she knew God, and she trusted Him. After asking just one quite reasonable question, “How will this be…since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34), Mary submitted herself completely to God’s will for her life. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).

Mary was called blessed among women. Yes, there was great heartache, but Mary’s assignment brought her many blessings as well. Is there an area of your life where you are struggling with something God is asking of you? Trust and submit to His will. The blessings will follow.

Merry Christmas to you, and may your new year be full of hope and joy.

First published in a Christmas Devotional, Fellowship of the Rockies, 2017.

Deeply Grateful (2)

November 24, 2023 by Nancy 12 Comments

(Dear Subscribers: Due to a glitch with my website host, many of you weren’t able to open this yesterday. If you already received it, please know I’m doubly grateful!) I grew up in a personal land of plenty. My sisters and I had a mom who tied the sashes on the back of our dresses, took us shopping for new school shoes and handed us a piece of crisp bacon folded in warm buttered toast as we went out the door to school. Our dad was a patriot to the bone. He loved the law and the Lord and always insisted on taking our photo near every American flag we saw when we went on vacation. We ate fresh tomatoes, green beans, corn and strawberries from our garden, and could hop on our horse and go for a ride on a whim. A land of plenty.

When I look back over all the blessings I’ve had in my life, they don’t stop with my childhood, but more and more I’m drawn back to when life seemed simpler, everyone was proud to be an American, truth was truth and evil was evil. These days it’s easy for me to look at all that’s happening in our culture, our country, and the world, and become discouraged. Although I’ll never stop trying to make a difference where I can, the injustices and depravities run so deep that I’ve shifted from being a passionate patriot to a curious observer—wondering why God is allowing all that He is and what He intends to do through it all. But I trust Him. And though my concerns run deep, my gratitude runs deeper.

By God’s grace, I’m coming into this Thanksgiving season grateful for the small, often overlooked blessings in my life as well as the big ones. One morning as I was reading Jeremiah 31:35—He who appoints the sun to shine by day…the Lord Almighty is his name—I glanced up to see a glorious sunrise. Our orange cat was snoozing on my lap, trusting me with her presence. Deeply grateful.

Every Tuesday morning I meet with a group of sage older women for devotions, and I always walk to my car afterwards enriched and encouraged by time spent with these dear ones. Deeply grateful.

Within our ever-growing family two little souls are in their mothers’ wombs preparing for their spring arrival into the world. Great-grands three and four for us. Deeply grateful.

The list goes on and on. Every person in our family. Caring friends. A warm home. Friendly neighbors. Church fellowship.

And at the top of the list, a husband who loves, protects and provides—my traveling companion this past year as we visited both Pearl Harbor and Omaha Beach honoring those whose sacrifices for our freedom are now too often forgotten. Deeply grateful.

Will you join me? Can you set aside your worries about the fate of our country and the world for at least a day and let your gratitude run deeper? Even if, as a popular praise song says, all we have to offer is a hallelujah, we must offer it. Praise God through whom all blessings flow! And have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Deeply Grateful

November 22, 2023 by Nancy 6 Comments

I grew up in a personal land of plenty. My sisters and I had a mom who tied the sashes on the back of our dresses, took us shopping for new school shoes and handed us a piece of crisp bacon folded in warm buttered toast as we went out the door to school. Our dad was a patriot to the bone. He loved the law and the Lord and always insisted on taking our photo near every American flag we saw when we went on vacation. We ate fresh tomatoes, green beans, corn and strawberries from our garden, and could hop on our horse and go for a ride on a whim. A land of plenty.

Every Tuesday morning I meet with a group of sage older women for devotions, and I always walk to my car afterwards enriched and encouraged by time spent with these dear ones. Deeply grateful.

Within our ever-growing family two little souls are in their mothers’ wombs preparing for their spring arrival into the world. Great-grands three and four for us. Deeply grateful.

The list goes on and on. Every person in our family. Caring friends. A warm home. Friendly neighbors. Church fellowship.

Porch Pumpkins

October 26, 2023 by Nancy 8 Comments

As a child I wouldn’t have imagined growing or buying a pumpkin for any reason other than to turn it into a jack-o-lantern. How we’d look forward to cutting off the top and getting the squishy insides out so we could begin to carve a scary or happily grinning face, secure an old candle stub inside, and bask in the glow! Those pumpkins would sit on the front porch until they shriveled up and looked like toothless old men.

Who knew pumpkins would one day become sought after not for their ability to greet trick-or-treaters, but to add color and design to a front porch and to sit there, imagine this, uncarved? Yet this is what has happened. Now farmers grow pumpkins in white tones and shades of green to add to the perennial favorite, orange. Design-oriented homeowners, especially those blessed to have front porches with steps, mix these colorful gourds in with mums in shades of gold, white or magenta, hay bales and corn stalks to create gorgeous displays that announce fall is here.

If I’m blessed to go to the South during October I’m amazed by the extent to which people go to create these colorful autumn arrays. Not only do porches of homes have pumpkins stacked up to greet visitors with the warmth and hospitality of the season, but every shop and business gets into the spirit as well.

One year I went to a little town in northern Tennessee with my sister and brother-in-law. In Allardt, founded as a community of German immigrants, they annually hold the Great Pumpkin Festival and vendors sell pumpkin-designed everything! T-shirts, plaques, candles, lawn banners—all feature pumpkins welcoming visitors who come to see which farmer grew the largest pumpkin of the year. And the entries are huge. Each year the winning pumpkin weighs well over a ton! Because who doesn’t love a great pumpkin, Charlie Brown?

So whether you grow ‘em or buy ‘em, treat yourself to a plethora of pumpkins this fall. Create a front porch that delights all who drive by and welcomes all who visit with the very essence of the harvest season. Don’t have steps? No problem. Position a wooden ladder or upside-down bushel basket on your porch and stack pumpkins of all sizes and colors around and on it. Or create a pyramid of pumpkins up against the wall. And don’t forget to add some colorful mums or a cheerful scarecrow. Happy fall, y’all!