ME and MY BIG MOUTH!

My son and I were able to fly home to California this last weekend.  Although we had discussed the possibility of the trip over the winter months, it was sort of a spur-of-the-moment decision to go now, as my son had a sudden opening in his family’s very busy schedule.  As Josh is a long-term employee of Southwest Airlines, we were actually able to fly for free… albeit on a standby basis.  Attempting to make all the connecting flights between Nashville and Santa Rosa is a little like a game of chess… but we (or I should say Josh, with the help of some very nice gate agents) eventually made it there and back in one piece!

I must say that he and I had a great time!  We stayed with my sister and her husband in their beautiful home in the midst of the vineyards and blackened hills (from a couple of bad fires in recent years) in the Oakmont retirement development east of Santa Rosa.  From there… as our base of operations… we toured all our old haunts in the city, spent a few hours on the beautiful Northern Sonoma County Coastline and visited cousins… from both side of my and Piper’s families.

After being pre-warned, I was expecting the city I was born and raised in and then Piper and I raised our family in, to be quite different.  But you know?  It was the same city with a lot of new buildings and quite a noticeable increase in traffic!  And even with the visual additions, I have to say that it did feel like home.  The toughest part of the tour was that everywhere I looked I was filled with warm and emotional memories of childhood adventures and also of the places that I Piper and I and then our family frequented during Piper’s and my over 50-year life in Santa Rosa.

This may sound funny… But when we left for North Carolina in the summer of 2014, it wasn’t on the best of circumstances.  With Piper’s increasing symptoms of Alzheimer’s, big changes in the vision our home church, my parent’s passing and some strained relationships with a few extended family members… she and I needed a change of environment and a fresh start!  We basically left and seldom looked back (although we have kept in close contact with friends and family)!

So… this trip was in God’s perfect timing and was both grounding to me as a strong foundation for my current season of life here in Tennessee, as well as bringing closure to the previous seasons of my life in California.  I am proud to say that Santa Rosa is the place that I am from and that while I know that I’ll never live there again (but then… who knows what God has in store?  I never thought I’d leave after returning from Bible College in Oklahoma in 2009!), beautiful northern California will always hold endearing memories in my heart!

I didn’t realize how emotional the trip would be to me.  There was definitely a lot of deeply established LOVE (and teary eyes on my behalf) flowing between us and the family members we were able to visit.  The full extent of that LOVE called out to my heart after our return this week as I felt led to study God’s Word in the Biblical book of Romans 8:31-39.  Here the Apostle Paul writes,

“Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's LOVE for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture.  (for) None of this fazes us because Jesus LOVES us. (&) I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's LOVE because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” (Romans 8:35, 37-39 / The Message)

While studying these scriptures about the faithfulness of God’s LOVE for you and me, I couldn’t help but to compare it to the special bond of a family’s LOVE for its members.  I was also vividly reminded that it was… and continues to be today… the force and firm foundation of the LOVE of God that brought me through the hardest situations in my life.

God’s LOVE… in union with my Covenant Relationship with and unconditional LOVE for Piper… was the steadying force that empowered me to deal with everything and everyone that came against us when Piper got sick.  It was His LOVE that undergirded me and gave me the confidence, determination and wisdom, along with the physical, mental and spiritual strength to follow through on every direction that I believe He was leading me to pursue during the eight year, 24/7 hours a day that I cared for her every need.

I can laugh about it now… but back then I thought it was absolutely ludicrous when friends and/or family asked me if the attack on Piper’s life shook my faith or if I was angry at her for getting sick???!!!  I must have seriously looked at them like they were demonically crazy… because (thank God) they never asked me again!  I NEVER doubted the faithfulness of God’s LOVE throughout that whole season of our lives… and have never done so since!

I especially like the way that Paul vehemently declares,

“I'm absolutely convinced that nothing - absolutely nothing can get between us and God's LOVE - because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” (The Message)

Or… as the King James Version puts it,

“We are more than conquerors through Him that LOVED us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

Hopefully your reaction to this verse is the same as mine… For when I read it, I can’t help but to get all excited as I realize that this bold declaration is the MIND and MOUTH of Paul’s personal FAITH… being spoken into the situations of his daily life. 

And along with that revelation… I likewise, want Paul’s thoughts and his spoken words, which are in line with the faithfulness and LOVE inherent to God’s Word… to be in my MIND and MOUTH whenever or whatever comes at me every day of my life… no matter if I am here in Mt Juliet Tennessee, on the west coast in Sonoma County California, on a plane flying across our 250-year-old beautiful country!

Wouldn’t you agree with that… concerning the bold declarations of your own personal faith?  Let me ask you… what is in your MIND and MOUTH right now? 

Have you ever thought after saying something you maybe shouldn’t have said… “OH!   ME and MY BIG MOUTH?”  Well, I definitely have… But now that I know the importance of thinking and then confidently speaking words… God’s Words… that emphasize the faithfulness and LOVE of God… Then… I hope that I will regularly think to myself and then hear others around me say…

“Oh, it’s just JIM (put your name in place of mine) and HIS Big MOUTH!”

We just came through some days with huge thunderstorms and now that they’ve past… we are under an EXTREME HEAT WARNING… with heat index values up to 110 expected!  Hummm… now that’s something that they don’t (usually) get in northern California…  But it’s okay… I’m staying here!

Have a great, safe and Godly LOVING week!