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Monthly Archives: October 2021
Services for Max E Smith
A visitation for Max will be held Sunday, October 24, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Lester Road Christian Church, 3900 Newton Rd., Fairburn, Georgia 30213, followed by a funeral service at 3:00 PM.
Burial will be at Greenland Cemetery in Jacksonville, FL at a date and time still to be determined.
The family would be honored if you can come share Max’s life with us at the service on Oct. 24th.
Max’s LAST SPEAKING Devotional
My dad, passed away this morning at about 9:15am, 10-15-2021. He passed peacefully and painlessly. God was so good to answer our prayers not only for a peaceful passing but saw to it that Dad did not lose much quality of life before He went Home. I find it providential that his last devotional that he posted before the one below was “What Is Dying? I know for many of you these devotionals were appreciated. Please know that Dad loved doing them for the Lord and you.
This will be the last one that is posted but you can come to this web site anytime and see over 13 years worth of his devotionals. Enoy his l
YOU ARE SOMEBODY!
Years ago, a sick woman lying on a crude bed, with but a few days to live, called her only son, a lean, lanky lad, to her bedside. She gazed into his deep dark eyes with her own dim sight, and communicated to him her hope for his life. Her own years had been few and unfavored. Her life had been occupied by the limitations of a pioneer existence. Her castle was a log cabin. She had dreamed and hoped in vain. Life offered little rewards, and her days had brought few actual joys. It was not to be so with her son. In him, her dreams would be realized and her hopes would be fulfilled. Drawing the boy close to her bed, she noted the imprint of the woodland life and the crudities of their pioneer existence stamped upon his face and form. She despaired for a moment. Touching his brown, course cheeks with her soft, white fingers, she caught his gaze and held it with her deep meaningful eyes. Drawing his face close to her own, she whispered the magic words, words that held her hopes and dreams; “My boy, be somebody.”
Thus, Nancy Hanks planted a golden dream in the soul of Abraham Lincoln. The result is known to the world.
If there is such a thing as a self made man, Abraham Lincoln would be that man. With great disappointments and defeats in his life, Lincoln struggled through them to become the President of the United States. It took hard work, perseverance and persistence, to make of himself the man that he became. He became ‘somebody’.
So, can we. God made us into His own image. He breathed into us the ‘breath of life.’ He put the spark of the divine within every one of us. But, how we messed up, disfiguring the very likeness of God in us. We all have sinned (missed the mark) which is His Son, Jesus. He is the example of Somebody. We are suppose to be like Him. How is it possible? God has made a way. “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13
We can’t be born again physically but we can be born anew spiritually. God will help us. He calls us by His love. God loved you and me so much that He died for us in His Son. God was in Jesus reconciling the world unto Himself. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
“We were therefore buried with him throuigh baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Romans 6:4
God wants you to be, not just His creation, but His child. He wants you to be one of His dear children. As a Christian, you are somebody special.
WHAT IS DYING?
NOTE: This devotion is a rerun from years past. The reason for this is because Max (my Dad) is in the hospital. He fell on Tuesday and suffered two hairline pelvic fractures and has a sizable hematoma in the same pelvic area. He hopes to be transferred to a Rehab facility the first of next week. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. If you’d like to leave a message for Max you can do so via the comments or on facebook or by emailing him at maxesmith1927@outlook.com., Thank-you.
Tim Smith
“WHAT IS DYING?”
“I am standing upon the seashore, a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her, until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud, just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says, “There, she’s gone.”
Gone? Where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast and sail as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of fright to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There she’s gone.”
There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “There she comes.”
And that is dying.”
I do not know who wrote that beautiful description about dying, but I do know that it blesses my soul. I use it in most of the funeral services that I conduct. People are comforted by it.
Can we talk? Death is not some morbid subject. It is an inevitable. The grim reaper will cut us down sooner or later. Our bodies go back to the dust from where they came. Some people wonder about cremation as to whether it is right or not. Cremation just hurries up the process of the body returning to the dust. I find nothing in the Bible that speaks against it. It is a matter of choice. But, understand, we are talking about the body, not the soul. Tender memories are connected with the body, so it makes it difficult to give it up. Our hearts still cling to this flesh, because we cannot disassociate it from the beloved one who dwelt in it. But, it is only the worn out garment, which our loved one has laid aside.
The soul (spirit) is a whole different matter. That which is really us goes to God. We believe in God, who is the Judge of all the earth, that He will do that which is right. Our God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble.
We must leave judgment entirely up to God. God alone, decides the fate and destiny of man, in His infinite wisdom and mercy.
Man cannot judge the state of another human being in his relationship with God because man looks on the outward appearance of man, while God looks on the heart. None of us, no matter how hard we try, can really know the inner struggles and battles that go on in an individual’s heart.
God is love and it is out of love that God judges man. God judges the soul of man out of motives, desires, intents, and inner struggles of the being. You can rest assured that God will do that which is right. Be sure to leave this matter of eternal judgment entirely up to God.
Jesus speaks to the heart of His followers: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.” John14: 1-3
LISTENING
“Listen to me for a day, an hour, a moment.
Lest I expire in my terrible wilderness, my lonely silence.
O God, is there no one to listen.”
I want to share with you some material that I have used in teaching on the subject of “Listening.”
God gave us two ears and one tongue which indicates that we should listen more than we talk. We are taught to talk but little is said about the ‘art of listening.’ We need to learn to listen to each other.
“Silence is hard for a listener, its’ practice is at war with the tendency to ‘set things right’ which makes busy bodies of us all.”
Listening is involvement.- Empathy, entering in to their situation.
Listening is loving – caring, understanding.
Listening is the giving of undivided attention to another human being.
Listening indicates to the person – you matter, you are important.
The Bible speaks of this in James 1:19: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
Be careful what you hear? Your salvation depends on it.
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
Be careful whom you hear? On the mountain of transfiguration, God told the disciples, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” (Matthew 17:5)
“But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son.” (Hebrews 1:2)
Be careful to hear Jesus.
“For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God,” (John 3:34)
Listen without giving advice.
To listen correctly, we must find out what the individual thinks and feels Ask: “What do you think you should do?” We are anxious to impress the person with our answers until we don’t really hear the questions.
Listen without judging. Each person must accept personal responsibility for their life.
Listen actively. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6: 53-54)
We must take Jesus and His teachings into our minds and hearts. Jesus is talking about internalizing Him in us.
“We tear walls down by listening. There is no understanding of each other without listening.
Carl Rogers says that “Listening, rightly done, is the most significant thing you can do for a person.”
“A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke,
and the less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why can’t we be like that wise old bird?”
Max Speaking 