person (the seller) values, another person (the buyer) seems not to…at least not yet. Either way, both want to ‘make a deal.’ Thus, the headache! Maybe it’s because of the inspector? He takes a snap shot in time (no pun intended) at the house searching every nook and cranny to see if there is any fault. And if he’s worth his salt, he’ll find a fault. Seriously, who doesn’t want to know what needs to be fixed? Truth be known, he is actually doing us both a favor. When we look at the brick and mortar from an inspector’s lens, it reveals things that the seller didn’t think was all that bad. Still, as the seller…this is my home and it’s always been good for me! Now someone comes along who wants to take this home as theirs and all those OK things are now not so “OK.”
This home has been our investment. But not so much in the roof and walls, as in the memories found within each room. Because, to be honest, this is our “home.” We celebrated here together and we’ve wept here together, all within these walls. Memories don’t come cheap and we should never undervalue the time we spend with our family, from the earliest of years to the ’empty nest.’ And now these walls will see a new family making new memories and celebrating together. But our home HERE is not a forever home. The memories we made will not stay within these walls. Our hearts hold and cherish ‘the home.’ There will be a day when the walls of this old house crumble with age. But our memories will be passed on from generation to generation…as the Lord allows.Memory: Friend or Foe?…Jan. 11th
Memories…flood the corners of my mind, or at least how the song goes. But do our memories serve to 
inspire us or haunt us? Age and sickness have a way of displacing some of our fondest memories. That is discouraging when we think of all the good times we’ve had, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing when we think about our failures.
Sometimes we’d like to forget some things, and thanks be to God…He will. In reference to the ‘new covenant’ in Jeremiah chapter 31, God makes this declaration; “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their inequity, and their sin I will remember no more.” What a blessing to know that even with all my faults, sins and shortcomings…my God doesn’t remember them.
“…I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.” I Corinthians 14:15
Sunday morning, January 18, 2015
You’ll notice the following songs come from the hymnal, Songs of Faith & Praise.
“Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah” – 3
Opening our service together we praise Jehovah…singing, as it were, Psalm 148!
“How Deep the Father’s Love” – no book
A contemporary song that poetically walks us through the hours of Christ crucifixion. From the time ‘the Father turns His face away’ (Matt. 27:46), to the final words of Jesus, ‘I know that it is finished.’ (John 19:30) We find power in singing the truth…‘His wounds have paid my ransom.’
“Living for Jesus” – 676
Just the chorus as we sing between the bread and the fruit of the vine, “O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give my life to Thee. For Thou in Thine atonement didst give Thyself for me. I know no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne. My life I give hence forth to live…O Christ for Thee alone.” Do we…will we act on this pledge?
“Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet” – 501
An old spiritual song that speaks the message of this morning’s lesson…“He’ll forgive your transgression and remember them no more…” What a blessing that He forgives and forgets, but do we?
“Does Jesus Care” – 507
Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth (happiness/laughter) and song…” Our chorus answers that question with a resounding “O yes, He cares…”
“I Bring My Sin to Thee” – 917
If God will forgive AND forget my sins, what would hinder me from bringing my sins to Him? Especially consider, as the song goes, we have too many sins to even begin to count!
“Jesus is All the World to Me” – 590
How much does it mean to you when someone cares enough about you to not only forgive you, but never hold your transgression against you? Someone who forgives and forgets. Perhaps that’s why we sing, “Jesus is all the world to me my life, my joy, my all.” A true friend is one who doesn’t hold a memory of your wrongs. That’s why…“He’s my friend.”
Sing to Me Again!
“O Lord, I thought the day would never come; when I could lay my burden’s down and
walk with you. And this morning as I greet the rising sun, the fondest of my dreams have all come true. The greatest friend you’ll ever find is on a lonely mountain. The highest high you’ll ever reach is when you kneel to pray. The brightest light you’ll ever see is when you close your eyes. O Lord, You are my first love and at last I realize.”
Sung by a young group of 13-19 year old teens, this ‘spiritual song’ encouraged my friends and me during the early mornings of our annual summer camp. To the best of my knowledge, Camp Blue Haven still meets during the summer months in the mountains outside of Las Vegas, New Mexico. I doubt if this song is still a favorite at CBH, but the memories and friendships that we formed there in the late 1970’s will be treasured for the rest of my life.
What about you; do you remember songs from the earlier years of your life? The quiet evenings as you sat around the living room and sang as a family. Or perhaps you were blessed to have a mother who would ‘sing you to sleep’. Some of my fondest memories are hearing my mother sing as she busied herself in the kitchen. With the window open and the sound of her “Doris Day” voice floating out into the back yard, I can still hear, “Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee…How great Thou Art“. If you don’t have memories like these it’s not too late to make them for those you love.
My wife and I made it a point to sing to our children in their early years, as they were going to sleep. After they were tucked in, the lights were out and our prayers had been said; Vicki or I would sing to the kids. That was almost 10 years ago (some how they learned to go to sleep without our songs), but one old hymn stills brings memories of days gone by. Written one hundred years ago by Austin Miles, my grandmother began this early tradition that was passed on to our children. As she rocked, I can still hear her sing, “I Come to the Garden Alone”.
Regardless the song or the number of years that have gone by, our minds race back to an earlier time when we found comfort in the words of heaven and peace and God. Even if you’ve never had the peace that comes from a melodious past, you can always lay your burden down and walk with God. When you do you too can say, “…the greatest friend you’ll ever find is on a lonely mountain…”