Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Are things always as they seem? My sister received an e-mail last month from a couple in her church. This email incident answers this question with a “No.” The email read: “We are writing this with tears in our eyes. We brought our family over here to London for a short vacation. “Unfortunately, we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed. All our cash and credit cards were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us. “We’ve been to the...
Have you ever had self-doubt? Sometimes I question my decisions. It may be something small like cooking spaghetti for supper and thinking I should have gone the roast route. Or it might be which purse to buy. Then when I finally buy the purse, I go home and think, “I should have gotten the green one instead of the black one.” My self-doubt doesn’t stop there. Self-doubt has caused me indecision about many things in life. I even have self-doubt when I know God has stirr...
My sister Susie and I have a friend who lives in the Midwest, and we lovingly call her the Queen of Canning. She expertly and efficiently cans food through all of summer and fall. By state fair time, she has fruits, tomatoes and sauces, all types of vegetables, jams, jellies, pickles, meats and even seafood canned in beautiful jars. In our judgment, she is phenomenal and her talents are extraordinary. Last week Susie visited with our friend about the recent competition in her...
Have you ever done something you thought you would never do? I am thinking about over the last 20 years of my life. I have done things I thought I would never do. Here is a partial list: • tried to water ski once again at my age when I have not water-skied in 40 years; • touched a live rattlesnake; • walked across and back the San Francisco bridge when I am afraid of heights, much less deep, deep water; • kayaked for the first time and then a strong wind came up on the lake an...
Not long ago, we had the opportunity to make a trip to western Missouri. My goal was to locate a church where Daddy was pastor when I was a child. I didn't even know if it still existed, but thanks to the Internet and GPS, I found the way to get there. Tucked away among lush growth and tree-populated hills, the little church still sits on a rise, far away from fast moving culture and society. As we followed the GPS and went down road after winding road, we came to a hill....
King David wrote a beautiful praise to God in Psalm 18. My favorite verse of that psalm is verse 16: “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.” Evidently King David at this time was in danger and distressed. Several commentaries I studied noted the imaginary of deep water: Peril, danger, raging waters and life threatening conditions. As I write this today, Hurricane Lane, a category 4 hurricane, is headed for Hawaii. High winds, res...
Last week I was reading about Great Britain’s royal family. Through the years I have followed royal weddings, royal babies, royal funerals and all the pomp that comes with those events. It is apparent that just being born into the British royal family brings not only an instant elite position but also an abundance of expensive possessions. As far as position, Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Church of England and represents Britain when the nation is going through tragedy o...
Billy Sunday started out as an American athlete, playing outfield in the National League in the 1880’s. He went on to become the most well-known and leading American evangelist in the first two decades of the 20th century. Billy Sunday once said: “The fellow that has no money is poor. The fellow that has nothing but money is poorer still.” That statement would describe my great Uncle Ben. All the while Sunday was preaching, my great uncle Ben was living a life of gambl...
Corrie Ten Boom, the Holocaust survivor that proclaimed her profound faith in God, said: “If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.” She should know. She survived the deaths of most of her family and lived to tell how she looked to God each day to sustain her in her terrible ordeal. So then the question has to be asked: Where is God in the dark events of our lives? When death, sickness and...
What happens when we lose our focus? If we lose our focus on our jobs, we become less productive. If we lose our focus on our family, we see relationships deteriorate. When we lose our focus on finances and too much is spent or too much is hoarded, life gets terribly out of balance. So is it the same with our spiritual lives? Several summers ago I made a trip to Plainview, Texas, and passed several fields of sunflowers. As I passed the fields on my way, sunflowers in the...
This last week I was reading an article in Psychology Today about giving. The name of the article was “Well Being and Giving” by Steve Taylor. This is what the writer wrote: “If anything, it appears that there is a relationship between non-materialism and well-being. While possessing wealth and material goods doesn’t lead to happiness, giving them away actually does. Generosity is strongly associated with well-being.” (January 9. 2015) Are Taylor’s observations right? In a...
At times I think I am so used to the phrase “mercy of God,” I don’t stop to think about the true scope, capacity and extension of that beautiful phrase. The mercy of God I still don’t understand because I have questions. How could God show so much mercy to people who were once so evil, deceiving and conniving? I struggle to understand. Yet, Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century English preacher, summed up God’s mercy in way that helped me grasp the vastness of God’s mercy. He w...
Last week, a quote by D.L. Moody, the old preacher, popped up on daily quotes on my cell phone. Moody said: “The Lord gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him.” Some synonyms for the word perpetual are: continuing, everlasting, uninterrupted, constant and permanent. So for the Christian, this joy has nothing to do with circumstances. Moody did not say we as Christians will have perpetual joy if we have a good job, if we have a healthy family or if we...
During one of Billy Graham’s meetings in England many years ago, his wife Ruth Graham had joined him. On that particular day, the local dignitaries had arranged for a luncheon and many of the leading citizens of the area were invited. Ruth Graham ended up sitting across the table from an official at Scotland Yard. While talking to him, Mrs. Graham found that he was in charge of investigating counterfeit money that passed through a wide area of London. He was considered an e...
I have told this story before, but I think it warrants a rerun. I was in the grocery store one day several years ago and my heart was sad as I observed a mother and father shopping with their three children. Two were school age and one was a toddler. The father was pushing the basket and the mother was barking out orders: “Stay in line,” “Don’t touch anything.” The toddler riding in the basket started to fumble with a package of crackers. The father stopped the cart, picked up...
It was over 35 years ago next week that I was terrified we had lost Buffy. She was only five years old at the time and I still can remember the horror and hopelessness I felt when we lost her at Six Flags in Texas. Charlie and I were sponsors for a church trip for about 80 teenagers and we took our three children along. On that day in June, Six Flags was already crowded. Then late that afternoon, admission rates were reduced so literally swarms of people came through the revol...
One of the most beautiful portions of Scripture in the Bible is the sermon that Jesus delivered sitting on the side of a mountain near Capernaum. Thus it is called the Sermon on the Mount. That sermon contains three well known sections: The Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer and The Golden Rule. Interspaced through all of these are the beautiful teachings of Jesus through story and parable. he had a way of helping people to understand by relating his teachings to real life s...
Years ago, people would visit for hours or write long letters to one another in order to fill in distant family members on family news. Family reunions were packed with much visiting time so all family members could visit and share details of their lives from the previous year. Agendas were packed for plenty of reminiscing, socializing and generally catching up. But times have changed. Now a simple look at the computer or a quick impersonal look on Snapchat will fill any famil...
At times I am amused at the commercials on television, especially those advertising a new improved product. For instance, new washing machine soap has 30 percent more cleaning power. A new window cleaner that spirts out through a high-powered hose has 100 percent more pressure and the ingredients are advertised as having 100 percent more cleaning power. I even saw a commercial for septic tanks and the new and improved power ingredient promises 50 percent more “targeted” act...
My sweet mother is in heaven with her Savior, my daddy, our John Scott and my mother’s mother who died when my mother was just 6 years old. She is also with countless family members, friends and the multitude of believers. On this Mother’s Day, it is hard to be objective when it comes to my mother, but I would suggest that she was a powerful example of trusting God with vibrant, powerful, dynamic, believing, and focused faith. When I think of my mother I think of what Paul wro...
King David wrote: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119: 105) I know that is true because my parents modeled that for me during my childhood. Church was a huge part of our lives. Not only did we go on Sunday but many times during the week as well. Our family had a practice to have family Bible readings and prayer every night. Then we would discuss what we read. Mother always rounded us up and we would pull out the Bible reading guide. We would kne...
Memories of my childhood days and Sunday nights in the old church at 8th and Hinkle are still vivid in my mind. It could be a daunting place at night after Sunday night services and all were gone. On many Sunday nights I would stay with my preacher father after church was over and would ride home with him. But one Sunday was unlike others and I remember it well. I was about eight years old and on this Sunday, the custodian was out of town so daddy had to turn all the lights...
Collateral damage is a general term for deaths, injuries, or other damage inflicted on unintended targets. Sometimes we speak of civilian causalities of a military operation and those are viewed as collateral damage. It is so sad to see innocent people killed and thus hundreds are affected. An example of collateral damage can be seen from the EF5 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013, killing 24 people and nine of those were children. Winds surpassed 210 miles an hour and...
Jesus, who knows us better than we even know ourselves, warned His hearers about obstructions or sin in one’s heart. He said: “What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. All of these come from your heart and they are what make you unfit to worship God.” (Mark 7:20-23). Further, once these sins...
Anyone who has lived in eastern New Mexico and west Texas for any time knows that storms can appear in minutes from nowhere. Such was the case one January night many years ago when a snow storm of blizzard proportion swept the high plains, leaving cars stranded all along the highway. The highway travelers realized they needed some sheltered place away from the treacherous elements until the storm was over. So a certain elevator in a small West Texas community became the...
