“REED” This

JC

We recently had a loss of one of our family members. My niece’s husband, JC, battled colon cancer for a little over a year. He passed from this earth on Sunday, October 17 and he was only 34 years old. As I got to thinking, I really didn’t know him that well. We had seen each other over the past several years only at family gatherings and that was usually maybe a day or so at a time with many other family members around. Then it was at least a year or two or more between those times. I knew him as a fine young man, very nice and friendly, but I didn’t know him like I would a close friend. Living far from each other and limited time spent together hindered our getting to know one another better. However, I very much wanted to attend his funeral and be there with family during this time. Debbie and I and our grand-daughter, Jordan, made the trip. Two days of driving got us there late afternoon the day before the service. We had a few hours to visit with my niece and her two children, as well as my sister, and another sister who was able to come. The service was held in a high school gymnasium the next morning and was very well attended. I was quickly realizing more of who JC was as several hundred people were filing in. His impact upon his community was evidently very big. Several of his friends since childhood and his brother shared about JC and their relationships. It was good to hear stories of his childhood as well as his early adult life and how he meant so much to his friends and family. As the minister began sharing, he shared scripture and then talked about how JC always had a concern for others. He wanted to help others and encourage them in whatever they were doing. He then said, “We need to live like JC lived.” That phrase stuck with me.

I’ve always thought about his name, “JC”, and those initials. I finally found out what they stood for on the funeral program. But in hearing them, I’ve always thought about the other “JC” I know. As the minister said that phrase, “live like JC”, the preacher inside me was ready to jump up and preach. It was a great lead-in for sharing the gospel. Yes, I could agree with “live like JC” because he lived like THE JC. He was kind, caring, concerned for others, helped others, encouraged others, and wanted the best for others. He touched others lives by treating them with love just like THE JC does. And JC did those things because he knew THE JC – Jesus Christ. He tried to do things right because that’s what Jesus Christ does and wants us to do. His life exemplified Jesus with all those who knew him. He was a loving friend to everyone. He was a loving father to his children. He was a loving husband to my niece. He was a loving son-in-law to my sister and her husband. He was a loving member of our family no matter how he was related. And he was able to love because he knows the One who first loved him.

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.”

1 John 4:7-12 NLT

I was glad I had the opportunity to attend that funeral and get to know JC better through the sharing of his friends and family. It was evident that JC lived his life loving others. I’m grateful he is a part of my family. I’m sorry I didn’t know him better here on this earth, but I’m glad I will have the opportunity to get to know him better for all eternity in heaven. Until then, I want to live like JC.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

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Comfort or Growth?

The last few days I’ve been working on finishing the new flooring in the main part of the house. I started on this project over a year ago and am finally about finished with the last bedroom. I have noticed a big difference with the luxury vinyl plank flooring verses the old carpet. That old carpet had a nice cushion underneath that the new doesn’t. There is a little bit of give, but not near that of the carpet with the padding underneath. In some ways I miss that padding. It felt nice walking on it. But, the carpet looked old and had several places where it was stained too deep to get out. As I cut strips and sections of that carpet, there was all kinds of sand, dust, and dirt that came out of it. We had run a vacuum cleaner over it many times, yet that sand and dirt was still deeply embedded in that carpet. Then, the padding underneath was exposed. The part that made the carpet feel nice was actually the worst. The amount of dirt, dust, and sticky grossness within it was repulsive. I definitely had to have my work gloves on when handling it. My mind would race thinking about what had gotten into it as it was walked upon for the last 25 years. I had to make myself stop before I got sick. After it was all removed from the house and the subfloor was scraped, swept, and completely cleaned I finally could breathe without fear of something bad coming into my nose. I’m sure the carpet was nice when it was first laid down, but it trapped all kinds of dirt and filth over the years. And the padding, what made it feel the nicest, was our worst enemy in holding the filth.

We get trapped into and by all sorts of things that feel good. We like those things and think they are good because of how they make us feel. The difficulty with that is what feels good is not always the best. Some things that feel good are actually trapping us and damaging to our lives and our walk with Christ. They may have been good before, but now they have become old and are holding us back from growing and moving forward to better things that God has for us. They may not feel as comfortable, but that’s only because they are new, and we are being challenged as we are growing out of our comfort zone. Paul encourages the believers in Philippi to grow in the Lord as he writes, “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.” (Philippians 1:9-10) We can’t be happy staying in a spiritual rut because it feels good. We must grow in our walk with Christ so we can know Him more and experience the fullness of Christ and His glory. Getting out of a comfortable rut is not always easy, but we must if we want to grow.

That new floor may not feel quite as good to my bare feet as the carpet did. But I know it definitely looks better and no doubt is better for my allergies and health. I’m glad to get rid of that old stuff. There’s no telling what it was doing to my sinuses. And I don’t want anything holding me back from growing in the Lord. I’m ready to walk on that new path of growth God has planned for me (Eph. 2:10).

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

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Old Friends

I enjoy remembering old friends. It’s fun sometimes to think back to how things were as we grew up together. There were neighborhood friends that we would meet and play in one or the other’s backyards. Or we would meet on one of our driveways and ride bikes around on it or through the neighborhood streets. There were school friends that we grew up with being in the same grade. Sometimes we had the same teacher in grade school and had our desks next to one another. As we got older, maybe our schedules were similar in middle school and high school and we had some classes together. There were some I was friends with because we shared a particular class. I had friends that were on the football team. I had friends that were in the band. I had friends that were in my math classes. In my senior year, I took a creative writing class and became closer to some friends that I hadn’t spent as much time with before. Most were friends that I had known since we were in kindergarten, but we hadn’t always had much in common or many classes together. This class was different, and it gave me opportunities to spend a lot of time with them due to several projects we worked on together. One of those friends was a guy that I ended up hanging out with a lot outside of that class. We developed a closer friendship where we could share with one another some difficulties or struggles we were going through. Along with that, I had several opportunities to share my faith in Jesus with him. He was always willing to listen and had questions and wanted to discuss it with me. But, when I would ask him if he wanted to trust in Jesus as his Savior, he always would say, “That sounds good, but I’m just not ready to do that right now.” We kept close throughout our senior year and even into the following summer. We went to different colleges and would see each other only a few times during those years. The last time I remember seeing him was at the old Wal-Mart back home when I was visiting for Christmas. We were both married by that time and in there for some last-minute shopping. It was good seeing him and catching up just a little as our encounter was brief. That had to have been over twenty-five years ago. Last week I heard that old friend had passed away. His older sister had posted it on social media.

I was saddened to hear about his passing. Not only because a friend had died, but more so because a friend died and I don’t know if he ever received Jesus. It has been heavy on my mind a lot since I heard. There is nothing I can do about it now, but did I do enough? I had the opportunity to share with him when we were in high school and a few times after, but was it enough? Was my life enough of a Christian example to make him want what I had? Did he ever see Jesus in me? I may never know the answers to those questions. Yet, those thoughts are still on my mind. Although I can’t do anything for him now, I can let his passing be a hard reminder of the responsibility I have while I’m still alive on this earth. I must be about my Father’s business. I must be sharing my faith, sharing Jesus with all who will listen, and even those who won’t. I must be allowing Christ to live in and through me so others will see Him. I don’t want any of my friends, family, or acquaintances to not know Jesus as their Savior. I must be living for Him.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  Galatians 2:20

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

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I Remember

I remember really liking an orange shirt with Winnie the Pooh on the front pocket area. I wore that shirt when I was three or four years old. I remember living in a white brick house with a big oak tree in the front yard and my dad’s garden in the back. I remember the large drainage ditch that ran along one side of the yard and around the very back. I remember playing football with my brother in the front yard and the sidewalk to the front door was the fifty-yard line. I remember a swing set in the back yard, but I don’t actually remember playing on it. I remember when I was five years old talking with my father one night in my parent’s bedroom and praying to receive Jesus as my Savior. I remember moving to an old two-story house closer to downtown that had wood floors. I remember running and sliding across that floor with just our socks on until my brother got a big splinter in his foot. I remember it being so cold several times that we had to stay upstairs until lunch because there wasn’t enough gas in town to heat the downstairs. I remember moving to our new house that dad had built on the west side of town. I remember petting the neighbor’s horses in the pasture there behind the house when they would lean their heads down over the fence. I remember watching two snakes fight on the back porch and then watched the king snake swallow the copper head snake after winning the fight. I remember raking pine straw a lot because we had so many pine trees in that yard. I remember playing games with my family in the living room by the fireplace. I remember moving from that house to another one closer to town where I had my own bedroom and didn’t have to share with my brother. I remember it was upstairs, small, and had no windows, but I liked it. I remember moving to another house east of town where my father started getting sick. I remember not liking the neighbor’s dog because it always came over to our yard and bothered us. I remember moving to two other houses before my father passed away and before I graduated high school. I remember all my life, wherever we lived, there was music being played on piano and organ and there was singing. I remember all my life, wherever we lived, we always went to First Baptist Church in DeQueen. I remember my Sunday School teachers and R.A. leaders, one of which became my father-in-law. I remember my children’s and youth choir leaders and singing in the church. I remember the pastors: Bro. Joe who baptized me; Bro. Nick who cried a lot when he preached because he was so burdened for the lost; and Bro. Victor who played golf with me and preached my father’s funeral. I remember my youth minister, Steve, who was awesome and always helping me in ways that I didn’t fully realize until later in my life. I remember God calling me into full-time ministry at youth camp in Siloam Springs, Arkansas the summer after my junior year of high school. I remember starting college and feeling scared and alone. I remember later really enjoying college and learning more about music and ministry. I remember hearing and reading in scripture many places where God told the Israelites to remember all He had done for them. I remember hearing and reading 2 Timothy 2:8, “Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach.” I remember as I got older coming to a better understanding of what God had done for me when He saved me. I remember that I don’t deserve His love. I remember that I don’t deserve His grace and mercy. I remember that I am His child – a child of God. I remember “that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:38). I remember Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,” (John 10:28). I remember He also said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about me everywhere” (Acts 1:8). I remember surrendering to His call upon my life to serve Him in full-time ministry. I remember following His leading to college and to seminary and the degrees He led me to study and earn. I remember the strength and understanding He gave me in order to accomplish that. I remember the strength and ability to live for Him all the days of my life. I remember my God. I remember my Savior. I remember my calling. I remember.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

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Waiting

Monday morning, I had the opportunity to get out of my routine and play some golf. As it turned out, our ministers’ outing tee time this month was at 8:30 with only one golfer – me. I really enjoy playing golf with others, especially other pastors and getting to fellowship with them and laugh at their shots. But, I also enjoy just playing by myself sometimes. With the early tee time, I knew I needed to leave the house a little earlier because traffic coming onto the island around 8:00 would be heavy. Unfortunately, I didn’t know it would be THAT heavy, as both lanes of the causeway came to a stop on the Mackay River bridge. I found myself creeping along, waiting for the other cars to move. I said to myself, “This is not good. I’m going to be late.” Slowly, the vehicles ahead of me began to move and I was able to get through the congestion. I didn’t take Sea Island Road because that lane was not moving, so I went up Demere. Unfortunately, there were slower vehicles in front of me there and I had to wait on them to finally get into the right turning lane for McDonalds before I could get around them. I had to wait on several vehicles in the round about but finally made it onto Frederica Road heading north. Thankfully, my lane was mostly clear, and all the lights were green when I came to them. I made it to Hampton Point right at 8:30 and quickly made my way to the first tee and took a deep breath. It was a beautiful day and almost perfect for a round of golf. Since I was the only one playing and my shots were staying in the fairway, for the most part, I was able to play very quickly. When I came up to the fourth hole, I had to wait because there was a couple on the green. However, they waved me on to hit through, so I did. Once again, I was quickly playing through the course until I came to the fourteenth hole. There, I had to wait for a group ahead of me. I could see they were waiting on a group ahead of them. So, I decided to just relax because my moving fast was no longer happening. The last five holes of the round took about as long to play as the previous ten. It was wait, hit, and wait the rest of the time. I finished my round and was ready to head to meet Pastor Mike and Pastor Cameron for lunch. When I pulled out of the clubhouse area, a slow-moving delivery truck was pulling out of a driveway just in front of me. You guessed it, I was behind that slow truck all the way from the north end of the island to the church. We stopped several times along the way and I waited for it to start moving again, wanting it to turn off onto another street, but it never did. Even at the final light, I had to wait on cars coming from the other direction before I could turn left into the church parking lot.

I don’t like to wait. I dare say most if not all people are like me. We want things to move along. We have things to do, places to go, people to see. We don’t need to have to wait on something or someone else. However, not being willing to wait can get us into trouble. Being impatient and not waiting while driving can cause an accident. Not waiting and doing enough research can cause great financial loss with purchases or investments. Not waiting can cause you to miss seeing someone, miss enjoying time with others, and many other things. The psalmist points out the most important person we need to wait on. David writes in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” We never want to get ahead of God and His moving and His timing. And when we are facing trials and difficulties, even from others, we can be like David and wait on God to move and take care of us in the best way – His way. Waiting on God is not always easiest, but when we do, it shows our faith in Him and strengthens that faith as He proves Himself faithful through that experience. Whatever decisions we need to make as an individual, a family, or a church, we need to make sure we are prayed up on it and waiting on God to move or tell us when to move. That’s the waiting I strive for.

Waiting in traffic, on the golf course, in the checkout line, and other places can be tiring and frustrating. But we need to patiently wait for our health, our safety, and our witness. That waiting may actually be waiting on God because He has something He wants to show us or do and we don’t want to miss it.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

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Small is Okay

Yesterday, I unlocked and opened one of the outside doors to the church so members of the brass choir could enter for rehearsal. As I walked through the doorway into the church, I noticed there was something hopping in front of me. It was difficult to see what it was as there weren’t but a few lights on and it was quite small. I thought it was a cricket, so I tried to chase it back to the door as I didn’t want to hear a cricket chirping in the sanctuary all week. But as I got closer, I realized it was not a cricket. It was brown in color like a cricket, but it was a lizard. A very small lizard. I wanted to catch it and take a picture of it in my hand with my phone, but it kept jumping out of my hand before I could get my phone out of my pocket. At one time it stayed still long enough for me to get a good look at it as it was on the tip of my little finger. It basically fit on that small part of my finger, no more than an inch or inch and a half long. It was incredible to me that it was so small. It jumped off my finger and headed toward the doorway, so I decided to leave it alone.

Everything starts out small. I know that baby whales are big, but compared to their mothers, they are small. The little critters like this lizard are so small and are all alone when they are born. They seem so tiny and fragile, yet they can and do survive and grow into mature lizards eight to ten inches long. Many things much smaller than this lizard do the same. Yet with us, it’s different. We start out in this world very small, but we are quite helpless. We cannot walk or run. We cannot feed ourselves. We could not survive on our own. We greatly need our parents or an adult to take care of us. We are completely dependent upon someone else. As we grow, we strive to become more and more independent so that we can take care of ourselves. But we can never be truly dependent just upon ourselves. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. Without Jesus we don’t have life. Without Jesus we don’t have strength. Without Jesus we can’t do what God has called us to do. Without Jesus we can’t do anything. We are dependent upon Jesus. When we depend upon Jesus, we have life. When we depend upon Jesus, we have strength. When we depend upon Jesus, we can accomplish the good works God has planned and called us to do. When we depend upon Jesus, we can do anything He wants us to do because He will do them through us. We may physically grow up and become independent in this world. But as maturing Christians, we know that spiritually we will always be dependent upon God.

That little lizard will find food and survive all on its own by the instincts that God has placed in it when He created it. And it will do the best it can in this one and only life it has. As humans, we may not be as independent at birth, but we have understanding because we have been created in the image of God. And with that understanding, we know this life on earth is not all there is. This life is the one and only chance we have to learn our dependence upon God. And it’s okay to be dependent upon God because He is the One that gives us everlasting life. Many will ridicule Christians for being so dependent upon God and Jesus, claiming They are just a crutch and we are weak. But I would much rather be small and depending upon God than big and depending upon myself.

“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.” Psalm 73:26

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

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Aggravation or Blessing?

This past Saturday, I enjoyed a day of rest. That day of rest included watching a good amount of college football and ended with a wonderful game where Arkansas offensively ran all over and defensively shut down our old rival, Texas. I have to say, I was surprised the Hogs dominated that game from start to finish, but it was certainly a welcomed surprise. I did go grocery shopping for about an hour, and then helped cook supper, so I wasn’t necessarily lazy all day. One thing that was concerning during that game where Arkansas beat Texas, was we noticed the back part of our house was warmer than where the thermostat was set. That area of the house is on a separate unit and wasn’t blowing cold air like it had been earlier in the day. The air that was blowing was warm, hence the rise in temperature. I didn’t know why it wasn’t blowing cold air anymore, but I couldn’t do anything about it at 10:00 on a Saturday night. I would have to wait and call my AC guy first thing Monday morning. Sleeping in our room Sunday evening after no air conditioning through the day was a lot warmer than the previous night. 80 degrees wasn’t too bad with the ceiling fans running, but was definitely too warm for Debbie. Monday morning the call was made and the repairman would be coming that afternoon. Turns out, the outside part of the unit was not working and the reason was a breaker had been tripped. I couldn’t believe it. All that needed done to fix it was flipping a switch! But how was I to know that? Everything on the inside was working fine. Why was the outside part on a different breaker? After the switch was flipped back on, everything worked fine and the unit ran like a charm. I don’t mind paying the repairman for his time, but I’m wishing I had known to check the breaker box and been able to fix it myself instead of being out the repair bill.

Little things like that can be so aggravating. I remember one time in Florida, we had a leak around our hot water heater on a Saturday morning. The plumber came out and simply had to tighten a screw on a valve a couple of turns to fix it. He hated to charge me the “weekend rate”, but his company knew he made the call and he had to do it. How did that screw come loose? That valve had never been turned in the eight years I had lived there. I got to wondering why that breaker had tripped. There was no wind or storm that came through and made the electricity flicker or go off. We didn’t have a power surge. Even the repairman couldn’t figure out what had made it trip. And why did I have to pay for something so simple?

I don’t know why it happened, but God does. He might let me know some time, but He might not. Then I thought, maybe He let it happen because the repairman needed a little more money this month. Sure, he’s busy, but maybe he has a need that the little bit I paid would help. Maybe that plumber in Florida needed some encouragement that Saturday as we all had a good laugh about him having to come to our house because of a loose screw. If we truly believe God knows all and is working all around us, sometimes in mysterious ways, why can’t He be using things like this to help someone? He proved that to me a few years back when my car broke down in north Georgia and the repairman had prayed just that morning for God to send someone to encourage him that day, and that someone was me. God let my car break down to make that happen. Another time when a vacation rental was not cleaned after the prior guest, the cleaning woman finally came and was so grateful that we were so nice about it. It wasn’t a big deal to us – we were on vacation. And being nice gave us the opportunity to share a little about Jesus with her. It’s not always easy to put up with the little difficulties in life. But, if we look at them with the proper attitude, we may be able to handle them a lot better and even be a blessing to someone else. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”

The next time something like this happens, we all need to try and keep a good attitude and look for how God might use us to be a blessing in the situation.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, September 14, 2021